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
Showing posts with label faulty sensory appreciation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faulty sensory appreciation. Show all posts
Monday, June 15, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 12.10: Untrained Senses & Inconstancy
na tu kaamaan manas tasya
kena cij jagRhe dhRtiH
triShu kaaleShu sarveShu
nipaato 'stir iva smRtaH
12.10
Because of his sensuality, however, his mind
Was still by no means gripped by the kind of constancy
Which is shown, in all three times,
By the received usage of the irregularity which is "being."
COMMENT:
Linda Covill notes that the word in the fourth line asti, which means “being” or “existing,” is considered an example of an indeclinable particle; i.e., an irregular particle whose form is supposed to remain constant.
Nanda does not yet show that kind of constancy. He is more like a dog on a walk which hasn't yet been trained to keep its energy directed in the direction of the walk. A dog like that, before it has been rehabilitated, suffers from conflicting impulses, because it is led not only by the human being who is supposed to be deciding the direction of the walk, but also by its own canine senses; and so the dog keeps disrupting the flow of the walk by wishing to stop to sniff this and that scent.
Ashvaghosha in this section seems to be taking pains to avoid painting a simplistic, one-sided picture of Nanda's condition. If he describes with one breath the sudden dramatic improvement that Nanda has realised simply by giving up an idea, Ashvaghosha describes with the next breath a remaining obstacle in Nanda’s way. Thus, in 12.18 also, while recognizing the beginnings in Nanda of ultimate good, the Buddha sees that Nanda's senses are still set against such growth.
The tale of Handsome Nanda is a tale of real individual growth, of the kind that can’t be hurried. The shock that Nanda has just received is not akin to the shouts, whacks with sticks, et cetera, that were supposed to shock people into the kind of sudden enlightenment (so-called 'satori') that is celebrated in Zen romanticism. The scene is rather being set for Canto 13, in which the Buddha, "knower of the gradual path," will discuss at length how victory over the senses is to be won, through a certain constancy.
I am not sure whether in the fourth line Ashvaghosha is intending to suggest a deeper meaning in addition to the literal one -- a meaning that might make sense not only to Sanskrit grammarians but also to people who are devoted to the simple way of being which is traditional sitting practice. I am not sure whether nipaata, irregularity, expresses not only the irregular form of an indeclinable particle but also the fact that a moment of present existence never has, never does, and never will conform to human rules.
But what I can report assuredly from experience, relating to constancy, is this: When a man is in the groove of living the simple life, enjoying the experience of energy being directed primarily into sitting practice, another man looking on is liable to wonder at the first man’s constant discipline. But the first man is not at all conscious of being disciplined; he is just wishing to keep enjoying his simple life. He is no more conscious of constant discipline than is a happy dog being walked by a good dog-walker.
EH Johnston:
But steadfastness in respect of the past, present and future did not grip his mind in any way because of passion, just as asti is said to be used as a particle of all three times.
Linda Covill:
But because of passion, constancy, which resembles the indefinite particle "existing" in that it pertains to the past, the present and the future, did not in any way take hold of his mind.
VOCABULARY:
na: not
tu: but
kaamaat (ablative of kaama): because of desire, longing, sensuality
manas: the mind
tasya: of him
kena cit: by any means, in any way
jagRhe = perfect of grah: to arrest , stop ; to catch , take captive , take prisoner , capture , imprison ; to take possession of ; to seize ,
dhRtiH = nominative, singular of dhRti: f. holding , seizing , keeping , supporting , firmness , constancy , resolution
triShu (locative): three
kaaleShu = locative, plural of kaalu: time
sarveShu (locative): all
nipaataH = nominative, singular of nipaata: (in gram.) irregular form , irregularity , exception ; a particle
asti: (indeclinable particle) sometimes used as a mere particle at the beginning of fables; existent , present
iva: like, as
smRta: mfn. remembered , recollected , handed down , taught , prescribed , (esp.) enjoined by smRti or traditional law , declared or propounded in the law-books (na smRtam = " not allowed " , " forbidden ")
kena cij jagRhe dhRtiH
triShu kaaleShu sarveShu
nipaato 'stir iva smRtaH
12.10
Because of his sensuality, however, his mind
Was still by no means gripped by the kind of constancy
Which is shown, in all three times,
By the received usage of the irregularity which is "being."
COMMENT:
Linda Covill notes that the word in the fourth line asti, which means “being” or “existing,” is considered an example of an indeclinable particle; i.e., an irregular particle whose form is supposed to remain constant.
