“Genuine art—dharma art—is simply the activity of nonaggression.” — Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Shambhala Art is as a process, a product, and an arts education program. As a process, it brings wakefulness and awareness to the creative and viewing processes through the integration of contemplation and meditation. As a product, it is art that wakes us up. Shambhala Art is also an international non-profit arts education program based on the Dharma Art teachings of the late Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the founder of Shambhala Buddhism.
“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.” — Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Shambhala Art’s purpose is to explore the creative process and the product we call art, from the viewpoint of a meditative discipline. It is a viewpoint that encourages us to see things as they are, rather than just how we think or imagine they are. Shambhala Art does not teach a particular skill or technique such as painting, sculpture, or dance. It is about the source of inspiration, its manifestation, and how it speaks to us beyond the limits of its container. Once a view and a path are established it can be put into practice within any artistic discipline. Although the Shambhala Art teachings are inspired by Shambhala Buddhism, they are not in any way religious or about adopting a religion. They are about discovery and play, and the universal nature of creativity and communication.
SHAMBHALA ART'S EDUCATION PROGRAM
The core of the arts education program is Shambhala Art training. Consisting of five parts, this training progressively expands our view, starting with our own senses and guiding us to see how art manifests in our everyday life. Each part consists of a series of experiential exercises, supplemented with short lectures. These parts can be offered in different combinations, or as five-part intensives. Each part has the previous part as its prerequisite. This program is taught by trained and authorized Dharma Art teachers. Please see Shambhala Art webpage for more information and history: www.shambhalaart.org.
The creative process has more to do with perception than talent. The creative process requires that we first perceive our world as it is before we can represent it in some form or use it as a launching pad for expression. Meditation helps this process by clarifying our perceptions, relaxing our relentless self-dialoguing, and revealing the source of creativity. We also learn through meditation that we can rest in “square one,” a state of mindfulness and awareness where our mind, body, and environment are synchronized and self-expression can transform into pure-expression.
Through meditation we come to see things as they are as opposed to how we think or imagine they are. We discover that everything has a felt presence to it as well as a thought sense that we bring to it. What we create and perceive communicates through signs and symbols. Signs communicate primarily information and the thought sense of things. Symbols on the other hand are primarily about non-conceptual direct experience, the presence and the felt sense of things. Seeing the difference between signs and symbols, thought sense and felt sense, as well as how they work together empowers our creative and viewing processes.
The creative process can be a form of meditation-in-action when it begins with coming to our senses and arriving at “square one.” We do this naturally when we unconditionally face a blank piece of paper, an empty stage, an idle instrument, or an unplanted garden and allow inspiration to naturally arise out of that space. If that inspiration is met with mindfulness and awareness, it can be given shape and form and built into a result that has a life and energy of its own that others can percieve and experience. The creative process is only half of the equation; the balance is an awakened viewing process that provides the means to fully perceive what is being communicated.
As we explore things as they are in greater and greater depth, we find many shapes, sounds, tastes, colors, and so on with patterns that suggest connections to the seasons, emotions, truths, and wisdoms. Cultures throughout history have developed systems to merge their intuitive experience with their collective knowledge and display it through their arts. In Part Four we focus on one of the most universal systems, the five elements: earth, water, fire, air (wind), and space, and how they form a Gestalt, mandala, or interconnected dynamic display. In discovering the nature of these elements, we also learn about ourselves and our unique means of expression and how in spite of all our differences there is some universality to our communication.
Helena Pellisé is a dancer, improviser, teacher, and since 2010 a meditation practitioner in the Shambhala tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. As a member of the Shambhala community she has been trained and authorized as a Meditation Guide and Shambhala Art Teacher for Parts 1-5.