Patricia Guernelli Palazzo Tsai
Methodist University of Sao Paulo
Communication Panel 01: Poetry, cinema and tai chi chuan
Patricia Guernelli Palazzo Tsai
Methodist University of Sao Paulo
PhD student in Religious Studies at UMESP. Visiting Scholar at the University of St. Andrews (2023/2024-1). Master in Religious Studies at UMESP. Member of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Politics, University of St. Andrews. Professor at the Pramāṇa Institute and Legal Director of the Buddha-Dharma Association. Co-founder of Sakyadhita São Paulo.
What was your face like before your parents gave birth to you? Exploring the relationship between śūnyatā and tathāgatagarbha in the poetry of Qiyuán Xínggāng.
The Chinese nun Qiyuan Xinggang (祇園行剛) (1597-1654), before becoming a Dharma lineage holder, devoted herself for many years to contemplating the meditation topic (公案, gōng' àn) “Meditate on what your face was like before your parents gave birth to you” (參父母未生前本來面目) – belonging to the category of the Sūtras of Prajn͂āpāramitā (般若波羅蜜多心經). Upon understanding its meaning, she composed a poem on how the topics of emptiness and Buddha nature are connected with the aforementioned 公案. This paper aims to present a translation of the poem, as well as an analysis of the topics mentioned, highlighting Qiyuán Xínggāng's discussion about the relationship between the concepts of śūnyatā (空性) and tathāgatagarbha (如来藏). In addition, the paper intends to show how Qiyuán Xínggāng's thought converses with the arguments of the Indian tradition of Kamalaśīla (c. 740-795), who in his work Madhyamakāloka, understands śūnyatā and tathāgatagarbha as equivalents, as well as the elements present in the Sermon on the Great Foundation (大本經; Skt. Mahāvadānasūtra), translated and commented by Plínio Tsai.
Marcus Pereira Novaes
Campinas State University
Communication Panel 01: Poetry, cinema and tai chi chuan
Marcus Pereira Novaes
Campinas State University
Marcus is affiliated with the Postdoctoral Research Program (PPPD) at Unicamp. He holds a PhD in Education (FE-Unicamp), is a researcher at the OLHO group (FE - Unicamp) and a researcher at the Transversal Group (FE - Unicamp). He is the editor of the Journal Leitura: Teoria & Prática (e-ISSN: 2317-0972). He provides teacher training with an emphasis on the Philosophies of Difference, Language, Literature, Cinema, Culture and Arts.
A pedagogy in Chinese cinema: childhoods between crystallized times and empty spaces
This proposal presents the hypothesis that Chinese cinema creates a unique pedagogy of images by intensively connecting sound and visual images, differentially constructing relationships between space and time. This pedagogy is powerful when combined with problematizations that build creative connections between aspects related to childhood and image-sound experiments. Filmmakers such as Kaige Chen, director of “100 Hidden Flowers” (2002) and “The King of Children” (1987), and Quek Shio Chuan, director of “Guang” (2018), modulate film images in which child characters have to constantly rethink their habits and reinvent their choices, due to an environment that is unfavorable to them. Due to their exhaustion and impossibility of escaping or reversing the story that crosses them, the characters, presented by these directors, are left to teach us how to see and hear between the images, between the sound and visual modulations that are expressed throughout the montage. In this way, these characters become pedagogues and teach us to see between the fragments of time and to hear between “empty spaces” — a type of shot created in Chinese cinema, closely connected to classical Chinese paintings —, leading us through a temporal perspective in which time seems to crystallize in the montage between images. As references for this work, in addition to thinking together about films made in China, we will focus on some Chinese researchers linked to the fields of philosophy and film studies such as Siying Duan, Kang Cao and Kin Yuen Wong, as well as some possible encounters between the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and some classical Chinese philosophers to deepen the relationships between childhood and cinema. Finally, it is worth mentioning that this proposal is linked to the post-doctoral project “A Crystal Pedagogy: ab-errant alliances in cinematographies of BRICS countries”, through which we seek to think about possible filmic and philosophical relationships between these countries, focusing on thinking, together with directors, about ethical-political problems that are expressed by their ideas when updated in audiovisual images; as well as seeking to learn from their child characters amidst the powers of the unknown.
