yathaa prajaabhyaH ku-nRpo balaad baliin
haraty asheShaM ca na c' aabhirakShati
tath" aiva kaayo vasan'-aadi-saadhanaM
haraty asheShaM ca na c' aanuvartate
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - -
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
9.38
Just as a bad king takes forcibly from his subjects
His full toll of taxes, and yet does not protect;
So the body takes its full toll of provisions
Such as clothes and the like, and yet does not obey.
COMMENT:
Though the striver may have had plentiful experience of poorly coordinated people whinging about their bad back, it seems he has never heard a singer with an incredibly resonant voice, or seen a karate master with an incredibly powerful punch, or observed a concert pianist with incredibly quick fingers.
England footballing great Alan Shearer once expressed his thought processes prior to taking a penalty as follows: "Just put the ball in the back of the f-ing net."
That is the kind of thinking that is cultivated in Alexander work -- what Alexander called "thinking in activity." Alexander said it was thinking, but not what people understand by thinking.
I once said to an Alexander teacher who was giving me a lesson, "It is really a kind of wishing, isn't it?" "Well if it is wishing," came the reply, "It is wishing that won't take no for an answer."
An Alexander teacher named Walter Carrington, in the first of his talks recorded in a book called Thinking Aloud, discusses this kind of thinking or wishing: "People imagine that their bodies are disobedient and unreliable in carrying out their wishes, whereas nothing could be further from the truth. Our bodies get terribly confused because of the conflicting demands that we make of them all the time in our muddled, confused, contradictory wishes."
Contrary to this teaching of Walter Carrington, born out of decades of practical teaching experience, the striver is sticking to his pessimistic view of the body. And a verse that might be cited, by the unwary, in support of the striver's view that the body is not subject to voluntary control, appears in Ashvaghosha's description of Nanda's investigations in Canto 17:
Since the throng of humanity is passive, not autonomous, and no one exercises direct control over the workings of the body, / But states of being arise dependent on this and that, he found, in that sense, that the world is devoid of self. [17.21]
The key word in this verse is aishvaryam, which means the state of being a mighty lord, dominion, superhuman power. So aishvaryam suggests direct control over the workings of the body, as opposed to the indirect control afforded by clear thinking. Alan Shearer was never a superhuman yogi with direct control over his own neurological and autonomic functions. He just needed to think clearly and decisively, "back of the f-ing net," and the obedient body of a top footballer automatically sorted out what needed to be sorted out, so that the back of the net was where the ball generally ended up.
A verse which might in fact be more relevant to today's verse, and which tends to falsify the striver's view, is 17.4:
By first directing the whole body up, and thus keeping mindfulness turned towards the body, / And thus integrating in his person all the senses, there he threw himself all-out into practice. // [17.4]
If the body were truly as disobedient as the striver indicates, how would it be possible to direct the whole body up?
I think it was possible for Nanda to direct his whole body up because Nanda's body responded obediently to Nanda's upward direction of Nanda's energy, Nanda's wish to go up.
EH Johnston:
Just as a bad king takes taxes in full from his subjects by force and yet neglects their protection, so too the body accepts the provision of clothes etc. in full and yet is not compliant.
Linda Covill:
Just as a tyrant forcibly takes his full sum of taxes from his subjects yet fails to protect them, likewise the body takes in full its provisions such as clothes, yet remains anarchic;
VOCABULARY:
yathaa: ind. just as
prajaabhyaH (abl. pl.): f. procreation; offspring ; people , subjects (of a prince)
ku-nRpaH (nom. sg.): m. a bad prince
nRpa: m. "protector of men" prince , king , sovereign
balaat: ind. (abl.) forcibly
baliin (acc. pl.): m. tax , impost , royal revenue
harati = 3rd pers. sg. hR: to take ; to take away , carry off , seize , deprive of , steal , rob
asheSham: ind. entirely , wholly
ca na ca: though - yet not
abhirakShati = 3rd pers. sg. abhi- √ rakSh: to guard , protect , preserve
tathaa: ind. so, likewise
eva: (emphatic)
kaayaH (nom. sg.): m. the body
vasan'-aadi-saadhanam (acc. sg.): provisions such as clothes et cetera
vasana: n. clothes
aadi: ifc. beginning with , et caetera , and so on
saadhana: n. enforcing payment or recovery (of a debt) ; n. obtaining , procuring , gain , acquisition ; n. any means of effecting or accomplishing ; n. means of enjoyment , goods , commodities &c
harati = 3rd pers. sg. hR: to take ; to take away , carry off , seize , deprive of , steal , rob
asheSham: ind. entirely , wholly
ca na ca: though - yet not
anuvartate = 3rd pers. sg. anu- √ vRt: to go after ; to follow ; to attend ;
to obey ; to assent
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 9.37: Pessimistic Interventionism Revisited
sa-pannage yaH ku-gRhe sad" aashucau
rameta nityaM prati-saMskRte '-bale
sa duShta-dhaataav ashucau cal-aacale
rameta kaaye vipariita-darshanaH
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
9.37
One who would delight in a flimsy snake-infested hovel
That was always unclean and constantly needing repair:
He is the wrong-sighted man who would delight in a body
With its corrupted elements and unclean, unstable state.
COMMENT:
I remember standing as a 17-year-old schoolboy in the queue of a cinema in Birmingham city centre one Sunday night in 1977 and feeling a great rush of gratitude to the universe. I had been suffering all day from a bad hangover and could suddenly feel myself -- in spite of my stupid over-indulgence the previous night -- returning to normal.
That is one of the great and marvellous things about a human body: if one stops abusing it, while staying away from interfering medics and bad Buddhist teachers, along with twopenny half-penny psychodabblers, psychobabblers and the like, the body tends naturally to heal itself.
Having discovered for himself towards the end of the 19th century in Australia that "If one stops doing the wrong thing, the right thing does itself," FM Alexander came to England in 1904 and began to evolve a means-whereby to teach this principle to others, at which time he was not saying anything new. He was echoing the fundamental teaching of Zen Master Dogen in the 13th century, of Asvhaghosha a thousand or so years before Dogen, and of Gautama Buddha five hundred or so years before Ashvaghosha.
The antithesis of this fundamental teaching, and a view which is widely held, is the interventionist view of the striver. The view is repeated here, having first been expressed in 9.9:
When a body made of skin, bone, flesh, and blood owes its existence to the taking of food, / When it is always ailing, needing continuous intervention, How can you labour under an illusion like 'I am inherently strong'? // [9.9]
Some people teach that the practice of sitting-dhyana is a matter of continuous self-adjustment of one's sitting posture. It is teaching that leads to fixity without stillness, whereas more enlightened pursuit might tend in the direction of stillness without fixity.
These four characters, thought to be written by the Japanese Zen Master Dogen in his original instructions for sitting-zen, express the essence of a teaching which my teacher called optimistic, but which I would prefer to call the negation of a striver's pessimism. The principle is the principle that if one stops doing the wrong thing, the right thing tends to do itself; in other words, if one stops trying to repair and adjust it, the body tends to heal itself.
The literal meaning of the four characters is "naturally/spontaneously become one piece."
EH Johnston:
The man who would be so wrong-headed as to delight in the impure, transitory body, composed as it is of warring elements, is like a man who would delight in an ever unclean, dilapidated hovel, infested with snakes and always in need of repair.
Linda Covill:
Only a man who is pleased with a flimsy snake-filled hovel, always dirty and constantly needing repairs, would be perverse enough to enjoy this unclean fluctuating body with its hostile elements.
