Shambhala Art

A precious opportunity to take the first three levels of Shambhala Art with Ahcarya Arawana Hayashi  a long time practitioner and teacher of performing arts and contemplative practices. 

Level One: Coming to Your Senses

The practice of dharma art is a way to use our lives to communicate without confusion the primordial and magical nature of what we see, hear, and touch. – Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

First thought is best in art. — Wm. Blake

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.

Level Two: Seeing Things as They Are

The map is not the territory. — Alfred Korzbyski

The truth of the thing is not the think of it but the feel of it.
– Stanley Kubrick

One eye sees, the other feels. – Paul Klee

Symbol, in this sense, is not a “sign” representing some philosophical or religious principle; it is the demonstration of the living qualities of what is.
– Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

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.

Level Three: The Creative Process

The eye of desire dirties and distorts.  Only when we desire nothing, only when our gaze becomes pure contemplation, does the soul of things (which is beauty) open itself to us.
– Hermann Hesse

There is such a thing as unconditional expression that does not come from self or other.  It manifests out of nowhere like mushrooms in a meadow, like hailstones, like thundershowers.
– Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

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.

$195/per level, $395 levels 1 - 3.

All program costs at Dorje Denma Ling are workable.  We provide low-income rates as well as payment plans.  Please call our Registrations Desk at (902) 657-9085 or email info@dorjedenmaling.com to discuss your options! 

CANCELLATION POLICY

Deposits will be refunded up to 30 days prior to the program, less a 10% administration fee. Deposits will be 50% refunded up to 10 days prior to the program.

There is no refund of deposits for cancellations less than 10 days before the start of a program.