SAUNDARANANDA 13.37: Inhibition, Direction, Mindfulness

niyam'-aajira-saMsthena
dhairya-kaarmuka-dhaariNaa
nipatanto nivaaryaas te
mahataa smRti-varmaNaa

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13.37
Standing firm in the arena of inhibition,

And bearing the bow of resolve,

The mighty man must fend them as they fall,

Wearing the armour of mindfulness.

DUST & FLUFF:
Three of the things test match cricket tests are an opening batsman's powers of inhibition (niyama), resolve (dhairya), and mindfulness (smRti).

In the family I grew up in the nearest thing we had to religion was love of sport: rugby, cricket, football, snooker, swimming, darts, horse-racing, tennis, boxing -- both playing and watching. Possibly that is why, while slow to pick up on the principle of inhibition in the bedroom, and on the zafu, I was relatively quick to understand the value of inhibition in the arena of competition karate. I realised that the secret of success, at the level I was at, was to watch my opponent and wait and wait and wait, wishing to allow a counterpunch to happen, but not doing it. Not doing it was my first true experience of practising conscious inhibition (niyama). When the counterpunch seemed miraculously to do itself, that was my first true experience of non-doing. That was 30 years ago, and I have been trying my damndest to figure it out ever since -- trying, and mainly failing, to apply the principle of inhibition and non-doing to deeper aspects of my being.

One of the virtues of a good bow, I suppose, is that after being put under strain, after being tensed to the maximum, it springs right back into its original shape. So dhairya might include the meaning of resilience. But I have preferred resolve, because that word is given in the dictionary, and I think resolve suggests the directed energy that an archer's bow imparts to an arrow.

Jordan suggested in his comment on 13.30 that rather than worry about whether or not to follow the convention of translating smRti into English as "mindfulness," it would be better to clarify what the original intent of the usage of the word smRti was. Maybe with the help of FM Alexander I can have a go at clarifying what the Buddha did NOT mean by mindfulness. As I hear him he, he definitely did not mean end-gaining.

Contributing to the radio commentary on last week's test match between England and Australia, former Aussie opening bat, the mighty Matthew Hayden, spoke several times about the essential simplicity of the opening batsman's job: to keep watching the ball, ball by ball. If it is so simple to keep one's eyes on the ball, why do so many sportsmen find it so difficult, especially on the big stage when the pressure is on?

FM Alexander discovered that the difficulty people encounter when called upon to perform this simple task of watching the ball had to do not with any shortcoming in the eyes themselves, but with the end-gaining habit of the poorly coordinated person. A poorly coordinated person, for Alexander, was a person who used himself badly, guided by faulty sensory appreciation. Thus the section quoted yesterday from "The Golfer Who Cannot Keep His Eyes on the Ball" continues as follows:

The desire to carry out his teacher's instructions to keep his eyes on the ball is a still newer desire, and consequently suffers in intensity as compared with the other two desires [to feel right; to make a good stroke]. Moreover, it stands even less chance of being carried out, firstly, because the stimulus which gives rise to it does not come from within, like the others, but from without, ie, from the teacher; and secondly, because the instruction is framed with the purpose of correcting something wrong with the pupil's use, ie, the use of the eyes, and so is bound to come at once into conflict with the pupil's desire to employ his faulty habitual use which, as we have just explained, is the dominating influence in whatever he tries to do. The conflict between these two desires is therefore bound to be an unequal one, and his desire to carry out his teacher's instruction goes by the board.

It is the dominating influence of his desire to gain his end by means of a use of his mechanisms which feels right, but is in fact wrong for the purpose, that explains not only why he continues to take his eyes off the ball and so to fail in his stroke, but also why, in spite of this repeated experience of failure, he does not give up 'end-gaining' and set to work in a different way.

As with watching the ball, so too with watching the breath. If I wish to practise true mindfulness of breathing, my first wish has to be to allow the neck to be free, to allow the head to release out, to allow the spine to lengthen and the back to widen, while releasing arms and legs out of the widening back, so that I am using myself well as a whole. And as a criterion for whether or not I am using myself as a whole, a more reliable indicator than my feeling might be my breathing. So in practising mindfulness of breathing my primary wish has to relate not directly to breathing, but to general co-ordination, or in short integrity.

If I am primarily interested in anything other than integrity -- whether it be breathing, or breakfast, or good posture, or saving all people in the world through the spread of True Buddhism -- then I am end-gaining.

The primary thing, the base, as the Buddha has already told us in this canto, is integrity. And the key to integrity, Alexander posited, having said No to one's habitual patterns of use that feel right, is to maintain the wish to allow the above directions for neck, head, back, and limbs, 'altogether, one after the other.'

Mindfulness is armour because, as one goes into movement, it is mindfulness that protects this integrity. To clarify my understanding of how this might be so, I have drawn the diagram below, which is based on a diagram originally drawn by Sally Goddard Blythe of INPP Chester.




I shall attempt to explain in more detail what the diagram represents:

At the centre is fear paralysis, the most primitive of responses. Surrounding fear paralysis like a layer of insulation are four vestibular reflexes. The primary vestibular reflex, the Moro or baby panic reflex, is antagonistic to the fear paralysis response which it inhibits; the Moro is red versus the white of fear paralysis. Closely related to the Moro reflex is the Tonic Labyrinthine or baby balance reflex. Both Moro and TLR are a symmetrical pattern, and antagonistic to this symmetrical pattern is the Asymmetrical Tonic Reflex. Antagonistic to both ATNR and TLR is the Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex, the fourth vestibular reflex, which forms a bridge between inhibition of primitive reflexes and emergence of postural reflexes. If the four vestibular reflexes (Moro, TLR, ATNR, STNR) are the four cornerstones of coordination, the postural reflexes are building blocks. A person's actions are naturally well integrated when all the foundation stones and building blocks are in place. Such a person has natural good coordination instinctively or unconsciously. Stepping up on to the next rung of the ladder of human development, conscious inhibition of old unconscious 'end-gaining' behaviour, together with conscious direction of energy along new pathways, leads to growth of conscious awareness. Thus may form, in a virtuous circle of stopping and becoming aware, an outer insulating layer of mindfulness (smRti).

EH Johnston:
They should be kept off as they fall by the strong man who stands on the battle-ground of self-control and is armed with the bow of steadfastness and the armour of attention.

Linda Covill:
They must be deflected as they rain down by the mighty man who takes his stand in the arena of disciplined conduct, bearing the bow of resolution and wearing the armour of mindfulness.

VOCABULARY:
niyama: m. restraining , checking , holding back , preventing , controlling
ajira: n. place to run or fight in , area , court
saMsthena = instrumental of saMstha: mf(A)n. standing together , standing or staying or resting or being in or on; belonging to; based on

dhairya: n. intelligence, forethought; n. firmness , constancy , calmness , patience , gravity , fortitude , courage
kaarmuka: n. a bow
dhaariNaa = instrumental of dhaarin: bearing

nipatantaH = genitive of nipatant (pres. part. from ni√pat): flying down, falling down
nivaaryaaH = nominal plural of nivaarya: mfn. to be kept off or defended or prevented
te (nominal, plural): they

mahataa = inst. sg. of mahat: m. a great or noble man; n. anything great or important; n. greatness , power , might; n. a great thing , important matter
smRti: remembrance, mindfulness, awareness, attention
varmaNaa = instrumental of varman: " envelope " , defensive armour , a coat of mail