VOCABULARY:
sa-pannage (loc. sg. m.): mfn. having serpents, snake-infested
sa-: possessive suffix
panna-ga: m. " creeping low " , a serpent or serpent-demon
yaH (nom. sg. m.): [he] who
ku-gRhe (loc. sg.): mn. hovel
ku-: prefix implying deterioration , depreciation , deficiency , want , littleness
gRha: n. house, home
sadaa: ind. always , ever , every time , continually , perpetually
ashucau (loc. sg. m.): mfn. impure, foul
rameta = 3rd pers. sg. optative ram: to be glad or pleased , rejoice at , delight in , be fond of (loc.)
nityam: ind. always , constantly , regularly , by all means
pratisaMskRte = loc. sg. past. part. prati-saM-√skR: to repair , restore
abale (loc. sg. m.) mfn. weak , feeble
sa (nom. sg. m.): he
duShta-dhaatau (loc. sg. m.): with its corrupted elements
duShta: mfn. spoilt , corrupted ; defective , faulty ; wrong , false ; bad , wicked ; malignant , offensive , inimical
dhaatu: m. a constituent element or essential ingredient of the body (conceived either as 3 humours [called also doSha] phlegm , wind and bile ; or as the 5 organs of sense)
ashucau (loc. sg. m.): mfn. impure, foul
cal-aacale (loc. sg. m.): mfn. movable and immovable , locomotive and stationary; ever-moving (the wheel of saMsaara); moving to and fro , movable , tremulous , unfixed , loose ; unsteady , changeable
rameta = 3rd pers. sg. optative ram: to be glad or pleased , rejoice at , delight in , be fond of (loc.)
kaaye (loc. sg.): m. the body
vipariita-darshanaH (nom. sg. m.): one who is wrong in his view ; a man of perverse perception
vi-pariita: mfn. turned round , reversed , inverted; being the reverse of anything , acting in a contrary manner , opposite , contrary ; perverse ; false, untrue
darshana: n. seeing , observing ; eye-sight; view
rameta nityaM prati-saMskRte '-bale
sa duShta-dhaataav ashucau cal-aacale
rameta kaaye vipariita-darshanaH
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
9.37
One who would delight in a flimsy snake-infested hovel
That was always unclean and constantly needing repair:
He is the wrong-sighted man who would delight in a body
With its corrupted elements and unclean, unstable state.
COMMENT:
I remember standing as a 17-year-old schoolboy in the queue of a cinema in Birmingham city centre one Sunday night in 1977 and feeling a great rush of gratitude to the universe. I had been suffering all day from a bad hangover and could suddenly feel myself -- in spite of my stupid over-indulgence the previous night -- returning to normal.
That is one of the great and marvellous things about a human body: if one stops abusing it, while staying away from interfering medics and bad Buddhist teachers, along with twopenny half-penny psychodabblers, psychobabblers and the like, the body tends naturally to heal itself.
Having discovered for himself towards the end of the 19th century in Australia that "If one stops doing the wrong thing, the right thing does itself," FM Alexander came to England in 1904 and began to evolve a means-whereby to teach this principle to others, at which time he was not saying anything new. He was echoing the fundamental teaching of Zen Master Dogen in the 13th century, of Asvhaghosha a thousand or so years before Dogen, and of Gautama Buddha five hundred or so years before Ashvaghosha.
The antithesis of this fundamental teaching, and a view which is widely held, is the interventionist view of the striver. The view is repeated here, having first been expressed in 9.9:
When a body made of skin, bone, flesh, and blood owes its existence to the taking of food, / When it is always ailing, needing continuous intervention, How can you labour under an illusion like 'I am inherently strong'? // [9.9]
Some people teach that the practice of sitting-dhyana is a matter of continuous self-adjustment of one's sitting posture. It is teaching that leads to fixity without stillness, whereas more enlightened pursuit might tend in the direction of stillness without fixity.
These four characters, thought to be written by the Japanese Zen Master Dogen in his original instructions for sitting-zen, express the essence of a teaching which my teacher called optimistic, but which I would prefer to call the negation of a striver's pessimism. The principle is the principle that if one stops doing the wrong thing, the right thing tends to do itself; in other words, if one stops trying to repair and adjust it, the body tends to heal itself.
The literal meaning of the four characters is "naturally/spontaneously become one piece."
EH Johnston:
The man who would be so wrong-headed as to delight in the impure, transitory body, composed as it is of warring elements, is like a man who would delight in an ever unclean, dilapidated hovel, infested with snakes and always in need of repair.
Linda Covill:
Only a man who is pleased with a flimsy snake-filled hovel, always dirty and constantly needing repairs, would be perverse enough to enjoy this unclean fluctuating body with its hostile elements.
VOCABULARY:
sa-pannage (loc. sg. m.): mfn. having serpents, snake-infested
sa-: possessive suffix
panna-ga: m. " creeping low " , a serpent or serpent-demon
yaH (nom. sg. m.): [he] who
ku-gRhe (loc. sg.): mn. hovel
ku-: prefix implying deterioration , depreciation , deficiency , want , littleness
gRha: n. house, home
sadaa: ind. always , ever , every time , continually , perpetually
ashucau (loc. sg. m.): mfn. impure, foul
rameta = 3rd pers. sg. optative ram: to be glad or pleased , rejoice at , delight in , be fond of (loc.)
nityam: ind. always , constantly , regularly , by all means
pratisaMskRte = loc. sg. past. part. prati-saM-√skR: to repair , restore
abale (loc. sg. m.) mfn. weak , feeble
sa (nom. sg. m.): he
duShta-dhaatau (loc. sg. m.): with its corrupted elements
duShta: mfn. spoilt , corrupted ; defective , faulty ; wrong , false ; bad , wicked ; malignant , offensive , inimical
dhaatu: m. a constituent element or essential ingredient of the body (conceived either as 3 humours [called also doSha] phlegm , wind and bile ; or as the 5 organs of sense)
ashucau (loc. sg. m.): mfn. impure, foul
cal-aacale (loc. sg. m.): mfn. movable and immovable , locomotive and stationary; ever-moving (the wheel of saMsaara); moving to and fro , movable , tremulous , unfixed , loose ; unsteady , changeable
rameta = 3rd pers. sg. optative ram: to be glad or pleased , rejoice at , delight in , be fond of (loc.)
kaaye (loc. sg.): m. the body
vipariita-darshanaH (nom. sg. m.): one who is wrong in his view ; a man of perverse perception
vi-pariita: mfn. turned round , reversed , inverted; being the reverse of anything , acting in a contrary manner , opposite , contrary ; perverse ; false, untrue
darshana: n. seeing , observing ; eye-sight; view
Thursday, May 5, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 9.36: Not Being the Owner of a Body
yadaa shariire na vasho' sti kasya cin
nirasyamaane vividhair upalpavaiH
kathaM kShamaM vettum ahaM mam' eti vaa
shariira-saMjNaM gRham aapadaam idaM
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
9.36
When no-one has dominion over a body
That is ravaged by manifold misfortunes,
How can it be right to recognize as "I" or as "mine"
This house of calamities called a body?
COMMENT:
Here again the preacher of propriety (kShama-vaadin; 8.11) is discussing what is proper, fitting or right (kShamam). He seems to be striving to sound like the Buddha.
Hence, in the same way that a cake of chalk and a cake of cheese might look somehow similar to each other, the words of this preacher of propriety sound somehow similar to the Buddha's words in Canto 15 about dragging around that field of misfortunes which is a body:
As he drags about that field of misfortunes which is a body, / Expectations of well-being or of continuing life do not arise in one who is observant. // [15.55] Who could be complacent carrying around a body which is a receptacle for the elements / Like a basket full of snakes each opposed to another? // [15.56] That a man draws breath and next time around breathes in again, / Know to be a wonder, for staying alive is nothing to breathe easy about.// [15.57] Here is another wonder: That one who was asleep wakes up / Or, having been up, goes back to sleep; for many enemies has the owner of a body. // [15.58]
In order to understand how the teaching of Buddhist strivers is totally different from the teaching of the Buddha himself, it is necessary really to bite into the latter teaching, and in general this involves sitting with right foot on left thigh and left foot on right thigh.
