SAUNDARANANDA 15.44: No Happiness Out There

Rtu-cakra-nivartaac ca
kShut-pipaasaa-klamaad api
sarvatra niyataM duHkhaM
na kva cid vidyate shivaM

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

15.44
Again, from the turning of the circle of the seasons,

And from hunger, thirst and fatigue,

Everywhere suffering is the rule.

Not somewhere is happiness found.

COMMENT:
Happiness, the Buddha taught, is to be found in wanting little.

So what is negated in this verse, as I read it, is not the possibility of happiness but rather the idea of finding it at some place -- for example, at the other monastery in Shangri La-La land.

Happiness, just over the hill, or just around the corner, is not to be found. That kind of happiness is like rightness. There is, in Marjory Barlow's words "no such animal."

In general, we are too quick to intervene to try to make things right. People who are supposed to be Zen Masters intervene to correct people's sitting posture, without understanding what they are doing. If they were wiser, they would stop first and examine whether their idea of correctness was correct or not.

There is, FM Alexander insisted, having investigated the matter in great detail, no such thing as a right sitting posture. But there is a right direction. And going in this right direction generally involves giving up an idea. Hence the title of this canto, vitarka-prahaaNa, Giving Up an Idea.

A certain dullard, in an email, asked me to spell out what is symbolized by the blue lotus that opens in fire. So in case there are other equally dull dullards out there, here goes:

In hot countries in the height of summer, out of mucky water, the blue lotus blooms. So the blue lotus is a symbol of coolness, detachment, and untaintedness. In short, it is a symbol of enlightenment.

When I go to stay alone by the forest in France, if I go with the optimistic expectation that the blue lotus flower will bloom, that is a recipe for misery and frustration. The Norman forest is not somewhere that the blue lotus can ever be expected to bloom.

The forest, on the other hand, is a very good place to look into fire. And in that heat is just the place where the blue lotus blooms.

What is true in the forest, moreover, is true wherever the fires of human delusion burn. So there is no place which is not a place to observe blue lotuses blooming in fire.

This verse, then, may sound pessimistic but in fact it is not pessimism. Still less is it cause for optimism. It belongs to the negation of all -isms.



EH Johnston:
Suffering from the return of the circle of the seasons and from hunger, thirst and fatigue is everywhere the rule. Nowhere is there happiness.

Linda Covill:
It's inevitable that suffering exists everywhere, whether from the turning of the cycle of the seasons, or from hunger, thirst and tiredness. Nowhere is happiness found.

VOCABULARY:
Rtu: m: any settled point of time , fixed time , time appointed for any action; period, season
cakra: n. wheel, circle, cycle
nivartaat = abl nivarta: (from nivRt) mfn. causing to turn back
nivRt: to turn back , stop (trans. and intrans.) ; to return from
ca: and

kShut = in comp. for kShudh: f. hunger
pipaasaa: f. thirst
klamaad = abl. klama: m. fatigue , exhaustion , languor , weariness
api: and, also

sarvatra: ind. everywhere
niyatam: ind. always , constantly , decidedly , inevitably , surely
duHkham (nom. sg.): n. suffering, hard going

na kva cid: nowhere, not anywhere
na: not
kva: where? in what place?
kva cid: somewhere, anywhere
vidyate (3rd pers. passive vid): it is found, it exists
shivam (nom. sg.): n. welfare , prosperity , bliss

SAUNDARANANDA 15.43: Giving Up an Idea (e.g. about fire)

praheyaH sa tvayaa saumya
n' aadhivaasyaH kathaM cana
viditvaa sarvam aadiiptaM
tais tair doSh'-aagnibhir jagat

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

15.43
You are to give it up, my friend:

And not entertain it in any way,

Knowing the whole world to be blazing

With the manifold fires of the faults.

COMMENT:
However full of faults the many-tentacled monster of my misuse may be, it is perfectly harmless, so long as I don't trigger it into action by failing to inhibit some daft idea, such as a utopian thought.

