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 12.23: 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 12.16: Joy in Believing

atash ca nikhilaM lokaM
viditvaa sa-car'-aacaram
sarva-duHkha-kShaya-kare
tvad-dharme parame rame

12.16
And on the basis of this insight
into the total extent of the world of man,

With its changeability and its fixity,

It is the eradicator of all suffering,

Your most excellent teaching, that I rejoice in.

COMMENT:
What is Nanda expressing here about the world? The viewpoint of a know-all who has understood the whole universe? Or is he saying that he has seen quite enough of the world of man to know that freedom from suffering does not exist out there?

Worldly movements are, for example, broken promises, acts of betrayal. Worldly non-movements are, for example, fixed prejudices, rigid adherence to -isms. Those kinds of faults seem to arise when we are interested, either selfishly or altruistically, more in the gaining of some end than in actually being truthful.
Q. E. D.

In the third line, again, what is Nanda expressing? His own enlightenment? His own confidence? Or belief in the Buddha’s enlightenment? Or confidence in the Buddha himself? Or trust in a process?

When the Buddha begins his long monologue, from 12.19, he will emphasize the importance of shraddhaa, which the dictionary defines as “faith, trust, confidence.”

Religious people usually go on about faith -- especially faith in God. So I am suspicious of the word faith. It seems often to be used in connection with delusory belief in what might not exist at all. Being a lover of BBC Radio 4, I find myself increasingly irritated by a certain kind of bible-bashing that pops up at certain intervals, particularly during the 9.45 daily service. Why should I have £10 a month license fee payment debited from my bank account, for the privilege of having an extremely weird and unscientific Abrahamical doctrine preached to me over the airwaves?

Still, even having booted belief in biblical God into the long grass, I still believe in belief.

In Alexander work, which is nothing if not practical, when faced with an unduly nervous pupil the experienced teacher works in a manner that conduces to the building of confidence (as opposed to traditional methods of schooling which tend to excite students’ fear reflexes). To this end, it is important that the pupil should be able to trust the teacher. This trust in its truest form, as I see it, has neither to do with personality nor professionalism. I trust a teacher who I sense is herself truly given over to the work she is teaching -- so that there is no gap between what she preaches and what she practises. So this trust, in essence, is trusting a process. It is trusting a process which, as one continues with it, tends not always to feel good. Without trust in something other than feeling, how would we be able to continue with a process that made us feel bad?

What Nanda seems to be expressing here, then, to answer my own question, is belief that has nothing to do with whacko faith, but which has to do with confidence and trust. It is belief in the practical teaching of the Buddha to whose real voice, preaching freedom from suffering, Nanda now wishes to listen.

When mutual trust is broken
and confidence is shaken
there is joy in believing
still, in freedom
from faults
digging
deeper

EH Johnston:
And having obtained hence an understanding of the whole world with all it contains, I delight only in Thy supreme Law, the destroyer of all suffering.

Linda Covill:
Comprehending the entire world with its moving and unmoving parts, I find pleasure in your supreme teaching, which puts an end to all suffering.

VOCABULARY:
atas: from this, hence
ca: and
nikhila: complete , all , whole , entire
lokam (accusative): world ; the earth or world of human beings ; people , ordinary life, worldly affairs, common practice

viditvaa = absolutive of vid: to know , understand , perceive , learn , become or be acquainted with , be conscious of , have a correct notion of (with accusative)
sa: with its (possessive prefix)
cara: moving
acaram (accusative): not moving

sarva: all
duHkha: suffering
kShaya: loss, end, destruction
kare = locative of kara: a doer , maker , causer , doing , making , causing, producing (esp. ifc.); promoting, helping

tvad: your
dharme = locative of dharma: teaching, method
parama: best , most excellent
rame = 1st person singular of ram: to be glad or pleased , rejoice at , delight in , be fond of (locative).

SAUNDARANANDA 12.12: Shame-Faced Nanda, Conscious of End-gaining

praNamya ca gurau muurdhnaa
baaShpa-vyaakula-locanaH
kRtv" aaNjalim uvaac' edaM
hriyaa kiM cid avaaN-mukhaH

12.12
After bowing his head to the guru,

Eyes filled with tears,

He joined the palms of his hands and spoke as follows,

His face somewhat lowered, in shame:

COMMENT:
Shame is a negative emotion that can have great positive value.