Hence the Buddha's guidance to Nanda in Canto 15 begins with these words:
In whatever solitary place you are, crossing the legs in the supreme manner, / Aligning the body, and thus being attended by mindfulness that is directed... // [15.1]
And hence Ashvaghosha's description of how Nanda followed the Buddha's guidance begins with these words:
Thus was the path to reality pointed out. Then Nanda, a path of release receiving him in, / Bowed with his whole being before the guru and, for the letting go of afflictions, he made for the forest. //[17.1] There he saw a clearing, a quiet glade, of soft deep-green grass, / Kept secret by a silent stream, bearing water blue as beryl. // [17.2] Having washed his feet in that water, he then, by a clean, auspicious, and splendid tree-root, / Girded on the intention to come undone, and sat with legs fully crossed. // [17.3] By first directing the whole body up, and thus keeping mindfulness turned towards the body, / And thus integrating in his person all the senses, there he threw himself all-out into practice. // [17.4] Wishing to practise, on that basis, the truth that has no gaps, and wanting to do practices favourable to release,/ He moved, using common sense, and stillness, into the stage of readying of consciousness. // [17.5] By holding firm, keeping direction of energy to the fore, by cutting out clinging and garnering his energy, / His consciousness calmed and contained, he came back to himself and was not concerned about ends. // [17.6]
The supreme thing in human life, as far as I am concerned, is practising sitting-dhyana as the Buddha taught it, with right foot on left thigh and left foot on right thigh. In order to enjoy this practise, one needs several things: folded towels or something else to use as a cushion to place under the sitting bones, on a fairly flat area of floor or ground, preferably padded; if it is a quiet place away from noises of petrol engines, electronic equipment, yapping dogs, and other people, that is a big bonus; one needs some basic understanding of the Buddha's teaching, and especially of the point that sitting-dhyana is no kind of ascetic striving; but above all one needs a reasonably healthy human body.
It would be a great shame to have a healthy body and yet, because of a distorted philosophical view rooted in trying to be right, to fail to own one's own body.
EH Johnston:
Since no one has dominion over the body which is subject to manifold plagues, how can it be proper to recognise that abode of calamities called 'the body' as identical with you are as yours?
Linda Covill:
Since no one can control a body eroded by adversities of various kinds, how can it be sensible to suppose that this body, the abode of ill-boding, is 'I' or 'mine'?
VOCABULARY:
yadaa: ind. when
shariire (loc. sg.): n. body
na: not
vashaH (nom. sg.): m. authority , power , control , dominion
asti = 3rd pers. sg. as: to be
kasya cid (gen. sg.): of anybody
nirasyamaane = loc. sg. n. passive pres. part. nir- √ as: to cast out , throw or drive away , expel , remove , banish ; to ward off , keep away ; to strip off ; to reject , refuse , decline (as a suitor , an offer , &c ); to destroy , annihilate
vividhaiH (inst. pl. m.): mfn. of various sorts , manifold , diverse
upa-plavaiH (inst. pl.): m. affliction , visitation , invasion , inundation; any public calamity , unlucky accident , misfortune , disturbance
upa (ind. prefix): under, down,
plava: mfn. swimming , floating ; sloping towards , inclined
katham: ind. how?
kShamam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. fit , appropriate , becoming , suitable , proper
vettum = inf. vid: to know , understand , perceive , learn , become or be acquainted with , be conscious of , have a correct notion of
aham (nom. sg. m.): I
mama (gen. sg. m.): mine
iti: "...," thus
vaa: or
shariira-saMjNam (acc. sg. n.): called "a body"
gRham (acc. sg.): n. a house, home
aapadaam = gen. pl. aapad: f. misfortune , calamity , distress
idam (acc. sg. n.): this
nirasyamaane vividhair upalpavaiH
kathaM kShamaM vettum ahaM mam' eti vaa
shariira-saMjNaM gRham aapadaam idaM
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
9.36
When no-one has dominion over a body
That is ravaged by manifold misfortunes,
How can it be right to recognize as "I" or as "mine"
This house of calamities called a body?
COMMENT:
Here again the preacher of propriety (kShama-vaadin; 8.11) is discussing what is proper, fitting or right (kShamam). He seems to be striving to sound like the Buddha.
Hence, in the same way that a cake of chalk and a cake of cheese might look somehow similar to each other, the words of this preacher of propriety sound somehow similar to the Buddha's words in Canto 15 about dragging around that field of misfortunes which is a body:
As he drags about that field of misfortunes which is a body, / Expectations of well-being or of continuing life do not arise in one who is observant. // [15.55] Who could be complacent carrying around a body which is a receptacle for the elements / Like a basket full of snakes each opposed to another? // [15.56] That a man draws breath and next time around breathes in again, / Know to be a wonder, for staying alive is nothing to breathe easy about.// [15.57] Here is another wonder: That one who was asleep wakes up / Or, having been up, goes back to sleep; for many enemies has the owner of a body. // [15.58]
In order to understand how the teaching of Buddhist strivers is totally different from the teaching of the Buddha himself, it is necessary really to bite into the latter teaching, and in general this involves sitting with right foot on left thigh and left foot on right thigh.
Hence the Buddha's guidance to Nanda in Canto 15 begins with these words:
In whatever solitary place you are, crossing the legs in the supreme manner, / Aligning the body, and thus being attended by mindfulness that is directed... // [15.1]
And hence Ashvaghosha's description of how Nanda followed the Buddha's guidance begins with these words:
Thus was the path to reality pointed out. Then Nanda, a path of release receiving him in, / Bowed with his whole being before the guru and, for the letting go of afflictions, he made for the forest. //[17.1] There he saw a clearing, a quiet glade, of soft deep-green grass, / Kept secret by a silent stream, bearing water blue as beryl. // [17.2] Having washed his feet in that water, he then, by a clean, auspicious, and splendid tree-root, / Girded on the intention to come undone, and sat with legs fully crossed. // [17.3] By first directing the whole body up, and thus keeping mindfulness turned towards the body, / And thus integrating in his person all the senses, there he threw himself all-out into practice. // [17.4] Wishing to practise, on that basis, the truth that has no gaps, and wanting to do practices favourable to release,/ He moved, using common sense, and stillness, into the stage of readying of consciousness. // [17.5] By holding firm, keeping direction of energy to the fore, by cutting out clinging and garnering his energy, / His consciousness calmed and contained, he came back to himself and was not concerned about ends. // [17.6]
The supreme thing in human life, as far as I am concerned, is practising sitting-dhyana as the Buddha taught it, with right foot on left thigh and left foot on right thigh. In order to enjoy this practise, one needs several things: folded towels or something else to use as a cushion to place under the sitting bones, on a fairly flat area of floor or ground, preferably padded; if it is a quiet place away from noises of petrol engines, electronic equipment, yapping dogs, and other people, that is a big bonus; one needs some basic understanding of the Buddha's teaching, and especially of the point that sitting-dhyana is no kind of ascetic striving; but above all one needs a reasonably healthy human body.
It would be a great shame to have a healthy body and yet, because of a distorted philosophical view rooted in trying to be right, to fail to own one's own body.
EH Johnston:
Since no one has dominion over the body which is subject to manifold plagues, how can it be proper to recognise that abode of calamities called 'the body' as identical with you are as yours?
Linda Covill:
Since no one can control a body eroded by adversities of various kinds, how can it be sensible to suppose that this body, the abode of ill-boding, is 'I' or 'mine'?
VOCABULARY:
yadaa: ind. when
shariire (loc. sg.): n. body
na: not
vashaH (nom. sg.): m. authority , power , control , dominion
asti = 3rd pers. sg. as: to be
kasya cid (gen. sg.): of anybody
nirasyamaane = loc. sg. n. passive pres. part. nir- √ as: to cast out , throw or drive away , expel , remove , banish ; to ward off , keep away ; to strip off ; to reject , refuse , decline (as a suitor , an offer , &c ); to destroy , annihilate
vividhaiH (inst. pl. m.): mfn. of various sorts , manifold , diverse
upa-plavaiH (inst. pl.): m. affliction , visitation , invasion , inundation; any public calamity , unlucky accident , misfortune , disturbance
upa (ind. prefix): under, down,
plava: mfn. swimming , floating ; sloping towards , inclined
katham: ind. how?
kShamam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. fit , appropriate , becoming , suitable , proper
vettum = inf. vid: to know , understand , perceive , learn , become or be acquainted with , be conscious of , have a correct notion of
aham (nom. sg. m.): I
mama (gen. sg. m.): mine
iti: "...," thus
vaa: or
shariira-saMjNam (acc. sg. n.): called "a body"
gRham (acc. sg.): n. a house, home
aapadaam = gen. pl. aapad: f. misfortune , calamity , distress
idam (acc. sg. n.): this
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 9.35: Negation of Ego
ahaM mam ety eva ca rakta-cetasaH
shariira-saMjNe tava yaH kalau grahaH
tam utsRj' aivaM yadi shaamyataa bhaved
bhayaM hy ahaM c' eti mam eti c' aarchati
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - -
9.35
With your mind tainted by "I" and "mine,"
You are latching onto the strife called a body.