Tiago Oviedo Frosi
Campinas State University
Communication Panel 01: Poetry, cinema and tai chi chuan
Tiago Oviedo Frosi
Campinas State University
Tiago Oviedo Frosi is a PhD candidate at FEF-UNICAMP. He holds a Master’s degree in Human Movement Sciences from ESEFID UFRGS, a specialization in Transpersonal Psychology from SPEI and a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from ESEFID UFRGS. He is a Karate, Taijiquan and Qigong instructor. He is the author of the books “Integrative Practices” and “Introduction to Shotokan Karate”. He researches the History and Sociology of Sports, as well as the confluences between Psychology and Asian Thought.
TAOIST INFLUENCES IN THE PRACTICE OF TÀIJÍ QUÁN
Practicing in accordance with the principle of Naturalness (Zìrán) is an idea present in all schools of Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan). Zìrán has its origins in cultural developments in ancient China. The ideas that make up Zìrán are recorded in Lǎozi's Classic of the Way and Virtue (Dàodé Jīng), the central book of the Taoist tradition, and have been disseminated in martial arts and self-cultivation practices over the past 2,500 years. Zìrán is a state of balance and stability. Imbalance would affect both the world and the human being, who are part of the same continuum. This worldview would influence many later developments, such as Taoism, around the 2nd century. Together with self-cultivation and divination practices, Taoism took deep root in China by introducing ideas that were simple, practical, and discussed to this day. These concepts permeate Chinese culture, including therapeutic body practices and martial arts practices - which later became different styles of wǔshù, especially the so-called internal schools (nèi jiā). The objective of this study is, therefore, to understand what Zìrán is according to historical records and the confluences of this classical thought with its representations in recent times, through statements by contemporary Tàijí quán instructors in documentary sources and digital media. The selected speeches are attributed to four nationally and internationally renowned Tàijí quán masters who have published books on the subject. The sources were analyzed in light of Cultural History and underwent Content Analysis for better interpretation of the prospected data. The Dàodé Jīng presents five occurrences of mentions and explanations of Zìrán. There are also countless mentions of Zìrán in the documents, as the ideal way to practice in alignment with the Dào. Likewise, we find, in the masters’ statements, an emphasis on seeking to carry out training in a state of balance and naturalness. We even identify what Zìrán would be in relation to combat tactics, represented in detail by the “intrinsic energies” practiced in tuīshǒu. In this case, we perceive a form of combat tactics quite distinct from that present in the most popular martial arts. We realize that the principle of Zìrán is present in the imagination of different generations of Tàijí quán practitioners, shaping training according to representations originating from cultural formulations that are thousands of years old. This is not only clear evidence of the processes of rationalization and ritualization of fighting practices, but also evidence of the appropriation and presence of elements of Taoism in martial arts. Understanding these processes can greatly assist the teaching of Chinese martial arts, avoiding distortions and the emptying of meanings of the historicity of these practices.
Ricardo Mazzeo
Campinas State University
Communication Panels 02: Dialogues with Yuk Hui and Chinese Philosophy
Ricardo Mazzeo
Campinas State University
Ricardo Mazzeo has a degree in History from UNIRIO - Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, and a master's degree in Religious Studies from UFJF - Federal University of Juiz de Fora. He is currently a PhD candidate in Social Sciences at UNICAMP - State University of Campinas. His areas of interest include themes related to the History of Religion, Theory of Religion, Religious Field, History of Protestantisms, History of the East, Eastern Thought, Protestantisms in the East, and Popular Religiosity in the East. He is currently developing research related to the reception of the classic Chinese work Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the figure of the Chinese God of War, Guan Yu, in Brazil and the West.
Reflections on the concept of Cosmotechnics and digitalization: between imperialisms, assimilations and reifications in the digital world.