Shame has to do with consciousness of faults, and consciousness of faults is the essence of the progress, through four realisations, that Nanda makes in the final Canto of this poem.

Lack of due attention to the means of practice (because of undue interest in expected rewards such as the love and appreciation of nymphs etc.) is a primary fault in sitting practice. Attachment to the joy that follows from the giving up of an end-gaining idea is also a fault. And the feeling of ease that follows from giving up attachment to joy is also a kind of fault.

Such is the practice that Ashvaghosha is describing: fault follows fault follows fault, beginning with end-gaining.

A face somewhat lowered is the cart; shame is the horse.

In a past life I made such a virtue of putting the cart before the horse that my ears were closed for a long time to the opposite principle; it was a partial, end-gaining view, born of ignorance.

In this verse, as I read it, the horse is before the cart.

EH Johnston:
And bowing his head to the Guru, with his eyes dimmed by tears he folded his hands and spoke as follows, looking somewhat downwards in shame :--

Linda Covill:
He bowed his head to the guru and folded his hands in reverence, and with tears filling his eyes and his face partially lowered in shame, he said:

VOCABULARY:
praNamya = absolutive of praNam: to bend or bow down before (often with muurdhnaa)
ca: and
gurau (locative): to the guru
muurdhnaa = instrumental of muurdha: the head

baaShpa: tear
vyaakula: full of
locanaH = nominative, singular of locana: " organ of sight " , the eye

kRtvaa = absolutive of kR: to do, make
aNjalim = accusative of aNjali: m. the open hands placed side by side and slightly hollowed (as if by a beggar to receive food ; hence when raised to the forehead , a mark of supplication) , reverence , salutation , benediction ; a measure of corn , sufficient to fill both hands when placed side by side
uvaaca = perfect of vac: to speak
idaM: this, the following

hriyaa = instrumental of hrii: f. shame , modesty , shyness , timidity
kiM cid: somewhat
avaaN: turned downwards , being or situated below
mukhaH (nominative, singular): face

SAUNDARANANDA 12.3: Between A Rock & A Hard Place

kaama-raaga pradhaano 'pi
parihaasa-samo 'pi san
paripaaka-gate hetau
na sa tan mamRShe vacaH

12.3
Fixated though he was on sensual passion,

And though he was indifferent to ridicule,

His motivation had matured to a point

Where neither could he disregard the other's words.

COMMENT:
Nanda's bind, as described in this and the previous verse, is that of a lousy, non-observant monk who, though his male brain, in common with millions of other male brains, thinks obsessively, every few seconds, about sex, still cannot disregard words that, in pointing to a deeper satisfaction, seem to ring true.

When religious people preach of satisfaction beyond sex, a healthy scepticism on the part of the listener may be justified. Because there have been many shameful religious types in recent news, not least in Ireland, who have talked a good talk while never coming near to walking the good walk.

Nanda was full of faults: he was not perfect; but he was not a poser. Unlike pretenders who become Catholic priests without any true vocation or true sense of manly endeavour, but mainly in order to win the approval of others in their community, especially Mummy, Nanda was a man who did not mind being ridiculed.

His shame, the shame arising from consciousness of continuing impure movements of the mind (see 16.76), was never that shame which arises from hypocrisy. Nanda's story is the story of one who was motivated primarily to walk the good walk.

EH Johnston:
Though the passion of love predominated in him and he was indifferent to ridicule, he could not put up with that saying, since the motive to a right life was now fully matured in him.

Linda Covill:
Though chiefly preoccupied with sensuality and passion, and though he dd not mind being ridiculed, his motivation had matured to the extent that he could not ignore Ananda's words.

VOCABULARY:
kaama: wish, object of desire, love of sensual enjoyments, sexual desire
raaga: colouring, red colour, love, joy, anger
pradhaanaH = nominative singular of pradhaana: n. a chief thing or person , the most important or essential part of anything
api: even

parihaasa: joking, ridiculing
samaH = nominative singular of sama: same, equal, impartial
api: even
san (nominative singular masculine of sant) = present participle of as: to be [note to self: same usage in 3.31, 3.32]

paripaaka: being completely cooked or dressed; digestion; ripening
gate = locative of gata: gone to, being in
hetau = locative of hetu: cause, motive

na: not
sa: he
tat: that
mamRShe = perfect of mRSh: to forget , neglect ; to disregard , not heed or mind , mind , bear patiently , put up with (acc.)
vacaH = nominative, singular of vaca: speaking, speech

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 16.69: 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 16.54: Pick Your Own Antidote to Excitement

shamaaya yat syaan niyataM nimittaM
jaat'-odbhave cetasi tasya kaalaH
evaM hi cittam prashamaM niyacchet
pradiipyamaano 'gnir iv' odakena


16.54
A stimulus one has ascertained to be calming

Has its time when one's mind is excited;

For thus the mind subsides into quietness,

Like a blazing fire doused with water.


