Watazumi Doso Roshi, Rinzai Priest : "He who blows Ro 10 minutes every day can become a master."

The Buddha said:

Develop the meditation that is mindfulness of in-and-out breathing. Mindfulness of in-and-out breathing is of great fruit, of great advantage.

And how is mindfulness of in-and-out breathing developed, how is it made much of, how is it of great fruit, great advantage? Concerning this, one who has gone to the forest, to the root of a tree or to an empty place, sits down cross-legged with the back straight, establishing mindfulness in front of him.

Mindfully one breathes in, mindfully one breathes out. Breathing in a long breath one knows: 'I am breathing in a long breath;" breathing out a long breath one knows: "I am breathing out a long breath." Breathing in a short breath one knows: "I am breathing in a short breath;" breathing out a short breath one knows: "I am breathing out a short breath."

One trains oneself, thinking: "Breathing in I shall experience the whole body." One trains oneself, thinking: "Breathing out I shall experience the whole body." One trains oneself, thinking: "Breathing in I will tranquillize bodily activities." One trains oneself, thinking: "Breathing out I will tranquillize bodily activities."

Not much attention is given to breathing in Zen.

The instruction at the temple I frequent says "breathe in quickly, settle the body comrortably and breathe out sharply.... " with a comentary saying to breathe normaly after that.

I think that Zazen has come along quite a bit, and that the Buddha taught at a level for his students. So I think both of these instructions hold their own merit.

My Shakuhachi practice has not shown any growth or depth in a long time. I have not been sticking to my plan of practicing the fundamentals (blowing Ro) and that overall this has had a negative impact on my perception of how I am doing. I have an easyer time facing the wall than I do blowing Ro. I allways want to do more like add a tsu ro tsu ro combo, or just break into Suizen...

I have finally scheduled some lessons with a teacher in the lineage of Watazumi Doso Roshi, I am sure he will reinforce the fundamentals.

I think breathing is a good place to start.

Jordan