Zen Guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo

Author:Philip Toshio Sudo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2013-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

Black Belt Head

Know One Thing

Make a Statement

Decide

Prepare the Mind

Establish the Context

Play the Changes

Draw the Frame

Zoom In, Zoom Out

Trust the Tale

Attend to Detail

Thought: Process

Know One Thing

Writer to Frank Zappa: Have there been parts of your life that you’ve neglected because you’ve been absorbed in your music?

Zappa: Well what am I missing? Do I regret not going horseback riding, or learning how to water ski? Well, no. I don’t want to climb mountains, I don’t want to do bungie-jumping. I haven’t missed any of these things. If you’re absorbed by something, what’s to miss?

Many people hear the phrase “black-belt Zen Guitarist” and think it means a thorough proficiency in all aspects of guitar playing. This is not necessarily the case.

To be sure, there are black-belt players who know the guitar inside and out, the same way there are chefs who can prepare a different delicacy seven nights a week. But others may know only one song, like the grandmother who cooks only one meal each Sunday—her special lasagna, with a secret recipe that will get handed down from generation to generation. The grandmother may not have the talent and range of the star chef, but both are black belts in their own way.

In other words, to be a black belt in this dojo, all you need to know is one thing: where your passion lies. If you follow that passion to find the truth for your life, your belt will be black in Zen Guitar.

For some people, “one thing” may be playing the guitar or singing a particular song. For others it could be sailing or hiking or child rearing. Whatever the case, knowing that one thing gives our life meaning and makes it worth getting up in the morning.

Endeavoring to know one thing does not mean becoming a specialist to the exclusion of all other knowledge. In fact, too many specialists burrow themselves in their corner of learning without connecting what they do to the world at large.

In this dojo, knowing one thing means to see the relationship of what we do to everything around us. If your passion is simply to play one song, study the spirit and character of that song until you know what unites it with all the other songs of the world. Through one song, or even one note, you can find the true meaning of harmony.

On the other hand, you may view your “one thing” more broadly. There are athletes in track and field, for example, who don’t excel at the high jump, sprinting, or the pole vault, but thrive in the decathlon. Maybe you’re not the best guitar player on your block, but your collective passions—for music, your family, your friends—make you a black belt in life.

The Way of Zen Guitar is to know the depth of one thing, however large or small, and from that one thing, to know ten thousand things. Get to the bottom of your song, and you will know what you need to know. That is all.

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