etaavac chiilam ity uktam
aacaaro 'yaM samaasataH
asya naashena n' aaiva syaat
pravrajyaa na gRha-sthataa
= = = = - - = -
= = = = - = - =
= - = = - = = =
= = = - - = - =
13.19
Such is termed "practice of integrity."
In sum, it is conduct;
Without it there could truly be
No going forth, nor state of being at home.
COMMENT:
In sum, it is walking the walk.
These comments of mine are so much talking the talk. But the work of translation is walking the walk. Each verse is four steps in a walk, in a "going into movement," one foot in front of the other.
It is good to be on a long path that is going somewhere. It is not a path I imagined I would be walking, but the point is not to pick and choose a path. "Beggars can't be choosers," as my grandparents used to say. Any path will do.
When Gudo Nishijima and Jeff Bailey returned from a trip to America in the mid-1980s, Gudo reported back to me that Jeff had come up with the idea that I should be "the champion of Dogen Sangha." What did it mean in terms of my actual conduct, I wondered? It didn't mean anything. It was only an idea, a good bit of talking the talk. But my deluded reaction to the idea was all too real. And sadly at that time I was not possessed of any means for dealing with emotional reaction to an idea -- and neither would I be possessed of the means until I met Marjory Barlow many years later.
Even now, day by day, verse by verse, step by step, I am struggling to give up the idea that I am destined to play some great role as a "Buddhist" leader: I wish to be free from the undesired reactions, the energetic leakages, that the idea seems to mobilize in me. But the idea has buried itself a long way down. I think I am free of it, then I notice some emotional reaction in myself and realise I was not free after all. Have to dig deeper.
GRha-sthataa at the end of the verse could be translated "lay practice" or "practice as a householder." I considered those two translations, but they didn't sound right to my (admittedly faulty) ear, based on my experience over the past 30 years of sometimes going forth and sometimes being at home, sometimes failing to go forth, and sometimes failing to be at home. "State of being at home" sounds right to my ear: it has overtones that hint at the backward step of turning one's light and shining -- the backward step that is always available to anybody, regardless of social status, caste, colour, or creed.
Who am I? A Buddhist monk? A Buddhist householder undergoing a solitary summer retreat? No, I am neither of those two. A non-Buddhist monk, then? A non-Buddhist householder? Or a non-Buddhist scrounger? A non-Buddhist dosser enjoying another long holiday? I don't know. On a good day, I don't care two hoots either.
Not knowing who I am, I devote myself as best I can to the conscious practice of integrity, as far as I understand it, as a backward step, and I get on with this translation work in forward steps, one foot in front of the other.
The mainspring of integrity, as FM Alexander rightly observed, is a person's central alignment such that the head, arms, and legs are all as if spilling out from the expanding depths of one's being. When this integrity is truly practised, it seems to me, it doesn't matter who I am. After a heavy downpour, the birds begin again to sing.
EH Johnston:
This much is said to be discipline. To put it briefly, it is good behaviour ; in its absence there can be no proper life either as a mendicant or as a householder.
Linda Covill:
Such is what is termed moral self-restraint. To summarize, it is virtuous conduct; were it to disappear, neither true going forth nor true household life would be possible
VOCABULARY:
etaavat: ind. so far , thus far , so much , in such a degree , thus
shiilam = accusative of shiila: habit , custom , usage , natural or acquired way of living or acting , practice , conduct , disposition , tendency , character , nature ; good disposition or character , moral conduct , integrity , morality , piety , virtue ; (with Buddhists, " moral conduct " , is one of the 6 or 10 perfections or pAramitAs [q.v.] and is threefold , viz. sambhAra , kuzala-saMgrAha , sattvA*rtha-kriyA Dharmas. 106) ;
a moral precept (with Buddh. there are 5 fundamental precepts or rules of moral conduct cf. paJca-zIla)
iti: " "
uktam (accusative): uttered, said, spoken
aacaaraH: conduct , manner of action , behaviour , good behaviour , good conduct ; custom , practice , usage , traditional or immemorial usage (as the foundation of law) ; an established rule of conduct , ordinance , institute , precept ; (with Buddhists) agreeing with what is taught by the teacher
ayam: this, this is
samaasa: aggregation , conjunction , combination , connection , union , totality
-taH: ablative suffix
asya (genitive): of it
naashena = instrumental of naasha: the being lost , loss , disappearance
na: not
eva: (emphatic)
syaat: might be
pravrajyaa: f. going forth from home (first rite of a layman wishing to become a Buddh. monk) ; f. roaming , wandering about (esp. as a religious mendicant ; f. the order of a religious mendicant
na: not
gRha: home, house
stha: standing, staying , abiding , being situated in , existing or being in; occupied with , engaged in , devoted to performing , practising
- taa: -ness, state of, being
gRhasthataa: being a householder, [being-at-home]-ness
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.18: How Not to Wash the Stubborn Stain of "What's In It For Me?"
gRha-sthena hi duH-shodhaa
dRShTir vividha-dRShTinaa
aajivo bhikShuNaa c' aaiva
pareShv aayata-vRttinaa
- = = - - = = =
= = - - - = - =
= - = = - = = -
- = = - = = - =
13.18
For hard to be washed clean
is the view of the househoulder
With his many and various concerns,
As too is the livelihood of the beggar
Whose subsistence depends on others.
COMMENT:
A householder's practice is liable to be tainted by having various fish to fry, while a beggar's practice is liable to be tainted by contributions either not obtained morally or not given freely.
In either case, impurity originates with a thought in the back of somebody's mind of "what's in it for me?"
There are Buddhist priests in Japan and Buddhist monks in Thailand who actively encourage the "what's in it for me?" attitude by selling supposedly auspicious posthumous names to the highest bidder, and by selling trinkets to the superstitious who hope to win the lottery.
Behind the hypocrisy of the -ism, Buddhist "What's in it for me?" begets Buddhist "What's in it for me?"
Even though I write this as a non-Buddhist, a non-Buddhist also is tainted by "What's in it for me?"
The big difference between a Buddhist hypocrite and a follower of non-Buddha is this: the Buddhist hypocrite thinks that he and his Buddhist teacher and his Buddhist chums are pure, that they are, to use the words of Venerable Jundo Cohen "the good guys"; the follower of non-Buddha, in contrast, is awake to what impurity is, primarily in himself.
I spent a past life of serving a buddha called Dogen, but those efforts were not always untainted by a view of "What's in it for me?" In this present life I am serving a buddha called Ashvaghosha, and these efforts are probably still so tainted.
How hard it is for the stain of "What's in it for me" to be washed off, is nowhere more clearly expressed than in the sutra quoted in Shobogenzo chap. 87, Kuyo-shobutsu, Serving Buddhas.
Re-translating that long passage, which I was doing at this very table in France this time last year, really helped me to find the job that I am enjoying doing now, in the service of Ashvaghosha. The point of this very long and repetitive passage is not to worry about impurity or to strive for purity, which is a kind of trying to be right. The point is to keep on serving buddhas, which is a kind of going into movement.
I come back to the golden teaching of Marjory Barlow, which might be paraphrased like this:
When you feel that you are wrong, remember that what you want is not to become right but rather to direct the energy which is your life in a direction that you are consciously choosing for yourself, not letting yourself be manipulated by others on the grounds of blind reaction. Remember this, and then get on with your work, without a care in the world.