COMMENT:
A calming stimulus might be, for you, the sight of a tree, or for me the sound of running water, or for him the natural rhythm of his own breathing, or for her the smell of familiar incense, and for us all the feel of ground under our feet or, better still, under our sitting bones.

Such a calming stimulus can be seen as an antidote to fault no. 1 of five faults which are now being discussed, in the following order:
1. too much excitement in the nervous system; hypertonus.
2. too little excitement in the nervous system; hypotonus.
3. passion
4. malice
5. delusion/ignorance.

VOCABULARY:
shamaaya = dative of shama: m. tranquillity , calmness , rest , equanimity
yat (nom. sg. n.): [that] which
syaat = 3rd person singular, present optative of as: to be
niyatam (nom. sg. n.): fixed , established , settled , sure
nimittam (nom. sg.): n. cause, stimulus

jaata: born, grown , produced , arisen
udbhave = locative of udbhava: existence , generation , origin , production , birth; springing from , growing
cetasi = locative of cetas: mind, heart
tasya (genitive): its, of it
kaalaH (nominative, singular): time, proper time

evam: thus, in this manner,
hi: for
cittam (nom. sg.): n. the mind, the thinking mind, thinking
prashamam (acc. sg.): calmness , tranquillity (esp. of mind) , quiet , rest , cessation , extinction , abatement
niyacchet = from ny -√as (?): to throw or cast or lay or put; to take off; to give up , resign (as life) ; to settle

pradiipyamaanaH = nom. sg. m. present participle pra-√ diip: to flame forth , blaze , burst into flames
agniH (nom. sg.): m. fire
iva: like
udakena = instrumental of udaka: water

EH Johnston:
It is when the mind is excited that it is the time for the subject of meditation which is prescribed for tranquillity; for thus the thoughts can assume tranquillity, as a blazing fire would be quenched by water.

Linda Covill:
When the mind is excited, it is the time for the meditational technique prescribed for tranquillity, for thus the mind, like a blazing fire doused by water, subsides into peace.

SAUNDARANANDA 16.25: Cutting Out the Causes of Suffering

taj janmano n'aika-vidhasya, saumya,
tRShN"adayo hetava ity avetya
taaMsh chindhi duHkhaad yadi nirmumukShaa
kaarya-kShayaH kaaraNa-saMkShayaadd hi

16.25
So my friend,
with regard to the many forms of becoming,

Know their causes to be [the faults]
that start with thirsting

And cut out those [faults],
if you wish to be freed from suffering;

For ending of the effect
follows from eradication of the cause.

COMMENT:
This verse expresses in a nutshell the 2nd and 3rd noble truths, and it represents in the context of this Canto the transition from one standpoint to the other.

Maybe the term of address, saumya, used between fellow Brahmans, conveys some sense of a shift in standpoint, from the standpoint of investigation and observation to the standpoint of practice itself.

The sense I get is that after really giving chapter and verse on suffering and its causes, the Buddha here puts a metaphorical arm around Nanda as if to say: "OK my friend, to work!"

Knowing the faults is one thing; cutting them out is another thing altogether. Books and blogs have rightly been written about what the faults are -- from the viewpoint of psychology both Western and abhidharmic, and from the viewpoint of neuro-physiology. But cutting out the faults may be more a matter of 'Now piss, or get off the pot.'

VOCABULARY:
tad: (connecting particle) so
janmanaH = nominative, plural of janman: birth, re-birth, becoming
naika: not one, manifold, numerous
vidhasya = genitive of vidha: form, kind
saumya (voc.): " resembling the moon " , placid , gentle , mild (vocative = " O gentle Sir! " " O good Sir! " " O excellent man! " as the proper mode of addressing a Brahman)

tRShNa: thirsting, avid desire
aadayaH = nominative, plural of aadi: beginning, beginning with, et cetera
hetavaH = nominative, plura of hetu: cause
iti: thus, that
avetya = absolutive of ave: to perceive , conceive , understand , learn , know

taan (accusative, plural of sa): those
chindhi = imperative of chid: cut off, to cut off , amputate , cut through , hew , chop , split , pierce; to divide , separate; to destroy , annihilate
duHkhaad (ablative): from suffering
yadi: if, in case of
mumukShaa (nom. sg.): f. (fr. desiderative of muc) desire of liberation from
muc: to loose , let loose , free
nir = verbal prefix meaning "out, forth, away."
nirmumukShaa: desire to be set free from

kaarya: effect, result
kShayaH = nominative, singular of kShaya: destruction, end
kaaraNa: cause
saMkShayaad = ablative of saMkShaya: complete destruction
hi: for

EH Johnston:
Therefore, my friend, understand that the causes of birth in its many forms are desire etc., and eradicate them if you would be free from suffering. For an effect is abolished by abolishing the cause,

Linda Covill:
So be aware, my friend, of the causes -- desire, for example -- of the many types of birth, and if you seek freedom from suffering, cut them off. For the destruction of an effect follows from the utter destruction of its cause,

SAUNDARANANDA 16.24: A Mystery of Cause and Effect

doSha-kShayo jaatiShu yaasu yasya
vairaagyatas taasu na jaayate saH
doSh'-aashayaas tiShTati yasya yatra
tasy' opapattir vi-vashasya tatra

16.24
In whichever realms of existence a man has ended faults,

Because he no longer cares
he is not born in those realms.

Wherever he remains susceptible to a fault,

That is where he crops up, like it or not.

COMMENT:
This verse also need not be understood as having to do with the doctrine of reincarnation; it can be understood more as an observation of a common, but mysterious, fact of life.

For example, as a person who tends to be bothered by noise, even if I go to a remote forest, it seems that bothersome noise tends to pursue me, in the form of chain-saws, heavy machinery, off-road motorbikes, barking dogs and the like.

I suppose the point of this verse, then, is that a person who has yet to give up anger tends to crop up repeatedly in the samsaric realm of asura (angry demons), the person who has yet to give up arrogance tends to crop up repeatedly in the realm of deva (gods), the person who has yet to give up insecure clinging tends to crop up repeatedly in the samsaric realm of the preta (hungry ghost), et cetera.

Above all, or below all, the mysterious truth may be that a person who has yet to look his own denial fully in the eye is ever prone to the disappointment of finding himself back again in the dark hell of that denial, whereas when the fault of denial ends in a particular sphere, a person then becomes enabled to walk away from that sphere and will not be reborn again in that sphere.

VOCABULARY:
dosha: fault
kShayaH (nom. sg.): m. loss , waste , wane , diminution , destruction , decay , wasting or wearing away (often ifc.); end , termination
jaatiShu = locative, plural of jaati: f birth, re-birth, form of existence; position assigned by birth
yaasu = loc. pl. f. yat: who, what, which, often repeated to express " whoever " , " whatever " , " whichever "
yasya = gen. sg. yat: who, what, which

vairaagya: change or loss of colour , growing pale; disgust , aversion , distaste for or loathing of (loc. abl. , or comp.); freedom from all worldly desires , indifference to worldly objects and to life , asceticism
-taH: (ablative suffix) due to, from, since
taasu (locative, plural of saa): in those [forms of existence]
na: not
jaayate: to be born, be reborn, be caused to be born, be destined for, become
saH (nominative, singular): he

doSha: fault
aashayaH = nominative, singular of aashaya: resting-place, bed, seat; the seat of feelings and thoughts, the mind, heart, soul; a receptacle
tiShTati = 3rd person singular of sthaa: stand, stay, remain; continue in any condition or action
yasya yatra: (correlatives of tasya and tatra in next line) in whichever

tasya (gentive, singular): of that, belonging to that
upapattiH (nominative, singular): happening , occurring , becoming visible , appearing , taking place
vi-vashasya = genitive of vivasha: deprived or destitute of will , powerless , helpless , unwilling , involuntary , spontaneous
tatra: in that


EH Johnston:
When a man has extirpated the vices with respect to any type of disposition, he is not reborn in that variety owing to passionlessness. When a tendency to the vices subsists in any disposition, he is reborn in that type whether he would or no.

Linda Covill:
When a man has destroyed faults in certain forms of existence, thanks to that dispassion he is not reborn in those forms again. When he harbors a latent tendency to a fault in that form, rebirth in that form is forced on him.

SAUNDARANANDA 16.22: How the Three Poisons Develop

roSh'aadhike janmani tiivra-roSha
utpadyate raagiNi tiivra-raagaH
moh'-aadhike moha-bal'-aadhikash ca
tad-alpa-doShe ca tad-alpa-doShaH

16.22
In a life dominated by anger arises violent anger,

In the lover of passion arises burning passion,

And in the predominantly ignorant,
overwhelming ignorance.

In one who has a lesser fault, again,
the lesser fault develops.

COMMENT:
Anger/hatred, greed/lust and ignorance/delusion are the three root faults, sometimes called the three poisons. Lesser faults include being proud, jealous and opinionated.

The Buddha here is reminding Nanda that these basic afflictions, or fundamental faults, are the cause of suffering.

My efforts to get to the bottom of faults, and to understand what is truly basic and fundamental, always seem to lead me back to the vestibular reflexes, and in particular to the antagonism between fear paralysis and the infantile panic/grasp reflex.

For the how and the where of direction of human energy, whether unconsciously or consciously, the vestibular system is fundamental.

VOCABULARY:
roSha: anger , rage , wrath , passion , fury
adhike = locative of adhika: additional, extra-, super- ; surpassing (in number or quantity or quality); n. surplus , abundance , redundancy , hyperbole ; n. more.
janmani = locative janman: birth, existence, life; rebirth
tiivra: strong , severe , violent , intense , hot , pervading , excessive , ardent , sharp , acute , pungent , horrible
roShaH (nom. sg.): m. anger

utpadyate = 3rd person passive singular of utpad: to arise , rise , originate , be born or produced ; to come forth , become visible , appear; to cause to issue or come forth
raagiNi = locative of raagin: having a colour; of a red colour; red; impassioned , affectionate , enamoured; a lover, libertine; a wanton and intriguing woman
tiivra: strong, violent, intense, hot
raagaH = nominative, singular of raaga: colour, red colour; any feeling or passion , (esp.) love

moha: loss of consciousness , bewilderment , perplexity , distraction , infatuation , delusion , error , folly; (in phil.) darkness or delusion of mind (preventing the discernment of truth and leading men to believe in the reality of worldly objects) ; (with Buddhists) ignorance (one of the three roots of vice)
adhike = locative of adhika: surpassing, super, predominant
moha: ignorance, delusion, folly
bala: power, strength
adhikaH = nominative singular of adhika: surpassing, predominating
ca: and

tat: that, those [faults]
alpa: small, less than
doShe = locative of doSha: fault
ca: and
tat: that, those [faults]
alpa: small, less than
doShaH = nominative, singular of doSha: fault

EH Johnston:
In the (new) birth of one addicted to malevolence extreme malevolence is developed, of one possessed by passion excessive passion, of one in whom delusion predominates excessive store of delusion, and of one whose vices are less than this a lesser vice only.

Linda Covill:
Violent hatred arises in the future birth of someone given to hate, violent lust in someone who was lustful, a very powerful delusion in someone given to delusion, and a lesser fault in someone whose fault was less than these.

SAUNDARANANDA 16.21: Afflictions Develop Personality, Life by Life

krodha-praharSh'aadibhir aashrayaaNaam
utpadyate c'eha yathaa visheShah
tath" aiva janmasv api n'aika-ruupo
nirvartate klesha-kRto visheShaH

16.21
Just as the anger, lust, and so on
of sufferers of those afflictions

Give rise in the present to a personality trait,

So too in new lives, in various manifestations,

Does the affliction-created trait develop:

COMMENT:
Ain't it funny how your new life didn't change things?
You're still suffering from the same old affliction you used to have.
It somehow doesn't scan as well as the old Eagles lyric, but I think it makes Ashvaghosha's point here.

As a translation of klesha, I like "affliction" because it means both SUFFERING itself and also a delusory tendency that CAUSES SUFFERING.

To be grumpy, to return to that example, is not only to suffer from grumpiness (suffering itself) but also to see the world as if through grumpiness-tainted spectacles (a cause of suffering to self and others).