Let go of that, if peace is to come about,
For "I" and "mine" usher in danger.
COMMENT:
EHJ's original Sanskrit text has rakta-cetasaaM shariira-saMjNaa, whereas EHJ suspects that the correct reading might be rakta-cetasaH shariira-saMjnaH. EHJ notes further that the paper manuscript also allows for shariira-saMjne.
LC opted for rakta-cetasaH shariira-saMjNe, and I have followed this reading.
Noting that the readings of this verse are doubtful, EHJ opines that the general sense is nonetheless clear. EHJ probably thought the general sense was clear on the basis that negation of "I" and "mine" is generally typical among followers of religions and other group activities. As per the gospel of David Brent, "there is no I in team."
A counter-reflection is that no individual human being has ever started a tribal or sectarian war; whereas one solitary human being, by the name of Gautama, abandonned his ascetic companions and, Sitting there, mind made up, as unmovingly stable as the king of mountains,/ Overcame the grim army of Mara, and awoke to the step which is happy, irremovable, and irreducible.// [3.7]
That step, as I understand it, has to do with a certain integrity.
For a start it is the integrity of practising what one preaches. In the news today we hear that the means whereby America gained its end of bringing Osama Bin Laden to justice was not perfect. But the basic fact remains that America's leaders vowed they would get Bin Laden sooner or later, and they got him. In marked contrast, British security services in the 1990s, it seems, were very soft-headed in letting the enemies of freedom come and go as they pleased in the name of freedom.
The individual human integrity that the Buddha preached and practised might be related to what a teacher of mine described as "an overall sense of the self within the gravitational field." It is within this gravitational field that there exists up and down, inside and outside, my neck, my head, my back, my limbs, and I who wishes the whole lot to expand as breath comes in and to continue expanding as the breath goes out.
Sometimes a certain soft-headed tendency causes some of us to be slow in asserting that what belongs to me is mine, because we are so busy striving to be right, noble, unselfish, et cetera. Mindful of the precept not to kill living beings, we hesitate to kill the snake.
Behind the Buddhist striver's every mistake there might be one fundamental error -- trying to be buddha and shying soft-headedly away from being me.
In 5.48, in contrast, the Buddha who did not need to try to be buddha uses the expression may" oktam (mayaa + uktam) "spoken by me."
EH Johnston:
Sinful delusion about the body that 'it is I, it is mine', obsesses your passion-ridden thoughts ; cast off its stranglehold. If you were to act thus, tranquillity would be yours ; for one incurs danger by thinking 'this is I' or 'this is mine.'
Linda Covill:
With 'I' and 'mine' you, passionate-minded, are holding on to a faulty conception of the body. Let go of it, if peace is to come about, for 'I' is dangerous, and 'mine' is calamitous.
VOCABULARY:
aham (nom. sg. m.): I
mama (gen. sg.): my
iti: "...," thus
eva: (emphatic)
ca: and
rakta-cetasaH (gen. sg. m.): tainted mind
rakta: mfn. coloured ; reddened , red ; excited , affected with passion or love , impassioned , enamoured
cetas: n. mind
shariira-saMjNe (loc. sg. m.): called "body"
shariira: n. body
saMjNa = ifc. for saMjNaa: f. consciousness , clear knowledge or understanding or notion or conception ; a name , appellation , title , technical term (ifc. = " called , named ")
tava (gen. sg.): your, of you
yaH (nom. sg. m.): that
kalau = loc. sg. kali: m. N. of the die or side of a die marked with one dot , the losing die ; symbolical expression for the number 1; strife , discord , quarrel , contention
grahaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. seizing , laying hold of , holding ; m. insisting upon , tenacity , perseverance in (loc.)
tam (acc. sg. m.): that
utsRja = 2nd pers. sg. imperative ud- √sRj: to let loose , let off or go
evam: ind. thus , in this way , in such a manner ; (sometimes evam is merely an expletive)
yadi: if
shaamya-taa (nom. sg.): f. peace, reconciliation
bhavet = 3rd pers. sg. opt. bhuu: to be, occur, happen
bhayam (acc. sg.): n. terror , dismay , danger , peril
hi: for
aham (nom. sg.): I
ca: and
iti: "...,"
mama (gen. sg.): mind
iti: "...,"
ca: and
aarchati = 3rd pers. sg. aa- √R: to bring near
shariira-saMjNe tava yaH kalau grahaH
tam utsRj' aivaM yadi shaamyataa bhaved
bhayaM hy ahaM c' eti mam eti c' aarchati
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - -
9.35
With your mind tainted by "I" and "mine,"
You are latching onto the strife called a body.
Let go of that, if peace is to come about,
For "I" and "mine" usher in danger.
COMMENT:
EHJ's original Sanskrit text has rakta-cetasaaM shariira-saMjNaa, whereas EHJ suspects that the correct reading might be rakta-cetasaH shariira-saMjnaH. EHJ notes further that the paper manuscript also allows for shariira-saMjne.
LC opted for rakta-cetasaH shariira-saMjNe, and I have followed this reading.
Noting that the readings of this verse are doubtful, EHJ opines that the general sense is nonetheless clear. EHJ probably thought the general sense was clear on the basis that negation of "I" and "mine" is generally typical among followers of religions and other group activities. As per the gospel of David Brent, "there is no I in team."
A counter-reflection is that no individual human being has ever started a tribal or sectarian war; whereas one solitary human being, by the name of Gautama, abandonned his ascetic companions and, Sitting there, mind made up, as unmovingly stable as the king of mountains,/ Overcame the grim army of Mara, and awoke to the step which is happy, irremovable, and irreducible.// [3.7]
That step, as I understand it, has to do with a certain integrity.
For a start it is the integrity of practising what one preaches. In the news today we hear that the means whereby America gained its end of bringing Osama Bin Laden to justice was not perfect. But the basic fact remains that America's leaders vowed they would get Bin Laden sooner or later, and they got him. In marked contrast, British security services in the 1990s, it seems, were very soft-headed in letting the enemies of freedom come and go as they pleased in the name of freedom.
The individual human integrity that the Buddha preached and practised might be related to what a teacher of mine described as "an overall sense of the self within the gravitational field." It is within this gravitational field that there exists up and down, inside and outside, my neck, my head, my back, my limbs, and I who wishes the whole lot to expand as breath comes in and to continue expanding as the breath goes out.
Sometimes a certain soft-headed tendency causes some of us to be slow in asserting that what belongs to me is mine, because we are so busy striving to be right, noble, unselfish, et cetera. Mindful of the precept not to kill living beings, we hesitate to kill the snake.
Behind the Buddhist striver's every mistake there might be one fundamental error -- trying to be buddha and shying soft-headedly away from being me.
In 5.48, in contrast, the Buddha who did not need to try to be buddha uses the expression may" oktam (mayaa + uktam) "spoken by me."
EH Johnston:
Sinful delusion about the body that 'it is I, it is mine', obsesses your passion-ridden thoughts ; cast off its stranglehold. If you were to act thus, tranquillity would be yours ; for one incurs danger by thinking 'this is I' or 'this is mine.'
Linda Covill:
With 'I' and 'mine' you, passionate-minded, are holding on to a faulty conception of the body. Let go of it, if peace is to come about, for 'I' is dangerous, and 'mine' is calamitous.
