⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑−−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−− Aupacchandasaka
iti
paśyata eva rāja-sūnor-idam-uktvā sa nabhaḥ samutpapāta |
⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑−−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−
sa
hi tad-vapur-anya-buddhi-darśī
smtaye tasya sameyivān divaukāḥ || 5.20
5.20
He uttered these words,
while the son of the king looked powerlessly on,
And then he vanished into
the clouds;
For he was a sky-dweller
who,
peeping the prince's mind
conflicting with his body,
Had come to help him
towards mindfulness.
COMMENT:
Today's verse as I read it
has a humorous aspect and at the same time is saying something deadly
serious about the mutually reinforcing relationship between
mindfulness and psycho-physical unity.
I trust, incidentally,
that jiblet's excitement will be undiminished at this latest
example,in the 1st
pāda, of Aśvaghoṣa's use of the genitive absolute, with paśyataḥ. The effect, as
jiblet pointed out in his comment to BC5.14, particularly in
combination with eva, is to emphasize that the prince was no longer
in the driver's seat as he sat there under the rose-apple tree – he
was no longer fully engaged either in vipaśyana or in dhyāna.
In accordance, then, with
the traditional principle that when our practice is weak we are
liable to be peeped by a demon, the sky-dweller appeared out of
nowhere, said his piece, and then evaporated back into the clouds as
the prince came back to earth.
If we understand today's verse like this, then returning to BC5.16, I think we should understand the double ca to indicate immediate connection in terms of contiguity in time rather than causal connection. In other words, the prince's mind was dustless at one moment, and then at the next moment a little disharmony between mind and body crept in, whereupon the śramaṇa crept up.
If we understand today's verse like this, then returning to BC5.16, I think we should understand the double ca to indicate immediate connection in terms of contiguity in time rather than causal connection. In other words, the prince's mind was dustless at one moment, and then at the next moment a little disharmony between mind and body crept in, whereupon the śramaṇa crept up.
With respect to the relationship
between mindfulness and pyscho-physical unity, FM Alexander wrote of
a philosophical disconnect between 'mind' and 'body' which left an
unbridged gap between unconsciousness and consciousness. Smṛti
(i.e. mindfulness, awareness, attention) can be understood as the
fundamental means taught by the Buddha for bridging that gap. For
Alexander the means was what he called “inhibition and direction;”
hence:
I venture to assert that if the gap is to be bridged, it will be by means of a knowledge, gained through practical experience, which will enable us to inhibit our instinctive, 'subconscious' reaction to a given stimulus, and to hold it inhibited while initiating a conscious direction, guidance, and control of the use of the self that was previously unfamiliar." (The Universal Constant in Living, 1946)
In the 4th pāda smṛtaye tasya
sameyivān, lit. “had come in the interests of his
mindfulness/awareness,” might be translated “had come to remind
him to be mindful.” EBC translated “had come to him for the sake
of rousing his recollection”; EHJ “had encountered him to rouse
his attention”; and PO “had come down to arouse the attention of
the prince.” In translating “had come to help him towards
mindfulness,” I am mindful that mindfulness is described as an
adornment of the 4th dhyāna, that is, the ultimate stage of
sitting-meditation, allied to which Nanda proceeded to realize the
worthy state of the arhat...
Then, having already transcended ease and suffering, and emotional reactivity, /He realised the lucidity in which there is indifference and full awareness (smṛtimad): thus, beyond suffering and ease, is the fourth stage of meditation. // SN17.54 // Since in this there is neither ease nor suffering, and the act of knowing abides here, being its own object, / Therefore utter lucidity through indifference and awareness (smṛti) is specified in the protocol for the fourth stage of meditation. // SN17.55 // Consequently, relying on the fourth stage of meditation, he made up his mind to win the worthy state, / Like a king joining forces with a strong and noble ally and then aspiring to conquer unconquered lands. // SN17.56 //
Smṛti, then, is something that we can
practise here and now, as for example when we watch breath passing in
and out of nostrils (mindfulness of breathing); and at the same time
it is something to work towards. In the former sense it might be akin
to attentive sewing of back-stitches, one by one, when making a robe.
In the latter sense it might be akin to being cocooned in a robe
which has become like a cocoon, or like a suit of armour.
Alfred Tomatis, as I understand him,
saw listening as having this dual aspect – which is to say that I
can intentionally listen in the sense of consciously giving my
attention to the bird now singing outside. This kind of focusing of
attention is something we all can do. But at the same time Tomatis
saw listening as a kind of state of grace that was not truly
developed in many people. Very few people, Tomatis said, really know
how to listen.
