Spectre of the Stranger: Towards a Phenomenology of Hospitality

by Manu Bazzano

Manu Bazzano engages with identity, otherness and ethics in a wide-ranging discussion of hospitality, exploring various social and political implications. Identity is examined primarily through the experience of Buddhist meditation, understood as phenomenological enquiry, as an exploration aimed at clarifying the non-substantiality of the self, the fluid nature of identity, and the contingent nature of existence. Otherness is discussed using insights from philosophy and psychology. In todays world of globalised capitalism there is the spectre of the stranger, the migrant, the asylum seeker. If the I comes fully into being when relating to the other, the citizen can only become a true citizen when he/she responds adequately to the presence of the non-citizen. A self which does not respond to the other is isolated. And a citizen who fails to respond, or worse demonises non-citizens, can he still be called a citizen? The book retraces the origins of collective forms of malaise such
as fanatical patriot

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2011

About the author

Born in Calabria (Italy), Manu has been active in the student movement and the Italian radical left of the nineteen seventies. A pupil of philosopher Romano Madera, he graduated in philosophy in 1980. He first encountered the Dharma in 1978 in the person of Lama Yeshe at the Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia, Italy.

He became a disciple of Osho, the Indian mystic, between 1980 and 1992, who gave him the name Prem Dipamo, and wrote many of the songs popular in music groups and darshans. He left Italy for good in 1984, travelled extensively and lived for several years in Germany, India and the United States.

Manu found his home in London in 1990. He fronted a band DÆDALO, between 1990 and 1996, releasing several albums (both with the band and as a solo artist) and working with renowned musicians such as John Etheridge, Colin Bentley, Jamie West-Oram, Tri Hadi, Roger Askew, Chris Baker, Michael Klein, Olly Blanchflower, and the poet Jeremy Reed. He was the founder of the hAZy mOOn club, showcasing new talent as well as established artists such as guitarists John Renbourn and Bert Jansch, poets Carole Satyamurti and Ruth Padel and comedian Simon Munnery.

Manu edited Hazy Moon the Zen Review, publishing Zen Buddhist talks and poetry, including works by authors such as Ken Jones and Subhaga Gaetano Failla. He has published several books and numerous articles and papers worldwide.

Manu studied Zen within the White Plum Asangha (an international community founded by Zen Master Taizan Maezumi) between 1996 and 2006 and was ordained as a Zen monk in 2004. He trained in Person-Centred counseling and psychotherapy and studied Alfred Adler's Individual Psychology.

An international lecturer and workshop facilitator, Manu has presented his work in a wide variety of settings, integrating Zen practice with contemporary psychotherapy and the world of ethics, culture, and the arts.