Observing the world to be ablaze, people who don't inhibit their daft utopian ideas want to join a fire brigade, or they go on marches crying out for the government to do something about global burning --
"What do we want?"
"Extinction of fires!"
"When do we want it?"
"NOW!!!"

But what kind of fire is this fire?

Is it a fire which, without the spark of an inauspicious idea, could never have started at all?

Is it a fire in which, when an idea is given up, a blue lotus blooms?

Is it a fire which can be useful for forging the gold of trillions of golden keys?

In working on the self, Marjory Barlow used to say, being happy to be wrong is the golden key.

Through 2008 I suffered from a burning pain in my stomach. It is still liable to flare up temporarily -- for example, when the receipt of a donation reminds me of donations received in a past life. But it occured to me as I sat this morning that this burning is a fire that I have used and can continue to use to forge Ashvaghosha's gold. I have this fire, I have this rich source of gold, and Marjory Barlow took pains to let me know what shape the golden key takes. So using this fire, and this gold, I can forge golden keys for many people to unlock their own neck, head, back, arms and legs.



EH Johnston:
It must be abandoned, my friend, and not be entertained by any means, since you know the whole world to be blazing with the fires of the various vices.

Linda Covill:
shun it, my friend. Do not dwell on it in any way, knowing that the whole world is ablaze with the various fires of defilement.

VOCABULARY:
praheyaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. (from pra-√haa) to be sent away or dispatched
pra-√haa: to leave ; to desert , quit , abandon , give up , renounce , violate (a duty) , break (a promise) ; to send off , throw , hurl
saH (nom. sg. m.): it
tvayaa (inst.): by you
saumya (voc.): my friend

na: not
aadhivaasyaH = nom. sg. gerundive from adhi- √vaas: to scent , perfume.
kathaM cana: in any way, by any means

viditvaa = abs. vid: to know , understand , perceive , learn , become or be acquainted with , be conscious of , have a correct notion of; to mind , notice , observe , remember
sarvam (acc. sg. n.): all
aadiiptam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. set on fire , blazing up

taiH taiH = inst. pl. tad tad: this and that , various , different
doSha: m. fault , vice , deficiency; wickedness; damage , harm , bad consequence , detrimental effect ; alteration , affection , morbid element , disease (esp. of the 3 humours of the body)
agnibhir = inst. pl. agni: fire
jagat (acc. sg.): n. the world

SAUNDARANANDA 15.42: The Other Monastery

asau kShemo janapadaH
su-bhikSho 'saav asau shivaH
ity evam atha jaayeta
vitarkas tava kash cana

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

15.42
"That country is an easy place to live;

That one is well-provisioned; that one is happy."

If there should arise

Any such idea in you,

COMMENT:
Following the previous series of eleven verses in which the Buddha has negated romantic ideas about people, here begins a series of ten verses in which the Buddha seems to want to negate romantic ideas about places.

A few months ago I read on one of Dosho Mike Port's blog posts a characteristically honest reflection on our tendency to yearn for "the other monastery."

For me "the other monastery" is a place that is always quiet. In Japan I visited a monastery named Eihei-ji, "Temple of Eternal Peace," but that wasn't it.

The house I live in near Aylesbury in the south of England is sometimes quiet, but often not quiet enough for my liking. If a noise is not too obtrusive, like a gurgling radiator, for exampe, I can sometimes distract myself from listening to it by practising "mindfulness" of, say, the sight of this stick of incense, and the feel of this zafu pushing up, and the functioning of my breathing apparatus during this in-breath and during this out-breath. Practising mindfulness in this case means a kind of effort to keep several things present in my field of attention at the same time. It is a kind of antidote to troublesome ideas of the other monastery.

Nearly ten years ago now, I bought a derelict pile of bricks by the forest in France, thinking it might fit the bill for the other monastery. As with Eihei-ji my romantic expectation didn't quite hit the target. My idea was mainly falsified by a local guy who bought the place next door, and who has since regularly breached the peace with cars, chainsaws, construction machinery, et cetera. So not a few times -- particularly during my neighbour's summer holidays -- I have found myself sitting in the grounds of my other monastery dreaming of yet another monastery.