The purpose of this essay is to understand the transformations that digitalization processes can bring about throughout the world. The current discussion about digitalization has roots that go back to the Heideggerian debate about the imposition or inevitability of the Western idea/model of technology on other societies. Although indirectly, this discussion would impose, based on digitalization, a homogenizing process in relation to the ways of thinking and acting in the digital space. Lev Manovich would talk about the logic of the interface and how digital tools built from the second half of the 20th century carry with them a specific worldview, in this case, created from the context of a Global North. Evidence of this would be exposed in the debates involving the lack of neutrality of some algorithms and AIs and that even reproduce absurd prejudices. If this premise is assumed as true, we could think of digitalization, to a greater or lesser extent, as a process of cultural imposition, or even as a form of imperialism. Evidently, such a complex issue could not be addressed in such a simple way. Based on Yuk Hui's reflections and the concept of Cosmotechnics, the basis for questioning this problem is developed. This author will reflect, based on the Chinese context, on how different ontological conceptions about the world have constructed different models, or different relationships with the idea of technology, reflecting on what the author defines as cosmotechnics. These reflections affect the weight given to Heidegger's understanding of the inevitability of the Western model of technology over other parts of the globe. Although it is imperative to discuss the problems involving algorithms and the reproduction of prejudices, among other cases, there is a root in the discussion about the variety of ontological understandings about the world to discuss how, in the most varied contexts, other relationships can be perceived in relation to the digital that cannot be reduced to a specific worldview. There would be, among local actors, from the most varied contexts, relationships and articulations that would make it possible to think of them not only as passive agents or mere receivers, but also as active agents constructing their own new relationships in the face of the emergence of digitalization. Reflecting on these questions is the proposition of this essay.
Tauan de Almeida Sousa
Campinas State University
Communication Panels 02: Dialogues with Yuk Hui and Chinese Philosophy
Tauan de Almeida Sousa
Campinas State University
PhD student in Social Sciences at the State University of Campinas. Master in Social Sciences from the Postgraduate Program in Social Sciences at the Federal University of Maranhão (2016). Bachelor and Licentiate in Social Sciences from the Federal University of Maranhão (2014). Works as a professor of Sociology at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Maranhão.
Thinking beyond the “Ruins” of the Anthropocene: Dialogues between Latin American social thought and contemporary Chinese philosophy
According to Professor Luiz Marques (2023), we are living in a decisive decade for structural societal changes to at least mitigate the consequences of rising global temperatures and other harmful processes. In this context, Débora Danowski and Eduardo Viveiros de Castro (2022) ask, “Is there a future to come?” The proposed presentation is part of the critical debates about the Anthropocene and seeks to present initial elements that can contribute to an answer, always provisional, to the following guiding question: what dialogues can we establish between contemporary Chinese philosophy and Latin American social thought in this search for such radical transformations? To this end, from the first field we borrow the reflections of Yuk Hui (2022) on technodiversity and cosmotechnics, as well as those of Zhao Tingyang (2016) and Shuchen Xiang (2023) on Tianxia and Chinese Cosmopolitanism, respectively; second, the debates on extractivism (Aráoz, 2020; Gudynas, 2018) and neo-extractivism (Svampa, 2019; Acselrad, 2018; Zhouri, Bolados, Castro, 2016), as well as on post-extractivism (Gudynas, 2016), Good Living (Acosta, 2016) and Rights of Nature (Gudynas, 2019). Considering that the Anthropocene is a symbol of a civilizational crisis, it is not permitted to imagine solutions that are guided by the ideals and practices developed in capitalist modernity, by the Global North. Thinking about possible futures is a collective task that requires other references that can go beyond anthropocentrism, the belief in infinite progress and development, and the separation between humanity and nature.
Eduardo Vichi Antunes
Campinas State University
Communication Panels 02: Dialogues with Yuk Hui and Chinese Philosophy
Eduardo Vichi Antunes
Campinas State University
He holds a Master's degree in Science and Technology Policy from the Institute of Geosciences at Unicamp and is a PhD candidate in Social Sciences at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences at the same university. His research focuses on the relationship between science, technology and Chinese philosophy.
Is there a properly cosmotechnical institutional arrangement?
Yuk Hui’s thinking has opened up a whole new universe in the field of philosophical studies on China based on the notions of cosmotechnics and technodiversity. In the political field, however, the most urgent practical question has not yet been satisfactorily discussed: if the current Chinese political system appears to be unwilling to accept a new understanding of technology, as the author himself states, what would be the alternative? To address this issue, it is necessary to complement Yuk’s work with that of other philosophers, and so we propose to investigate the proposals of Jiang Qing (“Confucian constitutionalism”) and Zhao Tingyang (“democracy based on knowledge”), both of which aim to reformulate both the Chinese and global political systems, in order to discover whether they are capable of pointing the way to the fulfillment of Yuk Hui’s cosmotechnic project.
©2024 por IX Colóquio de Filosofia Oriental da Unicamp
Grupo de Estudos Brasil-China