Chögyam Trungpa remarked, “Writing is writing the mind,” thus the title. Ground, Path, and Fruition are common stages of Tibetan style dharma teaching, often condensed into slogans for mind-training traditioned in Eastern thought.
Here, Ground means the situation of mind: we’re all amateurs at reading our own minds, but that’s all we have to work with, mutability of consciousness, appearance of chaos, our own confusion, inconsistency, awareness, humors & mental information.
Path: How to use, order & select aspects of mind, how accept & work with ordinary mind? We can only write what we know & teach same, what tricks & techniques of focus are practicable?
Fruition: What to expect, what to aim for, what result?
Candor: to reveal ourselves to ourselves, reveal ourselves to others, resolve anxiety of confusion & relieve our own & others’ sufferings.
Two decades’ experiences teaching poetics at Naropa Institute, half decade at Brooklyn College, and occasional workshops at Zen Center & Shambhala/Dharmadhatu weekends have been boiled down to brief mottoes from many sources found useful to guide myself and others in the experience of “writing the mind.”
~ Allen Ginsberg, 2/19/94
MIND WRITING SLOGANS
“First thought is best in Art, second in other matters.” -William Blake
I. GROUND (Situation, or Primary Perception)
1. “First Thought, Best Thought” -Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
2. “Take a friendly attitude toward your thoughts.” -Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
3. “The Mind must be loose.”-John Adams
4. “One perception must immediately and directly lead to a further perception.” -Charles Olson, Projective Verse
5. “My writing is a picture of the mind moving.” -Philip Whalen
6. Surprise Mind -Allen Ginsberg
7. “The old pond, a frog jumps in, Kerplunk!” -Basho
8. “Magic is the total delight (appreciation) of chance” -Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
9. “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, (I am large. I contain multitudes.)” -Walt Whitman
10. “…What quality went to form a man of achievement, especially in literature? …Negative capability, that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason.”-John Keats
11. “Form is never more than an extension of content.” -Robert Creeley to Charles Olson
12. “Form follows function.” -Frank Lloyd Wright
13. Ordinary Mind includes eternal perceptions.-A.G.
14. “Nothing is better for being Eternal/ Nor so white as the white that dies of a day.” -Louis Zukofsky
15. Notice what you notice.-A.G.
16. Catch yourself thinking-A.G.
17. Observe what’s vivid.-A.G.
18. Vividness is self-selecting.-A.G.
19. “Spots of Time” -William Wordsworth
20. If we don’t show anyone we’re free to write anything -A.G.
21. “My mind is open to itself.” -Gelek Rinpoche
22. “Each on his bed spoke to himself alone, making no sound.” -Charles Reznikoff
II. PATH (Method or Recognition)
23. “No ideas but in things.” “…No ideas but in the Facts.” -William Carlos Williams
24. “Close to the nose.”-W.C.Williams
25. “Sight is where the eye hits.” -Louis Zukofsky
26. “Clamp the mind down on objects.”-W.C.Williams
27. “Direct treatment of the thing…” (or object.)” -E.Pound, 1912
28. “Presentation, not reference…” -Ezra Pound
29. “Give me a for instance.” -Vernacular
30. “Show not tell.”-Vernacular
31. “The natural object is always the adequate symbol.” -Ezra Pound
32. “Things are symbols of themselves.”-Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
33. “Labor well the minute particulars, take care of the little ones/ He who would do good for another must do it in minute particulars/ General Good is the plea of the Scoundrel Hypocrite and Flatterer/ For Art & Science cannot exist but in minutely organized particulars” -William Blake
34. “And being old she put a skin/On everything she said.” -W.B.Yeats
35. “Don’t think of words when you stop but to see the picture better.” -Jack Kerouac
36. “Details are the Life of Prose.” -Jack Kerouac
37. Intense fragments of spoken idiom, best. -A.G.
38. “Economy of Words” -Ezra Pound
39. “Tailoring” -Gregory Corso
40. Maximum information, minimum number of syllables. -A.G.
41. Syntax condensed, sound is solid. -A.G.
42. Savor vowels, appreciate consonants.-A.G.
43. “Compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in sequence of a metronome.”-Ezra Pound
44. “…awareness…of the tone leading of the vowels.” -Ezra Pound
45. “…an attempt to approximate classical quantitative meters…” -Ezra Pound
46. “Lower limit speech, upper limit song”-Louis Zukofsky
47. “Phanopoeia, Melopoeia, Logopoeia.” -Ezra Pound
48. “Sight, Sound & Intellect.” -Louis Zukofsky
49. “Only emotion objectified endures.” – Louis Zukofsky
III. FRUITION (Result or Appreciation)
50. Spiritus = Breathing = Inspiration = Unobstructed Breath
51. “Alone with the Alone” -Plotinus
52. Sunyata (Skt.) = Ku (Japanese) = Emptiness
53. “What’s the sound of one hand clapping?” -Zen Koan
54. “What’s the face you had before you were born?” -Zen Koan
55. Vipassana (Skt.) = Clear Seeing
56. “Stop the world” -Carlos Casteneda
57. “The purpose of art is to stop time.” -Bob Dylan
58. “The unspeakable visions of the individual.”-J.K.
59. “I’m going to try speaking some reckless words, and I want you to try to listen recklessly.” -Chuang Tzu, (Tr. Burton Watson)
60. “Candor” -Whitman
61. “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” -Shakespeare
62. “Contact”-A Magazine, Nathaniel West & W.C. Williams, Eds.
63. “God Appears & God is Light/ To those poor Souls who dwell in Night/ But does a Human Form Display/ To those who Dwell in Realms of day.” -W. Blake
64. Subject is known by what she sees.-A.G.
65. Others can measure their visions by what we see.-A.G.
66. Candor ends paranoia.-A.G.
67. “Willingness to be Fool.”-Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
68. “day & night/you’re all right”-Gregory Corso
69. Tyger: “Humility is Beatness.” -Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche & A.G.
70. Lion: “Surprise Mind”-Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche & A.G.
71. Garuda: “Crazy Wisdom Outrageousness” -Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
72. Dragon: “Unborn Inscrutability” -Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
73. “To be men not destroyers” -Ezra Pound
74. “Speech synchronizes mind & body.” -Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
75. “The Emperor unites Heaven & Earth.” -Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
76. “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” -Shelley
77. “Make it new”-Ezra Pound
78. “When the mode of music changes, the walls of the city shake”-Plato
79. “Every third thought shall be my grave” -W. Shakespeare, The Tempest
80. “That in black ink my love may still shine bright” -W. Shakespeare, Sonnets
81. “Only emotion endures” -Ezra Pound
82. “Well while I’m here I’ll do the work-and what’s the Work? To ease the pain of living. Everything else, drunken dumbshow.” -A.G.
83.”…Kindness, sweetest of the small notes in the world’s ache, most modest & gentle of the elements entered man before history and became his daily connection, let no man tell you otherwise.” -Carl Rakosi
84. “To diminish the mass of human and sentient sufferings.” -Gelek Rinpoche
A.G.