But on some days in spring, under the falling blossoms of a big ash tree, or in autumn under its falling leaves, I have been able to dispense totally with mindfulness practice, and just enjoy just sitting. At those moments, there was no other monastery, nor any effort to give up the idea of the other monastery.

If the tumbling pound or some other circumstance causes me to give up the place in France, or if death strikes me down tomorrow, I am grateful to have had those moments, which, I am confident, were nothing but the lifeblood.

The title of this canto, vitarka-prahaaNa, "Giving Up an Idea," just means the lifeblood. The lifeblood is just to sit.

Sometimes, when a Zen Master fails to give up his idea, something gets in the way of the true transmission of the lifeblood. That is the greatest lesson my own Zen Master taught me. It has been a very tough lesson to be taught. And even having been taught it, I am evidently not immune from making the same mistake of holding on to a troublesome idea.

My teacher had an idea that translating Shobogenzo into English was "his personal job," for which he needed some help to re-write his English sentences. He also had the idea that he knew how to teach people to sit in "the right posture." After I started translating Shobogenzo for my teacher, in 1986, and the translation actually became my translation, Gudo was not able to give up his idea that it was still his translation. After I first heard the Alexander principle of non-doing in 1994, and endeavoured in my unskilful way to let my teacher know that his idea about right posture was wrong, because in truth there is no such thing as right posture, again, Gudo was not able to give up his idea.

This is why, in 1997, he and some of his students did something that really hurt me to the core. After that, I stopped translating work and waited more than ten years for Gudo to give up his own idea and redeem himself. But he never gave up those two wrong ideas of his. He just got older and older and soon he will die.

When Gudo dies, I don't know whether I will grieve or not. My sense is that I have done my grieving already. I had a dream of being the true successor of a true teacher, but it was only an idea. It was a very troublesome idea that really got in the way of me living my life. It caused me to spend the best part of 30 years with the glazed eyes of one who is trying to be right. Giving up the idea of being the one true successor, the one who is right, continues to be not easy. But the more deeply I give the idea up of being right, helped along in equal measure by the truth of Alexander's teaching and the natural energy of the forest, the more chance the right thing has to do itself.

As I write this, a nagging pain is beginning to re-emerge in my stomach. Voila.

May this translation work help me and others not repeat the mistake of holding on to an idea that should be given up.

May this translation work help to clarify, for self and others, the Buddha's original idea of giving up an idea.

EH Johnston:
Or if any such thought should arise in your mind that such and such a country is peaceful or prosperous or happy,

Linda Covill:
'That country is safe; in that one they give alms generously; that one is happy.' If any such notion should arise in you,

VOCABULARY:
asau (nom. sg.): that
kShemaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. habitable ; giving rest or ease or security ; at ease , prosperous , safe
janapadaH = nom. sg. janapada: m. sg. or pl. a community , nation , people (as opposed to the sovereign) ; sg. an empire , inhabited country

su-bhikShaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. having good food or an abundant supply of provisions; n. abundance of food (esp. that given as alms) , abundant supply of provisions
asau: that one
asau: that one
shivaH (nom. sg. m.): auspicious , propitious , gracious , favourable , benign , kind , benevolent , friendly , dear ; happy , fortunate

iti: " ," thus
evam: ind. thus, such
atha: now, then, etc.
jaayeta = 3rd pers. sg. optative jan: to be born or produced , come into existence

vitarkaH (nom. sg.): m. an idea, thought etc.
tava (gen.): of you
kash cana: an

SAUNDARANANDA 15.41: In the Flux of Samsara

tasmaaj jNaati-vitarkeNa
mano n' aaveShTum arhasi
vyavasthaa n' aasti saMsaare
sva-janasya janasya ca

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

15.41
With thoughts about close relatives, therefore,

You should not obsess the mind.

There is no abiding difference, in the flux of samsara,

Between one's own people and people in general.

COMMENT:
Who is a person's nearest and dearest? For around the first nine months after our conception, it is invariably our mother. But once we are born nearness and dearness of relatives becomes a relative matter: in the flux of samsara, all is subject to change and all is but a woven web of guesses -- all, that is, except the inevitability of sickness, aging and death.

In the flux of samsara, the oil price goes up and a noisy factory becomes very quiet.

In the flux of samsara, a quiet place where I am sitting is invaded by a passing airplane or by sound vibrations from the engine of a neighbour's car being warmed up, for an unduly long time, on a frosty morning.

When quiet that I was enjoying is invaded by noise, my confused human feeling -- the power of which I am supposed to be thwarting through practice of integrity -- tends to include hatred of people in general.

Of course, I shouldn't be like this. I shouldn't be wrong like this. After all these years of sitting, how come I am still Mr. Angry? Surely, I shouldn't still be wrong like this.


Yes, there it is again: the first idea to be given up, the idea of being right.

Even when my feeling is confused, there is no need for my thinking to be confused in regard to rule number one, which is that, in this work of accepting and using the self, being wrong is the best friend we have got.


EH Johnston:
Therefore do not let your mind be obsessed with thoughts of kinsfolk; for there is no permanent distinction in the cycle of existence between kinsfolk and strangers.

Linda Covill:
So don't let distractions about your family invade your mind, since in samsara there is no abiding difference between family and stranger.

VOCABULARY:
tasmaat: ind. from that , on that account , therefore
jNaati: m. near relation, kinsman
vitarkeNa = inst. sg. vitarka: m. conjecture , supposition , guess , fancy , imagination , opinion

manaH (acc. sg.): mind
na: not
aaveShTum = inf. aa-√ veShT: to spread over
aa: (as prefix) near, towards
√ veShT: to wind or twist round ; to adhere or cling to (loc.)
arhasi: you should

vy-avasthaa: f. (from vy-ava-√sthaa) respective difference; abiding in one place , steadiness ; fixity , perseverance , constancy
vy-ava-√sthaa: to go apart , separate from; to differ respectively
n' aasti: there is not
saMsaare = loc. saMsaara: course , passage , passing through a succession of states , circuit of mundane existence

sva-janasya = gen. sg. sva-jana: m. a man of one's own people , kinsman
janasya = gen. sg. jana: m. a person
ca: and

SAUNDARANANDA 15.40: What's the Use?

yo 'bhavad baandhava-janaH
para-loke priyas tava
sa te kam arthaM kurute
tvaam vaa tasmai karoshi kaM

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

15.40
The relation who was,

In another life, so dear to you:

What use to you is he?

What use to him are you?

COMMENT:
Every verse is full of pitfalls, and so here is one I nearly fell into earlier:

Two key words in this verse are priya, dear, loved, and artha, purpose, meaning, usefulness, use.

Implicit in this verse, then, seems to be the Buddha's idea that what really matters is not so much being loved and appreciated, but more being useful. The Buddha's viewpoint in this verse, in short, is that of utilitarianism....

A clear signal that this line of thinking has strayed onto a wrong track is the -ism of utilitarianism.

A big desire to be useful, like any big desire, is a dangerous thing, as I know very well from my own experience. People with big desires to be useful led America and Britain into ill-conceived invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. What use were they to anybody? What use to anybody is the blind end-gaining of people whose sensory appreciation (i.e. their mirror of reality) is distorted?

More real than a big desire to be useful might be a modest desire to maintain the integrity of one's own use -- see Canto 13, Thwarting the Power of the Senses through Practice of Integrity.

The Sanskrit artha and the English "use" are interesting words. They are not big philosophical concepts with -ism on the end, just unobtrusive everyday words. FM Alexander wrote a book I recommend everybody to read, called "The Use of the Self."

When attention is diligently paid to the use of the self, the truth emerges of how troublesome an idea can be -- of how, at the root of suffering, there is invariably an idea. FM Alexander's niece, Marjory Barlow, as I knew her, had an extra-ordinarily clear idea about how troublesome an idea can be.

The Buddha's relentless attack on sentimental ideas about dear relations seems to be based, similarly, on a very clear idea about how harmful an idea can be.

