The Zen of Making
How can we be creative everyday? In reality, many of us use extraordinary
skills on a daily basis. A panwala
swaying slowly while his quicksilver hands wrap a pan into a gilori with
mesmerizing elegance, a carpenter who brings a plank of wood he is planing, to
eye level to check its perfect, a potter
who centres a wad of clay and then effortlessly lifts it into a symmetrical
pot, a surgeon who closes up a cut in a rhythm of knotted stitches, a cook
slicing onions into uniform rings, a hairdresser whose scissors deftly style a
mop into a sculpted form. The list seems
endless. It’s the “without realizing”
that prevents us from feeling creative.
One of the ways in which objects or actions are valued is by the
naming of them. The hand gestures or mudras of classical kathak dance each have
very specific names. Buying a paan called “un se na kehna” (don’t tell my partner) from the famous PIDC
paan shop in Karachi added fun to the experience.
lagawaT ki ada se un ka kahna
pan hazir hai
qayamat hai sitam hai dil fida
hai jaan hazir hai Akbar
Allahbadi
(The
alluring way you said here is the paan
It’s
the end of the world, its cruelty, I am smitten – I offer my life to you)
Naming also becomes a sharing of creative intention. In the 30s, Maulvi Abdul Haq, known as the
father of Urdu, fulfilled a 25 year long dream by commissioning Maulvi Zafarur
Rehman Dehlvi to travel the length and breadth of India to collect
terminologies used by artisans. It resulted in a treasure in 8 volumes called
“istalahaat e peshawaraan” ( terminolgy
of artisans) that needs to be pulled off dusty shelves, republished and
translated to share with the world. Pesha e Maymari or architecture, Ara
kashi working with a saw, Chilmun
sazi bedroom furniture, khakrobi , sweepers,
kashti rani or boatbuilding , tayyari e paposh or shoemaking, zar baafi or working with gold thread, shireeni
saazi or preparing sweetmeats, making jewelry, clothing, musical instruments
and gardening and even terms used by criminals.
The Japanese understand that by naming actions these are not only
organized and recognized but also acquire a spiritual significance. The
practice of "kintsugi" or repairing with gold, is an art form that joins
broken pottery with golden lacquer, drawing attention to the breaks. In this
way the broken pot represents our own resilience in the face of misfortune. Kintsugi generated the Bunka cultural movement
which gave rise to ceremonies like Sado, the tea ceremony and ikebana, flower
arrangements, reflecting the Zen
philosophy of wabi-sabi (beauty in simplicity).
Just as making aesthetically balanced things can place us in a reflective
awareness, it is equally restful to watch someone making something, whether
simply watching someone neatly sweep the area outside their shop, henna pattern applied to one’s palm, a
florist making a garland of jasmine and roses, a gardener transferring a plant
from a pot to a flowerbed, a crane lifting heavy building material to the top
of a building, or machines weaving
cloth in a mill.
The internet is full of videos titled “Stressful Day? Take A Deep Breath And Watch
This Video Of An Artisan Putting Together A Wallet” “A Great Way To Calm Your
Mind: Watch Japanese Craftsmen Make Paper By Hand” Many learn to heal by
immersing themselves in some activity - knitting quilting or golf.
The Zen master, Koun Yamada, reminds us “the practice of Zen is
forgetting the self in the act of uniting with something”.
Durriya Kazi
March 17, 2019
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