SAUNDARANANDA 13.41: A Negative Target

avashyaM gocare sve sve
vartitavyam ih' endriyaiH
nimittam tatra na graahyam
anuvyaNjanam eva ca

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13.41
Inevitably, each in its own sphere,

The senses here and now are working.

But no primary import in this is to be grasped,

Nor any secondary manifestation.

[but see comment below]

DUST & FLUFF:
From here to the end of this Canto is a series of verses the real meaning of which I sense is going to be particularly difficult to dig out.

The series of verses is appearing as the concluding section of a canto whose title is shiil'-endriya-jayaH, "Thwarting the Power of the Senses through Practice of Integrity."

Whether shiila is translated thus as "practice of integrity," or as "discipline" (EHJ), or as "moral self-restraint" (LC), it is evident that the Buddha was not primarily pointing the way towards some form of psychoanalysis, psycho-therapy, or psychological counselling. He was pointing to a practice of discipline involving the use of the whole body-mind. Neither is the use of body and voice (pragyogah kaaya-vacasoH) that the Buddha speaks of from 13.11 simply the blind following of rules. To me, it speaks of real integration, and that includes sensory integration, centred on the vestibular system.

This verse is opening the way to discussion of the essence of psychological health, i.e. seeing reality just as it is, without any neurotic overtones, associations, nuances etc. But this psychological virtue is not being described as the cause of anything. It is rather being presented as the effect of the true fundamental cause, which is practice of integrity.

If realisation of reality is the end, then "realism" is never the means. The means is integrity, true psycho-physical integration -- of the kind which is sadly lacking in most people today, and which is desperately lacking in some autistic children.

If this canto is laying the foundations for Nanda to confront head on in Canto 16 the grim truth of suffering, then those foundations lie not in psychology, but in integrity, in what FM Alexander called co-ordinated activity in using the self.

We have endeavoured to show that only in a state of co-ordinated activity, in which the organism is functioning near its maximum, can we hope for anything approaching a satisfactory conception of new and unfamiliar ideas or experiences. Hence the necessity of having an understanding of 'cause and effect', primarily, in connexion with the functioning of the organism itself. For it is only after we have solved this problem in the individual that we can safely pass on to the secondary consideration of 'cause and effect' in connexion with the problems of everyday life. Only then shall we be justified in asserting that individual reactions to stimuli will be the reactions of a controlled human creature, whose employment of the processes of reasoning in the activities of life prevents the undue and harmful excitement of the fear reflexes and emotions, especially when he is called upon to deal with those new and unfamiliar situations or problems which are the natural outcome of all processes tending towards advancement on the evolutionary plane.

(Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual; concluding pagagraph)

FM Alexander saw as "end-gaining" all those approaches that seek to use psychological or other partial methods as a means, without taking into account the more fundamental means of whether or not a person conducts himself with integrity, as a co-ordinated whole. And I think that in this FM was following in the footsteps of the Buddha.

To take an extreme example of unduly excited fear reflexes and faulty sensory appreciation: if in the noise of say, a vacuum cleaner, an autistic child seizes upon secondary manifestations that cause him to scream out loud in fear and distress, what is the psycho-babble espousing "Soto Zen Master" going to suggest? Recommend the child to go and have some psychological counselling? Invite him to join an online Zen community? Read him a poem about the moon being reflected in the water? Tell him to sit up straight in a good posture?

Please, Zen Masters everywhere, don't preach "realism," to those of us who are still struggling in the lowly foothills of integrity -- especially if you have never passed this way yourself.

When the brain is not good at filtering out noise, so that a person's psycho-physical integrity is disturbed by a reaction to noise, the cause is not primarily psychological and not primarily conscious. In this I am speaking from daily experience. In the First World War I am sure that I would have been one of the first to suffer from shell shock, due to a congenitally weak vestibular-auditory system.