Nanda does not yet show that kind of constancy. He is more like a dog on a walk which hasn't yet been trained to keep its energy directed in the direction of the walk. A dog like that, before it has been rehabilitated, suffers from conflicting impulses, because it is led not only by the human being who is supposed to be deciding the direction of the walk, but also by its own canine senses; and so the dog keeps disrupting the flow of the walk by wishing to stop to sniff this and that scent.
Ashvaghosha in this section seems to be taking pains to avoid painting a simplistic, one-sided picture of Nanda's condition. If he describes with one breath the sudden dramatic improvement that Nanda has realised simply by giving up an idea, Ashvaghosha describes with the next breath a remaining obstacle in Nanda’s way. Thus, in 12.18 also, while recognizing the beginnings in Nanda of ultimate good, the Buddha sees that Nanda's senses are still set against such growth.
The tale of Handsome Nanda is a tale of real individual growth, of the kind that can’t be hurried. The shock that Nanda has just received is not akin to the shouts, whacks with sticks, et cetera, that were supposed to shock people into the kind of sudden enlightenment (so-called 'satori') that is celebrated in Zen romanticism. The scene is rather being set for Canto 13, in which the Buddha, "knower of the gradual path," will discuss at length how victory over the senses is to be won, through a certain constancy.
I am not sure whether in the fourth line Ashvaghosha is intending to suggest a deeper meaning in addition to the literal one -- a meaning that might make sense not only to Sanskrit grammarians but also to people who are devoted to the simple way of being which is traditional sitting practice. I am not sure whether nipaata, irregularity, expresses not only the irregular form of an indeclinable particle but also the fact that a moment of present existence never has, never does, and never will conform to human rules.
But what I can report assuredly from experience, relating to constancy, is this: When a man is in the groove of living the simple life, enjoying the experience of energy being directed primarily into sitting practice, another man looking on is liable to wonder at the first man’s constant discipline. But the first man is not at all conscious of being disciplined; he is just wishing to keep enjoying his simple life. He is no more conscious of constant discipline than is a happy dog being walked by a good dog-walker.
EH Johnston:
But steadfastness in respect of the past, present and future did not grip his mind in any way because of passion, just as asti is said to be used as a particle of all three times.
Linda Covill:
But because of passion, constancy, which resembles the indefinite particle "existing" in that it pertains to the past, the present and the future, did not in any way take hold of his mind.
VOCABULARY:
na: not
tu: but
kaamaat (ablative of kaama): because of desire, longing, sensuality
manas: the mind
tasya: of him
kena cit: by any means, in any way
jagRhe = perfect of grah: to arrest , stop ; to catch , take captive , take prisoner , capture , imprison ; to take possession of ; to seize ,
dhRtiH = nominative, singular of dhRti: f. holding , seizing , keeping , supporting , firmness , constancy , resolution
triShu (locative): three
kaaleShu = locative, plural of kaalu: time
sarveShu (locative): all
nipaataH = nominative, singular of nipaata: (in gram.) irregular form , irregularity , exception ; a particle
asti: (indeclinable particle) sometimes used as a mere particle at the beginning of fables; existent , present
iva: like, as
smRta: mfn. remembered , recollected , handed down , taught , prescribed , (esp.) enjoined by smRti or traditional law , declared or propounded in the law-books (na smRtam = " not allowed " , " forbidden ")
Monday, April 27, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 16.74: Not Reacting to a Noxious Stimulus
yathaa kShudh-aarto 'pi viSheNa pRktaM
jijiiviSur n'ecchati bhoktum annam
tath" aiva doSh-aavaham ity avetya
jahaati vidvaan a-shubham nimittam
16.74
Even a starving man when given poisoned food
Refuses to eat it, wishing to live.
Likewise, observing that it triggers a fault,
A wise person leaves alone a noxious stimulus.
COMMENT:
In this verse, as I read it, a fault (doSha) is synonymous with an imbalanced unconscious reaction, and a noxious stimulus (a-shubham nimittam) is any thought that is liable to trigger such a reaction.
The essence of the practice being described is inhibition of faulty unconscious reaction to a stimulus.
For several years now -- as a result of being introduced to Dogen's teaching by Gudo Nishijima, and as a result of the essence of the teaching being demonstrated to me in the very activity of sitting and standing by Ray Evans, Ron Colyer, Nelly Ben-Or, Marjory Barlow and others -- I have been fairly clear in seeing this as the mainspring of practice of the Buddha-Dharma.
Undeniably, however, I am not at all good at practicing it.
Q.E.D.
EH Johnston:
As the man who wishes to live, would not eat food infected with poison, however famished he were, so the wise man abandons an impure meditation, recognising that it brings about sin.
