tasmaat paraM saumya vidhaaya viiryaM
shiighraM ghaTasv aasrava saMkShayaaya
duHkhaan a-nityaaMsh ca nir-aatamakaaMsh ca
dhaatunn visheSheNa pariikShamaaNaH
16.47
Therefore, good man, direct all your energy
And strive quickly to stop energetic leakage,
Examining in detail
-- as suffering and impermanent and devoid of self --
The elements.
COMMENT:
Line 1 and Line 2 can be read as expressing the same thing from opposite viewpoints -- for example, directing the flow of energy up one's spine, which may be a very good way of stopping it flowing where it ought not to go. "Direction is the truest form of inhibition," as is said in the world of Alexander work.
With respect to the word shiigram, "quickly," another favourite saying of FM Alexander may be relevant, namely that "The conscious mind must be quickened!" The reason FM used to emphasize that the conscious mind must be quickened, I think, is that the unconscious misdirection of energy is prone to happen extremely rapidly. A person has got to be really on the ball to stop it. Recently I have been observing this on TV in Cesar Millan's work with dogs. A bulldog can go from a calm-submissive 0 to a red-eyed killing-mode 10 in just a couple of seconds. So Cesar endeavors to stay on the ball and nip the unwanted response in the bud before it gets to 1 or 2. My wife and I shared a poignant moment a few weeks ago when Cesar was explaining all this while correcting a bulldog. We looked at each other and smiled wryly, exchanging no words but sharing the same recognition that in describing the tendency of the bulldog Cesar was just exactly describing the tendency of yours truly.
In Line 3, suffering, impermanence and absence of self are three characteristics of what is real, but in Line 4 the elements -- as investigated by scientists, and as prone to be overlooked by workers in the spiritual sphere -- are just what is.
So with this translation I have struggled to maintain the essence of the original four-phased expression that may be observed within the verse.
VOCABULARY:
tasmaat: from that, therefore
param: utmost, in a high degree, completely
saumya (voc.): " O gentle Sir! " " O good Sir! " " O excellent man! " as the proper mode of addressing a Brahman
vidhaaya = absolutive of vidhaa: to give out, supply, effect, make ready, direct
viiryam (accusative): manliness , valour , strength , power , energy
shiighram: quickly
ghaTasu = imperative of ghaT: to be intently occupied about , be busy with , strive or endeavour after , exert one's self for (loc. dat. acc.)
aasrava: leakage
saMkShayaaya = dative of saMkShaya: complete destruction or consumption , wasting , waning , decay , disappearance
duHkhaan (acc. pl. m.): uneasy , uncomfortable , unpleasant , difficult
a-nityaan (acc. pl. m.): not everlasting , transient , occasional , incidental; irregular , unusual; unstable; uncertain
ca: and
nir-aatamakaan (acc. pl. m.): having no separate soul or no individual existence
ca: and
dhaatuun = acc. pl. dhaatu: m. element , primitive matter
visheSheNa (inst. visheSha): particularly, especially, in detail
pariikShamaaNaH = nom. sg. m. present participle of pari-√iikSh: to look round , inspect carefully , try , examine , find out , observe , perceive
EH Johnston:
Therefore, applying your utmost energy, strive quickly for the destruction of the infections, and in especial examine the elements which are full of suffering, impermanent and devoid of self.
Linda Covill:
Therefore apply your utmost energy, dear friend, and be quick to strive for the eradication of the rebirth-producing tendencies, investigating in particular the elements, which are full of suffering, impermanent and without self.
Showing posts with label Alexander Technique. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alexander Technique. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 16.41: A Medical Metaphor for the Four Truths
tad vyaadhi-saMjNaaM kuru duHkha-satye
doSheShv' api vyaadhi-nidaana-saMjNaaM
aarogya-saMjNaaM ca nirodha-satye
bhaiShajya-saMjNaaM api maarga-satye
16.41
So with regard to the truth of suffering,
see suffering as a disease;
With regard to the faults,
see the faults as causes of disease;
With regard to the truth of inhibition,
see inhibition as freedom from disease;
And with regard to the truth of a path,
see a path as a remedy.
