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Karnak

boeddhisme   psychologie   yoga   bewustwording

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biography

Robert Hartzema was born in Amsterdam in 1946, a year after the hunger winter, as an underweight baby of which the doctor said: ‘I hope he will survive’. And he did.

    From the beginning he hated school and was always playing outside, buying matches instead of sweets and provoking his teachers.

    When he was 7 or 8 years old he fell from the stairs, his lower back bumping on every step, which much later proved to be a serious injury. He moved out of Amsterdam and living in a boring Calvinistic town he became interested in Zen Buddhism and meditation. At 15 he read Freud, Jung and modern Dutch literature, and was writing articles for the school paper  which he illustrated himself.

    Around 1964 he moved back to Amsterdam, studied art history without passing any exam, was one of the founders of Provo, an anarchistic movement and magazine, which successfully provoked the police, white-painted stolen bikes and cooperated on a film on squatting which was shown on television.

    To make a living he wrote on modern art [NRC, Vrije Volk, Hitweek and Museumjournaal], and formed a group with the [later famous] artists Ger van Elk, Jan Dibbets and Reinier Lucassen to organize performances and exhibitions.

 

Around 1971 he married, got three children and had to make a more decent living, so for 10 years he worked in the restauration of ornamental sculpture and produced his first book with woodcuts on building the underground in the oldest part of the city.  The same period he took part in a psychological-spiritual group based on the work of G.I.Gurdjieff, combining Sufi-dance, meditation and hard work, where ‘only super-efforts count’.

    At 32 he got a very painful hernia, had to lay down most of the day and was declared disabled for physical work. So he started a publishing company for Buddhist, spiritual and psychological books, doing the lay-out, making the covers, translating and writing. Around 1980 he met his Tibetan guru in the USA, who asked him to start teaching in Holland: Tibetan yoga, meditation, Buddhist psychology and dzogchen, the most mindblowing Buddhist meditations which were only preserved in Tibet.

    This became very successful, but as all the income was send to the buddhist center in the USA, he also had to run the publishing company to earn a living. In the meantime he was drawing and painting, having an exhibition in Germany in 1999, and worked for an educational institute for psychotherapists.

    Looking back, that was far over the edge. Working more than 85 hours a week, his family did not get the attention and care they needed. After 15 years he was burnt-out and left the Buddhist center, and when his children were living on their own, he divorced.

 

About one and a half year later, in 2001,  his colleague Marjan Möller asked him out of the blue: ‘How about starting a relationship?’ This was really scary, but proved to be a unique match on all levels, an alchemistic fire, a blending of minds and hearts, which led to a creative and spiritual outburst.

    Going back to the source of the teachings and to the old texts of the Buddha, Padmasambhava and Longchenpa, they developed in 2005 a one-year training in Buddhist psychology as a way to clarify the most stubborn patterns of mind, body and emotions through exercises, Tibetan yoga and meditations. A year later a second group was started on the practice of dzogchen teachings, with a different program every year. They did a 2-year course on Tibetan yoga, made translations of Tibetan dzogchen texts, and wrote more than ten books about a modern western way of practicing Buddhism, free of dogma’s, rituals and ceremonies.

 

When they were moving out of Amsterdam in 2011, Robert destroyed all his drawings and put his paintings outside, against the wall of the flat, where people took them on their bike or in their car untill nothing remained. Only the photographs of some drawings survived, which he later used in a small art book called Ha!, full of stories, poems, creative articles and drawings. He went into video-making and produced 12 videos about Buddhist insights and meditation.

    Last eight years his physical body started to fall apart and created a lot of pain, and after 40 years of teaching and writing 20 books he longed for silence. Pure meditative experiences without words and stories, naming and explaining. He wrote his last book Land in reality, step into the present, and they slowly ended up all the groups, while Marjan concentrated on her body-therapy practice or teaching Buddhist psychology on an individual basis. And hopefully she will start in the future a new creative form of teaching, out of her own qualities and based on the inspiration of this unique buddhist tradition.

    Doing a silent retreat on his own in 2021, Robert took up painting again. Not to present something, but to express his meditative experiences directly and pure: from the clarity of mind and heart in a flash onto the paper. No words, meaning, form or intention coming in between. And when something came in between he destroyed the paining, but 60 remained which are for sale now, and more might follow in the upcoming year.

boeken & cursussen

Karnak

boeddhisme  psychologie  yoga   bewustwording

Boekbestellingen: klik hier

•  Aanmelden jaarlijkse nieuwsbrief

Robert Hartzema was born in Amsterdam in 1946, a year after the hunger winter, as an underweight baby of which the doctor said: ‘I hope he will survive’. And he did.

