The Arts
Zen and Funambulism
by Andrea Loreni
Zen and funambolism by Andrea Loreni: the most famous tightrope walker in Italy, Andrea Loreni, talks about his formation journey in Japan and his approach to Zen philosophy. He came back to the Zen Temple to make an exhibition in honour of Roshi, the Master. Andrea Loreni talks about the tightrope walking’s techniques, the fear he feels, the sense of emptiness, of loss, but also of relief and joy that he experiences at each performance. In this book he recounts his experience at the Sogen-ji Monastery in Japan, where he learned the art of Zen meditation; the story of the return to the Temple where he made the crossing which later became a documentary; the experience and feeling of man and the tightrope walker; finally the book is enriched with a small part of tightrope walk practice. The reader participates in the control and overcoming of the limits of the tightrope walker who are nothing more than the limits of each man: uncertainty, loneliness, risk and failure. First self-published, it sold about 2000 copies. Now, enriched in many parts, he has found his home.