Linda Covill:
Just as a man who wants his life to continue avoids eating poisoned food even when he is starving, so too does a wise man leave aside an impure meditation, knowing that it brings corruption.
VOCABULARY:
yathaa: just as
kShudh: hunger
aartaH (nom. sg.): m. one who is afflicted
api: even
viSheNa (inst. sg.): with poison
pRktam (acc. sg. n.): mixed with, full of
jijiiviSuH (nom. sg. m.): desirous of life
na: not
icchati = 3rd person singular of iSh: wish, want, intend
bhoktum = infinitive of bhuj: to enjoy , use , possess , (esp.) enjoy a meal , eat
annam (acc. sg.): n. food or victuals , especially boiled rice
tathaa: likewise, in the same way
eva: emphatic
doSha: fault; damage , harm , bad consequence , detrimental effect
aavaham (acc. sg. n.): bringing , bringing to pass , producing
iti: that
avetya: seeing, knowing
jahaati = 3rd person singular of haa: to leave , abandon , give up , renounce , avoid , shun , abstain or refrain from ; disregard, neglect
vidvaan (nom. sg.) vidvas: m. one who knows, a wise man
ashubham (acc. sg. n.): impure, disagreeable, unlovely
nimittam (acc. sg.): n. a cause, stimulus
jijiiviSur n'ecchati bhoktum annam
tath" aiva doSh-aavaham ity avetya
jahaati vidvaan a-shubham nimittam
16.74
Even a starving man when given poisoned food
Refuses to eat it, wishing to live.
Likewise, observing that it triggers a fault,
A wise person leaves alone a noxious stimulus.
COMMENT:
In this verse, as I read it, a fault (doSha) is synonymous with an imbalanced unconscious reaction, and a noxious stimulus (a-shubham nimittam) is any thought that is liable to trigger such a reaction.
The essence of the practice being described is inhibition of faulty unconscious reaction to a stimulus.
For several years now -- as a result of being introduced to Dogen's teaching by Gudo Nishijima, and as a result of the essence of the teaching being demonstrated to me in the very activity of sitting and standing by Ray Evans, Ron Colyer, Nelly Ben-Or, Marjory Barlow and others -- I have been fairly clear in seeing this as the mainspring of practice of the Buddha-Dharma.
Undeniably, however, I am not at all good at practicing it.
Q.E.D.
EH Johnston:
As the man who wishes to live, would not eat food infected with poison, however famished he were, so the wise man abandons an impure meditation, recognising that it brings about sin.
Linda Covill:
Just as a man who wants his life to continue avoids eating poisoned food even when he is starving, so too does a wise man leave aside an impure meditation, knowing that it brings corruption.
VOCABULARY:
yathaa: just as
kShudh: hunger
aartaH (nom. sg.): m. one who is afflicted
api: even
viSheNa (inst. sg.): with poison
pRktam (acc. sg. n.): mixed with, full of
jijiiviSuH (nom. sg. m.): desirous of life
na: not
icchati = 3rd person singular of iSh: wish, want, intend
bhoktum = infinitive of bhuj: to enjoy , use , possess , (esp.) enjoy a meal , eat
annam (acc. sg.): n. food or victuals , especially boiled rice
tathaa: likewise, in the same way
eva: emphatic
doSha: fault; damage , harm , bad consequence , detrimental effect
aavaham (acc. sg. n.): bringing , bringing to pass , producing
iti: that
avetya: seeing, knowing
jahaati = 3rd person singular of haa: to leave , abandon , give up , renounce , avoid , shun , abstain or refrain from ; disregard, neglect
vidvaan (nom. sg.) vidvas: m. one who knows, a wise man
ashubham (acc. sg. n.): impure, disagreeable, unlovely
nimittam (acc. sg.): n. a cause, stimulus
Thursday, April 2, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 16.49: The When & How of Giving Up Afflictions
klesha-prahaaNaaya ca nishcitena
kaalo 'bhyupaayash ca pariikShitavyaH
yogo 'py a-kaale hy an-upaayatash ca
bhavaty an-arthaaya na tad-guNaaya
16.49
One set on giving up the afflictions, then,
Should attend to timing and method;
For even formal practice,
done at the wrong time and relying on wrong means,
Makes for disappointment and not for the desired end.
COMMENT:
This verse can be seen as the first verse in another series of four verses.
16.49 makes the point.
16.50 illustrates the point with a memorable metaphor that is iconoclastic in tone -- the metaphor of milking a cow by the horn.
16.51 illustrates the point further with a metaphor that resonates with everybody's everyday experience -- the metaphor of trying in vain to start a fire.
16.52 re-caps, and exhorts us to get on with practice itself.
