SAUNDARANANDA 13.41: A Negative Target

avashyaM gocare sve sve
vartitavyam ih' endriyaiH
nimittam tatra na graahyam
anuvyaNjanam eva ca

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13.41
Inevitably, each in its own sphere,

The senses here and now are working.

But no primary import in this is to be grasped,

Nor any secondary manifestation.

[but see comment below]

DUST & FLUFF:
From here to the end of this Canto is a series of verses the real meaning of which I sense is going to be particularly difficult to dig out.

The series of verses is appearing as the concluding section of a canto whose title is shiil'-endriya-jayaH, "Thwarting the Power of the Senses through Practice of Integrity."

Whether shiila is translated thus as "practice of integrity," or as "discipline" (EHJ), or as "moral self-restraint" (LC), it is evident that the Buddha was not primarily pointing the way towards some form of psychoanalysis, psycho-therapy, or psychological counselling. He was pointing to a practice of discipline involving the use of the whole body-mind. Neither is the use of body and voice (pragyogah kaaya-vacasoH) that the Buddha speaks of from 13.11 simply the blind following of rules. To me, it speaks of real integration, and that includes sensory integration, centred on the vestibular system.

This verse is opening the way to discussion of the essence of psychological health, i.e. seeing reality just as it is, without any neurotic overtones, associations, nuances etc. But this psychological virtue is not being described as the cause of anything. It is rather being presented as the effect of the true fundamental cause, which is practice of integrity.

If realisation of reality is the end, then "realism" is never the means. The means is integrity, true psycho-physical integration -- of the kind which is sadly lacking in most people today, and which is desperately lacking in some autistic children.

If this canto is laying the foundations for Nanda to confront head on in Canto 16 the grim truth of suffering, then those foundations lie not in psychology, but in integrity, in what FM Alexander called co-ordinated activity in using the self.

We have endeavoured to show that only in a state of co-ordinated activity, in which the organism is functioning near its maximum, can we hope for anything approaching a satisfactory conception of new and unfamiliar ideas or experiences. Hence the necessity of having an understanding of 'cause and effect', primarily, in connexion with the functioning of the organism itself. For it is only after we have solved this problem in the individual that we can safely pass on to the secondary consideration of 'cause and effect' in connexion with the problems of everyday life. Only then shall we be justified in asserting that individual reactions to stimuli will be the reactions of a controlled human creature, whose employment of the processes of reasoning in the activities of life prevents the undue and harmful excitement of the fear reflexes and emotions, especially when he is called upon to deal with those new and unfamiliar situations or problems which are the natural outcome of all processes tending towards advancement on the evolutionary plane.

(Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual; concluding pagagraph)

FM Alexander saw as "end-gaining" all those approaches that seek to use psychological or other partial methods as a means, without taking into account the more fundamental means of whether or not a person conducts himself with integrity, as a co-ordinated whole. And I think that in this FM was following in the footsteps of the Buddha.

To take an extreme example of unduly excited fear reflexes and faulty sensory appreciation: if in the noise of say, a vacuum cleaner, an autistic child seizes upon secondary manifestations that cause him to scream out loud in fear and distress, what is the psycho-babble espousing "Soto Zen Master" going to suggest? Recommend the child to go and have some psychological counselling? Invite him to join an online Zen community? Read him a poem about the moon being reflected in the water? Tell him to sit up straight in a good posture?

Please, Zen Masters everywhere, don't preach "realism," to those of us who are still struggling in the lowly foothills of integrity -- especially if you have never passed this way yourself.

When the brain is not good at filtering out noise, so that a person's psycho-physical integrity is disturbed by a reaction to noise, the cause is not primarily psychological and not primarily conscious. In this I am speaking from daily experience. In the First World War I am sure that I would have been one of the first to suffer from shell shock, due to a congenitally weak vestibular-auditory system.

When a noisy plane flies overhead, for me, the noise is not simply noise. I sense the noise as a violation that goes to the core of my being. And the plane that is up there making the noise is a symbol of ignorant authority, like the ignorance of my biological father, or like the ignorance of Gudo Nishijima, and I would like to shoot the ignorance down in flames.

That's why I am mining Ashvaghosha's gold -- as part of my single-handed war effort on ignorance, as part of my screaming counterpunch against ignorance.

What the Buddha is saying in this verse, as I hear him, is that when my vestibular-auditory system senses the sound of a plane flying overhead just now, the target is that there should be for me only the sound of a plane flying overhead -- without any secondary manifestation/association.

This target seems remote indeed. A couple of days ago my neighbour in France was making a lot of noise working on his house. So I cycled off to sit in the forest. By the time I came back he had quietened down. But then the noise started again. I was at the end of the garden already, 70 meters from the house, from which I turned and allowed myself one loud bellow. It didn't do any good. I realised the next morning by the look on my neighbour's face that I had probably frightened his girlfriend, seeming to be a kind of madman.

