Thursday, March 31, 2011

SAUNDARANANDA 9.1: Nanda's Parsnips Not Buttered (ctd.)

ath'-aivam ukto' pi sa tena bhikShunaa
jagaama n'aiv' opashamaM priyaaM prati
tathaa hi taam eva tadaa sa cintayan
na tasya sushrava visaMjNa-vad vacaH

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

9.1
Though the beggar reproached him thus,

Nanda in no way attained tranquillity
towards his beloved;

He still thought of her so much that he did not hear,

As if he were unconscious, a word the other said.


COMMENT:
His fine words having buttered no parsnips in the previous canto, the striver tries again in this canto, whose title is mad"-aapavaadaH, "Denunciation of Vanity."

The second word in this compound, apavaada, means speaking ill of, denying, denouncing; apavaada also appears in the title of Canto 11 svarg'-aapavaadaH. In Canto 11 the denouncing is being done by Ananda, and the object of his denunciation is svarga, heaven. In this canto, the one doing the denouncing is the striver and the object of his denouncing could be mada or it could be madaa. With the short a, mada (m.) means intoxication, infatuation; with the long a, madaa (f.) means ruttishness; or pride, arrogance, presumption, conceit. Hence, as a translation of the chapter title, LC went with "The Denunciation of Infatuation," whereas EHJ went with "The Denunciation of Conceit."

My guess is that the ambiguity inherent in mada and madaa might have suited Ashvaghosha's purpose well, because on the surface what deserves to be denounced is Nanda's continuing infatuation with Sundari, and the striver is just the man to do the denouncing; but on a deeper level the mirror principle is at work whereby a denouncer tends to denounce the very fault -- in this case conceit or vanity -- with which he himself is struggling.

The dictionary defines both conceit and vanity as excessive pride, especially, in the case of conceit, unjustified pride in one's own qualities and abilities; and especially, in the case of vanity, pride in one's personal appearance.

Excessive pride, I think, is in essence a balance problem, or rather a problem of imbalance. My old teacher Gudo Nishijima would say that it is a problem of imbalance of the autonomic nervous system, to be remedied by keeping the spine straight vertically. More fundamentally, I would say, any problem of imbalance is at root a problem of vestibular-proprioceptive imbalance, which one cannot remedy by striving to keep the spine straight vertically -- any more than one can re-orient a faulty compass by means the faulty compass itself.

FM Alexander in his day thought long and hard about how to re-educate individuals whose feeling with regard to postural balance was faulty. Alexander died in 1954 and very few of the people he taught are still alive. I had some lessons with Alexander's niece Marjory Barlow who was ever afraid that the fundamental principles of Alexander's work could so easily get lost.

How can I, for one, help to uphold those principles? I don't know. But not by striving. And not by denouncing in others faults that I haven't eliminated in myself. That's for damn sure.

If from 30 years of stubborn effort I have gleaned any wisdom to bring to the round black cushion, it is not wisdom in regard to what to do. If I have gleaned any wisdom it is in regard to what not to do.... and yet, I still tend to do it. So there might be grounds for conceit in my faulty vestibular system, but in reality there are no grounds here for conceit.


EH Johnston:
But, although addressed in this fashion by the mendicant, Nanda failed to reach equanimity about his mistress ; for still obsessed with thoughts of her, he did not hear the other's speech, as if he were unconscious.

Linda Covill:
Though the monk spoke to him in this manner, Nanda found no peace as far as his sweetheart was concerned; he thought of her so much that, like an unconscious man, he didn't hear a word he said.



VOCABULARY:
atha: ind. and, and so, but
evam: ind. thus
uktaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. addressed, spoken to
vac: to speak , say , tell , utter , announce , declare , mention , proclaim; to reproach , revile (acc.)
api: though
sa (nom. sg. m.): he
tena (inst. sg.): by him
bhikShunaa (inst. sg.): m. beggar

jagaama = 3rd pers. sg. perfect gam: to go, to enter a condition (acc.)
na: not
eva: (emphatic)
upashamam (acc. sg.): m. the becoming quiet , assuagement , alleviation , stopping , cessation ; tranquillity of mind , calmness , patience
priyaam (acc. sg.): f. wife, beloved
prati: ind. towards

tathaa: ind. in such a manner
hi: for
taam (acc. sg.): f. her
eva: (emphatic)
tadaa: ind. at that time
sa (nom. sg. m.): he
cintayan = nom. sg. m. pres. part. cint: to think of

na: not
tasya (gen. sg.): of him, of the [beggar]
sushrava = 3rd pers. sg. perfect shru: to hear, listen
visaMjNa-vat: ind. as if unconscious
visaMjNa: mfn. unconscious ; bereft of sense , lifeless
vacaH (acc. sg.): n. speech, words

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Canto 8: A Tirade against Women

The value of this canto, as I read it, is to help the reader be clear in regard to what makes the shramaNa, the striver, strive. When I go on a cycle ride to the other side of the River Thame and back again, which involves pedalling my increasingly flabby middle-aged body up two big hills, cycling up the two big hills is hard work but it doesn't necessarily involve any striving -- as I understand the word. Rather, cycling up the hill, as a process to be enjoyed, might be a good opportunity to experience a moment of what Ashvaghosha calls a-punar-bhava, "the end of becoming" [2.65]. When I run across some minor computer glitch, however, while doing some job I don't particularly want to do anyway, like trying to sort out my wife's email account for her, then the striving mind is prone to go into overdrive. In the mind of the striver, there is something about me, who am the judge, which is important; and there is something about you, and others, with which I am not satisfied. That being so, I think a key to unlock the character of the striver is contained, ironically, in the striver's own words in 8.6: "For minds have many ways of working, and many secrets, whose concealment is complicated by conceit." (gatayo vividhaa hi cetasaaM bahu-guhyaani mad"-aakulaani ca). And the key word within the key sentence, as I read it, might be madaa, conceit or vanity. At the root of the striver's striving is a fault which is sharply reflected in the looking-glass of this canto, and the fault is conceit, or vanity.

8.1
Then,
while the unsteady-eyed Nanda was looking forward,

With the eagerest of eager expectations, to going home,

A certain striver with a benevolent air

Approached him and said, in a friendly way:

8.2
"Why this tear-clouded face

That reveals a darkness in your heart?

Come back to constancy, restrain your emotion,

For tears and tranquillity do not go well together.

8.3
Pain invariably arises in two ways:

In the mind and in the body.

And for those two kinds of pain,

There are healers skilled in education and in medicine.

8.4
So if this pain is physical

Be quick to tell a doctor all about it,

For when a sick man hides his illness

It turns before long into something serious.

8.5
But if this suffering is mental tell me,

And I will tell you the cure for it;

Because, for a mind shrouded in gloom and darkness,

The healer is a seeker who knows himself.

8.6
Tell me the whole truth, my friend,

If you think it fit to be told;

For minds have many ways of working

And many secrets,
whose concealment is complicated by conceit."

8.7
Thus impelled by the other,

While wanting to explain his own decision,

Nanda hung onto him, his hand in his hand,

And went into another corner of the forest.

8.9
Then,
in between the deep sighs
that intermittently gripped him,

He told the beggar who was adept at hearing and talking

What he intended to do --

An intention that,
for an intelligent man who has gone forth,
is difficult to express.

8.8
And so there the two of them sat

In a bright bower of flower-spewing creepers

Whose soft young shoots, stirring in a soft breeze,

Seemed to be hiding them away.

8.10
"It is surely fitting for a dharma practitioner

Who is forever friendly-minded towards living beings,

That this benevolence
inherent in your compassionate good self

Might be shown to me in my inconstancy!

8.11
And so I am particularly keen to speak to you

Who preach propriety;

For what I am feeling now I would not tell
to a man out of balance in himself

Who, though a good talker, was not a true person.

8.12
Hear me then when I say, in short,

That without my beloved I do not enjoy
the practice of dharma;

I am like a kimnara without his lover

Roaming about, his semen ready, over mountain peaks.

8.13
Averse to the happiness of the forest life,

I just want to go home;

For without her I obtain no comfort,

Like a king without sovereignty."

8.14
When he heard those words of Nanda

Who, mind turned towards his beloved wife,
was burning with pain,

The striver while letting his head shake,

Softly, said to himself:

8.15
"What a pity!
In its longing for the herd, a rushing stag

Having escaped the mortal danger of the hunter's arrow

Is about to enter the hunter's trap,

Deceived by a call the hunter sang.

8.16
Truly, a bird that was caught in a net

And set free by a benevolent person,

Desires,
as it flits about the fruiting and blossoming forest,

To fly of its own free will into a cage.

8.17
A baby elephant, truly,
after a big elephant has pulled it up

Out of the deep mud of a dangerous riverbed,

Wishes, in its thirst for water,

To re-enter that crocodile-infested creek.

8.18
Truly, in a shelter where slithers a snake,

A sleeping boy, woken by an elder who is awake,

Has become agitated

And is about to grab the horrible reptile himself.

8.19
Truly, having flown up and away

From a forest tree blazing in a great fire,

A chick in its longing for the nest

Wishes to fly back there, its former alarm forgotten.

8.20
Truly, a pheasant separated from its mate
through fear of a hawk,

And so stupefied by desire as to be helpless,

Lacks resolve and lacks reserve:

The poor blighter is living a pitiful life.

8.21
Greedy and untrained,

Devoid of decency and intelligence,

Truly, a wretched dog wishes to eat again

Food that he himself has vomited."

8.22
So saying, the striver contemplated Nanda for a while,

Beholding him torn up by the sorrows of love,

And, striving to be of benefit,

The striver spoke fine words,
which were unpleasant to hear.

8.23
"For you
who draws no distinction between good and bad,

Whose mind is settled on objects of the senses,

And who has no eye of attainment,

Naturally, there could be no delight in the better way.

8.24
For joy in dharma is not allotted

To one who easily changes his mind,
to one whose thinking

-- In hearing, grasping, retaining
and understanding the supreme truth,
and in mental peace --

Is not firmly fixed.

8.25
But the joy is not unknown to one
who sees the faults in objects of the senses,

Who is contented, pure, and unassuming,

Whose mind is versed in religious acts leading to peace

And whose understanding of those acts is formed.

