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IRES L"OWARDS 1Empliiness: an Exploration of RITUAL with REFERENCE to BUDDHIST TRADITION and INNOVATION

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GESTI!.IRES l"OWARDS 1EMPliiNESS: AN EXPlORATION OF RITUAL WITH REFERENCE TO BUDDHIST TRADITION AND INNOVATION by LUISE HOLTBERND A thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth in partial fulfilment for the degree of IOoctor,of Philosophy Dartington .College of Arts i l . I .... ~ ((:'.(I I h '(lli " . Ap11il 200.7 ABSTRACT LUISE HOL TBERND GESTURES TOWARDS EMPTINESS: AN EXPLORATION OF RITUAL WITH REFERENCE TO BUDDHIST TRADITION AND INNOVATION This thesis is a cross-relational enquiry into the nature of ritual as the subject of arts-based research. lt can be described as ritual-led; or as an artist's manifestation of ritual. The core of the submission consists in an exhibition, comprising 30 pieces of framed, wall-hung artwork; 3 artist's books; some small­ scale sculptural work and a documentary film. The research is concerned with parallel, related disciplines and modes of working: visual art, music, general ritual studies, pedagogy and the practice of Buddhist meditation and ritual. The following areas are being addressed: 1. The context of ritual in general, and Buddhist ritual in particular, both as traditional practice and in a contemporary setting. 2. Tradition and innovation as complementary forces in the evolution of ritual. 3. The interplay of pedagogy and art in the emergence of a body of work. 4. The effects of a personal life-crisis (contracting diabetes type 2) on the course of study; i.e. the discovery of ritualised artmaking as a form of healing and catalyst for increased artistic productivity. The foundation of the enquiry is both theoretical and practical. The experimental visual artwork employs a variety of techniques and media: ashes on paper; papermaking; wood pulp; and watercolour. The written thesis entails an analysis of process and outcome in each series of works, seen in relationship to Buddhist and educational disciplines. A four-year period of pedagogical developments in small and large-scale groups is documented, surveyed and evaluated. The conclusions are based on reflections of a holistic nature, integrating the different modalities of working and indicating the context of the studies within contemporary society. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 3 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND APPENDICES 9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 9 AUTHOR'S DECLARATION 10 INTRODUCTION 11 The story 11 Connuence 18 Context 19 PART 1: A MAPPING OF RITUAL 24 Definitions and Aspirations 25 What is ritual? 25 Ritual and Play 26 The Spectrum of Ritual Activities 28 Rites of passage 28 Calendrical Rites 30 Rites of Exchange and Communion (and some renections on magic) 31 Rites of afniction 33 Festivals and political rites 34 Characteristics of Ritual- like Activities 35 Formalism 36 Traditionalism 37 Invariance 38 4 Routine or ritual? Notes on self-awareness 38 Trance and self-awareness 39 Discipline and the 'Ego' 39 Repetition and boredom 41 Sacral Symbolism 43 Performance 44 Multi-sensory 44 Distancing 45 Framing 46 Ritual Styles 48 Appease and appeal 48 Cosmological ordering 49 Ethics and Morality 50 Personal spirituality 50 Tradition and Innovation 53 A paradox 54 Oral and literate 55 Implementing change 56 Buddhist Ritual 57 The Awakening of the West 57 Why ritual in Buddhism? 59 The house holde~. the monastic, and the forest renunciant 62 Self-development, self-surrender, self-discovery 65 Ritual in the FWBO 69 Some history 69 Traditionalisation and innovation 70 Ritual in Art 71 Origins of art and ritual 73 ritual in contemporary art 74 'making ugly' 74 'making together' 76 Domain field 78 5 Ritual theatre and the search for the 'universal' 79 A language of organicity 81 Rituals for Survival 82 The present ecological situation 82 The role of religion 84 'Depth ecology' and the 5 viniyatas 85 Eco-art 88 Eco- rituals 89 PART 2: THE ENQUIRY 91 Relational Enquiry 91 The Title 92 The Research Questions 95 Modes of Research 96 Locations 97 My Individual RituaUArt Work and Collective Ritual 98 My ort proctice 99 Techniques and materials 99 Sources and Inspirations 99 Developmental processes series and studies 100 The generic forms 102 Representation or abstraction? 