So this episode leaves me acutely aware of how far I am from the target the Buddha now seems to indicate. But if Gudo Nishijima would like to tell me that the fundamental problem is the conflict between idealism and materialism, and the solution lies in realism, rooted in the practice of making the autonomic nervous system balanced by sitting in the correct posture, keeping the spine straight vertically, for which purpose simply pull the chin several inches backwards like this... then please would somebody mind passing me an anti-aircraft rocket?

As far as the grammar of the second half goes, I wondered if it were possible to understand it to be a nominal sentence (subject, nimittam [target, aim]; non-verbal predicate, na graahyam anuvyaNjanam) in which the Buddha tells us what the aim is that he has in view, which we are to work towards through continuing practice, day by day, through good ones and bad ones, of integrity.

I may be on safer ground following the interpretation of EHJ and LC, whereby both nimittam and anuvyaNjanam are both objects not to be grasped at, in which case nimittam means not aim or target but meaning, special value, primary import.

Any input from a pandit would be appreciated.

EH Johnston:
Of necessity the senses must be active in this world, each in its own sphere, but they should not be allowed to grasp the general or secondary characteristics of any object.

Linda Covill:
Here in the world the senses must necessarily operate, each in its particular sphere, but there should be no grasping at either the major attributes or the minor details of an object.

VOCABULARY:
avashyam: ind. necessarily , inevitably , certainly , at all events , by all means
gocare = loc. gacara: range , field for action ; the range of the organs of sense , object of sense , anything perceptible by the senses , esp. the range of the eye
sve sve (locative of sva sva): each in its own

vartitavyam = acc. of vartitavya (gerundive of vRt: to turn, move, act, operate, etc.): mfn. to be dwelt or stayed in ; to be carried out or practised or observed ; to be treated or dealt with
iha: in this place, here, this world, now
indriyaiH (instr.): by the senses

nimittam (nom. sg.): n. a butt , mark , target ; sign , omen ; cause , motive , ground, reason
tatra: in that place, therein, in that case, then
na: not
graahya (fr. gerundive of grah): mfn. to be seized or taken or held
grah: to seize , take (by the hand), grasp , lay hold of ; to perceive (with the organs of sense or with m/anas) ;

anuvyaNjanam (nom. sg.): n. a secondary mark or token (Buddhist)
anu-: (as a prefix to verbs and nouns , expresses) after , along , alongside , lengthwise , near to , under , subordinate to , with
vyaNjana: mfn. manifesting , indicating ; f. (in rhet.) implied indication , allusion , suggestion ; m. a figurative expression; n. manifestation , indication; n. allusion , suggestion ; n. figurative expression , irony , sarcasm ; n. mark of sex or gender (as the beard , breasts &c ) , the private organs (male or female)
vy-√aNj: to anoint thoroughly ; to decorate , adorn , beautify ; to cause to appear , manifest , display
eva: (emphatic)
ca: and; (occasionally) but

SAUNDARANANDA 13.40: Unsatisfactory End-gaining

viShayair indriya-graamo
na tRptim adhigacchati
ajasraM puuryamaaNo 'pi
samudraH salilair iva

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13.40
A cluster of sense organs

Is no more sated by objects

Than, though constantly filled,

The ocean is by water.

COMMENT:
What is the secret of a successful marriage? A sexy cook willing to cater to a man's every need? Well, yes, I must admit that helps. But more fundamentally the secret might have to do with keeping expectations of each other reasonably low -- what old couples often call "give and take."

This verse, as I read it, relates to the Buddha's final teaching that true contentment is derived from alpecchu (alpa = small; icchu = wishing, desiring), or in other words not expecting too much.

Bringing it down to the level of breakfast, unconsciously I am liable to think that a satisfying breakfast would be a rather big one, consisting of fruit and cereal, boiled eggs, and maybe pancakes washed down with a big pot of coffee... But the Buddha's teaching, challenging my unconsciousness every step of the way, is that any satisfaction to be derived from eating breakfast will derive primarily not from the objects of my appetite but from any modesty and restraint that I manage to bring to the exercise.

Again, on a level less obvious than food and sex, but on a more general and pervasive level, vishaya in this verse may be taken to represent not only physical objects but also objects as ends or aims -- like getting to the end of translating a great Sanskrit poem, or getting to the far end of a swimming pool.

There always seems to be a lot to learn about end-gaining from the activity of learning to swim, where fear is liable to play such an important part. If the nervous beginner, in her fear, adopts the attitude of desiring to get to the side of the pool at all costs, regardless of how much she splashes and strains on the way, even if she manages to get to the side of the pool without drowning, it won't have been a satisfactory experience.

