Kado – The Way of Flowers

Inteview with Dagmar Waldau

Trinkar Ötso, Director of Gampo Abbey in conversation with former Gampo Abbey resident and regular volunteer Dagmar Waldau.

Click here to see some upcoming workshops in North America and Europe. This list, of course, may not be complete.

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Trinkar:

How did you come to the practice of Ikebana?

Dagmar:

When I came back from the three-month retreat called seminary, I started doing prostrations. During this time, my practice with prostrations and everything was…I felt inspired, and I worked hard, but something was missing. What I felt was missing was a link between the practice and my life. 

Marcia Shibata, at this time, she was married to Kanjuro Shibata Sensei, (the XX Imperial Bow Maker to the Emperor of Japan) brought her sensei, and he was teaching Kyudo and Marcia started at the same time, to teach Kado. At first I did Kyudo, but that was complicated; you have to put on a certain glove and this outfit, and the whole thing to get everything together. Actually I couldn’t do this, and it was not what I was looking for. 

The next time they came again I thought maybe I would try Ikebana. And then there was something in it, I immediately felt connected. I think I felt connected because, through my upbringing, especially through my father, we were always in the forest. My father had a garden, not that he allowed me to help him in the garden, but I was always spending time outside. We went camping. So nature was always there in my upbringing; it was implanted in me. And through Ikebana, I felt, oh, there is something. I started slowly. That means Marcia came maybe once a year, more or less, to Germany. And then there were more people gathering. There was a group in Paris, I think Madrid, and Amsterdam. At this time I lived in Marburg, Germany.

More and more people came, Marcia started to develop a little bit of a curriculum and we were working on how to do a set up for the class. We developed more and more forms for this. And then what happened on a bigger picture was when Dechen Chöling in France happened, we all said, why don’t we meet in Dechen Chöling? 

Dagmar:

I often say that many of us started out making something nice and beautiful. Some people say, “oh we make arrangements, it’s Japanese” and they know this stuff, they have good taste and everything. But over time practicing this, it becomes a very clear mirror. It’s a mirror of my mind while doing this. I’ve often seen myself becoming impatient because there is one branch or something that’s not fitting, it’s not working, it’s too long, it’s too short. When you see yourself blaming a little tulip, then you get the feeling of a mirror.

In the beginning, my teacher. Marcia Shibata, always used the word Kado because she really wanted to make clear this is not the “flower girls”, this is serious business, so to speak! This is a serious practice. So Marcia always used that word. At one point, we started to use Ikebana again because this rings a bell for more people and we all had the feeling it’s more settled now. Flower warriors now. 

So, it’s not just about making nice flowers for an event or something. What I understand is that Trungpa Rinpoche saw the path quality and the wisdom behind it. 

Trinkar: 

What is the basic practice? 

Dagmar:

There are three elements that are the basis of every classical Ikebana flower arrangement. The heaven principle in the arrangement, this is the first step, the first stroke, we often say, in the flower arrangement. That is what sets the tone. And it doesn’t mean it has to be the biggest. It can be as thin as grass, or it can be a branch or a flower. But this is the first step or the first statement. 

And then after this, the earth is, let’s say, answering or picking up on this heaven stroke,  also it’s related in terms of length. Every earth element after heaven has a certain length, it’s half of the heaven length. 

And when you do an arrangement and you see your heaven principle and you see the earth and it’s kind of working, but it also feels like it needs something. And that’s the humanity principle. It makes the connection. 

So this is the ground, these three. And then in every flower arrangement, you have what’s called the helpers, they bring heaven, earth and humanity together. And the interesting thing is that these helpers, they’re not in competition with heaven, earth or humanity. 

The thing is that the whole thing—every branch, flower, and piece in the arrangement—finds its own place. So it’s often said to be a little universe in itself, a friendly, peaceful world where things work together and everyone has his or her place. 

Trinkar:

Is it similar to the process of learning to trust one’s own experience in meditation? 

Dagmar:

Yeah, I would say. I think that if we are not, as they say, if I am not too much in the way in my arrangement, my ideas, my jealousy… as more of this is disappearing, the more I can see what’s in front of me. 

