9 Comments

Love this: Music was, therefore, not understood as some sort of entertainment or lovely diversion, but rather was a powerful means of moral cultivation for those present and participating—as well as an important tool of governing used to harmonize the world of human beings with that of heaven.

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Thank you!!!

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Exquisite dance and music! Glad you included the wikipedia link about Bishop Henjo. I couldn't place who I knew him from: Ono no Komachi. Also, a discussion about the importance of sound in my text about Buddhist practice (the founder of which also had Tendai familial roots) emphasizes the virtue of sound.

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I really thought of you as I was writing that about the virtue of sound! And the power that these vibrations have. It’s really such a prominent feature of shingon. ❤️❤️❤️

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And thanks again for posting the video of the dance! Gives me a sense of peaceful exhilaration. (Does that make sense?)

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It does!!! I feel exactly the same!

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Yes, it is a quality that I don't get in western based sounds. There is a very different unity of sensual and erotic suggestions and presence. Contemporary popular western culture hyper-sexualizes the sensual, hence diminishing the truly erotic. Just my thought -- think of all the discussion in Kissing the Mask -- how else could a man with thick ankles pass as a feminine woman? And Vollman talked about that very thing while watching the man dance.

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I am still so thankful to you for recommending that shaving book!!

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Thank you, yes!

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