To practise mindfulness in the former
sense is nobody's responsibility but my own. But when it comes to
being graced by mindfulness as a state of being which pervades and
cocoons a person's whole being, I would like to appeal for the help
of any sky-dwellers out there who might be reading this, because in
order to go in that direction we all need all the help we can get.
VOCABULARY
iti:
thus
paśyataḥ
= gen. sg. pres. part. paś: to look; to be a spectator , look on
eva:
(emphatic)
rāja-sūnoḥ
(gen. sg.): m. the king's son, prince
idam
(acc. sg. n.): this
uktvā
= abs. vac: to speak , say , tell
sa
(nom. sg. m.): he
nabhaḥ
(acc. sg.): n. mist , clouds , vapour (esp. of the soma) ; the sky
or atmosphere ; ether
samutpapāta
= 3rd pers. sg. perf. sam-ut- √ pat : to fly up
together , spring up , ascend , rise (as the sun , clouds &c ) ;
to fly away , depart , disappear
sa
(nom. sg. m.): he
hi: for
tad-vapur-anya-buddhi-darśī
(nom. sg. m.): seeing that his mind was opposed to his body
tad:
that, his
vapus:
n. form , figure , (esp.) a beautiful form or figure , wonderful
appearance , beauty ; the body
anya:
other, different ; other than , different from , opposed to (abl. or
in comp.)
buddhi:
f. the power of forming and retaining conceptions and general notions
, intelligence , reason , intellect , mind , discernment , judgement
darśin:
mfn. ifc. seeing , looking at , observing , examining , finding
smṛtaye
= dat. sg. smṛti: f. remembrance , reminiscence ; memory ;
mindfulness
tasya
(gen. sg.): of/in him
sameyivān
= nom. sg. m. perf. active part. sam-ā-√i: to come together ,
approach together , meet at or in (acc. or loc.) or with (instr. with
or without samam) , go to or across , arrive at (acc.); to enter
divaukāḥ
(nom. sg.): m. " sky-dweller " , a deity
diva:
sky
okas:
n. house , dwelling , place of abiding , abode , home , refuge ,
asylum
即於太子前 輕擧騰虚逝
4 comments:
"Alfred Tomatis, as I understand him, saw listening as having this dual aspect – which is to say that I can intentionally listen in the sense of consciously giving my attention to the bird now singing outside. This kind of focusing of attention is something we all can do. But at the same time Tomatis saw listening as a kind of state of grace that was not truly developed in many people. Very few people, Tomatis said, really know how to listen."
Hello, Mike.
Hope you and yours are well. I often think about how musicians and non-musicians might hear music differently. Musicians will generally be able to listen to music analytically to some extent (based on their experiential knowledge of actually doing it) besides very likely having developed a facility to concentrate or focus attention through listening activity (this can be developed via specific ear training exercises, or just by learning music 'by ear'; and it's something I stress when teaching music as possibly the best thing you can do to develop musicianship). This is my own experience as a muso/ music teacher anyway.
Tomatis may be referring to another type of attention that may correspond to samadhi where the listening becomes very open and effortless, where 'listened to' and 'listener' realise a mutuality and start to chime with each other. Musicians will likely be quite familiar with this sort of listening, which also happens in performance when things start to flow and the musician can 'drop off' all the potentially inhibitive mental dialogue that we have to deal with: I use 'drop off' intentionally as I think there are distinct connections to be made between zazen and how this sort of flowing 'non-attention' or 'non-focus' and 'non-listening' is arrived at in playing music. In terms of analysis (I had to listen to performances to create very detailed, analytical transcriptions of them for work some time ago) this state of activity is very useful, and pleasant, and in a way unavoidable, but it is not infallible: When you slow down the music to hear what is going on for analytical purposes you hear so much that the ear just cannot pick up regardless of the amount of training or attention.
The same was true for the guy who I was working with, who had done it a lot more than me, and who had a very 'developed ear' as we say.
Regards,
Harry.
Hello Harry,
Your description of the condition "where 'listened to' and 'listener' realise a mutuality" brings to mind Aśvaghoṣa's description of the 4th dhyāna:
Since in this there is neither ease nor suffering, and the act of knowing abides here, being its own object,/ Therefore utter lucidity through indifference and awareness [or equanimity and mindfulness] is specified in the protocol for the fourth stage of meditation. // SN17.55 //
All the best,
I omitted to mention that EHJ foolishly amended anya-buddhi-darśī to anya-buddha-darśī, partly on the basis of the Chinese translation's 過去佛, “former buddha.” [See following post]
Hence EHJ: "for he was a heavenly being who in that form had seen other Buddhas and had encountered him to rouse his attention."
In his Introduction, EHJ notes:
The only certain instances of a genitive absolute are at BC5.20 and BC14.22.
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