Naropa Institute, July 1992
New York, March 5, 1993
New York, June 27, 1993
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2008/03/mind-writing-slogans-via-allen-ginsberg/
8.27.2010
Zen e a arte de proteger o Planeta
Zen and the art of protecting the planet
In a rare interview, zen buddhist master Thich Nhat Hahn warns of the threat to civilisation from climate change and the spiritual revival that is needed to avert catastrophe
It is not exactly a traditional Sunday stroll in the English countryside as 84-year-old Vietnamese zen master Thich Nhat Hanh leads nearly a thousand people through the rolling Nottinghamshire hills in walking meditation.
The silent procession takes on the shape of a snake as it wends its way extremely slowly through a forest glade and an apple orchard. The assembled throng are asked to deeply experience each step they take on the earth in order to be mindful in the present moment.
Thay, as he is known, steps off the path into a field of tall grass and sits quietly in meditation. He exudes a sense of serenity, born of his 68 years' practice as a monk.
Despite having hundreds of thousands of followers around the world and being viewed with the same reverence as the Dalai Lama, Thay is little known to the general public. He has chosen to shun the limelight and avoid the shimmer of celebrity endorsement in order to focus on building communities around the world that can demonstrate his ethical approach to life. There are monasteries in France, America and Germany as well as groups of supporters that meet all over the world, including more than 20 "sanghas" across the UK.
He is seeking to create a spiritual revival that replaces our consumption-based lives with a return to a simpler, kinder world based on deep respect for each other and the environment.
He rarely gives interviews but recognises that the enormous challenges facing the world, combined with his own increasing age and frailty, means it is important to use what time and energy he has left to contribute what he can to re-energising society and protecting the planet.
For a man of his age, Thay keeps to a punishing schedule. After having lectured to thousands at London's Hammersmith Apollo, Thay has come to Nottingham for a five day retreat, then goes on to a three month tour of Asia, before returning for a winter retreat at his Plum Village community in France, where he has lived in exile for more than 40 years.
Thay, a prolific author with more than 85 titles under his belt, has taken a particular interest in climate change and recently published the best-selling book 'The World We Have – A Buddhist approach to peace and ecology.'
Tranquilising ourselves with over-consumption
In it, he writes: "The situation the Earth is in today has been created by unmindful production and unmindful consumption. We consume to forget our worries and our anxieties. Tranquilising ourselves with over-consumption is not the way."
In his only interview in the UK, Thay calls on journalists to play their part in preventing the destruction of our civilisation and calls on corporations to move away from their focus on profits to the wellbeing of society.
He says that it is an ill-conceived idea that the solution to global warming lies in technological advances. While science is important, even more so is dealing with the root cause of our destructive behaviour: "The spiritual crisis of the West is the cause for the many sufferings we encounter. Because of our dualistic thinking that god and the kingdom of god is outside of us and in the future - we don't know that god's true nature is in every one of us. So we need to put god back into the right place, within ourselves. It is like when the wave knows that water is not outside of her.
"Everything we touch in our daily lives, including our body, is a miracle. By putting the kingdom of god in the right place, it shows us it is possible to live happily right here, right now. If we wake up to this, we do not have to run after the things we believe are crucial to our happiness like fame, power and sex. If we stop creating despair and anger, we make the atmosphere healthy again.
"Maybe we have enough technology to save the planet but it is not enough because the people are not ready. This is why we need to focus on the other side of the problem, the pollution of the environment not in terms of carbon dioxide but the toxic atmosphere in which we live; so many people getting sick, many children facing violence and despair and committing suicide.
Spiritual pollution
"We should speak more of spiritual pollution. When we sit together and listen to the sound of the [meditation] bell at this retreat, we calm our body and mind. We produce a very powerful and peaceful energy that can penetrate in every one of us. So, conversely, the same thing is true with the collective energy of fear, anger and despair. We create an atmosphere and environment that is destructive to all of us. We don't think enough about that, we only think about the physical environment.
"Our way of life, our style of living, is the cause of it. We are looking for happiness and running after it in such a way that creates anger, fear and discrimination. So when you attend a retreat you have a chance to look at the deep roots of this pollution of the collective energy that is unwholesome.
"How can we change the atmosphere to get the energy of healing and transformation for us and our children? When the children come to the retreat, they can relax because the adults are relaxed. Here together we create a good environment and that is a collective energy."
Capitalism as a disease
Thay talks about capitalism as a disease that has now spread throughout the world, carried on the winds of globalisation: "We have constructed a system we cannot control. It imposes itself on us, and we become its slaves and victims."
He sees those countries that are home to Buddhism, such as India, China, Thailand and Vietnam, seeking to go even beyond the consumerism of the West: "There is an attractiveness around science and technology so they have abandoned their values that have been the foundation of their spiritual life in the past," he says. "Because they follow western countries, they have already begun to suffer the same kind of suffering. The whole world crisis increases and globalisation is the seed of everything. They too have lost their non-dualistic view. There are Buddhists who think that Buddha is outside of them and available to them only after they die.
"In the past there were people who were not rich but contented with their living style, laughing and happy all day. But when the new rich people appear, people look at them and ask why don't I have a life like that too, a beautiful house, car and garden and they abandon their values."
While Thay believes that change is possible, he has also come to accept the possibility that this civilisation may collapse. He refers to the spiritual principle that by truly letting go of the 'need' to save the planet from climate change, it can paradoxically help do just that.
The catastrophe to come
"Without collective awakening the catastrophe will come," he warns. "Civilisations have been destroyed many times and this civilisation is no different. It can be destroyed. We can think of time in terms of millions of years and life will resume little by little. The cosmos operates for us very urgently, but geological time is different.
"If you meditate on that, you will not go crazy. You accept that this civilisation could be abolished and life will begin later on after a few thousand years because that is something that has happened in the history of this planet. When you have peace in yourself and accept, then you are calm enough to do something, but if you are carried by despair there is no hope.
"It's like the person who is struck with cancer or Aids and they learn they have been given one year or six months to live. They suffer very much and fight. But if they come to accept that they will die and they prepare to live every day peacefully and they enjoy every moment, the situation may change and the illness may go away. That has happened to many people."
Thay says that the communities his Order of Interbeing is building around the world are intended to show that it is possible to "live simply and happily, having the time to love and help other people. That is why we believe that if there are communities of people like that in the world, we will demonstrate to the people and bring about an awakening so that people will abandon their course of comforts. If we can produce a collective awakening we can solve the problem of global warming. Together we have to provoke that type of awakening."
'One Buddha is not enough'
He stops for a moment and goes quiet: "One Buddha is not enough, we need to have many Buddhas."
Thay has lived an extraordinary life. During the Vietnam War he was nearly killed several times helping villagers suffering from the effects of bombing. When visiting America, he persuaded Martin Luther King to oppose the war publicly, and so helped to galvanize the peace movement. In fact King nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968.
