In search of the present time Kankyo Tannier

In a few years, Kankyo Tannier has become a star nun. Is it compatible? Difficult to judge. In her forties, she was ordained a Buddhist nun in 2002, in the Soto Zen tradition. Passionate about horses and the voice (she incorporates chanting of Buddhist mantras into her courses), she teaches meditation, gives conferences, writes a blog on the Huffingtonpost website and writes books for the general public. In search of the present time, a nod to Marcel Proust, does not make our past emerge from a madeleine dipped in a cup of tea. Kankyo Tannier does not try to plunge us into our memories or send us to a psychoanalyst. She also warns us against the misdeeds of personal development, which can lead to “hyper-psychologization”: “For some people, each event in life becomes subject to analysis, dissertation, rationalization. Undoubtedly, some discoveries are correct, but at what cost! While we were thinking, life passed in front of us, incognito,” she warns.

“I would like so much, like Buddha, to sit at the foot of a tree for 49 days and achieve enlightenment (…) And then, I stub my toe against a piece of furniture, like that famous Chinese Zen master, and come back to earth in my normal condition. Ouch! »

His credo is the present moment. To access it, she invites us on a journey in her company, nourished by her personal experiences. She does not hesitate to practice self-mockery to desacralize her function and show that, nun as she is, the pitfalls of ordinary life catch up with her. “I would like so much, like Buddha, to sit at the foot of a tree for 49 days and achieve enlightenment (…) And then, I stub my toe against a piece of furniture, like that famous Chinese Zen master, and come back to earth in my normal condition. Ouch! »

The rituals of digital freedom

With humor and joie de vivre, Kankyo Tannier gives advice on practices and simple rituals to apply. For example, walking meditation (kinhin), creating an altar at home (with a picture of an inspiring person or landscape, flowers, an incense pot, a container for the offering of water ). Or the ritual of hitchhiking, inspired by his need to make the link between his life at the monastery zen and the more hectic one in the heart of the student district of Strasbourg. “Pause what you are doing, breathe and become aware of your body. In this way, the mind suddenly disconnects, and the ritual of stopping allows you to be in the present moment again. Note this chapter that would have made Buddha smile: “Me, myself and my phone: how to regain your freedom? “, integrating some “rituals of digital freedom” while benevolence for our contemporary addictions.

The fundamentals of the Dharma (teaching of the Buddha) are however too diluted here to be able to classify this work in the category of books on Buddhism. By "distilling bubbles of spirituality in everyday life", Kankyo Tannier tries above all to create a link between the general public and Buddhism.