Articles
Reverse Zen — The Voice of Happiness
Read this before listening: A note regarding reverse speech audio samples.
This beautiful story, "The Voice of Happiness", comes from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, a compilation by Paul Reps. It recounts a blind man's memories of a Zen master, Bankei.
After Bankei had passed away, a blind man who lived near the master's temple told a friend:
"Since I am blind, I cannot watch a person's face, so I must judge his character by the sound of his voice. Ordinarily when I hear someone congratulate another upon his happiness or success, I also hear a secret tone of envy. When condolence is expressed for the misfortune of another, I hear pleasure and satisfaction, as if the one condoling was really glad there was something left to gain in his own world.
"In all my experience, however, Bankei's voice was always sincere. Whenever he expressed happiness, I heard nothing but happiness, and whenever he expressed sorrow, sorrow was all I heard."
This tale illustrates what Reverse Speech is about, in my opinion. It enables us to hear the sub-text of emotion and thought in others and in ourselves. It allows us to understand congruent thought, feeling, and action in a way that can be incorporated into everyday living. Veteran Reverse Speech analysts often talk about hearing reversals in everyday conversation, without benefit of a recording device.
Maybe that blind monk had a reversing machine tucked away in his robe.
©Wayne Nicholson 2005