sampragrahasya prashamasya c'aiva
tath"aiva kaale samupekShaNasya
samyaN nimittaM manasaa tv avekShyaM
naasho hi yatno 'py an-upaaya-puurvaH.
16.67
Likewise, for garnering as also for calming,
As also when appropriate for leaving well alone,
One should consciously attend to the proper stimulus;
Because even diligence is destructive
when accompanied by a wrong approach."
COMMENT:
Garnering is like blowing molten gold, accelerating an energetic reaction by providing more oxygen.
Calming is like dousing gold in water, intervening to cool it.
Leaving oneself be is like leaving molten gold to dissipate its energy naturally.
Garnering, calming, leaving oneself be: how can we understand these three on the basis of actual human activity?
A garnering stimulus might be a sumo wrestler before a bout, slapping his belly and squatting and tasting salt; or the pre-match warm up of a rugby team.
A calming stimulus might be an old teacher demonstrating with sure, intelligent hands a principle of non-doing that she has spent her life exploring; or it could be turning down the lights and lighting a stick of incense.
Leaving well alone might be a point reached (temporarily) when in a rhythmic activity like walking or running, or chanting or swimming or drumming, a person has got himself or herself in the groove -- a condition which might also be described as a spontaneous flow of energy characterized by ease and efficiency (minimal leakage).
Garnering, calming, leaving be: Buddha/Ashvaghosha have been describing these three as three kinds of stimulus or starting point (nimitta) in formal practice (yoga).
As devotees of sitting-dhyaana, how are we to understand these three in the context of formal sitting practice?
The very act of sitting in lotus it seems to me, can encompass all three of the above stimuli or starting points, viz:
Garnering of one's energy in certain directions (mainly upward).
Inhibition of wrong inner patterns, resulting in the experience of calm or stillness (but do not call it fixity).
Allowing the right thing to do itself.
Just sitting, then, in its true meaning, is not one or two out of three, but three out of three.
So Zen Master Dogen wrote:
Practise full lotus sitting with the body.
Practise full lotus sitting with the mind.
Practise full lotus sitting as body and mind dropping off.
There is not a hair's breadth of contradiction here between Ashvaghosha and Dogen. What Dogen expressed was nothing but the lifeblood of Buddha/Ashvaghosha.
In general, however, Dogen, was writing in Japanese for a Japanese audience, with self-consciousness of starting a new movement in Japan, and in a style suited for a Japanese audience -- "Do it like this." It was as I see it, a more direct and authoritarian style, suited to a people who were not already steeped in the original teaching of the Buddha, a people who were used to copying and imitating Chinese ways, a people never generally noted for originality of individual thought. Dogen saw it as part of his mission to establish a new movement in his homeland, Japan. Ashvaghosha, in contrast, was writing in Sanskrit, a lingua franca for educated people already steeped in the original teaching of the Buddha.
But in not proselytizing not to a Japanese audience, Ashvaghosha recorded in this verse a truth that is totally pertinent to Zen practice in Japan today.
What Ashvaghosha recorded in the 4th line of this verse is exactly what I experienced, with my skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, during 13 years in Japan.
When followers and teachers of Dogen's teaching today blindly and relentlessly pursue "the correct physical posture," disdaining mindfulness, we are liable to do harm to self and others. That is a fact.
And in this regard, Master Kodo Sawaki, much as I revere him, also has a lot to answer for. Master Kodo criticized the Japanese tendency towards gurupo boke, group delusion, and he endeavoured heroically to make a stand against that tendency. He tried but, it seems to me, the delusive Japanese tendency was too strong, even in him, and so he ultimately failed, as his students and non-students also have failed.
Sitting with the body, in a physical, doing way, in an end-gaining way, as I see it, is not totally without merit. There is a time for sitting with the body. Buddha/Ashvaghosha are telling us that wisdom, and moment-by-moment mindfulness, are required in seeing:
(1) when it is time for doing and when it is NOT time for doing;
(2) when it is time for not doing and when it is NOT time for not doing;
(3) when it is time for non-doing and when it is NOT time for non-doing.
EH Johnston:
But one should consider in the mind the proper subject for meditation, whether of effort, or tranquillity, and similarly at the proper time of indifference. For even effort, if not regulated by the proper method, leads to destruction.'
Linda Covill:
Likewise the correct meditational subject of an energy, calm or equanimity meditation should at times be mentally reviewed, for even diligence is destructive if it is accompanied by the wrong method."