COMMENT:
The philosophy of action is not a translation but is one man's subjective interpretation of the meaning of nirodha-satya. The philosophy of action has become a term that is redolent with suffering for me. Maybe I would be wiser not to dwell on it at all, but the philosophy of action was a kind of thesis to which I reacted in many ways. One way I reacted was by pursuing the most literal translation of Shobogenzo I could manage. The philosophy of action was a thesis, a starting point. It was part of a kind of bubble that I was part of, pumped up with subjective meaning during the period of Japan's post-war bubble economy.
The truth of cessation is closer to the literal meaning of nirodha as defined below in the Monier-Williams dictionary -- a definition which is full of scary words liable to win the disapproval of feminist vegans, such as "suppression" and "destruction." The truth of cessation , feeble though it seems to me now, is the translation I favoured when working on the Nishijima-Cross Shobogenzo translation. But what does the truth of cessation mean in practice? Cessation of what, in practice? Let nobody try to tell me. Who can actually show me?
Ray Evans & Ron Colyer showed me. Marjory Barlow showed me. Nelly Ben-Or showed me.
So quash the thesis and deliver the anti-thesis to the dustbin. The truth of inhibition is the translation that hits the target -- insofar as the truth of inhibition is what real people actually struggle to see and to practice in Alexander work, as also in neuro-developmental work. We struggle, on many levels, to inhibit, to suppress, to destroy the unconscious misdirection of energy that blights our life, and thereby to become more conscious, more free, more whole, more healthy.
So see inhibition, the Buddha says through Ashvaghosha's mouth, as freedom from disease -- as a bit of freedom, a bit of nothing.
To see inhibition as a bit of nothing. That is why a friend of mine who shall remain nameless, grounded now in years of Alexander work, aware of the imperfect integration of his own Moro reflex, walks shaven-headed through the forest, alone, unbeknowns to anybody, looking for a place to see inhibition as a bit of nothing. Looking for a good place to allow the whole body to come undone, allowing the head out and the arms and legs out -- out of a bit of nothing.
VOCABULARY:
tad: so, therefore
vyaadhi: disease, illness
saMjNaam (accusative): consciousness , clear knowledge or understanding or notion or conception; (with Buddhists) perception (one of the 5 skandhas)
kuru = imperative of kR: make
duHkha-satye (locative): with regard to the truth of suffering
doSheShu (locative, plural): faults
api: also, again
vyaadhi: disease
nidaana: cause
saMjNaam (accusative): conception
aarogya: freedom from disease, health
saMjNaam (accusative): conception
ca: and
nirodha-satye: (locative): with regard to the truth of inhibition
nirodha: [Monier-Williams definitions, verbatim] m. confinement , locking up , imprisonment; investment , siege ; enclosing , covering up ; restraint , check , control , suppression , destruction ; (in dram.) disappointment , frustration of hope; (with Buddh. ) suppression or annihilation of pain (one of the 4 principles)
bhaiShajya: n. curativeness , healing efficacy; any remedy , drug or medicine; n. the administering of medicines
saMjNaam (accusative): conception
api: also, again
maarga-satye: (locative): with regard to the truth of a path
EH Johnston:
Therefore in the first Truth think of suffering as disease, in the second of the faults as the cause of disease, in the third of the destruction of suffering as good health and in the fourth of the Path as the medicine.
Linda Covill:
So with regard to the Truth about suffering, think of suffering as a disease; with regard to the faults, consider them as the cause of illness; concerning the Truth of cessation, think of it as good health, and as for the Truth about the path, regard it as the remedy.
doSheShv' api vyaadhi-nidaana-saMjNaaM
aarogya-saMjNaaM ca nirodha-satye
bhaiShajya-saMjNaaM api maarga-satye
16.41
So with regard to the truth of suffering,
see suffering as a disease;
With regard to the faults,
see the faults as causes of disease;
With regard to the truth of inhibition,
see inhibition as freedom from disease;
And with regard to the truth of a path,
see a path as a remedy.
COMMENT:
The philosophy of action is not a translation but is one man's subjective interpretation of the meaning of nirodha-satya. The philosophy of action has become a term that is redolent with suffering for me. Maybe I would be wiser not to dwell on it at all, but the philosophy of action was a kind of thesis to which I reacted in many ways. One way I reacted was by pursuing the most literal translation of Shobogenzo I could manage. The philosophy of action was a thesis, a starting point. It was part of a kind of bubble that I was part of, pumped up with subjective meaning during the period of Japan's post-war bubble economy.