If my brother reads this, maybe he could add a comment with a link to give people a clue as to what it means to swim without the stress induced by end-gaining.

As in swimming, so too in sitting: In the end, if a great ambition to let the Buddha's truth be heard were to cause the ambitious person in question to lose his own integrity as a human being, what would be the point of that?

EH Johnston:
The domain of the senses can no more be filled to satisfaction with their objects, though perpetually supplied with them, than can the ocean with the water ever flowing into it.

Linda Covill:
The village of the senses never has enough of sensory experience, just as the ocean, though rivers perpetually fill it, never has enough water.

VOCABULARY:
viShayaiH (instrumental, plural): by the objects of the senses
indriya: sense, sense power, sense organ
graamaH (nom. sg.): m. an inhabited place, village, hamlet; ifc. a multitude, class, collection or number
indriya-graama: m. the assemblage of the organs ; the senses or organs of sense collectively

na: not
tRptim (accusative): f. satisfaction , contentment
adhigacchati: it obtains

ajasram: ind. perpetually , for ever , ever
puuryamaaNaH (nom. sg. pres. part. of gerundive of pRR, to fill, sate, refresh, grant abundantly): being filled with
api: though

samudraH (nom.): " gathering together of waters " , the sea , ocean
salilaiH (instrumental, plural): by the waters
iva: like

SAUNDARANANDA 13.39: Ignoble Unconsciousness

teShaaM hi satataM loke
viShayaan abhikaaNkShataam
saMvin n' aaiv' aasti kaarpaNyaac
chunaam aashaavataam iva

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13.39
For in the constant hankering of those senses

After objects in the world,

There occurs out of the ignobleness
no more consciousness

Than there is in the hoping of hounds.

COMMENT:
In this verse, as I read it, dogs are not creatures of greed or voracious appetite; they are creatures of instinctive, unconscious reaction. And the sensual hankering that the Buddha is negating is not simply gross sensuality: what the Buddha is negating, as I hear him, is end-gaining in general, i.e., the desire to feel right in the gaining of any end. For the senses are not only the vehicles of sensual greed and sensual gratification; they are the only channel through which ordinary unconscious people go about trying to gain their ends in the world -- including ends like correct posture in Zazen, and putting the world to rights, and deciding what to believe in.

It will be seen how all-essential it is that the human sensorium should function as a reliable register in order to minimize the effect of sensory illusion in the forming and assessing of the validity of the beliefs upon which our judgement of reality depends. The nature of this functioning determines the nature of this registration, and this in turn determines the nature of the experience upon which belief is based, and is, therefore, the forerunner of all we finally accept in arriving at our judgement in the matter of reality. If the Leaders in the religious life of the past and the Prophets had given due recognition to this in assessing the nature and value of the experiences upon which they believed religious and other beliefs should be based, their followers would not have been so frequently led into error by mistaking illusion for reality. Instead, they might have been led to unknown experiences far beyond the present limit of human conception of experience, as they passed from the instinctive to the conscious in changing and improving the use and functioning of the human self.

-- FM Alexander (from the preface to 1955 edition of Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual).

From the instinctive to the conscious: that is also what this verse is about. So the Buddha, as I hear him, is not primarily interested in this verse in negating sensual pleasure, as if it were an original sin; he is primarily interested in growth of consciousness.

My understanding is like this mainly because my late teacher Marjory Barlow also was primarily interested in growth of consciousness. Without Marjory's teaching, I would never have been able to understand this verse like this and to translate it -- for better or for worse -- like this.

Marjory said that she had been bullied when she was young. Having been bullied she saw to it that she inhibited any such tendency in herself. That was one shining example to me of how an individual can pass from the instinctive to the conscious.

My intention as a translator of the likes of Dogen and Ashvaghosha is basically to be as literal as possible. What I often noticed doing the Shobogenzo translation was that when I had deviated from a literal translation, it was because I hadn't grasped the true meaning of Master Dogen's original words. Only when the penny eventually dropped, was I then able to make a literal translation.

I think EHJ got into a bit of a mess translating this verse, and deviated from a literal translation, because he couldn't understand that the verse has to do with growth of consciousness. It is a pity that during the 1920s when he was doing his translating he didn't get the train down from Oxford to London and go and have some lessons with FM Alexander in what FM called Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual. Then I think he might have understood what the Buddha is saying in this verse.

Being a slave to the senses, the Buddha is saying here, is ignoble. Not originally sinful, but ignoble -- base, of a lower order. Being a slave to sensuality is lower down the food chain than, for example, playing cricket or learning how to swim without stress, and much lower down the food chain than doing Alexander work with a teacher who understands why FM called it "the most mental thing there is."

