mahataam api bhuutaanaam
aavRttir iti cintayan
saMvegaac ca sa-raago 'pi
viita-raaga iv' aabhavat
12.8
"Even the most exalted of creatures
Are subject to return!"
So he reflected,
And from his shock,
Although he was given to redness,
He seemed to blanch.
COMMENT:
Men of wisdom through the ages have observed that change is the ultimate reality.
Startled at the dawning of this realisation, Nanda became like a rabbit on the alert, ears pricked up.
Physiologically, startle can manifest as the agitated redness of the panic reflex or as the shocked whiteness of fear paralysis (the latter being the deeper and more primitive response); or as a combination of both as the two opposing responses struggle against each other for supremacy.
It would seem from this verse that Ashvaghosha understood very clearly and explicitly these two opposing responses to a fearful stimulus, both of which are associated with a heightened sense of alertness.
EH Johnston:
He reflected that even the greatest beings return to this life and, though full of passion, he became as it were free from it in consequence of agitation of mind.
Linda Covill:
He thought about the return to earth of even the greatest beings, and though he was a passionate man, in his shocked agitation he seemed devoid of passion.
VOCABULARY:
mahataam = genitive plural of mahat: great, high, eminent
api: even
bhuutaanaam = genitive plural of bhuuta: n. that which is or exists , any living being
aavRttiH = nominative singular of aavRtti: f. turning towards , entering , turning back or from , reversion , retreat , flight ; recurrence to the same point ; turn of a way , course , direction ; revolving , going round ; worldly existence , the revolution of births
iti: thus
cintayan = imperfect of cint: to think about , reflect upon , direct the thoughts towards
saMvegaat (ablative, from saM-vij, to tremble or start with fear): because of shock/panic
ca: and
sa-raagaH = nominative singular of saraaga: having colour ; reddened ; enamoured , impassioned , passionate
api: even, although
viita-raaga: mfn. free from passions or affections , dispassionate , desireless , calm , tranquil ; colourless , bleached ; m. a sage with subdued passions (esp. applied to a Buddhist or jaina saint)
iva: like
aabhavat: he was, he became
Showing posts with label panic/grasp reflex. Show all posts
Showing posts with label panic/grasp reflex. Show all posts
Sunday, May 31, 2009
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.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 16.16: Existential Suffering, Here & Now
tan naama-ruupasya guN'-aanuruupaM
yatr" aiva nirvRttir udaara-vRtta
tatr' aiva duHkhaM na hi tad-vimuktaM
duHkhaM bhaviShyaty abhavad bhaved vaa
16.16
In conformity with its kind, then,
a distinguishable bodily form
Develops, wherein, O man of noble conduct,
Suffering exists, right there -- for nowhere else
Will suffering exist or has it existed or could it exist.
COMMENT:
This, as I understand it, is Ashvaghosha’s last word on suffering itself at the end of this stream of ten verses (16.7 - 16.16) devoted to the first of the four noble truths, the truth of suffering. I (i.e. the distinguishable bodily form that, here and now, looking into a full-length Alexander teaching mirror, seems to be me) have found these past few verses tough going....
How pregnant with suffering
Is the expectant mind.
And how deflating for an ego
Is a long, slow slog
in the shadow of a horse’s whip.
From the next verse, our attention is turned toward the cause of suffering. Very close to the heart of the problem as I see it, primarily in myself, is the infantile panic/grasp reflex. This reflex is at the centre of a cluster of vestibular reflexes whose original purpose is to ensure the survival, in its early post-natal stages, of a separate self, i.e. a bodily form that is distinguishable from its surroundings.
