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

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

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

12.24
Upon transient whims which are akin to enemies,

Being eternally the causes of suffering,

Upon whims like love, the world fixates.

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

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

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

The verse seems to ask me to ask myself:

(1) What is transient?

(2) What is eternal?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

SAUNDARANANDA 16.28: A Spent Lamp Reaches Nothing But Extinction (3)

diipo yathaa nirvRtim abhyupeto
n' aaiv' aavaniM gacchati n' aantarikSham
dishaM na kaaM cid vidishaM na kaaM cit
sneha-kShayaat kevalam eti shaantim

16.28
A lamp that has gone out

Reaches neither to the earth nor to the sky,

Nor to any cardinal nor to any intermediate point:

Because its oil is spent it reaches nothing but extinction.

COMMENT:
This verse, and the verses which follow it, reverberate deeply with Master Dogen's teaching of the backward step.

Picture a baby, its eyes wide, its face flushed, and its arms splayed out in distress, reaching out, as if to plead, "Pick me up, mummy!"

In very many of us, a trace of that infantile redness remains, like emotional fuel. Many is the moment during a day when I would like to throw my toys out of the pram.

But a lamp that has gone out is not like that. A lamp that has gone out emits no trace of that.

VOCABULARY:
diipaH (nominative, singular): m. light, lamp, lantern
yathaa: (correlative of evam in the next verse) just as
nirVrtim = accusative, nirVrti: f. complete satisfaction or happiness , bliss , pleasure , delight; emancipation , final beatitude; attainment of rest; extinction (of a lamp)
abhyupetaH = nom. sg. m. past participle of abhyupe: to go near , approach , arrive at , enter; to enter a state or condition , obtain , share

na: not
eva: at all
avanim (accusative): to the earth
gacchati (3rd person singular, gam): goes, reaches
na: not
antarikSham (accusative): to the sky

disham = accusative, plural of dish: f. quarter or region pointed at, direction, cardinal point (E,W, S, N)
na kaaM cit: not any of them
vidisham = accusative, plural of vidish: f. an intermediate point of the compass (as south east)
na kaaM cit: not any of them

sneha: oil
kShayaat = ablative of kShaya: loss , waste , wane , diminution , destruction , decay , wasting or wearing away (often ifc.)
kevalam: ind. only, merely, solely
eti = 3rd person singular (aa- √i): to come near or towards , go near , approach; to reach , attain , enter , come into (a state or position)
shaantim (accusative): peace; extinction (of fire &c )

EH Johnston:
Just as a lamp, which has reached the stage of extinction, does not depart to the earth or the sky or any of the quarters or intermediate quarters but from exhaustion of the oil merely goes out.

Linda Covill:
Just as a light which is extinguished does not travel to the earth or the sky, nor to the directions or any intermediate directions but, because its oil is used up, merely ceases,

SAUNDARANANDA 16.26: Reaching Extinction, Close to Home

duHkha-kShayo hetu-parikShayaac ca
shaantam shivaM saakShi-kuruShva dharmam
tRShNaa-viraagaM layanaM nirodhaM
sanaatanaM traaNam a-haaryam aaryam

16.26
Again, the ending of suffering
follows from the disappearance of its cause.

Experience that reality for yourself
as peace and well-being,

A place of rest, a cessation,
an absence of the red taint of thirsting,

An eternal refuge which is irremovable and noble,

COMMENT:
This and the following three verses form a series of four verses in which the Buddha points Nanda to the ultimate goal of practice. This verse introduces the goal, as if it were something. 16.27 continues the description, with a negative emphasis that points to a bit of nothing. 16.28 uses the everyday metaphor of extinction of a lamp. 16.29 brings the strands of the previous three verses together, expressing a human being's experience of the ending of suffering as the reaching of extinction.

This series of four verses, then, can be understood as expressing our ultimate goal of "Nirvana." Except that, while discussing extinction in the everyday language of a lamp going out, Ashvaghosha does not use the word "Nirvana."

Having observed, and been part of, a process of the Buddha's teaching getting translated from Sanskrit into Chinese, then into Japanese, and thence into English -- a process in which the original boat tends to have got weighed down with a lot of supposedly untranslatable barnacles like "sesshin" and "satori", like "hossu" and "koan" and "zazen", like "nirvana" and "samadhi" -- I am struck more and more by the cleanness and purity of Ashvaghosha's language. It is conspicuously free of jargon. Ashvaghosha shows no fondness whatever for Buddhist buzz-words.

Maybe it is for this reason that Ashvaghosha's teaching, to my ear, is closer to home than anything I have come across in Japanese or Chinese.

Who am I? What am I? What is my position?
I do not know.
But a miner of Ashvaghosha's gold I am.
That much I know.

VOCABULARY:
duHkha: suffering
kShayaH = nominative, singular of kShaya: destruction, end
hetu: cause
parikShayaat = ablative of parikShaya (from pari + √kShi): disappearing, ceasing, dissolution, decay, destruction, loss, ruin, end
pari: fully
√kShi: to be diminished, decrease, wane (as the moon), waste away, perish
ca: and

shaantam (acc. sg. m.): appeased , pacified , tranquil , calm , free from passions , undisturbed; abated , subsided , ceased , stopped , extinguished; m. tranquillity , contentment
shivam (acc. sg. m.): auspicious , propitious , gracious , favourable , benign , kind , benevolent ; m. happiness , welfare
saakShi = in compounds for saakShin: seeing with the eyes , observing , witnessing
kuruShva (2nd pers. imperative √kR): please make
dharmam = accusative of dharma: m. the reality, teaching, method, work, practice

tRShNaa: thirsting, avid desire
viraagam (acc. sg.): m. loss of colour, indifference
layanam (acc. sg.): n. rest, repose; a place of rest
nirodham: restraint , check , control , suppression , destruction; (with Buddhists ) suppression or annihilation of pain (one of the 4 principles)

sanaatanam (acc. sg. n.): eternal , perpetual , permanent , everlasting , primeval , ancient
traaNam (acc. sg.): n. protecting , preserving , protection , defence , shelter
ahaaryam (acc. sg. n.): not to be stolen, not to be removed; unalterable
aarya (acc. sg. n.): aryan, noble

EH Johnston:
And the abolition of suffering proceeds from exhaustion of the cause. Therefore render present for yourself the holy, peaceful Element, the refuge which is free from the passion of desire and brings suppression (of all that makes for active being), the salvation which is eternal, unassailable and holy,

Linda Covill:
and the destruction of suffering follows from the destruction of its cause. Set dharma before your eyes, which is peaceful and benign, with no passion for desire, a resting place, a cessation, an eternal, irremovable, and noble protection,