I'm really fascinated by the concept of hagiography. I see this as a blessing and a curse. As Jundo points out above, Dogen's most famous quote "dropping body and mind" is rather suspect in terms of history, but I do believe it does communicate an essence that may help us as practitioners. Nevertheless, care must be taken or the "idealism' will bite you and lead you further away from the truth.
Buddhist Geeks had a nice discussion of hagiography a number of weeks back and anyone who has further curiousity can check it out. http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2011/04...ell-ourselves/
The podcast stimulated me into thinking how hagiography has relevance to our own personal narrative. If anyone is interested I posted this in a blog elsewhere on the "internets":
was listening to a podcast the other day and the term hagiography was brought up. Hagiographies are essentially idealized stories. Many times they refer to religious or historical figures, but can also have application to personal narratives, which we all tell ourselves. Hagiographies can be inspirational and can communicate an “essence” that “just the facts” may miss. In the stories that we tell ourselves, about ourselves, we are often searching for “essence” and a great deal of psychological research suggests that memory is reconstructive and creative; past events are often recontextualized to fit present experience. How many times have we said to ourselves, “What was THAT all about?” and later make sense of the experience by fitting it into a category or ignoring it altogether. This is not necessarily bad as sometimes historical analysis may quite simply miss the “vibe.”
But…hagiographies can also be a burden. When objective facts hit us in the face it can be devastating and our idealism unravels. Sometimes we are saved by “THAT” broken piece of reality and it becomes oddly comforting. Our “What was THAT all about?” becomes recognizable as simply “THAT.”
But…hagiographies can also be a burden. When objective facts hit us in the face it can be devastating and our idealism unravels. Sometimes we are saved by “THAT” broken piece of reality and it becomes oddly comforting. Our “What was THAT all about?” becomes recognizable as simply “THAT.”
Leave a comment: