{"id":991,"date":"2018-11-14T04:07:07","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T04:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=991"},"modified":"2020-12-19T23:52:07","modified_gmt":"2020-12-19T18:22:07","slug":"the-theater-director-the-acting-coach-and-the-actors-ego-vijay-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=991","title":{"rendered":"The Theater Director, the Acting Coach, and the Actor\u2019s Ego"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Introduction<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cSo, my dear student actor,<\/p>\n<p>do you just want me to teach you<\/p>\n<p>what <strong>YOU<\/strong> want me to teach you?<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps, <strong>YOU<\/strong> want to first teach me WHAT<\/p>\n<p><strong>YOU<\/strong> think <strong>I<\/strong> must teach you<\/p>\n<p>\u2014and HOW!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many might have heard or read that charming, old Zen story about the cup being full. For those who haven\u2019t, here is a short version:<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.101zenstories.org\/a-cup-of-tea\/\">A Cup of Tea<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor\u2019s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. \u201cIt is overfull. No more will go in!\u201d \u201cLike this cup,\u201d Nan-in said, \u201cyou are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I happened to watch a quirky and somewhat funny <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/jIg7vwb8rEM\">short film<\/a> (of less than four minutes) that was made based on this story, and this short film had this interesting turn of phrase for one of its dialogs:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1003\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?attachment_id=1003\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/The-cup-is-full.png\" data-orig-size=\"1137,647\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/The-cup-is-full-1024x583.png\" class=\" wp-image-1003 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/The-cup-is-full-300x171.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"508\" height=\"290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/The-cup-is-full-300x171.png 300w, https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/The-cup-is-full-768x437.png 768w, https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/The-cup-is-full-1024x583.png 1024w, https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/The-cup-is-full.png 1137w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 508px) 100vw, 508px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In theater and acting, much like in several other art-related fields, often does one come across young (and sometimes not-so-young) enthusiasts who are like the professor in the Zen story\u2014except that the professor might be reasonably expected to have at least some substantial actual learning to back up his confidence with. Quite frequently, these enthusiasts are also like the young man in the short film, coming as they do with whimsical, arbitrary, and completely unrealistic expectations from the theater, and as an extension, from theater directors and acting coaches.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"A Cup of Tea - Zen Story (Short Film 2014)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jIg7vwb8rEM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, one wonders whether these enthusiasts have evolved a mental picture of theater and acting, theater directors, and acting coaches based on half-baked and caricatural representations of theater and its practitioners. The following are two such representations that immediately come to mind:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The eccentric <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Pk8n62pW8WM\">theater director<\/a> character played by Prathap Pothen in the yesteryear film \u201cVarumaiyin Niram Sivappu,\u201d directed by none other than K. Balachander<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1008\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?attachment_id=1008\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/hqdefault.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"480,360\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/hqdefault.jpg\" class=\" wp-image-1008 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/hqdefault-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"438\" height=\"328\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/hqdefault-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/hqdefault.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 438px) 100vw, 438px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The equally (if not more) eccentric <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/zWwODbtfiLg\">acting coach<\/a> character played more recently by Guru Somasundaram in the film \u201cJigarthanda,\u201d directed by Karthik Subburaj.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1005\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?attachment_id=1005\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/14CP_Jigarthand21cp_Jigar_2.JPG.jp_.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"660,462\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/14CP_Jigarthand21cp_Jigar_2.JPG.jp_.jpg\" class=\" wp-image-1005 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/14CP_Jigarthand21cp_Jigar_2.JPG.jp_-300x210.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"449\" height=\"314\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/14CP_Jigarthand21cp_Jigar_2.JPG.jp_-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/14CP_Jigarthand21cp_Jigar_2.JPG.jp_.jpg 660w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 449px) 100vw, 449px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The irony is striking in both these cases because both Balachander and Guru Somasundaram are known to have had a strong background in theater before they came to films.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps based on such misleading representations of theater, theater directors, and acting coaches in popular imagination, the theater enthusiast-turned-aspirant assumes\u2014on being allowed to be part of a theater group or workshop for the first time\u2014that he or she may specifically pick and choose and order theater lessons and training experiences customized to his or her own starry-eyed whims\u2014as if ordering a fancy dinner at a fine-dining restaurant <em>\u00e0 la carte<\/em>\u2014quite clearly not even considering the possibility that theater directors, acting coaches, and senior practitioners might, after all, have a more well-rounded and comprehensive understanding of the art form and, hence, know what is good for the novice.<\/p>\n<p>This huge misconception\u2014that one could dictate what, and how, one shall be taught\u2014lies at the root of the common malady of many a genuine and otherwise promising theater aspirant not blossoming into a full-fledged theater artiste, as he or she should and could, but, instead, ending up as yet another lopsided, under trained, underdeveloped, insufficiently informed, but hugely opinionated and highly self-assured <em>wannabe<\/em>!<\/p>\n<p>This essay attempts to throw light on some of the basic aspects of authentic and in-depth theater training, by way of elaborating on a few fundamental assumptions, ground realities, and approaches so that both theater enthusiasts and aspirants looking to enter the field and junior students who have just entered the field and are beginning to learn the ropes under an able teacher\u2019s tutelage might benefit from the resultant clarity of perspective and, thereby, evolve the correct understanding about theater and theater training and have the right expectations right from the start.<\/p>\n<h2>The Theater Director<\/h2>\n<p>One of the ways in which the theater director\u2019s job may be described and understood is that, at a high level, it is to ensure the <em>intellectual<\/em>, <em>technical<\/em>, and <em>aesthetic unity<\/em> of the play, by <em>directing<\/em> the energies of these discrete forces in a concerted and aligned manner toward the ultimate realization of the <em>vision<\/em> of the playwright.<\/p>\n<p>Of course for purposes of both creativity and practicality, the word <em>intellectual<\/em> in this context must be understood in its expanded scope of meaning, which would include all dimensions and reaches of the human mental faculty\u2014including considerations spanning the emotional, the psychological, the sociological, the moral, the religious, the philosophical, and even the spiritual.<\/p>\n<p>Seen from this perspective and strictly speaking, contrary to widely held assumptions, it is decidedly <em>not<\/em> the theater director\u2019s responsibility to be coaching actors on acting. He or she might merely harness, employ, and <em>direct<\/em> actors\u2019 <em>already developed<\/em> abilities and skills toward the larger goal of the vision of the play.<\/p>\n<p>That said, considering the ground reality of the state of theater in several parts of the world, surviving as it does by the tireless work of passionate \u201camateurs\u201d\u2014those who practice it not for the money, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/amateur\">for the love of it<\/a>\u2014it is not practically viable for theater groups to have dedicated acting coaches, as a result of which directors often feel <em>obligated<\/em> to double up as acting coaches. However, this is not an ideal scenario owing to the following reasons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A director doubling up as an acting coach will necessarily take away from his or her focus on the job of directing the play under production.<\/li>\n<li>The role of the acting coach is essentially different from that of the director, and not every director might possess the traits required to be an acting coach (and <em>vice versa<\/em>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As a matter of fact, some directors work almost exclusively with trained, experienced actors so that they do not end up having to shoulder the responsibilities of an acting coach, as well, handholding and chaperoning the clueless-but-overenthusiastic (and also often pointlessly rebellious) tyros when they should really be spending their energies on more core directorial responsibilities, starting from ideation.<\/p>\n<p>Considering all the above, theater aspirants and beginner students would do well to realize that they cannot realistically always expect that the director of the play that they may have been lucky enough to be cast in will provide them any acting training, <em>per se<\/em>. <em>If<\/em> the director doubles up as an acting coach, these students might do well to be smart enough to make good use of the learning, but they should still remember that the director will still likely be providing them only with whatever is required for the character in the play currently under production.<\/p>\n<p>In one line, general actor training is not the director\u2019s business; don\u2019t expect the director to teach you acting. (By comparison, as you will see in the following sections, don\u2019t expect the acting coach to teach you <em>only<\/em> acting.)<\/p>\n<h2>The Acting Coach<\/h2>\n<p>Enter &#8230; &nbsp;(drumroll) the acting coach!<\/p>\n<p>And things are no longer going to be the same\u2014that is, <em>if<\/em> the student actor resists the temptation to teach the teacher what to teach\u2014and how.<\/p>\n<p>A <em>director<\/em> can afford to maintain a sort of aloofness and distance from the actors right from the start. In fact, being a director might even work better that way. Instructions stand a better chance of being carried out without question. A greater sense of order prevails in the rehearsal space, and an aura of general reverence for and unquestioning obedience to the director can also be built and kept intact.<\/p>\n<p>Not so for the acting coach!<\/p>\n<p>For an acting coach, everything is completely different. One has to be more open, approachable, and engaging on a personal level. After all, it is not just a mechanical skill that the acting coach is trying to impart in the student; it is, in its essence, almost like a spiritual initiation.<\/p>\n<p>The acting coach has to get right down to the very building blocks of the student&#8217;s base personality\u2014the upbringing; the socioeconomic background that the student comes from; the value systems and belief systems held; the complexes, fears, and delusions of the mind; and so on\u2014so as to help the student break out of the constraining influence of the singular worldview that the base personality imposes on the student&#8217;s outlook. For example, a student from a family of super-rich entrepreneurs and a student from a family of working-class parents might understand the same script or the same character differently unless they are made aware of their own mental processes and the possible, resultant prejudices, biases, and blind spots. (This is why there can be no such thing as an acting coach teaching a student <em>only <\/em>acting. While helping the student actor work on his or her self, or ego\u2014more of which is to follow in the subsequent section\u2014a passionate acting coach can teach, if the student is ready, an entire gamut of things ranging from <em>how to think<\/em> to <em>how to love<\/em> to <em>how to grieve<\/em> to <em>how to forgive<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<p>For student actors, developing an ability to reconsider, set aside, challenge, and even break out of one&#8217;s base personality is absolutely essential. Because the actor&#8217;s entire being\u2014body, voice, mind, and intellect\u2014is the instrument through which the art springs forth, there is bound to be an immediate and sharp resistance on the part of <em>some<\/em> student actors when a teacher draws close to examining, let alone challenging, the student&#8217;s base personality and closely held values and beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>But any teacher worth the name cannot escape that responsibility. If this layer of resistance or defensiveness in the student is not molted or broken, the student will never blossom into a <em>versatile<\/em> artiste but merely continue to play himself or herself over and over again. Because the base personality has remained unchallenged and hence undeveloped or underdeveloped, it will keep on manifesting itself regardless of whatever character is given to it, also in the process inadvertently hijacking the vision of any play to serve the actor\u2019s own narcissistic tendencies.<\/p>\n<p>Here comes an acute dilemma for the acting teacher: Should he or she forcefully break this shell of resistance for the student or not?<\/p>\n<p>Ideally not, because even that can adversely affect the student&#8217;s <em>mind<\/em>, which is part of the instrument to be used by the budding artiste in him or her. As they say, whether the egg is broken open from the outside or the inside can make all the difference between life and death! Another apt metaphor for the sensitive and intrinsically motivated student is the story of <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/4majrQ6pOuY\">the boy and the butterfly<\/a>. For this type of student, the teacher should ideally take a certain gentle, tender, and minimally intrusive approach.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4majrQ6pOuY&#038;feature=youtu.be<\/p>\n<p>Ideally, the teacher, through discussions over intense discussions, must just keep nudging and encouraging the student to break the shell by himself or herself. The teacher might <em>help<\/em> the student break it, but without the student&#8217;s genuine interest and <em>active<\/em> participation in the process, the exercise is going to go nowhere.<\/p>\n<p>Also, students are of different types. In some instances, if the student is capable, willing, and ready to take a little bit of vehemence in force-breaking open the shell, the teacher may occasionally try to push the limits a little further, but even then, the vehemence of conviction might be misunderstood as just plain brute force by the student, and the student might shrink back forever or develop greater resistance to challenge or change.<\/p>\n<p>Less frequently, if\u2014and <em>only if<\/em>\u2014the student is found to have what it takes to become a good actor, in terms of aptitude, but to be lacking in terms of the right attitude, strength, or will to break the shell by himself or herself, the teacher might rarely, even at the risk of being misunderstood or detested by the student in the short term, have to deal a few hard blows to the shell to develop fault lines so that the student can subsequently break the shell further by his or her own effort, and at his or her own pace. This is certainly not the easiest thing to do for most acting teachers, but is something that the teacher owes not even to the student but to the art form itself. The way <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/MHDa_7Zl0ls\">the boxing coach, played by Madhavan, deals with a talented-but-flippant student<\/a> in the movie \u201cIrudhi Suttru,\u201d makes for a very poignant parallel here.<\/p>\n<p>This is where, and perhaps why, some acting coaches are tempted to take the relatively easier route and just play the role of a director, taking up a play, scene, or character and <em>showing<\/em> how to perform <em>for that particular sample<\/em> rather than helping the students turn inward and start work on the self so that they can subsequently shatter the hard shell of the ego and liberate the artiste trapped inside of themselves.<\/p>\n<p>To sum up, a director can be anything between a boss and a leader. An acting coach, though, is a guru. A boss or a leader has a mission to be accomplished\u2014very likely the current project, the play under production\u2014through you, making use of you.<\/p>\n<p>For a guru, <em>you are the mission<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h2>The Actor\u2019s Ego<\/h2>\n<p>All other definitions of the word <em>ego<\/em> aside, this essay uses the word\u2014and the associated phrase <em>the actor\u2019s ego<\/em>\u2014in a certain sense.<\/p>\n<p>Right at the outset, do note that, in the context of this essay, the word is not meant to be understood in terms of its popular usage (which frequently has an associated negative connotation, such as what words such as <em>egoism<\/em>, <em>egotism<\/em>, or <em>egocentric<\/em> suggest), nor has it been derived from that famous triptych of Freudian psychology\u2014Id, Ego, and Superego\u2014although parallels, overlaps, and similarities are not ruled out.<\/p>\n<p>An actor\u2019s current personality, sense of self, or overall self-identity\u2014including mannerisms, values, beliefs, outlooks, dreams, fears, quirks, idiosyncrasies, ideals, virtues, vices, and so on\u2014may be collectively referred to as the actor\u2019s ego, the actor\u2019s <em>I<\/em>. This, in many ways, is the net result of all the decisions made for the person (either by himself or herself or, in early childhood and adolescence, made on his or her behalf by parents, siblings, relatives, neighbors, teachers, classmates, friends, society, the world at large) <em>and<\/em> the life experiences that the person has gone through from the time of conception up until the present moment.<\/p>\n<p>A serious part of actor training involves helping the student actor realize that his or her current <em>I<\/em> is only one of practically infinite number of possibilities. <em>If<\/em>, instead of being born in a struggling middle-class family in Rameswaram in Tamilnadu, for instance, the person had been born just a few hundred kilometers south-east in war-torn Srilanka, he or she would have turned out\u2014understandably indeed\u2014to be a person with a completely different sense of <em>I<\/em>, with a correspondingly different worldview. It follows logically then that if an actor has to portray a character from war-torn Srilanka with any degree of truthfulness, it is not sufficient to research into the external circumstances that the character faced but also be able to chart the inner life of such a character. For this, an actor needs to be able to do two things, at will and on demand:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Temporarily negate his or her own ego.<\/li>\n<li>Assume the ego of the character that he or she needs to portray.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1095\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?attachment_id=1095\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/overflowing-cup.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"500,395\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Danielle Pigeon&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/overflowing-cup.jpg\" class=\" wp-image-1095 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/overflowing-cup-300x237.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"509\" height=\"402\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/overflowing-cup-300x237.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/overflowing-cup.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 509px) 100vw, 509px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Much easier said than done!<\/p>\n<p>Before a student actor can be trained to assume the ego of a character in a play, he or she must first be <em>trained<\/em> to negate his or her own ego\u2014at will, on demand, and whenever required.<\/p>\n<p>While an <em>intellectual<\/em> understanding of the need for negating one\u2019s own ego is understood relatively easily by any student actor of slightly above-average intelligence, putting this understanding into practice can be incredibly difficult, because the student\u2019s psychological defense mechanism will kick in and put up an immediate and sharp resistance to the process, as has been pointed out in the preceding section. This is where the firm guidance of an experienced acting coach can become indispensable.