manuShya-hariNaan ghnanti
kaama-vyaadh'-eritaa hRdi
vihanyante yadi na te
tataH patanti taiH kShataaH
- = - - - = = -
= - = = - = - -
- = = = - - - =
- = - = - = - =
13.36
They strike human fawns in the heart
Fired off by Desire, the hunter;
Unless they are warded away,
Men wounded by them duly fall.
DUST & FLUFF:
If arrows represent reactions to sensory stimuli that cause a person to fall from grace, then what triggers those reactions might be an instinctive desire to feel right in the gaining of some end.
Again, the instinctive desire that kaama in the 2nd line brings most readily to to mind is sexual desire, so that Love, or Passion, are natural choices for a translation of kaama personified.
Again, however, I think the Buddha is talking not only about sexual desire. I think he is referring in general to the desire to gain an end directly, unconsciously, guided by sensory appreciation that is liable to be faulty.
To perform any activity consciously and well, one has to inhibit, at least temporarily, one's instinctive desire to go directly for the end. This might also apply to sexual activity -- not something, I must confess that I was ever particularly skilled at, or had the patience for. Many years before I had ever heard of Alexander's concept of end-gaining, I was accused of selfishly "going straight for the target."
To get desire in proper perspective -- i.e. not to have views on the subject but to sort out in sitting what desire is primary and what desires are seconday -- is an ongoing struggle, a work in progress.
The final precepts bequeathed by the Buddha include 'desiring little' or 'being moderate in one's desiring' (alpecchu). In that instance desire is represented in Sanskrit by icchu, which means wishing or desiring and has a more conscious, less instinctive connotation than the kaama of this verse.
Learning to do anything in a more integrated manner, it seems to me, whether the activity is using a chair to practise sitting and standing, or swimming in water, or giving pleasure to one's partner (if one has the energy, patience and compassion for it), or sitting in lotus, invariably involves (a) the inhibition of one's instinctive desire (kaama) to go directly for the end, and (b) moderately but insistently desiring (icchu), in the manner of a relentless trickle of water, to stay with the means.
So the enemy is end-gaining, the desire to go directly for an end regardless of whether or not there is integrity in process. Desire itself, as I see it, is not the enemy. It is a question of sorting out what kind of desire is primary, and what kind of desire is secondary.
In his book The Use of the Self, FM Alexander takes pains to clarify this point. In a chapter titled "The Golfer Who Cannot Keep His Eyes on the Ball," FM uses the example of a golfer learning to make a stroke in a new and better way, a more integrated way:
The lure of the familiar proves too strong for him and keeps him tied down to the habitual use of himself which feels right. This is not surprising, seeing that the golfer's desire to employ his habitual use at all costs in gaining his end, on account of the familiar sensory experiences that go with it, is an instinctive desire which mankind has inherited and continued to develop all through the ages. The desire to feel right in the gaining of his end is therefore his primary desire, in comparison with which his desire to make a good stroke is new and undeveloped, and exerts only a secondary influence. This is proved by the fact that although he starts out with the desire to make a good stroke, his desire to repeat sensory experiences that 'feel right' acts as a stimulus to him to use himself in the habitual way which is associated with these experiences, although it is this very manner of use that prevents him from satisfying his newer desire to make a good stroke.
Kaama-vyadha, Desire the hunter, in this analogy is "the golfer's desire to employ his habitual use at all costs in gaining his end." And the secret of warding away the arrows fired off by Desire the hunter is "his newer desire to make a good stroke."
If we relegate the desire for integrity to second place, even for the time it takes to make one conscious decision, it doesn't matter if we are an experienced Alexander teacher, or even a renown Zen master, Desire the hunter invariably gets us and, wounded, from grace we duly fall.
EH Johnston:
They are discharged by Love the hunter and strike men the deer in the heart and, if they are not warded off, men fall pierced by them.
Linda Covill:
The hunter Passion fires them into the hearts of men like deer, and if they are not deflected, men fall down wounded.
VOCABULARY:
manuShya: m. a man
hariNaan: = accusative, plural of hariNa: m. a deer, fawn
ghnanti = 3rd person plural of han: to strike, smite, slay, kill
kaama: m. (fr. √kam), wish , desire , longing ; desire for , longing after (gen. dat. , or loc.) , love , affection , object of desire or of love or of pleasure ; pleasure , enjoyment ; love , especially sexual love or sensuality ; Love or Desire
√kam: to love, be in love with, have sex; to wish , desire , long for
vyaadha: m. " one who pierces or wounds " , a hunter
iiritaa (nom. pl. f): sent , despatched
hRdi = locative of hRd: heart
vihanyante = 3rd person plural, passive vi-√han: to strike apart, disperse ; to ward off, repel
yadi: if
na: not
te (nom. plural, m. of saH): they, those [arrows]
tataH: then, thence, there, consequently
patanti: they fall
taiH (instrumental, plural): by them
kShataaH = nom. plural, m. of kShata: wounded , hurt , injured
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