gRha-sthena hi duH-shodhaa
dRShTir vividha-dRShTinaa
aajivo bhikShuNaa c' aaiva
pareShv aayata-vRttinaa
- = = - - = = =
= = - - - = - =
= - = = - = = -
- = = - = = - =
13.18
For hard to be washed clean
is the view of the househoulder
With his many and various concerns,
As too is the livelihood of the beggar
Whose subsistence depends on others.
COMMENT:
A householder's practice is liable to be tainted by having various fish to fry, while a beggar's practice is liable to be tainted by contributions either not obtained morally or not given freely.
In either case, impurity originates with a thought in the back of somebody's mind of "what's in it for me?"
There are Buddhist priests in Japan and Buddhist monks in Thailand who actively encourage the "what's in it for me?" attitude by selling supposedly auspicious posthumous names to the highest bidder, and by selling trinkets to the superstitious who hope to win the lottery.
Behind the hypocrisy of the -ism, Buddhist "What's in it for me?" begets Buddhist "What's in it for me?"
Even though I write this as a non-Buddhist, a non-Buddhist also is tainted by "What's in it for me?"
The big difference between a Buddhist hypocrite and a follower of non-Buddha is this: the Buddhist hypocrite thinks that he and his Buddhist teacher and his Buddhist chums are pure, that they are, to use the words of Venerable Jundo Cohen "the good guys"; the follower of non-Buddha, in contrast, is awake to what impurity is, primarily in himself.
I spent a past life of serving a buddha called Dogen, but those efforts were not always untainted by a view of "What's in it for me?" In this present life I am serving a buddha called Ashvaghosha, and these efforts are probably still so tainted.
How hard it is for the stain of "What's in it for me" to be washed off, is nowhere more clearly expressed than in the sutra quoted in Shobogenzo chap. 87, Kuyo-shobutsu, Serving Buddhas.
Re-translating that long passage, which I was doing at this very table in France this time last year, really helped me to find the job that I am enjoying doing now, in the service of Ashvaghosha. The point of this very long and repetitive passage is not to worry about impurity or to strive for purity, which is a kind of trying to be right. The point is to keep on serving buddhas, which is a kind of going into movement.
I come back to the golden teaching of Marjory Barlow, which might be paraphrased like this:
When you feel that you are wrong, remember that what you want is not to become right but rather to direct the energy which is your life in a direction that you are consciously choosing for yourself, not letting yourself be manipulated by others on the grounds of blind reaction. Remember this, and then get on with your work, without a care in the world.
What Marjory actually said was this: "When you feel that you are wrong, say 'No,' give your directions, and go into movement, without a care in the world. Let it come out in the wash."
Washing away untaintedness, as Marjory taught it, is a very indirect process. The Buddha as I hear him, and Marjory as I heard her, are chanting from the same scroll.
To let untaintedness come out in the wash, indirectly, through the process of serving buddhas, is very difficult. It requires many lifetimes of effort and sacrifice. To wash away taintedness directly is not difficult. It is totally impossible. Because "I want to be free of taintedness" is taintedness itself.
EH Johnston:
For it is difficult for the householder attached to many varied doctrines to attain purity of doctrine and for the mendicant whose means of existence are dependent on others to obtain purity of livelihood.
Linda Covill:
For a householder who subscribes to various doctrines has difficulty in maintaining an uncontaminated doctrine, while a monk who depends for his subsistence on other people has difficulty in keeping his livelihood clean.
VOCABULARY:
gRha: house, home; householder
sthena = instrumental of stha: standing , staying , abiding , being situated in , existing or being in
hi: for
duH-shodhaa (nom. f.): difficult to be cleaned
dRShTiH (nom.): f. seeing , viewing ; view, notion
vividha:. of various sorts , manifold , divers
dRShTinaa = instrumental of dRShTin: having an insight into or familiar with anything ; having the looks or thoughts directed upon anything
aajivaH (nom.): m. livelihood
bhikShuNaa = instrumental of bhikShu: m. a beggar , mendicant , a Buddhist mendicant or monk
ca: and
eva: (emphatic)
pareShu (locative, plural): to others
aayata: stretching , extending , extended , spread over ; directed towards , aiming at
vRttinaa = instrumental of vRtti/vRttin: mode of life or conduct , course of action , behaviour , (esp.) moral conduct; practice (often ifc practising) ; profession , maintenance , subsistence , livelihood
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