When a noisy plane flies overhead, for me, the noise is not simply noise. I sense the noise as a violation that goes to the core of my being. And the plane that is up there making the noise is a symbol of ignorant authority, like the ignorance of my biological father, or like the ignorance of Gudo Nishijima, and I would like to shoot the ignorance down in flames.

That's why I am mining Ashvaghosha's gold -- as part of my single-handed war effort on ignorance, as part of my screaming counterpunch against ignorance.

What the Buddha is saying in this verse, as I hear him, is that when my vestibular-auditory system senses the sound of a plane flying overhead just now, the target is that there should be for me only the sound of a plane flying overhead -- without any secondary manifestation/association.

This target seems remote indeed. A couple of days ago my neighbour in France was making a lot of noise working on his house. So I cycled off to sit in the forest. By the time I came back he had quietened down. But then the noise started again. I was at the end of the garden already, 70 meters from the house, from which I turned and allowed myself one loud bellow. It didn't do any good. I realised the next morning by the look on my neighbour's face that I had probably frightened his girlfriend, seeming to be a kind of madman.

So this episode leaves me acutely aware of how far I am from the target the Buddha now seems to indicate. But if Gudo Nishijima would like to tell me that the fundamental problem is the conflict between idealism and materialism, and the solution lies in realism, rooted in the practice of making the autonomic nervous system balanced by sitting in the correct posture, keeping the spine straight vertically, for which purpose simply pull the chin several inches backwards like this... then please would somebody mind passing me an anti-aircraft rocket?

As far as the grammar of the second half goes, I wondered if it were possible to understand it to be a nominal sentence (subject, nimittam [target, aim]; non-verbal predicate, na graahyam anuvyaNjanam) in which the Buddha tells us what the aim is that he has in view, which we are to work towards through continuing practice, day by day, through good ones and bad ones, of integrity.

I may be on safer ground following the interpretation of EHJ and LC, whereby both nimittam and anuvyaNjanam are both objects not to be grasped at, in which case nimittam means not aim or target but meaning, special value, primary import.

Any input from a pandit would be appreciated.

EH Johnston:
Of necessity the senses must be active in this world, each in its own sphere, but they should not be allowed to grasp the general or secondary characteristics of any object.

Linda Covill:
Here in the world the senses must necessarily operate, each in its particular sphere, but there should be no grasping at either the major attributes or the minor details of an object.

VOCABULARY:
avashyam: ind. necessarily , inevitably , certainly , at all events , by all means
gocare = loc. gacara: range , field for action ; the range of the organs of sense , object of sense , anything perceptible by the senses , esp. the range of the eye
sve sve (locative of sva sva): each in its own

vartitavyam = acc. of vartitavya (gerundive of vRt: to turn, move, act, operate, etc.): mfn. to be dwelt or stayed in ; to be carried out or practised or observed ; to be treated or dealt with
iha: in this place, here, this world, now
indriyaiH (instr.): by the senses

nimittam (nom. sg.): n. a butt , mark , target ; sign , omen ; cause , motive , ground, reason
tatra: in that place, therein, in that case, then
na: not
graahya (fr. gerundive of grah): mfn. to be seized or taken or held
grah: to seize , take (by the hand), grasp , lay hold of ; to perceive (with the organs of sense or with m/anas) ;

anuvyaNjanam (nom. sg.): n. a secondary mark or token (Buddhist)
anu-: (as a prefix to verbs and nouns , expresses) after , along , alongside , lengthwise , near to , under , subordinate to , with
vyaNjana: mfn. manifesting , indicating ; f. (in rhet.) implied indication , allusion , suggestion ; m. a figurative expression; n. manifestation , indication; n. allusion , suggestion ; n. figurative expression , irony , sarcasm ; n. mark of sex or gender (as the beard , breasts &c ) , the private organs (male or female)
vy-√aNj: to anoint thoroughly ; to decorate , adorn , beautify ; to cause to appear , manifest , display
eva: (emphatic)
ca: and; (occasionally) but