What strikes me about these four verses, and what strikes me about the whole of Saundarananda, is Ashvaghosha's complete unwavering clarity in regard to the end, which is freedom from the afflictions. It might be argued that the whole point of Saundarananda is to cause the reader, you and me, to be that very one whose mind is set upon giving up the afflictions.
In this verse, 16.49, the desired end of being rid of afflictions is indicated directly.
In 16.50 the desired end is to get milk.
In 16.51 the desired end is to get fire.
16.52 is an exhortation, being clear in one's mind with regard to end and means, to devote oneself to the means.
Then, from verse 16.53 onwards, detailed consideration is given to the means. But before that Ashvaghosha is reminding us now that the means he is going to describe are a means-whereby we might progress towards a desired end, which is freedom from affliction.
Giving up affliction, it has been explained to us already, means not practising those causes of suffering (that begin with thirsting) such as greed, hatred, and ignorance, which prevent us from truly seeing what is.
So giving up affliction corresponds, as I see it, with giving up the misuse associated with what FM Alexander called 'faulty sensory appreciation.' This giving up of misuse of the self, in Alexander work, centres upon formal work on the self, in which the worker consciously inhibits his habitual unconscious reaction to a particular stimulus. The basic point of Alexander teacher training is to set aside a large number of hours over three years of a person's life that can be devoted to such formal practice of working on the self. But the three years are only a beginning, and the really difficult stimuli tend to arise outside of formal work on oneself.
I think Ashvaghosha, similarly, is talking here about finding the time and space in which to devote oneself to a true means-whereby for working on oneself, while not forgetting, even at times which are not suited to formal practice, the end to which one is working, which is elimination of the wrong.
If I had to sum up the teaching of Shobogenzo in six words it would be "Giving up body and mind, sit." Alexander work in three words is "Inhibit unconscious reaction." Ashvaghosha's teaching in three words would seem to be "Give up afflictions."
There is, as I see it, no contradiction. But, as Ashvaghosha reminds us in 16.71, and as FM Alexander wrote somewhere, "Time is the essence of the contract."
VOCABULARY:
klesha: affliction
prahaaNaaya = dative of prahaaNa = action noun from pra-√hA: to desert , quit , abandon , give up
ca: (conjunctive or sometimes disjunctive particle) and, moreover; but
nishcitena = instrumental (indicating agent of passive construction with -tavya) of nishcita: one who has come to a conclusion or formed a certain opinion , determined to , resolute upon (dative)
kaalaH = nominative, singular of kaala: the proper time or season
abhyupaayaH = nominative, singular of abhyupaaya: a means, expedient
ca: and
pariikShitavyaH = nom. sg. m. from gerundive of pariikSh: to look round , inspect carefully , try , examine , find out , observe
yogaH = nominative, singular of yoga: formal practice
api: even
a-kaale (locative of a-kaala): at a wrong or bad time
hi: for
an (negative suffix, sometimes expressing disparagement): bad
upaaya: that by which one reaches one's aim , a means or expedient
-taH (ablative suffix): from, on the basis of, in accordance with
ca: and
bhavati = 3rd person singular of bhuu: to become, to be; to serve for , tend or conduce to (with dative)
an-arthaaya = dative of anartha: non-value , a worthless or useless object; disappointing occurrence , reverse , evil
na: not
tad: that, the one in question, the desired
guNaaya = dative of guNa: "the requisite"; a quality , peculiarity , attribute or property; good quality , virtue , merit , excellence
EH Johnston:
And he who has set his mind on the abolition of the vices must consider the time and the method ; for even Yoga, when practised out of season and by the wrong method, leads to calamity and not to the proper result.
Linda Covill:
When someone has formed a resolve to abandon the defilements, he should carefully consider the correct time and method to do so; for even yogic discipline can lead to failure, not success, if practiced at the wrong time or in the wrong way.
kaalo 'bhyupaayash ca pariikShitavyaH
yogo 'py a-kaale hy an-upaayatash ca
bhavaty an-arthaaya na tad-guNaaya
16.49
One set on giving up the afflictions, then,
Should attend to timing and method;
For even formal practice,
done at the wrong time and relying on wrong means,
Makes for disappointment and not for the desired end.
COMMENT:
This verse can be seen as the first verse in another series of four verses.
16.49 makes the point.
16.50 illustrates the point with a memorable metaphor that is iconoclastic in tone -- the metaphor of milking a cow by the horn.
16.51 illustrates the point further with a metaphor that resonates with everybody's everyday experience -- the metaphor of trying in vain to start a fire.
16.52 re-caps, and exhorts us to get on with practice itself.