    From the beginning he hated school and was always playing outside, buying matches instead of sweets and provoking his teachers.

    When he was 7 or 8 years old he fell from the stairs, his lower back bumping on every step, which much later proved to be a serious injury. He moved out of Amsterdam and living in a boring Calvinistic town he became interested in Zen Buddhism and meditation. At 15 he read Freud, Jung and modern Dutch literature, and was writing articles for the school paper  which he illustrated himself.

    Around 1964 he moved back to Amsterdam, studied art history without passing any exam, was one of the founders of Provo, an anarchistic movement and magazine, which successfully provoked the police, white-painted stolen bikes and cooperated on a film on squatting which was shown on television.

    To make a living he wrote on modern art [NRC, Vrije Volk, Hitweek and Museumjournaal], and formed a group with the [later famous] artists Ger van Elk, Jan Dibbets and Reinier Lucassen to organize performances and exhibitions.

 

Around 1971 he married, got three children and had to make a more decent living, so for 10 years he worked in the restauration of ornamental sculpture and produced his first book with woodcuts on building the underground in the oldest part of the city.  The same period he took part in a psychological-spiritual group based on the work of G.I.Gurdjieff, combining Sufi-dance, meditation and hard work, where ‘only super-efforts count’.

    At 32 he got a very painful hernia, had to lay down most of the day and was declared disabled for physical work. So he started a publishing company for Buddhist, spiritual and psychological books, doing the lay-out, making the covers, translating and writing. Around 1980 he met his Tibetan guru in the USA, who asked him to start teaching in Holland: Tibetan yoga, meditation, Buddhist psychology and dzogchen, the most mindblowing Buddhist meditations which were only preserved in Tibet.

    This became very successful, but as all the income was send to the buddhist center in the USA, he also had to run the publishing company to earn a living. In the meantime he was drawing and painting, having an exhibition in Germany in 1999, and worked for an educational institute for psychotherapists.

    Looking back, that was far over the edge. Working more than 85 hours a week, his family did not get the attention and care they needed. After 15 years he was burnt-out and left the Buddhist center, and when his children were living on their own, he divorced.

 

About one and a half year later, in 2001,  his colleague Marjan Möller asked him out of the blue: ‘How about starting a relationship?’ This was really scary, but proved to be a unique match on all levels, an alchemistic fire, a blending of minds and hearts, which led to a creative and spiritual outburst.

    Going back to the source of the teachings and to the old texts of the Buddha, Padmasambhava and Longchenpa, they developed in 2005 a one-year training in Buddhist psychology as a way to clarify the most stubborn patterns of mind, body and emotions through exercises, Tibetan yoga and meditations. A year later a second group was started on the practice of dzogchen teachings, with a different program every year. They did a 2-year course on Tibetan yoga, made translations of Tibetan dzogchen texts, and wrote more than ten books about a modern western way of practicing Buddhism, free of dogma’s, rituals and ceremonies.

 

When they were moving out of Amsterdam in 2011, Robert destroyed all his drawings and put his paintings outside, against the wall of the flat, where people took them on their bike or in their car untill nothing remained. Only the photographs of some drawings survived, which he later used in a small art book called Ha!, full of stories, poems, creative articles and drawings. He went into video-making and produced 12 videos about Buddhist insights and meditation.

    Last eight years his physical body started to fall apart and created a lot of pain, and after 40 years of teaching and writing 20 books he longed for silence. Pure meditative experiences without words and stories, naming and explaining. He wrote his last book Land in reality, step into the present, and they slowly ended up all the groups, while Marjan concentrated on her body-therapy practice or teaching Buddhist psychology on an individual basis. And hopefully she will start in the future a new creative form of teaching, out of her own qualities and based on the inspiration of this unique buddhist tradition.

    Doing a silent retreat on his own in 2021, Robert took up painting again. Not to present something, but to express his meditative experiences directly and pure: from the clarity of mind and heart in a flash onto the paper. No words, meaning, form or intention coming in between. And when something came in between he destroyed the paining, but 60 remained which are for sale now, and more might follow in the upcoming year.

