SAUNDARANANDA 16.20: We Become What We Practise

sattvaany abhiShvaNga-vashaani dRShTvaa
svajaatiShu priiti-paraaNy atiiva
abhyaasa-yogaad upapaaditaani
tair eva doShair iti taani viddhi

16.20
See sentient beings in the grip of attachment,

Dead set on pleasure among their own kind;

And, from their habitual practice of faults,

Observe them presenting with those very faults.

COMMENT:
Line 1 describes the SUFFERING of emotional enslavement.

Line 2, as I read it, is less about the perils of taking pleasure and more about the perils of lacking the will to be free. In other words, the problem discussed in this line is that of MOTIVATION. Priiti, meaning pleasure or joy, pops up several times in Ashvaghosha's descriptions of realisation of the four dhyaana, and especially in the earlier stages of that process. So Ashvaghosha is no killjoy. The distinction to be made is between (a) setting one's sights on freedom, in which case, if one is skillful, pleasure is liable to be part of the scenery; and (b) accepting pleasure as one's chief object, in which case one not only sacrifices freedom at the altar of the pleasure principle, but one also buckles oneself securely into the swing of samsaric suffering. So whereas (a) the pursuit of freedom (if one is skillful) is blessed by experience of pleasure, at a certain level, as a criterion; (b) direct pursuit of pleasure as one's chief object invariably tends towards attachment and suffering.

Pleasure svajaatiShu, "among one's own kind," may have been intended to carry a connotation of pleasure from human sexual contact, in which case the line might have been translated as "Being too devoted to the pleasures of kindred flesh." But if we actually look around us, as the Buddha is recommending Nanda to do, gross sensualists, being motivated primarily by the desire for sexual gratification, are not much in evidence. But what we do observe is many people like sheep who are indeed primarily motivated, in diverse ways, by the pleasure principle. The main motivation of many people does indeed seem to be the desire to be pleasurably rewarded, through being shown the love, appreciation and respect not only of sexual partners but also of other family members, professional peers, and other flocks/groups to which they regard themselves as belonging. That desire for positive reinforcement from the approval of others might be manifested, for example, in the support of a particular football team, in the purchase of a particular brand of training shoes or mobile phone, or even, on a subtler level, the writing of a popular book.

Line 3 expresses the rightful object of INHIBITION, which is habitual patterns. Insofar as this verse does point to attachment to pleasures of the flesh as a source of suffering, the target of INHIBITION, or suppression, in that case, is not sexual desire itself, but rather the practice of the habits that are typically observable around sexual desire -- on the positive side are the kind of celebration of sexual greed discernible in a hip-hop video, along with young lovers' over-exuberant expectations of their partners, and other habits of romantic thinking, et cetera; on the negative side, instances of bitter disappointment, jealous rage, et cetera, are not difficult to find. Understood like this, as a process targeted at habits, INHIBITION is not a tool of repression (as is generally indicated when psychologists talk of sexual inhibitions): INHIBITION is rather a key to freedom (as was indicated by FM Alexander when he spoke of inhibition of endgaining ideas and endgaining habits). Freedom, as Alexander said, "involves carrying out an activity against the habits of life."

Line 4 is the punch-line, expressing the truth that the faults which we have practised in the past have left us in the present with an unconscious tendency towards those same faults. And such an unconscious tendency can never be eradicated, however hard and long a person practises, through unconscious practice. Hence the indispensability of finding a conscious PATH. But even having found such a path, it is still a very long way to Tiperary, because a conscious path is always so difficult to practice.

While in the process of writing this comment, I had to go and pick up my wife's car from a local garage. I came back complaining about the attitude of the guy manning the service reception desk. "You are such a grumpy man!" my wife remarked. Maybe so, but I was not a grumpy child. People have reliably told me that I was not a grumpy child. So I haven't always been this grumpy. No, it has taken me a lifetime of unskillful, unconscious practice to become as grumpy as this.

VOCABULARY:
sattvaani = accusative, plural of sattva: a living or sentient being, creature
abhiShvaNga: intense attachment or affection to
vashaani = accusative, plural vasha: will, wish, desire; authority, power, control, dominion; (at the end of compounds) by command of, by force of, on account of
dRShTvaa = absolutive from dRsh: to see

svajaatiShu = locative, svajaati: one's own kind
sva: own
jaati: birth; form of existence fixed by birth; kind, species
priiti: any pleasurable sensation , pleasure , joy
paraani = accusative, plural of paraa: (at end of compounds) having as the chief object , given up to , occupied with , engrossed in
atiiva: exceedingly , very; excessively

abhyaasa: the act of adding anything; reduplication; repetition; repeated or permanent exercise , discipline , use , habit , custom
yogaat = ablative of yoga: employment , use , application , performance; partaking of; engagement in
upapaadita: effected , accomplished , performed , done; given , delivered , presented ; proved , demonstrated; treated medically
upa-√ pad: to take place , come forth , be produced , appear , occur , happen

taiH (instrumental, plural): with those
eva: very same
doShaiH = instrumental, plural of doSha: fault
iti: that
taani (accusative, plural): them, those [living beings]
viddhi = imperative of vid: know, understand, perceive; notice, observe; experience, feel

EH Johnston:
Seeing all beings to be under the spell of attachment and excessively given to taking pleasure in their particular types, know that they are brought to birth again accompanied by the same vices in consequence of their habitual practice of them (in their previous births).