What strikes me about these four verses, and what strikes me about the whole of Saundarananda, is Ashvaghosha's complete unwavering clarity in regard to the end, which is freedom from the afflictions. It might be argued that the whole point of Saundarananda is to cause the reader, you and me, to be that very one whose mind is set upon giving up the afflictions.
In this verse, 16.49, the desired end of being rid of afflictions is indicated directly.
In 16.50 the desired end is to get milk.
In 16.51 the desired end is to get fire.
16.52 is an exhortation, being clear in one's mind with regard to end and means, to devote oneself to the means.
Then, from verse 16.53 onwards, detailed consideration is given to the means. But before that Ashvaghosha is reminding us now that the means he is going to describe are a means-whereby we might progress towards a desired end, which is freedom from affliction.
Giving up affliction, it has been explained to us already, means not practising those causes of suffering (that begin with thirsting) such as greed, hatred, and ignorance, which prevent us from truly seeing what is.
So giving up affliction corresponds, as I see it, with giving up the misuse associated with what FM Alexander called 'faulty sensory appreciation.' This giving up of misuse of the self, in Alexander work, centres upon formal work on the self, in which the worker consciously inhibits his habitual unconscious reaction to a particular stimulus. The basic point of Alexander teacher training is to set aside a large number of hours over three years of a person's life that can be devoted to such formal practice of working on the self. But the three years are only a beginning, and the really difficult stimuli tend to arise outside of formal work on oneself.
I think Ashvaghosha, similarly, is talking here about finding the time and space in which to devote oneself to a true means-whereby for working on oneself, while not forgetting, even at times which are not suited to formal practice, the end to which one is working, which is elimination of the wrong.
If I had to sum up the teaching of Shobogenzo in six words it would be "Giving up body and mind, sit." Alexander work in three words is "Inhibit unconscious reaction." Ashvaghosha's teaching in three words would seem to be "Give up afflictions."
There is, as I see it, no contradiction. But, as Ashvaghosha reminds us in 16.71, and as FM Alexander wrote somewhere, "Time is the essence of the contract."
VOCABULARY:
klesha: affliction
prahaaNaaya = dative of prahaaNa = action noun from pra-√hA: to desert , quit , abandon , give up
ca: (conjunctive or sometimes disjunctive particle) and, moreover; but
nishcitena = instrumental (indicating agent of passive construction with -tavya) of nishcita: one who has come to a conclusion or formed a certain opinion , determined to , resolute upon (dative)
kaalaH = nominative, singular of kaala: the proper time or season
abhyupaayaH = nominative, singular of abhyupaaya: a means, expedient
ca: and
pariikShitavyaH = nom. sg. m. from gerundive of pariikSh: to look round , inspect carefully , try , examine , find out , observe
yogaH = nominative, singular of yoga: formal practice
api: even
a-kaale (locative of a-kaala): at a wrong or bad time
hi: for
an (negative suffix, sometimes expressing disparagement): bad
upaaya: that by which one reaches one's aim , a means or expedient
-taH (ablative suffix): from, on the basis of, in accordance with
ca: and
bhavati = 3rd person singular of bhuu: to become, to be; to serve for , tend or conduce to (with dative)
an-arthaaya = dative of anartha: non-value , a worthless or useless object; disappointing occurrence , reverse , evil
na: not
tad: that, the one in question, the desired
guNaaya = dative of guNa: "the requisite"; a quality , peculiarity , attribute or property; good quality , virtue , merit , excellence
EH Johnston:
And he who has set his mind on the abolition of the vices must consider the time and the method ; for even Yoga, when practised out of season and by the wrong method, leads to calamity and not to the proper result.
Linda Covill:
When someone has formed a resolve to abandon the defilements, he should carefully consider the correct time and method to do so; for even yogic discipline can lead to failure, not success, if practiced at the wrong time or in the wrong way.
Monday, March 30, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 16.46: The Evidence of Ending of Energetic Leakages
yathaa-svabhaavena hi naama-ruupaM
tadd-hetum ev' aasta-gamaM ca tasya
vijaanataH pashyata eva c' aaham
braviimi samyak kShayam aasravaaNaam
16.46
For in him who sees a separate bodily form as it is,
And who sees its origin and passing away,
From the very fact of his knowing and seeing,
I declare energetic leakages to be totally ended.
COMMENT:
A person's ability to see, as it is, the transient existence of any entity -- whether it be a flower, or a weed, or a dog, or another person, or a pool of water, or a house, or indeed a work like a translation -- is a function not only of the person's top two inches but of energetic conditions throughout the person's organism.