And here again, a bit of knowledge about early vestibular reflexes may help to deepen our understanding of how afflictions afflict us.

If the Moro, or infantile panic/grasp reflex, fails to be INHIBITED during the initial window of inhibition lasting till around 6 months after birth, the reflex will tend to remain stuck in the system of the child and adult as a big obstacle to enlightened behaviour.

The affliction of an immature Moro reflex directly brings suffering itself, in the form of irrational fear, anger, over-excitement and hypersensitivity. But more than that, because of its wide-ranging effects on the functioning of the ears, eyes, vestibular/proprioceptive and other senses, an immature Moro reflex plays a big role in what FM Alexander called "faulty sensory appreciation." Faulty sensory appreciation is the antithesis of lucidity; it is akin to seeing the world through coloured and distorted lenses, and is thus the indirect cause of suffering.

FM Alexander was way ahead of his time in understanding the importance of the afflictions he termed "unduly excited fear reflexes and emotions" and "faulty sensory appreciation." Not only did he see the problem clearly, he also devised a MEANS-WHEREBY the misuse of the self associated with an immature Moro reflex might be inhibited, and the faulty sensory appreciation associated with it might be by-passed. Thus Alexander's MEANS-WHEREBY involved, as also the realisation of the four dhyaana as described by Ashvaghosha involved, at least in the early stages of their application, reliance on reason.

Specifically, Alexander taught verbal directions which point precisely away from the stiffening of the neck, holding of the head, narrowing and arching of the back, and holding in of the limbs, which characterizes the Moro pattern. Those verbal directions go something like this:

"I wish to let my neck be free,
To let the head go forward and up,
To let the back lengthen and widen,
Sending the legs and the arms out of the back...."


VOCABULARY:
krodha: anger
praharSha: erection (or greater erection) of the male organ; erection of the hair, extreme joy , thrill of delight , rapture
aadibhiH = instrumental [indicating agent of passive construction], plural of aadi: beginning with, and so on
aashrayaaNaam = genitive, plural of aashraya: that to which anything is annexed or with which anything is closely connected or on which anything depends or rests ; a recipient , the person or thing in which any quality or article is inherent or retained or received

utpadyate = 3rd person singular passive utpad: to arise , rise , originate , be born or produced ; to come forth , become visible , appear ; to be ready ; to take place , begin ; to produce , beget , generate ; to cause , effect ; to cause to issue or come forth , bring forward
ca: and; (sometimes emphatic = eva) , even , indeed , certainly , just
iha: in this place , here ; to this place ; in this world; now
yathaa: (correlative of tathaa in the following sentence) just as
visheShah = nominative singular of visheSha: distinction , difference between ; characteristic difference, peculiar mark, special property, speciality, peculiarity ; a kind , species , individual

tathaa: similarly, in the same manner
eva: just so
janmasu = locative plural of janman: birth, production; origin; existence , life
api: and , also , moreover , besides
n'aika: not one, many, various
ruupaH = nominative, singular of ruupa: form, shape, figure

nirvartate = 3rd person singluar of nir- √ vRt: to cause to roll out or cast (as dice); to take place , happen ; to come forth , originate , develop , become; to be accomplished or effected or finished, come off ;
klesha: pain , affliction , distress , pain from disease , anguish; (the Buddhists reckon ten , viz. three of the body [murder , theft , adultery] , four of speech [lying , slander , abuse , unprofitable conversation] , three of the mind [covetousness , malice , scepticism])
kRtaH: done, made, created
visheShaH (see above): peculiarity, personality trait

EH Johnston:
And as the special character of the bodily constitution in this existence is brought about by anger, joy, etc., similarly a special character, effected by the vices, is developed in various forms in their (new) births also.

Linda Covill:
Just as the distinctive character of embodied individuals arises because of their anger, joy and so on, so does their distinctive defilement-created character develop in various formats in future births too.

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 16.18: Red & Dark Roots of Striving

jNaatavyam etena ca kaaraNena
lokasya doShebhya iti pravRttiH
yasmaan mriyante sa-rajas-tamaskaa
na jaayate viita-rajas-tamaskaH

16.18
What you must understand, again,
is this process of causation

Whereby striving is driven by the faults of man,

So that those imbued with redness and darkness
succumb to death,

While one without redness and darkness
is not reborn.