What Marjory actually said was this: "When you feel that you are wrong, say 'No,' give your directions, and go into movement, without a care in the world. Let it come out in the wash."
Washing away untaintedness, as Marjory taught it, is a very indirect process. The Buddha as I hear him, and Marjory as I heard her, are chanting from the same scroll.
To let untaintedness come out in the wash, indirectly, through the process of serving buddhas, is very difficult. It requires many lifetimes of effort and sacrifice. To wash away taintedness directly is not difficult. It is totally impossible. Because "I want to be free of taintedness" is taintedness itself.
EH Johnston:
For it is difficult for the householder attached to many varied doctrines to attain purity of doctrine and for the mendicant whose means of existence are dependent on others to obtain purity of livelihood.
Linda Covill:
For a householder who subscribes to various doctrines has difficulty in maintaining an uncontaminated doctrine, while a monk who depends for his subsistence on other people has difficulty in keeping his livelihood clean.
VOCABULARY:
gRha: house, home; householder
sthena = instrumental of stha: standing , staying , abiding , being situated in , existing or being in
hi: for
duH-shodhaa (nom. f.): difficult to be cleaned
dRShTiH (nom.): f. seeing , viewing ; view, notion
vividha:. of various sorts , manifold , divers
dRShTinaa = instrumental of dRShTin: having an insight into or familiar with anything ; having the looks or thoughts directed upon anything
aajivaH (nom.): m. livelihood
bhikShuNaa = instrumental of bhikShu: m. a beggar , mendicant , a Buddhist mendicant or monk
ca: and
eva: (emphatic)
pareShu (locative, plural): to others
aayata: stretching , extending , extended , spread over ; directed towards , aiming at
vRttinaa = instrumental of vRtti/vRttin: mode of life or conduct , course of action , behaviour , (esp.) moral conduct; practice (often ifc practising) ; profession , maintenance , subsistence , livelihood
dRShTir vividha-dRShTinaa
aajivo bhikShuNaa c' aaiva
pareShv aayata-vRttinaa
- = = - - = = =
= = - - - = - =
= - = = - = = -
- = = - = = - =
13.18
For hard to be washed clean
is the view of the househoulder
With his many and various concerns,
As too is the livelihood of the beggar
Whose subsistence depends on others.
COMMENT:
A householder's practice is liable to be tainted by having various fish to fry, while a beggar's practice is liable to be tainted by contributions either not obtained morally or not given freely.
In either case, impurity originates with a thought in the back of somebody's mind of "what's in it for me?"
There are Buddhist priests in Japan and Buddhist monks in Thailand who actively encourage the "what's in it for me?" attitude by selling supposedly auspicious posthumous names to the highest bidder, and by selling trinkets to the superstitious who hope to win the lottery.
Behind the hypocrisy of the -ism, Buddhist "What's in it for me?" begets Buddhist "What's in it for me?"
Even though I write this as a non-Buddhist, a non-Buddhist also is tainted by "What's in it for me?"
The big difference between a Buddhist hypocrite and a follower of non-Buddha is this: the Buddhist hypocrite thinks that he and his Buddhist teacher and his Buddhist chums are pure, that they are, to use the words of Venerable Jundo Cohen "the good guys"; the follower of non-Buddha, in contrast, is awake to what impurity is, primarily in himself.
I spent a past life of serving a buddha called Dogen, but those efforts were not always untainted by a view of "What's in it for me?" In this present life I am serving a buddha called Ashvaghosha, and these efforts are probably still so tainted.
How hard it is for the stain of "What's in it for me" to be washed off, is nowhere more clearly expressed than in the sutra quoted in Shobogenzo chap. 87, Kuyo-shobutsu, Serving Buddhas.
Re-translating that long passage, which I was doing at this very table in France this time last year, really helped me to find the job that I am enjoying doing now, in the service of Ashvaghosha. The point of this very long and repetitive passage is not to worry about impurity or to strive for purity, which is a kind of trying to be right. The point is to keep on serving buddhas, which is a kind of going into movement.
I come back to the golden teaching of Marjory Barlow, which might be paraphrased like this:
When you feel that you are wrong, remember that what you want is not to become right but rather to direct the energy which is your life in a direction that you are consciously choosing for yourself, not letting yourself be manipulated by others on the grounds of blind reaction. Remember this, and then get on with your work, without a care in the world.
What Marjory actually said was this: "When you feel that you are wrong, say 'No,' give your directions, and go into movement, without a care in the world. Let it come out in the wash."
Washing away untaintedness, as Marjory taught it, is a very indirect process. The Buddha as I hear him, and Marjory as I heard her, are chanting from the same scroll.
To let untaintedness come out in the wash, indirectly, through the process of serving buddhas, is very difficult. It requires many lifetimes of effort and sacrifice. To wash away taintedness directly is not difficult. It is totally impossible. Because "I want to be free of taintedness" is taintedness itself.
EH Johnston:
For it is difficult for the householder attached to many varied doctrines to attain purity of doctrine and for the mendicant whose means of existence are dependent on others to obtain purity of livelihood.
Linda Covill:
For a householder who subscribes to various doctrines has difficulty in maintaining an uncontaminated doctrine, while a monk who depends for his subsistence on other people has difficulty in keeping his livelihood clean.
VOCABULARY:
gRha: house, home; householder
sthena = instrumental of stha: standing , staying , abiding , being situated in , existing or being in
hi: for
duH-shodhaa (nom. f.): difficult to be cleaned
dRShTiH (nom.): f. seeing , viewing ; view, notion
vividha:. of various sorts , manifold , divers
dRShTinaa = instrumental of dRShTin: having an insight into or familiar with anything ; having the looks or thoughts directed upon anything
aajivaH (nom.): m. livelihood
bhikShuNaa = instrumental of bhikShu: m. a beggar , mendicant , a Buddhist mendicant or monk
ca: and
eva: (emphatic)
pareShu (locative, plural): to others
aayata: stretching , extending , extended , spread over ; directed towards , aiming at
vRttinaa = instrumental of vRtti/vRttin: mode of life or conduct , course of action , behaviour , (esp.) moral conduct; practice (often ifc practising) ; profession , maintenance , subsistence , livelihood
Thursday, July 23, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.17: Being Simple Is Not Easy
karmaNo hi yathaa-dRShtaat
kaaya-vaak-prabhavaad api
aajiivaH pRthag ev' okto
duH-shodhatvaad ayaM mayaa
= - = - - = - =
= - = - - = - -
= = = - - = = =
= = = = - = - =
13.17
So separately from overt action
And from the origin of use of body and voice,
I have spoken of making a living
Because it is so hard to make a pure one --
COMMENT:
If I have understood the first two lines correctly, I have understood them on the basis of Dogen's teaching that there is sitting with mind, as opposed to sitting with body; and sitting with body, as opposed to sitting with mind.
To sit with the body is to attend to overt action, i.e, action as seen from the outside. Japanese and French Zazen practitioners tend to be strong in that direction, maybe reflecting the highly developed aesthetic sensibilities of their culture, cuisine, et cetera. Rule no. 1, they seem to understand, is that one has to look the part. I heard of a French Zen practitioner who tried to stretch his ears with weights, so that he might have long ears like the Buddha. How French can you get?
