jNaanasy' opaniShac c' aaiva
samaadhir upadhaaryataam
samaadher apy upaniShat
sukhaM shaariira-maanasaM
= = = - - = = -
- = = - - = - =
- = = = - - - =
- = = = - = - =
13.23
And let it be experienced, again,
That the knowing is seated in a stillness
And that the seat of the stillness
Is a body-mind at ease.
COMMENT:
Knowing (jNaana), stillness or balance (samaadhi), and pyscho-physical ease (sukhaM shaarira-maanasam) are like three descending rungs on a ladder. Each is to be experienced for what it is. But the base that the whole thing is resting on is not Alexandrian insight, is not balance of the autonomic nervous system, and is not even the principle and practice of body-mind integration. The base that everything is resting on is nothing other than conduct.
Not doing any evil,
Allowing every good,
To cleanse one's own mind
Is the teaching of buddhas.
EH Johnston:
Realise that knowledge is based on mental concentration and mental concentration on bliss of body and mind.
Linda Covill:
Recognize that concentration is the secret of knowledge, and physical and mental bliss of concentration.
VOCABULARY:
jNaanasya (gentive): of knowing
upaniShad: secret, basis
ca: and
eva: (emphatic)
samaadhiH (nom.): m. putting together; setting to rights ; bringing into harmony , agreement
upadhaaryataam = passive, imperative of upa-√dhR: to hold up , support , bear ; to hold as , consider as , regard , think ; to hold in the mind , reflect or meditate on ; to perceive , comprehend , hear , experience , learn
samaadheH = genitive of samaadhi: balance, harmony, stillness
api: also
upaniShad: secret, basis
sukham (nom. singular): n. ease , easiness , comfort , prosperity , pleasure , happiness
shaariira: body
maanasam (nom. singular): n. the mental powers , mind , spirit , heart , soul
9 comments:
"The base that everything is resting on is nothing other than conduct"
Hi Mike!
What do you mean with "conduct"?
Many Thanks for your continued efforts to start afresh!
Plato
Hi Plato,
conduct : the act, manner, or process of carrying on
Many thanks for your continuing encouragement,
Mike
Mike,
I rescind my goodbye. I like your blog and I am going to keep checking in. Please disregard my previous farewell....nobody's perfect, right?
Raymond
PS - I have been finding lately that my psychophysical wellness is more pronounced when my effort and desire to produce certain conduct is inhibited and I just respond to things in a natural way.
To clarify, I take back the idea of allowing conduct to manifest in a natural way...because I have been trying to be a certain thing or produce various results for so long that I 'm not sure I can be natural.
Maybe I just mean when I give up all notions of wanting - whether it is to be noticed by a person at a professional seminar, or to be "good", or to be buddhist - I feel more authentically myself and that itself is a good feeling. It is like for the first time, without feigning or contriving or imagining, I am just me...that feels like solid footing.
Thak you Mike!
But why did Buddha sit and why did he taught sitting?
Was sitting a result of his conduct or was sitting a way to influence conduct?
Plato
Hi Raymond,
I think Ashvaghosha's words are akin to a homeopathic remedy: they have no active ingredient, and their effectiveness will never be proved by double-blind clinical trials performed by skeptical know-it-alls, but when they hit the target they promote healing.
So our job is only to let the remedy hit the target. We needn't worry about side-effects.
A couple of days ago on the radio a programme featured a self-defence class for the visually impaired. A blind man of 42 recounted how he had been helped across the road by two guys to a cashpoint machine, whereupon the good samaritans kicked the back of his knees, took his money, and then kicked him in the mouth for good measure, so that he lost his teeth. It made my blood boil to hear that. This morning in sitting I was reflecting -- why was this making me so angry? What had it got to do with me? It's not as if I have ever kicked a blind man in the teeth, is it?
Oops. The mirror principle never fails.
My point? Don't think of good and bad. Have confidence in this process.
All the best,
Mike
Hi Plato,
Do you mean to say "Thank you, Mike"?
Or do you mean to say "Fak you, Mike"?
Or maybe somewhere in the middle?
All the best,
Mike
No I meant
Thank you Mike!
But I still think about your comment! I do not expect a clear answer, because the question is not clear enough in my head.
Take care!
George
Thank you, George.
I thought I detected a certain lack of clarity.
Here the Buddha is speaking of conduct. I think the struggle for a recovering Zen Buddhist like me is just to listen to the Buddha, without bringing in any agenda of my own.
It might look like I have an Alexander agenda. Maybe I have. But the essence of Alexander work is always "not that." Alexander work tends to the giving up of agendae.... "People who have no fish to fry see it all right."
The kind of listening required might be less like listening to Mozart through the ears of a musician, and more like listening to an old bell through the ears of a child.
If you want to know what conduct means, maybe you could try asking your daughter.
BONG!
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