Walt Opie: 11/01/2008

Natalie Goldberg on Zen & Writing Practice

Here's an instructive excerpt from an interview with Natalie Goldberg (author of Writing Down the Bones and other books) that was published in The Sun Magazine. I've met Natalie a few times and read many of her books. Just last year at a bookstore I asked her how to best combine meditation and writing practice, and her response was, "The writing IS your meditation."

www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/335/keep_the_hand_moving

Genie Zeiger: You talk about how Zen practice and writing practice are aligned. When you sit and follow your breath, or engage in whatever meditation technique you use, do you experience the same kinds of things as when you practice writing?

Natalie Goldberg: One difference is, when I’m writing, I’m physically doing something. I’m holding a pen in my hand, I’m moving my hand across the page, and I’m recording my thoughts as they come through me. When I’m meditating, I’m relatively still. My legs are crossed, my back is straight, and I’m using the breath to anchor my mind. I’m letting go of my thoughts by returning to the breath. With writing, I let go of the thoughts by putting them down and moving on.

I’m more adept at writing practice, because I’ve given my life to it. When I write, my self disappears. That’s ultimately what happens with Zen practice too, but I linger more on my human life with Zen, whereas with writing I’m willing to give it over completely. When I’m done writing, I feel more refreshed, as if I’ve eaten and digested my angst. The same thing can occur with meditation for me, but in a lesser way. Writing is more alive.

Zeiger: Isn’t the ultimate goal of meditation to quiet the mind?

Goldberg: There is no ultimate goal in meditation. Meditation is an acceptance of the mind, however it comes to you. And the mind changes all the time, just as the ocean waves change. Sometimes the water is turbulent, sometimes calm. Thoughts rise and then disappear; you don’t grab hold of them. The heart beats, the lungs breathe, and the mind continues to produce thoughts. Even if you’ve practiced for a long time, it will still produce thoughts, but you’re no longer thrown by them. You don’t have control of your mind; it goes where it wants to go. But with practice, you can have a relationship with it.

Zeiger: Do you feel it’s important for people to work with a writing teacher?

Goldberg: I think that, at some point in one’s life, it’s good to have a teacher, because a teacher can reflect you back to yourself. Katagiri Roshi once said to me, “I see that you’re Buddha, but you don’t see it. You only see the greatness in other people. When you see it in yourself, that’s what being awake is.” To be a Buddha is to close the gap between who you think you are and the greatness of being human. It’s not about being conceited or selfish. It’s just a deep acceptance of what it is to be human, to have an open heart, to be generous. Often I’ll have students who write exquisitely, but there’s something missing because they are not connected with their own writing, with their own large human life. I call it “the gap”: the distance between who we think we are and who we really are, which is something much greater.

Link

Burmese Military Junta Sentences Pro-Democracy Activists to Harsh Prison Sentences

Myanmar Sentences 14 Democracy Supporters
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

BANGKOK — Myanmar’s military leadership continued its crackdown on dissent Tuesday, handing down prison sentences of 65 years each to 14 pro-democracy advocates, according to regional news accounts and reports on a Web site for exiles.

The convictions came a day after a blogger was sentenced to 20 years for “creating public alarm,” among other offenses, The Associated Press reported.

Tuesday’s sentences were delivered by judges operating within the compound of Insein prison, which holds many of the country’s estimated 2,000 political prisoners. Family members spoke to news agency reporters in Yangon, the country’s largest city, and said that they and defense lawyers were not allowed into the courtroom.

The Irrawaddy Web site, which is based in neighboring Thailand, listed the names of 14 advocates it said were sentenced to the 65-year terms.

Some of the advocates were reported to be veterans of 1988 pro-democracy uprising that nearly succeeded in toppling the country’s military leaders. The advocates were arrested in August 2007 in the early stages of protests that swelled later in the year into mass demonstrations led by monks that were violently put down.

Relatives of the advocates said they were convicted under a wide range of laws like the Foreign Exchange Act, which bans Burmese from holding foreign currency without permission. Other laws reportedly used were the Video Act and Electronics Act, which require Burmese to hold permits for various types of ordinary electronic equipment.

One of the best-known examples of the use of these laws was the sentencing in 1996 of James Nichols, an honorary consul for Norway, to three years for possession of a fax machine without a permit in his Yangon home. He died in detention, several months after his conviction in April 1996. Analysts say the real reason for the conviction appeared to be his friendship with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader who is under house arrest.

Punishments for dissidents have become much harsher in recent years, according to Win Min, an expert on Burmese politics at Chiang Mai University in northern Thailand. A decade ago a sentence of 20 years was considered very unusual, Mr. Win Min said. The 65-year sentences handed down Tuesday are in effect life terms, Mr. Win Min said.

“They rule the country by fear and this was a way to give the young generation fear,” Mr. Win Min said of the junta. “By giving out long sentences the new generation will be discouraged from protesting.”

Link