To sit with the mind, as opposed to sitting with the body, is to attend to stopping those wrong inner patterns from which misuse of body and voice originates. This latter approach relates to what FM Alexander called "thinking in activity," and to what followers of the Buddha in places like Thailand and Tibet call "mindfulness" or "training the mind." This seems to me to be no easy thing in itself, but quite apart from this difficulty the Buddha has been speaking of something which he himself (mayaa: "by me") now calls difficult: the cleansing or purification of one's livelihood.
The gold standard for purity might be the filthy rags that beggars of old would pick up, sort out, wash, dye and wear as a kashaya.
Purity as the Buddha uses the word, if I hear him correctly, means not being tainted. The non-taintedness of filthy rags, as I see it, has to do with the separateness between, on the one hand, the end-gaining of the world, and on the other hand, the attention followers of the Buddha are required to pay to a process. In the world of end-gaining, rags chewed by rats or soiled by shit or menstruation have no value. They are like CO2 emissions, something polluted and polluting -- unavoidable side-effects of the gaining of valuable ends -- something to be discarded. But beggars who followed the Buddha saw value in these waste products that had zero or negative value in the world, seeing them not as impure but as the most pure kind of cloth for making a robe.
If that is the sense in which the Buddha uses the term duH-shodhatva, "difficulty of cleansing," what does it mean for us to purify our means of making a living?
For a start, to sit as the dropping off of body and mind might be a condition of cleanness, i.e., of untainted simplicity, clarity, and indifference. I think that in the time of Ashvaghosha this practice and this understanding, in mutual accord with each other, were still flowing like a torrent in India. Nowadays river-beds everywhere are hardly overflowing, and anybody who really wants water had better be prepared to dig deep for it -- starting afresh from here.
EH Johnston:
For this livelihood is explained by Me separately from the physical actions, namely those of body and voice, because it is so difficult to purify.
Linda Covill:
Because of the difficulty of keeping it clean, I have explained making a living separately from actions as they are seen in body and speech.
VOCABULARY:
karmaNaH = ablative, singular of karmaN: act , action , performance , business ; work, labour, activity ; product , result , effect ; former act as leading to inevitable results , fate (as the certain consequence of acts in a previous life)
hi: for
yathaa: as, in accordance with
dRShtaat = ablative of dRShta: seen
kaaya: body
vaak = in compounds fo vaac: speech , voice , talk
prabhavaad = ablative of prabhava: m. production , source , origin , cause of existence ; birthplace (often ifc. springing or rising or derived from , belonging to)
api: also
aajiivaH (nom. m.): livelihood
pRthak: widely apart , separately
eva: (emphatic)
ukta: uttered, said, spoken
duH: (prefix indicating difficulty)
shodha: purification, cleansing ; correction, setting right
- tva: (abstract noun suffix)
duH-shodhatvaad (ablative): from the difficulty of cleansing
ayam (nom. m.): this
mayaa (instrumental): by me
kaaya-vaak-prabhavaad api
aajiivaH pRthag ev' okto
duH-shodhatvaad ayaM mayaa
= - = - - = - =
= - = - - = - -
= = = - - = = =
= = = = - = - =
13.17
So separately from overt action
And from the origin of use of body and voice,
I have spoken of making a living
Because it is so hard to make a pure one --
COMMENT:
If I have understood the first two lines correctly, I have understood them on the basis of Dogen's teaching that there is sitting with mind, as opposed to sitting with body; and sitting with body, as opposed to sitting with mind.
To sit with the body is to attend to overt action, i.e, action as seen from the outside. Japanese and French Zazen practitioners tend to be strong in that direction, maybe reflecting the highly developed aesthetic sensibilities of their culture, cuisine, et cetera. Rule no. 1, they seem to understand, is that one has to look the part. I heard of a French Zen practitioner who tried to stretch his ears with weights, so that he might have long ears like the Buddha. How French can you get?
To sit with the mind, as opposed to sitting with the body, is to attend to stopping those wrong inner patterns from which misuse of body and voice originates. This latter approach relates to what FM Alexander called "thinking in activity," and to what followers of the Buddha in places like Thailand and Tibet call "mindfulness" or "training the mind." This seems to me to be no easy thing in itself, but quite apart from this difficulty the Buddha has been speaking of something which he himself (mayaa: "by me") now calls difficult: the cleansing or purification of one's livelihood.
The gold standard for purity might be the filthy rags that beggars of old would pick up, sort out, wash, dye and wear as a kashaya.
Purity as the Buddha uses the word, if I hear him correctly, means not being tainted. The non-taintedness of filthy rags, as I see it, has to do with the separateness between, on the one hand, the end-gaining of the world, and on the other hand, the attention followers of the Buddha are required to pay to a process. In the world of end-gaining, rags chewed by rats or soiled by shit or menstruation have no value. They are like CO2 emissions, something polluted and polluting -- unavoidable side-effects of the gaining of valuable ends -- something to be discarded. But beggars who followed the Buddha saw value in these waste products that had zero or negative value in the world, seeing them not as impure but as the most pure kind of cloth for making a robe.
If that is the sense in which the Buddha uses the term duH-shodhatva, "difficulty of cleansing," what does it mean for us to purify our means of making a living?
For a start, to sit as the dropping off of body and mind might be a condition of cleanness, i.e., of untainted simplicity, clarity, and indifference. I think that in the time of Ashvaghosha this practice and this understanding, in mutual accord with each other, were still flowing like a torrent in India. Nowadays river-beds everywhere are hardly overflowing, and anybody who really wants water had better be prepared to dig deep for it -- starting afresh from here.
EH Johnston:
For this livelihood is explained by Me separately from the physical actions, namely those of body and voice, because it is so difficult to purify.
Linda Covill:
Because of the difficulty of keeping it clean, I have explained making a living separately from actions as they are seen in body and speech.
VOCABULARY:
karmaNaH = ablative, singular of karmaN: act , action , performance , business ; work, labour, activity ; product , result , effect ; former act as leading to inevitable results , fate (as the certain consequence of acts in a previous life)
hi: for
yathaa: as, in accordance with
dRShtaat = ablative of dRShta: seen
kaaya: body
vaak = in compounds fo vaac: speech , voice , talk
prabhavaad = ablative of prabhava: m. production , source , origin , cause of existence ; birthplace (often ifc. springing or rising or derived from , belonging to)
api: also
aajiivaH (nom. m.): livelihood
pRthak: widely apart , separately
eva: (emphatic)
ukta: uttered, said, spoken
duH: (prefix indicating difficulty)
shodha: purification, cleansing ; correction, setting right
- tva: (abstract noun suffix)
duH-shodhatvaad (ablative): from the difficulty of cleansing
ayam (nom. m.): this
mayaa (instrumental): by me
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.16: Yes, You Can!
parituShTaH shucir maNjush
caukShayaa jiiva-saMpadaa
kuryaa duHkha-pratiikaaraM
yaavad eva vimuktaye
- - = = - = = =
= - = = - = - =
= = = = - = = =
= - = - - = - =
13.16
As a person who is contented, pristine, pleasant,
Through making a living cleanly and well,
You can thwart suffering
All the way to liberation.