VOCABULARY:
tat: (connecting particle) then, so
naama = in compounds for naaman: a characteristic mark or sign, form, nature, kind, manner; name , appellation; merely the name (as opp. to reality); essence
ruupasya = genitive of ruupa: form, material form; any outward appearance or phenomenon or colour (often pl.) , form , shape , figure
guNa: subdivision , species , kind; a quality , peculiarity , attribute or property
anuruupa: following the form , conformable , corresponding , like , fit , suitable ; adapted to , according to
yatra: in which place, wherein
eva:
nirvRttiH = nominative, singular of nirvRtti: development, growth
udaara: noble , illustrious , generous; upright , honest; liberal, gentle , munificent; sincere , proper , right
vRtta: turned , set in motion; procedure , practice , action , mode of life , conduct , behaviour (esp. virtuous conduct , good behaviour)
tatra: there, in that place, therein
eva: the very [emphatic]
duHkham: suffering
na: not
hi: for
tad: that
vimukta: unloosed , unharnessed; set free , liberated (esp. from mundane existence) , freed or delivered or escaped from
duHkham: suffering
bhaviShyati (future of bhuu): will be
abhavad (past tense of bhuu): was
bhaved (optative of bhuu): could be
vaa: or
EH Johnston:
For where, O man of noble conduct, there is development of corporeality according to its qualities, there also is suffering; for apart from it suffering has not been and will not be nor can it be.
Linda Covill:
There where psycho-physical existence grows in conformity to its characteristics, right there, O man of noble conduct, is suffering, for without it suffering will not exist, did not exist, could not exist.
yatr" aiva nirvRttir udaara-vRtta
tatr' aiva duHkhaM na hi tad-vimuktaM
duHkhaM bhaviShyaty abhavad bhaved vaa
16.16
In conformity with its kind, then,
a distinguishable bodily form
Develops, wherein, O man of noble conduct,
Suffering exists, right there -- for nowhere else
Will suffering exist or has it existed or could it exist.
COMMENT:
This, as I understand it, is Ashvaghosha’s last word on suffering itself at the end of this stream of ten verses (16.7 - 16.16) devoted to the first of the four noble truths, the truth of suffering. I (i.e. the distinguishable bodily form that, here and now, looking into a full-length Alexander teaching mirror, seems to be me) have found these past few verses tough going....
How pregnant with suffering
Is the expectant mind.
And how deflating for an ego
Is a long, slow slog
in the shadow of a horse’s whip.
From the next verse, our attention is turned toward the cause of suffering. Very close to the heart of the problem as I see it, primarily in myself, is the infantile panic/grasp reflex. This reflex is at the centre of a cluster of vestibular reflexes whose original purpose is to ensure the survival, in its early post-natal stages, of a separate self, i.e. a bodily form that is distinguishable from its surroundings.
VOCABULARY:
tat: (connecting particle) then, so
naama = in compounds for naaman: a characteristic mark or sign, form, nature, kind, manner; name , appellation; merely the name (as opp. to reality); essence
ruupasya = genitive of ruupa: form, material form; any outward appearance or phenomenon or colour (often pl.) , form , shape , figure
guNa: subdivision , species , kind; a quality , peculiarity , attribute or property
anuruupa: following the form , conformable , corresponding , like , fit , suitable ; adapted to , according to
yatra: in which place, wherein
eva:
nirvRttiH = nominative, singular of nirvRtti: development, growth
udaara: noble , illustrious , generous; upright , honest; liberal, gentle , munificent; sincere , proper , right
vRtta: turned , set in motion; procedure , practice , action , mode of life , conduct , behaviour (esp. virtuous conduct , good behaviour)
tatra: there, in that place, therein
eva: the very [emphatic]
duHkham: suffering
na: not
hi: for
tad: that
vimukta: unloosed , unharnessed; set free , liberated (esp. from mundane existence) , freed or delivered or escaped from
duHkham: suffering
bhaviShyati (future of bhuu): will be
abhavad (past tense of bhuu): was
bhaved (optative of bhuu): could be
vaa: or
EH Johnston:
For where, O man of noble conduct, there is development of corporeality according to its qualities, there also is suffering; for apart from it suffering has not been and will not be nor can it be.
Linda Covill:
There where psycho-physical existence grows in conformity to its characteristics, right there, O man of noble conduct, is suffering, for without it suffering will not exist, did not exist, could not exist.
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