In the following decade Thay spent months on the South China Sea seeking to save Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees from overcrowded boats and, in more recent years, he led members of the US Congress through a two-day retreat and continues to hold reconciliation retreats for Israelis and Palestinians at Plum Village.
His whole philosophy is based on watching the breath and walking meditation to stay in the present moment rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.
He says that within every person are the seeds of love, compassion and understanding as well as the seeds of anger, hatred and discrimination. Our experience of life depends on which seeds we choose to water.
To help the creation of a new global ethic and sustain those positive seeds, Thay's Order of Interbeing has distilled the Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path into five core principles.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings, updated in the last year to make them relevant to our fast changing world, are not a set of rules but a direction to head in. Beyond calling for mindful consumption, they encourage an end to sexual misconduct as well as a determination "not to gamble, or to use alcohol, drugs or any other products which contain toxins, such as certain websites, electronic games, TV programmes, films, magazines, books and conversations."
In a rare interview, zen buddhist master Thich Nhat Hahn warns of the threat to civilisation from climate change and the spiritual revival that is needed to avert catastrophe
It is not exactly a traditional Sunday stroll in the English countryside as 84-year-old Vietnamese zen master Thich Nhat Hanh leads nearly a thousand people through the rolling Nottinghamshire hills in walking meditation.
The silent procession takes on the shape of a snake as it wends its way extremely slowly through a forest glade and an apple orchard. The assembled throng are asked to deeply experience each step they take on the earth in order to be mindful in the present moment.
Thay, as he is known, steps off the path into a field of tall grass and sits quietly in meditation. He exudes a sense of serenity, born of his 68 years' practice as a monk.
Despite having hundreds of thousands of followers around the world and being viewed with the same reverence as the Dalai Lama, Thay is little known to the general public. He has chosen to shun the limelight and avoid the shimmer of celebrity endorsement in order to focus on building communities around the world that can demonstrate his ethical approach to life. There are monasteries in France, America and Germany as well as groups of supporters that meet all over the world, including more than 20 "sanghas" across the UK.
He is seeking to create a spiritual revival that replaces our consumption-based lives with a return to a simpler, kinder world based on deep respect for each other and the environment.
He rarely gives interviews but recognises that the enormous challenges facing the world, combined with his own increasing age and frailty, means it is important to use what time and energy he has left to contribute what he can to re-energising society and protecting the planet.
For a man of his age, Thay keeps to a punishing schedule. After having lectured to thousands at London's Hammersmith Apollo, Thay has come to Nottingham for a five day retreat, then goes on to a three month tour of Asia, before returning for a winter retreat at his Plum Village community in France, where he has lived in exile for more than 40 years.
Thay, a prolific author with more than 85 titles under his belt, has taken a particular interest in climate change and recently published the best-selling book 'The World We Have – A Buddhist approach to peace and ecology.'
Tranquilising ourselves with over-consumption
In it, he writes: "The situation the Earth is in today has been created by unmindful production and unmindful consumption. We consume to forget our worries and our anxieties. Tranquilising ourselves with over-consumption is not the way."
In his only interview in the UK, Thay calls on journalists to play their part in preventing the destruction of our civilisation and calls on corporations to move away from their focus on profits to the wellbeing of society.
He says that it is an ill-conceived idea that the solution to global warming lies in technological advances. While science is important, even more so is dealing with the root cause of our destructive behaviour: "The spiritual crisis of the West is the cause for the many sufferings we encounter. Because of our dualistic thinking that god and the kingdom of god is outside of us and in the future - we don't know that god's true nature is in every one of us. So we need to put god back into the right place, within ourselves. It is like when the wave knows that water is not outside of her.
"Everything we touch in our daily lives, including our body, is a miracle. By putting the kingdom of god in the right place, it shows us it is possible to live happily right here, right now. If we wake up to this, we do not have to run after the things we believe are crucial to our happiness like fame, power and sex. If we stop creating despair and anger, we make the atmosphere healthy again.
"Maybe we have enough technology to save the planet but it is not enough because the people are not ready. This is why we need to focus on the other side of the problem, the pollution of the environment not in terms of carbon dioxide but the toxic atmosphere in which we live; so many people getting sick, many children facing violence and despair and committing suicide.
Spiritual pollution
"We should speak more of spiritual pollution. When we sit together and listen to the sound of the [meditation] bell at this retreat, we calm our body and mind. We produce a very powerful and peaceful energy that can penetrate in every one of us. So, conversely, the same thing is true with the collective energy of fear, anger and despair. We create an atmosphere and environment that is destructive to all of us. We don't think enough about that, we only think about the physical environment.
"Our way of life, our style of living, is the cause of it. We are looking for happiness and running after it in such a way that creates anger, fear and discrimination. So when you attend a retreat you have a chance to look at the deep roots of this pollution of the collective energy that is unwholesome.
"How can we change the atmosphere to get the energy of healing and transformation for us and our children? When the children come to the retreat, they can relax because the adults are relaxed. Here together we create a good environment and that is a collective energy."
Capitalism as a disease
Thay talks about capitalism as a disease that has now spread throughout the world, carried on the winds of globalisation: "We have constructed a system we cannot control. It imposes itself on us, and we become its slaves and victims."
He sees those countries that are home to Buddhism, such as India, China, Thailand and Vietnam, seeking to go even beyond the consumerism of the West: "There is an attractiveness around science and technology so they have abandoned their values that have been the foundation of their spiritual life in the past," he says. "Because they follow western countries, they have already begun to suffer the same kind of suffering. The whole world crisis increases and globalisation is the seed of everything. They too have lost their non-dualistic view. There are Buddhists who think that Buddha is outside of them and available to them only after they die.
"In the past there were people who were not rich but contented with their living style, laughing and happy all day. But when the new rich people appear, people look at them and ask why don't I have a life like that too, a beautiful house, car and garden and they abandon their values."
While Thay believes that change is possible, he has also come to accept the possibility that this civilisation may collapse. He refers to the spiritual principle that by truly letting go of the 'need' to save the planet from climate change, it can paradoxically help do just that.
The catastrophe to come
"Without collective awakening the catastrophe will come," he warns. "Civilisations have been destroyed many times and this civilisation is no different. It can be destroyed. We can think of time in terms of millions of years and life will resume little by little. The cosmos operates for us very urgently, but geological time is different.
"If you meditate on that, you will not go crazy. You accept that this civilisation could be abolished and life will begin later on after a few thousand years because that is something that has happened in the history of this planet. When you have peace in yourself and accept, then you are calm enough to do something, but if you are carried by despair there is no hope.
"It's like the person who is struck with cancer or Aids and they learn they have been given one year or six months to live. They suffer very much and fight. But if they come to accept that they will die and they prepare to live every day peacefully and they enjoy every moment, the situation may change and the illness may go away. That has happened to many people."