The truth of cessation is closer to the literal meaning of nirodha as defined below in the Monier-Williams dictionary -- a definition which is full of scary words liable to win the disapproval of feminist vegans, such as "suppression" and "destruction." The truth of cessation , feeble though it seems to me now, is the translation I favoured when working on the Nishijima-Cross Shobogenzo translation. But what does the truth of cessation mean in practice? Cessation of what, in practice? Let nobody try to tell me. Who can actually show me?
Ray Evans & Ron Colyer showed me. Marjory Barlow showed me. Nelly Ben-Or showed me.
So quash the thesis and deliver the anti-thesis to the dustbin. The truth of inhibition is the translation that hits the target -- insofar as the truth of inhibition is what real people actually struggle to see and to practice in Alexander work, as also in neuro-developmental work. We struggle, on many levels, to inhibit, to suppress, to destroy the unconscious misdirection of energy that blights our life, and thereby to become more conscious, more free, more whole, more healthy.
So see inhibition, the Buddha says through Ashvaghosha's mouth, as freedom from disease -- as a bit of freedom, a bit of nothing.
To see inhibition as a bit of nothing. That is why a friend of mine who shall remain nameless, grounded now in years of Alexander work, aware of the imperfect integration of his own Moro reflex, walks shaven-headed through the forest, alone, unbeknowns to anybody, looking for a place to see inhibition as a bit of nothing. Looking for a good place to allow the whole body to come undone, allowing the head out and the arms and legs out -- out of a bit of nothing.
VOCABULARY:
tad: so, therefore
vyaadhi: disease, illness
saMjNaam (accusative): consciousness , clear knowledge or understanding or notion or conception; (with Buddhists) perception (one of the 5 skandhas)
kuru = imperative of kR: make
duHkha-satye (locative): with regard to the truth of suffering
doSheShu (locative, plural): faults
api: also, again
vyaadhi: disease
nidaana: cause
saMjNaam (accusative): conception
aarogya: freedom from disease, health
saMjNaam (accusative): conception
ca: and
nirodha-satye: (locative): with regard to the truth of inhibition
nirodha: [Monier-Williams definitions, verbatim] m. confinement , locking up , imprisonment; investment , siege ; enclosing , covering up ; restraint , check , control , suppression , destruction ; (in dram.) disappointment , frustration of hope; (with Buddh. ) suppression or annihilation of pain (one of the 4 principles)
bhaiShajya: n. curativeness , healing efficacy; any remedy , drug or medicine; n. the administering of medicines
saMjNaam (accusative): conception
api: also, again
maarga-satye: (locative): with regard to the truth of a path
EH Johnston:
Therefore in the first Truth think of suffering as disease, in the second of the faults as the cause of disease, in the third of the destruction of suffering as good health and in the fourth of the Path as the medicine.
Linda Covill:
So with regard to the Truth about suffering, think of suffering as a disease; with regard to the faults, consider them as the cause of illness; concerning the Truth of cessation, think of it as good health, and as for the Truth about the path, regard it as the remedy.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 16.5: One After Another & All Together
ity aarya-satyaany avabudhya buddhyaa
catvaari samyak pratividhya c' aiva
sarv'-aasravaan bhaavanay" abhibhuuya
na jaayate shaantim avaapya bhuuyaH
16.5
Understanding these noble truths,
by a process of reasoning
While also befriending the four as one,
He contains all energetic leaks,
through the means of directed thought,
And, on finding peace,
is no longer subject to becoming.
COMMENT:
Line 1, as I understand it, is an affirmation of knowing that 2 + 2 = 4, i.e. an affirmation of REASON.
Line 2 can be read as a NEGATION OF REASON. Reason deals in logical sequences of elements that come one after another, like 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10; or like (1) thesis vs (2) antithesis leading to (3) synthesis and (4) a real path transcending threefold dialectic . But reason cannot realise all things as part of one picture, which is the function of intuitive reflection. I know this paradox from Alexander work, where it is expressed in the phrase "all together, one after another." The four Alexandrian thought-directions, or orders, are to be given one after another in a certain order (which, as I see it, parallels the hierarchical development of four vestibular reflexes). The order of the orders is: (1) let the neck be free, (2) to let the head go forward and up, (3) to let the back lengthen and widen, (4) while releasing the limbs out. As verbal orders, however, these four orders cannot be thought all together. To think them all together requires an altogether different kind of thinking -- which might be called "non-thinking."
