An actor and a monk: discovering and navigating impulses

Abstract

This diagram is excerpted from my MFA thesis The Awakened Attention Acting Paradigm: A psychophysical approach to actor training through meditation techniques . This illustration outlines how we can adapt and utilise meditation practices in actor training. It articulates the similarities between the mechanisms both Buddhist monks and actors use in their practice, drawing a comparison between their purposes. In my work, I use the phrase conscious attention to describe the attention that accompanies awareness of one ’ s thoughts and feelings in the moment. In Buddhist meditation, a monk focuses their conscious attention on the six sense bases (Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body, Mind). In the Buddhist philosophy when our sense bases come into contact with a sense object (visible objects, sound, odours, taste, sensations, and mind objects) a consciousness arises that leads us to a feeling (MN 148 1998). By being mindful of the six sense bases in their meditation practice the monks can detach themselves from these feelings or impulses. The idea of impulse has been discussed as one of the primary elements in actor training. Stanislavski (2013) discussed inner impulse with truthfulness; Chekhov (Rushe 2019) talks about impulse with desire, or in other words will desire; Demidov (2016) identi fi ed yielding to impulse as one of the essences of his practice. We encourage actors to be conscious of