COMMENT:
The references to death and rebirth may be understood in the light of the statement in 16.6 that man is hoisted in the swing of mass unconscious reaction, dying in one samsaric realm and being reborn in another. Such demise in one realm and rebirth in another can happen numerous times, it seems to me, in the course of a human lifetime.

In my effort to understand how the movement of the samsaric swing is driven by faults, I came to Alexander work, and an Alexander teacher named Ray Evans drew my attention to the importance of a hierarchy that exists in the development of primitive vestibular reflexes. These reflexes, as I endeavored to explain here, can be regarded as the cornerstones of human behaviour.

The most primitive of all vestibular reflexes is the Moro, or baby panic reflex, an early forerunner of the mature startle reflex. Anybody who is at all familiar with the function of the Moro reflex knows that its colour is the colour of panic, red, and also that this redness tends to be accompanied by its opposite whose colour is the pallour of shock.

Thirty-five years ago my mind was very much occupied with the problem of going red. In certain circumstances, especially in cramped social situations like sitting on the school bus I suffered from what is sometimes known as “chronic blushing.” I did not suffer in other social situations when my energy was being strongly directed into some task, such as lifting weights, or playing rugby, or when I was able to combine social interaction with the consumption of large volumes of beer. So these observations alerted me to the fact that my problem with going red was not merely pyschological but had to do with physical energy, and also to do with brain chemistry. When I started my Alexander teacher training under Ray Evans, from 1995, I began to understand that the problem was rooted in vestibular dysfunction.

At the root of all vestibular dysfunction, in my experience, is the Moro reflex -- also known on this blog as the Mara reflex. The Moro reflex is the infantile panic/grasp reflex. Its dark underbelly is passive, paralytic fear.

Yes, tamas , as the Monier-Williams dictionary indicates, means mental darkness, gloom, depression, the winter of the mind. Darkness as a psychological force is pessimism, worry -- "can't do" as opposed to the Moro compulsion of "must do." But darkness in this verse, as I understand it, is not only psychological. It is physiological. It has to do with the withholding or conservation of energy, as a deep survival mechanism.

As such, darkness is a very deep obstruction to the lucidity of seeing what really is, as it is. Darkness is shock. Darkness is denial. And darkness is ignorance.

The darkness of shock and denial is, speaking from experience of the behaviour of self and others, a kind of fear of the truth. And fear always has at least one foot in the vestibular system.

In short, the red and dark of endgaining behaviour is always rooted in faults in the vestibular system. This is what I was taught by my Alexander head of training Ray Evans and this, I think the Buddha is saying here, is what must be understood -- and not only in theory.

VOCABULARY:
jNaatavya (gerundive of jNaa): to be known or understood or investigated or inquired after
etena = instrumental of etat: this
kaaraNena = instrumental of kaaraNa: cause, reason, the cause of anything; instrument, means; motive; origin, principle

lokasya = genitive of loka: world, the world, mankind, humanity
doShebhya = ablative, plural of doSha: fault
iti: thus, because
pravRttiH (nominative, singular): rolling forwards; moving onwards , advance , progress; active (as opposed to contemplative) life.
[see above; also 16.10; 16.17] end-gaining as opposed to attending to the means-whereby; active striving after ends; going directly for ends, relying on unconscious means, as opposed to the contemplative attitude of one who thinks out conscious means.

yasmaat: from which , from which cause , since , as , because , in order that
mriyante = 3rd person plural, present of mR: to die
sa: with (possessive suffix)
rajas: colour, passion, redness
tamaskaaH = nominative, plural of tamaska: (at end of compounds for tamas): darkness, mental darkness; gloom; ignorance, illusion, error

na: not
jaayate = 2nd person singular, present of jan: be born
viita: gone away , departed , disappeared , vanished , lost (in the beginning of compounds = free or exempt from , without , -less)
rajas: colour, passion, redness
tamaska = (at end of compounds for tamas): darkness, mental darkness; gloom; ignorance, illusion, error

EH Johnston:
And for this reason it is to be known that the active being of the world proceeds from the vices, so that those who are subject to passion and to mental darkness are subject to death and he who is devoid of them is not born again.

Linda Covill:
You must understand thereby that man's active life continues because of its faults. It follows that people who are subject to passion and mental darkness die repeatedly, while someone free from passion and mental darkness is not born again.