SAUNDARANANDA 16.35: Balance Holds Faults At Bay

kleshaaMs tu viShkambhayate samaadhir
vegaan iv' aadrir mahato nadiinaaM
sthite samaadhau hi na dharShayanti
doshaa bhujaMgaa iva mantra-baddhaaH

16.35
Then balance repels afflictions

Like a mountain the mighty torrents of rivers;

For, as long as a man remains in balance,
faults do not venture to attack him:

The faults, like charmed snakes, are spellbound.

COMMENT:
What is emerging clearly from this Canto is that the teaching of the four noble truths, for Ashvaghosha, all comes down to (1) preventing the growth of, (2) defending stoutly against, and (3) setting out to destroy, the faults like greed, anger, and ignorance that all begin with thirsting.

My head is befuddled this morning and my immune system is struggling -- whether against a virus or against tree pollen, or against a combination of both, I do not even know. But even in this befuddled state I cannot fail to notice the relevance of the order in which Ashvaghosha presents his strategy for combating the faults: (1) prevent, (2)defend, and (3) attack. The order of this progression seems to me, as I write this now, to be of very great importance.

It makes perfect sense -- of course it does -- that effort to maintain integrity, in using voice and body and in earning a living, belongs to the preventive stage, and that this stage should come first.

The progression to this verse is a progression from the preventive maintainance of integrity (shiila), a matter of use of the SELF, to the defensive allowing of balance (samaadhi), a condition of NATURE.

What is required of us in this verse, then, goes beyond our autonomous use of ourselves and enters into the area of allowing autonomic functioning, because that is what the balance or harmony of samaadhi basically is: a function of systems which operate wholly or mainly below the level of consciousness, in the cerebellar/vestibular system, in the action of stretch reflexes mediated at the level of the spinal chord, in the autonomic nervous system, in the endocrine/immune systems, and so on.

Part of the progression between the previous verse and this verse is less tolerance towards the faults. Still, the existence of balance, in the form of a mountain or in the form of a man abiding in samaadhi, does not preclude the co-existence of voilent rapids or of reptilian faults. The mountain/practitioner remains immune to the torrents/snakes, but the perilous rapids and poisonous snakes are still very much in the picture. The potentially harmful objects have no power to harm the subject who is defended and protected by his balanced state, but those dangerous objects still exist.

When autonomic functions related to balance are allowed to work, then, a practitioner becomes resilient to faults. But this resilience is not pro-active. No initiative is taken yet in the direction of setting out to destroy faults, which is the theme of the next verse.

Ashvaghosha thus seems to be guiding the reader to an understanding of what the Buddha's teaching requires of the practitioner, that I for one have never come across before so explicitly, either in Alexander work (where the emphasis is very much on restoring integrity through preventive means and thereby allowing the right thing to do itself), or in Zen practice as I was taught it (where everything was reduced to autonomic balance). Ashvaghosha's teaching seems to be on the point of affirming, in a definite order, not only (1) the preventive value of maintaining integrity and (2) the defensive value of allowing balance, but also (3) the destructive value of exercising aggressive intent towards the faults.

This threefold progression mirrors Nanda's progress in life, towards the exercise of greater initiative and assertiveness in his own combating of the faults. Ashvaghosha uses the military metaphor advisedly, because in the end Nanda's task is a destructive one -- requiring an aggressive attack on the obstacles to liberation. But before aggression there must be balance, and the proper route to balance is an indirect one, beginning with preventive means to maintain integrity in the use of the self.

If we take a direct approach to pursuing balance, for example, trying to keep "the correct posture" by doing this and that -- pulling the chin in, and the rest of it -- the whole enterprise will be doomed to failure. That much, brain befuddled or not, I really do know. I know because, very assiduously and zealously, for 13 years while living in Japan, I practised that mistake -- chest puffed up like a red-eyed bulldog. What my sitting practice in essence was, to tell the truth, was the very diligent practice of the fault of ignorance.