It might be that what gets most in the way of just sitting, is a troublesome idea. The idea of me being right might be top of the list of such ideas, with sentimental ideas about one's nearest and dearest not far behind.

The fact that I am highlighting in this commentary the importance of giving up an idea, does not mean that in my own sitting practice I have succeeded once and for all (or ever at all) in giving up the idea I should give up.

A wonderful Alexander teacher once said to me, "For you, up is a poisoned word!" What she observed is that as soon as the idea "up" came into my head, I would start to do something, to subtly arrange myself. And in that subtle self-arrangement I would stiffen up.

Giving up a poisionous idea might be one of those things that a child can talk about but an old man of eighty or even ninety cannot practise.

So the giving up of an idea, for some of us, is a work in progress. We keep on keeping on with it because...


Not to do what is harmful,
To allow what is good,
To detoxify one's own mind,
Is the teaching of buddhas.


EH Johnston:
As for him who was your dear kinsman in the last existence, what is he to you now or you to him?

Linda Covill:
The kinsman whom you loved in another life -- what does he do for you now, or you for him?

VOCABULARY:
yaH (nom. sg. m.): [he] who
abhavat (3rd pers. sg. imperfect bhuu): he was
baandhava-janaH = nom. sg. baandhava-jana: m. relatives , kinsmen (collectively)
baandhava: m. (fr. bandhu) a kinsman , relation (esp. maternal relation) , friend; a brother
bandhu: m. connection , relation , association
jana: person, people

para-loke = loc. para-loka: m. the other or future world
para: far , distant , remote (in space) , opposite , ulterior , farther than , beyond , on the other or farther side of , extreme ; previous (in time) , former ; ancient , past ; later , future , next
priyaH (nom. sg. m.): beloved, dear, liked , favourite , wanted , own ; fond of attached or devoted to (loc.); m. a friend
tava (gen): of/to you

saH (nom. sg.): [correlative of yaH] he
te (dative): to you
kam (acc. sg. m.): what?
artham (acc.sg.): purpose, use, meaning etc.
kurute (3rd pers. sg. kR): he does, makes
artha-kara: mfn. producing advantage , useful
artha-kRt: mfn. causing profit , useful
artha-kriyaa: f. an action performed with a special purpose ; the being useful (to others)

tvaam (nom. sg.): you
vaa: or ; just , even , indeed , very (= eva , laying stress on the preceding word)
tasmai (dative): to him
karoshi (2nd pers. sg. kR): you do, make
kam (acc. sg. m.): what?

SAUNDARANANDA 15.39: Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa...

svayam eva yath" aalikhya
rajyec citra-karaH striyaM
tathaa kRtvaa svayaM snehaM
saMgam eti jane janaH

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

15.39
Just as an artist, all by himself,

Might fall in love with a woman he painted,

So, each generating attachment by himself,

Do people become attached to one another.

COMMENT:
The woman in the painting has a beautifully-proportioned figure and face, totally unblemished skin, and is beyond aging, sickness, and death. She smells only of roses.

The feeling of the artist who pictured her might be very real but, sadly, the woman does not really exist. There is no such woman.

Lest I lose the will to live, I keep reminding myself that in this series of verses concerning bonds of human affection or attachment, the main point remains, in the words of EHJ, "Emptying the Mind," or in the words of LC "Abandoning Notions," or in the phrase I prefer "Giving Up an Idea" -- vitarka-prahaaNa.

So although the tone may sound relentlessly and depressingly negative, where the Buddha is leading us with all this negativity in regard to ideas, is towards sitting with supreme ease, being mindful of real breathing -- in other words, towards a bit of nothing which is the realization of every jewel in Indra's net.

Apopros of the metaphor of the painter, I googled Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa...

EH Johnston:
As a painter might fall in love with a woman he had himself created (in a picture), so is man attached to man by inventing affection himself.

Linda Covill:
Just as an artist might fall in love with a woman that he has painted himself, so does a man become involved with someone when he has invented the affection himself.

