SAUNDARANANDA 16.17 - 16.23: The Cause -- Clusters of Faults

16.17
pravRtti-duHkhasya ca tasya loke
tRShn"aadayo doSha-gaNaa nimittaM
n'aiv' eshvaro na prakRtir na kaalo
n' aapi svabhaavo na vidhir yadRcchaa

- = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =

16.17
And this suffering,
associated with continual doing in the world,

Has its cause in clusters of faults
which start with thirsting --

Certainly not in God,
nor in primordial matter, nor in time;

Nor even in one’s inherent constitution,
and not in predestination or self-will.

16.18
jNaatavyam etena ca kaaraNena
lokasya doShebhya iti pravRttiH
yasmaan mriyante sa-rajas-tamaskaa
na jaayate viita-rajas-tamaskaH

= = - = = - - = - = -
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
- = - = = - - = - = =

16.18
Again, you must understand how, due to this cause,

Because of men's faults, the cycle of doing continues

So that those imbued with redness and darkness
succumb to death.

He is not reborn who is without redness and darkness.

16.19
icchaa-visheShe sati tatra tatra
yaan'-aasan'-aader bhavati prayogaH
yasmaad atas tarSha-vashaat tath" aiva
janma prajaanaam iti veditavyaM

= = - = = - - = - = -
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = -
= = - = = - - = - = =

16.19
Only insofar as the specific intention exists
to do this or that,

Does an action like going or sitting happen;

Hence, in just the same way,
by the force of their thirsting

Living creatures are reborn -- as is to be observed:

16.20
sattvaany abhiShvaNga-vashaani dRShTvaa
svajaatiShu priiti-paraaNy atiiva
abhyaasa-yogaad upapaaditaani
tair eva doShair iti taani viddhi

= = - = = - - = - = =
- = - = = - - = - = -
= = - = = - - = - = -
= = - = = - - = - = -

16.20
See sentient beings in the grip of attachment,

Dead set on pleasure among their own kind;

And, from their habitual practice of faults,

Observe them presenting with those very faults.

16.21
krodha-praharSh'aadibhir aashrayaaNaam
utpadyate c'eha yathaa visheShaH
tath" aiva janmasv api n'aika-ruupo
nirvartate klesha-kRto visheShaH

= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
- = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =

16.21
Just as the anger, lust, and so on
of sufferers of those afflictions

Give rise in the present to a personality trait,

So too in new lives, in various manifestations,

Does the affliction-created trait develop:

16.22
roSh'aadhike janmani tiivra-roSha
utpadyate raagiNi tiivra-raagaH
moh'-aadhike moha-bal'-aadhikash ca
tad-alpa-doShe ca tad-alpa-doShaH

= = - = = - - = - = -
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = -
- = - = = - - = - = =

16.22
In a life dominated by anger arises violent anger,

In the lover of passion arises burning passion,

And in the predominantly ignorant,
overwhelming ignorance.

In one who has a lesser fault, again,
the lesser fault develops.

16.23
phalaM hi yaadRk samavaiti saakShaat
tad-aagamaad biijam avaity atiitaM
avetya biija-prakRtim ca saakShaad
an-aagatam tat-phalam abhyupaiti

- = - = - - - = - = =
- = - = = - - = - = =
- = - = = - - = - = =
- = - = = - - = - = -

16.23
Seeing what fruit is before one's eyes,

One knows, from past knowledge of that fruit,
the seed it was in the past.

And having identified a seed before one's eyes,

One knows the fruit it may be in the future.

COMMENT:
As a timely reminder of how very faulty my own sensory appreciation is, on this cold and frosty dawn my sitting was disturbed from beginning to end by the noise from the engine of one car after another being left revving, in order to warm up. The engines seemed to vibrate right on my own resonant frequency and the reaction elicited in me is akin to sea-sickness. As when I am actually sea-sick, there seems to be no way around it apart from waiting for it to finish. I cannot think that sitting-dhyana as I have just been practising it could even be classed as being on the outer borders of the first dhyana. If the practise had any merit in it at all, it could only be the merit of what Dogen called KARADA NO KEKKAFUZA -- sitting with the body.

Again, a guy I have never met named Aaron expresses a view on mindfulness of breathing and my reaction to it disturbs me for days. How can that be? Simply because, in my vain efforts to follow the Buddha's teaching in regard to the inhibition of faults, I use others as mirrors for faults that I have not been able to let go of in myself.

And these faults are not neatly arranged in one straight line -- 1. fear paralysis vs panic (Moro), 2. balance reflex (TLR), 3. asymmetrical and 4. symmetrical tonic neck reflexes (ATNR, STNR). Far from it, they reside in clusters with water, earth, wind and fire all fighting against each other like a basket of snakes.

Hence the Buddha speaks in 16.17 of doSha-gaNaaH (nom. pl.) "clusters of faults." This phrase is echoed in 16.71 by the description of "the instinct-led accumulation,from time without beginning, of the powerful mass of afflictions (an-aadi-kaal' opacit'-aatmakatvaad baliiyasaH klesha-gaNasya).

Because, as the Buddha tells us in 15.56, the Big Four antagonize each other like a basket of snakes, tight-fistedness is not only a matter of water but also of earth, wind, and fire. Rigidity of form and adherence to wrong views is not only a matter of earth, but also of water, wind and fire. Energy being all up in the head instead of warmly and comfortably emanating from the heart and the belly, is not only a matter of wind and fire but also of water and earth.

Sir Charles Sherrington,the grand-daddy of neuro-physiology, in his book The Integrative Action of the Nervous System (1904) spoke of 'the fiction of the simple reflex.'

FM Alexander spoke of misuse of the self associated with faulty sensory appreciation.

So what we are up against, in the endeavour to establish a new and better use of the self in which the mind is cleansed from faults, is not a neatly arranged row of immature primitive reflexes like fresh army recruits lined up on parade. What we are up against, more like, is messy clusters of reptilian faults, like baskets of entangled snakes.

The whole thing, in short, is a fucking big mess -- a many-tentacled monster of misuse. And my sense this morning is that, very far from me slaying it, it has still got me totally in its grip.