8.26
A covetous man delights in opulence;

A fool delights in sensual pleasure;

A true person delights in tranquillity

Having transcended sensual enjoyments
by virtue of his knowledge.

8.27
What is more, when a man of repute,

An intelligent man of good family,
bears the honoured insignia

His consciousness no more inclines homeward

Than a mountain bends in the wind.

8.28
Only a man who aspires to dependence on another,

Spurning autonomy and self-reliance,

Would yearn, while on the auspicious path to peace,

For life at home with all its faults.

8.29
Just as a man released from prison might,
when stricken by some calamity,

Betake himself back to prison,

So might one who has retired to the forest

Seek out again that bondage called home.

8.30
The man who would leave strife behind

Wishing only to return again to strife:

He is the fool who would leave behind and then return,

With the power of his senses unconquered,
to the strife that is a wife.

8.31
Like poisonous clinging creepers,

Like swept caves still harbouring snakes,

Like unsheathed blades held in the hand,

Women are calamitous in the end.

8.32
Sexy women arouse lust;

Unsexy women are fearsome.

Since they bring a fault or bring fear

How are they worth bothering about?

8.33
So that kinsman breaks with kinsman

And friend breaks with friend,

Women, who are good at seeing faults in others,

Behave deceitfully and ignobly.

8.34
When men of good families fall on hard times,

When they rashly do unfitting deeds,

When they recklessly enter the vanguard of an army,

Women in those instances are the cause.

8.35
They beguile with lovely voices,

And strike with sharp minds:

There is honey in women's speech,

And lethal venom in their hearts.

8.36
A burning fire can be held,

The bodiless wind can be caught,

An angry snake can be captured,

But the mind of women cannot be grasped.

8.37
Without pausing to consider looks or wealth,

Or intelligence or breeding or valour,

Women attack no matter what,

Like a ragbag of crocodiles in a river.

8.38
No sweet words, no caresses,

And no affection do women ever remember.

The female, even when cajoled, is flighty:

So rely on one no more than you would
your enemies in this world.

8.39
Women flirt with men who give them nothing,

And grow restless with generous men;

They show disdain towards the humble,

But simpering contentment towards the arrogant.

8.40
They lord it over men who have merit,

And submit like children to men without merit.

They act rapaciously towards men who have money;

Men without money they treat with contempt.

8.41
Just as a cow,
having gone from one pasture to another,

Keeps right on grazing, however she is restrained,

So a woman,
without regard for any affection she felt before,

Moves on and takes her pleasure elsewhere.

8.42
For though women ascend their husbands' funeral pyre,

Though they follow at the cost of their own lives,

Though they bear all kinds of pain,

They never truly show affection.

8.43
Women who in some small way please their husband,

Treating him like a god, sometimes,

A thousand times more, in their fickle-mindedness,

Please their own heart.

8.44
The daughter of Sena-jit the Conqueror, so they say,
coupled with a dog cooker;

Kumud-vati, 'Lilly Pool,'
paired up with Mina-ripu, 'Foe of Fishes';

And 'Burly Heroine' Brhad-ratha loved a lion:

There is nothing women will not do.

8.45
Scions of the Kurus, Haihayas and Vrishnis,

Along with Shambara whose armour was much magic,

And the sage Ugra-tapas -- 'Grim Austerities' -- Gautama,

All incurred the dust of passion which a woman raises.

8.46
Ungrateful, ignoble, unsteady:

Such is the mind of women.

What man of wisdom could fasten his heart

Onto such fickle creatures?

8.47
So you do not see that their little lightweight hearts

Are pernicious in their intense duplicity?

Do you not at least see that women's bodies

Are impure, oozing houses of foulness?

8.48
The ugliness which day after day is prettified,

By means of ablutions, garments, and jewels,

You with eyes veiled by ignorance do not truly see:

You see it as beauty.

8.49
Or else you see that their bodies are foul

But intelligence is lacking in you:

For the fragrant task you are engaged in

Is extinction of the impurity that originates in them.

8.50
Cosmetic paste and powder, garlands,

Gems, pearls, gold, fine fabric:

If these are good, what have they to do with women?

Let us examine what in women is originally pure.

8.51
Dirty and unclothed,

With nails, teeth and body-hair in their natural state:

If your 'Beautiful Woman' Sundari were like that now,

She surely would not be to you such a beautiful woman.

8.52
What man capable of disgust would touch a woman,

Leaking and unclean like an old bucket,

If she were not scantily clad

In skin as thin as a flying insect's wing?

8.53
If you see women's bodies to be bony skeletons

Wrapped around with skin

And yet you are forcibly drawn by passion,

Then, truly,
Love is immune to disgust and lacking in restraint.

8.54
You are inventing beauty

In nails, teeth, skin, and hair long and short,
which are not beautiful.

Dullard! Do you not see

What women originally are made of
and what they originally are?

8.55
So reckon women, in mind and in body,

To be singularly implicated with faults;

And hold back, using this arithmetic,

Your impulsively homeward-straining mind.

8.56
You are educated, intelligent, and well-bred --

A fitting vessel for supreme tranquillity;

As such, you ought not in any way to break

The contract into which you have entered.

8.57
For the spirited man of noble birth,

For the man who cherishes honour
and strives to earn great respect,

For the man of grit --

Better death for him than life as a backslider.

8.58
For just as he is blameworthy who,
having girded on armour and taken up a bow,

Flees in his war-chariot away from a battle;

So too is he blameworthy who,
having taken on the insignia and taken up begging,

Allows the stallion of his senses
to be carted away by desire.

8.59
And just as he is laughable who wears
the finest ornaments, clothes and garlands,

And, with head full of passing fancies,
goes begging holding a bow,

So too is he laughable
who has taken to shapelessness
and who eats food offered by others,

While thirstily veering towards the comforts of home.

8.60
Just as a hog,
though fed with good food and lain on the finest bedding,

Would run, when set free, back to his familiar filth;

So, having tasted the excellent pleasure of cessation
while learning a better way,

Would a man of thirsting libido
abandon the tranquil forest and long for home.

8.61
Just as a flaming torch, when fanned by the wind,
burns the hand that holds it,

Just as a snake, swift to anger,
bites the foot that steps on it,

Just as a tiger, though caught as a cub,
mauls the one who took it in,

So too does association with women, in many ways,
make for disaster.

8.62
So know these faults to be tied,
mentally and physically, to women;

Understand how sensual pleasure,
as it flows away like river water,
makes for affliction and for sorrow;

See the world, in Death's shadow,
to be fragile as an unbaked pot;

And make the peerless decision that leads to release
-- instead of stiffening up your neck through yearning."


The 8th canto in the epic poem Handsome Nanda,
titled "A Tirade against Women."


Tuesday, March 29, 2011

SAUNDARANANDA 8.62: No Buttered Parsnips

tad vijNaaya manaH-shariira-niyataan naariiShu doShaan imaan
matvaa kaama-sukhaM nadii-jala-calaM kleshaaya shokaaya ca
dRShTvaa durbalam aama-paatra-sadRshaM mRty'-uupasRShTaM jagan
nirmokShaaya kuruShva buddhim atulaam utkaNThituM n' aarhasi

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

saundaranande mahaa-kaavye strii-vighaato naam'-aaShTamaH sargaH

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

8.62
So know these faults to be tied,
mentally and physically, to women;

Understand how sensual pleasure,
as it flows away like river water,
makes for affliction and for sorrow;

See the world, in Death's shadow,
to be fragile as an unbaked pot;

And make the peerless decision that leads to release
-- instead of stiffening up your neck through yearning."


The 8th canto in the epic poem Handsome Nanda,
titled "A Tirade against Women."


COMMENT:
The striver's words in "tasting the excellent pleasure of cessation while learning a better way" [8.60] are truly excellent words, but not as excellent as "make the peerless decision that leads to release -- instead of stiffening up your neck through yearning."

Even if the striver himself didn't understand the excellence of his own words, the words with he concludes this Canto are -- at least in my book -- very excellent words.

Sadly, fine words butter no parsnips.

"That's for damn sure," a Zen master chimed in.


(Reacher said nothing.)


EH Johnston:
Recognising then these faults to be inherent in the minds and bodies of women, understanding the pleasures of love to pass away as the water of a river and to lead to sin and grief, and seeing the world to be devoid of strength like an unbaked pot and delivering over to death, form an unequalled determination for the attainment of salvation and desist from yearning.'

Linda Covill:
So be cognizant of these defects that pertain to women's minds and bodies; understand that pleasure from passion flows away like the waters of a river and makes for defilement and sadness; observe that the world, flimsy as an unfired pot, is in the grip of death -- make the peerless decision for freedom, and yearn no more!"

The End of Canto 8: The Attack on Women



VOCABULARY:
tad: ind. therefore, so
vijNaaya = abs. vi- √ jNaa: to distinguish , discern , observe , investigate , recognize , ascertain , know , understand
manaH-shariira-niyataan
manas: mind
shariira: body
niyata: mfn. tied to ; connected with , dependent on (loc.)
ni- √ yam: to hold back; to fasten , tie to (loc.)
naariiShu (loc. pl.): f. women
doShaan (acc. pl.): m. fault
imaan (acc. pl. m.): these

matvaa = abs. man: to think ; to perceive , observe , learn , know , understand , comprehend
kaama-sukham (acc. sg.): sensual pleasure
kaama: m. desire, love, sensuality
sukha: n. ease, comfort, pleasure, happiness
nadii-jala-calam (acc. sg.): passing like river water
nadii: river
jala: water
cala: mfn. moving, passing, transient
kleshaaya (dat. sg.): m. pain , affliction , distress , pain from disease , anguish
shokaaya (dat. sg.): m. sorrow , affliction , anguish , pain , trouble , grief
ca: and

dRShTvaa = abs. dRsh: to see , behold , look at , regard , consider ; examine
durbalam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. of little strength , weak , feeble; scanty , small , little
aama-paatra-sadRsham (acc. sg. n.): like an unbaked pot
aama: mfn. raw , uncooked
paatra: n. a drinking-vessel , goblet , bowl , cup , dish , pot , plate , utensil &c , any vessel or receptacle
sadRsha: mfn. like , resembling , similar to
mRty'-uupasRShTam (acc. sg. n.): eclipsed by death ; Death-plagued
mRtyu: m. death, dying ; Death personified , the god of disease (sometimes identified with yama or with viShNu
upasRShTa: mfn. let loose towards; furnished with ; visited , afflicted , burdened with , plagued ; obscured (by raahu , as the sun) , eclipsed ; possessed (by a god or demon)
upa- √ sRj: to let loose upon or towards ; to let stream upon , pour on , shed forth ; to visit , afflict , plague , trouble
jagat (acc. sg.): n. that which moves or is alive ; n. the world , esp. this world , earth