COMMENT:
In this verse, as I read it, the Buddha is giving his positive affirmation that, primarily by virtue of negative means, the possibility exists of living happily and agreeably, being true to oneself.
"The wrong inner patterns are the doing that must be stopped," said Marjory Barlow. I understand duHkha-pratiikaaram, the thwarting of suffering, in accordance with that preventive principle.
The deeper the roots of the wrong inner patterns, the deeper we are required to dig in order to thwart suffering. And digging deep is never easy. What I hear the Buddha saying in this verse is that what is never easy is not impossible.
To do this digging, no sophisticated technological tool is needed, not even a spade. The discontent induced by a computer programme saying "Not Responding," while one is impatiently striving to complete some computer task, need not come into it. What is required is a human body, time and space, and a real understanding of what it means to be tainted. Not to be tainted, as I understand this practice on the basis of Alexander work, entails the giving up of an end-gaining idea that unconsciously triggers the tangle of wrong inner patterns which is associated with faulty sensory appreciation. In order to transcend the influence of faulty sensory appreciation, therefore, and be one who is content, pristine, and pleasing, a return to "simple, conscious living" is required.
With this in mind, in an hour or so I shall set off for France. The last words I shall type before I set off are from FM Alexander's book Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual:
I venture to predict that before we can unravel the horribly tangled skein of our present existence, we must come to a full STOP, and return to conscious, simple living, believing in the unity underlying all things, and acting in a practical way in accordance with the laws and principles involved.
EH Johnston:
Contented, upright, pleasing in voice and pure in livelihood, you should practise the remedy for suffering till you reach emancipation.
Linda Covill:
contented, pure and lovely through making your living in a successful and clean manner, counteract suffering until the moment of liberation.
VOCABULARY:
parituShTaH (nom. sing. m.): one who is completely satisfied , delighted, very glad
shuciH (nom.): clear , clean , pure (lit. and fig.) , holy , unsullied , undefiled , innocent , honest
maNjuH (nom.): beautiful , lovely , charming , pleasant , sweet
caukShayaa = instrumental f. of caukShaa: pure , clean (persons)
jiiva: mf(/A)n. living , existing , alive; living by ; m. life , existence
sampadaa = instrumental of sampad: f. success , accomplishment , completion , fulfilment , perfection
kuryaaH (2nd person singular, optative of kR): you can do
duHkha: suffering
pratiikaaram (accusative): opposition , counteraction , prevention , remedy
yaavat: until, as long as
eva: (emphatic)
vimuktaye = dative of vimukta: mfn. unloosed , unharnessed ; set free , liberated
caukShayaa jiiva-saMpadaa
kuryaa duHkha-pratiikaaraM
yaavad eva vimuktaye
- - = = - = = =
= - = = - = - =
= = = = - = = =
= - = - - = - =
13.16
As a person who is contented, pristine, pleasant,
Through making a living cleanly and well,
You can thwart suffering
All the way to liberation.
COMMENT:
In this verse, as I read it, the Buddha is giving his positive affirmation that, primarily by virtue of negative means, the possibility exists of living happily and agreeably, being true to oneself.
"The wrong inner patterns are the doing that must be stopped," said Marjory Barlow. I understand duHkha-pratiikaaram, the thwarting of suffering, in accordance with that preventive principle.
The deeper the roots of the wrong inner patterns, the deeper we are required to dig in order to thwart suffering. And digging deep is never easy. What I hear the Buddha saying in this verse is that what is never easy is not impossible.
To do this digging, no sophisticated technological tool is needed, not even a spade. The discontent induced by a computer programme saying "Not Responding," while one is impatiently striving to complete some computer task, need not come into it. What is required is a human body, time and space, and a real understanding of what it means to be tainted. Not to be tainted, as I understand this practice on the basis of Alexander work, entails the giving up of an end-gaining idea that unconsciously triggers the tangle of wrong inner patterns which is associated with faulty sensory appreciation. In order to transcend the influence of faulty sensory appreciation, therefore, and be one who is content, pristine, and pleasing, a return to "simple, conscious living" is required.
With this in mind, in an hour or so I shall set off for France. The last words I shall type before I set off are from FM Alexander's book Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual:
I venture to predict that before we can unravel the horribly tangled skein of our present existence, we must come to a full STOP, and return to conscious, simple living, believing in the unity underlying all things, and acting in a practical way in accordance with the laws and principles involved.
EH Johnston:
Contented, upright, pleasing in voice and pure in livelihood, you should practise the remedy for suffering till you reach emancipation.
Linda Covill:
contented, pure and lovely through making your living in a successful and clean manner, counteract suffering until the moment of liberation.
VOCABULARY:
parituShTaH (nom. sing. m.): one who is completely satisfied , delighted, very glad
shuciH (nom.): clear , clean , pure (lit. and fig.) , holy , unsullied , undefiled , innocent , honest
maNjuH (nom.): beautiful , lovely , charming , pleasant , sweet
caukShayaa = instrumental f. of caukShaa: pure , clean (persons)
jiiva: mf(/A)n. living , existing , alive; living by ; m. life , existence
sampadaa = instrumental of sampad: f. success , accomplishment , completion , fulfilment , perfection
kuryaaH (2nd person singular, optative of kR): you can do
duHkha: suffering
pratiikaaram (accusative): opposition , counteraction , prevention , remedy
yaavat: until, as long as
eva: (emphatic)
vimuktaye = dative of vimukta: mfn. unloosed , unharnessed ; set free , liberated
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.15: Grounds of Integrity (II)
praani-dhaanya-dhan'-aadiinaaM
varjyaanaam a-pratigrahaat
bhaikSh'-aaNgaanaaM nisRShTaanaM
niyataanaaM pratigrahaat
= - = - - = = =
= = = = - = - =
= = = = - = = =
- - = = - = - =
13.15
On the grounds of not accepting
living beings, grain, money, and so on,
As things to be avoided;
On the grounds of accepting
the established rules for begging,
With their definite limits;
COMMENT:
This verse, as I read it, is not primarily about making a living as a beggar. This verse is primarily about integrity ; and, again, it is about the primacy, in making a living with integrity, of NOT giving consent.
Making one's living as a beggar is no guarantee of integrity.
Neither is making one's living as an Alexander teacher. Alexander work is all about not giving consent in order to realise integrity -- and in particular to realise a certain integrity in the central alignment of one's whole self (but do not call it "good posture," because it is not something fixed). Still, making one's living as an Alexander teacher is no guarantee of integrity. That is clear to me from observing teachers who are selling Alexander lessons as a kind of bodywork, not as Marjory Barlow, Nelly Ben-Or and others have endeavoured to teach it to me, as "the most mental thing there is." In purporting to teach others what integrity is, we Alexander teachers are thus liable to manifest a fundamental lack of integrity. A gap appears, and tends to grow bigger, unless prevented from doing so. This is how it is. I do not claim to be immune to that tendency. I hope that I am not asleep to it.
In teaching an Alexander pupil how to work on himself, I make use of both negative feedback ("No, not that!") and positive feedback ("Yes, that's it."). But in so doing, I see the negative feedback as primary, and the positive feedback as secondary. And I see exactly the same primacy, the primacy of the negative, in this verse, as also in the previous verse.
Thus, the primary thing to attend to in alms-taking as a means of practising integrity, the Buddha is teaching Nanda, is not what to accept. The primary thing to attend to is what NOT to accept. The primary thing is not the giving of consent. The primary thing is the withholding of consent, the NOT giving consent.
People who show integrity in their making of a living, it seems to me, tend to be not easily swayed by greed or personal ambition or impatience to get where they are going. That may be why I am finding it helpful to limit myself in this translation work to one verse per day. The slow pace acts as a kind of brake, giving me more time to attend to the process.
I would like this process of translating Ashvaghosha to be, above all, an exercise in practising integrity, so that this translation will have succeeded -- regardless of how widely read or well received it is, and regardless of what kind of reward I get for doing it -- where the Shobogenzo translation process ultimately failed.
With regard in particular to financial reward, the wiser course might be to adhere to the injunction stated in this verse, not to accept any money. This decision is much easier for me to make now that my sons are 18 and 16 than it was when they were 3 and 1.
In 1998, when I asked him in questions and answers after a lecture at the temple, why he and the publishers had taken the decision to make unilateral changes to our translation, Gudo Nishijima told me that he took the decision which so shocked me "as a businessman in the modern age." The truth was that my teacher had made not insubstantial financial sacrifices to support me through our joint translation process, and the publication was being funded mainly out of his own pocket. But the statement that he took the decision, which I felt to be a betrayal of our translation partnership, "as a businessman in the modern age" made no sense. If he wanted to make a change, all he had to do was let me know. The decision was actually the manifestation of a kind of anger, emanating from a deeper fault, and veiled behind the professed viewpoint of the "realism" for which, in truth, I had begun to feel a visceral disgust as far back as 1986, when I shaved my head and quit my job and was accused of not being "realistic." That is when I began to understand that "realism," along with every other kind of "-ism," can be a screen that prevents reality from being seen, by self and others.
The truth behind the screen was that, after starting a family in 1990, I was too anxious to get money; while my teacher, having begun the Shobogenzo translation process on his own, was too eager to be seen, by self and others, as the main translator, which in truth he had ceased to be. And so, because of our respective desires for profit and for fame, a very small gap opened up -- a gap that was just big enough to allow our Shobogenzo translation process to be poisoned.
From the mistake there is a lesson to be learned. It is a mistake that I am determined shall NOT be repeated.
EH Johnston:
By refusing what is to be avoided, living beings, rice, wealth, etc. and by accepting the authorised rules of mendicancy with their definite limits.
Linda Covill:
by refusing to accept those gifts which should be avoided, such as living beings, grain and money, and by accepting the restrictions prescribed for alms-taking,
VOCABULARY:
praanin: mfn. breathing , living , alive; m. a living or sentient being , living creature
dhaanya: n. corn , grain
dhana: any valued object , (esp.) wealth , riches , (movable) property , money , treasure , gift
aadiinaam (genitive): beginning with, et cetera
varjyaanaam = genitive, plural of varjya: mfn. to be excluded or shunned or avoided or given up
a: not
pratigrahaat = ablative of pratigraha: receiving, accepting
bhaikSha: n. asking alms , begging , mendicancy
aNgaanaam = genitive, plural of aNga: limb, subordinate division
nisRShTaanaam = genitive, plural of nisRShTa: sent forth , dismissed , set free; allowed , authorized
niyataanaam = genitive, plural of niyata: fixed , established , settled , sure , regular , invariable , positive , definite
pratigrahaat (ablative): by accepting
varjyaanaam a-pratigrahaat
bhaikSh'-aaNgaanaaM nisRShTaanaM
niyataanaaM pratigrahaat
= - = - - = = =
= = = = - = - =
= = = = - = = =
- - = = - = - =
13.15
On the grounds of not accepting
living beings, grain, money, and so on,
As things to be avoided;
On the grounds of accepting
the established rules for begging,
With their definite limits;
COMMENT:
This verse, as I read it, is not primarily about making a living as a beggar. This verse is primarily about integrity ; and, again, it is about the primacy, in making a living with integrity, of NOT giving consent.
Making one's living as a beggar is no guarantee of integrity.
Neither is making one's living as an Alexander teacher. Alexander work is all about not giving consent in order to realise integrity -- and in particular to realise a certain integrity in the central alignment of one's whole self (but do not call it "good posture," because it is not something fixed). Still, making one's living as an Alexander teacher is no guarantee of integrity. That is clear to me from observing teachers who are selling Alexander lessons as a kind of bodywork, not as Marjory Barlow, Nelly Ben-Or and others have endeavoured to teach it to me, as "the most mental thing there is." In purporting to teach others what integrity is, we Alexander teachers are thus liable to manifest a fundamental lack of integrity. A gap appears, and tends to grow bigger, unless prevented from doing so. This is how it is. I do not claim to be immune to that tendency. I hope that I am not asleep to it.
In teaching an Alexander pupil how to work on himself, I make use of both negative feedback ("No, not that!") and positive feedback ("Yes, that's it."). But in so doing, I see the negative feedback as primary, and the positive feedback as secondary. And I see exactly the same primacy, the primacy of the negative, in this verse, as also in the previous verse.
Thus, the primary thing to attend to in alms-taking as a means of practising integrity, the Buddha is teaching Nanda, is not what to accept. The primary thing to attend to is what NOT to accept. The primary thing is not the giving of consent. The primary thing is the withholding of consent, the NOT giving consent.
People who show integrity in their making of a living, it seems to me, tend to be not easily swayed by greed or personal ambition or impatience to get where they are going. That may be why I am finding it helpful to limit myself in this translation work to one verse per day. The slow pace acts as a kind of brake, giving me more time to attend to the process.
I would like this process of translating Ashvaghosha to be, above all, an exercise in practising integrity, so that this translation will have succeeded -- regardless of how widely read or well received it is, and regardless of what kind of reward I get for doing it -- where the Shobogenzo translation process ultimately failed.
With regard in particular to financial reward, the wiser course might be to adhere to the injunction stated in this verse, not to accept any money. This decision is much easier for me to make now that my sons are 18 and 16 than it was when they were 3 and 1.
In 1998, when I asked him in questions and answers after a lecture at the temple, why he and the publishers had taken the decision to make unilateral changes to our translation, Gudo Nishijima told me that he took the decision which so shocked me "as a businessman in the modern age." The truth was that my teacher had made not insubstantial financial sacrifices to support me through our joint translation process, and the publication was being funded mainly out of his own pocket. But the statement that he took the decision, which I felt to be a betrayal of our translation partnership, "as a businessman in the modern age" made no sense. If he wanted to make a change, all he had to do was let me know. The decision was actually the manifestation of a kind of anger, emanating from a deeper fault, and veiled behind the professed viewpoint of the "realism" for which, in truth, I had begun to feel a visceral disgust as far back as 1986, when I shaved my head and quit my job and was accused of not being "realistic." That is when I began to understand that "realism," along with every other kind of "-ism," can be a screen that prevents reality from being seen, by self and others.
The truth behind the screen was that, after starting a family in 1990, I was too anxious to get money; while my teacher, having begun the Shobogenzo translation process on his own, was too eager to be seen, by self and others, as the main translator, which in truth he had ceased to be. And so, because of our respective desires for profit and for fame, a very small gap opened up -- a gap that was just big enough to allow our Shobogenzo translation process to be poisoned.
From the mistake there is a lesson to be learned. It is a mistake that I am determined shall NOT be repeated.
EH Johnston:
By refusing what is to be avoided, living beings, rice, wealth, etc. and by accepting the authorised rules of mendicancy with their definite limits.
Linda Covill:
by refusing to accept those gifts which should be avoided, such as living beings, grain and money, and by accepting the restrictions prescribed for alms-taking,
VOCABULARY:
praanin: mfn. breathing , living , alive; m. a living or sentient being , living creature
dhaanya: n. corn , grain
dhana: any valued object , (esp.) wealth , riches , (movable) property , money , treasure , gift
aadiinaam (genitive): beginning with, et cetera
varjyaanaam = genitive, plural of varjya: mfn. to be excluded or shunned or avoided or given up
a: not
pratigrahaat = ablative of pratigraha: receiving, accepting
bhaikSha: n. asking alms , begging , mendicancy
aNgaanaam = genitive, plural of aNga: limb, subordinate division
nisRShTaanaam = genitive, plural of nisRShTa: sent forth , dismissed , set free; allowed , authorized
niyataanaam = genitive, plural of niyata: fixed , established , settled , sure , regular , invariable , positive , definite
pratigrahaat (ablative): by accepting
Monday, July 20, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.14: Grounds of Integrity (I)
doShaaNaaM kuhan'-aadiinaaM
paNcaanaam a-niShevaNaat
tyaagaac ca jyotiSh'-aadiinaaM
caturNaaM vRtti-ghaatinaam
= = = - - = = =
= = = - - = - =
= = = = - = = =
- = = = - = - =
13.14
On the grounds of not indulging
The five faults, beginning with hypocrisy;
On the grounds of fleeing
The four predators of practice, such as astrology;
COMMENT:
I understand this verse and 13.15 to be illustration of what is meant in the last line of 13.13 by shaucaat, "on the grounds of integrity," the connecting factor being the use of the ablative suffix -aat which I have translated in every case as "on the grounds of."
What I notice in this verse, again, is that in indicating the grounds of integrity, the Buddha begins with a negative. The Buddha gave primacy to the negative from his very last teaching, NOT being wordy, to his very first teaching:
NOT doing any evil,
Allowing what is good,
Cleansing one's own mind,
This is the teaching of the buddhas.
Before even a faintest thought of doing is sanctioned, the first thought is for not doing. Ultimate value lies in the backward step, in digging back and down into the bottom of oneself before purporting to go out into the world and spread "Buddhism," through "the philosophy of action." Without sufficient attention to the inhibitory side, a person's actions are bound to lack integrity.
How else am I to make sense of what happened in the end to the Nishijima-Cross Shobogenzo translation process? For almost a year now I have been living, breathing and sleeping this process of translating Ashvaghosha. But for the Shobogenzo translation that process carried on for more than ten years, and at the end of the process proponents and followers of the philosophy of action intervened to change my translation without consulting me. I experienced it as an act of total betrayal, a manifestation of a fundamental lack of integrity. How could it have happened? What was the original cause?
The original cause, as I see it, was Gudo Nishijima's wrong teaching in regard to Zazen posture. He taught me, Michael & Yoko Luetchford, and Jeremy Pearson (the team responsible for editing and publishing the translation), to keep doing something -- to pull in our chins in order to keep the neck-bones straight and to make an effort to keep the spine straight vertically. And he, perhaps to a lesser extent than his students, adhered to this doing approach himself. This wrong doing, as I see it, was the fundamental cause of a lack of integrity that I experienced as a terrible betrayal.
Every morning when I sit, if I allow myself to think about this blog, my whole system goes into first gear and starts revving up. The challenge, when I notice this happening, is to totally give up the idea of doing or achieving anything. When I succeed in that, my system integrates itself.
So this is how I understand Dogen's words in Fukan-zazengi-shinpitsu-bon, on waking up to an idea and naturally/spontaneously becoming one piece. This understanding owes very little to what I was taught as the "Buddhist" "philosophy of action." It owes a lot to the teaching of FM Alexander.
We can pontificate on the meaning of shikan-taza, "just sitting," and mushotoku, "being without expectation of gain," until the cows come home, but if there is even the slightest trace of an idea of maintaining a correct posture by my own doing, "by keeping the spine straight vertically," for example, then all talk of body and mind dropping off is only an exercise in self-delusion and hypocrisy.
Anybody who has followed my daily outpourings on this blog might ask whether in quoting the Buddha on "not being wordy," I in my wordiness am not going down the route of out-and-out hypocrisy. Well, if so, there is no time for stopping like the present.
EH Johnston:
By not giving way to the five faults, hypocrisy etc., and by abandoning the four destroyers of good conduct, astrology and the rest,
Linda Covill:
By refraining from the five faults such as hypocrisy, by relinquishing the four destroyers of good conduct such as astrology,
VOCABULARY:
doShaaNaam = genitive, plural of doSha: fault
kuhana: mfn. envious , hypocritical
aadiinaam = genitive, plural of aadi: ifc. beginning with , et cetera , and so on
paNcaanaam = genitive of paNca: five
a: not
niShevaNaat = ablative of niShevaNa: n. visiting , frequenting , living in , practice , performance , use , employment , adherence or devotion to , honour , worship
tyaagaat = ablative of tyaaga: leaving , abandoning , forsaking
ca: and
jyotiSha: n. the science of the movements of the heavenly bodies and divisions of time dependant thereon , short tract for fixing the days and hours of the Vedic sacrifices
aadiinaam = genitive, plural of aadi: ifc. beginning with , et cetera , and so on
caturNaam = genitive of catur: four
vRtti: mode of life or conduct , course of action , behaviour , (esp.) moral conduct ; practice
ghaatinaam = genitive, plural of ghaatin: ifc. killing , murderous , murderer
paNcaanaam a-niShevaNaat
tyaagaac ca jyotiSh'-aadiinaaM
caturNaaM vRtti-ghaatinaam
= = = - - = = =
= = = - - = - =
= = = = - = = =
- = = = - = - =
13.14
On the grounds of not indulging
The five faults, beginning with hypocrisy;
On the grounds of fleeing
The four predators of practice, such as astrology;
COMMENT:
I understand this verse and 13.15 to be illustration of what is meant in the last line of 13.13 by shaucaat, "on the grounds of integrity," the connecting factor being the use of the ablative suffix -aat which I have translated in every case as "on the grounds of."
What I notice in this verse, again, is that in indicating the grounds of integrity, the Buddha begins with a negative. The Buddha gave primacy to the negative from his very last teaching, NOT being wordy, to his very first teaching:
NOT doing any evil,
Allowing what is good,
Cleansing one's own mind,
This is the teaching of the buddhas.
Before even a faintest thought of doing is sanctioned, the first thought is for not doing. Ultimate value lies in the backward step, in digging back and down into the bottom of oneself before purporting to go out into the world and spread "Buddhism," through "the philosophy of action." Without sufficient attention to the inhibitory side, a person's actions are bound to lack integrity.
How else am I to make sense of what happened in the end to the Nishijima-Cross Shobogenzo translation process? For almost a year now I have been living, breathing and sleeping this process of translating Ashvaghosha. But for the Shobogenzo translation that process carried on for more than ten years, and at the end of the process proponents and followers of the philosophy of action intervened to change my translation without consulting me. I experienced it as an act of total betrayal, a manifestation of a fundamental lack of integrity. How could it have happened? What was the original cause?