VOCABULARY:
sam: (used as prefix) together, altogether
pragraha: holding in front , stretching forth; seizing , clutching , laying hold of
sampragrahasya (genitive): for the extension of oneself, for the garnering of one's energy
prashamasya = gen. sg. prashama: calmness
ca: and
eva: (emphatic)
tath"aiva: exactly so, in exactly that manner, in just the same way [as the goldsmith]
kaale (locative): at the proper time, when appropriate
samupekShaNasya = gen. sg. samupekShaNa (action noun from sam-upa-viikS): leaving be, neglecting [see 16.65]
samyak: proper, correct, true
nimittam (nom. sg.): n. target, cause, stimulus, starting point
manasaa (instrumental of manas): in the mind ; in thought or imagination ; with all the heart , willingly
tu: but, and, then
avekShyam = nom. sg. n. from gerundive of ava-√iikSh: to look towards , look at , behold; to perceive , observe , experience ; to have in view , have regard to , take into consideration
naashaH (nom. sg.): m. the being lost , loss , disappearance , destruction , annihilation , ruin , death
hi: for
yatnaH (nom. sg.): m. activity of will , volition , aspiring after ; performance , work ; effort , exertion , energy , zeal , trouble , pains , care ,
api: even
anupaaya: wrong method, wrong means
puurvaH (nom. sg. m.): (at end of compounds) accompanied by, attended with
Showing posts with label Dogen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dogen. Show all posts
Monday, April 20, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 16.61: Again, What Not to Do
vyaapaada-doSheNa manasy udiirNe
na sevitavyaM tv a-shubhaM nimittam
dvesh'-aatmakasya hy a-shubhaa vadhaaya
pitt-aatmanas tiikShNa iv' opacaaraH
16.61
When a mind is wound up, however,
with the fault of ill-will,
A disagreeable stimulus is not to be dwelt upon;
For unpleasantness is destructive to a hating type,
As acid treatment is to a bilious type.
COMMENT:
Can a deeply-rooted tendency like hatred that obscures a human being's true nature be given up?
The likes of professional therapists and counsellors, along with religious believers, are prone to answer, optimistically, on the basis of some theory or other: yes. Optimistically thinking, the answer is always: yes.
Pessimistically thinking, however, the answer, based on actual experience of failed personal endeavour, or based on objective consideration of the slaughter bench of human history, tends to be: no.
In the thinking of Buddha/Ashvaghosha, evidently, the first thing, in any event, is NOT TO DO anything to make the problem worse.
So the first practical step, as the bulldog locks onto his intended target and his hate-ometer begins to rise from 0 towards 10, is not to try to bring out his inherent Buddha-nature (at least not yet), but the more modest one of distracting the blighter's attention before his eyes turn red and he charges in for the kill.
Similarly, when I recognize that my mind has been dwelling on some unpleasantness, just at that moment of cognition the option exists of not dwelling on the disagreeable stimulus -- providing that I am able, like a good human pack leader to give a swift correction to the inner bulldog. This is not easy, but neither is it impossible. And every day provides ample opportunities to hit the target.
In his original instructions for sitting, Zen Master Dogen wrote that when a thought arises in the mind, just wake up. And in the waking up to it, it vanishes.
There is no grounds there for that fool's gold which is optimism. Rather, one senses in the background, as with Ashvaghosha's writings, the presence of true gold.
EH Johnston:
But when the mind is agitated by the vice of malevolence, do not choose the subject of meditation known as 'impure'; for that meditation tends to the destruction of the man whose nature is full of hate, just as pungent treatment does for the man of bilious temperament.
Linda Covill:
When the mind is agitated by the fault of malice, the impurity meditation should not be undertaken, for the impurity meditation destroys a hate-filled man, like treatment with acids in the case of a patient with a bile condition.
VOCABULARY:
vyaapaada: evil intent or design , malice
doSheNa = instrumental of doSha: fault
manasi = locative of manas: mind
udiirNe = locative of udiirNa: issued out , excited , increased , elevated
na: not
sevitavyam (nom. sg. n. from gerundive of sev): to be dwelt on, resorted to, cultivated , practised , used
tu: but
a-shubham (nom. sg. n.): not beautiful or agreeable , disagreeable; impure
nimittam (nom. sg.): n. cause, stimulus, antidote
dvesh'-aatmakasya (genitive): to a hating type
dvesha: hatred , dislike , repugnance
hi: for
ashubhaa (nom. sg.): f. non-beauty
a: (negative prefix)
shubhaa: f. light , lustre , splendour , beauty
vadhaaya = dative of vadha: the act of striking or killing , slaughter , murder , death , destruction
pitt-aatmanaH (gen. sg. m): to a bilious type
pitta: bile , the bilious humour (one of the three humours [cf. kapha and vaayu] or that secreted between the stomach and bowels and flowing through the liver and permeating spleen , heart , eyes , and skin ; its chief quality is heat)
aatman: the individual soul , self , abstract individual ; essence , nature , character , peculiarity ; the person
tiikShNaH (nom. sg. m.): sharp , hot , pungent , fiery , acid
iva: like
upacaaraH (nom. sg.): m. treatment
na sevitavyaM tv a-shubhaM nimittam
dvesh'-aatmakasya hy a-shubhaa vadhaaya
pitt-aatmanas tiikShNa iv' opacaaraH
16.61
When a mind is wound up, however,
with the fault of ill-will,
A disagreeable stimulus is not to be dwelt upon;
For unpleasantness is destructive to a hating type,
As acid treatment is to a bilious type.
COMMENT:
Can a deeply-rooted tendency like hatred that obscures a human being's true nature be given up?
The likes of professional therapists and counsellors, along with religious believers, are prone to answer, optimistically, on the basis of some theory or other: yes. Optimistically thinking, the answer is always: yes.
Pessimistically thinking, however, the answer, based on actual experience of failed personal endeavour, or based on objective consideration of the slaughter bench of human history, tends to be: no.
In the thinking of Buddha/Ashvaghosha, evidently, the first thing, in any event, is NOT TO DO anything to make the problem worse.
So the first practical step, as the bulldog locks onto his intended target and his hate-ometer begins to rise from 0 towards 10, is not to try to bring out his inherent Buddha-nature (at least not yet), but the more modest one of distracting the blighter's attention before his eyes turn red and he charges in for the kill.
Similarly, when I recognize that my mind has been dwelling on some unpleasantness, just at that moment of cognition the option exists of not dwelling on the disagreeable stimulus -- providing that I am able, like a good human pack leader to give a swift correction to the inner bulldog. This is not easy, but neither is it impossible. And every day provides ample opportunities to hit the target.
In his original instructions for sitting, Zen Master Dogen wrote that when a thought arises in the mind, just wake up. And in the waking up to it, it vanishes.
There is no grounds there for that fool's gold which is optimism. Rather, one senses in the background, as with Ashvaghosha's writings, the presence of true gold.
EH Johnston:
But when the mind is agitated by the vice of malevolence, do not choose the subject of meditation known as 'impure'; for that meditation tends to the destruction of the man whose nature is full of hate, just as pungent treatment does for the man of bilious temperament.
Linda Covill:
When the mind is agitated by the fault of malice, the impurity meditation should not be undertaken, for the impurity meditation destroys a hate-filled man, like treatment with acids in the case of a patient with a bile condition.
VOCABULARY:
vyaapaada: evil intent or design , malice
doSheNa = instrumental of doSha: fault
manasi = locative of manas: mind
udiirNe = locative of udiirNa: issued out , excited , increased , elevated
na: not
sevitavyam (nom. sg. n. from gerundive of sev): to be dwelt on, resorted to, cultivated , practised , used
tu: but
a-shubham (nom. sg. n.): not beautiful or agreeable , disagreeable; impure
nimittam (nom. sg.): n. cause, stimulus, antidote
dvesh'-aatmakasya (genitive): to a hating type
dvesha: hatred , dislike , repugnance
hi: for
ashubhaa (nom. sg.): f. non-beauty
a: (negative prefix)
shubhaa: f. light , lustre , splendour , beauty
vadhaaya = dative of vadha: the act of striking or killing , slaughter , murder , death , destruction
pitt-aatmanaH (gen. sg. m): to a bilious type
pitta: bile , the bilious humour (one of the three humours [cf. kapha and vaayu] or that secreted between the stomach and bowels and flowing through the liver and permeating spleen , heart , eyes , and skin ; its chief quality is heat)
aatman: the individual soul , self , abstract individual ; essence , nature , character , peculiarity ; the person
tiikShNaH (nom. sg. m.): sharp , hot , pungent , fiery , acid
iva: like
upacaaraH (nom. sg.): m. treatment
Saturday, March 28, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 16.44: Accurate Insight As a Passion-Killer
yad" aiva yaH pashyati naama-ruupaM
kShay' iiti tad darshanam asya samyak
samyak ca nirvedam upaiti pashyan
nandii-kShayaac ca kShayam eti raagaH
16.44
When a man sees a separate bodily form
As decrepit, that insight of his is accurate;
In seeing accurately he is disenchanted
And his optimism ends,
as a result of which redness fades away.
COMMENT:
The last word of the first line, ruupam, carries a connotation of beauty of form or loveliness of figure. I think that Ashvaghosha may have in mind the kind of beauty and loveliness that young women's make-up and mannerisms are designed to accentuate, and that young men's brains are biologically programmed to be enchanted by.
Maybe the biological programming is stronger still that causes a baby to be enchanted by his mother, and the first great disenchantment that we all experience -- though some more devastatingly than others -- is the impermanence of our original relationship with our mother. Eihei Dogen and Kodo Sawaki are two Zen masters who experienced this disenchantment particularly acutely, history records, as young orphans.
In the last year or two before I left Japan at the end of 1994, several times I visited a dojo in Ohito, in the Izu peninsular, where some personal effects of Master Kodo Sawaki were stored. The dojo belonged to a Zen Master by the name of Tsunemasa Abe, whose father was a great friend of Master Kodo. Among Master Kodo's personal effects I found a book of cartoons that began with a depiction of a gorgeous young Japanese woman dressed in traditional finery; the cartoons progressed to showing her in old age, death, and beyond death -- rotting skin falling from her old bones. How much attention Master Kodo paid to these pictures, and whether he found it useful to look at them, I don't know. I only know that the book was still there, 30 years after the Master's death, among his personal effects.
What is also known is that Master Kodo expressed his frank disenchantment in his old age in many ways, for example, by his description of the ways of Japanese society as "gurupo boke," group idiocy; and by his calling himself Masu-O, the King of Masturbation.
When the old man called himself Masu-O, was he expressing the continuation of something that should not exist? Or was he expressing the fact that something that should not exist had completely faded away?
As the bastard grandson of Kodo, I do not have any more grounds for optimism than he did.
At the core of my being is an aberrant Moro reflex that made me burn in the past, is making me burn in the present, and will make me burn in the future. Being like this is nothing to celebrate. It is no matter for joy, delight, or happiness. There are no grounds for optimism.
VOCABULARY:
yadaa: when
eva: [emphatic]
yaH: [he] who
pashyati = 3rd person singular of dRSh: to see
naaman: a characteristic mark or sign; name
ruupa: n. any outward appearance; handsome form , loveliness
naama-ruupam (acc. sg. n.): "name and form" = an individual being;
a distinguishable form, a separate bodily form
kShayi = acc. sg. m. kShayin: mfn. wasting , decaying , waning ; perishable
iti: thus, that, as
tad: that, in that [regard]
darshanam (nom. sg.): n. seeing , observing , looking , noticing , observation , perception; n. apprehension , judgement; discernment , understanding; n. view
asya (gen. sg.): of him
samyak: true, correct, accurate
samyak: truly, correctly, accurately
ca: and
nir: being without
veda: knowledge , true or sacred knowledge or lore , knowledge of ritual; name of certain celebrated works which constitute the basis of the first period of the Hindu religion; feeling , perception; property , goods
nirvedam = acc. sg. nirveda: not having the vedas , infidel , unscriptural; complete indifference, disregard of worldly objects
upaiti = 3rd person singular upa-√i: to go or come or step near , approach , arrive at , meet with; enter into any state , fall into
pashyan: nom. sg. m. pashyat: seeing , beholding , rightly understanding
nandii = f. of nanda: joy, delight, happiness ,
kShayaat = abl. sg. kShaya: m. ending
ca: and
kShayam (acc. sg.): m. ending; loss , waste , wane , diminution , destruction , decay , wasting or wearing away
eti = 3rd person singular aa-√i: to reach, attain, enter
raagaH (nom. sg.): m. colour , hue , tint , dye , (esp.) red colour , redness; any feeling or passion , (esp.) love , affection or sympathy for , vehement desire of , interest or joy or delight in
EH Johnston:
For when anyone sees that corporeality is impermanent, his views are correct, and seeing correctly he attains complete detachment and by the abolition of complaisance (in the things of this world) his passion is abolished.
Linda Covill:
When someone sees that pyscho-physical existence is imbued with decay, his insight is correct; with this correct vision he becomes disinterested in wordly objects and from the ending of pleasure in worldly objects his passion comes to an end.
kShay' iiti tad darshanam asya samyak
samyak ca nirvedam upaiti pashyan
nandii-kShayaac ca kShayam eti raagaH
16.44
When a man sees a separate bodily form
As decrepit, that insight of his is accurate;
In seeing accurately he is disenchanted
And his optimism ends,
as a result of which redness fades away.
COMMENT:
The last word of the first line, ruupam, carries a connotation of beauty of form or loveliness of figure. I think that Ashvaghosha may have in mind the kind of beauty and loveliness that young women's make-up and mannerisms are designed to accentuate, and that young men's brains are biologically programmed to be enchanted by.
Maybe the biological programming is stronger still that causes a baby to be enchanted by his mother, and the first great disenchantment that we all experience -- though some more devastatingly than others -- is the impermanence of our original relationship with our mother. Eihei Dogen and Kodo Sawaki are two Zen masters who experienced this disenchantment particularly acutely, history records, as young orphans.
In the last year or two before I left Japan at the end of 1994, several times I visited a dojo in Ohito, in the Izu peninsular, where some personal effects of Master Kodo Sawaki were stored. The dojo belonged to a Zen Master by the name of Tsunemasa Abe, whose father was a great friend of Master Kodo. Among Master Kodo's personal effects I found a book of cartoons that began with a depiction of a gorgeous young Japanese woman dressed in traditional finery; the cartoons progressed to showing her in old age, death, and beyond death -- rotting skin falling from her old bones. How much attention Master Kodo paid to these pictures, and whether he found it useful to look at them, I don't know. I only know that the book was still there, 30 years after the Master's death, among his personal effects.
What is also known is that Master Kodo expressed his frank disenchantment in his old age in many ways, for example, by his description of the ways of Japanese society as "gurupo boke," group idiocy; and by his calling himself Masu-O, the King of Masturbation.
When the old man called himself Masu-O, was he expressing the continuation of something that should not exist? Or was he expressing the fact that something that should not exist had completely faded away?
As the bastard grandson of Kodo, I do not have any more grounds for optimism than he did.
At the core of my being is an aberrant Moro reflex that made me burn in the past, is making me burn in the present, and will make me burn in the future. Being like this is nothing to celebrate. It is no matter for joy, delight, or happiness. There are no grounds for optimism.
VOCABULARY:
yadaa: when
eva: [emphatic]
yaH: [he] who
pashyati = 3rd person singular of dRSh: to see
naaman: a characteristic mark or sign; name
ruupa: n. any outward appearance; handsome form , loveliness
naama-ruupam (acc. sg. n.): "name and form" = an individual being;
a distinguishable form, a separate bodily form
kShayi = acc. sg. m. kShayin: mfn. wasting , decaying , waning ; perishable
iti: thus, that, as
tad: that, in that [regard]
darshanam (nom. sg.): n. seeing , observing , looking , noticing , observation , perception; n. apprehension , judgement; discernment , understanding; n. view
asya (gen. sg.): of him
samyak: true, correct, accurate
samyak: truly, correctly, accurately
ca: and
nir: being without
veda: knowledge , true or sacred knowledge or lore , knowledge of ritual; name of certain celebrated works which constitute the basis of the first period of the Hindu religion; feeling , perception; property , goods
nirvedam = acc. sg. nirveda: not having the vedas , infidel , unscriptural; complete indifference, disregard of worldly objects
upaiti = 3rd person singular upa-√i: to go or come or step near , approach , arrive at , meet with; enter into any state , fall into
pashyan: nom. sg. m. pashyat: seeing , beholding , rightly understanding
nandii = f. of nanda: joy, delight, happiness ,
kShayaat = abl. sg. kShaya: m. ending
ca: and
kShayam (acc. sg.): m. ending; loss , waste , wane , diminution , destruction , decay , wasting or wearing away
eti = 3rd person singular aa-√i: to reach, attain, enter
raagaH (nom. sg.): m. colour , hue , tint , dye , (esp.) red colour , redness; any feeling or passion , (esp.) love , affection or sympathy for , vehement desire of , interest or joy or delight in
EH Johnston:
For when anyone sees that corporeality is impermanent, his views are correct, and seeing correctly he attains complete detachment and by the abolition of complaisance (in the things of this world) his passion is abolished.
Linda Covill:
When someone sees that pyscho-physical existence is imbued with decay, his insight is correct; with this correct vision he becomes disinterested in wordly objects and from the ending of pleasure in worldly objects his passion comes to an end.
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