>>

boeken & cursussen

Karnak

boeddhisme  psychologie  yoga   bewustwording

Boekbestellingen: klik hier

•  Aanmelden jaarlijkse nieuwsbrief

Robert Hartzema was born in Amsterdam in 1946, a year after the hunger winter, as an underweight baby of which the doctor said: ‘I hope he will survive’. And he did.

    From the beginning he hated school and was always playing outside, buying matches instead of sweets and provoking his teachers.

    When he was 7 or 8 years old he fell from the stairs, his lower back bumping on every step, which much later proved to be a serious injury. He moved out of Amsterdam and living in a boring Calvinistic town he became interested in Zen Buddhism and meditation. At 15 he read Freud, Jung and modern Dutch literature, and was writing articles for the school paper  which he illustrated himself.

    Around 1964 he moved back to Amsterdam, studied art history without passing any exam, was one of the founders of Provo, an anarchistic movement and magazine, which successfully provoked the police, white-painted stolen bikes and cooperated on a film on squatting which was shown on television.

    To make a living he wrote on modern art [NRC, Vrije Volk, Hitweek and Museumjournaal], and formed a group with the [later famous] artists Ger van Elk, Jan Dibbets and Reinier Lucassen to organize performances and exhibitions.

Around 1971 he married, got three children and had to make a more decent living, so for 10 years he worked in the restauration of ornamental sculpture and produced his first book with woodcuts on building the underground in the oldest part of the city.  The same period he took part in a psychological-spiritual group based on the work of G.I.Gurdjieff, combining Sufi-dance, meditation and hard work, where ‘only super-efforts count’.

    At 32 he got a very painful hernia, had to lay down most of the day and was declared disabled for physical work. So he started a publishing company for Buddhist, spiritual and psychological books, doing the lay-out, making the covers, translating and writing. Around 1980 he met his Tibetan guru in the USA, who asked him to start teaching in Holland: Tibetan yoga, meditation, Buddhist psychology and dzogchen, the most mindblowing Buddhist meditations which were only preserved in Tibet.

    This became very successful, but as all the income was send to the buddhist center in the USA, he also had to run the publishing company to earn a living. In the meantime he was drawing and painting, having an exhibition in Germany in 1999, and worked for an educational institute for psychotherapists.

    Looking back, that was far over the edge. Working more than 85 hours a week, his family did not get the attention and care they needed. After 15 years he was burnt-out and left the Buddhist center, and when his children were living on their own, he divorced.

 

About one and a half year later, in 2001,  his colleague Marjan Möller asked him out of the blue: ‘How about starting a relationship?’ This was really scary, but proved to be a unique match on all levels, an alchemistic fire, a blending of minds and hearts, which led to a creative and spiritual outburst.

    Going back to the source of the teachings and to the old texts of the Buddha, Padmasambhava and Longchenpa, they developed in 2005 a one-year training in Buddhist psychology as a way to clarify the most stubborn patterns of mind, body and emotions through exercises, Tibetan yoga and meditations. A year later a second group was started on the practice of dzogchen teachings, with a different program every year. They did a 2-year course on Tibetan yoga, made translations of Tibetan dzogchen texts, and wrote more than ten books about a modern western way of practicing Buddhism, free of dogma’s, rituals and ceremonies.

When they were moving out of Amsterdam in 2011, Robert destroyed all his drawings and put his paintings outside, against the wall of the flat, where people took them on their bike or in their car untill nothing remained. Only the photographs of some drawings survived, which he later used in a small art book called Ha!, full of stories, poems, creative articles and drawings. He went into video-making and produced 12 videos about Buddhist insights and meditation.

    Last eight years his physical body started to fall apart and created a lot of pain, and after 40 years of teaching and writing 20 books he longed for silence. Pure meditative experiences without words and stories, naming and explaining. He wrote his last book Land in reality, step into the present, and they slowly ended up all the groups, while Marjan concentrated on her body-therapy practice or teaching Buddhist psychology on an individual basis. And hopefully she will start in the future a new creative form of teaching, out of her own qualities and based on the inspiration of this unique buddhist tradition.

    Doing a silent retreat on his own in 2021, Robert took up painting again. Not to present something, but to express his meditative experiences directly and pure: from the clarity of mind and heart in a flash onto the paper. No words, meaning, form or intention coming in between. And when something came in between he destroyed the paining, but 60 remained which are for sale now, and more might follow in the upcoming year.