(1) This morning I received through the post from America, E.H. Johnston's old translation of Saundarananda. (Cost me a small fortune, as it is now out of print.) One of the first things I notice is that Johnston's translation of CITTA PARIGRAHAAYA supports my intuition that CITTA PARIGRAHAYAA means not "in order that thoughts may be circumscribed" as per Linda Covill's translation, but "in order that thinking may be mastered," as per my translation on this post.
Johnston's translation is "for the mastery of the mind." Yes! That is a real confidence booster.
(2) This afternoon I received an email from the stalwart Kenneth Tanaka of Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai informing me that the Nishijima-Cross Shobogenzo translation is now available online,through the Numata Centre website.
4 comments:
Mike,
thank you for sharing this info. It's great to know that your and Nishijima Roshi's translation is now available online. There is only available Volume 1. Do you know if other volume's (2-4) will be available online someday?
Take care,
Uku
Hi Uku,
Yes, for sure they will be available. Fairly soon, I think.
When I reflect on events of the last few years, and indeed the last few days, leading up to this news of the online publication, I wonder how much better things might have turned out if I had done nothing except practise the backward step.
That, in fact, was precisely the intention I formed in 1997. But certain stimuli proved too strong for me to resist.
The principle of inhibition that I preach is the one that I all too often neglect to apply deeply enough in practice.
Probably I am making that mistake just now, in writing this!
At the root of the tangled skein that gives rise to suffering, there is this unresolved antagonism between fear paralysis and the Moro (/Mara?) reflex. This is the beating heart of the many-tentacled monster of misuse, and this monster, it seems, is roused forth to action by an idea that is very resistant to inhibition -- a fanciful notion of who I am, and how great I might have been.
I like to think of myself as a bit of a hero. A dream-hero, as somebody once called me. But Ashavaghosa said that a hero who is felled by the foe-like faults is not so heroic. So far that has been the tragi-comic story of my life.
Anyway, yes, it is good that the whole translation will be readily available online.
Be careless!
Mike
Mike,
I'm glad to see your Shobogenzo work up on the web for all to avail of.
Thank-you very much for your considerable effort.
Regards,
Harry.
Thank you, Harry.
Yes, it was a big creative effort.
But even more than that, it was an effort of endurance, of forbearance, of patience -- for one who has absolutely never been known as a paragon of tolerance and patience.
My feeling at the end of it all is that I was tested very severely, and found wanting.
FM Alexander said that when something goes wrong, it is invariably a failure of inhibition. FM Alexander was right.
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