<\/p>\n<p>The way the acting coach might explain and proceed with <em>taking apart<\/em> the actor\u2019s ego and the layers of resistance in the student may be explained allegorically, as follows:<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s liken the current state of the student actor\u2019s ego to a child\u2019s toy car made up of pieces from a building set. The parents of the child have gifted it with the building set, and the building set came in the form of a toy car, out of the box. The child has been playing with the toy car happily ever since, without ever realizing that the car is just <em>one of the many possible shapes<\/em> from the building set that it has been gifted with. Then, one day, along comes an older cousin and sets out to <em>take apart<\/em> the toy car, piece by piece. Initially, the child is bound to think that his or her toy car is being <em>broken<\/em> or <em>destroyed<\/em>. Obviously, the child will not cooperate but only resist! However, when the older cousin manages to explain, demonstrate, or otherwise convince the child that the gift that the child originally received was not a toy car but a <em>building set<\/em> with which one could fashion <em>any shape<\/em>, including but not limited to the car, the child slowly realizes the magic of the building set and then, willingly involves itself in the activity of <em>taking apart<\/em> the shapes of the building set, only to think of newer and newer shapes and possibilities. Once the child has learned that he or she could put together the toy car at any time, the child is no longer obsessively attached to it, but is actually now fascinated by the versatility of the building set he or she owns.<\/p>\n<p>In the story, the pieces of the building set are rather limited and they are put together, <em>physically<\/em>, in a limited set of ways. The pieces that constitute the actor\u2019s ego, though, are numerous, and when the actor temporarily negates the ego, he or she is, in essence, <em>taking apart<\/em> the pieces <em>mentally<\/em>, only to rearrange them\u2014by employing the power of imagination\u2014in one of a million ways in order to create, or assume, the character\u2019s ego.<\/p>\n<p>After the shows are over, the actor can always go back to his or her favorite \u201ctoy car\u201d!<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>At the end of the essay, the following might be some of the takeaway points, at a high level:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The theater director and the acting coach are essentially different roles.<\/li>\n<li>The two roles might be performed by the same person at different times, but still, when wearing the director\u2019s hat, the person\u2019s focus will be toward the vision of the play and not on training the actors.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t expect the theater director to teach you acting.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t expect the acting coach to teach you <em>only <\/em>acting<em>.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li>For the acting coach, <em>you are the mission<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>The focus of the acting coach is to help you break the shell of ego and liberate the potential artiste trapped inside.<\/li>\n<li>You need training to be able to temporarily negate your actor\u2019s ego before you can assume your character\u2019s ego.<\/li>\n<li>Because students are of different types, from those who molt the layer of the actor\u2019s ego smoothly to those who put up a hard shell of resistance, the acting coach will also have to choose an appropriate approach, in the interest not only of the student but also of the art form.<\/li>\n<li>Choosing what specific theater lessons and training experiences each student actor needs is thus the prerogative of the acting coach, and the student does not get to pick and choose the what and the how\u2014at least not in the initial stages or until the student has developed a basic sense of art.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction \u201cSo, my dear student actor, do you just want me to teach you what YOU want me to teach you? Perhaps, YOU want to first teach me WHAT YOU think I must teach you \u2014and HOW!\u201d Many might have heard or read that charming, old Zen story about the cup being full. For those [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":1095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,34],"tags":[285,42],"class_list":["post-991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-on-films-english","tag-vijay-s","tag-42"],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":307,"url":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=307","url_meta":{"origin":991,"position":0},"title":"Football, FIFA and A Russian Summer","author":"\u0b9a\u0bc6\u0ba8\u0bcd\u0ba4\u0bbf\u0bb2\u0bcd\u0b95\u0bc1\u0bae\u0bbe\u0bb0\u0bcd","date":"13.08.18","format":false,"excerpt":"To put it simply, football is the undisputed king of sports in terms of viewership at 3.5 billion views per world cup. Olympics, is a distant third after Tour de France at 2 billion views. O jogo bonito or the beautiful game is the most popular sport in the planet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;English&quot;","block_context":{"text":"English","link":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/fifa-fifa-chempionata-mira-2018-rossiia-2018-chm-v-rossii-wo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/fifa-fifa-chempionata-mira-2018-rossiia-2018-chm-v-rossii-wo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/fifa-fifa-chempionata-mira-2018-rossiia-2018-chm-v-rossii-wo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/fifa-fifa-chempionata-mira-2018-rossiia-2018-chm-v-rossii-wo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/fifa-fifa-chempionata-mira-2018-rossiia-2018-chm-v-rossii-wo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12061,"url":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=12061","url_meta":{"origin":991,"position":1},"title":"The Impersonal Personhood: An Alternative Buddhist Perspective","author":"\u0bb5\u0bbf.