103 Ritual in the process of artmaking 104 PART 3: THE BODY OF WORK 105 Year One 105 'Exploring rituol' retreot, January 2001 105 Experimental ritual group, June- October 2001 109 'Sangha Mandala' ritual, November 01 111 'The Dance of the Elements', October 2001 I 12 Psycho-spiritual aspects 115 puja -ceilidhs 118 'confession holders' (200x 75 cm) paper and pine needles on Hessian 119 'fairy stone' 120 6 'skin' (32 x 21 cm, mixed media) 121 'confession' (50x35cm, mixed media) 123 Earth ritual retreat 124 Tara Mantra 125 Year Two 126 Ashes and Blessings: a series of work 126 'Left empty' (27x27cm, ashes and pigment on paper) 130 Ritual on FWBO day , April 03 132 'Implementing change' revisited 134 Wessak, May 2003 135 Blood sugar drawings 137 'Sangha' (20K38cm, watercolour) 139 A birthday present and solstice offering 140 Water ritual retreat, July 2003 141 Year Three 146 Gestures towards emptiness 147 'shrine piece' (65x67 cm, handmade montbretia paper) 153 Dharma (29cmx29cm, handmade paper, abacca,) 154 Parinirvana, February 2004 156 Textures of Impermanence 157 'Longing for water' (67x32cm, ashes and pulp on paper) 157 'Red now' ( 14K78cm, pulp and pigment on paper) 157 'Echo of red now' (86x28cm, pulp and pigment on paper) 158 In the rhythm of breathing I and 2 (32x8cm, paper pulp on paper, ink) 161 '60'h birthday' (59x59cm, montbretia paper pulp on paper, acrylic paint) 164 Fire ritual retreat 165 7 Year Four 169 'Healing Circle' I and 2 (42 x 42cm, handmade paper, blood, charcoal pencil) 169 Plate SOb 170 'Row of blood sugar readings' (30 x 21 cm, handmade paper, blood, charcoal pencil) 170 'Earth Mantra' (37 x 37cm, wood cellulose, pigments, acrylic ink, linen thread, on paper) 173 'Liquid Gifts' (45cm x 28cm, ashes, wood cellulose, pigment, acrylic ink) 177 'Granite Bowl '(36cm x 20cm, ashes, pigment, acrylic ink, wood cellulose) 179 'Blue Bowl' (42cm x 16cm, ashes, pigment, acrylic ink, wood cellulose) 179 'Treasure' (34cm x 34cm, mixed media on handmade paper) 181 'Sacred' (36x36cm, mixed media on hand made paper) 185 Life Spiral Project 186 Air Ritual 189 Jewellery (wood cellulose) 193 'White wheel' (45 cm diameter, handmade paper, pine needles, raffia) 194 'Stupa', (24 cm high, wood cellulose and pigments) 195 PART 4: THE JOURNEY TAKEN 197 The theoretical and experiential environment 198 My artwork 200 eo-emergence 202 Dreams and transformations 203 Looking ahead 205 Coda 209 GLOSSARY 211 LIST OF REFERENCES 212 Further Reading: 216 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND APPENDICES List of plates: Plates 2-10 page 100 - 118 Plates 11- 28d 119-137 Plates 40 - 49e 141 -162 Plates 50 - 62c 163-189 Plates 63a - f 199 Appendice 1 : CD with still images Append ice 2: CD with documentary film ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge financial assistance from Dartington College in the form of a part-time fee bursary. I received a 'Scotland Year of the Artist' and a 'You and your Community' award. I am very grateful to my supervisors, Professor Edward Cowie and Peter Bevan for all their support and inspiration. In particular, I would like to thank Edward Cowie for recognising my potential as a visual artist and for encouraging a multi-disciplinary, integrative approach to this research. Both he and his wife Heather have offered their expert advice and friendship most generously. I also wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to my life partner and artistic collaborator, Larry Butler, whose confidence in me and in the importance of the enquiry have been unflagging. Finally, a great Thank You to all the participants in my ritual retreats and workshops over the 4-year research period. 9 AUTHOR'S DECLARATION At no time during the registration for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy has the author been registered for any other University award without the prior agreement of the Graduate Committee. Presentations of art work: 2003: Exhibition at Glasgow Buddhist Centre 2004: Exhibition and research seminar at Dartington art gallery 2005: Exhibition at Botanic Garden Visitor's Centre, Glasgow Conferences: 2001: 'Scotland year of the Artist' conference in Edinburgh 2004: PARIP conference in Edinburgh 2005: Arts and ecology conference at Dartington College of arts Word count of main body of thesis: 60.000 Signed ... ~., S .... 0.7 ................. Date .... ~ ... ~ 10 INTRODUCTION Given the importance of my artwork as the core of my submission, I suggest that the reader may want to view the 'slideshow of main works' and the documentary (appendices 1 and 2), before engaging in any further reading; almost as if making the tour through an art gallery, before settling down to explore what led to the emergence of this work. The story I am starting with a short history of my life (one of many possible versions) to show the confluence of family background, religion, music, ecology and ritual that have led to my interest in the subject of my practice and my thesis. I invite the reader to take the time to get an impression of my life from its beginnings in Germany to the point of starting the research, to be able to view this project from my perspective. My parents were both "good Catholics" and there was not a Sunday that wouldn't have seen us in church. Not to go to church on a Sunday was seen as a minor sin, the accumulation of which would lead to a prolonged stay in purgatory. From between the age of 5 and 18, I must have attended about 850 church services, including extra ones at school; weddings; funerals, and when I played the organ for my first paid job as a teenager. The rhythm of the mass is still ingrained in my being: its Kyrie and Gloria, Sanctus and Benedictus; kneeling, standing, sitting on cue; the eternal sameness of the antiphonal dialogue between priest and congregation.
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