Not only this verse but the present series of verses, as I read it, relates to what FM Alexander called "passing from the instinctive/subconscious to the conscious plane of control." FM often referred to human beings who were still firmly stuck on the bottom rungs on the subconscious plane as "Lowly evolved swine."

I have never had a pig as a pet, but having grown up with a much-loved dog I am aware that a dog is capable of hope or expectation. That was evident from my dog's excited reaction to the stimulus of the word "walkies," or the sight of a bone. But that kind of hoping is an instinctive reaction. As the Dog Whisperer Cesar Milan points out, dogs react; they don't think. Thinking is the job of the human dog owner. The ability to think is of a higher order, related with what the Buddha calls shreya, a higher good, and with what FM Alexander called "Man's Supreme Inheritance."

My elder son, barring unforeseen mishap, will have a place confirmed next week to study Chemistry at Imperial College London. This morning after sitting at dawn, as I walked down the path where I have been planting lavender, I had a strong wish that my son and other young people like him might not only be excellent scientists but might also learn to live their lives consciously -- more consciously, at least, than I and my generation have done.

To quote FM once more, using the quotation that used to appear on the front of my Middle Way Re-education Centre web-page: "It is owing to this habit of rushing from one extreme to another -- a habit which, as I have pointed out, seems to go hand in hand with subconscious guidance and direction -- to this tendency, that is, to take the narrow and treacherous sidetracks instead of the great, broad, midway path, that our plan of civilization has proved a comparative failure."

An unconscious person tends to react to the wrongness he meets in the world by reacting unconsciously, on the basis of feeling -- with "petulance" as an old friend of mine recently put it.

Whereas a more conscious person tends to respond consciously, on the basis of reason. And therein lies the struggle, starting afresh from here.

EH Johnston:
For like hungry dogs in their greed they can never have enough and strain after their objects in the world.

Linda Covill:
For there is no fulfillment for those who constantly hanker for sensory experience in the world, like dogs in their hunger, voracious for more.

VOCABULARY:
teShaam (genitive plural): of those [senses]; for those [people]
hi: for; indeed, surely
satatam: ind. constantly , always , ever
loke = locative of loka: the world, the human world, ordinary life , worldly affairs

viShayaan (accusative, plural): objects of the senses
abhikaaNkShataam = genitive, plural of present participle of abhikaaNkSh: to long for, desire; strive

saMvit = nom. sg. of saMvid: f. consciousness ; perception , feeling , sense ; a mutual understanding , agreement ; satisfying (= toShaNa: n. the act of satisfying or appeasing)
na: not
eva: (emphatic)
asti = 3rd pers. pl. of as: to be, exist, happen, occur
kaarpaNyaat = ablative of kaarpaNya: n. (from kRrpaNa) poverty , pitiful circumstance, poorness of spirit , weakness, parsimony , niggardliness; compassion, pity;
kRpaNa: pitiable, miserable, wretched; low, vile

shunaam = genitive, plural of shunii: m. a dog, hound
aashaa: f. wish , desire , hope , expectation
aashaavataam = genitive, plural of aashaavat: mfn. hoping , having hope , trusting
iva: like

SAUNDARANANDA 13.38: Not Quieting the Senses

indriyaaNaam upashamaad
ariiNaaM nigrahaad iva
sukhaM svapiti v" aaste vaa
yatra tatra gat'-oddhavaH

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13.38
From ebbing of the power of the senses,

As if from subjugation of enemies,

One sleeps or sits at ease,

In joyful recreation, wherever one may be.

COMMENT:
I wanted to translate the first line in such a way as to convey the principle of indirectness, and hence was drawn to unmistakably intransitive verbs like 'ebb' or 'subside' for the translation of upashama.

If it is possible to pacify or quieten the senses directly, then leave that to the Yogis. That kind of direct intervention, as I understand it as a follower of Buddha/Ashvaghosha, is none of my business.

Similarly, when we understand as followers of Buddha/Ashvaghosha/Dogen that end-gaining is always a direct going for the target, whereas the Buddha's skillful means was an indirect going towards the target, then one understands that correct posture also is none of our business.

This realisation is a kind of wrecking ball to the teaching of so-called Soto Zen Masters everywhere.

Those leaders and their followers are liable to attack this realisation, because it threatens their own view. In that case, standing firm in the arena of inhibition, bearing the bow of resolve and wearing the armour of mindfulness, all acquire a very vital meaning -- it mustn't only be a question of talking a good talk.

The task is to consciously inhibit all unconscious behaviour, right down to fear paralysis. And this is not difficult. It is practically impossible -- ask England's middle order of Ravi Boppara, Ian Bell, and Paul Collingwood. To score a century in cricket only requires a batsman to hit the ball to the boundary 25 times, but even Donald Bradman finished with a batting average of less than a hundred. Isn't that the great thing about the joyful recreation which is sport? Talking a good talk, in the real arena of inhibition, counts for nothing. For some mysterious reason the batsman's eyes wander from the ball, off stump goes flying and there's nothing for him to do but trudge back to the pavillion.