Thay says that the communities his Order of Interbeing is building around the world are intended to show that it is possible to "live simply and happily, having the time to love and help other people. That is why we believe that if there are communities of people like that in the world, we will demonstrate to the people and bring about an awakening so that people will abandon their course of comforts. If we can produce a collective awakening we can solve the problem of global warming. Together we have to provoke that type of awakening."
'One Buddha is not enough'
He stops for a moment and goes quiet: "One Buddha is not enough, we need to have many Buddhas."
Thay has lived an extraordinary life. During the Vietnam War he was nearly killed several times helping villagers suffering from the effects of bombing. When visiting America, he persuaded Martin Luther King to oppose the war publicly, and so helped to galvanize the peace movement. In fact King nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968.
In the following decade Thay spent months on the South China Sea seeking to save Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees from overcrowded boats and, in more recent years, he led members of the US Congress through a two-day retreat and continues to hold reconciliation retreats for Israelis and Palestinians at Plum Village.
His whole philosophy is based on watching the breath and walking meditation to stay in the present moment rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.
He says that within every person are the seeds of love, compassion and understanding as well as the seeds of anger, hatred and discrimination. Our experience of life depends on which seeds we choose to water.
To help the creation of a new global ethic and sustain those positive seeds, Thay's Order of Interbeing has distilled the Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path into five core principles.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings, updated in the last year to make them relevant to our fast changing world, are not a set of rules but a direction to head in. Beyond calling for mindful consumption, they encourage an end to sexual misconduct as well as a determination "not to gamble, or to use alcohol, drugs or any other products which contain toxins, such as certain websites, electronic games, TV programmes, films, magazines, books and conversations."
8.26.2010
Hai kai
folhas e mais folhas
milhares delas
voando por aí
ipê florido
dia sem graça
ficou colorido
papoula surpresa
mesmo que eu queira
não esqueço de ti
olhares apressados
flores do ipê
esperam em vão
ainda me atrapalho
distraido com as folhas
esqueço dos galhos
milhares delas
voando por aí
ipê florido
dia sem graça
ficou colorido
papoula surpresa
mesmo que eu queira
não esqueço de ti
olhares apressados
flores do ipê
esperam em vão
ainda me atrapalho
distraido com as folhas
esqueço dos galhos
8.20.2010
Texto do Lama
"A verdadeira felicidade não é obtida por meio de conquistas complexas, tampouco pelo controle. Nossa felicidade vem da simplicidade e do olhar amoroso e compassivo sobre todos os seres.
É preciso ultrapassarmos nossos referenciais estreitos, e, com isso, aprenderemos a ultrapassar o sofrimento dos nossos personagens, sem abandonarmos os papéis que exercemos.
Precisamos ter a consciência e a liberdade de podermos cumprir diferentes papéis sem “ser” nenhum neles.
As identidades são meios hábeis importantes para nos relacionarmos e gerarmos benefícios em todos os ambientes que percorremos; isso inclui harmonizarmos e equilibrarmos nossas relações conosco mesmos, como o outro, com a sociedade e com a biosfera."
É preciso ultrapassarmos nossos referenciais estreitos, e, com isso, aprenderemos a ultrapassar o sofrimento dos nossos personagens, sem abandonarmos os papéis que exercemos.
Precisamos ter a consciência e a liberdade de podermos cumprir diferentes papéis sem “ser” nenhum neles.
As identidades são meios hábeis importantes para nos relacionarmos e gerarmos benefícios em todos os ambientes que percorremos; isso inclui harmonizarmos e equilibrarmos nossas relações conosco mesmos, como o outro, com a sociedade e com a biosfera."
8.12.2010
Zen and the art of saving the planet
Zen and the art of saving the planet
He has set up an eco-friendly village and is a best-selling author. Tomorrow, this green crusader will fill the Hammersmith Apollo with fans. But Thich Nhat Hanh is no rock star – he's a Zen master. Nick Harding meets a monk on a mission
As a vision of the future, the community of Plum Village in the French wine region of the Dordogne doesn't conform to stereotype. It doesn't bristle with technology, scientific endeavour and cutting-edge innovation. It is austere, tranquil and basic, and it is inhabited by brown-robed monks.
Yet this co-operative of three hamlets that includes fruit orchards, vegetable gardens, dormitories, temples and meditation halls is the headquarters of a monastic order that is at the forefront of a grassroots green movement, attracting increasing numbers of inquiries from people disaffected with modern living and looking for a greener, more sustainable future.
Plum Village is the headquarters of The Order of Interbeing, a Buddhist movement that is tapping into the post-financial meltdown zeitgeist and drawing hundreds of new devotees each year. At a time when most monastic orders are suffering a crisis of faith and dying out, the Order of Interbeing is expanding across the globe, broadcasting its underpinning ideology of sustainability and mindful consumption as it grows. And while the numbers of green-living monks in its monasteries increases, the order's outreach programme is connecting with tens of thousands of young people thanks to its internet presence and regular retreats.
At the helm of this movement is revered 84-year-old Vietnamese zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh, among the world's most influential Buddhist leaders. His contemporary Western Buddhist doctrine incorporates a strong environmental strand that has made him an unlikely poster boy for the green movement. He has a CV many world leaders would be envious of. He was instrumental in mobilising the peace movement against the Vietnam War and has inspired environmentalists such as Joanna Macy and Alan Weisman. His teachings on the environment have influenced the Prince of Wales, and the Dalai Lama and Oprah Winfrey are admirers. His book on ecology, The World We Have, is a best-seller and tomorrow he is making a rare visit to the UK to give a talk at London's Hammersmith Apollo.
The environmental principles of his doctrine teach respect and compassion for the environment through a code of practice called the five mindfulness trainings. Rooted in Buddhist tradition, this system of behaviour represents a vision of global spirituality and ethics. Devotees are encouraged to adopt and practise these in everyday life. The system encourages followers to take responsibility for their actions and to consider carefully the consequences of their consumption, not only of food and material goods, but also of culture and sensory stimuli. Thich Nhat Hanh says the wrong type of media is toxic and promotes wrongful consumption, which in turn is bad for the individual and the planet. In The World We Have he writes: "The situation the Earth is in today has been created by unmindful production and unmindful consumption. We consume to forget our worries and our anxieties. Tranquilising ourselves with over-consumption is not the way."
In common with James Lovelock's popular Gaia theory, Buddhists believe the Earth is a living organism of which we are all a part and are all interdependent. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches that if we harm the environment, we harm ourselves. The message is simple but effective – consume with compassion. To do this, devotees are encouraged to practice regular silent contemplation and to punctuate their day with meditation, during which they bring themselves to the present moment to contemplate life and focus on the implications of their actions. All meals at Plum Village are eaten in silence, and diners are encouraged to consider each mouthful carefully, reflecting on the amount of food they eat, the provenance of it and the ethical implications of consuming it. The effect of this exercise, when done in the belief that every organism is part of a singular whole, is profound and is the reason why Plum Village monks eat a vegan diet.
