Jesse van Delft is a Buddhist theatre maker, teacher, and dramaturg. Her project HOLDING CLOUDS IS FUTILE stems from the desire to share the profound wisdom of the Buddhist Middle Way tradition in a tangible and direct manner. Its views and practices are, for her, a source of solace during challenging times, and they serve as a guide for cultivating flexibility and openness amidst misunderstandings. Her aspiration for this project is for others to encounter, experience, and derive their own insights from this transformative tradition.
Art and specifically performance can play a pivotal role in sharing Buddhist philosophies like the Middle Way tradition with modern minds. This is because concepts like dependent origination, impermanence and multiplicity aren’t meant to merely entertain intellectual minds; they are to be integrated into one’s entire being and perception. Because performance is an embodied practice, Jesse beliefs that it can support this integration.
Together with other artists, Jesse experiments with how this integration might look like in printed performances. In these performances one is both performer and spectator. The booklets are your script guiding you through different acts. The acts can be done in your own time with the daily surroundings as your stage. The acts invite for ‘light’ contemplations on Buddhist ideas. ‘Light’ in the sense that they are merely introducing one associatively to parts of it, recognizing that they cannot fully and accurately convey the entirety of this profound knowledge.
About the Middle Way Tradition
The Middle Way, or “Madhyamaka” tradition in Sanskrit, is a philosophical school of thought in Mahayana Buddhism. It was founded by the Indian philosopher Nagarjuna around the 2nd century CE and is characterised by a critical examination of the nature of reality. According to the Middle Way, phenomena exist out of many parts, are constantly changing and dependent on many factors. Whereas we perceive most things as singular, lasting, and independent. Intellectually we know that things are, for example, not lasting, but emotionally and habitually we often act in ways which are not in accord with these views. For example, we try to avoid losses and hold on to conclusions about ourselves and others for the sake of ‘safety’. This fixed way of perceiving is challenged by the tradition’s reflections and meditations. These practices eventually result in a more open, multiperspectival and non-determinate way of perceiving.
If you do want to dive into the Middle Way Tradition a bit deeper, you can explore the reading list.
Reading List
“The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching” by Thich Nhat Than(1998, Parallax Press)
“The Root Stanzas of the Middle Way” by Nagarjuna, trans. Padmakara Trans. Group (2022, Shambhala Publications)
“Into the Mirror” by Andy Karr (2023, Shambhala Publications)
“The Logic of Faith” by Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel (2018, Shambhala Publications)
“The Middle Way: Faith Grounded in Reason” by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (1997, Wisdom Publications)
Podcast “Open Question” by Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel (Middle Way Initiative)
Contact
Email:
jessevandelft@gmail.com
Adress:
Rembrandtkade 63-1
3583TT Utrecht, The Netherlands