nirmokShaaya (dat. sg.): m. liberation , deliverance
nir- √ muc: to loosen , free from (abl.) , liberate
kuruShva = 2nd pers. sg. imperative kR: to do, make
buddhim (acc. sg.): f. the power of forming and retaining conceptions and general notions , intelligence , reason , intellect , mind , discernment , judgement
buddhim- √kR: to make up one's mind , resolve , decide (with loc. dat.)
atulaam (acc. sg. f.): mfn. unequalled
utkaNThitum = infinitive ut-kaNTha: to raise the neck; to long for , regret , sorrow for
ud: up, upwards
kaNTha: m. ( √kaN, to sound, cry) the throat , the neck
na: not
arhasi = 2nd pers. sg. arh: to deserve, ought

saundara-nande mahaa-kaavye (loc.): in the epic poem Handsome Nanda
strii-vighaataH (nom. sg. m.): striking a blow against women
strii: a woman, female, wife
vighaata: m. a stroke ; breaking off or in pieces ; driving back , warding off; removal , prohibition , prevention , interruption , impediment , obstacle
naama: ind. by name
aaShTamaH sargaH (nom. sg. m.): 8th canto

Monday, March 28, 2011

SAUNDARANANDA 8.61: Excellent Words

yath" olkaa hasta-sthaa dahati pavana-prerita-shikhaa
yathaa paad'-aakraanto dashati bhujagaH krodha-rabhasaH
yathaa hanti vyaaghraH shishur api gRhiito grha-gataH
tathaa strii-saMsargo bahu-vidham anarthaaya bhavati

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

8.61
Just as a flaming torch, when fanned by the wind,
burns the hand that holds it,

Just as a snake, swift to anger,
bites the foot that steps on it,

Just as a tiger, though caught as a cub,
mauls the one who took it in,

So too does association with women, in many ways,
make for disaster.


COMMENT:
These words sound good, but is the striver himself any good? Or is the striver, perchance, full of it?

At the beginning of this Canto, which seems a long time ago, I suggested that when in 8.22 Ashvaghosha appears to praise the striver for his excellent words (guNavad vaakyam), Ashvaghosha's real intention might be ironic -- excellent words, a pity about the tainted views; nice words, shame about the deficit of wisdom.

I took a view early on that Ashvaghosha was being ironic in his praise of the striver, and since then, verse by verse -- guess what -- I have managed to find corroboration for my view. In general strivers strive to feel right in their striving; and it takes one to know one. This has been my take on Ashvagosha's striver, and I have stuck to it.

If instead of seeking corroboration for my view, I looked for falsification of it, an anti-thesis to my thesis might be: "The beggar is innocent. You are the guilty one, who in blaming the beggar has used him as a mirror for the grimly self-righteous tendency in yourself!"

In fact, however, like damn fools and bad scientists everywhere, I'm not interested any more in falsification of my view of the striver -- rightly or wrongly, I already decided.

The striver represents a tendency that in the long run is no bloody good to anybody, namely, striving, straining for a result, end-gaining -- as opposed to adopting the means-whereby principle, a better way.

My two sons are aged 19 and 17 now; in a few months their secondary education will be complete and for as long as they can remember both their father and mother have been sitting-zen practitioners and teachers of the FM Alexander Technique. As such, what kind of parents have we been? Shining examples of constant application of the means-whereby principle and freedom from anxious end-gaining? Paragons of freedom from becoming and living without stress? I am afraid not. Far from it.

So beware the striver with his excellent words about tasting the excellent pleasure of cessation while learning a better way... He may be full of it.

Really working on oneself -- for instance, gaining an end like the moving a leg with greater freedom, primarily by giving up all idea of gaining that end -- is one thing. Excellent words directed towards others about such practice, are a different thing altogether.

Only a fool puts the cart before the horse. But that is what I am doing right now.


EH Johnston:
As the torch, held in the hand, burns it when its flames are fanned by the wind, as the snake, swift to wrath, bites when trodden on, as the tiger, though caught young and kept in the house, is still given to killing, so too association with women leads to disaster in many ways.

Linda Covill:
Just as a firebrand with wind-fanned flames burns the hand that beats it, just as a snake in a rush of fury bites the foot that steps on it, just as a tiger attacks, though captured as a cub and reared in your house, just so does cohabiting with a woman cause all manner of ill.


VOCABULARY:
yathaa: ind. just as
ulkaa (nom. sg.): f. a fiery phenomenon in the sky , a meteor , fire falling from heaven; a firebrand , dry grass &c set on fire , a torch
hasta-sthaa (nom. sg. f.): in the hand
dahati = 3rd pers. sg. dah: to burn , consume by fire , scorch , roast
pavana-prerita-shikhaa (nom. sg. f.): its flame fanned by the wind
pavana: m. " purifier " , wind or the god of wind , breeze , air
prerita: mfn. urged , impelled , dispatched , sent ; incited to speak
shikhaa: f. a crest ; a pointed flame , any flame

yathaa: ind. just as
paad'-aakraantaH (nom. sg. m.): trodden on
paada: foot
aakraanta: on which anything lies heavily , pressed by (instr. or in comp.)
dashati = 3rd pers. sg. daMsh: to bite
bhujagaH (nom. sg.): m. (fr. bhuja + ga) " going in curves " , a snake
krodha-rabhasaH (nom. sg. m.): impetuous in its anger
krodha: m. anger
rabhasa: mfn. impetuous , violent , rapid , fierce , wild

yathaa: ind. just as
hanti = 3rd pers. sg. han: to strike; to smite , slay , hit , kill
vyaaghraH (nom. sg.): m. a tiger
shishuH (nom. sg. m.): a child , infant , the young of any animal
api: though
gRhiitaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. caught
grha-gataH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. kept in the house

tathaa: ind. so too, likewise
strii-saMsargaH (nom. sg. m.): association with women
saMsarga: m. mixture or union together , commixture , blending , conjunction , connection , contact , association , society , sexual union , intercourse with
bahu-vidham: ind. diversely , in several directions , up and down
anarthaaya (dat. sg.): m. non-value , a worthless or useless object ; disappointing occurrence , reverse , evil
bhavati = 3rd pers. sg. bhuu: to be, become

Sunday, March 27, 2011

SAUNDARANANDA 8.60: Going Back to Original Sin

yathaa sv-annaM bhuktvaa parama-shayaniiye 'pi shayito
varaaho nirmuktaH punar ashuchi dhaavet paricitaM
tathaa shreyaH shRNvan prashama-sukham aasvaadya guNavad
vanaM shaantaM hitvaa grham abhilaShet kaama-tRShitaH

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8.60
Just as a hog,
though fed with good food and lain on the finest bedding,

Would run, when set free, back to his familiar filth,

So, having tasted the excellent pleasure of cessation
while learning a better way,

Would a man of thirsting libido
abandon the tranquil forest and long for home.


COMMENT:
Translating shreyaH as "a better way" fits well in this verse, in which shreyaH is the object of the present participle of shru, to hear or listen or to learn. "While learning a better way" rings truer than "while hearing of a higher good."

In this verse the striver seems to suggest that there is something inherently impure about family life. Is it because the sexual act is originally impure? Or is "original sin" a tainted view that is liable to infect strivers of all denominations?

In what sense is family life comparable to the impurity in which pigs instinctively swill?

The Buddha in Canto 5 speaks of the faults or drawbacks in family life (gRheShu doShaan; 5.39), but he does not suggest, as I hear him, that family life is inherently impure. On the contrary in Canto 3 Ashvaghosha paints a picture of the householders of Kapilavastu under the influence of the Buddha being spotlessly free of views (parama-parishuddha-dRShTayaH; 3.39):

By this tenfold means, by the most skillful and powerful means which is one's own conduct, / Although virtue was lax in a declining age, the people there, with the sage's help, fared well. // But nobody there, because of his virtues, expected happiness in a resulting birth; / Having learned that all becoming is pernicious, people worked to eradicate becoming, not to become something. // Even householders were free from endless doubting, their views washed spotlessly away: / For many had entered the stream, and then reduced passion to a trickle. // [3.37- 3.39]

So the striver, in seeing family life as something filthy -- something analogous in the translations of EHJ and LC to a midden or a dunghill -- might not be telling us anything true about the inherent purity or impurity of family life. But he might be saying something about the inherent impurity of the striving mind.


I am finding fault like this in everything the striver says because Ashvaghosha's intention, as I understand it, is that I should do so -- and in so doing, should find fault in that of the striver in me. Why? Because, like the striver, I am prone to have views and opinions which are different from real, intuitive wisdom. These views and opinions are tainted, and to enter the first stage of sitting-meditation is to drop them off (17.42). In Canto 17 Ashvaghosha describes subsequent progress through four stages of sitting-meditation as a process of finding one fault after another in one's practice (17.44 - 17.55). Ashvaghosha then suggests further that even in the condition of full awareness and indifference that is the fourth stage, upper fetters that are bound up with superiority and tied up with I and me and mine, may still remain to be broken (17.57). Even then dormant tendencies of the mind may be slumbering on (17.58). And so the effort -- but do not call it striving -- to free the mind of faults continues until the hard-to-cross flood of suffering is finally crossed (17.60).

Grumpy strivers are liable to have a pessimistic view that sounds like some variation on the Christian theme of original sin. And self-proclaimed Mahayana Buddhists with their heels off the ground are liable to have an optimistic theory about Buddha-nature. But the practice of purifying one's own mind, to which Ashvaghosha is pointing, is practice of a totally different order.


EH Johnston:
Just as a boar, if fed on the best of food and provided with even the best of bedding, would hasten on release to his familiar midden, so the man who is dominated by the thirst of passion, would leave the tranquil forest and long for his home, though, while hearing of the highest good, he had tasted the excellent pleasure of religious peace.