In a rare interview, Thich Nhat Hanh says: "Unesco reports that every day 40,000 children die because they do not have enough food. Meanwhile many of us eat a lot of meat and drink a lot of alcohol. In order to make a piece of meat you have to use a lot of cereal and grain and that grain could be used to feed dying children. So eating that meat is akin to eating the flesh of your own son. We should eat in such a way that conserves our compassion."
While his vegan dietary advice may not resound with everyone, his clarion call for a return to a more simplistic way of life has struck a chord with many. In the last few years the Plum Village community has grown from 100 monastic disciples in France and America to more than 600 across the world, with monasteries in Germany, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong. The average age of new recruits is 22. Increasingly the message of simple living is being accessed by the young. The order's outreach programme for young people, Wake Up – Young Buddhists and non-Buddhists for a Healthy and Compassionate Society, runs programmes around the globe and its theme tune has been downloaded from the internet by more than 40,000 fans.
Thich Nhat Hanh acknowledges the increasingly important role young people play in the green movement. He says: "The future belongs to the young and if they wake up early, for the sake of everyone on the planet, that is a good thing. Young people are more free, they are not bound by so many things." While some may argue that living according to his trainings is difficult in modern society and that his doctrine presents an unattainable idealism, the message of appreciating simple pleasures and freedom from attachment to material goods has become increasingly relevant during the credit crunch. Since the economic downturn, Plum Village has received more inquiries about the retreats it hosts.
Thich Nhat Hanh says: "Yes, we have to earn a living, but it is possible to earn a living according to the five trainings and to be content. If you have a salary that is not as high as others, if you have to live in a smaller house and have a more humble car, you can live according to the noble path and you can laugh, you can love. If you live with compassion then your life is a happy life. Simple living is possible. I know of many rich businessmen who live simply, they eat simply and their joy comes from knowing they are allowing many people to have jobs and that they are not damaging the planet by conducting their business."
At 84, Thich Nhat Hanh maintains a sharpness of mind that allows him to deliver many hours of insightful theological musing without notes. He takes a keen interest in the contemporary and has continued to engage with world leaders despite sometimes failing physical health. He does not shy from controversy and, during an address to Congress soon after 9/11, he criticised US foreign policy for a rise in the level of global violence. About the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico he says: "There are businessmen who have been doing destructive things to the planet and they want to feel less guilty so they donate money for compensation. That is not enough. They have to reconsider and examine their actions."
Thich Nhat Hanh became an activist when he opposed the South Vietnamese government during the Vietnam War and dodged bullets in the jungle to bring aid to bombed villagers. His opposition to that conflict led to him being exiled from his homeland for 40 years. His peace work influenced civil rights leader Martin Luther King, who subsequently nominated him for the Nobel Peace prize. In the Seventies, when a tide of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees took to dangerously overcrowded boats to flee persecution, Thich Nhat Hanh spent months traversing the South China Sea saving lives. He is a vocal critic of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and his monks hold reconciliation retreats for Israelis and Palestinians at Plum Village. When he was finally allowed back into Vietnam in 2005, thousands attended the retreats he held there and so many followers joined his order, the communist government instituted a crackdown, fearful of his influence. Many of those persecuted monks fled the country or now live in hiding.
After his London appearance he will hold a week-long retreat in the Midlands, where 500 people, including children and families, will be able to experience his blend of environmental spiritualism.
He says: "We all have to reconsider our values in society and live a simpler life. We have to reconsider our version of happiness.
"People are getting busier and busier. We are like fishes living in a place where water is lacking. We don't feel comfortable, we don't have space, we lack time. We may have more money than in the past but we have less space and less happiness and less love. So we should have a revolution which must start with a collective awakening. We have to stop and look for another direction."
Ultimately, the impassioned humanist and wise sage believes we can still salvage our ailing planet.
"It is possible for us to be something and to do something now, don't despair. There is something we can all do. There is still is a chance. Recognise that and do it and you will find peace. Don't allow yourself to be carried away by despair." His eyes flash with passion as he speaks and you can't help but believe and hope that maybe he is right.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/zen-and-the-art-of-saving-the-planet-2048029.html
He has set up an eco-friendly village and is a best-selling author. Tomorrow, this green crusader will fill the Hammersmith Apollo with fans. But Thich Nhat Hanh is no rock star – he's a Zen master. Nick Harding meets a monk on a mission
As a vision of the future, the community of Plum Village in the French wine region of the Dordogne doesn't conform to stereotype. It doesn't bristle with technology, scientific endeavour and cutting-edge innovation. It is austere, tranquil and basic, and it is inhabited by brown-robed monks.
Yet this co-operative of three hamlets that includes fruit orchards, vegetable gardens, dormitories, temples and meditation halls is the headquarters of a monastic order that is at the forefront of a grassroots green movement, attracting increasing numbers of inquiries from people disaffected with modern living and looking for a greener, more sustainable future.
Plum Village is the headquarters of The Order of Interbeing, a Buddhist movement that is tapping into the post-financial meltdown zeitgeist and drawing hundreds of new devotees each year. At a time when most monastic orders are suffering a crisis of faith and dying out, the Order of Interbeing is expanding across the globe, broadcasting its underpinning ideology of sustainability and mindful consumption as it grows. And while the numbers of green-living monks in its monasteries increases, the order's outreach programme is connecting with tens of thousands of young people thanks to its internet presence and regular retreats.
At the helm of this movement is revered 84-year-old Vietnamese zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh, among the world's most influential Buddhist leaders. His contemporary Western Buddhist doctrine incorporates a strong environmental strand that has made him an unlikely poster boy for the green movement. He has a CV many world leaders would be envious of. He was instrumental in mobilising the peace movement against the Vietnam War and has inspired environmentalists such as Joanna Macy and Alan Weisman. His teachings on the environment have influenced the Prince of Wales, and the Dalai Lama and Oprah Winfrey are admirers. His book on ecology, The World We Have, is a best-seller and tomorrow he is making a rare visit to the UK to give a talk at London's Hammersmith Apollo.
The environmental principles of his doctrine teach respect and compassion for the environment through a code of practice called the five mindfulness trainings. Rooted in Buddhist tradition, this system of behaviour represents a vision of global spirituality and ethics. Devotees are encouraged to adopt and practise these in everyday life. The system encourages followers to take responsibility for their actions and to consider carefully the consequences of their consumption, not only of food and material goods, but also of culture and sensory stimuli. Thich Nhat Hanh says the wrong type of media is toxic and promotes wrongful consumption, which in turn is bad for the individual and the planet. In The World We Have he writes: "The situation the Earth is in today has been created by unmindful production and unmindful consumption. We consume to forget our worries and our anxieties. Tranquilising ourselves with over-consumption is not the way."