The challenge here and now for one who walks the walk, as it was 30 years ago, as it was 2000 years ago, and as it ever will be, is to inhibit unconscious behaviour, in the moment before a movement and in the very moment of movement. So this, as I see it, is the primary task, and ebbing and flowing of the power of the senses can be left to take care of itself.

EH Johnston:
A man sleeps or sits anywhere at ease, free from worry, when the senses are pacified, as when enemies are suppressed.

Linda Covill:
Wherever he may lay his head, wherever he may take his seat, a man is at ease and free from care when his senses are quiet, as when the enemy is quelled.

VOCABULARY:
indriyaaNaam = genitive plural of indriya: bodily power, power of the senses; sense, organ of sense
upashamaad (ablative): from the becoming quiet
upa-√zam: to become calm or quiet ; to cease , become extinct

ariiNaaM (genitive plural): of enemies
nigrahaad (ablative): from the restraining, subjugating, suppressing
ni-√grah: to hold down , lower , depress; to keep or hold back , draw near , attract ; to seize , catch , hold , hold fast , stop , restrain , suppress , curb , tame , punish
iva: like

sukham: ind. easily , comfortably
svapiti = 3rd pers. sg. of svap: to sleep, to lie down
vaa: or
aaste = 3rd pers. sg. of aas: to sit, rest
vaa: or

yatra tatra: anywhere whatever
gata: come to , approached , arrived at , being in , situated in , contained in (acc.)
uddhavaH (nom.): m. sacrificial fire ; a festival , holiday ; joy , pleasure

SAUNDARANANDA 13.37: Inhibition, Direction, Mindfulness

niyam'-aajira-saMsthena
dhairya-kaarmuka-dhaariNaa
nipatanto nivaaryaas te
mahataa smRti-varmaNaa

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13.37
Standing firm in the arena of inhibition,

And bearing the bow of resolve,

The mighty man must fend them as they fall,

Wearing the armour of mindfulness.

DUST & FLUFF:
Three of the things test match cricket tests are an opening batsman's powers of inhibition (niyama), resolve (dhairya), and mindfulness (smRti).

In the family I grew up in the nearest thing we had to religion was love of sport: rugby, cricket, football, snooker, swimming, darts, horse-racing, tennis, boxing -- both playing and watching. Possibly that is why, while slow to pick up on the principle of inhibition in the bedroom, and on the zafu, I was relatively quick to understand the value of inhibition in the arena of competition karate. I realised that the secret of success, at the level I was at, was to watch my opponent and wait and wait and wait, wishing to allow a counterpunch to happen, but not doing it. Not doing it was my first true experience of practising conscious inhibition (niyama). When the counterpunch seemed miraculously to do itself, that was my first true experience of non-doing. That was 30 years ago, and I have been trying my damndest to figure it out ever since -- trying, and mainly failing, to apply the principle of inhibition and non-doing to deeper aspects of my being.

One of the virtues of a good bow, I suppose, is that after being put under strain, after being tensed to the maximum, it springs right back into its original shape. So dhairya might include the meaning of resilience. But I have preferred resolve, because that word is given in the dictionary, and I think resolve suggests the directed energy that an archer's bow imparts to an arrow.

Jordan suggested in his comment on 13.30 that rather than worry about whether or not to follow the convention of translating smRti into English as "mindfulness," it would be better to clarify what the original intent of the usage of the word smRti was. Maybe with the help of FM Alexander I can have a go at clarifying what the Buddha did NOT mean by mindfulness. As I hear him he, he definitely did not mean end-gaining.

Contributing to the radio commentary on last week's test match between England and Australia, former Aussie opening bat, the mighty Matthew Hayden, spoke several times about the essential simplicity of the opening batsman's job: to keep watching the ball, ball by ball. If it is so simple to keep one's eyes on the ball, why do so many sportsmen find it so difficult, especially on the big stage when the pressure is on?

FM Alexander discovered that the difficulty people encounter when called upon to perform this simple task of watching the ball had to do not with any shortcoming in the eyes themselves, but with the end-gaining habit of the poorly coordinated person. A poorly coordinated person, for Alexander, was a person who used himself badly, guided by faulty sensory appreciation. Thus the section quoted yesterday from "The Golfer Who Cannot Keep His Eyes on the Ball" continues as follows:

The desire to carry out his teacher's instructions to keep his eyes on the ball is a still newer desire, and consequently suffers in intensity as compared with the other two desires [to feel right; to make a good stroke]. Moreover, it stands even less chance of being carried out, firstly, because the stimulus which gives rise to it does not come from within, like the others, but from without, ie, from the teacher; and secondly, because the instruction is framed with the purpose of correcting something wrong with the pupil's use, ie, the use of the eyes, and so is bound to come at once into conflict with the pupil's desire to employ his faulty habitual use which, as we have just explained, is the dominating influence in whatever he tries to do. The conflict between these two desires is therefore bound to be an unequal one, and his desire to carry out his teacher's instruction goes by the board.

