| Contemplative Arts
Contemplative Arts comprise a number of secular disciplines and activities, including flower arranging and photography, that integrate art and culture with everyday life. Each of these disciplines represents a genuine contemplative path; together they bring beauty, vividness and wisdom to our lives and culture.
Shambhala Art
Bugaku / Japanese Court Dance
Kalapa Cha / Chanoyu - Way of Tea
Kalapa Ikebana / The Way of Flower Arranging
Kyudo / Way of the Bow
Miksang / Photography
Maitri Five Wisdoms Practice
Mudra Space Awareness
Shambhala Art
Shambhala Art is art that springs from clear perception and pure expression. To artist or non-artist, the creative process often seems mysterious and magical. How do we give a physical reality to some ephemeral inspiration or abstract truth? How do we create forms that communicate some essential nature beyond the limits of their container?
The Shambhala Art Program's purpose is to explore the creative process and the product we call art from the point of view of clear perception and pure expression. It is about the source of inspiration, how the creative process manifests and finally how what we create communicates that inspiration.
See also www.shambhalaart.org
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Bugaku / Japanese Court Dance
photo credit: Marvin Moore
Bugaku, the ancient dance and music of the Japanese Imperial Court, is more than fourteen hundred years old. This stately dance is performed in richly brocaded and highly stylized costumes, expressing contemplative mind in a cultural context
Gagaku is the oldest existing orchestral music in the world. Bugaku, the dance form, is characterized by its elegance, solidity and space. Together, the music and the dance radiate timelessness and peace.
The several active bugaku groups within Shambhala that have studied with master musician and dancer Togi Sensei. Togi's family has been part of the Japanese Imperial Music Department for 1000 years. Now deceased, Togi Sensei was a priest-musician at the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo.
For more information contact Sarah Cox by phone at (902) 479-3529.
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Kalapa Cha / Chanoyu - Way of Tea
photo credit: Marvin Moore
Chanoyu literally means hot water for tea. The art of Chanoyu, preparing and serving a bowl of tea, is a synthesis of many Japanese arts such as flower arranging, calligraphy, poetry, ceramics, lacquerware, cooking, architecture, gardening, and more.
A meditation in action, the practice of tea developed in Japan alongside the practice of Zen Buddhism. The tea master Sen Rikyu (1522-1591) studied tea from an early age and received Zen training at Daitoku-ji temple in Kyoto. It was Rikyu who joined the ordinary aspects of daily life with spiritual practice in what has been passed down to the present as the Way of Tea.
Leaving familiar reference points of the world behind, host and guests create a gentle moment, without past or future. Preparing and serving a bowl of tea is a discipline of mindfulness and awareness, a celebration of the senses and a journey to open heart.
In 1980, during her first visit to Boulder, Colorado, Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche invited Mrs. Kyoko Shibata to introduce the practice of chanoyu. At that time, a handful of students began to study this centuries old contemplative practice. Rinpoche named the group Kalapa Cha.
The arrival in Nova Scotia of tea masters John Soyu McGee Sensei and Alexandre Soro Avdoulov Sensei in 2000 brought Kalapa Cha a fresh opportunity to continue the practice some of us began many years ago.
In 2002, McGee Sensei and Avdoulov Sensei presented Shambhala with a gift of an interior tea room, constructed in Japan and shipped to Nova Scotia in pieces to be assembled on site. The tea room was built in the Halifax Shambhala Centre and officially opened by the Sakyong on November 13, 2004. He chose the name Yukoan for the tea room, which means Abode of the Equable Tiger.
If you are interested in studying with us or simply visiting our class and being served a bowl of tea, please contact either Mindy Moore at (902) 479-0299 or Jill Scott (902) 420-1118.
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Kalapa Ikebana / The Way of Flower Arranging
Ikebana, the traditional Japanese Way of Arranging Flowers has its origins in Shinto, where arrangements were made as shrine offerings. Currently there are many schools of Ikebana. Kalapa Ikebana, initiated by the Vidyadhara, Trungpa Rinpoche, is a contemplative practice. By creating an environment which allows us to pay attention to our sense perceptions in a non-aggressive way, we are connecting with sacred world.
The Kalapa Ikebana students in Halifax continue to train with Watanabe Sensei, of Montreal, who has been teaching for over 40 years.
Training in joining heaven, earth and man is very explicit in Ikebana: one is dealing with space and form and the three main elements which can be put together in 8 different ways or variations. After rigorous training in these forms, one is then introduced to freestyle.
Whether doing an arrangement for a Shambhala program, a public talk given by a visiting teacher or for the Kalapa Court, it is always an offering.
For more information on Kalapa Ikebana, please contact Wendy Karr.
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Kyudo / Way of the Bow
Kyudo, "the way of the bow," can be described as a form of standing meditation. Under the direction of Shibata Kanjuro Sensei and senior instructors, students learn an ancient form of Japanese archery using traditional bows.
Kyudo is a form of meditation practice, not a sport and hitting the target is not considered important. The purpose of kyudo is to purify one’s heart and mind—to awaken the natural dignity of being human, beyond the obstacles of ambition, aggression or confusion.
Practice takes place:
Mondays from 6 pm to 7:30 pm
Kozan Iba - 900 Herring Cove Road, Halifax
For information about Kyudo in Halifax please contact
Sam West by phone (902) 406 6483 or email
See also www.zenko.org
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Miksang / Photography
photo credits: Molly Nudell
Miksang is a Tibetan word that means 'Good Eye'. A contemplative art, it is based directly on the Dharma Art teachings of the late meditation master, artist and scholar, Chögyam Trungpa, specifically by his teachings on the nature of perception.
'Good Eye' refers to the eye and mind being synchronized so that the experience of seeing could be undistracted and present—actually being there—being awake. Seeing in this way, each perception is complete, unfiltered, and fully appreciated. The world of form could be perceived directly, without the weight and burden of our habitual likes and dislikes, associations, memories, all of which obscure clear perception.
Without visual prejudice, we could then form the equivalent of what we have seen and express each perception precisely. Miksang courses are designed to allow us to perceive the visual world in a fresh way and express ourselves in a genuine fashion using the medium of photography
Miksang classes are offered in a number of locations in the US, Europe, and Canada.
For more information, visit Miksang online at:
www.miksang.com
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Maitri Five Wisdoms Practice
photo credit: Molly Nudell
This practice is based on the principles of the five buddha families, each of which expresses a particular style and attitude of openness. Also called Maitri Space Awareness practice, it was first created and developed under the guidance of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Participants are introduced to five postures. The practice is done in a colored environment. The colored environment is created by using colored glasses or specially designed practice rooms. Each posture evokes a pattern of energy specific to one of five buddha families. As well as exploring energies as they exist in ourselves and the environment, the emphasis of posture practice is on discovering unconditional friendliness (maitri: pronounced "my tree") toward oneself, within these raw and wakeful energies.
Exploring the five wisdom energies is at the heart of a contemplative approach to working with others. Experiencing both the sane and confused aspects of each energy can have a profound effect. One can become attuned to working with energy in a direct and immediate way. Sitting meditation is used in conjunction with this practice to provide the ground, spaciousness and clarity necessary to complete connection with these energies.
For more information, please contact:
Jigme Chöda Urbonas by phone (902) 823-1814 or email
See also www.maitripractice-international.org.
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Mudra Space Awareness
This awareness practice is based on postures and movement from traditional Tibetan monastic dance. Simple yet demanding, these techniques train students in synchronizing body and mind, in relating with space, in maintaining awareness during intense activity, and in communication.
For more information, please go to
www.mudrainstitute.net
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