In common with James Lovelock's popular Gaia theory, Buddhists believe the Earth is a living organism of which we are all a part and are all interdependent. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches that if we harm the environment, we harm ourselves. The message is simple but effective – consume with compassion. To do this, devotees are encouraged to practice regular silent contemplation and to punctuate their day with meditation, during which they bring themselves to the present moment to contemplate life and focus on the implications of their actions. All meals at Plum Village are eaten in silence, and diners are encouraged to consider each mouthful carefully, reflecting on the amount of food they eat, the provenance of it and the ethical implications of consuming it. The effect of this exercise, when done in the belief that every organism is part of a singular whole, is profound and is the reason why Plum Village monks eat a vegan diet.
In a rare interview, Thich Nhat Hanh says: "Unesco reports that every day 40,000 children die because they do not have enough food. Meanwhile many of us eat a lot of meat and drink a lot of alcohol. In order to make a piece of meat you have to use a lot of cereal and grain and that grain could be used to feed dying children. So eating that meat is akin to eating the flesh of your own son. We should eat in such a way that conserves our compassion."
While his vegan dietary advice may not resound with everyone, his clarion call for a return to a more simplistic way of life has struck a chord with many. In the last few years the Plum Village community has grown from 100 monastic disciples in France and America to more than 600 across the world, with monasteries in Germany, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong. The average age of new recruits is 22. Increasingly the message of simple living is being accessed by the young. The order's outreach programme for young people, Wake Up – Young Buddhists and non-Buddhists for a Healthy and Compassionate Society, runs programmes around the globe and its theme tune has been downloaded from the internet by more than 40,000 fans.
Thich Nhat Hanh acknowledges the increasingly important role young people play in the green movement. He says: "The future belongs to the young and if they wake up early, for the sake of everyone on the planet, that is a good thing. Young people are more free, they are not bound by so many things." While some may argue that living according to his trainings is difficult in modern society and that his doctrine presents an unattainable idealism, the message of appreciating simple pleasures and freedom from attachment to material goods has become increasingly relevant during the credit crunch. Since the economic downturn, Plum Village has received more inquiries about the retreats it hosts.
Thich Nhat Hanh says: "Yes, we have to earn a living, but it is possible to earn a living according to the five trainings and to be content. If you have a salary that is not as high as others, if you have to live in a smaller house and have a more humble car, you can live according to the noble path and you can laugh, you can love. If you live with compassion then your life is a happy life. Simple living is possible. I know of many rich businessmen who live simply, they eat simply and their joy comes from knowing they are allowing many people to have jobs and that they are not damaging the planet by conducting their business."
At 84, Thich Nhat Hanh maintains a sharpness of mind that allows him to deliver many hours of insightful theological musing without notes. He takes a keen interest in the contemporary and has continued to engage with world leaders despite sometimes failing physical health. He does not shy from controversy and, during an address to Congress soon after 9/11, he criticised US foreign policy for a rise in the level of global violence. About the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico he says: "There are businessmen who have been doing destructive things to the planet and they want to feel less guilty so they donate money for compensation. That is not enough. They have to reconsider and examine their actions."
Thich Nhat Hanh became an activist when he opposed the South Vietnamese government during the Vietnam War and dodged bullets in the jungle to bring aid to bombed villagers. His opposition to that conflict led to him being exiled from his homeland for 40 years. His peace work influenced civil rights leader Martin Luther King, who subsequently nominated him for the Nobel Peace prize. In the Seventies, when a tide of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees took to dangerously overcrowded boats to flee persecution, Thich Nhat Hanh spent months traversing the South China Sea saving lives. He is a vocal critic of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and his monks hold reconciliation retreats for Israelis and Palestinians at Plum Village. When he was finally allowed back into Vietnam in 2005, thousands attended the retreats he held there and so many followers joined his order, the communist government instituted a crackdown, fearful of his influence. Many of those persecuted monks fled the country or now live in hiding.
After his London appearance he will hold a week-long retreat in the Midlands, where 500 people, including children and families, will be able to experience his blend of environmental spiritualism.
He says: "We all have to reconsider our values in society and live a simpler life. We have to reconsider our version of happiness.
"People are getting busier and busier. We are like fishes living in a place where water is lacking. We don't feel comfortable, we don't have space, we lack time. We may have more money than in the past but we have less space and less happiness and less love. So we should have a revolution which must start with a collective awakening. We have to stop and look for another direction."
Ultimately, the impassioned humanist and wise sage believes we can still salvage our ailing planet.
"It is possible for us to be something and to do something now, don't despair. There is something we can all do. There is still is a chance. Recognise that and do it and you will find peace. Don't allow yourself to be carried away by despair." His eyes flash with passion as he speaks and you can't help but believe and hope that maybe he is right.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/zen-and-the-art-of-saving-the-planet-2048029.html
8.11.2010
Ensinamentos de Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
April 2nd, 1967
August 11th, 2010 by admin
Shunryū Suzuki-rōshi
April 2, 1967
(From Dogen) We originally were and are Buddha nature. But the instant we attach something, we “lose” our nature. As analogy, consider the transparent nature of my eyeglasses. Attachment is like pasting images on them; in such a case they cannot function according to their true and original nature.
When we retain our transparency (and do not attach to ourselves), we are Buddhas. When we attach to something (most commonly our “selves”) we are ordinary people.
When we are Buddhas, we manifest the sunshine. That is, because we are objects or obstacles to sunshine; the sunshine “is” or means something. If we did not exist, sunshine would be a meaningless concept. Still, even though it is ourselves (as “objects” or obstacles) which allows Buddha nature to be meaningful, we should not become attached to ourselves.
When we were little boys, we were all Buddhas; even when we were 16 or 17 years old we were still innocent and Buddha. But Zen can be dangerous to innocent minds. They easily tend to view Zen as something good or special by which they can gain. Such an attitude is misleading and can lead to trouble. We should not regard Zen so, because such a perspective is the same as attaching to Zen. If we attach to Zen, we go swiftly to hell even though we think we are good and innocent. Thus an innocent young person can become careless of his Buddha nature (his original innocence) and attach to his own idea of his innocence-and create more problems for himself.
We all have lost our Buddha nature because we were so careless about it. This is the human predicament, existing during Buddha’s time, and existing now. When we now practice, it should be with a beginner’s real innocence-devoid of ideas of good or bad or gain or loss. As long as we have beginner’s mind, we have Buddhism. Our original nature being unchanged, we should believe in our innocent mind; at the same time we should beware of slipping into hell through attachment to this idea.
We should be very careful of half-baked enlightenment, especially of taking pride in our enlightenment. If we do make this error of pride, we lose our enlightenment and plunge straight to the bottom of hell.
“Those who study the Way do not understand if the Way is open or closed.” (Dogen) this means that to study the Way with the idea of gaining something we need (as if we were poor beggars) means that we don’t know if the Way is open or closed. But the truth is that we are not beggars, and the Way is always wide open. To seek for something special is to ignore what we have. Zen teaches us that our pockets are full of treasure, right now and that Zen will not add anything to what we already have.
