04/20/2026
I am approaching my three-hundredth weekly post, dating back to 2019. (Does anybody look further back than last week when they are following a page?)
My plan was always to share my interests, observations and discoveries in the study of the shakuhachi and its relationship to Zen Buddhism. Since I began my posts, many new websites and videos have appeared that presented the technique of the shakuhachi and its traditional Zen-inspired literature in a more skillful manner than me. But I hope that my perspective still remains unique, given my blend of professional flutist, buddhologist, ethnomusicologist and music educator.
Now that I have explored almost all the topics that have driven my curiosity, it will soon be time to end this long journey of shared thoughts. But before we part, I want to explore one last topic -- the parallel between the Ten Cow-herding paintings and Zen shakuhachi.
For those of you who are new to the Ten Cow-herding paintings (aka the Ten Ox-herding paintings or the Ten Bull paintings jūgyūzu 十牛図), the illustrations (and their accompanying poems) are a sublime distillation of the process of discovering Zen Buddhist insights. They have been described in minute, academic detail on Wikipedia and elsewhere. For whimsical and lyric views, there are several beautiful videos on YouTube, including animated versions. People of my generation first saw the pictures in Allan Watts' book The Spirit of Zen (John Murray Press, 1936, reprinted many times).
In the next ten posts, I will do something very radical, and substitute the shakuhachi for the cow/ox/bull while freely borrowing from the accompanying poetry translated by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki.