Linda Covill:
Just as a boar would return to his dunghill when set free, though he had been fed with good food and had slept on the finest bedding, so would a man thirsty for passion yearn to abandon the peaceful forest and go home, though he had learned of Excellence and had sipped the bliss of peace.


VOCABULARY:
yathaa: ind. just as
sv-annam (acc. sg.): n. good food
bhuktvaa = abs. bhuj: to enjoy , use , possess , (esp.) enjoy a meal , eat
parama-shayaniiye (loc. sg.): on the finest bed
parama: mfn. the best, the finest
shayaniiya: mfn. to be slept or lain on ; n. a bed
api: though
shayitaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. reposed , lying , sleeping , asleep

varaahaH (nom. sg.): m. a boar , hog , pig , wild boar
nirmuktaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. loosed , separated , sundered , liberated or saved or escaped or free
punar: ind. again, back
ashuchi (acc. sg.): n. that which is unclean, impure, foul
dhaavet = 3rd pers. sg. optative dhaav to run , flow , stream , move , glide , swim ; to run away, flee
paricitam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. known , familiar

tathaa: ind. so too, likewise
shreyaH (acc. sg.): n. the better state ; higher good
shRNvan = nom. sg. m. pres. part. shru: to hear, listen ; to hear (from a teacher) , study , learn
prashama-sukham (acc. sg. n.): the ease of cessation
prashama: m. calmness , tranquillity (esp. of mind) , quiet , rest , cessation , extinction , abatement
sukha: n. ease , easiness , comfort , prosperity , pleasure , happiness
aasvaadya = abs. aa- √ svad: to eat, taste
guNavat (acc sg. n.): mfn. endowed with good qualities or virtues or merits or excellences , excellent , perfect

vanam (acc. sg.): n. forest
shaantam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. appeased , pacified , tranquil , calm , free from passions , undisturbed
hitvaa = abs. haa: to leave , abandon , desert , quit , forsake , relinquish
grham (acc. sg.): m. house, home
abhilaShet = 3rd pers. sg. optative abhi- √ laSh: to desire or wish for (acc.) , covet , crave
kaama-tRShitaH (nom. sg. m.) a man thirsting with sexual desire
kaama: m. desire ; love , especially sexual love or sensuality
tRShita: mfn. thirsty , thirsting , desirous

Saturday, March 26, 2011

SAUNDARANANDA 8.59: Isn't It Ironic?

haasyo yathaa ca param'-aabharaN'-aambara-srag
bhaikShaM caran dhRta-dhanush cala-citta-mauliH
vairuupyam abhyupagataH para-piNDa-bhojii
haasyas tathaa gRha-sukh'-aabhimukhaH sa-tRShNaH

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8.59
And just as he is laughable who wears
the finest ornaments, clothes and garlands,

And, with head full of passing fancies,
goes begging holding a bow,

So too is he laughable
who has taken to shapelessness
and who eats food offered by others,

While thirstily veering towards the comforts of home.


COMMENT:
Today's verse reminds me of that song by Alanis Morissette in which she asks, "Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?" and then launches into the refrain "It's like rain on your wedding day! A free ride when you've already paid!" Your sort of know what she is getting at, but a free ride when you've already paid isn't really ironic; it is more annoying.

In a similar way, there is something not quite right about what the striver understands here to be laughable.

The behaviour the striver describes in the first half of the verse does not strike me as laughable; it is more bizarre. The picture he paints of somebody going begging in totally inappropriate attire is like a joke that doesn't quite come off, but elicits polite laughter that is muted or embarrassed. (I have told one or two of those in my time as a striver, and I doubtless will do so again.)

Unlike the striver's description of Nanda in the second half of today's verse, when Ashvaghosha describes Nanda at the end of Canto 5, he does so in a way that elicits not laughter but empathy and sadness:

As his hair was thus being banished, his tearful downcast face / Resembled a rain-sodden lotus in a pond with its stalk sagging at the top. // Thence, in drab garb with the dull yellow-red colour of tree bark, and despondent as a newly-captured elephant, / Nanda resembled a waning full moon at night's end, sprinkled by the powdery rays of the early morning sun. // [5.52 - 5.53]

I imagine that Ashvaghosha in his time saw plenty of young men who, having had their heads shaved and donned the shapeless robe, were as despondent as newly-captured elephants, grieving for the homes and families they had left behind. So his picture of Nanda would have been drawn from real life. Similarly, I imagine that Ashvaghosha was familiar with plenty of characters like the striver, and familiar also with a tendency to strive in himself, and so today's verse might also be drawn from real life.

In our unreal thoughts, a comedian is always a person who makes others laugh. But the real situation that comedians fear is a performance which causes nobody to laugh. For comedians, this experience is very real -- so real they call it dying.

In a similar way that we assume a comedian, knowing what is laughable, should be able to make others laugh, we tend to assume that an Alexander teacher should be one who understands how to sit well, how to breathe naturally, how to walk economically, and so on. And we tend to assume that a buddha should be one who knows what enlightenment is. Those assumptions are all false. But the making of those assumptions is very real -- as real as a joke that doesn't come off, and as imperfect and quirky as a character in a story drawn from real life.




EH Johnston:
It would be laughable for a man to go begging who wears beautiful ornaments, clothes and garlands, holds a bow and flaunts a gorgeous nodding headdress ; so too is it laughable for one, who has abandoned all outward ornament and lives on others' alms, to be filled again with desire and to long to return to the pleasures of his home life.

Linda Covill:
And just as it is ridiculous to practice mendicancy decked in the finest ornaments, clothes and garlands, holding a bow and with one's head full of frivolities, likewise it is ridiculous to consent to the drab robes and to eat the almsfood of others while thirstily longing for domestic pleasures.

VOCABULARY:
haasyaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. to be laughed at , laughable , ridiculous , funny , comical
yathaa: ind. just as
ca: and
param'-aabharaN'-aambara-srak (nom. sg. m.): with the finest ornaments, clothes, and garlands
parama: mfn. the best
aabharaNa: n. ornament , decoration (as jewels &c )
ambara: n. clothes , apparel , garment
sraj: f. (nom. srak) a wreath of flowers , garland , chaplet worn on the head , any wreath or garland

bhaikSham (acc. sg.): n. asking alms , begging
caran = nom. sg. m. pres. part. car: to go
dhRta-dhanuH (nom. sg. m.): holding a bow
dhRta: mfn. held
dhanu: m. a bow
cala-citta-mauliH (nom. sg. m.): head full of fickle thoughts
cala-citta: mfn. fickle-minded ; n. fickleness of mind
mauli: m. the head , the top of anything

vairuupyam (acc. sg.): n. multiplicity of form , diversity , difference ; deformity , ugliness
ruupya: mfn. well-shaped , beautiful
abhyupagataH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. agreed, assented to
abhy-upa- √ gam: to go near to , approach , arrive at (acc.) ; to obtain ; to assent , agree to
para-piNDa-bhojii (nom. sg. m.): eating food offered by others
para: m. another, others'
piNDa: m. any round or roundish mass ; a roundish lump of food , a bite , morsel , mouthful ; (esp.) a ball of rice or flour &c offered to the pitRs or deceased ancestors , a shraaddha oblation ; food , daily bread , livelihood , subsistence
bhojin: mfn. (ifc.) enjoying , eating

haasyaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. to be laughed at , laughable , ridiculous , funny , comical
tathaa: ind. so too, likewise
gRha-sukh'-aabhimukhaH (nom. sg. m.): inclined towards the comforts of home
gRha-sukha: the comforts of home ; ease of domestic life
abhimukha: mfn. with the face directed towards , turned towards , facing; (ifc.) going near , approaching ; (ifc.) disposed to , intending to , ready for
sa-tRShNaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. having thirst, thirsty, desirous

Friday, March 25, 2011

SAUNDARANANDA 8.58: Blame & Shame

baddhvaa yathaa hi kavacaM pragRhiita-caapo
nindyo bhavaty apasRtaH samaraad ratha-sthaH
bhaikShaakam abhyupagataH parigRhya liNgaM
nindyas tathaa bhavati kaama-hRt'-endriy-aashvaH

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8.58
For just as he is blameworthy who,
having girded on armour and taken up a bow,

Flees in his war-chariot away from a battle;

So too is he blameworthy who,
having taken on the insignia and taken up begging,

Allows the stallion of his senses
to be carted away by desire.


COMMENT:
These might be the words of the Buddha himself -- if not for two dead giveaways.

Twice in this verse the striver uses the word, nindya, blameworthy, from the root √nind, to blame.

EHJ in his somewhat grey and pedantic way just translates nindya literally, as blameworthy. LC, who surely has a more gifted way with words than us more workmanlike translators, appears to recoil from the idea that a Buddhist monk might call a person blameworthy, and so she puts what seems to be a compassionate spin on the striver's words. In LC's translation the striver doesn't apportion blame; he rather describes a certain kind of behaviour as shameful. This, of course, is in accordance with the precepts.

A follower of the Buddha's teaching should, in theory, definitely not blame others. And if he did blame others, that would be a shameful act, but the blamer himself would not deserve to be blamed. At least not in theory.

Ashvaghosha, however, knew something in practice which is not amenable to be understood in theory: he knew how a striver's mind tends to work. I dare say he knew it from the inside. If not from the inside, how else could he truly know it?

Precept no. 7 of the ten precepts that Dogen transmitted from China into Japan is not to praise oneself or blame others. So we should want to keep that precept. As a general rule, however, when we strive to keep the precepts, we fail. It may be that what causes us to fail is striving itself. And this may be why, when we study the striving mind in detail, from the inside, in practice, it is full of blaming others.

Yesterday, after I had explained my understanding of today's verse to my wife and was feeling quite proud of myself (I might even have been comparing my understanding with that of EHJ and LC, with a hint of self-praise), my wife remarked, "You are SHAMON!"

SHAMON is the Japanese word that represents the Sanskrit shramaNa, which literally means striver. So what my wife was saying was "You are the striver!"

Yep, that is the shameful truth. I am the striver. I suppose I might as well make friends with the bastard, since I appear to be stuck with him.

Speaking of players of the blame game who should know better, I could easily name other names besides my own, but what would that prove? Suffice to say that praising self and blaming others is a shameful tendency. And when we dig down around its roots, we find that it is very much rooted in striving.