Line 3 describes the practice of INHIBITION, the truest form of which is direction of one's energy.
Line 4, following on from the previous verse, is an expression of a peaceable PATH.
VOCABULARY:
iti: thus, what precedes
aarya: noble, aryan
satyaani (accusative, plural of satya): truth, reality
avabudhya = absolutive of avabudh: become sensible or aware of, perceive, know
buddhyaa = instrumental of buddhi: the power of forming and retaining conceptions and general notions, intelligence, reason, intellect, mind, discernment , judgement; understanding; presence of mind, ready wit
buddhyaa: ind. with the intention of, designedly, deliberately
catvaari: four
samyak: in one or the same direction, in the same way, at the same time, together
pratividhya = absolutive of pratividh: to perceive, understand; to become acquainted with
ca: and
eva: [emphatic]
sarva: all
aasravaan (accusative, plural aasrava): leakage, affliction
bhaavanayaa = instrumental of bhaavana: forming in the mind, conception, apprehension, imagination, supposition, thought, meditation
bhaavanayaa: in thought, in imagination; (with locative) direct one's thoughts to
abhibhuuya = absolutive of abhibhuu: to overcome, overpower, conquer, overspread; defeat
na: not
jaayate = present indicative of jan: be born, arise, become
shaantim = accusative, shaanti: tranquillity, peace, quiet; cessation, abatement, inhibition
avaapya = absolutive, avaap: reach, gain, get, arrive at, attain
bhuuyaH = nominative/accusative, singular bhuuyas: becoming; the act of becoming; 'becoming in a greater degree' i.e. more, further, once more, again, anew.
EH Johnston:
Thus understanding with his intellect the four Noble Truths and penetrating to their core, he overcomes all the infections by the cultivation of meditation and, arriving at tranquility, he is not born again.
Linda Covill:
By using his intellect to understand and completely penetrate the Four Noble Truths, and by using meditation to overpower all the rebirth-producing tendencies, he attains peace and is not born again.
catvaari samyak pratividhya c' aiva
sarv'-aasravaan bhaavanay" abhibhuuya
na jaayate shaantim avaapya bhuuyaH
16.5
Understanding these noble truths,
by a process of reasoning
While also befriending the four as one,
He contains all energetic leaks,
through the means of directed thought,
And, on finding peace,
is no longer subject to becoming.
COMMENT:
Line 1, as I understand it, is an affirmation of knowing that 2 + 2 = 4, i.e. an affirmation of REASON.
Line 2 can be read as a NEGATION OF REASON. Reason deals in logical sequences of elements that come one after another, like 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10; or like (1) thesis vs (2) antithesis leading to (3) synthesis and (4) a real path transcending threefold dialectic . But reason cannot realise all things as part of one picture, which is the function of intuitive reflection. I know this paradox from Alexander work, where it is expressed in the phrase "all together, one after another." The four Alexandrian thought-directions, or orders, are to be given one after another in a certain order (which, as I see it, parallels the hierarchical development of four vestibular reflexes). The order of the orders is: (1) let the neck be free, (2) to let the head go forward and up, (3) to let the back lengthen and widen, (4) while releasing the limbs out. As verbal orders, however, these four orders cannot be thought all together. To think them all together requires an altogether different kind of thinking -- which might be called "non-thinking."
Line 3 describes the practice of INHIBITION, the truest form of which is direction of one's energy.
Line 4, following on from the previous verse, is an expression of a peaceable PATH.
VOCABULARY:
iti: thus, what precedes
aarya: noble, aryan
satyaani (accusative, plural of satya): truth, reality
avabudhya = absolutive of avabudh: become sensible or aware of, perceive, know
buddhyaa = instrumental of buddhi: the power of forming and retaining conceptions and general notions, intelligence, reason, intellect, mind, discernment , judgement; understanding; presence of mind, ready wit
buddhyaa: ind. with the intention of, designedly, deliberately
catvaari: four
samyak: in one or the same direction, in the same way, at the same time, together
pratividhya = absolutive of pratividh: to perceive, understand; to become acquainted with
ca: and
eva: [emphatic]
sarva: all
aasravaan (accusative, plural aasrava): leakage, affliction
bhaavanayaa = instrumental of bhaavana: forming in the mind, conception, apprehension, imagination, supposition, thought, meditation
bhaavanayaa: in thought, in imagination; (with locative) direct one's thoughts to
abhibhuuya = absolutive of abhibhuu: to overcome, overpower, conquer, overspread; defeat
na: not
jaayate = present indicative of jan: be born, arise, become
shaantim = accusative, shaanti: tranquillity, peace, quiet; cessation, abatement, inhibition
avaapya = absolutive, avaap: reach, gain, get, arrive at, attain
bhuuyaH = nominative/accusative, singular bhuuyas: becoming; the act of becoming; 'becoming in a greater degree' i.e. more, further, once more, again, anew.
