An old Zen story tells the tale of Kakua, the first Japanese to study Zen in China many centuries ago. The emperor heard about Kakua after his return to Japan and asked him to explain the essence of Zen.

Kakua stood in front of the emperor for a long period in silence during which time the court grew restless. He finally produced a flute from the folds of his robe and blew a single short note. Bowing politely, he left and returned to the mountains. (Stan 'Kakudo' Richardson)

Australian musician Bronwyn Kirkpatrick is one of the few women licensed to be a master (shihan) of the Japanese bamboo flute, the shakuhachi. For more than 500 years the shakuhachi has been an instrument for meditation within Zen Buddhism, with a repertoire of honkyoku or original pieces played by the Japanese komus or Zen Priests of Nothingness. Dressed in robes, they wore tall basket-shaped hats over their heads to suppress their identity and their ego.The komuso are almost all gone but their suizen, blowing meditation, lives on.

Bronwyn brings this tradition alive introducing tracks from her new album, Shingetsu. We'll also dip into the mesmerising new album, Sadhana, from the American chant artist and composer Baird Hersey & Prana, a vocal ensemble who draw on Tibetan multiphonic chant and Tuvan overtone singing.

(First broadcast 11.05.14)

Broadcast time: 6.06 Track Title: The Heart Sutra Artist: Baird Hersey & Prana Album Title: Sadhana Composer: Baird Hersey Lyyrics: trad. Sanskrit Duration: 5.09 Record Co.: Bent Records BRS8 Homepage: http://www.pranasound.com/

Broadcast time: 6.12 Track Title: Hon Shirabe (Original Melody) Artist: Bronwyn Kirkpatrick Album Title: Shingetsu Composer: trad. Duration: 3.33 Record Co.: Independent Release Homepage: http://bronwynkirkpatrick.com/

Broadcast time: 6.16 Track Title: Shingetsu (Heart Moon) Artist: Bronwyn Kirkpatrick Album Title: Shingetsu Composer: trad. Duration: 5.11 Record Co.: Independent Release Homepage: http://bronwynkirkpatrick.com/

Broadcast time: 6.20 Track Title: Light Rain Artist: Bronwyn Kirkpatrick Album Title: Shingetsu Composer: Lachlan Skipworth Duration: 7.45 Record Co.: Independent Release Homepage: http://bronwynkirkpatrick.com/

Broadcast time: 6.23 Track Title: Tamuke (Prayer for Safe Passage) Artist: Bronwyn Kirkpatrick Album Title: Shingetsu Composer: trad. Duration: 5.11 Record Co.: Independent Release Homepage: http://bronwynkirkpatrick.com/

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Zen Sounds of Meditation

By Megan Hansen

mhansen@marinij.com @HansenMegan on Twitter

Stephanie and Thiemo Blank of Mill Valley hold their newborn daughter Lucia Marlene at Marin General Hospital on Friday. Lucia was the first baby born in Marin in 2015. (Alan Dep Marin Independent Journal)

Zen priests Stephanie and Thiemo Blank of Mill Valley were a bit anxious about their baby daughter still being in the womb past her due date, but little did they know she was simply waiting to make her appearance on New Year's Day.

Lucia Marlene Blank was born at 3:15 a.m. Jan. 1 at Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, making her the first baby to be born in Marin County in 2015. The healthy baby girl weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces.

Stephanie Blank, 37, said she was only in labor for seven hours before Lucia arrived, a vast difference from her first child's birth, but that both births had their fair share of difficulties.

"She came so fast it was a challenge to keep up with the progression of labor for me," Stephanie Blank said. "After she was born I went into surgery for three hours because they had to repair a tear."

With her first birth to son Miro, who is now 19-months-old, the process was even more complicated than dealing with excess bleeding. He was born early, weighing only 4 pounds, 14 ounces, and had to be delivered via cesarean.

Stephanie Blank said she wasn't even able to hold her son for the first 24 hours after his birth, so being able to immediately hold Lucia was gratifying.

"I was just so happy to be able to have a natural birth following the cesarean of my first child," she said.

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Marin's first baby of 2015 born to Zen priests from Mill Valley

Company seeks votes to publish bishojo visual novel; Juri Misaki, ZEN celebrate new Clannad anthology manga

Sekai Project posted Winged Cloud's visual novel Sakura Angels on Steam Greenlight on Thursday. Under the Steam Greenlight program, developers advertise their game or software, and community support decides which titles will be selected for distribution.

Sekai Project describes the story:

Winged Cloud also developed Sakura Spirit, which MangaGamer licensed for release in North America.

Sekai Project previously released NEKOPARA Vol. 1 and the first episode of Spice and Wolf author Isuna Hasekura's visual novel World End Economica after they were greenlit on Steam. Sekai Project also has Greenlights for WAS -The Hourglass of Lepidoptera-, , Koenchu! -The Tale of the Voice Actress-, Narcissu 1st & 2nd, and the MikuMiku Dance software.

Sekai Project reached its stretch goal to fund an all-new Clannad anthology manga on Wednesday. To celebrate the milestone, Clannad manga artist Juri Misaki and illustrator ZEN drew the following comments:

Sekai Project reached its stretch goal to fund an all-new Clannad anthology manga on Wednesday. To celebrate the milestone, Clannad manga artist Juri Misaki and illustrator ZEN drew the following comments:

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Sekai Project Puts Sakura Angels on Steam Greenlight

The drills were meant to assess the preparedness of the police to deal with a terror attack, the authorities say.

A video of a mock terror excercise in Gujarat's Surat district shows five policemen restraining three dummy militants wearing Muslim skullcaps and long tunics.

In another video, the security forces are shown holding two alleged terrorists at the site of Gujarat's Narmada dam. The men shout: "Take our lives if you want. Islam zindabad (long live Islam)."

Modi's silence on these issues is emboldening extremist Hindus, say critics

A number of political parties, including the Islamic organizations, condemned the "stereotyping of Muslims," who make up nearly 14 percent of the country's 1.2 billion population.

With both videos going viral on social media, the state's police and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power in the western state of Gujarat as well as the capital New Delhi, have come under heavy criticism.

"The mock drill was a routine police exercise conducted a week ago. If such an incident (portrayal of Muslims as terrorists) had taken place, we will conduct an inquiry and take necessary action against those responsible," Jaypalsinh Rathore, a senior police official, told DW.

The police further said the drills were carried out ahead of two high-profile events in the state: Pravasi Bharatiya Divas - to acknowledge the contribution of overseas Indians to the country's development; and the Vibrant Gujarat Investors Summit later this month, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Secretary of State John Kerry will take part.

Angry reactions

After coming under fire, Gujarat's chief minister, Anandiben Patel, admitted it was a "mistake" to show dummy terrorists in the drill as Muslims, and that it was "wrong to associate a religion with terrorism."

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Anger over India's mock drills showing Muslims as terrorists