Trinkar:

So it can be a gateway into meditation?

Dagmar:

When I was living in Hamburg, Germany, when we had a centre there, I was teaching regularly and we had people there, they saw our advertisement and they came and they kept doing Ikebana, with no meditation experience. 

So everyone gets this and then it’s up to people if they keep meditating, or not. And I think this is the deep wisdom in it, that everyone can really do it and practice Ikebana and can meditate and get an  “entrance” and a feeling of, let’s call it, inner trust and being able to see more clearly what’s going on inside of me, in front of me. 

The great thing is, sometimes they say it’s a Japanese art form, but my understanding is that it doesn’t have to do with art because you don’t need extra skills. If people can hold a cutter, and maybe even people who cannot hold a cutter, could do this. This is meditation. Basically, everyone can meditate, however we come along. 

Trinkar:

The practice is developing the capacity to see?

Dagmar:

Yes, to see detail. Yeah. It’s about branches and flowers and a flower arrangement. Seeing what’s there and how to work with this, learning to look at it and to appreciate it. Ikebana is about touching space. It’s not about how to fill it or how to take it; it’s more about showing it. We use this expression so that space is not ignored; we point toward it. We look at how to touch the space in the back of the flower arrangement, how to touch the space in front of the flower arrangement. So you kind of involve more and more space around. 

Trinkar:

What about the drala teachings? How do they relate? 

Dagmar

What I understand is that for every flower arrangement, there’s a process of making it,  and then there is, let’s say, the finishing of it. The flower arrangement is named Ikebana, meaning living flowers. It’s like picturing one moment. That moment stays as long as it’s fresh. When we allow ourselves to look in a way that we don’t immediately say “do I like it?” or “I don’t like all these things,” if we let it speak to us, then I think this feeling of nowness and directness, we make a connection with the dralas. 

Trinkar:

In Trungpa Rinpoche’s teachings, he has mentioned a few times about creating landing pads for drala. How does that relate with this practice?

Dagmar:

The way you cut branches, for example, and you take what you need, and you wouldn’t cut a whole bush down and leave half of it because you don’t like it. You are kind, friendly and very appreciative. You look for the material, then you treat it well. When you place the branches in your flower arrangement, you make sure that there’s already water in there, because everything that’s cut is already on its way to death. You keep the water clean; you make sure you present it with care and love. It’s basically presenting your heart and I think to present this is what a landing place for drala is. It’s taking care, with the details and with appreciation. You can communicate something, a feeling of space, a feeling of appreciation, a feeling of heart, all this is in there on a different level.

Trinkar:

And I’ve watched you so many days out collecting materials. Is that where the practice starts? Tell me about that experience of collecting. What do you see?

Dagmar:

When I walk around sometimes I see something that’s just, what can I say – they speak a lot by themselves immediately. There are branches that have certain movement and maybe they have a side branch, the whole thing is already so inviting. Sometimes it’s so clear how something is growing for an arrangement. You have something that really grows up on a bush, then you have something that’s a little more slanted, which can be the humanity in the arrangement. And then you look for something, maybe even from the same bush, that’s really low, that could be earth. One saying is that basically all material is workable. Like we say, all thoughts are workable! 

At one point, I ask What is real? I think flower arranging is about what is real. Because in this moment, you have something that’s direct. 

Trinkar:

To have a direct experience, in this case, with a natural material and slowing down, can this be revolutionary in some lives?

Dagmar:

Yes, because people can connect with that practice very easily. I’m always surprised that even after a first flower arrangement, even if people say, “Oh, I cannot do this, look, it’s not so good.” However, they get it very soon. There is something in us that all this practice, all the branches, and this natural material and whatever this is, they can all connect like this. Also, and this is something that is not in every meditation practice – you have a result! 

Trinkar:

So how would somebody get started?

Dagmar

There are books and there are drawings and there are many ideas about this. I think what I would recommend is to look for a teacher, look for an in-person program somewhere, maybe a weekend program.

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