EH Johnston:
Thus understanding with his intellect the four Noble Truths and penetrating to their core, he overcomes all the infections by the cultivation of meditation and, arriving at tranquility, he is not born again.
Linda Covill:
By using his intellect to understand and completely penetrate the Four Noble Truths, and by using meditation to overpower all the rebirth-producing tendencies, he attains peace and is not born again.
Friday, January 30, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 17.45: Thoughts vs Thinking
kSHobhaM prakurvanti yath" ormayo hi
dhiira-prasann'-aambu-vahasya sindhoH
ek'-aagra-bhuutasya tath" ormi-bhuutaash
citt'-aambhasaH kSHobha-karaa vitarkaaH
17.45
For, just as waves induce rippling
Upon a river bearing calm, clear water,
So too do thought waves, upon unitary awareness.
It is thoughts that cause ripples
upon the water of the thinking mind.
COMMENT:
Line 1 offers as a metaphor for SUFFERING the disturbance induced by waves.
In Line 2 a river of water is an ACCUMULATION OF MATTER/ENERGY, flowing in inexorable agreement with the prediction of the 2nd law of thermodynamics: that energy will spread out, unless prevented from doing so.
In Line 3 unitary awareness is INHIBITION and INHIBITION is awareness. It is a virtuous circle of stopping and becoming aware. In my final year of Alexander teacher-training, in 1997-98, I felt as if I was living inside this virtuous circle. That was the year in my Zazen life that bitter gourds became sweet melons. (And conversely, sweet melons turned into bitter gourds.) Alexander teachers like Ray Evans, Ron Colyer, Marjory Barlow and Nelly Ben-Or caused me to see for myself what had been demonstrated to them: that the flood of conscious awareness can only rise when we stop off at source our unconscious patterns of doing. And the more deeply and widely the flood of conscious awareness spreads, the deeper lies our own stillness and the less perturbed we are prone to be, by those habitual or reflex patterns. So it can be a viruous circle of stopping and becoming aware of what is to be stopped.
Line 4 highlights a vital distinction that I have been struggling for 15 years to clarify, for self and others. The distinction is between thoughts and what FM Alexander called 'thinking.' In discussing this distinction between thoughts and thinking, we run into a couple of serious problems. The first is that words express thoughts, but words cannot express thinking itself. The second problem is Alexander’s observation that “When you think you are thinking, you are actually feeling. And when you think you are feeling, you are doing." So I do not know what thinking is, cannot feel what thinking is, and cannot say what thinking is. But here, to give us at least a hint at what thinking is, Ashvaghosha uses the metaphor of water. Deeply ingrained in the brain and nervous system are patterns which are triggered by the tiniest thought and which generate suffering. As a MEANS for inhibiting those unconscious patterns, Ashvaghosha is telling us, thinking is like water.
VOCABULARY:
kSHobham (accusative, singular): undulation, disturbance, trembling, rippling
prakurvanti (from pra + kRi): make, produce, effect; induce, move
yathaa: just as...
uurmayaH (nominative, plural): waves, billows
hi: for
dhiira: steady, constant, calm
prasanna: clear, tranquil, placid
ambu: water
vahasya = genitive of vaha: carrying, flowing, bearing along (said of rivers)
sindhaH = genitive of sindhu: river (esp. Indus), stream, flood, sea
eka: one
agra: foremost point or part, tip:
ekaagra: one-pointed, having one point, fixing one's attention upon one point or object, closely attentive, intent, absorbed in; undisturbed, unperplexed
bhuutsaya = genitive of bhuuta: (at the end of a compound) being or being like anything
ekaagra-bhuutsaya: lit. “towards/upon being one-pointed/undivided”
tathaa: so too...
uurmi: wave
uurmi-bhuutaaH (nominative, plural): [thoughts] that are like waves
citta: ‘noticed’; thinking, reflecting; mind; intention; the thinking mind
ambhasaH = genitive of ambhas: water
kSHobha: rippling
kara: making, doing, causing
vitarkaaH (nominative, plural): thoughts
EH Johnston:
For as waves disturb a stream running with calm clear water, so thoughts are the waves of the water of the mind and disturb it when it is in a state of concentration.