That is why, I think Ashvaghosha is saying here, if a person is truly able to see what is, without optimism or pessimism, that can only mean that the person is free from energetic imbalances.
Conversely, when a person is unable to to see things as they are, when a person is suffering from what FM Alexander called "faulty sensory appreciation," it is fundamentally not an intellectual problem but a problem of misdirected energy.
And at the root of the misdirection of energy, as we have found to be true in not a few children and adults who have come to us at the Middle Way Re-education Centre, is the problem that FM Alexander called "unduly excited fear reflexes."
VOCABULARY:
yathaa: as, according to
svabhaavena = inst. sg. svabhaava: own condition or state of being , natural state or constitution , innate or inherent disposition , nature , impulse , spontaneity
hi: for
naama-ruupam (accusative): an individual being, a distinguishable form, a separate bodily form
tat: that, its
hetum = accusative, hetu: " impulse", motive , cause
eva: (emphatic)
asta-gamam = accusative from astaM- √gam: to go to one's eternal home , cease , vanish , perish , die
ca: and
tasya (genitive of saH): of him, in him
vijaanataH = abl. sg. pres. participle vijNaa: to distinguish, know
pashyataH = abl. sg. pres. participle pash: to see
eva: (emphatic), the very
ca: and
aham: I
braviimi = 1st person singular of bruu: to speak , say , tell (with two acc. also = declare or pronounce to be, call); proclaim
samyak: well and truly, properly, fully
kShayam (accusative): end, termination
aasravaaNaam = genitive, plural of aasrava: a door opening into water and allowing the stream to descend through it [hence leakage of energy]; distress, affliction
EH Johnston:
For I say that for him who recognises and understands the nature of corporeality, its cause and its disappearance, the infections are abolished.
Linda Covill:
For I proclaim the total annihilation of rebirth-producing tendencies in a man who knows and sees psycho-physical existence just as it is, and its cause and its disappearance.
tadd-hetum ev' aasta-gamaM ca tasya
vijaanataH pashyata eva c' aaham
braviimi samyak kShayam aasravaaNaam
16.46
For in him who sees a separate bodily form as it is,
And who sees its origin and passing away,
From the very fact of his knowing and seeing,
I declare energetic leakages to be totally ended.
COMMENT:
A person's ability to see, as it is, the transient existence of any entity -- whether it be a flower, or a weed, or a dog, or another person, or a pool of water, or a house, or indeed a work like a translation -- is a function not only of the person's top two inches but of energetic conditions throughout the person's organism.
That is why, I think Ashvaghosha is saying here, if a person is truly able to see what is, without optimism or pessimism, that can only mean that the person is free from energetic imbalances.
Conversely, when a person is unable to to see things as they are, when a person is suffering from what FM Alexander called "faulty sensory appreciation," it is fundamentally not an intellectual problem but a problem of misdirected energy.
And at the root of the misdirection of energy, as we have found to be true in not a few children and adults who have come to us at the Middle Way Re-education Centre, is the problem that FM Alexander called "unduly excited fear reflexes."
VOCABULARY:
yathaa: as, according to
svabhaavena = inst. sg. svabhaava: own condition or state of being , natural state or constitution , innate or inherent disposition , nature , impulse , spontaneity
hi: for
naama-ruupam (accusative): an individual being, a distinguishable form, a separate bodily form
tat: that, its
hetum = accusative, hetu: " impulse", motive , cause
eva: (emphatic)
asta-gamam = accusative from astaM- √gam: to go to one's eternal home , cease , vanish , perish , die
ca: and
tasya (genitive of saH): of him, in him
vijaanataH = abl. sg. pres. participle vijNaa: to distinguish, know
pashyataH = abl. sg. pres. participle pash: to see
eva: (emphatic), the very
ca: and
aham: I
braviimi = 1st person singular of bruu: to speak , say , tell (with two acc. also = declare or pronounce to be, call); proclaim
samyak: well and truly, properly, fully
kShayam (accusative): end, termination
aasravaaNaam = genitive, plural of aasrava: a door opening into water and allowing the stream to descend through it [hence leakage of energy]; distress, affliction
EH Johnston:
For I say that for him who recognises and understands the nature of corporeality, its cause and its disappearance, the infections are abolished.
Linda Covill:
For I proclaim the total annihilation of rebirth-producing tendencies in a man who knows and sees psycho-physical existence just as it is, and its cause and its disappearance.
Monday, March 16, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 16.32: Getting Rid of Illusions
satyeShu duHkh'-aadiShu dRShTir aaryaa
samyag vitarkash ca paraakramash ca
idaM triyaM jNaana-vidhau pravRttam
prajN"-aasrayam klesha-parikShayaaya.