It is the dominating influence of his desire to gain his end by means of a use of his mechanisms which feels right, but is in fact wrong for the purpose, that explains not only why he continues to take his eyes off the ball and so to fail in his stroke, but also why, in spite of this repeated experience of failure, he does not give up 'end-gaining' and set to work in a different way.

As with watching the ball, so too with watching the breath. If I wish to practise true mindfulness of breathing, my first wish has to be to allow the neck to be free, to allow the head to release out, to allow the spine to lengthen and the back to widen, while releasing arms and legs out of the widening back, so that I am using myself well as a whole. And as a criterion for whether or not I am using myself as a whole, a more reliable indicator than my feeling might be my breathing. So in practising mindfulness of breathing my primary wish has to relate not directly to breathing, but to general co-ordination, or in short integrity.

If I am primarily interested in anything other than integrity -- whether it be breathing, or breakfast, or good posture, or saving all people in the world through the spread of True Buddhism -- then I am end-gaining.

The primary thing, the base, as the Buddha has already told us in this canto, is integrity. And the key to integrity, Alexander posited, having said No to one's habitual patterns of use that feel right, is to maintain the wish to allow the above directions for neck, head, back, and limbs, 'altogether, one after the other.'

Mindfulness is armour because, as one goes into movement, it is mindfulness that protects this integrity. To clarify my understanding of how this might be so, I have drawn the diagram below, which is based on a diagram originally drawn by Sally Goddard Blythe of INPP Chester.




I shall attempt to explain in more detail what the diagram represents:

At the centre is fear paralysis, the most primitive of responses. Surrounding fear paralysis like a layer of insulation are four vestibular reflexes. The primary vestibular reflex, the Moro or baby panic reflex, is antagonistic to the fear paralysis response which it inhibits; the Moro is red versus the white of fear paralysis. Closely related to the Moro reflex is the Tonic Labyrinthine or baby balance reflex. Both Moro and TLR are a symmetrical pattern, and antagonistic to this symmetrical pattern is the Asymmetrical Tonic Reflex. Antagonistic to both ATNR and TLR is the Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex, the fourth vestibular reflex, which forms a bridge between inhibition of primitive reflexes and emergence of postural reflexes. If the four vestibular reflexes (Moro, TLR, ATNR, STNR) are the four cornerstones of coordination, the postural reflexes are building blocks. A person's actions are naturally well integrated when all the foundation stones and building blocks are in place. Such a person has natural good coordination instinctively or unconsciously. Stepping up on to the next rung of the ladder of human development, conscious inhibition of old unconscious 'end-gaining' behaviour, together with conscious direction of energy along new pathways, leads to growth of conscious awareness. Thus may form, in a virtuous circle of stopping and becoming aware, an outer insulating layer of mindfulness (smRti).

EH Johnston:
They should be kept off as they fall by the strong man who stands on the battle-ground of self-control and is armed with the bow of steadfastness and the armour of attention.

Linda Covill:
They must be deflected as they rain down by the mighty man who takes his stand in the arena of disciplined conduct, bearing the bow of resolution and wearing the armour of mindfulness.

VOCABULARY:
niyama: m. restraining , checking , holding back , preventing , controlling
ajira: n. place to run or fight in , area , court
saMsthena = instrumental of saMstha: mf(A)n. standing together , standing or staying or resting or being in or on; belonging to; based on

dhairya: n. intelligence, forethought; n. firmness , constancy , calmness , patience , gravity , fortitude , courage
kaarmuka: n. a bow
dhaariNaa = instrumental of dhaarin: bearing

nipatantaH = genitive of nipatant (pres. part. from ni√pat): flying down, falling down
nivaaryaaH = nominal plural of nivaarya: mfn. to be kept off or defended or prevented
te (nominal, plural): they

mahataa = inst. sg. of mahat: m. a great or noble man; n. anything great or important; n. greatness , power , might; n. a great thing , important matter
smRti: remembrance, mindfulness, awareness, attention
varmaNaa = instrumental of varman: " envelope " , defensive armour , a coat of mail

SAUNDARANANDA 13.36: Desire, the Hunter

manuShya-hariNaan ghnanti
kaama-vyaadh'-eritaa hRdi
vihanyante yadi na te
tataH patanti taiH kShataaH

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

13.36
They strike human fawns in the heart

Fired off by Desire, the hunter;

Unless they are warded away,

Men wounded by them duly fall.

