She doesn't hide her age, although she could do well. "The fact that I look good in the end is only … a side effect of meditation," jokes the actress, Małgorzata Braunek.

She reluctantly agrees to interviews, but for us she made an exception. We talk with actressMałgorzata Braunekabout what helps her achieve inner peace and balance - about an adventure with Buddhism that lasts nearly 30 years.

Fellow actors say about you: "She is one of the few people who has a he althy distance to the world and herself." Are they right?

Not really. Distance means a certain distance, separation, and I do not separate myself from what surrounds me. On the contrary - I try to be as close to people and their affairs as possible. Maybe I have a slightly more philosophical attitude to the world? I accept what life brings. I accept them as they are. But this behavior comes naturally fromBuddhism , which I have practiced for almost 30 years.

Important

Małgorzata Braunek

She was born on January 30, 1947 in Szamotuły. She is a graduate of the PWST in Warsaw. She starred in over 20 films, including: "The Life of Mateusz", "Hunting Flies", "The Third Part of the Night", "The Doll". Her role as Oleńka in "The Deluge" brought her popularity. In 1971-74 she also performed on the stage of the National Theater in Warsaw. In the 1980s she broke up with acting.
From her first marriage with the director Andrzej Żuławski, she has a son, Xawery (also a director), and a daughter, Orinka, with her current husband. He is the head of the "Kandzeon" Buddhist Association, supports the human rights movement in China and animal campaigns.

Exactly. You were not born into a Buddhist family. So why did you change your religion?

I grew up in a home with Christian, Catholic and Protestant traditions. There was even an agreement between my parents that if a boy was born, then - after his father - he would become a Catholic, if a girl, then a Protestant, after his mother. I am joking that since my father was a Catholic and my mother was a Protestant, I had to become a Buddhist. And seriously speaking - such a decision has to be matured, it is a very long process. It's about finding yourself, so you have to check and taste different things. The atmosphere of the 1970s was conducive to such searches. Buddhism then became a very popular philosophy - for certain circles, peoplethinking "different". I also wanted to know the power ofmeditation . I asked myself questions: who am I, where am I going. And general - what does a person live for, does life make sense. Ultimately, this search led me to Buddhism.

In our Catholic country, did you not feel like … a misfit?

That's how I felt. Anyway, I still feel this way sometimes. I am absolutely aware of the country I live in and how unpopular it is not to be a Catholic here, to be "different" at all. For me, any "otherness" was always something natural - only as a child I wanted to be like other children. But also life has shown me that you can live here. After all, our spiritual development is an individual, even intimate matter. It doesn't matter if we go to church every Sunday or meditate.

Important

What is Buddhism?

This is a religious and philosophical trend that arose in India 2500 years ago and spread to other Asian countries, and in recent decades has also begun to penetrate America and Europe. The creator of the foundations of Buddhism was Siddhartha Gautama, a sage from Nepal who was given the nickname Buddha, that is, the one who woke up, i.e. woke up to see what reality is. The Buddha did not consider himself a god, and the Buddhists themselves never did. Buddhism today is primarily an individual practice based on meditation and following certain ethical principles, including compassion and friendly attitude towards all living creatures.

You quit acting while at the peak of your career. Has Buddhist practice influenced this?

It tied very naturally, but was not planned by me. Because I didn't quit my profession because I decided to become a Buddhist, but because I wanted to do something with myself. When I started working, my only goal was to be a good actress. I never wanted to be a star, it really depressed me. However, my career moved quickly, maybe even too fast. So I had to stop her. Back then, I had no idea what to do. I also didn't know if I was giving up acting forever or just a little. It was not that I was only suitable for therapy - although I was looking for help in it as well. But I needed something deeper, so I anchored it in Buddhist practice.

Three years ago you returned to the film set and made a great role in "Tulips". Will we be able to watch the Lady more often now?

I mentally returned to my profession - before "Tulips" I played episodes in series. At the moment I am very open to suggestions. If I find a good role, I will play with pleasure,I will have an adventure and I will also earn something. However, I am aware that there are no roles for actresses at the age of 60. I took a break too long. In a purely professional sense, I will definitely not return to acting. I am at a different stage in my life.

Has Buddhism changed you as an actress? Helped build the role?

I felt the change in favor. I walked over to work with much more peace. Before that, I had been through my failures terribly. Now I realized that the world does not end and begin there. I can play badly or on the contrary - fantastic. This awareness gave me a lot of slack. But there's no denying the fact that I'm not technically so efficient anymore. After all, 20 years have passed. I even said on the set that I felt like a musician who sits down to the instrument after a long break: he knows the notes, he knows how to make the best sounds, he is theoretically well prepared, but his fingers are not that efficient anymore …

Is this your religion or just philosophy?

Both. The Zen that I practice relies on my own human experience. If he meets the divine element on his way, it will only be his merit.

This means that meditation can bring something different to everyone?

Absolutely yes - depending on his psychophysical conditions. However, meditation does not get what we dream about. On the contrary, it stripped us of all our illusions and needs. They naturally exist and drive action, but they are not an end in themselves. It is a strength that is in each of us. You can't learn it, you have to discover it.

How much time do you spend meditating?

I meditate for 40 minutes during the day and three hours twice a week.

What does this ritual look like? Do you lock up, turn off the phone?