16.32
Nobility of insight into the truths,
beginning with the truth of suffering,
Along with thinking straight, and initiative:
These three, forming the protocol on knowing,
Are for dissolution, based on wisdom, of afflictions.
COMMENT:
An affliction, klesha, in the context of this verse seems to mean what obstructs us from truly seeing what is. In this sense the word is very profoundly related, as I understand it, with what FM Alexander called faulty sensory appreciation.
Because I know that Alexander work is real and true -- it works -- in endeavoring to understand the real meaning of the recorded words of ancestors like Dogen, Ashvaghosha, and Gautama, I am mindful of the reailty and truth of Alexander work.
A real instance of an affliction might be malice. In that case, what is the real meaning of (1) insight, (2) thinking straight, and (3)initiative? How do those three actually work to dissolve the affliction of malice?
Insight might be to see malice as malice.
Thinking straight might be to come back to clarity in regard to what one really wants, which is not to be poisoned by malice, but to be, along with all living beings, free from suffering. In Alexander work that wish is sometimes expressed by the words, "I wish to let the neck be free to let the head go forward and up."
Initiative seems to become a very great stumbling block. With too much of it, the practitioner ends up trying to make the head go forward and up, which only creates more tension. With too little initiative, the practitioner only thinks the word "let" but fails actually to allow anything, fails actually to direct the flow of his energy, fails either to piss or get off the pot. This, I think, is what Marjorie Barstow is discussing on this video clip.
Another kind of initiative which may be taken as an antidote to malice, as indicated by Ashvaghosha in verse 16.62, is consciously to introduce into the situation some goodwill that one genuinely feels for, say, a friend, teacher, or relative.
Again, my old teacher Marjory Barlow's oft-repeated exhortation that being ready to be wrong is "the golden key," is pointing the way to a kind of initiative. A positive will to see one's own faults, a genuine appetite for finding out where things tend to go wrong, is all part of initiative as I see it. (Religious and political groups, needless to say, tend in precisely the opposite direction of denial, cover-up, suppressing history, spin-doctoring, et cetera.)
One affliction in particular that I am acutely mindful of is a misconception about sitting posture that has invaded the world of Japanese Zen, arising from a certain rigidity of outlook, a certain formalism, a certain lack of capacity for originality and initiative, that has characterized Japanese culture since even before the time of Master Dogen.
That Japanese misconception about "correct sitting posture," I am afraid, is both a symptom and a cause of trouble. I was at fault ever to get involved in it in the first place, and I was stupid to expect people of scant initiative to be grateful to me for pointing out their cherished misconception.
A misconception is something that has no substance and yet it can really cause a lot of trouble. Even though it has no substance, it is not easy to get rid of.
As one truly wise person observed a long time ago:
"The most difficult things to get rid of are the ones that don't exist."
VOCABULARY:
satyeShu = locative, plural of satya: truth
duHkha: suffering
aadiShu = locative, plural of aadi: beginning with
dRShTiH = nominative, singular of dRShTi: (f.) seeing , viewing , beholding (also with the mental eye); sight , the faculty of seeing; the mind's eye , wisdom , intelligence; (with Buddhists) a wrong view
aaryaa (feminine, agreeing with drShti): noble; (with Buddhists, a man who has thought on the four chief truths of Buddhism and lives accordingly); behaving like an Aryan , worthy of one , honourable , respectable , noble;
samyak: true, full, straight
vitarkaH = nominative, singular of vitarka: thought, reasoning
ca: and
paraakramaH = nominative, singular of paraakrama: bold advance , attack , heroism , courage , power , strength , energy , exertion , enterprise
ca: and
idam (nom. sg. n.): this
triyam (nom. sg.): n. three, triad, threesome
jNana: knowing
vidhau (loc.): protocol
pravRttam(nom. sg. n.) : rolled out, produced, formed
prajNaa: wisdom; intuitive wisdom
aasrayam (nom. sg. n.): forming a basis
klesha: affliction ; worldly occupation , care , trouble
parikShayaaya = dative of parikShaya: disappearing, ceasing, dissolution, decay, destruction
EH Johnston:
The noble doctrine with respect to the Truths regarding suffering etc, right thought and exertion, these three, resting on intuitive wisdom should be practised in the department of knowledge for the abolition of the vices.
Linda Covill:
The noble doctrine concerning the Truths of suffering etc., as well as right thought and right effort -- these three occur in the ordinance on knowledge, and are a basis for wisdom in order that one's defilements may be annihilated.
samyag vitarkash ca paraakramash ca
idaM triyaM jNaana-vidhau pravRttam
prajN"-aasrayam klesha-parikShayaaya.