VOCABULARY:
kleshaan (accusative, plural): afflictions
tu: but, and, then
viShkambhayate = 3rd person, singular of viShkambh: to hurl, cast; escape
samaadhiH (nominative, singular): balance, coming together, union, harmony

vegaan = accusative, plural of vega: violent agitation; a stream , flood , current, torrent
iva: like
adriH = nominative, singular of adri: stone, rock, mountain
mahataH = accusative, plural of mahat: great, mighty
nadiinaam = genitive, plural of nadii: river

sthite = locative of sthita: standing, remaining, abiding
samaadhau = locative of samaadhi: balance
hi: for
na: not
dharShayanti = 3rd person plural of dhRSh: to dare or venture; to dare to attack, treat with indignity (acc.)

doShaaH: (nominative, plural): m. faults
bhujaMgaaH (nominative, plural): m. a serpent , snake , serpent-demon
iva: like
mantra: " instrument of thought " , speech , sacred text or speech , a prayer or song of praise;
a mystical verse or magical formula (sometimes personified) , incantation , charm , spell
baddhaaH (nom. pl. m): bound


EH Johnston:
But concentration of mind repels the vices like a mountain the mighty currents of rivers ; for the faults, like spellbound snakes, are unable to attack the man who abides in concentration of mind.

Linda Covill:
But concentration casts off the defilements like a mountain casts off the mighty torrents of rivers; for the faults, like snakes transfixed by a magic formula, do not venture to attack a man who is fixed in concentration.

SAUNDARANANDA 16.31: Mastery of One's Actions

vaak-karma samyak saha-kaaya-karma
yathaavad aajiiva-nayash ca shuddhaH
idaM trayaM vRtta-vidhau pravRttaM
shiil'aashrayaM karma-parigrahaaya

16.31
Using the voice and using the body well

And making one's living in a pure and suitable manner:

These three, forming the protocol on conduct,

Are for the mastery, based on integrity, of one's actions.

COMMENT:
To sit well on a round cushion is to recover one's fundamental integrity. The great difficulty then is not to lose it.

This verse can be seen as the second in a series of four verses in which Ashvaghosha enumerates the eight branches of the noble path.

Verse 16.30 describes all eight branches of the path as having to do with the awakening of CONSCIOUSNESS.

From the opposite standpoint of 16.31, human life may be seen objectively as nothing but A SERIES OF CONCRETE ACTIONS, in which the practitioner either does or does not maintain a certain integrity in the alignment of the head, neck and back -- in (1) using the voice, (2) using the body, and (3) all the activities of living.

The standpoint of 16.32, as I read it, is that of the moment of the present, i.e, a moment of action itself, in which THE MIND HERE & NOW is required (4) to be insightful, (5) to think straight, and (6) to show initiative.

The theme of 16.33 is that which provides the ultimate standard for the whole eightfold path; namely, the FORMAL SITTING PRACTICE whose elements are (7) true mindfulness, and (8) true balance.


VOCABULARY:
vaac: speech , voice , talk , language
karma = nominative, singular of karman: action, performance, work, activity
samyaJc: going along with or together, turned together or in one direction, combined, united; entire, whole, complete, all; lying in one direction, forming one line (as foot steps); correct, accurate, proper, true, right
saha: together with, along with, and; in common , in company , jointly , conjointly , in concert (often used as a prefix in compounds, expressing "community of action")
kaaya: body
karma: action

yathaavat: duly , properly , rightly , suitably , exactly
aajiiva: livelihood
nayaH = nominative, singular of naya: leading (of an army);conduct , behaviour
ca: and
shuddhaH = nominative, singular of shuddha: cleansed , cleared , clean , pure , clear; cleared , acquitted , free from error , faultless , blameless , right , correct , accurate , exact , according to rule

idam (nom. sg. n.): this
trayam (nom. sg.): n. triad, threesome
vRtta: conduct
vidhau = locative of vidhi: a rule, formula, direction, et cetera; [protocol]
pravRttam (nom. sg. n.): circulated; arisen, produced; set out

shiila: moral conduct, integrity, rules of discipline, self-restraint
aashrayam (nom. sg. n.): that to which anything is annexed or with which anything is closely connected or on which anything depends or rests
karman: action
parigrahaaya = dative of parigraha: laying hold of on all sides; comprehending; getting , attaining , acquisition , possession , property (ifc. " being possessed of or furnished with ")

EH Johnston:
Right actions of voice and body and right livelihood, these three, based on discipline, should be practised in the department of conduct for the mastery of the actions.

Linda Covill:
Right verbal and bodily actions, and making one's living in a pure and suitable manner -- these three occur in the ordinance on behaviour, and are a basis for moral self-restraint in order that one's actions may be circumscribed.