DUST & FLUFF:
If arrows represent reactions to sensory stimuli that cause a person to fall from grace, then what triggers those reactions might be an instinctive desire to feel right in the gaining of some end.

Again, the instinctive desire that kaama in the 2nd line brings most readily to to mind is sexual desire, so that Love, or Passion, are natural choices for a translation of kaama personified.

Again, however, I think the Buddha is talking not only about sexual desire. I think he is referring in general to the desire to gain an end directly, unconsciously, guided by sensory appreciation that is liable to be faulty.

To perform any activity consciously and well, one has to inhibit, at least temporarily, one's instinctive desire to go directly for the end. This might also apply to sexual activity -- not something, I must confess that I was ever particularly skilled at, or had the patience for. Many years before I had ever heard of Alexander's concept of end-gaining, I was accused of selfishly "going straight for the target."

To get desire in proper perspective -- i.e. not to have views on the subject but to sort out in sitting what desire is primary and what desires are seconday -- is an ongoing struggle, a work in progress.

The final precepts bequeathed by the Buddha include 'desiring little' or 'being moderate in one's desiring' (alpecchu). In that instance desire is represented in Sanskrit by icchu, which means wishing or desiring and has a more conscious, less instinctive connotation than the kaama of this verse.

Learning to do anything in a more integrated manner, it seems to me, whether the activity is using a chair to practise sitting and standing, or swimming in water, or giving pleasure to one's partner (if one has the energy, patience and compassion for it), or sitting in lotus, invariably involves (a) the inhibition of one's instinctive desire (kaama) to go directly for the end, and (b) moderately but insistently desiring (icchu), in the manner of a relentless trickle of water, to stay with the means.

So the enemy is end-gaining, the desire to go directly for an end regardless of whether or not there is integrity in process. Desire itself, as I see it, is not the enemy. It is a question of sorting out what kind of desire is primary, and what kind of desire is secondary.

In his book The Use of the Self, FM Alexander takes pains to clarify this point. In a chapter titled "The Golfer Who Cannot Keep His Eyes on the Ball," FM uses the example of a golfer learning to make a stroke in a new and better way, a more integrated way:

The lure of the familiar proves too strong for him and keeps him tied down to the habitual use of himself which feels right. This is not surprising, seeing that the golfer's desire to employ his habitual use at all costs in gaining his end, on account of the familiar sensory experiences that go with it, is an instinctive desire which mankind has inherited and continued to develop all through the ages. The desire to feel right in the gaining of his end is therefore his primary desire, in comparison with which his desire to make a good stroke is new and undeveloped, and exerts only a secondary influence. This is proved by the fact that although he starts out with the desire to make a good stroke, his desire to repeat sensory experiences that 'feel right' acts as a stimulus to him to use himself in the habitual way which is associated with these experiences, although it is this very manner of use that prevents him from satisfying his newer desire to make a good stroke.

Kaama-vyadha, Desire the hunter, in this analogy is "the golfer's desire to employ his habitual use at all costs in gaining his end." And the secret of warding away the arrows fired off by Desire the hunter is "his newer desire to make a good stroke."

If we relegate the desire for integrity to second place, even for the time it takes to make one conscious decision, it doesn't matter if we are an experienced Alexander teacher, or even a renown Zen master, Desire the hunter invariably gets us and, wounded, from grace we duly fall.

EH Johnston:
They are discharged by Love the hunter and strike men the deer in the heart and, if they are not warded off, men fall pierced by them.

Linda Covill:
The hunter Passion fires them into the hearts of men like deer, and if they are not deflected, men fall down wounded.

VOCABULARY:
manuShya: m. a man
hariNaan: = accusative, plural of hariNa: m. a deer, fawn
ghnanti = 3rd person plural of han: to strike, smite, slay, kill

kaama: m. (fr. √kam), wish , desire , longing ; desire for , longing after (gen. dat. , or loc.) , love , affection , object of desire or of love or of pleasure ; pleasure , enjoyment ; love , especially sexual love or sensuality ; Love or Desire
√kam: to love, be in love with, have sex; to wish , desire , long for
vyaadha: m. " one who pierces or wounds " , a hunter
iiritaa (nom. pl. f): sent , despatched
hRdi = locative of hRd: heart

vihanyante = 3rd person plural, passive vi-√han: to strike apart, disperse ; to ward off, repel
yadi: if
na: not
te (nom. plural, m. of saH): they, those [arrows]

tataH: then, thence, there, consequently
patanti: they fall
taiH (instrumental, plural): by them
kShataaH = nom. plural, m. of kShata: wounded , hurt , injured

SAUNDARANANDA 13.35: Poisoned Arrows

saMkalpa-viSha-dighdaa hi
paNc'-endriya-mayaaH sharaaH
cintaa-puNkhaa rati-phalaa
viShay'-aakaasha-gocaraaH

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

13.35
For smeared with the poison of ideas,

Are those arrows, produced from five senses,

Whose tails are anxiety, whose tips are thrills,

And whose range is the vast emptiness of objects.