No, absolutely. Of course, I prefer silence and nothing bothers me, but if the phone rings during this time, I will pick it up. When my children were little and they called me, I would go to them. People have a false image of a meditator, they think that he is isolated from the world around him. On the contrary: meditation allows you to better contact him. We just "cut off" all ideas, views, thoughts and dreams. And when you are in a state of mind where all wants and needs disappear, then what arises is right. There is a telephone, you answer it. After all, meditation is not an addition to the way of life, it allows us to function properly. So there is no disturbing element of reality - not because it doesn't exist at all, but because we don't let it throw us off balance.

You can meditate anywhere?

Of course. Butit involves a certain behavior, you have to sit down in the right way, straighten up, close your eyes, and there are not always conditions for this. So if I am in a group of friends, there is dinner on the table, instead of meditating, I prefer to sit down and spend time talking to them.

What is meditation for you?

Certain tools are needed for meditation. So if we ask ourselves a question, we cannot look for an answer to it in order to solve the problem as soon as possible. You have to be with this question. Because we think in a dualistic way: "If I do this, it will be good for me, but it may turn out to be bad for my child." Thoughts run through your head like a little monkey. We must come into a state of oneness. Then the answer will come. And it will not be good or bad. It will be the only one, and therefore the right one.

And how to get out of the holes?

You have to be with them too. If we have problems, we want to cut them off. Therefore, we are looking for an anesthetic. Practice teaches not to reject anything - not even suffering. It cannot be said that anything is wrong. It is what it is. We don't live in a world where there is nothing but happiness. There is also - and above all - suffering in it. So let us not delude ourselves that we will go through life painlessly. You can't.

And this approach helps you live better?

I hope. When we run away from pain and suffering, we actually exacerbate them. We do everything to get rid of them, or vice versa - we are still thinking about them. We wind up ourselves: "Oh, how unhappy I am." For several years I worked as a volunteer in one of the hospices in Warsaw. I've been dating people with cancer. They taught me a lot. In our culture, life is sustained at all costs. And I met people who were completely devoid of the reflex to fight their suffering. It doesn't mean that they didn't hurt anything - it hurt, and it hurt terribly. These people suffered, but they were able to overcome their own pain, which made them really joyful, smiling, and even asking how I felt. This is what practice is all about - coming to terms with life.

This world is rushing. We are afraid that if we stop for a moment, we will be left behind. What you say shows that by meditating, you can get ahead of others, go further …

It's not about getting out of line, but about living more consciously. You need to take the time to get to know yourself well. By providing the body with food, we not only allow it to survive, but also keep it he althy. We won't have a super body if we don't exercise. The mind must be trained in the same way. There are many different doors and drawers inside us. Sometimes it will opena drawer with great emotions, sometimes with silence, with laughter or crying, etc. It is important to be the boss of the organism.

So how do you take care of your body?

I try to eat he althy. People are now starting to pay more attention to what they eat. However, the topic of he althy eating is still little publicized. And yet it hides not only he althy cuisine, but also ecology. He develops he althy reflexes in us, makes us cease to be so terrible ignorant of animals and plants, that is, what feeds us. I hope it will make us more sensitive, not wearing fur coats and eating meat 7 times a week.

Did you become a vegetarian for ideological reasons?

Exclusive. People knocked their heads and said: "You won't save the world anyway, if you don't eat meat." There is a nice story about Jesuit Anthony De Mello. He walked along the seashore and talked with his friend on philosophical topics. There were a lot of jellyfish on the sand. De Mello would take one of them every few steps and throw it into the water. Finally, the friend couldn't resist: “Why are you doing this? There are thousands of these jellyfish. You can't save them. Does it even make sense? ” To which the philosopher replied: "Ask those jellyfish that I just threw into the water about it." I don't mean to say that this is how I save animals, but… there is something to it. Even if my individual efforts are just a drop in the ocean.

How do you keep fit?

In the morning I try to do a few bends and a few tai chi movements. I am slowly trying to do yoga. Very slowly. But I cycle a lot. And I'm swimming. I love it. For me, it is also a kind of meditation, when I immerse myself in water, I immediately silence my mind.

Actresses want to look young at all costs. The lady is not afraid to show wrinkles …

If I suddenly started pretending to myself and people that I was younger and struggled with the passage of time, I would be denying my thirty years of practice. You have to come to terms with age, with the fact that we are leaving, that we have to change. When I look at my garden, where the grass has already turned yellow and the leaves are falling, I would like to stop the summer. I would rather not have wrinkles. But the fact is, the women who meditate look really cool. I have a friend who has been practicing for as many years as me, but who is 5 years older than me - she looks even younger! So I urge all ladies to try meditation instead of buying terribly expensive creams. Because with age, these creams are bought more and more expensive. I don't want to present my false image here, I also use them. I like when they have collagen or something wonderful. But I have been to the beautician twice in my life. From straightreasons: I'm lazy.

You travel around the world.

Unfortunately, less and less. And if I go somewhere, it is mostly for spiritual matters, for our meditation sessions.

Do you recruit others?

I already know that advocating Buddhism is contrary to its system. But people, especially young people, are increasingly looking for an antidote to what is happening in their lives. This decade focuses on development. So if they want to be good employees, they must constantly deepen their knowledge, also about themselves. And Buddhism is self-conscious development.

What could we learn from Buddhists?

Even if you don't want to reject pain or suffering. But also joy. Because sometimes something wonderful happens to us, and we don't think we deserve it. You have to learn to accept whatever fate gives you. But also be aware that dreams cause us trouble if we become too attached to them. Because we can't own anything - not even our own children.

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