The original cause, as I see it, was Gudo Nishijima's wrong teaching in regard to Zazen posture. He taught me, Michael & Yoko Luetchford, and Jeremy Pearson (the team responsible for editing and publishing the translation), to keep doing something -- to pull in our chins in order to keep the neck-bones straight and to make an effort to keep the spine straight vertically. And he, perhaps to a lesser extent than his students, adhered to this doing approach himself. This wrong doing, as I see it, was the fundamental cause of a lack of integrity that I experienced as a terrible betrayal.
Every morning when I sit, if I allow myself to think about this blog, my whole system goes into first gear and starts revving up. The challenge, when I notice this happening, is to totally give up the idea of doing or achieving anything. When I succeed in that, my system integrates itself.
So this is how I understand Dogen's words in Fukan-zazengi-shinpitsu-bon, on waking up to an idea and naturally/spontaneously becoming one piece. This understanding owes very little to what I was taught as the "Buddhist" "philosophy of action." It owes a lot to the teaching of FM Alexander.
We can pontificate on the meaning of shikan-taza, "just sitting," and mushotoku, "being without expectation of gain," until the cows come home, but if there is even the slightest trace of an idea of maintaining a correct posture by my own doing, "by keeping the spine straight vertically," for example, then all talk of body and mind dropping off is only an exercise in self-delusion and hypocrisy.
Anybody who has followed my daily outpourings on this blog might ask whether in quoting the Buddha on "not being wordy," I in my wordiness am not going down the route of out-and-out hypocrisy. Well, if so, there is no time for stopping like the present.
EH Johnston:
By not giving way to the five faults, hypocrisy etc., and by abandoning the four destroyers of good conduct, astrology and the rest,
Linda Covill:
By refraining from the five faults such as hypocrisy, by relinquishing the four destroyers of good conduct such as astrology,
VOCABULARY:
doShaaNaam = genitive, plural of doSha: fault
kuhana: mfn. envious , hypocritical
aadiinaam = genitive, plural of aadi: ifc. beginning with , et cetera , and so on
paNcaanaam = genitive of paNca: five
a: not
niShevaNaat = ablative of niShevaNa: n. visiting , frequenting , living in , practice , performance , use , employment , adherence or devotion to , honour , worship
tyaagaat = ablative of tyaaga: leaving , abandoning , forsaking
ca: and
jyotiSha: n. the science of the movements of the heavenly bodies and divisions of time dependant thereon , short tract for fixing the days and hours of the Vedic sacrifices
aadiinaam = genitive, plural of aadi: ifc. beginning with , et cetera , and so on
caturNaam = genitive of catur: four
vRtti: mode of life or conduct , course of action , behaviour , (esp.) moral conduct ; practice
ghaatinaam = genitive, plural of ghaatin: ifc. killing , murderous , murderer
Sunday, July 19, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.13: Polishing Work
shariira-vacasoH shuddhau
sapt'aaNge c' aapi karmaNi
aajiiva-samudaacaaraM
shaucaat saMskartum arhasi
- = - - - = = =
= = = = - = - -
= = - - - = = =
= = = = - = - -
13.13
With regard for purity of body and voice,
And with regard also for the sevenfold
[prohibition on bodily and vocal] conduct,
A proper way of making a living
You should work on, on the grounds of integrity --
COMMENT:
The Buddha's concern in this verse seems to be for the relation between, on the one hand, a person’s way of making a living and, on the other hand, the practise of integrity on two levels: first, integrity in the general matter of one’s manner of use of body and voice (as just discussed in 13.11 - 13.12) ; and second, integrity in the particular matter of not breaking those seven of the ten universal precepts that specifically prohibit wrong physical and vocal conduct (see verses 3.30 - 3.33).
With regard to a person’s manner of use, integrity corresponds to not being disconnected or unbroken, as described in 13.11 and 13.12. Being disconnected means, for example, using the pelvis as if it were part of the legs, which it is not, instead of using the pelvis as part of the back, which it is. When people with stiff hips end-gain for “right posture,” this kind of disconnection of the back happens -- sometimes hidden beneath a Zen uniform consisting of black robes and an immaculately-sewn kasaya. Some Zen end-gainers make a big fuss over their reverence for the kasaya, and then they use the kasaya as a mask to hide a lack of integrity in their manner of sitting. My friend Plato knows exactly what I am talking about (which is very laudable, because to know when we are wrong might be all we shall ever know in this world).
With regard to the seven precepts -- namely, not inflicting needless suffering on any living being, not ripping others off, not chasing women who are spoken for; along with not lying, not gossiping, not hurting others with smooth speech, and not slandering others -- integrity means not being hypocritical. When a so-called Zen Master slanders his “Dharma-brothers” for their lax attitude towards the keeping of a precept, what kind of integrity is that?
What is meant in the 3rd line by a proper way of making a living?
I think what the Buddha is advocating is not so much to pick and choose a “Right Livelihood,” as if there ever were such an animal, but rather, whatever work one finds oneself doing, to endeavour to do it with integrity.
Some weeks ago on the blog of Jordan Fountain, some self-righteous soul criticized Jordan for continuing to earn his living as a US marine -- as opposed, presumably, to being a feminist vegan eco-warrior who wears the “Buddhist” precepts on his sleeve. What Jordan felt about that, it seemed to me, reading beneath the lines of what he politely wrote, was manifested in him getting a migraine! I felt that the person who showed a lack of integrity in this exchange was principally the self-righteous “Buddhist” who had a go at Jordan, thereby causing Jordan the suffering of a migraine. What the world needs is not Buddho-feminist vegan eco-worriers who wish to pick a fight with the US marine corp. The world needs vegan eco-warriors with integrity as opposed to those without integrity. And the world, it seems to me, is very much in need of US marines with integrity as opposed to US marines without integrity. This, one hopes, is also how it seems in the upper echelons of the US marine corps. Jordan’s recent promotion within the US marine corps, indeed, might be a kind of recognition of integrity shown in his work as a US marine.
When people ask me what I do for a living, it is difficult to give a simple answer. In the last 30 years I have worked as a student, an ice-cream salesman, an English teacher, a copy-editor, a professional translator, an economic researcher, a translator of the Buddha’s teachings supported by donations, an Alexander teacher, a reflex inhibition therapist, and so on.
A proper way of living is something I am still working on. My life is a work in progress, as this translation is also a work in progress.
Still, I would like to say something conclusive and categorical about this process of translating Ashvaghosha, and would like it to be engraved down my spine.
I drew encouragement during the process of the Nishijima-Cross translation of Shobogenzo from the metaphor of polishing a tile. I remember once writing in a fax to my teacher, with profound optimism, that nothing could prevent us from continuing with our work of polishing a tile. It was with a nice warm feeling inside that I wrote those words, a feeling of great solidarity to be working with a like-minded person on the basis of an unshakeable principle.
What a great lesson that turned out to be.
That kind of optimistic belief in another person is a mistake that I shall never make again. It is totally impossible, I have been taught, to count on other people to do anything other than get sick, grow old, and die. Integrity, in the end, is a matter for the individual -- whether he or she is making a living as a beggar, or a US marine, or a homeopath, or as a translator, or as a teacher, or as a "don't knower" with more than one string to his bow.
