aNvyaa yath"aaNyaa vipul-aaNir anyaa
nirvaahyate tad-viduShaa nareNa
tadvat tad ev' aakushalaM nimittam
kShipen nimitt'antara-sevanena
16.72
Just as a deep splinter,
by means of the point of another sharp object,
Is removed by a man skilled in that task,
Likewise an unfavourable stimulus
May be despatched through the use of a different stimulus.
COMMENT:
An unfavourable stimulus, in this context, may be understood as synonymous with what is described previously and in the following verse as an unlovely or disagreeable thought; i.e. the thought that gets you down -- the human relationship that gives you grief, the investment that crashed, the mistake you made yesterday, et cetera.
A different stimulus might be "Take the backward step of turning light and shining, so that body and mind spontaneously fall away and your original features emerge," or might simply be "Just sit upright!" or might be "Allow the neck to release, to allow the head to go forward and up, to allow the back to lengthen and widen."
Using thought like this, as a stimulus to action, is a kind of thinking. It is a kind of thinking the state of not-thinking. It is a kind of thinking into the zone of not thinking.
If we call it "meditation," we should understand it not as meditation which is separate from sitting -- i.e. not as the kind of meditation characterized by techniques of meditation, the kind of meditation that is learned -- but should understand it as sitting-meditation, one thing with a physical and a mental aspect which are totally opposed but never separate.
I think this is what Master Dogen meant when he wrote IWAYURU ZAZEN WA SHUZEN NIWA ARAZU, "What is called sitting-dhyana is not meditation to be learned."
EH Johnston:
As a man, skilled in the job, uses a small wedge to knock out another bigger one, so a subject of meditation that has bad results should be driven out be selecting another one.
Linda Covill:
Just as a man expert in such matters removes a large pin by means of a smaller pin, likewise one should drop an ineffective meditational subject by focusing on a different one.
VOCABULARY:
aNvyaa = inst. aNii: f. the point of a needle or of a sharp stake
yathaa: just as
anyaa anyaa = nom. sg. f. anya, anya: the one, the other
vipula: large, extensive , wide , great , thick , long
aNiH = nominative, singular of aNi: m. the point of a needle or of a sharp stake
nirvaahyate = passive of nir vah: to lead out, carry off; remove
tad: it, that
viduShaa = instrumental of vidvas: one who knows , knowing , understanding , learned , intelligent , wise , mindful of , familiar with , skilled in
nareNa = instrumental of nara: a man
tadvat (correlative of yathaa): likewise
tad: that
eva: (empathic)
akushalam (acc. sg. m.): inauspicious, evil; not clever
nimittam (acc. sg.): m. stimulus, cause
kShipet = 3rd person singular, optative of kShip: to throw , cast , send , despatch; to strike or hit (with a weapon) ; to put or place anything on or in (loc.) ; to direct (the thoughts) upon (loc.); to throw away , cast away , get rid of
nimitta: stimulus, cause, antidote
antara: different from
sevanena = instrumental of sevana: practise or employment of (gen. or comp.)
Showing posts with label sitting-dhyana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sitting-dhyana. Show all posts
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 16.1: A Methodical Process
evaM mano-dhaaraNayaa krameNa
vyapohya kim cit samupohya kim cit
dhyaanaani catvaary adhigamya yogii
praapnoty abhijNaa niyamena paNca
16.1
"Thus, methodically, by an act of stilling the mind,
With a certain amount of negation
and a certain amount of integration,
The practitioner comes to the four realisations
And duly acquires the fivefold power of knowing:
COMMENT:
Line 1 describes an act of sitting-dhyana as the most MENTAL act there is -- not a doing that is accomplished solely by direct physical means.
Line 2, as I read it, has to do with regulation of ENERGY. What I have been struggling towards, in the very nearly 50 years since I was conceived, through a very slow and faltering process, is greater conscious control in directing the flow of that temporary concentration of energy which is me. So that's my basis for understanding Line 2. I think it expresses from a MATERIALISTIC standpoint what goes on in the sitting practitioner's brain and nervous system, through the re-direction of his ENERGY in sitting. The line can be understood as expressing, in even more explicitly neurological terms, the pruning out of certain circuits of neurones and the making of new connections between certain circuits of neurones. So the line could have been translated "Pruning bits here and connecting bits there." What this means in practice I endeavored to express, from the standpoint of a student of Master Dogen and FM Alexander, in this article. Energetic patterns to negate, or neuronal circuits to prune out, might be those associated with emotional clinging to relationships that belong to the past, or emotional grasping for outcomes that belong to the future -- together with all the other kinds of emotional habits associated with infantile fear reflexes. New connections to make, in the way of integration, might be those associated with a new and improved use of the head, neck and back. When this breaking and making of connections is investigated (as verse 17.50 says) "through experience, with the body," then (1) breaking away from unconscious reactions, and (2) making conscious connections between body parts, may turn out to be two ways of describing one process. Hence, "the truest form of inhibition is direction."
Line 3 describes what happens in PRACTICE.
Line 4 describes not the acquisition of knowledge but THE REAL power of knowing. The prefix abhi, which means "over" suggests what is transcendent, or real.