Linda Covill:
For just as waves make ripples in a river bearing calm, limpid water, waves of thought make ripples in the waters of the one-pointed mind.
dhiira-prasann'-aambu-vahasya sindhoH
ek'-aagra-bhuutasya tath" ormi-bhuutaash
citt'-aambhasaH kSHobha-karaa vitarkaaH
17.45
For, just as waves induce rippling
Upon a river bearing calm, clear water,
So too do thought waves, upon unitary awareness.
It is thoughts that cause ripples
upon the water of the thinking mind.
COMMENT:
Line 1 offers as a metaphor for SUFFERING the disturbance induced by waves.
In Line 2 a river of water is an ACCUMULATION OF MATTER/ENERGY, flowing in inexorable agreement with the prediction of the 2nd law of thermodynamics: that energy will spread out, unless prevented from doing so.
In Line 3 unitary awareness is INHIBITION and INHIBITION is awareness. It is a virtuous circle of stopping and becoming aware. In my final year of Alexander teacher-training, in 1997-98, I felt as if I was living inside this virtuous circle. That was the year in my Zazen life that bitter gourds became sweet melons. (And conversely, sweet melons turned into bitter gourds.) Alexander teachers like Ray Evans, Ron Colyer, Marjory Barlow and Nelly Ben-Or caused me to see for myself what had been demonstrated to them: that the flood of conscious awareness can only rise when we stop off at source our unconscious patterns of doing. And the more deeply and widely the flood of conscious awareness spreads, the deeper lies our own stillness and the less perturbed we are prone to be, by those habitual or reflex patterns. So it can be a viruous circle of stopping and becoming aware of what is to be stopped.
Line 4 highlights a vital distinction that I have been struggling for 15 years to clarify, for self and others. The distinction is between thoughts and what FM Alexander called 'thinking.' In discussing this distinction between thoughts and thinking, we run into a couple of serious problems. The first is that words express thoughts, but words cannot express thinking itself. The second problem is Alexander’s observation that “When you think you are thinking, you are actually feeling. And when you think you are feeling, you are doing." So I do not know what thinking is, cannot feel what thinking is, and cannot say what thinking is. But here, to give us at least a hint at what thinking is, Ashvaghosha uses the metaphor of water. Deeply ingrained in the brain and nervous system are patterns which are triggered by the tiniest thought and which generate suffering. As a MEANS for inhibiting those unconscious patterns, Ashvaghosha is telling us, thinking is like water.
VOCABULARY:
kSHobham (accusative, singular): undulation, disturbance, trembling, rippling
prakurvanti (from pra + kRi): make, produce, effect; induce, move
yathaa: just as...
uurmayaH (nominative, plural): waves, billows
hi: for
dhiira: steady, constant, calm
prasanna: clear, tranquil, placid
ambu: water
vahasya = genitive of vaha: carrying, flowing, bearing along (said of rivers)
sindhaH = genitive of sindhu: river (esp. Indus), stream, flood, sea
eka: one
agra: foremost point or part, tip:
ekaagra: one-pointed, having one point, fixing one's attention upon one point or object, closely attentive, intent, absorbed in; undisturbed, unperplexed
bhuutsaya = genitive of bhuuta: (at the end of a compound) being or being like anything
ekaagra-bhuutsaya: lit. “towards/upon being one-pointed/undivided”
tathaa: so too...
uurmi: wave
uurmi-bhuutaaH (nominative, plural): [thoughts] that are like waves
citta: ‘noticed’; thinking, reflecting; mind; intention; the thinking mind
ambhasaH = genitive of ambhas: water
kSHobha: rippling
kara: making, doing, causing
vitarkaaH (nominative, plural): thoughts
EH Johnston:
For as waves disturb a stream running with calm clear water, so thoughts are the waves of the water of the mind and disturb it when it is in a state of concentration.
Linda Covill:
For just as waves make ripples in a river bearing calm, limpid water, waves of thought make ripples in the waters of the one-pointed mind.
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