The spirit of pétanque

Format: Paperback, 94 pages
Publication date: 31 March 2009
Publisher: Accarias/L’Originel
ISBN: 9782863161678 
On sale at Pic Lumineux, €15 + postage

«For me, pétanque is more than a game, more than a sport and more than a competition. It is a fabulous opportunity to develop exceptional qualities as a person and allows players to communicate better with the world and, above all, with themselves.»
Sando Kaisen

France currently has 400,000 licensed pétanque players and just as many Buddhist practitioners. What is the connection between these two disciplines? Sando Kaisen, a French Zen monk, provides the answer to this question in this original book.
A supporter of top-level players whom he considers to be true artists, and a keen observer of major national and international competitions, Sando Kaisen has developed an original perspective on this popular game, which originated in La Ciotat at the beginning of the century. 
In light of the great teachings of Zen Buddhism and his personal experience, Sando Kaisen introduces us to the main aspects of the «body-mind» that manifest themselves in the pétanque player: emotions, stress, mental disturbance, desire to win... However, it is through proper concentration (both peaceful and dynamic), forgetting the «body-mind», making it lucid by entering into the great Presence, focusing on the inner breath, that the pétanque player – like any human being – becomes alive, creative and spontaneous, drawing on the natural momentum that dwells within each of us. 
Sando Kaisen develops these different aspects: attention, lucidity, presence, posture, breathing; all words familiar to boules players and Buddhists who, without knowing it, come together in the field of self-knowledge. 
In the tradition of Eugen Herrigel's famous book Zen in the Art of Archery, Sando Kaisen's treatise elevates pétanque to the rank of an ethic and reveals the astonishing parallels between the arena of the game and that of our own minds... 
Sando Kaisen, Alain Krystaszek was born in Noyon in the Oise region in 1952. In 1968, he became a disciple of the famous Zen Master Taisen Deshimaru, from whom he received ordination in 1979 under the name Sando Kaisen («solitary hermit in the deep mountains»). Passionate about martial arts, he decided to undertake a trip to China. He has been playing pétanque for nearly 30 years. He now lives in France in his monastery in the Dordogne.