VOCABULARY:
aham (nom. sg. m.): I
mama (gen. sg.): my
iti: "...," thus
eva: (emphatic)
ca: and
rakta-cetasaH (gen. sg. m.): tainted mind
rakta: mfn. coloured ; reddened , red ; excited , affected with passion or love , impassioned , enamoured
cetas: n. mind
shariira-saMjNe (loc. sg. m.): called "body"
shariira: n. body
saMjNa = ifc. for saMjNaa: f. consciousness , clear knowledge or understanding or notion or conception ; a name , appellation , title , technical term (ifc. = " called , named ")
tava (gen. sg.): your, of you
yaH (nom. sg. m.): that
kalau = loc. sg. kali: m. N. of the die or side of a die marked with one dot , the losing die ; symbolical expression for the number 1; strife , discord , quarrel , contention
grahaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. seizing , laying hold of , holding ; m. insisting upon , tenacity , perseverance in (loc.)
tam (acc. sg. m.): that
utsRja = 2nd pers. sg. imperative ud- √sRj: to let loose , let off or go
evam: ind. thus , in this way , in such a manner ; (sometimes evam is merely an expletive)
yadi: if
shaamya-taa (nom. sg.): f. peace, reconciliation
bhavet = 3rd pers. sg. opt. bhuu: to be, occur, happen
bhayam (acc. sg.): n. terror , dismay , danger , peril
hi: for
aham (nom. sg.): I
ca: and
iti: "...,"
mama (gen. sg.): mind
iti: "...,"
ca: and
aarchati = 3rd pers. sg. aa- √R: to bring near
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 9.34: Denunciation of Ignoble Vanity
idaM viditvaa nidhanasya daishikaM
jar"-abhidhaanaM jagato mahadbhayaM
ahaM vapuShmaan balavaan yuv"-eti vaa
na maanam aarodhum anaaryam arhasi
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
9.34
Knowing this great terror of the world named "aging"
To be a pointer on the way to death,
Do not rise to the ignoble conceit
That I am beautiful, or young, or strong.
COMMENT:
Again, to find fault in this verse it might be necessary, as in the latter stages of dirt-washing, to be a bit picky.
In that spirit, attention is drawn to the penultimate word in line 4, an-aaryam, ignoble.
The striver, preacher of propriety, discusses nobility in the negative -- an-aarya -- in this verse and in his tirade against women in 8.46:
Ungrateful, ignoble, unsteady: such is the mind of women. / What man of wisdom could fasten his heart onto such fickle creatures? // [8.46]
The Buddha, in contrast, nowhere in Saundara-nanda discusses the ignobility of the mind of others. The Buddha's references to nobility are all positive, and generally connected to a noble path of conduct -- as in the following verses from Canto 16:
In conformity with its kind, then, a distinguishable bodily form develops, wherein, O man of noble conduct, / Suffering exists, right there -- for nowhere else will suffering exist or has it existed or could it exist. // [16.16]
Again, the ending of suffering follows from the disappearance of its cause. Experience that reality for yourself as peace and well-being, / A place of rest, a cessation, an absence of the red taint of thirsting, An eternal refuge which is irremovable and noble, // In which there is no becoming, no aging, no dying, no illnesses, no being touched by unpleasantness, / No disappointment, or separation from what is pleasant: It is a step of restfulness, ultimate and indestructible. // [16.26 - 16.27]
Noble insight into the truths, beginning with the truth of suffering, along with thinking straight, and initiative:/ These three, forming the protocol on knowing, are for dissolution, based on wisdom, of afflictions.// [16.32]
Giving oneself to this path with its three divisions and eight branches -- this straightforward, irremovable, noble path -- / One abandons the faults, which are the causes of suffering, and comes to that step which is total well-being.// [16.37]
For he who knows suffering as it really is, who knows its starting and its stopping: / It is he who reaches peace by the noble path -- going along with friends in the good. // [16.39]
So, in order to make the noble truths your own, first clear a path according to this plan of action, / Like a king going on campaign to subdue his foes, wishing to conquer unconquered riches. // [16.85]
If the thoughts of the striver were true, the opposite of ignoble conceit might be noble humility. But in the teaching of the Buddha, evidently, nobility is a function of action. And the most noble act in the house of buddha-ancestors, so they say, is just the act of sitting with right foot on left thigh and left foot on right thigh.
EH Johnston:
Do not give way to ignoble pride, thinking 'I am beautiful, strong or young' , and recognise that this great danger of the world known as old age but points the way to death.
Linda Covill:
Acknowledge this great death-indicating danger in the world, known as old age, and do not rise to the ignoble and complacent thought, 'I am lovely, strong and young.'
VOCABULARY:
idam (acc. sg. n.): this, this here
viditvaa = abs. vid: to know , understand , perceive
nidhanasya (gen. sg.): n. conclusion , end , death , destruction , loss , annihilation
daishikam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. showing , directing , spiritual guide or teacher
jar"-aabhidhaanam (acc. sg. n.): named "aging"
jaraa: f. aging, old age
abhidhaana: n. telling ; a name , title , appellation , expression , word
abhi- √ dhaa : (in classical Sanskrit generally) to set forth , explain , tell , speak to , address , say , name
jagataH (gen. sg.): n. the world
mahat (acc. sg. n.): great
bhayam (acc. sg.): n. terror , dismay , danger , peril , distress
aham (nom. sg. m.): I
vapuShmaan (nom. sg. m.): mfn. having a beautiful form , handsome
balavaan (nom. sg. m.): mfn. possessing power , powerful , mighty , strong
yuvaa (nom. sg. m.): mfn. young
iti: "....," thus
vaa: or
na: not
maanam: m. ( √ man) opinion , notion , conception , idea ; self-conceit , arrogance , pride
aarodhum = inf. aa- √ ruh: to ascend , mount , bestride , rise up ; to venture upon , undertake
anaaryam (acc. sg. m.): ignoble
arhasi = 2nd pers. sg. arh: ought
jar"-abhidhaanaM jagato mahadbhayaM
ahaM vapuShmaan balavaan yuv"-eti vaa
na maanam aarodhum anaaryam arhasi
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
9.34
Knowing this great terror of the world named "aging"
To be a pointer on the way to death,
Do not rise to the ignoble conceit
That I am beautiful, or young, or strong.
COMMENT:
Again, to find fault in this verse it might be necessary, as in the latter stages of dirt-washing, to be a bit picky.
In that spirit, attention is drawn to the penultimate word in line 4, an-aaryam, ignoble.
The striver, preacher of propriety, discusses nobility in the negative -- an-aarya -- in this verse and in his tirade against women in 8.46:
Ungrateful, ignoble, unsteady: such is the mind of women. / What man of wisdom could fasten his heart onto such fickle creatures? // [8.46]
The Buddha, in contrast, nowhere in Saundara-nanda discusses the ignobility of the mind of others. The Buddha's references to nobility are all positive, and generally connected to a noble path of conduct -- as in the following verses from Canto 16:
In conformity with its kind, then, a distinguishable bodily form develops, wherein, O man of noble conduct, / Suffering exists, right there -- for nowhere else will suffering exist or has it existed or could it exist. // [16.16]
Again, the ending of suffering follows from the disappearance of its cause. Experience that reality for yourself as peace and well-being, / A place of rest, a cessation, an absence of the red taint of thirsting, An eternal refuge which is irremovable and noble, // In which there is no becoming, no aging, no dying, no illnesses, no being touched by unpleasantness, / No disappointment, or separation from what is pleasant: It is a step of restfulness, ultimate and indestructible. // [16.26 - 16.27]
Noble insight into the truths, beginning with the truth of suffering, along with thinking straight, and initiative:/ These three, forming the protocol on knowing, are for dissolution, based on wisdom, of afflictions.// [16.32]
Giving oneself to this path with its three divisions and eight branches -- this straightforward, irremovable, noble path -- / One abandons the faults, which are the causes of suffering, and comes to that step which is total well-being.// [16.37]
For he who knows suffering as it really is, who knows its starting and its stopping: / It is he who reaches peace by the noble path -- going along with friends in the good. // [16.39]
So, in order to make the noble truths your own, first clear a path according to this plan of action, / Like a king going on campaign to subdue his foes, wishing to conquer unconquered riches. // [16.85]
If the thoughts of the striver were true, the opposite of ignoble conceit might be noble humility. But in the teaching of the Buddha, evidently, nobility is a function of action. And the most noble act in the house of buddha-ancestors, so they say, is just the act of sitting with right foot on left thigh and left foot on right thigh.
