yathaa-svabhaavena hi naama-ruupaM
tadd-hetum ev' aasta-gamaM ca tasya
vijaanataH pashyata eva c' aaham
braviimi samyak kShayam aasravaaNaam
16.46
For in him who sees a separate bodily form as it is,
And who sees its origin and passing away,
From the very fact of his knowing and seeing,
I declare energetic leakages to be totally ended.
COMMENT:
A person's ability to see, as it is, the transient existence of any entity -- whether it be a flower, or a weed, or a dog, or another person, or a pool of water, or a house, or indeed a work like a translation -- is a function not only of the person's top two inches but of energetic conditions throughout the person's organism.
That is why, I think Ashvaghosha is saying here, if a person is truly able to see what is, without optimism or pessimism, that can only mean that the person is free from energetic imbalances.
Conversely, when a person is unable to to see things as they are, when a person is suffering from what FM Alexander called "faulty sensory appreciation," it is fundamentally not an intellectual problem but a problem of misdirected energy.
And at the root of the misdirection of energy, as we have found to be true in not a few children and adults who have come to us at the Middle Way Re-education Centre, is the problem that FM Alexander called "unduly excited fear reflexes."
VOCABULARY:
yathaa: as, according to
svabhaavena = inst. sg. svabhaava: own condition or state of being , natural state or constitution , innate or inherent disposition , nature , impulse , spontaneity
hi: for
naama-ruupam (accusative): an individual being, a distinguishable form, a separate bodily form
tat: that, its
hetum = accusative, hetu: " impulse", motive , cause
eva: (emphatic)
asta-gamam = accusative from astaM- √gam: to go to one's eternal home , cease , vanish , perish , die
ca: and
tasya (genitive of saH): of him, in him
vijaanataH = abl. sg. pres. participle vijNaa: to distinguish, know
pashyataH = abl. sg. pres. participle pash: to see
eva: (emphatic), the very
ca: and
aham: I
braviimi = 1st person singular of bruu: to speak , say , tell (with two acc. also = declare or pronounce to be, call); proclaim
samyak: well and truly, properly, fully
kShayam (accusative): end, termination
aasravaaNaam = genitive, plural of aasrava: a door opening into water and allowing the stream to descend through it [hence leakage of energy]; distress, affliction
EH Johnston:
For I say that for him who recognises and understands the nature of corporeality, its cause and its disappearance, the infections are abolished.
Linda Covill:
For I proclaim the total annihilation of rebirth-producing tendencies in a man who knows and sees psycho-physical existence just as it is, and its cause and its disappearance.
3 comments:
Mike,
I think abstract thinking itself largely produces energy leakage. For instance, when I dwell on the principle of impermanence, I take myself out of reality and into my own thoughts, where I will inevitably have to use more energy to readjust my orientation back to reality. I think trying to become ANYTHING promotes energy leakage, because, inevitably, we can't be anything we try to be forever. So, there is gain and loss, birth and death...endless suffering...no peace.
I have heard your admonition to "practice a little bit of nothing", but, alas, I have not yet began to practice it.
Raymond
Hi Raymond,
The conscious direction of energy that FM Alexander taught is neither abstract thinking nor the negation of abstract thinking, but an altogether different kind of thinking.
A bit of nothing means a bit of freedom from unconscious habit, a moment of consciousness.
In this sphere, as in other spheres, in one's efforts to understand without actually having met a teacher who knows the score, one is up shit creek without a paddle.
I am afraid, Raymond, by the sounds of it, that may be your actual situation.
Even having met Alexander teachers who do know the score, I also probably have understood very little of what Alexander saw, if even that.
All the best,
Mike
Mike,
Fear not. I do not believe enough in anything to become fully immersed in shit's creek. Although, I do believe when dabbling in shit's creek, we always have a paddle. Have a good day.
Raymond
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