VOCABULARY:
evam: thus
mano = (in compounds) manas: mind
dhAraNayA = instrumental dhaaraNa: holding, bearing, keeping (in remembrance), retention, preserving, protecting, maintaining, possessing; the act of holding, bearing; keeping in remembrance, memory; immovable concentration of the mind upon (locative); restraining, keeping back
kramena = instrumental of krama: step, course, method
vyapohya = absolutive of vya + apa + hRi: to cut off, take away, remove, destroy
kimcit: something, somewhat, a little, a certain amount
samupohya = absolutive of sam + uuh: to sweep together, bring or gather together, collect, unite
kim cit: something, somewhat, a little, a certain amount
dhyAnAni (accusative, plural): realisations, stages of Zen
catvAri (nominative, neuter): four
adhigamya (absolutive of adhi + gam): on coming to, obtaining, accomplishing
yogI = nominative, singular of yogin: a practitioner of yoga, a devotee of bodymind work
prApnoti: he/she acquires
abhijNA: (nominative, singular, feminine): knowing; supernatural science or faculty of a buddha (of which five are enumerated , viz. 1. taking any form at will ; 2. hearing to any distance ; 3. seeing to any distance ; 4. penetrating men's thoughts ; 5. knowing their state and antecedents).
niyamena (instrumental of niyama): as a rule, necessarily, invariably, surely
niyama: any fixed rule or law, necessity, obligation
paNca: five, fivefold
EH Johnston:
'Thus in due course by subtracting something and adding something through immobility of the mind and by attaining the four trances, the Yogin spontaneously acquires the five supernatural powers.
Linda Covill:
"So by using mental concentration to gradually take a little away and to add a little, the practitioner attains the four meditative states, and then inevitably acquires the five supernormal faculties:
vyapohya kim cit samupohya kim cit
dhyaanaani catvaary adhigamya yogii
praapnoty abhijNaa niyamena paNca
16.1
"Thus, methodically, by an act of stilling the mind,
With a certain amount of negation
and a certain amount of integration,
The practitioner comes to the four realisations
And duly acquires the fivefold power of knowing:
COMMENT:
Line 1 describes an act of sitting-dhyana as the most MENTAL act there is -- not a doing that is accomplished solely by direct physical means.
Line 2, as I read it, has to do with regulation of ENERGY. What I have been struggling towards, in the very nearly 50 years since I was conceived, through a very slow and faltering process, is greater conscious control in directing the flow of that temporary concentration of energy which is me. So that's my basis for understanding Line 2. I think it expresses from a MATERIALISTIC standpoint what goes on in the sitting practitioner's brain and nervous system, through the re-direction of his ENERGY in sitting. The line can be understood as expressing, in even more explicitly neurological terms, the pruning out of certain circuits of neurones and the making of new connections between certain circuits of neurones. So the line could have been translated "Pruning bits here and connecting bits there." What this means in practice I endeavored to express, from the standpoint of a student of Master Dogen and FM Alexander, in this article. Energetic patterns to negate, or neuronal circuits to prune out, might be those associated with emotional clinging to relationships that belong to the past, or emotional grasping for outcomes that belong to the future -- together with all the other kinds of emotional habits associated with infantile fear reflexes. New connections to make, in the way of integration, might be those associated with a new and improved use of the head, neck and back. When this breaking and making of connections is investigated (as verse 17.50 says) "through experience, with the body," then (1) breaking away from unconscious reactions, and (2) making conscious connections between body parts, may turn out to be two ways of describing one process. Hence, "the truest form of inhibition is direction."
Line 3 describes what happens in PRACTICE.
Line 4 describes not the acquisition of knowledge but THE REAL power of knowing. The prefix abhi, which means "over" suggests what is transcendent, or real.
VOCABULARY:
evam: thus
mano = (in compounds) manas: mind
dhAraNayA = instrumental dhaaraNa: holding, bearing, keeping (in remembrance), retention, preserving, protecting, maintaining, possessing; the act of holding, bearing; keeping in remembrance, memory; immovable concentration of the mind upon (locative); restraining, keeping back
kramena = instrumental of krama: step, course, method
vyapohya = absolutive of vya + apa + hRi: to cut off, take away, remove, destroy
kimcit: something, somewhat, a little, a certain amount
samupohya = absolutive of sam + uuh: to sweep together, bring or gather together, collect, unite
kim cit: something, somewhat, a little, a certain amount
dhyAnAni (accusative, plural): realisations, stages of Zen
catvAri (nominative, neuter): four
adhigamya (absolutive of adhi + gam): on coming to, obtaining, accomplishing
yogI = nominative, singular of yogin: a practitioner of yoga, a devotee of bodymind work
prApnoti: he/she acquires
abhijNA: (nominative, singular, feminine): knowing; supernatural science or faculty of a buddha (of which five are enumerated , viz. 1. taking any form at will ; 2. hearing to any distance ; 3. seeing to any distance ; 4. penetrating men's thoughts ; 5. knowing their state and antecedents).
niyamena (instrumental of niyama): as a rule, necessarily, invariably, surely
niyama: any fixed rule or law, necessity, obligation
paNca: five, fivefold
EH Johnston:
'Thus in due course by subtracting something and adding something through immobility of the mind and by attaining the four trances, the Yogin spontaneously acquires the five supernatural powers.
Linda Covill:
"So by using mental concentration to gradually take a little away and to add a little, the practitioner attains the four meditative states, and then inevitably acquires the five supernormal faculties:
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