raag'-oddhava vyaakulite 'pi citte
maitr'-opasaMhaara-vidhir na kaaryaH
raag-aatmaako muhyati maitrayaa hi
snehaM kapha-kShobha iv' opayuja
16.59
Again, when the mind is muddled by lust,
The practice of inviting in love
is not to be undertaken;
For a passionate type is stupefied by love,
Like a sufferer from phlegm taking oil.
COMMENT:
Calming, garnering, and letting be (discussed in verses 16.53 - 16.58) are, as I see them, the three basic options for regulating the flow of one's energy.
Buddha/Ashvaghosha now turn our attention to dealing with the three root faults that are understood to corrupt, taint or muddle up a person's energy; namely, lust, ill-will, and ignorance/delusion. To this end, the metaphor used in this and the next five verses (16.59 - 16.65) relates to Aryuvedic medicine, in which disease is understood to be a function of three humours: phlegm, wind and bile. The metaphor is particularly apt since the word dosha, fault, is not only used to express the three root afflictions that cloud our sensory appreciation, but is also used to express a disease of the three humours.
In the metaphor which is about to unfold, phlegm corresponds to lust/passion, bile to ill-will/hate, and wind to ignorance/delusion.
A phlegm condition is said to be aggravated by oil and remedied by astringents. So this verse, yet again, first sounds an inhibitory or precautionary note, warning us when in lust not to do anything, for a start, to make things worse. It is the preventive principle again: think first what NOT to do.
This verse seems to be saying, then, in other words, when in lust do not render yourself susceptible, for example, to the influence of Hollywood romances or pop classics or Christian hymns that celebrate the power of love.
For me maitra means not so much loving-kindness, which sounds like a technical word used in Buddhist meditation, but simply love -- as in "Love thy neighbour" or as in "All you need is love." Shortly before she died my grandmother told me, as I was leaving, "Remember you were loved." She didn't say, "Remember you were treated with loving-kindness."
Love is one of those words, like inhibition, or mindfulness, that has got very many barnacles attached to it, so that it elicits deluded reactions in people. But the fault in that case is not in the word; it is in people's reactions to the word.
Just because love is central to the Christian message, and has so many Christian barnacles attached to it, should I veer away from translating maitra as love? I don't think so. Just because love and sex can be closely related and are very often confused with each other, should we seek some special word, other than love, for maitra? I don't think so.
We don't talk of filling the kettle with H20; we say that we fill it with water. Similarly, we don't talk of loving-kindness making fools of men; we say that love makes fools of men.
Speaking of the Christian message, this being Easter weekend my beloved BBC Radio 4 seems to have been hi-jacked by Christian preachers, and I have never felt so clear about the difference between the teaching of Buddha and the extreme pessimism and optimism of the Christian church. The Christian message, it seems to me, is one of the centrality of love and the ultimate triumph of optimism. Whereas Ashvaghosha's message is that love has its place, as an antidote to hate, but that place is never central. And the ultimate triumph might be not the triumph of optimism but rather the triumph over optimism, along with pessimism.
Some say that Buddhism offers a middle way between religion and science. To those who say so, I say you can keep your Buddhism, along with optimism, pessimism, pacificism, and every other kind of -ism. The teaching of Buddha/Ashvaghosha, as I read it, is the giving up of all -isms.
Thus, on this Easter Sunday, from my seat by an upstairs window, I have pontificated for the benefit of a great audience of twittering spring birds and miscellaneous insects and spiders. As I sign off, a wood pigeon is coo-ing and in the distance a cuckoo is intermittently calling.
EH Johnston:
When the mind is disturbed by the excitement of passion, the method of cultivating the idea of benevolence should be avoided; for the man of passionate nature goes wrong through benevolence, like a man disturbed by phlegm through unctuous treatment.
Linda Covill:
When the mind is disordered due to the excitement of passion, the prescription for cultivating loving-kindness should not be followed; for a man of passionate nature is debilitated by loving-kindness, like a patient with a phlegm imbalance using oil treatments.
VOCABULARY:
raaga: redness, passion, love
uddhava: sacrificial fire; festival, holiday; joy, pleasure
vyaakulite (loc.): perplexed , bewildered , distracted , alarmed; confused , disarranged , disturbed , corrupted
api: also, again
citte = locative of citta: mind, the thinking mind
maitra: coming from or given by or belonging to a friend , friendly , amicable , benevolent , affectionate , kind; a friend (= mitra); friendship
upasaMhaara: m. the act of withdrawing , withholding , taking away; drawing towards one's self , bringing near; summarizing , summing up
vidhiH = nominative, singular of vidhi: m. formula; method; prescription
na: not
kaaryaH (nom. sg. m.): to be done, to be practised
raag-aatmaakaH (nom. sg. m.): a passionate type
aatmaka: having or consisting of the nature or character of (in comp.)
muhyati = 3rd person singular of muh: to become stupefied or unconscious , be bewildered or perplexed , err , be mistaken , go astray ; to become confused ,
maitrayaa = instrumental of maitra: friendship, loving-kindness, love
hi: for
sneham (acc. sg.): m. oil
kapha: phlegm (as one of the three humors of the body » also vaayu and pitta)
kShobhaH (nom. sg.): m. shaking , agitation , disturbance
iva: like
upayujya = absolutive of upa- √yuj: to harness to; to use , employ , apply; to have the use of , enjoy (e.g. food or a woman or dominion); to come into contact
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 16.48: Going Beyond Science, Scientifically
dhaatuun hi ShaD bhuu-salil-aanalaadiin
saamaanyataH svena ca lakShaNena
avaiti yo n'aanyam avaiti tebhyaH
so' tyantikaM mokSham avaiti tebhyaH
16.48
For in knowing the six elements
of earth, water, fire and the rest,
Generically, and each as specific to itself,
He who knows nothing else but them,
Knows total release from them.
COMMENT:
The six elements are the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space, plus the sixth element of consciousness.
My sons are both continuing with the study of chemistry, biology, and maths, to 'A' level and beyond, and that suits me fine. I look forward to them filling me in on the 2nd law of thermodynamics, among other things. If biology led them into psychology, I would not be too disappointed. But if they had tended towards, say, film studies or -- God forbid -- religious studies, I might not have encouraged them in that direction.
This verse, as I read it, affirms a scientific approach to knowing, as opposed to religious belief in such supposed miraculous Hollywood/biblical phenomena as God, virgin birth, winged angels, et cetera.
Ashvaghosha's point, as I take it, is that there never has been nor ever will be any basis in religion from which to transcend science. Gold is got from earth, by digging. The basis for transcending science lies in scientific endeavour itself.
This kind of scientific endeavor, as John Dewey saw it, was what FM Alexander was involved in. Thus Dewey wrote in his introduction to Alexander's second book:
"After studying over a period of years Mr Alexander's method in actual operation, I would stake myself upon the fact that he has applied to our ideas and beliefs about ourselves, and about our acts, exactly the same method of experimentation, and of the production of new sensory observations as tests and means of developing thought, that have been the source of all progress in the physical sciences."
Even more pertinent to this verse is a paragraph that Dewey wrote in his introduction to Alexander's third book:
"As might be anticipated, the conclusions of Mr Alexander's experimental enquiries are in harmony with what physiologists know about the muscular and nervous structure. But they give a new significance to that knowledge; indeed, they make evident what knowledge itself really is. The anatomist may 'know' the exact function of each muscle, and conversely know what muscles come into play in the execution of any specified act. But if he is himself unable to co-ordinate all the muscular structures involved in, say, sitting down or in rising from a sitting position in a way which achieves the optimum and efficient performance of that act -- if in other words he misuses himself in what he does -- how can he be said to know in the full and vital sense of that word?"
After my own scientific education, followed by 30 years of work in the laboratory of a misused self, what, as a result of all my many failed and falsified hypotheses, do I truly know?
Sitting rigidly upright while pulling the chin back and down in order to stretch the back of the neck is very largely a matter of earth; whereas consciousness, if I know it at all, is basically a matter of sitting upright not like that.
VOCABULARY:
dhaatuun = accusative, plural of dhaatu: m. element , primitive matter (usually reckoned as 5 , viz. kha or aakaaza , anila , tejas , jala , bhuu ; to which is added brahma; or vijNaana Buddh. )
hi: for
ShaD: six
bhuu: earth
salila: water
anala: fire
aadiin = accusative, plural of aadi: et cetera
saamaanya: equal , alike; shared by others , joint ; whole , entire , universal , general , generic , not specific
-taH = ablative/adverbial suffix
svena = instrumental, singular (agreeing with lakShaNena) of sva: its own
ca: and
lakShaNena = instrumental, singular of lakShana: indicating , expressing indirectly; a mark , sign , symbol , token , characteristic , attribute, quality
avaiti = 3rd person singular of ave: to see, understand, know
yaH: [he] who
na: not
anyam (accusative): other, else, apart
avaiti = 3rd person singular of ave: to see, understand, know
tebhyaH (ablative, plural): from them
saH (nominative, singular): he
aatyantika: continual , uninterrupted , infinite , endless; entire , universal (as the world's destruction &c )
mokSham (accusative): emancipation , liberation , release from (ablative)
avaiti = 3rd person singular of ave: to see, understand, know; to go to
tebhyaH (ablative, plural): from them
EH Johnston:
For he who understands the six elements, earth, water, fire etc., both in their general and their specific characteristics and understands that there is nothing other than them understands complete liberation from them.
Linda Covill:
For the man who understands the six elements of earth, water, fire and so on in their general and particular characteristics, and who understands that there is nothing else apart from them, attains utter freedom from them.
saamaanyataH svena ca lakShaNena
avaiti yo n'aanyam avaiti tebhyaH
so' tyantikaM mokSham avaiti tebhyaH
16.48
For in knowing the six elements
of earth, water, fire and the rest,
Generically, and each as specific to itself,
He who knows nothing else but them,
Knows total release from them.
COMMENT:
The six elements are the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space, plus the sixth element of consciousness.
My sons are both continuing with the study of chemistry, biology, and maths, to 'A' level and beyond, and that suits me fine. I look forward to them filling me in on the 2nd law of thermodynamics, among other things. If biology led them into psychology, I would not be too disappointed. But if they had tended towards, say, film studies or -- God forbid -- religious studies, I might not have encouraged them in that direction.
This verse, as I read it, affirms a scientific approach to knowing, as opposed to religious belief in such supposed miraculous Hollywood/biblical phenomena as God, virgin birth, winged angels, et cetera.
Ashvaghosha's point, as I take it, is that there never has been nor ever will be any basis in religion from which to transcend science. Gold is got from earth, by digging. The basis for transcending science lies in scientific endeavour itself.
This kind of scientific endeavor, as John Dewey saw it, was what FM Alexander was involved in. Thus Dewey wrote in his introduction to Alexander's second book:
"After studying over a period of years Mr Alexander's method in actual operation, I would stake myself upon the fact that he has applied to our ideas and beliefs about ourselves, and about our acts, exactly the same method of experimentation, and of the production of new sensory observations as tests and means of developing thought, that have been the source of all progress in the physical sciences."
Even more pertinent to this verse is a paragraph that Dewey wrote in his introduction to Alexander's third book:
"As might be anticipated, the conclusions of Mr Alexander's experimental enquiries are in harmony with what physiologists know about the muscular and nervous structure. But they give a new significance to that knowledge; indeed, they make evident what knowledge itself really is. The anatomist may 'know' the exact function of each muscle, and conversely know what muscles come into play in the execution of any specified act. But if he is himself unable to co-ordinate all the muscular structures involved in, say, sitting down or in rising from a sitting position in a way which achieves the optimum and efficient performance of that act -- if in other words he misuses himself in what he does -- how can he be said to know in the full and vital sense of that word?"
After my own scientific education, followed by 30 years of work in the laboratory of a misused self, what, as a result of all my many failed and falsified hypotheses, do I truly know?
Sitting rigidly upright while pulling the chin back and down in order to stretch the back of the neck is very largely a matter of earth; whereas consciousness, if I know it at all, is basically a matter of sitting upright not like that.
VOCABULARY:
dhaatuun = accusative, plural of dhaatu: m. element , primitive matter (usually reckoned as 5 , viz. kha or aakaaza , anila , tejas , jala , bhuu ; to which is added brahma; or vijNaana Buddh. )
hi: for
ShaD: six
bhuu: earth
salila: water
anala: fire
aadiin = accusative, plural of aadi: et cetera
saamaanya: equal , alike; shared by others , joint ; whole , entire , universal , general , generic , not specific
-taH = ablative/adverbial suffix
svena = instrumental, singular (agreeing with lakShaNena) of sva: its own
ca: and
lakShaNena = instrumental, singular of lakShana: indicating , expressing indirectly; a mark , sign , symbol , token , characteristic , attribute, quality
avaiti = 3rd person singular of ave: to see, understand, know
yaH: [he] who
na: not
anyam (accusative): other, else, apart
avaiti = 3rd person singular of ave: to see, understand, know
tebhyaH (ablative, plural): from them
saH (nominative, singular): he
aatyantika: continual , uninterrupted , infinite , endless; entire , universal (as the world's destruction &c )
mokSham (accusative): emancipation , liberation , release from (ablative)
avaiti = 3rd person singular of ave: to see, understand, know; to go to
tebhyaH (ablative, plural): from them
EH Johnston:
For he who understands the six elements, earth, water, fire etc., both in their general and their specific characteristics and understands that there is nothing other than them understands complete liberation from them.
Linda Covill:
For the man who understands the six elements of earth, water, fire and so on in their general and particular characteristics, and who understands that there is nothing else apart from them, attains utter freedom from them.
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