Mind Matters Talk with Stephen Batchelor

“Imagination, Creativity and Art”

Art and Aesthetics in the Enactive Fold

Register here!

For centuries, Buddhist cultures throughout Asia have produced sublime works of art — painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry, literature. Yet there is no theory of aesthetics in Buddhism that would enable us to incorporate the practice of the arts into the practice of the dharma. Not only do the terms “imagination” and “creativity” seem to have no exact equivalents in classical Buddhist languages, the arts are often dismissed as a distraction from “true” practice. At best they are seen to serve as ways to support one’s faith by providing inspiring images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas as aids to devotion. Only in the Chan/Son/Zen traditions of East Asia is the practice of the arts encouraged as an integral part of dharma practice itself.

I will argue that there are in fact key terms in classical Buddhism that suggest a positive valuation of creativity. But these terms have usually been interpreted as denoting either ethical or magical qualities rather than aesthetic or imaginative ones. Drawing on my work as a photographer and collage artist over several decades, I will explore how a practice of the arts can be an enactment of one’s spiritual practice. We will consider how the dharma can be understood as a way of engaging with the elements of one’s mind, body and everyday environment as the raw materials for one’s art. Rather than being a marginal or even suspect activity, I will propose that creative practices are crucial in helping us conceive of and realise a world where human beings can flourish both individually and communally.