Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma

author, poet, teacher, and performer

Interviews

To find interviews on specific books, use the buttons below:

The Kural The Safety of Edges

Body and Earth

Food and Freedom: A Kural Conversation with Ellen Kittredge

Digestion, moderation, and eating as spiritual practice.

With my longtime friend Ellen Kittredge I was delighted to explore the insight that food is medicine and that moderation can lead to greater fulfillment and joy.

Here are a few highlights and where in the video you can find them:

  • The possibility of relating to food and to eating as spiritual practices: 7:22
  • Mindful eating and the parasympathetic nervous system: 14:32
  • Finding a balance point in life, transforming addictive tendencies, and discovering equanimity: 24:08
  • A question from Ellen: Where does liberation from the cycle of birth and death fit into the concerns of THE KURAL? 33:23

Ellen Kittredge is a Nutritional Counselor, Minister of Walking Prayer, and practitioner of earth-based healing modalities. While her primary focus is supporting her clients with maintaining optimal health through sound nutritional guidance, she has also has trained in a variety of other healing techniques, including extensive study over the last 10 years in earth-based healing practices with Nature Priests/Mystics in the High Andes of Peru.

Learn more about Ellen on her website:
https://ellenkittredge.com/

Here are the verses we talked about, in both English and Tamil:

945
If one eats with measure what does not disagree
Nothing threatens one’s life

மாறுபா டில்லாத உண்டி மறுத்துண்ணின்
ஊறுபா டில்லை உயிர்க்கு

946
Those who eat knowing moderation know joy—as those
Who devour know disease

இழிவறிந் துண்பான்கண் இன்பம்போல் நிற்கும்
கழிபேர் இரையான்கண் நோய்

947
Those who devour beyond their fire’s limit
Know disease beyond limit

தீயள வன்றித் தெரியான் பெரிதுண்ணின்
நோயள வின்றிப் படும்

From chapter 95, “Medicine.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston

Smile at Adversity: A Kural Conversation with Fiona Moore

Looking within, paradox, and the transformative power of friendliness.

With the wonderful Fiona Moore I was delighted to explore kurals 621 and 622 from chapter 63 of THE KURAL, “Not Being Defeated by Adversity.”

Here are a few highlights and where in the video you can find them:

  • Fiona explores the gift of really staying with a single verse or two: 6:02
  • Paradox and the path of healing and awakening: 10:07
  • The radical possibility of treating adversity as a friend: 14:53
  • A question from Fiona for Thomas on how it was to take on this project: 32:38

Fiona Moore

Fiona Moore is a coach, mentor, and consultant with an extraordinary capacity to help people uncover the truth of who they really are beyond their ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and fears.

“Simply by being the Love you are,” she writes, “you transform your world, and the whole world, for good.”

https://fionamoore.com/

Here are the two verses we talked about, in both English and Tamil:

621
Smile at adversity—nothing
Triumphs more fully

இடுக்கண் வருங்கால் நகுக அதனை
அடுத்தூர்வ தஃதொப்ப தில்

622
When the wise look within—the flood
Of adversity vanishes

வெள்ளத் தனைய இடும்பை அறிவுடையான்
உள்ளத்தின் உள்ளக் கெடும்

From chapter 63, “Not Being Defeated by Adversity.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston

Lyric World: Shin Yu Pai with Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma and Melanie Noel

Shin Yu Pai

How can poetry expand our understanding of civic life? Poet and former Town Hall Artist-In-Residence Shin Yu Pai invites us to the first of her Lyric World discussions, exploring the role of poetry as it stokes our curiosity and gives voice and attention to the human experience.

Joining in conversation with Seattle-based poet Melanie Noel, Pruiksma illuminates the ways that different languages alternately obscure or reveal truth. Together they ask us to suspend our judgement and embrace the not-knowing that defines these art forms.

Before their discussion, experience a performance by kora player and griot-trained jeli Ibrahim Arsalan. In West African society, the jeli preserved ancient stories and traditions through song, throughout the generations. They are believed to have deep connections to spiritual, social, and political powers.

Lyric World: Conversations with Contemporary Poets

Shin Yu Pai
Shin Yu Pai

I’m deeply honored to help inaugurate Lyric World: Conversations with Contemporary Poets, a new event series sponsored by Town Hall and curated by Shin Yu Pai.

On January 30, 2020, I’ll be reading and speaking about poetry and wonder. Jali Ibrahim Arsalan will also perform West African kora music and the poet Melanie Noel will facilitate an on-stage conversation.

Learn More and Buy Tickets

Kai Curry of the Northwest Asian Weekly recently featured the series in an article:

“Town Hall Seattle and KUOW series highlights AAPI poets”

The Seattle Review of Books also featured the event on their website:

Literary Event of the Week: Lyric World at Town Hall Seattle

And Paul Nelson of Seattle Poetics LAB recently interviewed me and curator Shin Yu Pai. You can read the interview in the South Seattle Emerald:

Shin Yu Pai’s Poetry Series Gets a Dose of Magic With Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma

You can watch a video of the interview here: