SAUNDARANANDA 12.43: Towards Circumvention of the Senses

yaavat tattvam na bhavati hi dRShTaM shrutaM vaa
taavac chraddhaa na bhavati bala-sthaa sthiraa vaa
dRShTe tattve niyama-paribhuut'-endriyasya
shraddaa-vRkSho bhavati sa-phalash c'aashrayash ca

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

saundaranande mahaa-kaavye pratyavamarsho naama dvaadashaH sarghaH

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

12.43
For so long as the real truth is not seen or heard,

Confidence does not become strong or firm;

But when, through restraint,
the power of the senses is circumvented
and the real truth is realised,

The tree of confidence bears fruit and weight.


The 12th Canto of the epic poem Handsome Nanda, titled
'Gaining Hold.'


COMMENT:
What is the real truth?

My view of the real truth is not the real truth.

I came to England at the end of 1994 with the strong intention of getting to the bottom of the discoveries of FM Alexander, because initial experience of Alexander lessons in Tokyo awakened a shoot of confidence in me with regard to the real truth of Alexander work. Alexander work is a means of circumventing the senses and allowing the right to do itself, via inhibition of the wrong. In this work, I am confident, there is real truth.

I used to believe that my sitting practice was practically bursting with real truth. But Alexander work falsified my former belief. Alexander work showed me that there was not so much real truth in my sitting practice as I had believed there was. To put it another way, my sitting practice was much fuller of faults than I realised. Those faults, I have come to realise, are profoundly related with four vestibular reflexes which have to do with (1) fear, (2) balance, (3) side-to-side coordination (see above photo), and (4) top-to-bottom coordination. Because I was practising these faults unconsciously, my sitting practice was much fuller of faults than I realised.

To put it simply, in 7 words:

What I felt was up was down.

Or to put it in 13 words:

What I felt to be true uprightness
Turned out to be just uptightness.

Any confidence I have now to mine for Ashvaghosha's gold has grown from the clear realisation, which Alexander work practically forced upon me, of the distinction that exists between the fool's gold of uptightness and the true gold of uprightness. Alexander work gave me a shoot of confidence in the existence of true gold.

Before Alexander work, I sincerely believed in the truth of Master Dogen's teaching, but it was only belief, not confidence. I loved then as I have continued to love, Master Dogen's teaching of learning the backward step, so that body and mind drop off, and the original face appears. I appreciated the beauty of Master Dogen's words and sensed the truth in them, but I had not understood the meaning of those words as well as I believed I had.

To see and hear the real truth might be to really experience body and mind dropping off and one's original face emerging; in other words, to experience the right thing doing itself. But to express a view on it which one sincerely believes to be true, is not it.

There is, however, a criterion other than verbal expression by which to judge whether or not a person has seen and heard the real truth. That criterion, the Buddha tells us now, is confidence. Real experience of the real truth causes a person's confidence in the real truth to grow strong and firm, like a healthy sapling that grows over 10, 20, 30, 50 or 70 years into a great tree.

A protege of FM Alexander named Patrick Macdonald who was notorious for his wry sense of humour apparently used to say that the first 10 years were the worst. But as he got older he started saying that the first 20 years were the worst. Then he started saying that the first 40 years were the worst, and so on. Once in his old age Patrick Macdonald asked my teacher how long she had been teaching, and she told him: 35 years. "Oh, really?" Macdonald inquired, "Is that all?" I think he was making the same point that the Buddha is making with the metaphor of the tree: real confidence does not grow strong or firm in one or two summers.

Patrick Macdonald, they say, placed a great deal of emphasis on the importance of taking a pupil UP. But he famously remarked that for the first 30 years he himself was taking everybody down. He understood that despite his wish to leave his wrists totally open so that he might take his pupil up, some recalcitrant downward, depressive, or controlling tendency had remained in him which was not willing to partake in that wish.

To practice the real truth, it seems to me, is to say no to reliance on all such wayward depressing tendencies. Those tendencies have both intellectual and sensory roots.

Nanda had reached the point at the beginning of this Canto when he was able to retreat from his former thirst for heaven, which was sustained by a wrong intellectual conception about the satisfaction to be found among celestial nymphs. He had reached the point of giving up an idea that was putting him wrong.

Here at the end of the Canto, the challenge that still faces Nanda is to circumvent those senses of his which, Ashvaghosha tells us in 12.18, are still set against ultimate good. This circumvention is the subject of Canto 13.

In discussing the senses, sometimes Ashvaghosha cites the five senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch, which he calls in 13.56 a-kushala-karaaNaam ariiNaaM, "evil-causing enemies." But often in records of the Buddha's teaching, for example in the Heart Sutra, six senses are enumerated. This caused me often to wonder, when I was in Japan, how to understand and how to translate the sixth sense, called in Sanskrit manendriya. Those questions were answered, to my satisfaction at least, when I got into Alexander work and started hearing about proprioception, and what Alexander called "debauched kinaesthesia."

On its own man means to perceive, know, understand, or comprehend, so manendriya suggests the compound sense of proprioception, central to which is the vestibular sense. It was my Alexander head of training, Ray Evans, who when I met him in 1995 first alerted me to the primary importance, at the centre of all the senses, of the vestibular sense. The vestibular system, calibrated by the semi-circular canals of the inner ear, is central to our sense of the body as a structure in or out of balance, as the body remains still, or moves through space, as it floats weightlessly in water, or as the body stands on the earth, bearing weight.

EH Johnston:
For so long as the real path is not seen or heard, so long faith does not become strong or firm, but when a man by restraining his senses with self-control sees the real truth, the tree of his faith bears fruit and becomes the vehicle (of further advance).'

Linda Covill:
As long as reality is not seen or heard, faith is not firm or strongly fixed. But when a man's senses are governed by the rules of restraint and he sees reality, then the tree of faith is fruitful and supportive.

End of Canto 12: Comprehension.


VOCABULARY:

yaavat (correlative of taavat): insofar as
tattvam (accusative): what is, reality ; n. true or real state , truth , reality ; (in phil.) a true principle
na: not
bhavati: is, becomes
hi: for
dRShTa: seen, looked at
shruta: mfn. heard , listened to , heard about or of , taught , orally transmitted or communicated from age to age
vaa: or

taavat (correlative of yaavat): so
shraddhaa: confidence, trust, belief,
na: not
bhavati: is, becomes
bala-stha: mfn. " being in strength or power " , strong , powerful , vigorous
sthira: mfn. firm , hard , solid , compact , strong ; fixed , immovable , motionless , still , calm ; firm , not wavering or tottering , steady
vaa: or

dRShTe = locative of dRShTa: seen
tattve = locative of tattva: what is, reality
niyama: restraining, checking, holding back, preventing, controlling
paribhuuta: overpowered, conquered, slighted, disregarded, despised
indriyasya = genitive of indriya: sense, power of the senses

shraddhaa: confidence, trust, belief,
vRkShaH = nominative of vRkSha: tree
bhavati: is, becomes
sa-phalaH (nominative): fruitful, bearing fruit
ca: and
aashrayaH (nominative): something on which to rely, depend, or rest upon
ca: and

SAUNDARANANDA 12.24: For Twenty-four Carat Happiness, Dig Deeper

ari-bhuuteShv a-nityeShu
satataM duHkha-hetuShu
kaam'-aadiShu jagat saktaM
na vetti sukham avyayam

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

12.24
Upon transient whims which are akin to enemies,

Being eternally the causes of suffering,

Upon whims like love, the world fixates.

It does not know
the happiness that is immune to change.

COMMENT
This verse is an encouragement to believe in, and thence to pursue, the kind of happiness that is always there, as opposed to the temporary ups that are invariably followed by downs.

The four elements of the four pada ('steps' or 'feet') of this verse, as I read it, are (1) the changeable, (2) the eternal, (3) the fixed, and (4) that which is neither fixed nor subject to change.

The verse seems to ask me to ask myself:

(1) What is transient?

(2) What is eternal?

(3) How, why, and upon what does the world fixate?

(4) Do I myself know, or at least believe in the existence of, this happiness of which the Buddha speaks, which is imperishable, or immune to change?

Here for what it is worth is my attempt to answer those questions:

(1) Things that we tend to presume to be permanent, like concrete floors, or mountains, or the strong chemistry between two human beings who fall in love, on further investigation turn out not to be permanent after all, but to be transient. Everything which has energy turns out to be transient, because sooner or later the energy dissipates. Thus, marine fossils defy our presumptions by turning up on top of the highest mountains, and the majority of marriages defy the sincerest of vows that "till death do us part," by ending up in divorce.

(2) If permanence is to be sought anywhere, it might be sought in certain laws of the universe, chief among which might be impermanence itself, a.k.a. "the 2nd law of thermodynamics." Another law that might be eternally valid, the 2nd line suggests, is the noble truth of the origin of suffering.

(3) "You all fix!" said FM Alexander to his student-teachers, and "Fixing is our greatest evil." Why is it that we cling irrationally to things from which we derive a false sense of security? It might have something to do with faulty sensory appreciation, and it might equally have something to do with the infantile panic/grasp reflex. Again, faulty sensory appreciation and the panic reflex might, in many cases, have a lot to do with each other.

(4) FM Alexander said to his niece Marjory Barlow, "You know, dear, I am always happy." And Marjory said how she treasured those words. So I quizzed on her on them: What did FM mean? From his biography FM clearly had plenty of troubles to contend with, not least the libel case that he decided to contest in his old age. So what did he mean by saying "I am always happy"? Marjory's answer was given not only in words. When I think back to how Marjory answered my question, and try to put Marjory's answer into a word or two of my own choosing, Marjory's answer was to point me back in the direction of learning the backward step.

I am impelled to keep writing about the backward step, like a person with failing memory writing out a list, because my mind is so fickle that I wake up every morning more or less lost, full of surface doubts and regrets, seemingly having forgotten everything. Then I get up and sit and remember and want to write it down and publish it for posterity (as if the blogosphere were eternal): The backward step. The backward step. The backward step.