16.32
Nobility of insight into the truths,
beginning with the truth of suffering,
Along with thinking straight, and initiative:
These three, forming the protocol on knowing,
Are for dissolution, based on wisdom, of afflictions.
COMMENT:
An affliction, klesha, in the context of this verse seems to mean what obstructs us from truly seeing what is. In this sense the word is very profoundly related, as I understand it, with what FM Alexander called faulty sensory appreciation.
Because I know that Alexander work is real and true -- it works -- in endeavoring to understand the real meaning of the recorded words of ancestors like Dogen, Ashvaghosha, and Gautama, I am mindful of the reailty and truth of Alexander work.
A real instance of an affliction might be malice. In that case, what is the real meaning of (1) insight, (2) thinking straight, and (3)initiative? How do those three actually work to dissolve the affliction of malice?
Insight might be to see malice as malice.
Thinking straight might be to come back to clarity in regard to what one really wants, which is not to be poisoned by malice, but to be, along with all living beings, free from suffering. In Alexander work that wish is sometimes expressed by the words, "I wish to let the neck be free to let the head go forward and up."
Initiative seems to become a very great stumbling block. With too much of it, the practitioner ends up trying to make the head go forward and up, which only creates more tension. With too little initiative, the practitioner only thinks the word "let" but fails actually to allow anything, fails actually to direct the flow of his energy, fails either to piss or get off the pot. This, I think, is what Marjorie Barstow is discussing on this video clip.
Another kind of initiative which may be taken as an antidote to malice, as indicated by Ashvaghosha in verse 16.62, is consciously to introduce into the situation some goodwill that one genuinely feels for, say, a friend, teacher, or relative.
Again, my old teacher Marjory Barlow's oft-repeated exhortation that being ready to be wrong is "the golden key," is pointing the way to a kind of initiative. A positive will to see one's own faults, a genuine appetite for finding out where things tend to go wrong, is all part of initiative as I see it. (Religious and political groups, needless to say, tend in precisely the opposite direction of denial, cover-up, suppressing history, spin-doctoring, et cetera.)
One affliction in particular that I am acutely mindful of is a misconception about sitting posture that has invaded the world of Japanese Zen, arising from a certain rigidity of outlook, a certain formalism, a certain lack of capacity for originality and initiative, that has characterized Japanese culture since even before the time of Master Dogen.
That Japanese misconception about "correct sitting posture," I am afraid, is both a symptom and a cause of trouble. I was at fault ever to get involved in it in the first place, and I was stupid to expect people of scant initiative to be grateful to me for pointing out their cherished misconception.
A misconception is something that has no substance and yet it can really cause a lot of trouble. Even though it has no substance, it is not easy to get rid of.
As one truly wise person observed a long time ago:
"The most difficult things to get rid of are the ones that don't exist."
VOCABULARY:
satyeShu = locative, plural of satya: truth
duHkha: suffering
aadiShu = locative, plural of aadi: beginning with
dRShTiH = nominative, singular of dRShTi: (f.) seeing , viewing , beholding (also with the mental eye); sight , the faculty of seeing; the mind's eye , wisdom , intelligence; (with Buddhists) a wrong view
aaryaa (feminine, agreeing with drShti): noble; (with Buddhists, a man who has thought on the four chief truths of Buddhism and lives accordingly); behaving like an Aryan , worthy of one , honourable , respectable , noble;
samyak: true, full, straight
vitarkaH = nominative, singular of vitarka: thought, reasoning
ca: and
paraakramaH = nominative, singular of paraakrama: bold advance , attack , heroism , courage , power , strength , energy , exertion , enterprise
ca: and
idam (nom. sg. n.): this
triyam (nom. sg.): n. three, triad, threesome
jNana: knowing
vidhau (loc.): protocol
pravRttam(nom. sg. n.) : rolled out, produced, formed
prajNaa: wisdom; intuitive wisdom
aasrayam (nom. sg. n.): forming a basis
klesha: affliction ; worldly occupation , care , trouble
parikShayaaya = dative of parikShaya: disappearing, ceasing, dissolution, decay, destruction
EH Johnston:
The noble doctrine with respect to the Truths regarding suffering etc, right thought and exertion, these three, resting on intuitive wisdom should be practised in the department of knowledge for the abolition of the vices.
Linda Covill:
The noble doctrine concerning the Truths of suffering etc., as well as right thought and right effort -- these three occur in the ordinance on knowledge, and are a basis for wisdom in order that one's defilements may be annihilated.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, March 2, 2009
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.
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.
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