So Ashvaghosha's portrayal of striving, not in the abstract, but in the form of the striver who is one of the protagonists of Saundara-nanda, might be an incredibly useful resource in helping us to understand that not only gross ascetic striving but also the subtler form of Buddhist striving is just a tendency that the Buddha's teaching invites us to give up.

The point, in short, if only for a moment, is not to be the striver.


EH Johnston:
For as the warrior on his chariot is blameworthy, who after girding on his breastplate and taking his bow retires from the battlefield, so too is he blameworthy who, after accepting the badge and entering the mendicant life, allows the steeds of his senses to be carried away by passion.

Linda Covill:
When a man has donned armor, has his bow at the ready and stands in his chariot, it is shameful for him to retreat from the field of battle. Likewise it is shameful for a man who has adopted mendicancy and accepted the robes of a monk to allow the horses of his senses to run away with desire.

VOCABULARY:
baddhvaa = abs. bandh: to bind round , put on
yathaa: ind. just as
hi: for
kavacam (acc. sg.): m. armour , a coat of mail
pragRhiita-caapaH (nom. sg. m.): holding his bow
pragRhiita: mfn. held forth or out , taken , accepted &c
pra- √ grah: hold ; to seize , grasp , take hold of , take ; receive
caapa: m. a bow

nindyaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. blamable , reprehensible
nind: to blame , censure , revile , despise , ridicule
bhavati = 3rd pers. sg. bhuu: to be, become
apasRtaH (nom. sg. m.): retreated
apa- √ sR: to slip off from (abl.); to go away , retreat
samaraat (abl. sg.): m. coming together ; hostile encounter , conflict , struggle , war , battle
ratha-sthaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. being on a chariot
ratha: m. " goer " , a chariot , car , esp. a two-wheeled war-chariot

bhaikShaakam (acc. sg.): n. mendicancy
abhyupagataH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. gone near to , approached , arrived at; agreed , assented to
abhy-upa- √ gam: to go near to; to assent
parigRhya = abs. pari- √ grah: to take hold of on both sides , embrace ; to put on , wear (as a dress or ornament) ; to take or carry along with one ; to take possession of ; to accept
liNgam (acc. sg.): n. the insignia

nindyaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. blamable , reprehensible
nind: to blame , censure , revile , despise , ridicule
tathaa: ind. so, likewise
bhavati = 3rd pers. sg. bhuu: to be, become
kaama-hṛt'-endriy-aashvaH (nom. sg. m.): the horse/power of his senses carried off by desire
kaama: m. desire, love, sensuality
hRta: mfn. taken , taken away , seized
hR: to take away , carry off , seize , deprive of , steal , rob
indriya: n. power of the senses ; the senses
ashva: m. horse

Thursday, March 24, 2011

SAUNDARANANDA 8.57: Appeal to Snobbery (ctd.)

abhijana-mahato manasvinaH
priya-yashaso bahu-maanam icchataH
nidhanam api varaM sthir-aatmanash
cyuta-vinayasya na c'aiva jiivitaM

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8.57
For the spirited man of noble birth,

For the man who cherishes honour
and strives to earn great respect,

For the man of grit --

Better death for him than life as a backslider.

COMMENT:
When we reflect on the Buddha's life story, as summarized by Ashvaghosha in Canto 3, what did the Buddha strive to earn?

Great respect? No.

He wished totally to terminate the terror of being born and dying.
[2.64]

To that end the Buddha as a starting point devoted himself to ascetic striving.

Then, having ascertained that this was not the path, he abandoned that extreme asceticism too. / Understanding the sphere of meditation to be supreme, he ate good food in readiness to realise the deathless. // With his golden arms fully expanded and as if in a yoke, with lengthened eyes, and bull-like gait, / He came to a fig tree, growing up from the earth, with the will to awakening that belongs to the supreme method of investigation. // Sitting there, mind made up, as unmovingly stable as the king of mountains, / He overcame the grim army of Mara and awoke to the step which is happy, irremovable, and irreducible. // [3.5 - 3.7]

On the basis of this awakening, in what kind of direction did the Buddha point Nanda? Did the Buddha point Nanda in the kind of direction that has to be followed by every successful man of the world in order to become a successful man of the world -- whether he be a CEO, a brigadier, a top investigative journalist, a hospital consultant, or even a doctor of Buddhist studies -- namely, the direction of earning people's great respect? Or did the Buddha use skillful means to point Nanda in another direction altogether?

Then, knowing from where he was coming, and that, though his senses were set against it, / A better way was now emerging, the Realised One spoke: // "Aha! This gaining of a foothold is the harbinger in you of a better way, /As, when a firestick is rubbed, rising smoke is the harbinger of fire. // Long carried off course by the restless horses of the senses,/ You have now set foot on a path, with clarity of vision, happily, that will not dim. // Today your birth bears fruit; your gain today is great; /For though you know the taste of love, your mind is yearning for indifference. // In this world which likes what is close to home, a fondness for non-doing is rare;/ For men shrink from the end of becoming, like the puerile from the edge of a cliff..." // [12.18 - 12.22]

When I sit in the morning, having memorized today's verse the night before, the question invariably arises: what has today's verse got to do with the one great matter, which is sitting in lotus, learning the backward step of turning one's light and letting it shine.

As an answer to that question, it struck me this morning that the striver's words only become meaningful to me if I turn them totally around. Hence:

A real human being whose pedigree had become irrelevant:

A human being who didn't care for fame,
who didn't mind what others thought of him,
who had gone beyond striving,

And whose teaching was flexible and changeable:

He led Nanda to make the deathless his own
by means of a backward step.




The point of every word Ashvaghosha's striver says, as I hear him, is to help us be clear what the Buddha's teaching is not.


EH Johnston:
To the man of high family and spirit, who holds his reputation dear and desires respect, death with firmness of soul is preferable to life accompanied by lapse from the Rule.

Linda Covill:
Better death for a nobly-born man, firm in himself and sound of mind, holding his reputation dear and wishing to be respected, than life for one whose discipline has slipped.


VOCABULARY:
abhijana-mahataH (gen. sg. m.): of noble descent
abhijana: m. family , race ; ancestors ; noble descent
abhi- √ jan: to be born for or to
mahat: mfn. great ; m. a great or noble man
manas-vinaH (gen. sg. m.): mfn. full of mind or sense , intelligent , clever , wise ; in high spirits ; fixing the mind, attentive

priya-yashasaH (gen. sg. m.): valuing his honour
priya: mfn. dear to ; fond of, attached or devoted to (ibc. e.g. priya-devana , " fond of playing " )
yashas: n. beautiful appearance; honour , glory , fame , renown
bahu-maanam (acc. sg.): m. high esteem or estimation , great respect or regard
icchataH = gen. sg. m. pres. part. iSh: to endeavour to obtain , strive , seek for ; to endeavour to make favourable ; to desire , wish , long for

nidhanam (nom. sg.): n. conclusion , end , death
ni- √ dhaa: to put or lay down; to end, close
api: even
varam: ind. it is better than , rather than (in these senses varam is followed by na with nom. e.g. varaM mRshyur na c' aakiirtiH , " better death than [lit. " and not "] infamy ")
sthir-aatmanaH (gen. sg. m.): of firm character
sthira: mfn. firm , hard , solid , compact , strong
aatman: m. essence , nature , character (often ifc.)

cyuta-vinayasya (gen. sg. m.): of lapsed discipline
cyuta: mfn. moved , shaken; gone away from ; destitute of, free of (in comp.)
cyu: to move to and fro , shake about ; to fall down ; to fail
vinaya: m. leading , guidance , training (esp. moral training) , education , discipline , control ; m. (with Buddhists) the rules of discipline for monks
na: not
ca: and
eva: (emphatic)
jiivatam (nom. sg.): n. life

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

SAUNDARANANDA 8.56: The Striver's Appeal to Snobbery

shrutavaan matimaan kul'-odgataH
paramasya prashamasya bhaajanaM
upagamya yathaa tathaa punar
na hi bhettuM niyamaM tvam arhasi

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- - = = - - = - = - -

8.56
You are educated, intelligent, and well-bred --

A fitting vessel for supreme tranquillity;

As such, you ought not in any way to break

The contract into which you have entered.


COMMENT:
I went to King Edwards School Birmingham which, in England in the 1970s was by some measures the top school in the country.

Well, bully for me. Did that make me a fitting vessel for supreme tranquillity?

How about Daikan Eno, the sixth-generation descendant of Bodhidharma in China? He was a woodcutter who had never read a book in his life. Did that make him not a fitting vessel for supreme tranquillity?

The work of inhibition as FM Alexander practised it, at least as I understood from his niece Marjory Barlow, brought about a condition of true tranquillity -- of stillness without fixity -- primarily through the giving up of an end-gaining idea. But an education in Britain, much as it continues to be a highly prized commodity around the world, is never about giving up an idea. (On the contrary, most doyens of British universities have risen to prominence by submitting their own unique idea in the form of a thesis, which, if accepted, may result in them being awarded a doctorate in, say, Buddhist studies.) This is the background against which FM Alexander once famously remarked, "A child of three can understand this work. But give me a man who has been educated and God help me!"

Speaking of being a vessel for the Buddha's teaching, at what point in the story of Handsome Nanda does the Buddha affirm that Nanda is a fitting vessel for the teaching?

If the striver's idea was right, then the Buddha should have affirmed Nanda as a fitting vessel in Canto 5, when he caused Nanda to go forth into the wandering life -- at which time Nanda was already well-educated, smart, and of posh pedigree.

In fact, no such affirmation appears in Canto 5. What the Buddha says to Nanda in Canto 5 begins and ends not with any kind of affirmation of where Nanda is, but rather with the exhortation of what direction to go in. Hence:

While murderous Time has yet to come calling, set your mind, my friend, in the direction of extinction. / Operating in all situations in this world, using all manner of attacks, Death kills. // [5.22]

Therefore, while you are meeting the present moment, while death has yet to come, / So long as you have the energy for practice, set your heart on a better way. //
[5.49]

The Buddha, Ashvaghosha informs us, only recognizes Nanda to be a receptacle after such time as the Buddha had succeeded in boosting Nanda's confidence in the existence of a better way, not as an end to be gained, but rather as a process. Hence:

And so now seeing that, by boosting Nanda, he had made a receptacle, / The best of speakers spoke: The process-knower spoke of better ways as a process. // "Starting afresh from here, my friend, with the power of confidence leading you forward, / In order to get to the nectar of deathlessness, you should watch the manner of your action..." // [13.9 - 13.10]



EH Johnston:
For you who know the sacred tradition, who are intelligent and of good family and a proper vessel for the supreme tranquillity, ought not to break the covenant again in any way after having undertaken it.