VOCABULARY:
svayam: ind. of or by one's self, spontaneously , voluntarily , of one's own accord
eva: (emphatic)
yathaa: just as
aalikhya = abs. aa√likh: to scratch ; to mark , draw , write , delineate , paint

rajyet = 3rd pers. sg. optative raNj: to be dyed or coloured , to redden , grow red , glow ; to be affected or moved , be excited or glad , be charmed or delighted by (instr.) , be attracted by or enamoured of , fall in love with (loc.)
citra-karaH (nom. sg.): m. a painter
striyam = acc. sg. strii: f. a woman

tathaa: so, likewise
kRtvaa = absolutive kR: to make, cause, fabricate
svayam: ind. by oneself
sneham (acc.): m. oiliness; blandness , tenderness , love , attachment to , fondness or affection for (loc. gen. , or comp.)

saMgam (acc. sg.): (1) m. coming together; (2) = saNgam: m. sticking , clinging to , touch , contact with ; relation to , association or intercourse with ; addiction or devotion to , propensity for , (esp.) worldly or selfish attachment or affection , desire , wish , cupidity
eti = 3rd pers. sg. i: to go to or towards (with acc.); to arrive at , reach , obtain ; to undertake anything (with acc.)
jane = loc. sg. jana: m. creature , living being , man , person, people, subjects; a common person , one of the people
janaH = nom. sg. jana

SAUNDARANANDA 15.38: Lucky in Love? Not Likely!

a-hito dRshyate jNaatir
a-jNaatir dRshyate hitaH
snehaM kaary'-aantaraal lokash
chinatti ca karoti ca

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

15.38
A close relation proves to be an enemy;

A stranger proves to be a friend.

By the different things they do,

Folk break and make affection.

COMMENT:
A close relation might be expected always to be on one's side, whereas a stranger is less likely to be so. That is the general idea.

But empirical facts, as are to be observed in the laboratory of the family lawyer's office, or on the slaughter-bench of the history of royal families, invariably falsify such general ideas.

This verse as I read it echoes the point made in 15.35, that what holds human societies together is not strength of emotional bonds but rather cause and effect.

The making or breaking of bonds of affection is a matter not of Cupid's intervention or of genetics, but of individual decisions to do or not to do.

So judge a dog not by its breed, but by its deed. And if that deed is horrific, as when a dog kills a child, invariably in the background is a dog-owner harbouring some idea.

Ban the breed and destroy the dog, but nothing will change for the better until person gives up idea.

EH Johnston:
Kinsmen are known to act in unfriendly fashion and strangers in friendly. Men make and break affection according to their interests.

Linda Covill:
A family member may be ill-disposed towards you, while someone unrelated is demonstrably friendly. A man makes or breaks affection because of his different needs.

VOCABULARY:
a-hitaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. unfit , improper ; unadvantageous ; noxious , hostile; m. an enemy
dRshyate = 3rd pers. sg. passive dRsh: to be seen , become visible , appear ; to be shown or manifested , appear as (iva) , prove
jNaatiH = nom. sg. jNaati: family member, kinsman

a-jNaatiH (nom. sg.): m. non-family member, not a kinsman, not related
dRshyate: is seen, is visibly, proves
hitaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. beneficial , advantageous , salutary , wholesome , suitable , agreeing with (often , said of diet , regimen , medicines &c ) , convenient , suitable , fit , agreeable to or for (dat. gen. loc. , or comp.) ; well-disposed , favourable , friendly , affectionate , kind
m. a friend , benefactor

sneham (acc.): m. oiliness, affection
kaarya: n. work or business to be done , duty , affair; n. occupation , matter , thing , enterprise , emergency , occurrence , crisis ;
occasion , need ; an effect, result; motive , object , aim , purpose; cause , origin
antaraat = ablative antara: n. (ifc.) different , other , another (e.g. desh'aantaram , another country)
lokaH (nom. sg.): m. the earth or world of human beings; mankind, folk

chinatti = 3rd pers. sg. chid: to cut off , amputate , cut through; to destroy , annihilate , efface
ca: and
karoti = 3rd pers. sg. kR: to make
ca: and