\u0b85\u0bae\u0bb2\u0ba9\u0bcd \u0bb8\u0bcd\u0b9f\u0bc7\u0ba9\u0bcd\u0bb2\u0bbf","date":"01.07.23","format":false,"excerpt":"Is it truly possible to live impersonally? Is it humanly possible? Is it necessary to be so in the first place? This book is the direct result of those words that acted as a trigger- to not take anything personally. Out of the blue, there was a revelation; an epiphany\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;English&quot;","block_context":{"text":"English","link":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/5793351958_04ca9cf1f7_o.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/5793351958_04ca9cf1f7_o.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/5793351958_04ca9cf1f7_o.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/5793351958_04ca9cf1f7_o.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/5793351958_04ca9cf1f7_o.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":188,"url":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=188","url_meta":{"origin":991,"position":2},"title":"Changing Trends in Football","author":"Rajanna","date":"09.07.18","format":false,"excerpt":"Football, the most played and most watched game in the world, is currently celebrating its carnival season in Russia. The once-in-four-years carnival usually throws a lot of surprises. In Russia 2018, Germany, Argentina, Spain have already been eliminated at the early stages. While elimination of major players happens infrequently in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;English&quot;","block_context":{"text":"English","link":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/udxvfcvyhqtfgvxoa8sn.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/udxvfcvyhqtfgvxoa8sn.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/udxvfcvyhqtfgvxoa8sn.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/udxvfcvyhqtfgvxoa8sn.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2376,"url":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=2376","url_meta":{"origin":991,"position":3},"title":"The Ba in the Bapu (Part 5)","author":"\u0ba4. \u0b95\u0ba3\u0bcd\u0ba3\u0ba9\u0bcd","date":"20.04.19","format":false,"excerpt":"To Read: First Part:\u00a0https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/2018\/11\/14\/the-ba-in-the-bapu-kannan-t\/ Second Part:\u00a0https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/2019\/01\/13\/the-ba-in-the-bapu-part-2-kannan-t\/ Third Part:\u00a0https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/2019\/02\/17\/the-ba-in-the-bapu-part-3-kannan-t\/ Fourth Part:\u00a0https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/2019\/03\/18\/the-ba-in-the-bapu-part-4-kannan-t\/ (15) Gandhi later headed off to the round table conference at London. When he returned as a disappointed man to Bombay on 28 December 1931, more arrests were awaiting him and the nation. He was arrested on January 4th, 1932.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;English&quot;","block_context":{"text":"English","link":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/BN-MC287_IGANDH_GS_20160114004934.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/BN-MC287_IGANDH_GS_20160114004934.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/BN-MC287_IGANDH_GS_20160114004934.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12388,"url":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=12388","url_meta":{"origin":991,"position":4},"title":"An Exclusive Interview With J. Krishnamurti","author":"J.Krishnamurti","date":"17.01.24","format":false,"excerpt":"This interview was taken for East West Journal by Catherine Ingram and Leonard Jacobs on July, 1983. EWJ: Even though one is still suffering, is it possible to help others who are suffering? K: Why not? Though I may be suffering and you may be suffering, why not? That is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;English&quot;","block_context":{"text":"English","link":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/black-and-white-photograph-of-a-smiling-j-krishnamurti-looking-at-the-camera.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/black-and-white-photograph-of-a-smiling-j-krishnamurti-looking-at-the-camera.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/black-and-white-photograph-of-a-smiling-j-krishnamurti-looking-at-the-camera.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/black-and-white-photograph-of-a-smiling-j-krishnamurti-looking-at-the-camera.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7233,"url":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?p=7233","url_meta":{"origin":991,"position":5},"title":"What if our Ordinary Experience is all that matters?","author":"Stephen Batchelor","date":"27.02.21","format":false,"excerpt":"Stephen Batchelor poses the classical Zen question, \u201cWhat is this?\u201d The answer, he says, is right in front of us. Each time I sit down on a cushion and pay attention to what is happening, I find myself utterly incapable of putting whatever it is I\u2019m experiencing into words. There\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;English&quot;","block_context":{"text":"English","link":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/B_5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/B_5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/B_5.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/overflowing-cup.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=991"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6583,"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991\/revisions\/6583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamizhini.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}