To correctly study Buddhism we should: 1) believe in Buddhism-i.e. believe that fundamentally we have not lost our way, that we are not upside-down; that we still have our treasure, etc. we should stand on this faith and practice by remaining aware of it. 2) we should beware of dualism toward our practice and ourselves, etc. (e.g. judgements of good or bad, right or innocent, etc). Dogen said: “try to cut off the function of the small mind (limited consciousness and discursive intellect). If you do this you will surely see the Way.”
Dogen is very clear here. There is no reason for us not to follow his directions. But we should not practice with the idea of gaining something good. In this world there is nothing which is just good; when we have a “good,” a “bad” is already there. We should just keep a beginner’s mind; we should avoid being greedy and feeling that what we have (including practice) is not enough.
Patience. We should practice and live with patience. In this way we can control our lives-but “control etc”, does not mean to gain or achieve something. It means to appreciate and constantly enjoy our life as it is.
——————————————————————————————————————
This transcript is a retyping of the existing City Center transcript. It is not verbatim. No tape is available. The City Center transcript was entered onto disk by Jose Escobar, 1997. It was reformatted by Bill Redican (7/16/01).
August 11th, 2010 by admin
Shunryū Suzuki-rōshi
April 2, 1967
(From Dogen) We originally were and are Buddha nature. But the instant we attach something, we “lose” our nature. As analogy, consider the transparent nature of my eyeglasses. Attachment is like pasting images on them; in such a case they cannot function according to their true and original nature.
When we retain our transparency (and do not attach to ourselves), we are Buddhas. When we attach to something (most commonly our “selves”) we are ordinary people.
When we are Buddhas, we manifest the sunshine. That is, because we are objects or obstacles to sunshine; the sunshine “is” or means something. If we did not exist, sunshine would be a meaningless concept. Still, even though it is ourselves (as “objects” or obstacles) which allows Buddha nature to be meaningful, we should not become attached to ourselves.
When we were little boys, we were all Buddhas; even when we were 16 or 17 years old we were still innocent and Buddha. But Zen can be dangerous to innocent minds. They easily tend to view Zen as something good or special by which they can gain. Such an attitude is misleading and can lead to trouble. We should not regard Zen so, because such a perspective is the same as attaching to Zen. If we attach to Zen, we go swiftly to hell even though we think we are good and innocent. Thus an innocent young person can become careless of his Buddha nature (his original innocence) and attach to his own idea of his innocence-and create more problems for himself.
We all have lost our Buddha nature because we were so careless about it. This is the human predicament, existing during Buddha’s time, and existing now. When we now practice, it should be with a beginner’s real innocence-devoid of ideas of good or bad or gain or loss. As long as we have beginner’s mind, we have Buddhism. Our original nature being unchanged, we should believe in our innocent mind; at the same time we should beware of slipping into hell through attachment to this idea.
We should be very careful of half-baked enlightenment, especially of taking pride in our enlightenment. If we do make this error of pride, we lose our enlightenment and plunge straight to the bottom of hell.
“Those who study the Way do not understand if the Way is open or closed.” (Dogen) this means that to study the Way with the idea of gaining something we need (as if we were poor beggars) means that we don’t know if the Way is open or closed. But the truth is that we are not beggars, and the Way is always wide open. To seek for something special is to ignore what we have. Zen teaches us that our pockets are full of treasure, right now and that Zen will not add anything to what we already have.
To correctly study Buddhism we should: 1) believe in Buddhism-i.e. believe that fundamentally we have not lost our way, that we are not upside-down; that we still have our treasure, etc. we should stand on this faith and practice by remaining aware of it. 2) we should beware of dualism toward our practice and ourselves, etc. (e.g. judgements of good or bad, right or innocent, etc). Dogen said: “try to cut off the function of the small mind (limited consciousness and discursive intellect). If you do this you will surely see the Way.”
Dogen is very clear here. There is no reason for us not to follow his directions. But we should not practice with the idea of gaining something good. In this world there is nothing which is just good; when we have a “good,” a “bad” is already there. We should just keep a beginner’s mind; we should avoid being greedy and feeling that what we have (including practice) is not enough.
Patience. We should practice and live with patience. In this way we can control our lives-but “control etc”, does not mean to gain or achieve something. It means to appreciate and constantly enjoy our life as it is.
——————————————————————————————————————
This transcript is a retyping of the existing City Center transcript. It is not verbatim. No tape is available. The City Center transcript was entered onto disk by Jose Escobar, 1997. It was reformatted by Bill Redican (7/16/01).
8.04.2010
Filme sobre Manoel de Barros
Premiado no Festival Paulínia de Cinema de 2009 como melhor documentário, Só dez por cento é mentira tem conquistado elogios e aplausos onde é exibido. Pedro Cezar, seu diretor, fez um filme lúdico sobre o recluso Manoel de Barros, poeta sul-mato-grossense respeitado nacional e internacionalmente como um dos mais originais do século passado e mais importantes do Brasil. Elogiado por Carlos Drummond de Andrade e João Guimarães Rosa, sua obra aparentemente simples é instigante, repleta de originalidade e busca inspiração no olhar encantado das crianças e nas coisas corriqueiras e “desimportantes” do mundo.
Manoel de Barros faz releituras surpreendentes, confere novas dimensões a objetos, traquitanas e “inutensílios”, valoriza personagens que encantam por seu despojamento, brinca com as palavras e se insurge contra a fixação unilateral e obsessiva em produção e produtividade, uma característica das sociedades contemporâneas, celebrando as “inutilezas”.
A reinterpretação das noções correntes de verdade e invenção começa pelo título do filme, que se refere a como Manoel de Barros vê sua obra: “Noventa por cento é invenção; só dez por cento é mentira”. E explica para quem fique intrigado com a inusitada distinção: “A invenção é um negócio profundo. Serve para aumentar o mundo”. Para ele, todo poeta é um “vidente”, dotado de um olhar inevitavelmente “enviesado” das pessoas e coisas que o cercam, e chamado não a descrever, mas a descobrir e ampliar o universo.
Aos 93 anos, o poeta desconcerta ao afirmar que até hoje só teve infância e, portanto, escreve “apenas” sobre ela. Depois dos 70, acrescenta, garantiu o ócio e ingressou no que chama de “terceira infância”, passando a produzir mais. Para quem duvide, o filme mostra que ele avançou na vida sem deixar de ver o mundo com o olhar perquiridor e desinibido das crianças, convencido de que os objetos não se restringem a seu significado literal. “As coisas”, adverte, “não querem ser vistas por pessoas razoáveis.”
Declara ser poeta em tempo integral: “Não aguento ser apenas um sujeito que abre portas, que puxa válvulas, que olha o relógio, que compra pão às seis horas da tarde”. Acolhe de bom grado as limitações do homem: “A maior riqueza do homem é sua incompletude. Nesse ponto sou abastado. Palavras que me aceitam como sou – eu não aceito”. Talvez por isso o filme se declare como sendo uma “desbiografia” do poeta e faça o elogio do “des-herói”, termo do autor para qualificar personagens que estão na contramão do convencional, a exemplo do vagabundo de Charles Chaplin – um “herói ao contrário”.
