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december 2013 nyohō zen nyohō zen the look feel and stuff of the dharma search home audio video contact koun franz support what is nyohō zen practice principles of zazen shōbōgenzō zazengi universally recommended instructions for zazen fukanzazengi monthly archives december 2013 clear voice dec 20 it s said that when the buddha preached the dharma he did it in a voice that was somewhere between speech and song the japanese expression of this teaching is called shōmyō 聲明 or 声明 clear voice this half singing eased the burden on the listener it made the buddha s words easier to absorb we have no way of knowing how this sounded or even if there is an ounce of truth to it but in an oral tradition it would not be surprising to learn that formal styles of presentation beyond repetitive phrasing a basic element of any oral tradition were developed along the way or that they existed in the culture during buddha s time this question how to express dharma and its underlying assumption that expressing the dharma is hard are at the foundation of much of the evolution of buddhism over the centuries those of us who trace our lineages to japanese schools inherit this question of voice in two ways the first is in how we chant sutras i m so used to it now that i think of it as normal but in fact this deep powerful level chanting is highly stylized it is not intuitive that we would chant in this way the simple consistency of it facilitates group chanting but why this thunderous quality when people chant what is the feeling tradition tells us that our chanting voices should express five qualities honesty an unaffected voice with no attempt at deception this is listed first for a good reason to short circuit our idea of what is or is not a good voice one s voice need not be classically beautiful but it must be sincere there is something stirringly powerful in the unapologetic voice of someone who is chanting from a place of deep commitment it goes far beyond having a good voice or a bad one harmony a gentle warm elegant voice clarity a voice that is clear transparent fullness a deep and resonant voice reach a voice that delivers to every corner of the room what interests me about this kind of teaching is how it relates to nyohō to the question of how we express dharma this is not about having a beautiful voice nor is this kind of half singing about self expression not at all it s about putting what one is expressing before oneself expressing just that thing we cannot all have harmonious clear full voices but we can be honest and in this teaching honesty means sincerely trying to manifest those other qualities even when they are out of our reach i know that i can never say what i really want to say in this blog in a talk or face to face what i want most to share with others is precisely the thing to which i cannot really give voice i don t mean that as an excuse for when i fail though i have probably comforted myself a time or two with the magnitude and impossibility of it all perhaps receiving a teaching is a bit like hearing someone humming a tune that feels familiar it catches it reminds us of something we already knew or it just gets into our heads and when we re alone we find ourselves elaborating on it giving it dimension maybe that s the most we can ask for i don t believe that there is any one correct way to talk about dharma we each have our own voice and that voice will carry to some ears and be just noise to others but i also believe that some modes of expression have a universal quality this is true not just of teachers but of all of us what we show and what we share when we are not speaking is probably the closest thing we have to shōmyō in the space between words in that pause how do we carry this moment what do we offer with this posture these eyes these hands this breath what are we saying right now an example of shōmyō in the shingon tradition if you have access to a similar video from a soto zen temple please let me know _______________ for those interested i ve established a practice schedule here in halifax you can keep connected and listen to recent talks by visiting zennovascotia com or by joining the zen nova scotia page on facebook i m feeling very fortunate to be practicing with such kind people in such a beautiful part of the world share this tweet share on reddit opens in new window reddit email a link to a friend opens in new window email more print opens in new window print share on tumblr like loading 3 comments posted in uncategorized in her new book tracy documents the events of 2004 2005 when i was in the monastery and she was studying pottery in japan a beautiful glimpse into our lives and a rare and honest account of lay practice koun intriguing franz writes in elegantly understated journal entries each with a satisfying heft like a rustic wabi sabi tea bowl the new york times follow nyoho zen by e mail email address follow join 2 030 other subscribers nyoho zen nyoho zen follow nyohozen koun elsewhere online dharma 24 7 going full superman ocean meet boy one continuous mistake zen parenting why forms are fundamental to buddhist practice topics implications uncategorized archives august 2019 september 2018 august 2018 july 2018 december 2015 december 2013 september 2013 august 2013 july 2013 june 2013 may 2013 april 2013 december 2012 november 2012 august 2012 july 2012 june 2012 may 2012 april 2012 search 184 992 visits blog at wordpress com subscribe subscribed nyohō zen join 507 other subscribers sign me up already have a wordpress com account log in now privacy nyohō zen subscribe subscribed sign up log in report this content view site in reader manage subscriptions collapse this bar loading comments write a comment email required name required website d