EH Johnston:
Do not give way to ignoble pride, thinking 'I am beautiful, strong or young' , and recognise that this great danger of the world known as old age but points the way to death.
Linda Covill:
Acknowledge this great death-indicating danger in the world, known as old age, and do not rise to the ignoble and complacent thought, 'I am lovely, strong and young.'
VOCABULARY:
idam (acc. sg. n.): this, this here
viditvaa = abs. vid: to know , understand , perceive
nidhanasya (gen. sg.): n. conclusion , end , death , destruction , loss , annihilation
daishikam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. showing , directing , spiritual guide or teacher
jar"-aabhidhaanam (acc. sg. n.): named "aging"
jaraa: f. aging, old age
abhidhaana: n. telling ; a name , title , appellation , expression , word
abhi- √ dhaa : (in classical Sanskrit generally) to set forth , explain , tell , speak to , address , say , name
jagataH (gen. sg.): n. the world
mahat (acc. sg. n.): great
bhayam (acc. sg.): n. terror , dismay , danger , peril , distress
aham (nom. sg. m.): I
vapuShmaan (nom. sg. m.): mfn. having a beautiful form , handsome
balavaan (nom. sg. m.): mfn. possessing power , powerful , mighty , strong
yuvaa (nom. sg. m.): mfn. young
iti: "....," thus
vaa: or
na: not
maanam: m. ( √ man) opinion , notion , conception , idea ; self-conceit , arrogance , pride
aarodhum = inf. aa- √ ruh: to ascend , mount , bestride , rise up ; to venture upon , undertake
anaaryam (acc. sg. m.): ignoble
arhasi = 2nd pers. sg. arh: ought
Monday, May 2, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 9.33: Knowing the Enemy
sMrteH pramoSho vapuShaH paraabhavo
rateH kShayo vaac-chruti-cakShuShaaM grahaH
shramasya yonir bala-viiryayor vadho
jaraa-samo n'-aasti shariiriNaaM ripuH
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
9.33
Robber of memory; destroyer of looks;
Ender of pleasure; seizer of speech, hearing and sight;
Birthplace of fatigue;
slayer of strength and manly vigour:
For those with a body, there is no enemy to rival aging.
COMMENT:
Today is a good day to discuss the defeat of an enemy. I refer to the killing of Osama Bin Laden, a typical religious striver. Religious striving is everywhere the enemy of freedom -- not least within me.
On first reading what our Buddhist striver says in today's verse sounds reasonable.
Certainly there is no fault here as gross and obvious as the Buddhist striver's prejudiced view against women expressed in Canto 8.
But if we sift through the striver's words in the methodical manner of the diligent dirt-washer, as advocated at the end of Canto 15, then some subtle inaccuracies emerge.
First, in the Buddha's teaching aging generally is cited alongside two rivals, namely, sickness, and death:
Nothing takes away people's beauty like aging, there is no misfortune in the world like sickness, / And no terror on earth like death. Yet these three, inevitably, shall be obeyed. // [5.27]
Aging, sickness and death are the great terror of this world. / There is no place where that terror does not arise. // [15.46]
Second, whereas the Buddha describes aging, sickness and death as inevitable terrors which shall be obeyed, he compares to enemies those afflictions which he encourages us not to obey but rather -- through persistent and well-directed effort -- to defeat.
Upon transient whims which are akin to enemies, being eternally the causes of suffering, / Upon whims like love, the world fixes. It does not know the happiness that is immune to change.// [12.24]
Therefore, knowing it to be darkness, you should not engulf sleep / While the faults remain unsubdued like sword-wielding enemies. // [14.31]
When a man is like a gatekeeper at his gate, his mindfulness directed, / The faults do not venture to attack him, any more than enemies do a guarded city. // [14.36]
But he is a target for the faults who lacks the armour of mindfulness: / As for enemies is he who stands in battle with no suit of armour.// [14.38]
If he constantly abides as a unity, in an empty abode, if he is no fonder of arisings of affliction than he is of enemies, / And if, going rejoicing in the self, he drinks the water of joy, then greater than dominion over thirty gods is the happiness he enjoys. // [14.52]
As a bow of true knowledge, clad in the armour of mindfulness, standing up in a chariot of pure practice of integrity, / While his enemies, the afflictions, stood up in the battlefield of the mind, he took his stance for victory, ready to engage them in battle. // [17.23]
With arrows made from the presence of mindfulness, instantly he shot those enemies whose substance is upside-down-ness: / He split apart four enemies, four causes of suffering, with four arrows, each having its own range.// [17.25]
A small vestige of the great enemy, red passion, whose straining bow is impatient desire and whose arrow is fixity, / He destroyed using weapons procured from the body as it naturally is -- using the darts of the disagreeable, weapons from the armoury of practice. // [17.38]
In order to go entirely beyond the sphere of desire, he overpowered those enemies that grab the heel, / So that he attained, because of practice, the fruit of not returning, and stood as if at the gateway to the citadel of Nirvana.// [17.41]
If we follow the Buddha's teaching, then, we should see as our enemies greed, anger and other faults, and should see as our enemies the end-gaining desires (including especially the religious striver's desire to feel right) which trigger those faults.
The Buddha calls aging a terror; he does not call aging his enemy. Aging is inevitable. Moreover, though my aging may be a terror for me, from the standpoint of future generations it might be not only inevitable but also desirable that this body grows old and vacates this spot by the forest so that somebody else can enjoy the solitude.
A grain of dirt after all, however fine and however glittery it may be, is not quite a grain of gold.
EH Johnston:
There is no foe of corporeal beings to equal old age, the thief of memory, the conqueror of beauty, the destroyer of pleasure, the robber of speech, hearing and eyesight, the source of weariness, the slayer of might and heroism.
Linda Covill:
It steals memory, humiliates beauty, ruins sex, seizes speech, hearing and sight, produces fatigue and kills strength and vigor; old age is the matchless enemy of humankind.
VOCABULARY:
smRteH (gen. sg.): f. remembrance , reminiscence , thinking of or upon (loc. or comp.) , calling to mind
pramoShaH (nom. sg.): m. stealing or taking away
pra- √muSh: to steal away , rob , carry off , take away
vapuShaH (gen. sg.): n. form , figure , (esp.) a beautiful form or figure , wonderful appearance , beauty
paraabhavaH (nom. sg.): m. vanishing , disappearance , dissolution , separation ; overthrow , defeat , humiliation , mortification , contempt , injury , destruction , ruin
rateH (gen. sg.): f. pleasure , enjoyment ; the pleasure of love , sexual passion or union , amorous enjoyment
kShayaH (nom. sg.): m. loss , waste , wane , diminution , destruction , decay , wasting or wearing away
vaac-chruti-cakShuShaam (gen. pl.): speech, hearing and sight
vaac: f. speech , voice
shruti: f. hearing , listening
cakShus: n. faculty of seeing , sight
grahaH (nom. sg.): m. seizer
shramasya (gen. sg.): m. fatigue , weariness , exhaustion
yoniH (nom. sg.): m. womb, place of birth, place of rest
bala-viiryayor (gen. sg. dual):
bala: n. strength
viirya: n. manliness , valour , strength , power , energy
vadhaH (nom. sg.): m. one who kills , a slayer , vanquisher , destroyer
jaraa-samaH (nom. sg. m.): the equal of old age
na: not
asti = 3rd pers. sg. as: to be
shariiriNaam = gen. pl. shariirin: m. an embodied being , creature , (esp.) a man
ripuH (nom. sg.): m. an enemy , adversary , foe
rateH kShayo vaac-chruti-cakShuShaaM grahaH
shramasya yonir bala-viiryayor vadho
jaraa-samo n'-aasti shariiriNaaM ripuH
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
9.33
Robber of memory; destroyer of looks;
Ender of pleasure; seizer of speech, hearing and sight;
Birthplace of fatigue;
slayer of strength and manly vigour:
For those with a body, there is no enemy to rival aging.
