tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post5325091292625774064..comments2024-02-06T22:19:13.028-08:00Comments on Mining Aśvaghoṣa's Gold: SAUNDARANANDA 17.29: Through Stillness, Wisdom, Integrity... to Freedom from Doubt in Dharma/WorkMike Crosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-83025541433399401492010-02-10T04:54:31.585-08:002010-02-10T04:54:31.585-08:00Hi Ian,
"Do not call it fixity" is borr...Hi Ian,<br /><br />"Do not call it fixity" is borrowed from the poem Burnt Norton by TS Eliot...<br /><br />At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;<br />Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,<br />But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity...<br /><br />http://www.artofeurope.com/eliot/eli5.htm<br /><br />Marjory Barlow was a fan of TS Eliot and she referred to the line in her Alexander Memorial Lecture of 1965...<br /><br />Alexander explained to us that this was the nearest he could get in words to the actuality he wished to bring about. These simple verbal formulations are designed to bring about the reconciliation of two opposing tendencies in each case, and to ensure the balance of forces in the antagonistic muscle pulls in the body. A harmony results, where everything is doing its own work of maintaining stability, and there is a stillness without fixity, or if you like, a lack of disturbance, in the working of the parts of the body in their relationship to each other. Too much forward of the head and you lose the upward tendency -- too much up and the head goes back -- "leave it alone, in fact." Too much effort to lengthen the back and it narrows -- too much widening and you lose length and slump down.The whole process is self-checking. I hope this makes it clear why one cannot do the orders. Their first function is preventive. The wrong inner patterns are the doing which has to be stopped. <br /><br />http://www.the-middle-way.org/subpage2.htmlMike Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12712396374023835678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7296606518210633585.post-43384775451770548682010-02-10T04:30:57.010-08:002010-02-10T04:30:57.010-08:00In line 1 each of the four words seems to be a syn...In line 1 each of the four words seems to be a synonym for the other three, and what they are all expressing is -- but do not call it fixity -- the practice of stillness (shaama/samaadhi). <br /><br />Who would call it fixity? People might fix but who is going to call it fixity?Ian Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11263211818413742916noreply@blogger.com