''Suizen'' (吹禅) (“blowing Zen”) is a

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

practice consisting of playing the traditional Japanese

shakuhachi A is a Japanese and ancient Chinese longitudinal, end-blown flute that is made of bamboo. The bamboo end-blown flute now known as the was developed in Japan in the 16th century and is called the .

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

as a means of attaining self-realization.''The Annals of the International Shakuhachi Society'', Volume 1. Ed. Dan E Mayers .d., c. 1996? Christopher Blasdel, “The Shakuhachi: Aesthetics of a single tone,” p. 13. Suizen was traditionally practiced by the

Komusō The (also romanized or ) were a group of Japanese mendicant monks of the Fuke school of Zen Buddhism who flourished during the Edo period (1603–1867). were characterized by a straw basket (a sedge or reed hood known as a ) worn on the ...

(“monks of emptiness”), the Zen Buddhist monks of the Fuke sect of Japan who flourished during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

(1600 to 1868). Instrumental music is rare in all Buddhist practice where instruments usually accompany ritual chants if they are used at all. With ''suizen'', the playing of the shakuhachi as a spiritual exercise is at the core of the religious practice, making it unique in the world of Buddhism. The practice of ''suizen'' may be understood in the context of both ancient Buddhist and Chinese classics which exerted a profound influence on Japanese music, which used awareness of sound as a medium of enlightenment. Breath is also of fundamental significance as the standard practice of sitting Zen meditation (''

zazen ''Zazen'' (literally " seated meditation"; ja, 座禅; , pronounced ) is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition. However, the term is a general one not unique to Zen, and thus technicall ...

'') and so there is a natural link between ''zazen'' and ''suizen''. The type of breathing technique required varies from school to school within ''suizen''. The concept of ''ichi on jo butsu'' – the attainment of enlightenment through a single note – became an important aspect of the ''Fuke'' sect’s ‘blowing Zen’ as it developed in later periods. The sound produced by the instrument, which was taught along strict and traditional lines in the ''suizen'' schools, is not considered important. It is the practice of blowing which leads to enlightenment. In 1823 Hisamatsu Fūyō (Hisamatsu Masagoro Suga no Sandaharu – c. 1790s to c. 1880s) published his short treatise on ''suizen'' practice, Hitori Mondō (“self-questioning”). Here, Hisamatsu Fūyō speaks of “going all the way with intellect and then going beyond intellect” on the path to enlightenment. He distinguishes the form (''jitsu'') of shakuhachi music played for entertainment from the emptiness (''kyo'') of Zen instrumental practice. The shakuhachi repertoire derives from the Fuke original solo pieces, the ''

Honkyoku ''Honkyoku'' (本曲, "original pieces") are the pieces of shakuhachi music collected in the 18th century by a Komuso of the Japanese Fuke sect Kinko Kurosawa. It was believed that these pieces were played by the members of the Fuke Sect. The Fuk ...

.'' For suizen practitioners these are traditionally played in the manner of a personal spiritual practice and not as a public performance.''The Annals of the International Shakuhachi Society'', Volume 1. Ed. Dan E Mayers .d., 1996? Ralph Samuelson, “Toward an understanding of Shakuhachi Honkyoku,” p. 33. The traditions of Fuke Zen and ''suizen'' continue today both in Japan and around the world.

References

See also