A group of art and meditation practitioners inspired by the Dharma Art teachings of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and others gather on the second Saturday of each month at the CONTEMPLATIVE CREATIVITY LAB. The purpose of the lab is to experiment with and experience creativity through a contemplative process in order to engage creativity beyond concept. To let go of concepts about “Art” and collaborate. Not primarily to make stuff, but to engage each other and develop a ground of mutual trust born of curiosity, willingness to be a fool, and trust in the process of coming back to the present moment. To see where it goes. Artists and non-artists are welcomed and all creative media are explored in this ongoing investigation.
For upcoming Labs please go to Contemplative Creativity Lab WEBSITE.
Here are some of the principles and ideas that serve as the basis for our practice and play:
• Square One – a primordial, unbiased level of mind. This is the starting point of any genuine expression. It is not a particularly extraordinary state of mind, but it is your ground, your genuine felt experience. In the words of Chögyam Trungpa: “The practice of sitting meditation provides basic footing, solid ground to develop basic understanding, further experiences of square one. Sitting practice is a way of discovering ourselves” . Having that familiarity means you can see the contrast and difference between being spaced out, focused on the past or future vs. being awake and aware of your environment, your senses, and the present moment. This moment might include bewilderment or confidence, bit has a ground of coolness, health and sanity.
• First Thought, Best Thought – the expression, movement, word or gesture that arises out of Square One. It is authentic because it is arising out of the truth of the moment rather than from some gimmick, manipulation, or discursiveness. It is very present, on the spot. No struggle. There’s always the possibility of freshness. Anybody could become a genius from that point of view.
• Coming to Our Senses – If we drop our constant self-dialogue about how we’re doing (in our head), and drop down into the body and connect with our natural curiosity about what is happening, we are coming to our senses. We become aware through feeling; what we see, hear, taste, touch and sense and invite a fuller experience of our world. Again, the sitting practice of meditation is our support and a path for developing our mind’s natural clarity, flexibility and strength.
• Seeing Things as They Are – the experiencing directly (seeing, hearing, touching, etc.), without labels and judgments. Do we know the difference between our thoughts about something, and the thing itself?
• Heaven, Earth and Human – an ancient system of Space, Form and Energy used in creating a composition, a flower arrangement or the design of a city.
• Dharma – “norm” or “truth”. It is also defined as peace and coolness, because it reduces the heat of neurosis, the heat of aggression, passion and ignorance. So dharma is very ordinary, very simple. It is the stage before you lay your hand on your brush, your clay… very basic, peaceful and free from neurosis.
• Neurosis – that which creates obstacles to perceiving the phenomenal world properly and fully, as a true artist should. The basic obstacle to clear perception is omnipresent anxiety, which does not allow us to relate to ourselves or the world outside ourselves. Our senses contract and we can’t see, smell, taste, hear, or feel. Our senses are numbed which is a great obstacle to creating a work of art.
• Art – Fundamentally, art is the expression of unconditional beauty, which transcends the ordinary beauty of good and bad. From that unconditional beauty, arises the possibility of being able to relax and thereby to perceive the phenomenal world and one’s own senses properly. It is not a question of talent. It is about relating with ourselves with gentleness, nonaggression and upliftedness. The principle of art is related with that idea of relaxation and trust in ourselves. We begin to feel that we are fully genuine. From that point of view, one of the basic principles of a work of art is the absence of lying. Genuine art tells the truth.
• Dharma Art – does not mean depicting Buddhist symbols or ideas, such as the wheel of life or the story of Gautama Buddha. Rather, dharma art refers to art that springs from a certain state of mind on the part of the artist, which could be called the meditative state. It is an attitude of directness and unself-consciousness in one’s creative work. Our message is simply one of appreciating the nature of things as they are and expressing it without any struggle of thoughts and fears. We give up aggression both toward ourselves (that we have to make a special effort to impress people) and toward others, that we can put something over on them. Genuine art – dharma art – is simply the activity of non-aggression.
