Liang Tung Tsai, my teacher's first great Chinese Master, had many catch-phrases. Perhaps the most perfect of them is the one he used once to describe a student who claimed to know when he didn't: "Worse than a beginner". Akin to Pope's "A little learning is a dangerous thing", it is perhaps the most damning thing a teacher can say about a student. It implies that the student is closed to new instruction because they feel they already know; it also implies that the knowledge the student has acquired has been misinterpretted and has remained shallowly in the head and failed to transfer to body and energy. This can only be the case if the student has failed to do sincere practice. Sincere practice is the struggle to do precisely what the teacher has instructed, solely to become better connected to the lineage and teaching. If the student's practice is not sincere then it is up to the teacher to point out where the insincerity lies: the student may not be listening on the level required, may be incorrectly motivated, or may simply be a bit stupid, all of which can be corrected. My teacher has often said to me that sincere and earnest are not the same. An earnest student is one who engages in good honest hard work through which there runs a streak of sincerity, but who isn't quite connected to the source of it all; along with that streak there is also a swath of anxiety and blindness,and therefore weakness. Wynton Marsalis once described John Coltrane as earnest, which is a perfect description. Sincere implies that the purity runs through and through. This can only be the case if the student is, at core, relaxed and connected to a well of purity. This is faith. Courage is what allows it all to develop and pan out into a life of significance and meaning.
3 comments
Don't agree with the examples in your jazz analogy. Sometimes the most honest thing we can do is admit we don't have faith and then still be willing to look for it.
I would rather listen to John Coltrane's flawed sincerity than Winton Marsalis' smug perfection and certainty any day.
So would I. In fact I have most of Coltrane's recorded work plus 2 biographies plus his pic (the Bob Thiele cover to A Love Supreme which is one of the great photos ever) on my wall. WM is a non-entity. Miles sussed that very early. But he is very bright. I was incensed when he originally dismissed Trane as earnest, but on relistening I have to admit that the choice of word is perfect. Trane was full of anxiety (Benny Golson said he practised "Like a man with no talent", i.e. too much) and for that reason I can't listen to him anymore. I have found from experience that music taints the day and distracts my mind: it fills the spaces that need to be left open for the work I do to function as it should. Cage said the function of music is to sober and quieten the mind thus rendering it susceptible to divine influence. I've yet to find any that does this on any deep level.
Ah, I get your meaning now. Also, I agree with your view that the music doesn't work any more. It used to mean so much to me and I would know exactly what to put on to assist me with whatever I was doing. These days, I value silence above all and the only time I am moved by music is when I can observe it being played live.
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