Linda Covill:
You are learned, you are intelligent, you are nobly-born, you are a worthy recipient of supreme peace; as such you mustn't in any way break the observances which you have undertaken.



VOCABULARY:
shrutavaan (nom. sg. m.): mfn. one who has heard &c ; possessing (sacred) knowledge , learned , pious
matimaan (nom. sg. m.): mfn. clever , intelligent , wise
mati: f. the mind , perception , understanding , intelligence , sense , judgement
kul'-odgataH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. sprung from a noble family
kula: n. a race , family , community , tribe , caste ; the residence of a family , seat of a community ; a noble or eminent family or race
udgata: mfn. gone up , risen , ascended ; come forth

paramasya (gen. sg. m.): the highest, best, supreme
prashamasya (gen. sg.): m. calmness , tranquillity (esp. of mind) , quiet , rest , cessation , extinction , abatement
bhaajanam (nom. sg. m.): n. " partaker of " , a recipient , receptacle , (esp.) a vessel , pot ; n. a place or person in which anything is collected or in whom any quality is conspicuous , any fit object or clever or deserving person

upagamya = abs. upa- √ gam: to go near to , arrive at ; to undertake , begin ; to enter any state or relation , undergo , obtain , participate in , make choice of , suffer ; to admit , agree to , allow , confess
yathaa tathaa: ind. in whatever manner, in any way
punar: ind. again

na: not
hi: for
bhettum = infinitive bhid: to split , cleave , break , cut or rend asunder , pierce , destroy
niyamam (acc. sg.): m. restraining , checking , holding back , preventing , controlling ; limitation , restriction ; any fixed rule or law , necessity , obligation ; agreement , contract , promise , vow ;
tvam (nom. sg. m.): you
arhasi = 2nd pers. sg. arh: to deserve, ought

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

SAUNDARANANDA 8.55: The Striver's Dual Pessimism

tad avetya manaH-sariirayor
vanitaa doShavatiir visheShataH
capalaM bhavan'-otsukaM manaH
pratisaMkhyaana-balena vaaryataaM

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

8.55
So reckon women, in mind and in body,

To be singularly implicated with faults;

And hold back, using this arithmetic,

Your impulsively homeward-straining mind.


COMMENT:
Having considered firstly the putative faults of women’s minds and secondly the putative faults of women’s bodies, now the striver brings together the two strands of his dualistic argument. In so doing, he is appealing primarily (though hardly with unimpeachable logic) to Nanda’s intellect or his reason -- i.e. that part of Nanda’s mind that is able to compute 2 + 2 = 4.

The striver’s approach, which does not have the desired effect, is different from the Buddha’s ultimately successful approach in at least two ways. Firstly, the Buddha relies on more than words and reason: he is able to give Nanda an eye-opening experience. Secondly, when the Buddha does appeal to Nanda’s reason, the Buddha’s reasoning is unimpeachable, not flawed like the striver's.

In line 2, when the striver describes women as doShavatiir visheShataH, "singularly implicated with faults," how does the striver's logic add up? How is his thinking reasonable? Why does he think that women are more implicated with faults than men?

Truly speaking, what is singularly implicated with faults? Ashvaghosha's joke, which the striver singularly fails to get, is that what is singularly implicated with faults is striving itself.


The main purpose of all my blogging these past several years has been to let fellow strivers know that there is an antidote to striving, which is allowing. I practise it (albeit not very well) primarily by sitting in lotus on a round cushion. But there are many other ways -- my brother, for example, practises and teaches it in the water, calling his practice Swimming Without Stress.

One can sit on a round cushion holding oneself up forcibly. This approach may result in the kind of posture that feels good and strikes the slumping masses as impressively good, but it is liable to cause the respiratory mechanism to be held back or restricted. So one can practise abdominal breathing as a counter-measure, keeping one's ribs relatively fixed and moving the diaphragm up and down deliberately. That is how I used to sit. It is a kind of striving, or straining -- different from truly allowing.

Truly to allow the breath to pass through the nostrils is not a function only of the nostrils, nor is it a function only of the respiratory mechanism. Truly to allow the breath to pass through the nostrils is to allow every part of the body to expand away from every other part, like every star in the sky expanding away from its neighbour in accordance with the true Law, the original Buddha-Dharma, aka the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

In Japanese Zen Buddhism, striving is the usual way. Kodo Sawaki's youngest disciple, the late Tsunemasa Abe, used to say NINGEN WA KIBARU, "Human beings strain" -- but to tell the truth Abe Sensei himself was also a bit of a striver. And my original teacher Gudo Nishijima was even more of a striver. That's for damn sure, with his pulling in the chin to keep the neck-bones straight, and all the rest of it.

In religions generally, striving is the usual way. Fixing is the usual way.

Allowing is a better way. For this reason, I think, the Buddha spoke to Nanda of shreyas, "a better way." So far I have been translating shreyas as "higher good." But a better way might be to translate shreyas as "a better way."


EH Johnston:
Therefore you should understand women to be especially full of faults of mind and body, and should restrain by the force of insight your hasty mind which yearns to go home.

Linda Covill:
So understand women to be especially flawed in mind and body, and use the strength of this recollection to hold back your roving mind which longs for home!


VOCABULARY:
tad: ind. so, therefore
avetya = gerundive ava-√i: to perceive , conceive , understand , learn , know
manaH-sariirayoH (gen. dual. n.): mind and body
manas: n. mind
sariira: n. the body

vanitaaH (acc. pl.): f. women
doShavatiiH (acc. pl. f.): mfn. having faults , faulty , defective , blemished ; connected with crime or guilt , sinful , wicked ; noxious , dangerous
visheShataH: ind. especially , particularly , above all

capalam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. moving to and fro , shaking , trembling , unsteady , wavering ; wanton , fickle , inconstant
bhavan'-otsukam (acc. sg. n.): eager for home
bhavana: n. a place of abode , mansion , home , house
utsuka: mfn. anxiously desirous , zealously active , striving or making exertions for any object ; eager for ; attached to
manaH (acc. sg.): n. mind

pratisaMkhyaana-balena (inst. sg.): by dint of this arithmetic
pratisaMkhyaana: n. the tranquil consideration of a matter
prati-saM- √ khyaa to count or reckon up , number
bala: n. power, force, strength (balena ifc. by force , by the power or on the strength or in virtue or by means of , by)
vaaryataam = 3rd pers. sg. imperative causative vR: to stop , check , restrain , suppress , hinder , prevent , withold

Monday, March 21, 2011

SAUNDARANANDA 8.54: Failing to See a Woman's Original Nature

shubhataam ashubeShu kalpayan
nakha-danta-tvaca-kesha-romasu
avicakShaNa kiM na pashyasi
prakRtiM ca prabhavaM ca yoShitaaM

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

8.54
You are inventing beauty

In nails, teeth, skin, and hair long and short,
which are not beautiful.

Dullard! Do you not see

What women originally are made of
and what they originally are?


COMMENT:
The striver's use here of the causative kalpayat from the root √klRp appears to be connected with the Buddha's use in Canto 13 of parikalpa, also from the root √klRp.

In five pivotal verses in Canto 13 I have translated parikalpa using the first definition of the word that the dictionary gives, which is fixing. Hence:

And yet the power of the senses, though operative, need not become glued to an object, / So long as in the mind, with regard to that object, no fixing goes on. // Where fuel and air co-exist, just as there a fire burns, / With an object and through fixing, so a fire of affliction arises. //For by the unreal means of fixing, one is bound to an object; / Seeing that very same object as it really is, one is set free. // On seeing one and the same form, this man is enamoured, that man disgusted; / Somebody else remains indifferent; while yet another feels thereto a human warmth. // Thus, an object is not the cause of bondage or of liberation; / It is due to specifically to fixing that sticking occurs or does not.// [13.49 - 13.54]

The dictionary also defines parikalpa (as a technical Buddhist term) as illusion, i.e. imagining, inventing. Hence:

And yet the power of the senses, though operative, need not become glued to an object, / So long as in the mind, with regard to that object, no imagining goes on. // Where fuel and air co-exist, just as there a fire burns, / With an object and through imagining, so a fire of affliction arises. // For by the unreal means of imagining, one is bound to an object; / Seeing that very same object as it really is, one is set free. // On seeing one and the same form, this man is enamoured, that man disgusted; / Somebody else remains indifferent; while yet another feels thereto a human warmth. // Thus, an object is not the cause of bondage or of liberation; / It is due to specifically to imagining that sticking occurs or does not.//
[13.49 - 13.54]

Either of these versions makes sense. But which one is better?

Regular watchers of Harry Hill's TV Burp will at this point be inwardly shouting "FIGHT!"

In order to decide which version is better, one needs to sit back and reflect on the story of Saundara-nanda as a whole. By taking Nanda to see the most delectable nymphs in heaven, is it that the Buddha causes Nanda to stop imagining women to be beautiful and instead to see women as inherently ugly? Or is it rather that the Buddha causes Nanda to give up an idea about heaven?

Again, when a man gives up an idea, is the giving up a function of the imaginative aspect of his being, his top two inches? Or is the giving up a function of his whole being?

And before a person gives up an idea, how does a person get stuck? How does a person become bound to an object?

Is getting stuck a function of the whole being? Or is getting stuck a function of the imaginative part of the brain, the top-two inches?

Speaking for myself, when I get stuck I don't do it by half measures. I get well and truly stuck with my whole being.

So on the basis of that oft-repeated experience, which may be rooted in immature fear reflexes, I think that even if the striver seems to be singing from the same hymn sheet as the Buddha, he truly isn't.

In the striver's teaching, the original stuff of a woman is something ugly. In the Buddha's teaching, the original stuff of a woman is the Buddha-nature.

Fight?

Nah. It wouldn't be any kind of contest.


