iprattis

Author, Professor Emeritus, Ambassador for Peace. Spiritual Warrior for planetary care, peace and social justice. Zen teacher, poet, scholar, guru in India.. Public talks and retreats around the world. Ian encourages people to find their true nature, so that humanity and the world may be renewed. Founder of Friends for Peace: www.friendsforpeace.ca Ian - a poet and scholar, peace and environmental activist – was born on October 16, 1942, in Great Britain, Ian grew up in Corby, a tough steel town populated by Scots in the heartland of England’s countryside. Cultural interface was an early and continuing influence. Ian was an outstanding athlete and scholar at school, graduating with distinctions in all subjects and was dux of the high school – top graduating student. He did not stay to collect graduating honours, as at seventeen years old he travelled to Sarawak, Borneo, with Voluntary Service Overseas (1960–1962) - Britain’s Peace Corps. He loved the immersion in the myriad cultures of Sarawak and was greatly amused by the British colonial mentality, which he did not share. He worked in a variety of youth programs as a community development officer, and also explored the headwaters of Sarawak’s major rivers, with expeditions into Indonesian Borneo. He was acutely embarrassed to be written up in the home press as “Boy Explorer Discovers Central Borneo!” He knew he had not discovered anything, that Kayan tribesmen had kept him safe. He had an acute sensitivity and respect for other cultures and traditions, and knew he was privileged to be with skilled guides and trackers. He was adopted by the Kayan tribe as one of their own in Northern Sarawak and part of the initiation was the right to have an extensive tattoo on his left forearm, commemorating his journeys. Ian politely declined this honour, stating that it was not his custom. As a teen, he had a clear idea of who he was, though that clarity was frequently challenged and occasionally lost later in life. Returning to Great Britain after Sarawak was an uneasy transition. He did, however, manage to stumble through an undergraduate degree in anthropology at University College London (1962–1965), before continuing with graduate studies at Balliol College, Oxford (1965–1967). At Oxford, academics took a back seat to the judo dojo (where he earned a University Blue), rugby field, bridge table and the founding of irreverent societies at Balliol. Yet by the time he pursued doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia (1967–1970), his brain switched on. He renewed his passion for other cultures, placing his research on North West Coast cultures within a mathematical, experimental domain that the discipline of anthropology was not ready for. Being at the edge of new endeavours was natural to him, and continues to be so. He was a Professor of Anthropology and Religion at Carleton University in Ottawa from 1970 to 2007. Fieldwork amongst North West Coast American aboriginal populations and North Atlantic fishing communities was an early focus. Over the past thirty years an interest in native land claims has lead to ongoing fieldwork in Indian and Inuit communities, with an emphasis on training native leaders to conduct their own research process. He has worked with diverse groups all over the world and has a passion for doing anthropology. “It’s better than having a real job,” he says “everything changes, and the only limits are your imagination and self discipline.” His career trajectory has curved through mathematical models, development studies, hermeneutics, poetics and symbolic anthropology, to new science and consciousness studies. The intent was always to expand, and then cross, existing boundaries, to renew the freshness of the anthropological endeavor and make the discipline relevant to the individuals and cultures it touches. His highly acclaimed television course on “Culture and Symbols” drew on his novel perspectives, and Ian is exploring the possibilities of delivering the twelve videotapes of the course through an Internet homepage - a prototype for the Electronic University of the Future — no boundaries. His millennium project for the year 2000 created another twelve part television course on “Ecology and Culture.” This educational enterprise produces a cadre of environmental activists each year. In their final assignment, students are asked to select an ecological issue, then write a thousand word letter to a head of government, or CEO of a polluting industry, or to a Director of an environmental NGO. After careful research on the organization and ecological issue, students state specifically what they want the recipient of the letter to do. Students, by and large, send these letters and begin to translate their awareness about ecosystems and globalization into action – as does their teacher. The up and coming hard rock/blues band – SLYDE – has a keyboardist who was a student. SLYDE released a CD in 2011 titled Feed The Machine. It was inspired by the class text: The Essential Spiral: Ecology and Consciousness After 9/11. Who knows what they will do with the later books! He studied Tibetan Buddhism with Lama Tarchin in the early 1980’s, Christian meditation with the Benedictines, and was trained by Native American medicine people and shamans in their healing practices. He also studied the Vedic tradition of Siddha Samadhi Yoga, and taught this tradition of mediation in India (1996–1997). He was ordained as a teacher and initiator – the first Westerner to receive this privilege – and is recognized in India as a guru – Prem Chaitania. Since meeting Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master – he found a way to take his experiences much deeper within himself. He received the Lamp Transmission from Thich Nhat Hanh and is an ordained Dharmacharya (teacher) in that tradition, giving dharma talks and retreats around the world. He has trained with Masters in Buddhist, Vedic and Shamanic traditions. He encourages people to find their true nature, so that humanity and the world may be renewed. He has taught children’s meditation courses as well as adult and advanced retreats from coast to coast in Canada. He travels widely on this beautiful planet and gives talks and retreats in Canada, India, Europe, the USA and South America. The basic commitment he holds is to make the world a beautiful place by encouraging people to embrace their true nature. His teaching focuses on the spiritual issues of the day and honors all traditions At the outbreak of the Iraq war he founded Friends for Peace Canada www.friendsforpeace.ca - a coalition of meditation, peace, activist and environmental groups to work for peace, planetary care and social justice. He is also the editor of an online Buddhist Journal and the resident Zen teacher of a meditation community, Pine Gate Sangha. www.ianprattis.com/pinegate.htm He received the 2011 Ottawa Earth Day Environment Award on behalf of Pine Gate Sangha. He writes poetry and had an edited collection published in 1985 – “Reflections: The Anthropological Muse.” The meditation teacher is not separate from the professor or the global citizen. He has six children and fourteen grandchildren from his first marriage. Later in life, as a respite, he lived in a hermitage in Kingsmere, Quebec, in the middle of Gatineau Park forest when his pet wolf was alive. Some day a retreat centre will flourish midst the lakes and hills of this incredibly beautiful area. His interests include cross-country skiing, hiking, canoeing and caring for the world of nature. He also enjoys Qi-Gong, gardening, playing baseball and swimming with dolphins. Ian now lives with his present wife Carolyn in the west end of Ottawa where the Pine Gate Meditation Hall is located in the lower level of their home. Since retiring from the university in 2007 he has authored four books on dharma, two on the environment, a novel and a legend/autobiographical combo and enjoys the freedom to create at his own pace. He has yet to discern the ordinary meaning of retirement!