So, not counting on others, I am continuing this translation work independently, receiving no money for it, and not sharing responsibility for it with anybody else. I shall absolutely never allow the integrity of this process to be poisoned, as the Shobogenzo translation process was poisoned, by the lack of integrity of anybody else but me. As far as my powers of restraint allow, I shall continue this polishing work for the sake of polishing work itself.
EH Johnston:
You should sanctify the conduct of your livelihood in the purification of your body and speech and in the sevenfold work.
Linda Covill:
Purity demands that you refine your manner of making a living to conform to pure physical and verbal acts and also to the seven constituent parts of action.
VOCABULARY:
shariira: body
vacasoH = genitive dual of vacas: voice
shuddhau = locative of shuddhi: f. cleansing , purification , purity (lit. and fig.) , holiness , freedom from defilement
sapta = seven
aNge = locative of aGga: limb, subdivision, subordinate part
ca: and
api: also
karmaNi = locative of karman: action ; work, labour, activity ; product , result , effect
aajiiva: livelihood
samudaacaaram (accusative): proper or right practice or usage or conduct or behaviour ; intention , purpose , design , motive
shaucaat = ablative of shauca: n. cleanness , purity , purification ; n. purity of mind , integrity , honesty (esp. in money-matters) ; n. (with Buddhists) self-purification (both external and internal)
saMskartum = infinitive of saMskR: to work on, polish, make perfect
arhasi = you should
sapt'aaNge c' aapi karmaNi
aajiiva-samudaacaaraM
shaucaat saMskartum arhasi
- = - - - = = =
= = = = - = - -
= = - - - = = =
= = = = - = - -
13.13
With regard for purity of body and voice,
And with regard also for the sevenfold
[prohibition on bodily and vocal] conduct,
A proper way of making a living
You should work on, on the grounds of integrity --
COMMENT:
The Buddha's concern in this verse seems to be for the relation between, on the one hand, a person’s way of making a living and, on the other hand, the practise of integrity on two levels: first, integrity in the general matter of one’s manner of use of body and voice (as just discussed in 13.11 - 13.12) ; and second, integrity in the particular matter of not breaking those seven of the ten universal precepts that specifically prohibit wrong physical and vocal conduct (see verses 3.30 - 3.33).
With regard to a person’s manner of use, integrity corresponds to not being disconnected or unbroken, as described in 13.11 and 13.12. Being disconnected means, for example, using the pelvis as if it were part of the legs, which it is not, instead of using the pelvis as part of the back, which it is. When people with stiff hips end-gain for “right posture,” this kind of disconnection of the back happens -- sometimes hidden beneath a Zen uniform consisting of black robes and an immaculately-sewn kasaya. Some Zen end-gainers make a big fuss over their reverence for the kasaya, and then they use the kasaya as a mask to hide a lack of integrity in their manner of sitting. My friend Plato knows exactly what I am talking about (which is very laudable, because to know when we are wrong might be all we shall ever know in this world).
With regard to the seven precepts -- namely, not inflicting needless suffering on any living being, not ripping others off, not chasing women who are spoken for; along with not lying, not gossiping, not hurting others with smooth speech, and not slandering others -- integrity means not being hypocritical. When a so-called Zen Master slanders his “Dharma-brothers” for their lax attitude towards the keeping of a precept, what kind of integrity is that?
What is meant in the 3rd line by a proper way of making a living?
I think what the Buddha is advocating is not so much to pick and choose a “Right Livelihood,” as if there ever were such an animal, but rather, whatever work one finds oneself doing, to endeavour to do it with integrity.
Some weeks ago on the blog of Jordan Fountain, some self-righteous soul criticized Jordan for continuing to earn his living as a US marine -- as opposed, presumably, to being a feminist vegan eco-warrior who wears the “Buddhist” precepts on his sleeve. What Jordan felt about that, it seemed to me, reading beneath the lines of what he politely wrote, was manifested in him getting a migraine! I felt that the person who showed a lack of integrity in this exchange was principally the self-righteous “Buddhist” who had a go at Jordan, thereby causing Jordan the suffering of a migraine. What the world needs is not Buddho-feminist vegan eco-worriers who wish to pick a fight with the US marine corp. The world needs vegan eco-warriors with integrity as opposed to those without integrity. And the world, it seems to me, is very much in need of US marines with integrity as opposed to US marines without integrity. This, one hopes, is also how it seems in the upper echelons of the US marine corps. Jordan’s recent promotion within the US marine corps, indeed, might be a kind of recognition of integrity shown in his work as a US marine.
When people ask me what I do for a living, it is difficult to give a simple answer. In the last 30 years I have worked as a student, an ice-cream salesman, an English teacher, a copy-editor, a professional translator, an economic researcher, a translator of the Buddha’s teachings supported by donations, an Alexander teacher, a reflex inhibition therapist, and so on.
A proper way of living is something I am still working on. My life is a work in progress, as this translation is also a work in progress.
Still, I would like to say something conclusive and categorical about this process of translating Ashvaghosha, and would like it to be engraved down my spine.
I drew encouragement during the process of the Nishijima-Cross translation of Shobogenzo from the metaphor of polishing a tile. I remember once writing in a fax to my teacher, with profound optimism, that nothing could prevent us from continuing with our work of polishing a tile. It was with a nice warm feeling inside that I wrote those words, a feeling of great solidarity to be working with a like-minded person on the basis of an unshakeable principle.
What a great lesson that turned out to be.
That kind of optimistic belief in another person is a mistake that I shall never make again. It is totally impossible, I have been taught, to count on other people to do anything other than get sick, grow old, and die. Integrity, in the end, is a matter for the individual -- whether he or she is making a living as a beggar, or a US marine, or a homeopath, or as a translator, or as a teacher, or as a "don't knower" with more than one string to his bow.
So, not counting on others, I am continuing this translation work independently, receiving no money for it, and not sharing responsibility for it with anybody else. I shall absolutely never allow the integrity of this process to be poisoned, as the Shobogenzo translation process was poisoned, by the lack of integrity of anybody else but me. As far as my powers of restraint allow, I shall continue this polishing work for the sake of polishing work itself.
EH Johnston:
You should sanctify the conduct of your livelihood in the purification of your body and speech and in the sevenfold work.
Linda Covill:
Purity demands that you refine your manner of making a living to conform to pure physical and verbal acts and also to the seven constituent parts of action.
VOCABULARY:
shariira: body
vacasoH = genitive dual of vacas: voice
shuddhau = locative of shuddhi: f. cleansing , purification , purity (lit. and fig.) , holiness , freedom from defilement
sapta = seven
aNge = locative of aGga: limb, subdivision, subordinate part
ca: and
api: also
karmaNi = locative of karman: action ; work, labour, activity ; product , result , effect
aajiiva: livelihood
samudaacaaram (accusative): proper or right practice or usage or conduct or behaviour ; intention , purpose , design , motive
shaucaat = ablative of shauca: n. cleanness , purity , purification ; n. purity of mind , integrity , honesty (esp. in money-matters) ; n. (with Buddhists) self-purification (both external and internal)
saMskartum = infinitive of saMskR: to work on, polish, make perfect
arhasi = you should
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