Do I believe in the sukham avayayam, imperishable happiness, of the fourth line? Yes, I do. Do I know it? I don't know if I know it or not. I know that I don't understand it. Though I dare to judge that it must be profoundly related with acceptance of the 2nd law of thermodynamics, and with learning of the backward step of turning light and shining, I do not understand what it is. I do not understand imperishable happiness any more than a miner understands the sub-atomic particles that constitute gold. I only know that happiness for me, these days, lies in endeavouring to answer Ashvaghosha's call through the centuries to dig deeper for it.

What's Nirvana?
I don't know.
A loser losing
His will to flow?
Submariners say
When hurricanes blow
That it gets stiller
The deeper you go.


EH Johnston:
The world clings to love and the rest, which are perpetual causes of suffering, transitory, and in reality its enemies, and it does not know the pleasure which does not pass away.

Linda Covill:
The world fastens on lust and other desires, which are inimical to us, transitory, and an ongoing cause of suffering. It does not know imperishable bliss.

VOCABULARY:
ari: not liberal , envious , hostile ; an enemy
bhuuteShv = locative, plural of bhuuta: (ifc.) being or being like anything , consisting of
anityeShu = locative, plural of anitya: impermanent, transient

satatam: constantly , always , ever
duHkha: suffering
hetuShu = locative plural of hetu: cause

kaama: wish, desire; pleasure, enjoyment; love, especially sexual love or sensuality
aadiShu = locative, plural of aadi: beginning with, et cetera
jagat (nominal, singular): people, mankind; the world
saktam (accusative): clinging or adhering to , sticking in (loc); committed to; fixed or intent upon, addicted or devoted to (loc)

na: not
vetti = 3rd person singular of vid: to know
sukham (accusative): happiness, ease
avyayam (accusative): not liable to change , imperishable , undecaying

SAUNDARANANDA 12.23: Illusory & Delusory Happiness

duHkhaM na syaat sukhaM me syaad
iti prayatate janaH
atyanta-duHkh'-oparamaM
sukhaM tac ca na budhyate

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

12.23
'I would not suffer; I would be happy:'

People labour under this illusion;

And respite from incessant suffering

They sense not as such, but as happiness.

COMMENT:
This verse, as I read it, addresses firstly illusory thoughts about, and secondly delusory feelings about, happiness.

What happiness is I do not understand. Illusions and delusions, on the other hand, I do know a bit about.

“If only ....., I would be happy.” Fill in your own missing words. In the last fifty years I have filled in plenty of mine.

But what actually happens when those kind of wishes are fulfilled? What happens when we finally get to embrace the celestial nymph of our dreams, or when we pass the test and get our own wheels, or when we finally get to go home, or when we finally get to the end of some energy-sapping job?

For a starker example, what happens when an irresponsible layabout suddenly wins the lottery? The greed and other faults that made the irresponsible layabout an irresponsible layabout will continue to make him an irresponsible layabout even after he has won the lottery. Fundamentally, the fulfilment of his wish to hit the jackpot will not change anything for the better.

For hard labourer or layabout, as long as the faults that cause suffering are constantly generating noise in the system, any thought of real, lasting happiness is but an illusion.


And yet in the world of ordinary people, among labourers and layabouts, one does see sporadic outbreaks of apparent happiness, from the satisfaction of a job well done to the air-punching elation of a number that came up. How can we account for this?

When a faulty person feels happy, it is not that the faults have been eradicated, even for a moment: it is just that the underlying noise arising from faults has been temporarily drowned out. We see this happening under the influence of drink or drugs, for example. Subjectively the drunk feels like a million dollars and feels confident in his driving ability, but the feeling is unreliable: objectively the drunk looks in bad shape and is a menace on the roads.

The way that FM Alexander saw it was that if a person’s manner of using himself is bad, he might feel happy, due to “faulty sensory appreciation“ or “debauched kinesthesia,” but the feeling is unreliable.

Because my kinesthesia is still, more than 30 years after first stepping into a dojo and bowing, more or less debauched, whatever I do is liable to produce harmful side effects, i.e. suffering. If I just sit with the body, that is just doing, and it is liable to produce suffering. Because just sitting with the body is doing, we oppose it by the mental work (sometimes called ‘mindfulness’) of not reacting to that stimulus but rather allowing a response to this stimulus. And as a result of both those kinds of effort, sitting with the body and sitting with the mind, sitting can be the dropping off of body and mind. This is not only my experience and not only Alexander’s wisdom: it is the wisdom which Buddha/Ashvaghosha are expressing here. It is the wisdom expressed in the previous verse by the word nivRtti, non-doing.

Each of us brings to the reading of this ancient Sanskrit text our own illusory thoughts and delusory feelings, and yet we somehow know, in spite of ourselves, that the text itself is gold of a very pure form. It is a purity of gold that may not have seen the light of day for many hundreds of years. That may be why Linda Covill, with her keen eye and ear for the appropriate metaphor, wrote of her happiness that this text is being given “a thorough airing.”

EH Johnston:
Men labour that they may avoid suffering and feel pleasure, and they do not understand that that pleasure of theirs is but surcease from excessive suffering.

Linda Covill:
People are stimulated to effortful activity by the thought that there might be no suffering and that they could be happy, unaware that their happiness is just the absence of major suffering.

VOCABULARY:
duHkham (accusative): suffering, hardship
na syaat (optative): there might not be
sukham (accusative): happiness, ease

me = genitive of aham: of me, for me
syaat (optative): there might be
iti: thus
prayatate = 3rd person singular of pra-√yat: strive, endeavour
janaH (nominative): person, people

atyanta: mfn. beyond the proper end or limit ; excessive , very great , very strong ; endless , unbroken , perpetual
duHkha: suffering
uparamam (accusative): m. cessation , stopping , expiration ; leaving off , desisting , giving up

sukham (accusative): happiness, ease
tat: that
ca: and
na: not
budhyate = 3rd person singular of budh: to wake , wake up , be awake ; perceive, realise

SAUNDARANANDA 12.20: Vision that Can’t Be Clouded by Faulty Sensory Input

ciram unmaarga-vihRto
lolair indriya-vaajibhiH
avatiirNo 'si panthaanaM
diShTyaa dRShTy" aa-vimuuDhayaa

12.20
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.

COMMENT:
In this verse, as I read it, the reactive stallions and errant mares of the senses, which pull us from one side to the other, are contrasted with the kind of detached, reasoned insight that is constant and irremovable, because it is cut off from the flux of sensory experience.

The late Marjory Barlow, niece of FM Alexander, memorably impressed on me that the four verbal directions "(1) to let the neck be free, (2) to let the head go forward and up, (3) to let the back lengthen and widen, (4) sending the knees forwards and away," are constant. They express the direction of muscular release, all of the time, whatever activity one is engaged in, while breathing out and equally while breathing in.

This means that, however faulty is the functioning of one's vestibular system on a particular day, however hopeless is one's own sense of direction, one thing remains the same. Just as I did yesterday, I wish today (1) to let the neck be free, (2) to let the head go forward and up, (3) to let the back lengthen and widen, while (4) sending the knees forwards and away. Even if I don't get what I wish for, even if the result is different, the central direction of the wish is always the same: it is the direction of growth. The four directions that Marjory taught in lesson one, and that I also teach in lesson one, are the same four directions that I return to after 15 years in the Alexander work, and they are the same four directions that Marjory returned to after 70 years in the Alexander work. The directions do not change because, the human condition being as it is, the causes of the noise that the directions are designed to prevent do not change. The human faults of the time of the seven ancient buddhas are the human faults of the Buddha’s time are the human faults of Ashvaghosha’s time are the human faults of Dogen’s time are the human faults of Alexander’s time are the human faults of our time.

So the directions are always the same; they do not change in any circumstance. After Marjory had impressed this point upon me, I remember feeling very happy. I left Marjory's teaching room with a spring in my step. It was not the spring one gets from a temporary sensory buzz, thanks to an Alexander teacher's magic hands. It was the kind of spring one gets on understanding something that one is never going to forget. It was indeed the gaining of a kind of foothold in this struggle towards... what? I do not know. In this struggle not to stop growing.

Nanda, in the same way, has seen something not only through his visual sense but with his mind’s eye. Optimism leads to disenchantment, just as surely as 2 + 2 = 4. The bliss of union with a celestial nymph always proves to be impermanent, just as surely as 2 + 2 = 4. The rules of the game of love never change. Again, falling in love turns the ordinary human world into an earthly paradise, but there is something unsatisfactory about paradise, even before it turns into its opposite, with the white of shock, denial, despair, and then the red of anger and the rest. The cycle of samsara is impermanence itself. There is no permanence to be found in it -- except that impermanence itself is a law, like the 2nd law of thermodynamics, or like 2 + 2 = 4, in which there is constancy. A person can always rely on that. And once a person has seen that clearly, no amount of confused input from a faulty visual system can dim that clarity of seeing.

To sit in the full lotus posture with head shaved and body wrapped in a robe is also a matter of 2 + 2 = 4, although there are many who do not like to think so. My teacher, Gudo Nishijima, was a teacher who, very unusually for a Japanese man of his generation, had highly developed powers of independent reasoning. But when I drew his attention to the wrongness of forcibly pulling in the chin in order to straighten the neck bones, he seemed to have too much invested emotionally in teaching the wrong thing that he could not recognize his mistake -- at least not in public. In Confucianist-influenced Japan it is rather scandalous to highlight the mistake of one’s benevolent teacher. But 2 + 2 = 4 in Japan just as 2 + 2 = 4 in England. If apologists for Japanese culture would have it any other way, they can stuff their cultural arguments up their jumper. What is supreme in the Buddha’s teaching is not anybody’s culture. What is supreme in the Buddha’s teaching is the truth of truly sitting upright.

The truth of sitting upright is a matter of 2 + 2 = 4, and a matter of much more than 2 + 2 = 4. It is a matter of not being able to do an undoing. It is a matter of up being up, not being down. However faulty my vestibular system may be on a particular day... and yesterday was a particularly bad day as my sleep (along with the sleep of my disgruntled French neighbours) was cut short by the howling through the night of my neighbour’s dog, whose keen sense of smell seems to have picked up, during our recent daily walks, the scent of a bitch on heat... however faulty my sense of up and down may be on a particular day, up is not down. Even if, with my “debauched kinesthesia” as FM put it, what I sense as up is actually down, the truth remains that up is not down. Up is always up. Up, happily, is always up.

EH Johnston:
What good fortune it is that you who have been carried away for so long down the wrong road by the restless horses of the senses have now entered the true path with unconfused gaze.

Linda Covill:
For a long time the frenzied horses of the senses have carried you the wrong way. How wonderful that with clear vision you have alighted on the right path!

VOCABULARY:
ciram: for a long time
unmaarga: taking a wrong way , going wrong or astray
vi-√hR: to carry away, remove
vihRtaH (nominative, singular): one who is carried away

lolaiH = instrumental, plural of lola: moving hither and thither , shaking , rolling , tossing , dangling , swinging , agitated , unsteady , restless
indriya: senses
vaajibhiH = instrumental, plural of vaajin: swift , spirited , impetuous , heroic , warlike RV. &c &c (with ratha m. a war-chariot); m. the steed of a war-chariot; m. a horse , stallion

avatiirNaH = nominative, singular of avatiirNa: mfn. alighted , descended
asi: you are
√panth: to go, move
panthaanam = accusative of panthan: path (??)

diShTyaa (instrumental of diShTi, good fortune): ‘by good fortune,’ used to express strong pleasure
dRShTyaa = instrumental of drShti: f. seeing , viewing , beholding (also with the mental eye) ; sight , the faculty of seeing ; the mind's eye , wisdom , intelligence
a: not
vimuuDhayaa = instrumental of vimUDhaa: (f) perplexed; foolish, stupid

SAUNDARANANDA 12.18: Ultimate Good Is Not Groped by Feeling

tatas tasy' aashayaM jNaatvaa
vipakShaan' indriyaaNi ca
shreyash c' aiv' aamukhii-bhuutaM
nijagaada TathaagataH

12.18
Then, knowing where he was coming from,

And that, though his senses were set against it,

Ultimate good was now emerging,

The realised one spoke:

COMMENT:
Apologies in advance that this comment will be too long, but the above verse counter-poses two elements about which much more could be written: indriyaaNi, the senses; and shreyas, Ultimate Good.

In seeking to understand this opposition, I am prejudiced by 27 years as a student and translator of Zen Master Dogen, by 15 years in Alexander work, and by 10 years in the work of primitive reflex inhibition, but from where I sit Ultimate Good can never be groped by the senses of balance, touch, hearing or sight.

In the autumn of 1984, with a head full of missionary zeal and with a hold-all full of copies of my teacher's book To Meet the Real Dragon, I set off from Tokyo to San Francisco. Staying there at the San Francisco Zen Centre I was struck during a one-day sitting retreat by the easy uprightness of a Danish practitioner. When I complimented him on his form in sitting, he simply said, "Ah, it is because I am a student of the Alexander Technique." It was another ten years before I got round to looking into the Alexander Technique myself. Shortly after that I ended up in Aylesbury at the training school run by late Ray Evans, who used to describe Alexander work as "vestibular re-education" and who emphasized the fundamental importance, in working towards understanding of the human condition, of primitive reflexes.

Following Ray's lead, after graduating from Ray's training school run, I trained at INPP (Institute of Neuro-Physiological Psychology), Chester under Peter Blythe and his wife Sally Goddard, in the diagnosis and remediation of aberrant primitive reflexes. A baby is born with very many of such primitive reflexes, the orderly emergence and inhibition of which helps the baby to survive and to develop. But in the course of my work over the past ten years, encouraged on since Ray's death by Ray's assistant Ron Colyer, guided by the ultra-practical Alexander teachers Marjory Barlow and Nelly Ben-Or, and motivated by my own wish for clarity and simplicity in working with the reflexes, my interest became more and more concentrated on just four vestibular reflexes. I see these reflexes as primary, and I see a direct correspondence between Alexander's four primary directions and these four reflexes.

So I think that Ultimate Good might be to sit shaven-headed in lotus while the body, wrapped in a Buddha-robe, liberates itself from disharmony between those four reflexes.

That might mean, in Master Dogen's words, to sit with the body, to sit with the mind, and to sit as body and mind dropping off.

Again, that might mean to sit in lotus allowing (1) the neck to be free, to allow (2) the head to go forward and up, to allow (3) the back to lengthen and widen, while allowing (4) the arms and legs to release out of the back.

Ultimate Good, then, from what I have experienced of what I believe it to be, is not something out there that comes into the range of our senses, whereupon we pursue it. It may rather be something that spontaneously emerges from within during those rare moments when we are able to get out of the way and allow it. FM Alexander put it more succinctly: "The right thing does itself."

Ultimate good does itself.
Our job is to allow it.

Then what does it mean to allow? I do not know. It does not mean to think about, to discuss endlessly, to intellectualise. But neither does it mean blindly to do, to pull the chin in, to push the knees down, to hyper-extend the back, and all that other nonsense which is pure doing based on feeling. To allow does not mean to feel. To feel, to rely on the senses, is to limit oneself to sitting with the body.

In general it is the job of the senses to feel something, as opposed to feeling nothing. In swaying left and right as Master Dogen instructs in his rules for sitting, for example, one has a fairly reliable sense that three or four inches left or right of the midline is to the left or to the right -- the vestibular system, with input from tactile senses (and visual senses too if the eyes are open), senses the imbalance. Such an imbalance, after all, might be dangerous in circumstances like walking a tightrope or riding a bike. To approach the midline, however, is to enter an area of uncertainty. The vestibular system seems better adapted to sensing something (an imbalance) as opposed to sensing nothing (the absence of imbalance).

This being so, insofar as Ultimate Good is a bit of nothing, a bit of freedom from the faults that cause suffering, a bit of absence of noise, and in the end a bit of body and mind dropping off, a bit of the right thing being allowed to do itself, then it may be not only Nanda's whose senses were set against it: it may be that everybody's senses are set against it.

Now the Knower of Ultimate Good, the Best of Listeners, is about to speak. That the Buddha was the best of listeners was not only a matter of his auditory sense: his listening was also a matter of what he intended to hear and, most importantly, what he was able to filter out. The Buddha's listening was a matter of how the whole of his ear processed sound. The whole of the ear means everything involved in inner and outer listening, right down to the auditory and vestibular nucleii in the brainstem, and on into the bones, and on into the internal organs through the circuitous route of the wandering vagabond which is the vagus nerve. When Buddha sits in what Paul Madaule calls a good listening posture, it may be that the whole body-mind is an ear -- an ear whose listening is body and mind dropping off.

Whatever understanding I have gleaned about what FM Alexander called "faulty sensory appreciation," and the need to transcend it, I have gleaned from the standpoint of a person with a listening problem struggling to get round that problem. I myself am terribly bothered by noise. Two or three years ago, as I sat here by the stream, trying not to listen to engine noise, and being mindful of the mirror principle, I seriously asked myself what the problem was. The conclusion I came to was that the external noise that bothers me so much is a mirror for internal noise which I tend unconsciously to suppress, as it arises from my faulty vestibular system. I think that conclusion was true, and the conclusion is supported by everything Ashvaghosha records about the primary importance of eradicating the faults.

A couple of years ago a so-called Zen Master, a professed Dharma-brother of mine in the lineage of Zen Master Dogen, despite never actually having met me, recommended that, as a pre-condition for joining an organisation to which he belongs, I should undergo a course of psychological treatment. Aside from the personal affront, the shocking thing about this was the lack of insight it revealed into the teaching of Dogen, Ashvaghosha, and all the other ancestors. What Dogen and Ashvaghosha are telling us is that the faults which are the cause of suffering are primarily rooted, not in psychology, but in neuro-physiology.

Does anybody out there understand what I am banging on about -- what I have been banging on so clumsily through all these hundreds of blog posts? Does anybody understand why this verse has stimulated such a long comment from me? What this verse is saying is that what is opposing the emergence in Nanda of Ultimate Good is, primarily, his senses. Senses means balance, touch, hearing, vision, taste and smell, but most of all it means balance, because the vestibular system is the integrator of all sensory input.

When people with superficial understanding of the human condition look at behaviour that they don't understand, they attribute the behaviour they don't understand to psychological causes. But if people's primary problem were psychological, then what would be the point of crossing the legs and endeavouring to direct oneself upward?

No, what leads me astray, primarily, is my faulty vestibular system. It has led me so far astray in my life I would like to crawl back into the womb and start all over again. Fortunately, to sit all wrapped up in the lotus posture with rain pattering down on the roof and a cow mooing intermittently in the distance, is not a bad substitute.

I am a congenitally bad listener, the worst of listeners. Being the worst of listeners, I have sought out and am seeking to clarify the teaching of the Best of Listeners.

Now the Best of Listeners is about to open his mouth and speak. Will he voice a sound? Or will sound voice itself?

EH Johnston:
Then the Tathagata, knowing his disposition and that, while his senses were still contrary, the highest good was now within his range, spoke thus:--

Linda Covill:
The realized one understood his disposition, and that though his senses were still opposed to it, Excellence was now within his sight, and he spoke:

VOCABULARY:
tataH: then
tasya (genitive): of him
aashayam (accusative): m. resting-place , bed ; seat , place ; an asylum , abode or retreat ; a receptacle ; any recipient ; thought , meaning , intention ; disposition of mind , mode of thinking
jNaatvaa = absolutive of jNaa: to know

vipakShaaNi = accusative plural of vipakSha: m. " being on a different side " , an opponent , adversary , enemy (mfn. " counteracting ")
indriyaaNi = accusative plural of indriya: n. bodily power , power of the senses
ca: and

shreyas: n. the better state , the better fortune or condition; m. good (as opp. to " evil ") , welfare , bliss , fortune , happiness ; m. the bliss of final emancipation
ca: and
eva: (emphatic) now
aamukha: commencement
aamukhii-bhuu: to become visible
bhuuta: being, become

nijagaada = perfect of ni-√gad: to recite , proclaim , announce , declare , tell , speak
tathaagataH (nominative singular): the Thus-Come, the realised one

SAUNDARANANDA 12.15: In Praise of Giving Up

yadi praapya divaM yatnaan
niyamena damena ca
a-vitRptaaH patanty ante
svargaaya tyaagine namaH

12.15
If, after struggling to get to heaven,

Through self-restriction and self-restraint,

Men fall at last, unsatisfied,

Then homage to the heaven-bound
who give up on the way.

COMMENT:
At the centre of the teaching of FM Alexander, as FM’s niece Marjory Barlow communicated it to me, is the practice of giving up. Alexander work is a kind of exact, in-depth, scientific study of giving up, and the only laboratory you need to practice this science is yourself.

The first thing to give up is the idea of being right, because the idea of being right is the first thing that puts a person wrong.

This recognition is also implicit in Zen Master Dogen’s rules of sitting-dhyana, where he says: ZEN-AKU OMWAZU, ZE-HI O KANSURU KOTO NAKARE, “Don’t think good, bad; Don’t care right, wrong.”

The difficult thing is to completely give up the idea of being right, without giving up the effort to keep going in the right direction.

In order to go in the right direction, paradoxically, step one is to give up any idea of rightness as a destination.

A further step, another difficulty to be met, is to completely give up the idea of doing something -- a bow, for example -- in order to find the freedom in which actually to do, or not to do, a bow.

In the fourth line of this verse, as I read it, Nanda is paying homage to nobody if not FM Alexander. FM’s secret, as Marjory taught it to me, not as a theory but as a principle subject to exact verification in practice, is to give up an idea without giving up one’s direction.

Losers have stopped trying,
Winners never quit.
FM taught the two in one,
In true pursuit of It.

The Alexander teachers I have met who seem to have really deep understanding of and devotion to Alexander’s teaching, all without exception have reverence also, to the extent that they know it, for the Buddha’s teaching. Buddhist teachers I have met who do not revere Alexander’s teaching, are as they are, as I see it, because they have never seen the true essence of the Buddha’s teaching, even in a dream. The true essence of the Buddha’s teaching and the true essence of Alexander’s teaching is the same true essence. It has to do primarily with stopping wrong doing, and that stopping begins with giving up an idea. How can preachers of Buddhism, realism and the like understand this point, even in a dream?

If this comment confirms me as a non-Buddhist, so be it. I do not give a damn about true Buddhism. Ashvaghosha’s gold has got nothing to do with true Buddhism. Ashvaghosha’s gold is the truth.

EH Johnston:
If, after obtaining heaven through toil, abstinence and self-restraint, men fall again at the end with desires unappeased, what is the use of so fleeting a Paradise?

Linda Covill:
If men must eventually fall unfulfilled from a heaven so effortfully obtained through observance of the rules and through training, then homage to the man relinquishing heaven!

VOCABULARY:
yadi: if, when
praapya = absolultive of pra-√aap: to attain to ; reach , arrive at , meet with , find ; obtain
divam (accusative): heaven
yatnaat = ablative of yatna: effort , exertion , energy , zeal , trouble , pains

niyamena = instrumental of niyama: m. restraining , checking , holding back , preventing , controlling
damena = instrumental of dama: m. self-command , self-restraint , self-control
ca: and

avitRptaaH = nominative, plural of avitRpta: unsatisfied
patanti = 3rd person plural of pat: to fall down or off , alight , descend
ante (locative of anta): in the end, at last

svargaaya (dative of svarga): for heaven, [being bound] for heaven,
NB. The Clay Sanskrit Library version has svargasya (genitive of svarga)
tyaagine = locative of tyaagin: one who has given up
namas: n. bow , obeisance , reverential salutation , adoration

SAUNDARANANDA 12.4: Why Extreme Agitation Happens

a-pariikShaka-bhaavaac ca
puurvaM matvaa divaM dhruvam
tasmaat kSheShNuM parishrutya
bhRshaM saMvegam eyivaan

12.4
Being of an unquestioning nature,

He had presumed heaven to be a constant;

So hearing that it was perishable,

He became extremely agitated.

COMMENT:
Nanda was of an unquestioning nature. He was, in other words, not truly and fully conscious. He was more or less subconsciously controlled -- not like you and me who are terribly clever, with our scientific education.

In conversation over breakfast yesterday with my 18-year-old son, I asked him what Chemistry was. "The study of why things happen," was his answer.

OK then, all-knowing Chemist, why did Nanda get extremely agitated? Was it all down to too much testosterone, too little dopamine, blah, blather, blather?

If a neuro-surgeon were to come along and dissect Nanda, wishing to locate the source of the extreme agitation in his nervous system, the surgeon might open up Nandas testicles and check for over-production of testosterone, or he might cut open the spinal chord and identify the autonomic nervous system as important, or he might go deep into the brainstem and look at the nuclei of the vestibular system and other neuronal circuits that set off the fear reflexes. But even then the surgeon's knife wouldn't have gone deep enough to get to the real root of the problem, as identified in this verse; namely, a wrong presumption, linked to an unconscious end-gaining idea.
In recent times nobody, in my book, has understood this kind of problem (the causal relation between agitated or collapsed states of being and end-gaining ideas) more clearly and exactly than FM Alexander.

Then why isn't Alexander better known? How come Alexander's name is not so well known as contemporaries of his such as Einstein or Freud?

The answer might have something to do with how terribly well educated we all are. FM used to say, "A child of three can understand this work. But give me a man who's been educated, and God help me."

EH Johnston:
With his superficial nature he had previously deemed the joys of heaven to be eternal and, learning them now to be transitory, he became extremely agitated.

Linda Covill:
Because his nature was not given to careful inspection, he had previously considered heaven to be permanent. So when he heard about its perishability he was profoundly disturbed.

VOCABULARY:
a: not
pariikShaka: an examiner
bhaavaat = ablative of bhaava: being, innate property
ca: and, certainly (sometimes used expletively)

puurvam: previously
matvaa = absolutive of man: to think
divam = accusative of diva: heaven
dhruva: fixed; fixed (in astrology); certain

tasmaat: so, therefore
kSheShNu: perishable
parishrutya = absolutive of parishru: to hear , learn , understand

bhRsham: strongly , violently , vehemently , excessively , greatly
saMvegam = accusative of saMvega: violent agitation , excitement , flurry
eyivaan: got, became

SAUNDARANANDA 16.98: In the End, Growth ...?

kRShTvaa gaaM paripaalya ca shrama-shatair ashnoti sasya-shriyam
yatnena pravigaahya saagara-jalaM ratna-shriyaa kriiDati
shatruuNaam avadhuuya viiryam iShubhir bhuNkte narendra-shriyaM
tad viiryaM kuru shaantaye viniyataM viirye hi sarva-rddhayaH

Saundaranande mahaa-kaavya aarya-satya-vyaakhyaano naama ShoDashaH sargaH

16.98
After ploughing and protecting the soil with great pains,
a farmer gains a bounteous crop of corn;

After striving to plumb the ocean's waters,
a diver basks in a bounty of coral and pearls;

After seeing off with arrows the endeavour of rival kings,
a king enjoys royal dominion.

So direct your energy in pursuit of peace,
for in directed energy lies all growth."


End of the 16th Canto of the epic poem Handsome Nanda, titled "Exposition of the Noble Truths."


COMMENT:
And so we come to an end, and as we do so we might question what that means.

After directing his energies in the dedicated manner that farmers around the world all still tend to do, to this day (I am thinking of my inspirationally hardworking neighbour in France), the farmer gains the end he has laboured to gain -- producing lots of food.

The pearl diver, likewise, gains an end that is not at all abstract. By his own independent efforts, he makes tbe ocean's riches into his own possession.

The king in the 3rd line enjoys royal dominion -- supreme authority, absolute ownership.

So, on first reading, the Buddha seems to be finishing this long monologue (which began back in 12.19), by pointing to the gaining of a definite end, which might be absolute ownership of the four noble truths. In coming to the translation of the final word of the Canto, Rddhi, therefore, my first thought was to translate it as success or accomplshment -- "In endeavour lies all success/accomplishment."

But if we dig deeper into the verse, one thing to notice might be a certain irony around the notion of endeavour. Hitherto the Buddha has heaped nothing but praise on the supreme and invincible virtue of viirya, manly endeavour. But the viirya in the 3rd line is the manly endeavour of rival kings which is defeated, by arrows. The point I take from this apparent irony of viirya being defeated is that endeavour as an abstract concept, or a concept connected to a puffed up, macho, sense of unreal self-confidence, is always liable to be trumped by the real direction of real energy, as manifested, for example, in flying arrows.

So when the Buddha speaks again in the 4th line of viirya, along with shaanti, peace, and Rddhi, success, the irony contained in the 3rd line might be a kind of clue not to react too quickly to those words, not to trust the intellect as it rapidly latches on and tries to convince that it knows. As FM Alexander used to say: "Be careful of the printed matter: you may not read it as it is written down."

Yes, the final word of the Canto, Rddhi, in the context of the previous three lines, seems to point to the gaining of a definite end, i.e. making the four noble truths into one's own possession, gaining full dominion over them. But the first meaning of Rddhi is growth. It is from the verb, Rdh, to grow. So, yes, Rddhi means success or accomplishment, the gaining of an end, but it can also be understood as pointing to growth as an ongoing process. Whether the ambiguity was deliberate, I do not know. But I suspect it was, and I have translated Rddhi accordingly as growth.

Because, in the end, what end have we got to look forward to? The long term outlook for us all, unless we meet a sudden and premature end, is sickness or old age, followed by death -- at which point corn, pearls, or royal power are absolutely no bloody good to us whatsoever. We know, if we open our eyes and look, that those who try to hold on to their corn or their pearls or their little kingdom, in that very effort to hold on, stop growing. That is the usual case. When people grow old, they stop growing. In contrast to that I have been priviliged to have worked with some elderly Alexander teachers who were without question still growing in the truth and toward the truth. Above all, I was privileged to visit my Alexander head of training Ray Evans shortly before he died. Even at death's door, Ray was evidently still working on himself as he had endeavored to teach me to work on myself, by directing my head to go forward and up out of a lengthening and widening back -- and not being too serious about it. As Ray drifted out of the here and now of directed consciousness, and back again, he reported, "I come and go. But that's OK."

From the privilege of meeting Ray in this state, I learned something that has informed my understanding of Alexander work and also, I hope, of this verse.

FM Alexander said, "The experience you want is in the process of getting it. If you have something, give it up."

Again, FM said, "Don't you see that if you get perfection today, you will be further away from perfection than you have ever been."

So in the end, to what end is the fourth line directing our attention? Success, or growth? In the end, I think what the fourth line is mainly directing our attention to is neither success nor growth. What the fourth line is directing our attention to, primarily, is the direction of our attention.

EH Johnston:
By ploughing the soil and by guarding (his field) with infinite pains man obtains a splendid crop ; by diving strenuously into the ocean he rejoices in splendid jewels; by overwhelming the might of his enemies with arrows he enjoys the splendour of sovereignty. Therefore show energy for the sake of tranquillity ; for of a certainty all prosperity lies in energy.

Linda Covill:
When a man has plowed the soil and protected it with infinite pains he earns a bounteous crop of corn; after labouring to plumb the ocean's waters he glories in his wealth of jewels; and when his arrows have driven off an enemy force, he enjoys royal sovereignty. So strive for peace, for all progress surely lies in endeavor."

VOCABULARY:
kRShTvaa = absolutive of kRSh: to draw or make furrows , plough
gaaM (accusative): earth, soil, ground
paripaalya = absolutive of paripaal: to , guard , protect , defend
ca: and
shrama: exertion, pains
shataiH = instrumental plural of shata: a hundred ; any very large number
ashnoti = 3rd person singular of ash: to reach , come to , reach , come to , arrive at , get , gain , obtain
sasya: corn , grain , fruit , a crop of corn
shriyam = acc. sg. shrii: f. light , lustre , radiance , splendour , glory , beauty , grace , loveliness; prosperity , welfare , good fortune , success , auspiciousness , wealth , treasure , riches ; bounty

yatnena = instrumental of yatna: effort , exertion , energy , zeal , trouble , pains
pravigaahya = abs. pra-vi-√gaah: to dive into , enter (acc.)
saagara: the ocean
jalam (acc.): water
ratna: a jewel , gem , treasure , precious stone (the nine jewels are pearl , ruby , topaz , diamond , emerald , lapis lazuli , coral , sapphire , gomeda)
shriyaa = instrumental of shrii: f. splendour; wealth , treasure , riches ; bounty
kriiDati = 3rd person singular of kriiD: to play , sport , amuse one's self , frolic , gambol , dally (used of men , animals , the wind and waves , &c); to jest , joke with (instr.)

shatruuNaam = gen. pl. shatru: m. " overthrower " , an enemy , foe , rival , a hostile king (esp. a neighbouring king as a natural enemy)
avadhuuya = abs. ava-√dhuu: to shake off or out or down; to shake off (as enemies or evil spirits or anything disagreeable) , frighten away
viiryam (acc. sg.): n. manly vigour, valour, strength, power,
iShubhiH = inst. pl. iShu: an arrow
bhuNkte = 3rd person singular of bhuj: to enjoy
narendra: m. " man-lord " , king , prince
shriyaM (acc. sg.): f. splendour; wealth , treasure , riches ; high rank , power , might , majesty , royal dignity

tad: so
viiryam (acc. sg.): n. manly endeavour, energy
kuru = imperative of kR: to do, make
shaantaye = dative of shaanti: f. tranquillity , peace , quiet , peace or calmness of mind , absence of passion
viniyata: mfn. restrained , checked , regulated
viniyatam: ind. certainly, surely
viirye = locative of viirya: energy, endeavour
hi: for
sarva: all
RddhayaH = nominative, plural of Rddhi: f. increase , growth , prosperity, success , good fortune , wealth , abundance ; accomplishment

SAUNDARANANDA 16.93: In Praise of Bittersweet Endeavour

dravyaM yathaa syaat kaTukaM rasena
tac c' opayuktaM madhuraM vipaake
tath" aaiva viiryaM kaTukaM shrameNa
tasy' aartha-siddhau madhuro vipaakaH

16.93
Just as the flesh of a fruit may be bitter to the taste

And yet it is sweet when eaten ripe,

So manly endeavour, being a struggle, is bitter

And yet, in accomplishment of the aim,
its mature fruit is sweet.

COMMENT:
This verse is much more difficult to understand than it might appear to the unwary.

It would be easy to read this verse as an expression of optimism; but what this verse, as I read it, is really all about is not taking the easy option.

On 19th February 1925, an old girl of K.E.H.S Birmingham named Irene Tasker transcribed a lecture by FM Alexander given to the Child-Study Society, in which he said: "The technique that I have worked at all these years enables you to get rid of your defects in the process of carrying it out."

FM quoted his friend and supporter Dr Peter Macdonald, who was later (1942 - 45) to become chairman of the British Medical Association:

"Alexander does not treat specific defects. He does not undertake specific cures, but the specific defects are eradicated in the process. For instance, in flat-foot, he never touches that foot or the leg, but that flat-foot will disappear in the process."

Alexander, in other words, did not take the easy option. He worked to the preventive principle in the eradication of defects, looking at a person in the round.

Working on the eradication of defects in this way, as anybody knows who has really devoted themselves to working in this way, is a tough struggle. It is never to take the easy option.

Psychological therapies and formalistic Japanese sitting (so-called "Zazen") are just easy options. You might think, as you sit with your legs on fire, that Zazen is not an easy option, but that thought is only a manifestation of your ignorance. What Buddha/Ashvaghosha are outlining in this Canto is something much more difficult than that, which is eradication of defects on a general, preventive basis, working to a principle.

As I mentioned previously, there are people who, without asking my permission, have translated my stuff directly from my English into their own language. They have taken the easy option, and they do not have my respect. Gabriele Linnebach has my respect, because she took the option which, from the beginning, was not easy for her. Twenty-odd years ago we sat opposite each other going through Fukan-zazengi character by character. I did not realize how difficult Gabriele was finding the task, until the tears started rolling down her cheeks. She was daunted. She felt the task was too difficult for her. But it wasn't too difficult. It was very difficult, but in the end it did not prove too difficult. So I cite Gabriele's example as one example of manly endeavour which was good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end.

After seventy years in the work of enabling self and others to get rid of defects in the process of carrying out an activity (against the habits of a lifetime), Elisabeth Walker writes: "One knows with absolute certainty that what one is communicating is good."

This also could easily be understood as a statement of optimism. But I much prefer to read it as a statement of the unshakeable confidence of a person who refused to be overwhelmed by grief, following tragedies like the death of her first child and the death of the love of her life -- her husband of 50-odd years.

Similarly, when the Lotus Sutra says that the Dharma is good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, for me it is not the expression of optimistic or realistic philosophy. To me, it is rather the expression of the Buddha's unshakeable confidence that what he was communicating was good. And that kind of confidence cannot arise from taking short-cuts or easy options. It arises from working to principle, against instinctive habits, and this invariably involves a hard struggle.

So this verse, as I read it, is not expressing an optimistic thought that what is now something bad will turn into something good. It is not saying that bitter fruit is bad and sweet fruit is good. The intention might rather be that real fruit, tasting bitter when unripe and sweet when ripe, is always good.

In other words, this verse is an encouragement not to be put off by whatever bitterness endeavour may bring. What feels like the wrong thing might in fact already be the right thing, struggling to assert itself.

In discussing the feeling of bitterness in Shobogenzo chapter. 73, Master Dogen wrote:

Bitterness is a feeling. That it is the independent subject feeling, is not it. That it is objective feeling, is not it. That it is feeling as something that exists, is not it. That it is feeling as what does not exist, is not it. It is the living body feeling. It is the living body suffering. It means sweet ripe melons being replaced by bitter gourds. This is bitter to the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, and bitter to the conscious mind, the unconscious mind, and so on. This is the practice and the experience of a mystical power that is a cut above -- a mystical power that springs out from the entire stem and springs out from the whole root. Thus, "It has been said that living beings suffer. Yet what actually exist are suffering living beings." That living beings are self is not it. That living beings are the other is not it. What actually exists is suffering living beings. In the end, it is impossible to deceive others. Sweet melons are sweet through to their stems. Bitter gourds are bitter through to their roots. And yet it is not easy to grope what this bitterness is. We should ask ourselves: what is this bitterness?

If I look forward to a dessert of summer-fruit pudding, with ripe blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries, that is only my imagination working. In the garden or in the fridge, there are no blackberries. Whereas the rhubarb growing in my back garden is not yet ready to eat, but there it is, really growing, leaves extending out to receive the sun's energy. So this verse, as I read it, is not an affirmation of expected summer fruits; it is rather an affirmation of real rhubarb -- just as Dogen's words are an affirmation of real bitterness.

EH Johnston:
Just as a substance may be hot in taste and yet when eaten be easy to digest, so energy may be painful through the toil it involves and yet be pleasant in its result through the accomplishment of the object in hand.

Linda Covill:
Just as a substance may be pungent in flavour yet when eaten ripe may prove to be sweet, so an endeavor may be hard in its execution but when it ripens through the accomplishment of its aims, prove to be sweet.

VOCABULARY:
dravyam (nom. sg.): n. a substance , thing , object ; the ingredients or materials of anything ; medicinal substance or drug
yathaa: just as
syaat (optative): might be
kaTukam (nom. sg.): sharp , pungent , bitter ; fierce , impetuous , hot , bad
rasena = instrumental of rasa: taste, flavour

tat (nom./acc. sg. n.): it
ca: and
upayuktam (nom./acc. sg. n.): enjoyed , eaten , consumed
madhuram (nom./acc. sg. n.): sweet , pleasant , charming , delightful
vipaake = locative of vipaaka: ripe , mature ; ripening , maturing (esp. of the fruit of actions); maturing of food (in the stomach) , digestion,

tathaa (correlative of yathaa): so
eva: (emphatic) the same
viiryam (nom. sg.): n. manliness , valour , strength , power , energy ; heroism , heroic deed; manly vigour , virility
kaTukam (nom. sg. n.): bitter
shrameNa = instrumental of shrama: fatigue , weariness , exhaustion; exertion , labour , toil , exercise , effort either bodily or mental , hard work of any kind

tasya (gen. sg. m./n.): of it, of him
aartha: aim , purpose
siddhau = locative of siddhi: f. accomplishment , performance , fulfilment , complete attainment (of any object) , success
N.B. EHJ says that he reads this word as siddhyaa = instrumental of siddhi, and LC follows this reading. Johnston's original Sanskrit
text, if I have read it correctly reads as siddhau, which seems to make sense to me.
madhuraH (nom. sg. m.: sweet
vipaakaH (nominative singular of vipaaka): m. ripening , maturing (esp. of the fruit of actions)

SAUNDARANANDA 16.89: Kshema to Meghika

kShem"-aajito nandaka-nanda-maataav
upaali-vaagisha-yasho-yashodaaH
mahaahvayo valkali-raaShTrapaalau
sudarshana-svaagata-meghikaash ca

16.89
Kshema, Ajita, the mothers of Nandaka and Nanda,

Upali, Vagisha, Yashas, Yashoda,

Mahahvaya, Valkalin, Rashtra-pala,

Sudarshana, Svagata and Meghika,

COMMENT:
These 14 individuals are the 28th through 41st names on the list of 60-odd true individuals who made into their own possession those four noble truths that begin with suffering.

Better known names on this list include Ajita and Upali, one of the ten major disciples of the Buddha.

Apropos the present themes of true individuality and unshakeable confidence, here are two quotes about teaching the FM Alexander Technique, taken from Forward and Away, the recently published memoirs of Alexander teacher Elisabeth Walker.

First a piece of advice to Alexander teachers:
"Collect the truth into yourselves. Don't try and be like anyone else, or like F.M. Be yourself as a teacher."

Second an affirmation of true life after death, which has got nothing at all to do with optimism. It is a wonderful and exceptionally strong life-affirming last word from a 93-year old widow who early in life suffered the devastating loss of her first child, due to a tonsillectomy that went wrong:
"Teaching has been a most extraordinarily rewarding experience. Communication by touch is probably the most basic form of communication. And what is one communicating? The answer very simply is 'life.' This sounds a rather grand claim, but every teacher will bear me out. The pupil becomes 'alive' no matter whether he is stuck in a state of collapse or stuck in a condition of over-tension. But whether the pupil is aware of this greater aliveness or not, the teacher is, and this is what is most rewarding. Because one knows with absolute certainty that what one is communicating is good."

EH Johnston:
Ksema, Ajita, the mothers of Nandaka and Nanda, Upali, Vagisa, Yasas and Yasoda, Mahahvaya, Valkalin and Rastrapala, Sudarsana, Svagata and Meghika,

Linda Covill:
Kshema, Ajita, the mothers of Nandaka and Nanda, Upali, Vagisha, Yashas and Yashoda, Mahahvaya, Valkalin and Rashtra-pala, Sudarshana, Svagata and Meghika,

SAUNDARANANDA 16.80: Not Too Precious, Please

evaM-prakaarair api yady upaayair
nivaaryamaaNaa na paraaN-mukhaaH syuH
tato yathaaa-sthuula-nibarhaNena
suvarNa-doShaa iva te praheyaaH

16.80
Even if hold off by such means

Faults might not turn back:

In that case, forcibly remove them,
in the order of their grossness,

As if ridding gold of impurities.

COMMENT:
While still strongly exhorting the listener to be rid of faults, this verse can be read as antithetical in its approach to the previous verse.

The previous verse upholds the preventive principle of non-endgaining. "By such means" in the first line equals "by preventive means."

In principle, there is no doubt that prevention is better than cure. But this verse, as I read it, reminds us that our fundamental aim is not to adhere to or to uphold -- in a pedantic, self-righteous, precious way -- the preventive principle. Our fundamental aim is to be free of the faults.

The principle of getting rid of faults in order of their grossness, like a man panning for gold, has already been introduced in verses 15.66 to 15.67.

One could argue, citing the preventive principle, that what is of primary importance for a gold-panner is how well he prevents the instigation of faults in himself during the activity of panning for gold -- that he should, in other words, primarily pay attention to the means, which his action of panning, rather than to the end, which is to get gold.

To illustrate the opposite side of the argument, I remember the story of how, when a bomb hit FM Alexander's London HQ at Ashley Place, leaving fragments of glass all over FM's precious Persian rugs, various of Alexander's students were clearing up the mess as a kind of Alexander exercise, moving very "mindfully." When FM came in, if I remember the story correctly, he was singularly unimpressed and told them all to get a bloody move on!

These verses come back so often to the metaphor of gold extraction and refining maybe because this branch of industry is, from mine to foundry, a dirty and sweaty process, requiring heavy raw materials to be hauled to the foundry and thrown into a raging furnace. A person who approached the process in too precious and "mindful" a manner, not wishing his hands to become dirtied and roughened by manual labour, or his face to become scorched by the furnace's glow, might end up without any gold to show for his efforts.

So I see this as the first in a series of four verses exhorting us, in the final analysis, having given due attention to the proper means, to get on with the hard work of freeing ourselves from the faults, doing whatever is necessary to gain that end, not shying away in the manner of a vegan pacifist from the use of requisite force, not pussy-footing around and not being too precious about it.

This Canto is going to conclude by singing the praises of viirya, which does not mean feminist ideology, any more than it means male chauvinism. Viirya means manly endeavour. Manly endeavour is required to get this body free of gross reptilian/mammalian faults and free of subtler human -isms, up to and including true Buddhism.

Free to suffer, free to grieve;
Free in freedom, to believe;
Free to stand up, free to leave;
Free to listen, free to breathe.

EH Johnston:
If they still do not turn away, though combated by such means, then they must be eliminated, like the impurities of gold, by driving them out in the order of their grossness.

Linda Covill:
If they are being restricted by these kinds of method, yet are not reversed, then they must be discarded, like the impurities in gold, by removing them according to their coarseness.

VOCABULARY:
evam: thus, such
prakaaraiH (inst. pl.): m. sort, kind, way, mode
api: even, though
yadi: if
upaayaiH (inst. pl.): m. approach, means, method

nivaaryamANaaH (nom. pl. m. of causitive pres. passive participle ni-√vR: to ward off , restrain): being held back, prohibited, prevented
na: not
paraaN-mukhaaH (nom. pl. m.): having the face turned away or averted , turning the back upon
syuH = 3rd person plural, optative of as: to be

tataH: then
yathaa: in accordance with
sthuula: coarse , gross , rough
nibarhaNena = instrumental of nibarhaNa: crushing , destroying , removing ; n. destruction , annihilation

suvarNa: gold
doShaaH (nom. pl.): m. fault, defect, impurity
iva: like
te (nom. pl.): they, those
praheyaaH = nom. pl. m. gerundive pra-√haa: (1) to drive off ; (2) to desert , quit , abandon , give up; to send off

): to be sent away or dispatched

SAUNDARANANDA 16.79: Freedom First from Fearful Faults

yathaa hi bhiito nishi taskarebhyo
dvaaram priyebhyo 'pi na daatum icchet
praajNas tathaa saMharati prayogaM
samaM shubhasy' aapy ashubhasya doShaiH

16.79
For just as a man afraid of thieves in the night

Would not open his door even to friends,

So does a wise man withhold consent to the doing

Of anything bad or of anything good
that involves the faults.

COMMENT:
In this metaphor, thieves in the night are faults, and keeping the door shut is withholding consent to the doing of an activity that might invite in the faults.

The effect of the verse is again to let us know, lest any smidgen of doubt should dare to remain, that the whole point of the four noble truths is the elimination of the faults.

Like the father for whom the safety of his family is a much more important aim than being able to see any friends that might visit, the overriding aim of the life of a follower of the Buddha is to keep the faults at bay, even if that might mean missing out on an end that could be agreeable and good.

If I have begun to understand this verse even a little, it is thanks to FM Alexander. This verse is very strong advocacy against what Alexander called end-gaining -- whether the aim in view be a worthy end or an unworthy one.

The whole basis of Alexander work is learning to withhold consent to the doing of an activity, until such time as the means have been established which may enable the activity to be done (or to do itself) without instigating habitual patterns of misuse; i.e,, faults.

People who know nothing about swimming and understand very little of the human condition -- doctors, physiotherapists and the like -- will often say that swimming is good exercise. But as my brother and wife spend their lives teaching people, if a person swims in a faulty way (in a way that involves them putting themselves under undue stress) then the first thing they must learn, in order to swim better, is to withhold consent to the activity of swimming. Even though swimming is good exercise, insofar as it involves the faults, people have to learn first not to swim but just to remain in the water, blowing bubbles or floating or gliding or engaging in some other form of non-swimming. After they have thus learnt to simply be in the water more or less free of their fearful faults, only then can the door to swimming (without stress) begin to open.

For an example still closer to home, in contrast to the Shobogenzo translation which was done with a sense of urgency that, in the run up to the publication of the first volume in 1994, brought me to the edge of ill-health, I am deliberately translating Ashvaghosha at the slow but relentless pace of one verse per day. This translation work, I hope, is something good and if I could get to the end of it that would be great, and wild horses won't stop me from doing that. But there is always the possibility that death will stop me. Even so, I am withholding consent. And from the withholding of consent comes a greater sense of being in the driving seat -- of relative freedom from the fearful faults that might otherwise drive me.

EH Johnston:
For as a man frightened of thieves will not grant entrance at night even to his friends, so the wise man represses the practice of good and evil (thoughts) alike together with the faults.

Linda Covill:
For just as a man fearful of thieves does not like to open his door at night, even to friends, likewise a wise man expels the activity of pure and impure thoughts alike, due to their faults.

VOCABULARY:
yathaa: just as
hi: for
bhiitaH (nom. sg.): m. one who is frightened
nishi = locative of nish: night
taskarebhyaH = ablative plural of taskara: thief, robber

dvaaram (acc. sg.): n. door , gate , passage , entrance
priyebhyaH = ablative/dative, plural of priya: friend
api: also, even
na: not
daatum = infintitive of daa: to give, to permit , allow (with inf.)
icchet = 3rd person singular, optative of iSh: to wish, intend, be about to do something; to assent

praajNaH = nominative, singular of praajNa: a wise or learned man
tathaa: likewise (correlative of yathaa)
saMharati = 3rd person singular of saMhR: to bring or draw together , unite , compress ; to lay hold of , attract , take for one's self , appropriate ; to take away , carry off , rob ; to lay or draw aside , withdraw , withhold from (abl.) ; to restrain , curb , check , suppress ; to crush together , crumple up , destroy , annihilate
prayogam (acc. sg.): offering ; undertaking , beginning , commencement ; practice ; cause, motive ; course of proceeding

samam: ind. in like manner , alike , equally , similarly:
shubhasya = genitive of shubha: pleasant , agreeable , suitable , fit , capable , useful , good (applied to persons and things); auspicious , fortunate , prosperous ; good (in moral sense) , righteous , virtuous , honest ; pure (as an action)
api: and, also, even
ashubhasya = genitive of ashubha: not beautiful or agreeable , disagreeable, inauspicious , bad , vicious (as thought or speech)
doShaiH = instrumental, plural of doSha: fault

SAUNDARANANDA 16.71: Time Is of the Essence of the Contract

an-aadi-kaal' opacit'-aatmakatvaad
baliiyasaH klesha-gaNasya c'aiva
samyak-prayogasya ca duSh-karatvaac
chettuM na shakyaaH sahasaa hi doShaaH

16.71
Because of the instinct-led accumulation,
from time without beginning,

Of the powerful mass of afflictions,

And because true practice is so difficult to do,

The faults cannot be cut off all at once.

COMMENT:
I would like to comment on this verse by quoting a passage that I think is relevant from the writings of FM Alexander, in which he uses the term “non-doing.” But before that I will describe my a priori experience of what non-doing means. (A priori means before I ever heard the Zen term “body and mind dropping off” or the Alexander term “non-doing.”)

Thirty years ago I began competing, at a very low level, in competition karate. I pretty much had only one technique -- a reverse counter-punch with my right fist. But I found myself able to use this technique to an effect that surprised me -- especially the first time I tried it out in earnest, when my opponent, a brown-belt from Leeds University whose disconcerting nickname was “killer,” went down like a deck of cards. Much to my own astonishment, I, an extremely nervous and lanky white-belt on his first outing, had winded him with a shot to the floating ribs. Having been keen on sports from an early age, I suppose that (in spite of congenital vestibular problems, received from my father, having been accumulated by his ancestors from time without beginning) my timing was not bad. I would wait and wait and wait for my opponent to leave himself open when he came in for an attack, ignoring his feints, waiting for a true opening. Then when the opening came I would sometimes experience my counter-punch doing itself, seemingly before I was even conscious of it, like a coiled spring suddenly freeing itself. The effect, I remember, was particularly strong when I was participating as the captain of a five-man competition team. And the effect was sufficiently strong to make me think that academic stuff that I was supposed to be studying at university was of zero importance in comparison. That’s why despite doing a degree in Accounting & Financial Management, I have ended up living such an alternative life, never really entering the corporate world but going instead to Japan with the intention of investigating Zen in the martial arts, and then coming back to England to investigate the discoveries of FM Alexander. Which brings me back to that quote:

I can assure my readers that anyone who will follow me through the experiences I have set down, especially with regard to 'non-doing', cannot fail to benefit; but I must emphasize that they will not be following me unless they recognize:
(1) that knowledge concerned with sensory experience cannot be conveyed by the written or spoken word, so that it means to the recipient what it means to the person who is trying to convey it:
(2) that they will need to depend upon new 'means - whereby' for the gaining of their ends, and that they will 'feel wrong' at first in carrying out the procedures because these will be unfamiliar:
(3) that that attempt to bring about change involving growth, development and progressive improvement in the use and functioning of the human organism, calls necessarily for the acceptance, yes, the welcoming of the unknown in sensory experience, and this 'unknown' cannot be associated with the sensory experiences that have hitherto 'felt right.'
(4) that to 'try and get it right' by direct 'doing' is to try and reproduce what is known, and cannot lead to the 'right', the as yet 'unknown.'

To anyone who accepts these points and sees the reason for keeping them in view whilst working to principle in employing the technique, I would say: 'Go ahead, but remember that time is of the essence of the contract.'

FM Alexander, Preface (1941) to The Use of the Self.

So what?

So, the key to understanding this section of the Canto, is not to fall at the stumbling block of nimitta -- a word which EH Johnston and Linda Covill have, quite forgivably, understood as having to do with meditation. I say quite forgivably, because people generally assume that Buddhist practice has to do with meditating. But what I have learned in the last 30 years of trying to make sense of a counter-punch that seemed miraculously to do itself, is that a moment of sitting-buddha has to do with a stimulus, the inhibition of one’s habitual reaction to that stimulus (not doing), and the allowing of action (non-doing). I still don’t claim to be more than a beginner in these matters -- because the true practice of allowing is so bloody difficult to do -- but this much at least I have understood. So my translation of the next verse, and of others verses in this section, will reflect my understanding that nimitta has nothing to do with meditation but nimitta means a stimulus, or starting point of action.

Thus, even though the faults cannot all be struck down at once, a deck of cards comes tumbling down, and those cards are on the table.

(But they are always liable to be reshuffled....)

EH Johnston:
For the faults cannot be extirpated all at once, partly because the troop of the vices are very strong, having from their nature accumulated from time without beginning, and partly because right practice is difficult.

Linda Covill:
The faults cannot be cut off all of a sudden, partly because the powerful mass of defilements has by nature been accumulating from beginningless time, and partly because the correct practice is so difficult to do.

VOCABULARY:
an-aadi: without beginning
kaalaH (nom. sg.): m. time
upacita: heaped up , increased; thriving , increasing , prospering , succeeding ; big , fat , thick
aatmakatvaat = ablative of aatmakatvam:
aatmaka: having or consisting of the nature or character of (in comp.); consisting or composed of
-tvam = suffix for abstract nouns

baliiyasaH = genitive of baliiyas: more or most powerful , or mighty or strong or important or efficacious
klesha: affliction
gaNasya = genitive of gaNa: a flock , troop , multitude
ca: and
eva: (emphatic)

samyak: true, proper, out and out
prayogasya = genitive of prayoga: practice
ca: and
duSh-karatvaat = ablative of duSh-karatvam: being hard to do

chettum = infinitive of chid: to cut off
na: not
shakyaaH (nom. pl. m.): able , possible , practicable , capable of being (with infinitive in passive sense)
sahasaa (instrumental of sahas, powerful): forcibly , vehemently , suddenly , quickly , precipitately , immediately , at once , unexpectedly , at random , fortuitously , in an unpremeditated manner
hi: for
doShaaH (nom. pl.): m. faults, imbalances

SAUNDARANANDA 16.70: Keep On Keeping On

ekena kalpena sacen na hanyaat
sv-abhyasta-bhaavaad a-shubhaan vitarkaan
tato dvitiiyaM kramam aarabheta
na tv eva heyo guNavaan prayogaH

16.70
“It may not be possible,
following a single method, to destroy

Inauspicious ideas that habit has so deeply entrenched;

In that case, one might commit to a second course

But should never give up the practice and its merits.


COMMENT:
The final word of this verse, prayoga, seems to mean the practice (as opposed to theory) of working on the self to eliminate faults which (tackled in order of grossness, as per 16.80) may be reptilian, mammalian, or human -- having to do with energy, emotion, and thought. In the section that begins with this verse, particular intention is given to faulty thought.

In the 2nd line, as I read it, unlovely thoughts, a-shubhaan vitarkaan, means in other words negative thoughts -- negative in the sense of unhelpful, not constructive. For the practice now under discussion, any thought might be considered unhelpful that can be described by an adjective ending in -istic. So a pessimistic thought is an unlovely, negative thought, and so is an optimistic thought. And so is a realistic thought.

“I wish to allow the neck to be free, to allow the head to go forward and up, in such a way that the back lengthens and widens, while the limbs are released out of the body,” is a thought, or a series of thoughts, which is not necessarily optimistic, or pessimistic, or realistic. It is a thought that can be thought for the sake of thinking itself. But this kind of thinking is not what people usually understand by thinking. So it is maybe better to express this kind of thinking with a word other than thinking -- “non-thinking” for example.

Non-thinking like this it seems to me, can act as either a calming stimulus or a garnering stimulus, and also a starting point of not interfering: When the system is tense or over-excited, the wish for freedom in the joints facilitates freer breathing, and calming mindfulness thereof. When the system is too relaxed or under-excited, the wish to go up can be a garnering stimulus. The wish to allow, meanwhile, is synonymous with the decision not to interfere.

The 4th line as I read it is a confident statement intended to inspire confidence. This practice (as opposed to theory) of working to eliminate the faults, the Buddha seems confidently to be telling us, is what is truly good; it is where merit resides.

What kind of confidence is the Buddha expressing?

FM Alexander used to say, “To know we are wrong is all we shall ever know in this world.” This, I think, is where true certainty and true confidence lie, and this is where the merit of practice primarily lies: in seeing, and in endeavouring to eliminate, one’s own faults -- reptilian, mammalian, and human.

This, it seems to me, is where Buddha/Ashvaghosha found the confidence to encourage us never to give up, but to keep on keeping on with this practice. Theirs was not the confidence of fatuous optimism. Theirs was the confidence of truly knowing what trouble is, how it starts, and how to walk away from it -- in backward steps.

In a past life I learned that traditional interpretations of the four noble truths are rather pessimistic, whereas the true Buddhism of Master Dogen, as expressed for example in the opening paragraph of Fukan-zazengi is both optimistic and realistic. That, it seems to me now, was just faulty thinking. It is already clear from these first few months of translating Saundarananda that Dogen’s ancestor Ashvaghosha championed nothing but the traditional understanding of the four noble truths, in which optimism, pessimism, and realism are all just unlovely thoughts that cultural habits tend deeply to entrench.