EH Johnston:
The purity you see in nails, teeth, skin and hair which are impure is nothing but imagination on your part. Do you not see, you simpleton, the real nature and origin of woman?

Linda Covill:
You are imagining a pure beauty in impure nails, teeth, skin and long hair. You blind fool, can't you see the natural state of women and what they come from?



VOCABULARY:
shubhataam (acc. sg. f.): beauty, purity
shubha: mfn. splendid , bright , beautiful ; auspicious ; agreeable ; pure
- taa: (abstract noun suffix)
ashubeShu (loc. pl. n.): mfn. not beautiful or agreeable , disagreeable ; inauspicious ; impure
kalpayat = nom./acc. sg. m. causative pres. part. klRp: to set in order; to fix ; to frame , form , invent , compose (as a poem &c ) , imagine

nakha-danta-tvaca-kesha-romasu (loc. pl.): in nails, teeth, skin, and hair long and short
nakha: nails
danta: teeth
tvaca: skin
kesha: m. the hair of the head
roman: n. the hair on the body of men and animals , (esp.) short hair , bristles , wool , down , nap &c (less properly applicable to the long hair on the head and beard of men , and to that of the mane and tail of animals)

avicakShaNa (voc. sg.): mfn. not discerning , not clever , ignorant
vicakShaNa: mfn. bright; clear-sighted (lit. and fig.) , sagacious , clever , wise , experienced
kiM na: how not?
pashyasi = 2nd pers. sg. pash: to see

prakRtim (acc. sg.): f. " making or placing before or at first " , the original or natural form or condition of anything ; nature , character , constitution , temper , disposition
ca: and
prabhavam (acc. sg.): m. production , source , origin , cause of existence, birthplace
ca: and
yoShitaam (gen. pl.): f. woman

Sunday, March 20, 2011

SAUNDARANANDA 8.53: The Striver Rabbits On about Bags of Skin and Bone

tvaca-veShTitaM asthi-paNjaraM
yadi kaayaM samavaiShi yoShitaaM
madanena ca kRShyase balaad
aghRNaH khalv a-dhRtish ca manmathaH

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

8.53
If you see women's bodies to be bony skeletons

Wrapped around with skin

And yet you are forcibly drawn by passion,

Then, truly,
Love is immune to disgust and lacking in restraint.


COMMENT:
Thirty years ago when, in preparation for going to Japan, I was doing an RSA Tefl course (on how to teach English as a foreign language), we were taught not to engage in a practice known as "rabbitting." The origin of the term was an incident when a trainee teacher had asked a young Japanese bloke to repeat the word "rabbit."

"Labbit," said the Japanese youngster.

"Rrrabbit" intoned the trainee teacher, rolling the R.

"Labbit" repeated the student, undaunted.

"Rrrrrabbit!!" the teacher persevered.

"Labbit" repeated the unfortunate young man.

"Rrrrrrabbit!!!" the exasperated teacher continued... and so on.

The teacher was following the time-honoured method of one who, on seeing that his efforts are not bearing fruit, simply tries harder. What the teacher needed to understand was the principle that the voice can only reproduce what the ear can hear, and since there is no distinction between L and R in Japanese, the pupil could not hear what he was being asked to repeat. A more enlightened teacher would not therefore have persevered with the direct method, but would have considered a more skillful means -- for example, playing a game to help the pupil discriminate between grass and glass, loving and rubbing, crown and clown, and so on...

"Give me all your loving, all your hugs and kisses too"?
Or
"Give me all your rubbing, all your hugs and kisses too"?

To a Japanese ear, there isn't any difference... But I am in danger of digressing frivolously.

The serious point is that what the striver is doing in this verse, as I hear him, is rabbitting. Nanda has no ears to hear what the striver is saying, but the striver is carrying on regardless.

This kind of unenlightened striving is not the kind of mistake I myself would ever make -- at least not for more than ten or twenty years.

The Buddha's teaching requires us to learn to re-direct our energy -- in Dogen's words "to learn the backward step of turning our light and letting it shine." This is not a task for a faint-hearted or (note to self) silly person. It requires a lot of effort, persistent effort.

But the kind of effort required is not the relentless grim determination of the striver.

This morning, as every morning, I sit in lotus on a round cushion for an hour, and it is an excellent space to come back to the question of what it means to allow the breath to pass through the nostrils.

What does it mean to allow?

It is impossible to say what it means to allow.

But counting the breaths, or abdominal breathing, or any kind of effort to control the breathing directly, or any other kind of striving for a result, is not it.

So let it not be said that this Canto is irrelevant to the one great matter. If we truly understand the character of Ashvaghosha's striver, we understand exactly how not to sit. And that might be understanding worth having. That might be understanding worth making into one's own possession.

EH Johnston:
If you understand the body of a woman to be a framework of bones enveloped in skin and yet you are forcibly attracted by love, then indeed love is incapable of disgust and lacking in steadfastness.

Linda Covill:
If you know in theory that women's bodies are cages of bone wrapped round with skin, but are still strongly moved by lust, then Passion must indeed lack delicacy and constancy.


VOCABULARY:
tvaca-veShTitam (acc. sg. m.): wrapped round with skin
tvaca: n. skin
veShTita: mfn. enveloped , bound round , wrapped up , enclosed; covered with
asthi-paNjaram (acc. sg. n.): a bony skeleton
asthi: n. a bone
paNjara: n. a cage , aviary , dove-cot , net ; a skeleton , the ribs

yadi: if
kaayam (acc. sg.): m. the body
samavaiShi = 2nd pers. sg. sam-ava-√i: to regard, see
yoShitaam (gen. pl.): f. woman

madanena (inst. sg.): m. passion , love or the god of love
ca: and
kRShyase = 2nd pers. sg. passive kRSh: to draw , draw to one's self , drag
balaat (= abl. baala, strength): forcibly , against one's will , without being able to help it

aghRNaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. lacking in compassion or disgust
ghRNaa: f. a warm feeling towards others , compassion , tenderness ; horror, disgust
khalu: ind. (as a particle of asseveration) indeed , verily , certainly , truly
a-dhRtiH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. unsteady, irregular
dhRti: f. holding , seizing , keeping , supporting , firmness , constancy , resolution ;
a-dhRti: f. want of firmness or fortitude ; laxity , absence of control or restraint ; incontinence
ca: and
manmathaH (nom. sg.): m. love or the god of love , amorous passion or desire

Saturday, March 19, 2011

SAUNDARANANDA 8.52: Like a Scantily Clad Old Bucket

sravatiim ashuciM spRshec ca kaH
saghRNo jarjara-bhaaNDavat striyaM
yadi kevalayaa tvac" aavRtaa
na bhaven makShika-pattra-maatrayaa

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

8.52
What man capable of disgust would touch a woman,

Leaking and unclean like an old bucket,

If she were not scantily clad

In skin as thin as a flying insect's wing?


COMMENT:
There's something about the striver's way with words -- something of the gruff old Yorkshireman -- that one can't help smiling at. One can imagine a story-teller reciting Ashvaghosha's epic tale to families gathered around a fire in an ancient Indian village, as menfolk suppress sniggers and guffaws and some among the assembled women roll their eyes.

Good though the striver's words may sound, however, his logic when it is examined does not stand up to scrutiny. Who would touch a beautiful woman if she had no skin? One might as well ask, about any old master painting, who would want to look at it if its paint were scratched off. Or, about a piece of music by Mozart, who would want to listen to it if it were played by a drunk blowing an out of tune mouth organ. Or, about a delicious meal, who would want to eat it if it were served on a filthy plate.

The striver is striving to kill Nanda's passion by direct means. But these unskillful means of the striver do not have the desired effect on Nanda's mind.

The Buddha, in contrast, as Ashvaghosha describes in Canto 10, actively foments passion in Nanda's mind -- just as, in washing our laundry we add to our dirty clothes an impure substance like Daz, not in order to make the clothes dirtier but in order to encourage any dirt on clothes to come out in the wash. These are the indirect, skillful means of the Buddha, which pass the pragmatic test of truth: they work.

When Buddha thus intuits what is to be done, and does it, the essence of Buddha is the absence of something which is present in striving.

Striving is tainted by some agenda which prevents action from having an easy, effortless quality. Thus, on the physical level, striving hampers good coordination. On the emotional level, because it is tied up with a desire to feel right, or a desire to get things right, striving tends to manifest itself in emotional criticism of others or indeed blaming of oneself.

The very excellent mirror of the striver is one of the jewels in the crowning glory which is Saundara-nanda. Considering how truly excellent Ashvaghosha's teaching is, I wonder why this blog doesn't attract more visitors. Is it perhaps because, I can't help wondering, I am making a pig's ear of translating it and commenting on it -- like an unmusical person striving to play Mozart on a mouth organ?

In order fully to enjoy the samadhi of accepting and using the self it might not always be necessary to feel disgusted by women's bodies. But it might be necessary, for some of us, to make friends with the striver.


EH Johnston:
What man capable of feeling disgust would touch a woman, oozing and foul like a broken pot, if it were not for the mere covering of skin no thicker than a fly's wing?

Linda Covill:
What sensitive man would touch a woman, leaking and unclean like an old box, if she were not covered in skin, thin as a fly's wing though it is?


VOCABULARY:
sravatiim = acc. sg. f. pres. part. sru: to flow , stream , gush forth , issue ; to leak , trickle
ashucim (acc. sg. f.): mfn. impure, foul
spRshet = 3rd pers. sg. optative spRsh: to touch , feel with the hand , lay the hand on
ca: and
kaH (nom. sg. m.): who? what man?

sa-ghRNaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. full of pity , compassionate ; tender of feeling , delicate , scrupulous ; disliking , abhorring
ghRNaa: f. a warm feeling towards others , compassion , tenderness ; aversion ; disgust
jarjara-bhaaNDa-vat: ind. like an old box
jarjara: mfn. infirm , decrepit , decayed , torn or broken in pieces , perforated
bhaaNDa: n. any vessel , pot , dish , pail , vat , box , case
vat: (affix expressing resemblance) like
striyam (acc. sg. f.): a woman

yadi: if
kevalayaa (inst. sg. f.): mfn. alone , only , mere , sole , one , excluding others; simple , pure , uncompounded , unmingled ; entire, whole
tvacaa (inst. sg.): f. skin
aavRtaa (nom. sg. f.): mfn. covered , concealed , hid ; screened ; enclosed ; overspread

na: not
bhavet = 3rd pers. sg. optative bhuu: to be
makShika-pattra-maatrayaa (inst. sg. f.): as thin as a fly's wing
makShika: a fly , bee
pattra: n. wing
maatra: mfn. (ifc.) having the measure of i.e. as large or high or long or broad or deep

Friday, March 18, 2011

SAUNDARANANDA 8.51: A Striver Doubts the Beauty of Beauty

malapaNka-dharaa dig-ambaraa
prakRti-sthair nakha-danta-romabhiH
yadi saa tava sundarii bhaven
niyataM te' dya na sundarii bhavet

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

8.51
Dirty and unclothed,

With nails, teeth and body-hair in their natural state:

If your 'Beautiful Woman' Sundari were like that now,

She surely would not be to you such a beautiful woman.