COMMENT:
Today is a good day to discuss the defeat of an enemy. I refer to the killing of Osama Bin Laden, a typical religious striver. Religious striving is everywhere the enemy of freedom -- not least within me.
On first reading what our Buddhist striver says in today's verse sounds reasonable.
Certainly there is no fault here as gross and obvious as the Buddhist striver's prejudiced view against women expressed in Canto 8.
But if we sift through the striver's words in the methodical manner of the diligent dirt-washer, as advocated at the end of Canto 15, then some subtle inaccuracies emerge.
First, in the Buddha's teaching aging generally is cited alongside two rivals, namely, sickness, and death:
Nothing takes away people's beauty like aging, there is no misfortune in the world like sickness, / And no terror on earth like death. Yet these three, inevitably, shall be obeyed. // [5.27]
Aging, sickness and death are the great terror of this world. / There is no place where that terror does not arise. // [15.46]
Second, whereas the Buddha describes aging, sickness and death as inevitable terrors which shall be obeyed, he compares to enemies those afflictions which he encourages us not to obey but rather -- through persistent and well-directed effort -- to defeat.
Upon transient whims which are akin to enemies, being eternally the causes of suffering, / Upon whims like love, the world fixes. It does not know the happiness that is immune to change.// [12.24]
Therefore, knowing it to be darkness, you should not engulf sleep / While the faults remain unsubdued like sword-wielding enemies. // [14.31]
When a man is like a gatekeeper at his gate, his mindfulness directed, / The faults do not venture to attack him, any more than enemies do a guarded city. // [14.36]
But he is a target for the faults who lacks the armour of mindfulness: / As for enemies is he who stands in battle with no suit of armour.// [14.38]
If he constantly abides as a unity, in an empty abode, if he is no fonder of arisings of affliction than he is of enemies, / And if, going rejoicing in the self, he drinks the water of joy, then greater than dominion over thirty gods is the happiness he enjoys. // [14.52]
As a bow of true knowledge, clad in the armour of mindfulness, standing up in a chariot of pure practice of integrity, / While his enemies, the afflictions, stood up in the battlefield of the mind, he took his stance for victory, ready to engage them in battle. // [17.23]
With arrows made from the presence of mindfulness, instantly he shot those enemies whose substance is upside-down-ness: / He split apart four enemies, four causes of suffering, with four arrows, each having its own range.// [17.25]
A small vestige of the great enemy, red passion, whose straining bow is impatient desire and whose arrow is fixity, / He destroyed using weapons procured from the body as it naturally is -- using the darts of the disagreeable, weapons from the armoury of practice. // [17.38]
In order to go entirely beyond the sphere of desire, he overpowered those enemies that grab the heel, / So that he attained, because of practice, the fruit of not returning, and stood as if at the gateway to the citadel of Nirvana.// [17.41]
If we follow the Buddha's teaching, then, we should see as our enemies greed, anger and other faults, and should see as our enemies the end-gaining desires (including especially the religious striver's desire to feel right) which trigger those faults.
The Buddha calls aging a terror; he does not call aging his enemy. Aging is inevitable. Moreover, though my aging may be a terror for me, from the standpoint of future generations it might be not only inevitable but also desirable that this body grows old and vacates this spot by the forest so that somebody else can enjoy the solitude.
A grain of dirt after all, however fine and however glittery it may be, is not quite a grain of gold.
EH Johnston:
There is no foe of corporeal beings to equal old age, the thief of memory, the conqueror of beauty, the destroyer of pleasure, the robber of speech, hearing and eyesight, the source of weariness, the slayer of might and heroism.
Linda Covill:
It steals memory, humiliates beauty, ruins sex, seizes speech, hearing and sight, produces fatigue and kills strength and vigor; old age is the matchless enemy of humankind.
VOCABULARY:
smRteH (gen. sg.): f. remembrance , reminiscence , thinking of or upon (loc. or comp.) , calling to mind
pramoShaH (nom. sg.): m. stealing or taking away
pra- √muSh: to steal away , rob , carry off , take away
vapuShaH (gen. sg.): n. form , figure , (esp.) a beautiful form or figure , wonderful appearance , beauty
paraabhavaH (nom. sg.): m. vanishing , disappearance , dissolution , separation ; overthrow , defeat , humiliation , mortification , contempt , injury , destruction , ruin
rateH (gen. sg.): f. pleasure , enjoyment ; the pleasure of love , sexual passion or union , amorous enjoyment
kShayaH (nom. sg.): m. loss , waste , wane , diminution , destruction , decay , wasting or wearing away
vaac-chruti-cakShuShaam (gen. pl.): speech, hearing and sight
vaac: f. speech , voice
shruti: f. hearing , listening
cakShus: n. faculty of seeing , sight
grahaH (nom. sg.): m. seizer
shramasya (gen. sg.): m. fatigue , weariness , exhaustion
yoniH (nom. sg.): m. womb, place of birth, place of rest
bala-viiryayor (gen. sg. dual):
bala: n. strength
viirya: n. manliness , valour , strength , power , energy
vadhaH (nom. sg.): m. one who kills , a slayer , vanquisher , destroyer
jaraa-samaH (nom. sg. m.): the equal of old age
na: not
asti = 3rd pers. sg. as: to be
shariiriNaam = gen. pl. shariirin: m. an embodied being , creature , (esp.) a man
ripuH (nom. sg.): m. an enemy , adversary , foe
Sunday, May 1, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 9.32:Another Vivid Metaphor for Old Age
yathaa hi nRbhyaaM kara-pattram iiritaM
samucchritaM daaru bhinatty an-eka-dhaa
tath" occhritaaM paatayati prajaam imaam
ahar-nishaabhyaam upasaMhitaa jaraa
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
9.32
Just as a saw worked by two men
Cuts a tall tree into many pieces,
So old age, pushed and pulled by day and night,
Fells people here and now who are high and mighty.
COMMENT:
Sometimes when I sit in the morning, having dragged my weary body onto a round cushion on a sitting platform, crossed my legs, and placed a robe on my head and put it on, it is difficult to get to the end of an hour of sitting. At other times, after a session of gardening work, I plonk myself down in my gardening clothes and sit on a stuffed dry bag on a scruffy old exercise mat and, in the ineffable peace of a spring evening by the forest, after Mme Piquard has herded her cockerels into their hutch, it is very difficult to stop sitting. Last night was one such night... with the result that it was already late before I started memorizing today's verse, which is another vivid metaphor.
But how vivid, really, is the striver himself? From what miserable place is he coming?
When I first began to hear about Dogen's Shobogenzo, in 1982, the impression I got was that Shobogenzo was written in an incredibly abstruse way so that "even we Japanese cannot understand it." That's why it took me four years before I got round to trying to read Shobogenzo in its original Japanese, but when I did I was amazed how straightforward the task of translating it was going to be, in partnership with and as a service to my teacher Gudo Nishijima, who seemed to me to have much valuable insight into the real meaning of each chapter, based on a lifetime of sitting and studying Shobogezno. This insight, however, was largely intuitive and ever liable to be lost in translation.
Thus Gudo related how when at the age of around twenty he first met Kodo Sawaki, and heard Master Kodo give a lecture on Dogen's rules for sitting-zen for everybody (Fukan-zazengi), he was struck by the fundamentally optimistic tone of Dogen's teaching. At that first meeting, he understood something intuitively, and when forty years later he tried to express it in English it came out, very badly, as "Buddhism is an optimistic religion."
I say it came out very badly because the Buddha's teaching in my book is never an -ism; it not optimistic, and it is not a religion.
But neither is the Buddha's teaching a pessimistic view on suffering. Primarily, it is a way of not sitting.
"To learn Buddhism," Gudo told me, "is just to learn how to sit."
No. Bollocks. In that understanding lies the seed of striving to be right, which is the essence of ascetic yoga. The Buddha's teaching is how NOT to sit.
And yet many people seem to think that the Buddha's teaching is pessimistic religion. That's why Gudo was so struck as a young man when he first realized, listening to Kodo teach the rules of sitting-zen, that the Buddha's teaching is all about sitting and it is not pessimistic religion.
