Lecture 23:
It only Happens By Being Responsible
A lecture given by Sensei Ryokyu Endo.
Kyoto, June 13th 2007.
This is the same talk as the sutra class. When you are responsible, God, Buddha, The One, comes to unify with you to do the work. Why unify with God, Buddha, The One, it is to express God’s, Buddha’s, The One’s work in this world, which can only be done through human beings, through you. This is the work of human beings. You may talk about unity with God, Buddha, The One, but you can’t just unify, it only happens by being responsible, without responsibility it can bring the dirt, bring the Ki down, cause Jaki.
When you play music, how much you are responsible to the sound that you make will decide the quality of the sound of that music. Of course this doesn’t only mean at the precise time that you make the sound, i.e. when the sound comes out, but also after the sound comes out, this is because sound is the vibration of air and even if you don’t hear the sound any more, the vibration is still there, still exists, and changes depending on your heart. Even after the sound has come out, depending on how much you are responsible, the meaning can change. If you have a responsibility to the sound, then that sound and God unifies, and then the music can be meaningful. Without responsibility it is just noise, so much music is just noise, just like the sound of a machine, it is the same kind of energy as a chemical taste. If there is responsibility then even with a synthesizer the meaning can change. With a synthesizer, there is some separation of the senses of touch and sound, so you can’t really be responsible 100%, but even so the sound, the music can be meaningful. Some people never think about this when playing or recording. I don’t really want to talk about myself, but when I am recording I use two synthesizers so each one I am responsible 100%. First I play one and then the other, both with 100% responsibility. The recording engineer said why don’t you just connect the synthesizers together, then if you just play one, both of them will make the same sound. But in that case it is the machine that plays, the engineer thinks that it is the same, but I disagree.
Originally music, medicine, dance etc. were all about unifying with God, and expressing the glory of God, but without responsibility this will never happen. Of course there is also the word, some people don’t take responsibility of their words, what they say, so that person’s life, their living, will not be led by the one. I know a good story, it is from a movie and it is a true story. The story is about a policeman from New York City who after eating in a restaurant asked the waitress which she would rather have, a tip or a lottery ticket. The waitress said, don’t worry about the tip, but if you win the lottery you can give me half of the winnings. The lottery ticket was a big winner and the policeman gave half of the winnings to the waitress as promised, but his wife was not happy about it at all. The wife kept saying “why are you doing this?” and he kept repeating “because I gave my word”.
Another story from ancient Japan is about a very famous artist who traveled far and wide doing his paintings. Early in his career he had helped with a large building and where ever he was, how ever far away, he would always return if he was needed for repairs to the building. He had so much responsibility, and so much responsibility makes for a very meaningful life, a noble life. Art is noble and art is life.