Linda Covill:
Having seen that living beings are ruled by attachment, entirely engrossed in pleasure-seeking among their own kind, know that because of their engagement in these habits they will be reborn with those very faults.

SAUNDARANANDA 17.50: The Third Realisation

17.50
priter viraagaat sukham aarya-juSHTam
kaayena vindann atha samprajaanan
upekSHakaH sa smRtimaan vyahaarSHiid
dhyaanaM tRtiiyam pratilabhya dhiiraH

17.50
The ease enjoyed by the noble ones,
from non-attachment to joy,

He then knew fully, through experience, with his body.

Going well, he remained indifferent, mindful,

And, having gained the third realisation, steady.


COMMENT:
Line 1 describes a condition of MIND.

Line 2 describes learning through experience with the BODY.

Line 3 features the verb vihR, which featured often in Canto 3, where Ashvoghasha gave us a sense of observance of the precepts not as something gloomily restrictive but as an aid to roaming freely, to faring or going well. FM Alexander spent his life investigating how a person who habitually went badly might improve his use of himself so that he would gradually fare better. And the key to such improvement was stopping the wrong thing so that the right thing could do itself. The key, in short, was inhibition. So true INHIBITION, and FREEDOM IN ACTION, can be seen as two faces of the same coin.

In Line 4, as I read it, Ashvaghosha is hinting that the third realisation is not necessarily heralded by trumpets. The sense of A PATH continued quietly and with determination, as opposed to a thunderbolt heralded by trumpets, is conveyed both by the word dhiiraH, constancy or steadiness, and also (I think) grammatically by the gerundive (or 'future passive participle') ending -ya in pratilabhya. The gerundive ending -ya, if I understand correctly, conveys a wide, characterizing sense of what will duly happen to something in a natural course of events.

This verse, then, also reflects a four-phased progression, which is easily linkable to the fourfold noble truth of suffering, if one accepts the argument of the person who introduced me to the fourfold system, Gudo Nishijima, that (1) suffering is the philosophy of subjectivism, idealism, mind; and (2) effort to identify the cause of suffering arises from the standpoint of objectivism, materialism, body.

VOCABULARY:
priiteH (ablative/genitive): from/of/to joy
viraagaat (ablative): through/from/because of dispassion, indifference,non-attachment, loss of colour, absence of redness
Lit. "because of absence of redness from joy" (?)
sukham (accusative): ease, happiness
aarya: a respectable or honourable or faithful man, an inhabitant of Aryavarta; name of the race which immigrated from Central Asia into Aaryaavarta; (with Buddhists) a man who has thought on the four chief truths of Buddhism and lives accordingly; behaving like an Aryan, honourable, respectable, noble
juSHTa: pleased, loved, agreeable, usual, practised, possessed of (in compounds)
aarya-juSHTa: enjoyed by noble ones

kaayena (instrumental): with/through the body
vindan (present participle of vid) finding, discovering, feeling, experiencing
atha: then
samprajaana: full consciousness [MW 1174]
samprajaanan = present participle (?) of sam + pra + jNa: distinguish, discern, know accurately or perfectly

upekSHakaH (nominative, singular): overlooking, indifferent, disregarding
sa: he
smRti: remembering, mindfulness, awareness, attention
-mant: possessive suffix
smRtimaan (nominative, singular): having mindfulness, being mindful
vyahaarSHiid = from vi + hR: to fare or fare well, rove or walk, spend or pass time, roam, wander; walk or roam for pleasure

dhyaanam (accusative): realisation, stage or level of Zen
tRtiiyam: the third
pratilabh: obtain, get back; (with accusative) partake of
pratilabhya = gerundive (expressing obligation, necessity, inevitability etc.) of prati + labh
dhiiraH: steady, constant, firm, resolute, brave, energetic, courageous, self-possessed, composed, calm

EH Johnston:
Then experiencing with his body through freedom from ecstasy that bliss which the Saints feel, and fully aware of all things, he remained indifferent and attentive and gained the third trance.

Linda Covill:
Through his non-attachment to joy he then discovered the physical bliss enjoyed by the noble ones, and with full comprehension he passed the time in equanimity, attentive and steady; and he attained the third level of meditation.