The striver, as I hear him, is in the pessimistic camp. When the Buddha dwells at great length at the beginning of Canto 16 on the truth of suffering, he seems to test the reader's patience, but with his long drawn-out analysis of suffering the Buddha is going somewhere. The Buddha is leading the reader onto a peaceable path. The striver's denunciation of the vanity that "I am young, strong, good-looking," in contrast, is not going anywhere.
As I alluded to yesterday, Dogen points in his rules of sitting-zen to the possibility of accessing the power by which ancient old fists died sitting or died standing.
These four characters, read as ZA (sitting) DATSU (dying) RYU (standing) BO (dying), seem to me to point to a possibility that totally falsifies the striver's pessimistic view.
How is it possible to sit upright in stillness and breathe ones last breath? I don't know. But I dare say not by ascetic striving.
EH Johnston:
For as a saw, worked by two men, cuts a lofty tree into many pieces, so old age, ever brought nearer by the procession of day and night, brings about the fall of the exalted inhabitants of this world.
Linda Covill:
Just as a mighty tree is chopped into segments by two men working a saw, so are these living beings that have risen up toppled by old age in league with day and night.
VOCABULARY:
yathaa: ind. just as
hi: for
nRbhyaam (inst. dual.): m. by two men
kara-pattram (nom. sg.): n. a saw
iiritam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. moved, worked
iir: to go, move
samucchritam (acc. sg. m.): mfn. well raised or elevated ; surging , high; exalted , powerful
daaru (acc. g.): n. a piece of wood , wood , timber
bhinatti = 3rd pers. sg. bhid: , to split , cleave , break , cut or rend asunder
an-eka-dhaa: ind. in various ways, into many pieces
an-eka: mfn. not one , many , much ; separated
-dhaa: (suffix which forms adverbs from numerals e.g. eka-dhaa , dvi-dhaa &c )
eka-dhaa: ind. simply , singly
tathaa: ind. so, likewise
ucchritaam (acc. sg. f.): mfn. raised , lifted up , erected; high, tall ; advancing , arisen , grown powerful or mighty
paatayati = 3rd pers. sg. causative pat: to let fly or cause to fall , to fling , hurl , throw ; to lay low , bring down (lit. and fig.) , overthrow , ruin , destroy
prajaam (acc. sg.): f. procreation; a creature , animal , man , mankind ; people
imaam (acc. sg. f.): this , this here , referring to something near the speaker ; known , present
ahar-nishaabhyaam (inst. dual.): by day and night
ahar: n. a day
nishaa: f. night
upasaMhitaa (nom. sg. f.): mfn. connected or furnished with , accompanied or surrounded by , having , possessing
upa-saM- √dhaa: to put to , add , annex , increase ; to put together, join, connect
jaraa (nom. sg.): f. aging, old age
samucchritaM daaru bhinatty an-eka-dhaa
tath" occhritaaM paatayati prajaam imaam
ahar-nishaabhyaam upasaMhitaa jaraa
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
- = - = = - - = - = - =
9.32
Just as a saw worked by two men
Cuts a tall tree into many pieces,
So old age, pushed and pulled by day and night,
Fells people here and now who are high and mighty.
COMMENT:
Sometimes when I sit in the morning, having dragged my weary body onto a round cushion on a sitting platform, crossed my legs, and placed a robe on my head and put it on, it is difficult to get to the end of an hour of sitting. At other times, after a session of gardening work, I plonk myself down in my gardening clothes and sit on a stuffed dry bag on a scruffy old exercise mat and, in the ineffable peace of a spring evening by the forest, after Mme Piquard has herded her cockerels into their hutch, it is very difficult to stop sitting. Last night was one such night... with the result that it was already late before I started memorizing today's verse, which is another vivid metaphor.
But how vivid, really, is the striver himself? From what miserable place is he coming?
When I first began to hear about Dogen's Shobogenzo, in 1982, the impression I got was that Shobogenzo was written in an incredibly abstruse way so that "even we Japanese cannot understand it." That's why it took me four years before I got round to trying to read Shobogenzo in its original Japanese, but when I did I was amazed how straightforward the task of translating it was going to be, in partnership with and as a service to my teacher Gudo Nishijima, who seemed to me to have much valuable insight into the real meaning of each chapter, based on a lifetime of sitting and studying Shobogezno. This insight, however, was largely intuitive and ever liable to be lost in translation.
Thus Gudo related how when at the age of around twenty he first met Kodo Sawaki, and heard Master Kodo give a lecture on Dogen's rules for sitting-zen for everybody (Fukan-zazengi), he was struck by the fundamentally optimistic tone of Dogen's teaching. At that first meeting, he understood something intuitively, and when forty years later he tried to express it in English it came out, very badly, as "Buddhism is an optimistic religion."
I say it came out very badly because the Buddha's teaching in my book is never an -ism; it not optimistic, and it is not a religion.
But neither is the Buddha's teaching a pessimistic view on suffering. Primarily, it is a way of not sitting.
"To learn Buddhism," Gudo told me, "is just to learn how to sit."
No. Bollocks. In that understanding lies the seed of striving to be right, which is the essence of ascetic yoga. The Buddha's teaching is how NOT to sit.
And yet many people seem to think that the Buddha's teaching is pessimistic religion. That's why Gudo was so struck as a young man when he first realized, listening to Kodo teach the rules of sitting-zen, that the Buddha's teaching is all about sitting and it is not pessimistic religion.
The striver, as I hear him, is in the pessimistic camp. When the Buddha dwells at great length at the beginning of Canto 16 on the truth of suffering, he seems to test the reader's patience, but with his long drawn-out analysis of suffering the Buddha is going somewhere. The Buddha is leading the reader onto a peaceable path. The striver's denunciation of the vanity that "I am young, strong, good-looking," in contrast, is not going anywhere.
As I alluded to yesterday, Dogen points in his rules of sitting-zen to the possibility of accessing the power by which ancient old fists died sitting or died standing.
These four characters, read as ZA (sitting) DATSU (dying) RYU (standing) BO (dying), seem to me to point to a possibility that totally falsifies the striver's pessimistic view.
How is it possible to sit upright in stillness and breathe ones last breath? I don't know. But I dare say not by ascetic striving.
EH Johnston:
For as a saw, worked by two men, cuts a lofty tree into many pieces, so old age, ever brought nearer by the procession of day and night, brings about the fall of the exalted inhabitants of this world.
Linda Covill:
Just as a mighty tree is chopped into segments by two men working a saw, so are these living beings that have risen up toppled by old age in league with day and night.
VOCABULARY:
yathaa: ind. just as
hi: for
nRbhyaam (inst. dual.): m. by two men
kara-pattram (nom. sg.): n. a saw
iiritam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. moved, worked
iir: to go, move
samucchritam (acc. sg. m.): mfn. well raised or elevated ; surging , high; exalted , powerful
daaru (acc. g.): n. a piece of wood , wood , timber
bhinatti = 3rd pers. sg. bhid: , to split , cleave , break , cut or rend asunder
an-eka-dhaa: ind. in various ways, into many pieces
an-eka: mfn. not one , many , much ; separated
-dhaa: (suffix which forms adverbs from numerals e.g. eka-dhaa , dvi-dhaa &c )
eka-dhaa: ind. simply , singly
tathaa: ind. so, likewise
ucchritaam (acc. sg. f.): mfn. raised , lifted up , erected; high, tall ; advancing , arisen , grown powerful or mighty
paatayati = 3rd pers. sg. causative pat: to let fly or cause to fall , to fling , hurl , throw ; to lay low , bring down (lit. and fig.) , overthrow , ruin , destroy
prajaam (acc. sg.): f. procreation; a creature , animal , man , mankind ; people
imaam (acc. sg. f.): this , this here , referring to something near the speaker ; known , present
ahar-nishaabhyaam (inst. dual.): by day and night
ahar: n. a day
nishaa: f. night
upasaMhitaa (nom. sg. f.): mfn. connected or furnished with , accompanied or surrounded by , having , possessing
upa-saM- √dhaa: to put to , add , annex , increase ; to put together, join, connect
jaraa (nom. sg.): f. aging, old age
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