EH Johnston:
'If by one means impure thoughts cannot be rooted out because the habit has become too strong, then another course should be tried, but in no circumstances is the meritorious practice to be abandoned.

Linda Covill:
"If one cannot destroy impure thoughts by this first method, because they have become so habitual, then one should try a second way; but the good practice should certainly not be given up.

VOCABULARY:
ekena = instrumental of eka: one, solitary , single , happening only once , that one only
kalpena = instrumental of kalpa: sacred precept , law , rule , ordinance (= vidhi , nyaaya) , manner of acting , proceeding , practice (esp. that prescribed by the vedas); one of two cases , one side of an argument , an alternative
sacet (3rd person singular, optative of sac: to have to do with, to belong to , be attached or devoted to , serve , follow) = if (?)
na: not
hanyaat = 3rd person singular, optative of han: to smite , slay , hit , kill , mar , destroy

su: (laudatory prefix) much, greatly
abhyasta: accumulated by repeated practice; practised , exercise; learnt by heart , repeated
bhaavaad = ablative of bhaava: being
a-shubhaan (acc. pl. m.): not beautiful, disagreeable, inauspicious ; bad , vicious (as thought or speech)
vitarkaan (acc. pl.): m. ideas, fancies, thoughts

tatas: in that place , there; in that case
dvitiiyam (acc. sg. m.): second
kramam (acc. sg.): m. a step, course, procedure, method
aarabheta = 3rd pers. sg. optative aa-√rabh: to lay or take hold of , keep fast , cling to ; to gain a footing ; to enter , reach , attain; to undertake , commence , begin

na: not
tu: but
eva: (emphatic) by any means, at all
heya: : to be left or quitted or abandoned or rejected or avoided
guNavaan = nominative, singular, masculine of guNavat: endowed with good qualities or virtues or merits or excellences , excellent , perfect
prayogaH = nominative, singular of prayoga: practice , experiment (opp. to , "theory")

SAUNDARANANDA 16.69: Constructive Prescription for the Individual

yathaa bhiShak pitta-kaph'aanilaanaaM
ya eva kopaM samupaiti doShaH
shamaaya tasy' aiva vidhiM vidhatte
vyadhatta doSheShu tath" aiva buddha

16.69
Just as a physician,
for a disorder of bile, phlegm, or wind,

-- For whatever disorder of the humours
has manifested the symptoms of disease --

Prescribes a course of treatment
to cure that very disorder,

So did the Buddha prescribe for the faults:

COMMENT:

“I drive a gold Rolls-Royce, ‘cuz it’s good for my voice,” sang Marc Bolan circa 1970. I like that lyric. Everybody should do WHATEVER it is that causes his or her original features to appear.

I have a friend who is a homeopath and who tends to observe the individual peculiarities of others in an interested but non-judgemental way, through the eyes of a homeopath. People who are familiar with the principles of homeopathy will know what I mean. If you are a drill-and-fill dentist who believes in amalgam fillings for all, then you will wonder what the hell I am talking about.

When FM Alexander was searching for a title for his second book, he came up with: Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual. Somebody complained that it was a bit of a mouthful, and so how about dropping the last three words? “Oh no!” FM protested, “Don’t you see? That is the most important part!”

This and the previous verse are not in the form of a quotation of the Buddha’s instruction. These two verses are Ashvaghosha himself speaking.

In this verse Ashvaghosha seems to me to drive home the point made in the 3rd and 4th line of the previous verse, that the Buddha knew Nanda, as an individual person, inside and out. The Buddha knew Nanda’s peculiarities and his personal history, and the Buddha instructed Nanda on that individual basis.

The thrust of Ashvaghosha’s message, it seems to me, is totally antithetical to what Master Kodo Sawaki called gurupo boke, “group delusion.”

Master Kodo, by all accounts, was himself a very unique individual. The fact that I know, not only on the basis of the Sanskrit dictionary but also with my skin, flesh, bones and marrow, that nimitta does not mean either “subject of meditation” or “meditational technique,” is mainly thanks to Master Kodo -- a man who was truly not interested in meditation and who, I think, was never afraid to be seen by Buddhist scholars, Buddhist monks and Buddhist students as a non-Buddhist. When he felt like a swim, into his swimming costume the old man changed and into the sea he went -- and I have seen the photo to prove it. If driving a gold Rolls-Royce had been good for his voice, I have a feeling Master Kodo might have driven one.

Master Kodo was a truly remarkable individual, and all the more so considering that he was born into Japanese society -- that most conformist of all societies. In a previous post, I expressed criticism of Master Kodo, because I think a lot of bad, doing habits (viz. pulling in the chin to stretch the back of the neck) are traceable back to his wrong instructions. I don’t retract those criticisms. But at the same time, I think Master Kodo was a true individual.

In this verse, “disorder of the humours” and “faults” are the same word: dosha. The faults referred to in the 4th line seem to refer back to the lust, ill-will and delusion that the Buddha has just discussed -- i.e. the three gross faults -- and at the same time to refer forward to the subtler patterns of negative mental chatter that the Buddha is about to discuss.

EH Johnston:
As the physician prescribes the treatment for the cure of disease according to which one of the three humours it is that has become deranged, so the Buddha prescribed the treatment for the faults :-

Linda Covill:
Just as a doctor prescribes a treatment to alleviate whichever among the humors of bile, phlegm, and wind has become irritated, so too has the Buddha prescribed concerning the faults.

VOCABULARY:
yathaa: just as
bhiShak = nom. sg. bhiShaj: m. a healer, physician
pitta: bile, the bilious humour
kapha: phlegm
aanilaanaam = genitive, plural of anila: wind as one of the humors or rasas of the body; rheumatism , paralysis , or any affection referred to disorder of the wind

yah (nominative, singular): [that] which
eva: (emphatic)
kopam (acc. sg.): m. morbid irritation or disorder of the humors of the body
samupaiti = 3rd person singular, sam-upa- √i: to approach, go to (acc.); to occur , happen , appear
doShaH = nominative, singular doSha: m. fault , vice , deficiency , want , inconvenience ; alteration , affection , morbid element , disease (esp. of the 3 humours of the body, applied also to the humours themselves)

shamaaya (dative of shama): for the appeasing, curing
tasya (genitive of sa): of it, of that [disorder]
eva: (emphatic) the same, that very
vidhim = accusative of vidhi: any prescribed act, instruction, formula, method, course
vidhatte = from vidh (weak form of √vyadh): to rule, prescribe

vyadhatta: prescribed
doSheShu = locative, plural of doSha: fault, imbalance, disorder
tath"aiva: so too
buddha (voc. sg. m.): O Buddha! O Awakened One!

SAUNDARANANDA 16.68: Retreating from Endgaining & Coming Back to Principle

ity evam a-nyaaya-nivartanaM ca
nyaayaM ca tasmai sugato babhaaShe
bhuuyash ca tat-tac caritaM viditvaa
vitarka-haanaaya vidhiin uvaaca

16.68
Thus, on retreat from muddling through

And on the principle to come back to,
the One Who Went Well spoke to him;

And knowing the ins and outs of his career,

He instructed him further on giving up thoughts.

COMMENT:
The antonyms a-nyaaya in the first line and nyaaya in the second line could easily be translated "wrong methods" and "the right method."

But when one reflects on the content of the preceding verses, the whole point is that a stimulus that is appropriate for one individual may not be appropriate for another individual, and what is appropriate for one individual at one moment will not be appropriate for the same individual at another moment.

That being so, the fundamental principle of what EH Johnston calls "the right plan," and the essence of what Linda Covill calls "right method," might be the principle that there is no such thing as "the right method."

"The right method" exists only as a figment of the imagination of an optimistic seeker, such as I have zealously been, who would like to grasp "the right method."

What can truly be relied on, what is always available to come back to, is what FM Alexander called "the means-whereby principle." The word nyaaya seems to me to express the means-whereby principle. The opposite conception, a-nyaaya, which means disorder, irregularity, or lack of method, suggests to me the disorder which invariably accompanies blind end-gaining, i.e. muddling through without conscious reliance on a guiding principle.

The 4th line refers to instructions the Buddha is going to give Nanda from now onwards, on alternative methods for eliminating negative thoughts. The instructions, as I understand them, are not to eliminate thinking in general, but to give up certain negative or disagreeable (asubha) ways of thinking -- “the negative mental chatter” (to quote Jordan Fountain from his 2009 New Year’s Resolution) which, like impurities remaining in worked gold, are not compatible with an individual's pursuit of his or her peaceable path.

EH Johnston:
Thus the Blessed One spoke to him of the right plan and of abandoning the wrong one and, knowing all the varieties of behaviour, He further explained the processes for the elimination of thought.

Linda Covill:
In this way the Sugata spoke to him concerning right method and the retreat from the wrong method; and knowing all the various behavioural types, he gave further instructions for abandoning opinionated thought.

VOCABULARY:
iti: [end of quotes]
evam: thus
anyaaya: unjust or unlawful action ; impropriety , indecorum; irregularity , disorder
nivartanam (acc. sg.): n. turning back , returning , turning the back i.e. retreating , fleeing; ceasing , not happening or occurring , being prevented; desisting or abstaining from (abl.)
ca: and

nyaayam (acc. sg.): m. that into which a thing goes back i.e. an original type , standard , method , rule , (esp.) a general or universal rule , model , axiom , system , plan , manner , right or fit manner or way
ca: and
tasmai (dative): to him
sugataH (nom. sg. m.): One Who Fared Well, Buddha
babhaaShe = 3rd person singular, perfect of bhan: to sound , resound , call aloud , speak , declare

bhuuyas: further
ca: and
tad tad: this and that , various , different; respective
caritam (acc. sg.): n. going, moving, course; doing , practice , behaviour
viditvaa = absolutive of vid: to know; to mind , notice , observe

vitarka: conjecture , supposition , guess , fancy , imagination , opinion ; doubt , uncertainty; reasoning , deliberation , consideration
haanaaya = dative of haana: n. the act of abandoning , relinquishing , giving up , escaping , getting rid of
vidhiin (acc. pl.): rules, directions, instructions, formulae
uvaaca = 3rd person singular, perfect of vac: to speak