O resultado é um mergulho estético e arrebatador na obra de Manoel de Barros. A fotografia e a música – onde predomina a viola – reforçam as reminiscências do Brasil pantaneiro. As imagens são poéticas, frases e versos do escritor são inseridos na tela como nos cadernos que ele mesmo confecciona e escreve a lápis, “em caligrafia miúda”. Ficam evidentes a sensibilidade, mas também o empenho, a lapidação e a paciência com que o poeta constrói seus poemas.
O documentário apresenta depoimentos de escritores, cineastas, atores, artistas plásticos, parentes e amigos do poeta. Mas seu grande feito é ter conseguido entrevistar o próprio Manoel de Barros, conhecido por evitar exposição na mídia. Famoso por conceder entrevistas somente por correspondência, Manoel resistiu a autorizar a gravação de seu depoimento. Para Pedro Cezar, “ele não nega contato com as pessoas. Só não gosta de ser registrado oralmente”. E repisa: “Ele sempre recebe gente em sua casa, conversa numa boa. Só pede para que não seja gravado”. Afinal, “poesia não é para compreender, é para incorporar”, argumenta o poeta, enfatizando que ela pode estar em qualquer canto, bastando apenas focalizar um olhar desprovido de regras e pressupostos – como o das crianças – para enxergá-la.
O cineasta conseguiu fazer a entrevista porque, depois de muita insistência, afirmou que era melhor deixar para lá, afinal o desejo de fazer o filme era “só um sonho”. O velho poeta, sabedor da importância dos sonhos, se rendeu e o documentário pôde virar realidade. “Venha amanhã bem cedo, pode fazer as perguntas. Se eu me interessar, eu respondo”. Respondeu a todas e Pedro Cezar soube aproveitar a oportunidade.
Cenas inspiradas e imprevistas. Manchas nas paredes sujas que se transformam em desenhos cheios de significado e lirismo. Pneus que, das fábricas e dos carros, vão parar nas mãos de garotos que os utilizam como balanços, ou os convertem em bóias para brincar num lago, ou os jogam de um para o outro num final de tarde, ao “lusco-fusco” – momento sempre carregado de mistério, que enternece e confunde, à semelhança da poesia de Manoel de Barros, que desvenda novas leituras de matérias densas, mas cheias de disfarce. Um filme que honra a qualidade do biografado e confirma a magia e o encantamento da arte de fazer cinema e de assisti-lo.
Manoel de Barros faz releituras surpreendentes, confere novas dimensões a objetos, traquitanas e “inutensílios”, valoriza personagens que encantam por seu despojamento, brinca com as palavras e se insurge contra a fixação unilateral e obsessiva em produção e produtividade, uma característica das sociedades contemporâneas, celebrando as “inutilezas”.
A reinterpretação das noções correntes de verdade e invenção começa pelo título do filme, que se refere a como Manoel de Barros vê sua obra: “Noventa por cento é invenção; só dez por cento é mentira”. E explica para quem fique intrigado com a inusitada distinção: “A invenção é um negócio profundo. Serve para aumentar o mundo”. Para ele, todo poeta é um “vidente”, dotado de um olhar inevitavelmente “enviesado” das pessoas e coisas que o cercam, e chamado não a descrever, mas a descobrir e ampliar o universo.
Aos 93 anos, o poeta desconcerta ao afirmar que até hoje só teve infância e, portanto, escreve “apenas” sobre ela. Depois dos 70, acrescenta, garantiu o ócio e ingressou no que chama de “terceira infância”, passando a produzir mais. Para quem duvide, o filme mostra que ele avançou na vida sem deixar de ver o mundo com o olhar perquiridor e desinibido das crianças, convencido de que os objetos não se restringem a seu significado literal. “As coisas”, adverte, “não querem ser vistas por pessoas razoáveis.”
Declara ser poeta em tempo integral: “Não aguento ser apenas um sujeito que abre portas, que puxa válvulas, que olha o relógio, que compra pão às seis horas da tarde”. Acolhe de bom grado as limitações do homem: “A maior riqueza do homem é sua incompletude. Nesse ponto sou abastado. Palavras que me aceitam como sou – eu não aceito”. Talvez por isso o filme se declare como sendo uma “desbiografia” do poeta e faça o elogio do “des-herói”, termo do autor para qualificar personagens que estão na contramão do convencional, a exemplo do vagabundo de Charles Chaplin – um “herói ao contrário”.
O resultado é um mergulho estético e arrebatador na obra de Manoel de Barros. A fotografia e a música – onde predomina a viola – reforçam as reminiscências do Brasil pantaneiro. As imagens são poéticas, frases e versos do escritor são inseridos na tela como nos cadernos que ele mesmo confecciona e escreve a lápis, “em caligrafia miúda”. Ficam evidentes a sensibilidade, mas também o empenho, a lapidação e a paciência com que o poeta constrói seus poemas.
O documentário apresenta depoimentos de escritores, cineastas, atores, artistas plásticos, parentes e amigos do poeta. Mas seu grande feito é ter conseguido entrevistar o próprio Manoel de Barros, conhecido por evitar exposição na mídia. Famoso por conceder entrevistas somente por correspondência, Manoel resistiu a autorizar a gravação de seu depoimento. Para Pedro Cezar, “ele não nega contato com as pessoas. Só não gosta de ser registrado oralmente”. E repisa: “Ele sempre recebe gente em sua casa, conversa numa boa. Só pede para que não seja gravado”. Afinal, “poesia não é para compreender, é para incorporar”, argumenta o poeta, enfatizando que ela pode estar em qualquer canto, bastando apenas focalizar um olhar desprovido de regras e pressupostos – como o das crianças – para enxergá-la.
O cineasta conseguiu fazer a entrevista porque, depois de muita insistência, afirmou que era melhor deixar para lá, afinal o desejo de fazer o filme era “só um sonho”. O velho poeta, sabedor da importância dos sonhos, se rendeu e o documentário pôde virar realidade. “Venha amanhã bem cedo, pode fazer as perguntas. Se eu me interessar, eu respondo”. Respondeu a todas e Pedro Cezar soube aproveitar a oportunidade.
Cenas inspiradas e imprevistas. Manchas nas paredes sujas que se transformam em desenhos cheios de significado e lirismo. Pneus que, das fábricas e dos carros, vão parar nas mãos de garotos que os utilizam como balanços, ou os convertem em bóias para brincar num lago, ou os jogam de um para o outro num final de tarde, ao “lusco-fusco” – momento sempre carregado de mistério, que enternece e confunde, à semelhança da poesia de Manoel de Barros, que desvenda novas leituras de matérias densas, mas cheias de disfarce. Um filme que honra a qualidade do biografado e confirma a magia e o encantamento da arte de fazer cinema e de assisti-lo.
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