Not Zen

Talk of Zen is Not Zen

Not Zen Talk of Zen is Not Zen

The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao.

Lao T'zu

I gained not one thing from Absolute Awakening  and that is why it is called Absolute Awakening Gautama Buddha

You cannot take hold of it, but you cannot lose it, In not being able to get, you get it.

When you are silent, it speaks; When you speak, it is silent. 

 Cheng-tao Ke

A special transmission outside the teachings; not depending on words or letters;
directly pointing to Mind; realizing one's True Nature and becoming Buddha.

Bodhidharma

Buddhas don't save Buddhas. If you use your mind to look for a Buddha, you won't see the Buddha.
As long as you look for a Buddha somewhere else, you'll never see that your own mind is the Buddha.
Don't use a Buddha to worship a Buddha. And don't use the mind to invoke a Buddha.
Buddhas don't recite sutras. Buddhas don't keep precepts. And Buddhas don't break precepts.
Buddhas don't keep or break anything. Buddhas don't do good or evil.
To find a Buddha, you have to see your nature.
Bodhidharma

The Tao has nothing to do with discipline. If you say that it is attained by discipline,
when the discipline is perfected it can again be lost
(or finishing the discipline turns out to be losing the Tao).
... If you say that there is no discipline, this is to be the same as ordinary people.
Ma-tsu

This very earth is the lotus land of purity, And this very body is the body of Buddha.
Hakuin Ekaku

Enjoy

© 2014 MU-Peter Shimon

Shamisen - The Yoshida Brothers

Shamisen The Yoshida Brothers

Ryōichirō Yoshida (Yoshida Ryōichirō?, born 26 July 1977) and Kenichi Yoshida (Yoshida Ken'ichi?, born 16 December 1979) were born in Noboribetsu in Hokkaido, Japan.

They have played the shamisen from a very young age. They began to study the shamisen from 5 years of age under Koka Adachi, learning the Minyō-shamisen style; from about 1989 they studied the Tsugaru-jamisen style under Takashi Sasaki.

The Shamisen is sort of a banjo type instrument that is common in traditional Asian music  (particularly in Japan) The shamisen or samisen (literally "three strings"), also called sangen (literally "three strings"), is a three-stringed, Japanese musical instrument played with a plectrum called a bachi.

The brothers are performers of the traditional Japanese music style of Tsugaru-jamisen which originated in northern Japan. They debuted in 1999 in Japan as a duo playing the shamisen. Their first album sold over 100,000 copies and made them minor celebrities in Japan, a fact that surprised the Yoshida Brothers themselves. These young talented brothers have attracted an avid international audience.

Their music has been a fusion of the rapid  and percussive Tsugaru-jamisen style along with Western and other regional musical influences. In addition to performing songs on the shamisen, they also use instruments such as drums and synthesizers.

Enjoy

© 2014 MU-Peter Shimon