COMMENT:
What the striver is trying now might somehow be related to the instruction that the Buddha gives Nanda in Canto 16 about how a practitioner is to respond when his or her mind is inflamed by sexual desire:

Steadiness lies, when one's mind is stirred up by passion, in coming back to a disagreeable stimulus; / For thus a passionate type obtains relief, like a phlegmatic type taking an astringent. //
[16.60]

What is or isn't disagreeable, however, is very much an individual matter. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When it comes to what is beautiful or disagreeable, we cannot draw general conclusions. But what we can say in relation to the striver's efforts in today's verse, which are aimed specifically at Nanda, is that the striver's tactic did not work. Hence:

Though the beggar reproached him thus, he in no way attained tranquility with regard to his beloved; / Nanda thought of her so much that he did not hear, as if he were unconscious, a word the other said.//
[9.1]

For Nanda, no thought of Sundari was disagreeable. Sometimes, when we stop striving to batter the Buddha's teaching as we understand it into every problem, and look at the reality, the reality of a man's mind is like that.

For Nanda what was really disagreeable was the impermanence of heaven. So the Buddha, using skillful means, showed Nanda how impermanent heaven was. Nanda was really shocked, and out of this shock a period of real growth began.


Many people in Japan right now are in real trouble. In this situation, what has the Buddha's teaching got to offer them?

One Zen teacher I know has said it would be good if Soto Zen temples were opened to the public and people given instruction in how to practise Zazen. Sadly, this teacher does not know much about the reality of Japan and his idea, as I hear it, is on the same level as the striver's idea.

Japanese people are extremely good at being told what to do, so long as they trust the Sensei ("the one who stands before them") who is doing the telling. A true Sensei, however, doesn't just tell his followers en masse what to do; he causes each of them, as an individual, to think for themselves. And sadly, there has been no such Sensei in Japan for a very long time -- maybe 800 years. Maybe never.

When I compare the teaching of Ashvaghosha and Dogen, in some sense there is nothing to compare -- the two teachers don't represent two schools of teaching, but just one lineage that goes back to the Buddha. At the same time, Dogen was Japanese, whereas Ashvaghosha -- geographically, and also as I read his teaching -- was much further towards the west.

On an individual level, many Japanese individuals are really kind, generous, loveable, orderly, reserved, modest, hard-working, and so on. But the Japanese System -- as brilliantly exposed 25 years ago in Karel von Wolferen's book The Enigma of Japanese Power -- leaves a lot to be desired.

Sadly, neither the teaching of Ashvaghosha nor of Dogen can help the Japanese people in their current predicament. But I wonder if it might be possible that one or two individual Japanese could be shocked into starting really to think things out for themselves, and really starting to help themselves.

Then the kind of movement towards greater democracy that we have seen developing in northern Africa we might also see in Japan. But some great Buddha figure dictating to the Japanese what they should do -- much as they might want that -- is not what they need.

EH Johnston:
Your Sundari certainly would not appear fair to you to-day if you were to see her covered with stains and mud, unclothed, with nails, teeth and hair in their natural (unadorned) state.

Linda Covill:
If your Sundari were naked, covered only by dust and mud, with her nails, teeth and hair in their natural state, she definitely wouldn't be beautiful Sundari for you then.


VOCABULARY:
malapaNka-dharaa: bearing filth and dirt
mala-paNka: m. dirt
mala: n. dirt , filth , dust , impurity (physical and moral)
paNka: m. mud , mire , dirt
dhara: mfn. ifc. holding , bearing , carrying , wearing , possessing , having
dig-ambaraa (nom. sg. f.): mfn. " sky clothed " i.e. quite naked
dish: f. quarter or region pointed at , direction ; place ; space ; sky
ambara: n. clothes , apparel , garment

prakRti-sthaiH (inst. spl.): in their natural state
prakRti: f. " making or placing before or at first " , the original or natural form or condition of anything
stha: mfn. (only ifc.) standing , staying , abiding , being situated in , existing or being in
nakha-danta-romabhiH (inst. spl.): nails, teeth, and body-hair
nakha: nails
danta: teeth
roman: n. the hair on the body of men and animals , (esp.) short hair , bristles

yadi: if
saa (nom. sg. f.): she
tava (gen. sg.): your
sundarii (nom. sg.): f. a beautiful woman , any woman; Sundari
bhavet = 3rd pers. sg. opt. bhuu: to be

niyatam: ind. always , constantly , decidedly , inevitably , surely
te (gen. sg.): of/to you
adya: ind. now, today
na: not
sundarii (nom. sg.): f. a beautiful woman , any woman; Sundari
bhavet = 3rd pers. sg. opt. bhuu: to be

Thursday, March 17, 2011

SAUNDARANANDA 8.50: A Striver Doubts Original Purity

anulepanam aNjanaM srajo
maNi-muktaa-tapaniiyam aMshukaM
yadi saadhu kim atra yoShitaaM
sahajaM taasu viciiyataaM shuci

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

8.50
Cosmetic paste and powder, garlands,

Gems, pearls, gold, fine fabric:

If these are good, what have they to do with women?

Let us examine what in women is originally pure.


COMMENT:
Zen Master Dogen begins his rules for sitting-zen by asking, rhetorically:

Now when we investigate it, the truth is all around: how could it depend on practice and experience? The vehicle for the fundamental exists naturally: how is it necessary to strive?


According to my old Zen teacher, in these opening sentences Dogen expresses the fundamentally optimistic nature of Buddhism.

Nowadays I would take issue with that choice of words, including as it does the two -isms of optimism and Buddhism.

But I take my old teacher's fundamental point, which is that the Buddha's teaching is not pessimistic.

The striver, in contrast, is doggedly pessimistic, in his view of a woman's body no less than in his view of a woman's mind. In the striver's view, it seems, the original state of women's bodies is a dirty and unkempt state -- a state which women generally take pains to conceal.

The striver thus has a judgemental view of purity and impurity which is a function of his intellect, and not a function of practice.

Speaking from the standpoint of practice, Dogen observed that when we wash dirty clothes, we do so with dirty water. If you want to wash your dirty laundry in perfectly clean water, good luck to you, but you may find that as soon as you actually start washing, your clean water has already become impure, dirty water.

Similarly, we can use impure water like this to wash the face. Using impure water like this we can practice and experience washing as pure action -- whether our face is golden or white or red. Even if we do not know what colour face we have got this morning, it may be that just in a moment of waking up, as we wash the face in refreshing cold water, there is no impurity to get rid of.

The irony of today's verse, then, may be that the striver is asking us to investigate what we should investigate. And yet, in asking us to investigate what we should investigate, the striver seems to be almost totally ignorant of what he is asking.

When Gensa Shibi said that the whole Universe in ten directions was one bright pearl, he wasn't submitting a scientific hypothesis, still less a thesis for a Ph. D. in Buddhist studies. He was expressing, as a fact like the existence of the moon in the sky, his own attainment of what Ashvaghosha calls the nectar of deathlessness.

Evidently those of us who are still striving, and Gensa, are not on the same level at all. That being so, we needn't -- in the same breath as we discuss adjusting our posture in Zazen, and our concern for people in Japan suffering in the after-effects of earthquake and tsunami -- manifest fake Zen laughter as if we were Zen masters. Looking at old photos of Kodo Sawaki over the years, one thing I have never seen on his face is fake Zen laughter.


EH Johnston:
You may say that salves, ointments, garlands, jewels, pearls, gold and clothes are good, but what have they really to do with women? Consider what there is innate in them that is pure.

Linda Covill:
Ointments, cosmetics, garlands, jewels, pearls and gold, fine silks -- if these are good, what have they to do with women? Let's analyze their inherent purity:


VOCABULARY:
anulepanam (nom. sg.): n. anointing the body ; unguent so used ; oily or emollient application
anu- √ lip: to anoint, besmear
aNjanam (nom. sg.): n. act of applying an ointment or pigment , embellishing , &c , black pigment or collyrium applied to the eyelashes or the inner coat of the eyelids; n. a special kind of this pigment , as lamp-black , Antimony , extract of Ammonium
aNj: to apply an ointment or pigment , smear with , anoint
srajaH (nom. pl. f.): f. a wreath of flowers , garland , chaplet worn on the head

maNi-muktaa-tapaniiyam (nom. sg. n.): gems, pearls, and gold
maNi: m. a jewel , gem , pearl (also fig.) , any ornament or amulet , globule , crystal
mukta: m. a pearl (as loosened from the pearl-oyster shell)
muktaa: f. of mukta , in comp.
tapaniiya: mfn. to be heated ; to be suffered (as self-mortification) ; n. gold purified with fire
aMshukam (nom. sg.): n. fine or white cloth , muslin

yadi: ind. if
saadhu (nom. sg. n.): mfn. straight, right ; leading straight to a goal , hitting the mark , unerring ; successful , effective , efficient (as a hymn or prayer) ; good
kim atra: how in this matter?
yoShitaam (gen. pl.): f. women

saha-jam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. born or produced together ; congenital , innate , hereditary , original , natural
taasu (loc. pl. f.): them
viciiyataam = 3rd pers. sg. imperative passive vi- √ ci: to segregate , select , pick out , cull ; to discern , distinguish ; to make anything discernible or clear , cause to appear , illumine ; to search through , investigate , inspect , examine
shuci (acc. sg. n.): mfn. clear , clean , pure (lit. and fig.)