DUST & FLUFF:
Arrows, for me, are sensory impulses that threaten my integrity. The desired object that triggers them might be, to go for the obvious example, a sensual woman. But the object could be money, or a gold medal, or a high approval rating. In Alexander work the object we usually use is a chair.

SaMkalpa means conception or idea. It might mean a size zero or an egg-timer conception of female beauty, or it might mean a conception of correct posture. It might mean an end-gaining idea.

Among the five sense organs, the ear is the organ not only of listening to external sound. The ear is also the organ of listening to the self -- through what Paul Madaule calls "the ear of the body": the vestibular system. The ear is the organ through which, in a more or less faulty manner, one senses balance and movement. The importance of the ear in human development, I venture to submit, is much more important than parents and teachers generally realise.

The 3rd line as I read it connects the senses with the emotions. At the root, base, or tail of this connection is the baby panic or Moro reflex, which I have written about at length already. As a fear reflex, the Moro reflex is profoundly implicated with anxiety. At the same time, the fight or flight response which is part of the Moro reaction stimulates the flow of adrenaline and other neuro-peptides that are implicated in the cheap thrills to be had from flying around in small planes, jumping out of said planes, et cetera.

The 4th line can be understood on so many levels, and translated in so many ways. As a negation of sensuality, it could be translated "And whose range is the vast nothingness of sensual enjoyments."

But again, the original words do not limit us to that line of interpretation. If a man and a woman are in a sexual relationship, of the kind that is necessary to keep the world populated with human beings, then can a man treat a woman not as an object but as the individual she really is. And can a woman so treat a man? The translation, "And whose range is the vast emptiness of objects," then, could be understood as a negation of objectification.

Again, viShaya means not only sensuality, and not only object of the senses, but also object in the sense of an objective, an aim or an end to be gained. So the translation, "And whose range is the vast emptiness of objects" could be understood as a negation of the end-gaining attitude. This understanding could be expressed more explicitly with the translation "And whose range is the vast emptiness of ends."

Every morning when I begin to sit, I endeavour not to engage the whole of my faulty sensory-muscular machinery by thinking of doing something, by thinking of gaining some end. As long as I don't give in to an idea of doing something, of gaining an end, my faulty sensory appreciation is prevented from coming into play. So on this basis, for myself, I understand the last line primarily as a negation of the end-gaining attitude.

Several years ago I expressed to the late Marjory Barlow my anxiety that my teaching career wasn't going anywhere, that my effort to make Zazen devotees aware of the value of Alexander's discoveries, was falling on deaf ears. In reply, Marjory reminded me that this work has to do with growth, and growth cannot be hurried. So my understanding of the last line has to do with that teaching. I think the Buddha, like Marjory, was not simply out to deny sensual enjoyments; he was interested in growth, process, life. I think the essence of the Buddha's teaching is to be more interested in the means of maintaining one's own integrity than in any "Buddhist" end. In short, "To thine own self be true." And as always with these comments, the person I would most like to convince is myself. Because a part of me is not always content with this simple life of the hermit, the solitary miner. A part of me would like to be the great teacher, the magnate. It is nothing really, only an idea. But there again even the hint of an idea can be very poisonous to a process.

EH Johnston:
For the arrows of the five senses are tipped with the poison of fancies, have anxieties for their feathers and pleasure for their target and fly in the air of the objects of the senses.

Linda Covill:
For those arrows made of the five senses are smeared with the poison of fanciful notions; they have anxious preoccupations for tail-feathers, sensual bliss for arrow-heads, and they range through the space of sensory experience.

VOCABULARY:
saMkalpa: m. conception or idea or notion formed in the mind or heart , (esp.) will , volition , desire , purpose , definite intention or determination or decision or wish for (with loc. dat. , or ifc.); idea or expectation of any advantage
viSha: poison
dighdaaH = nom. plural of dighda: smeared , anointed ; soiled , defiled ; poisoned
hi: for

paNc'-endriya: the five senses, five sense organs
maya: [Apte] an affix used to indicate "made of", "consisting or composed of," "full of."
sharaaH = nom. plural of shara: arrow, shaft

cintaa: thought , care , anxiety , anxious thought
puNkhaaH = nom. plural of puNkha: m. the shaft or feathered part of an arrow (which comes in contact with the bowstring)
rati: f. rest , repose; pleasure , enjoyment ; the pleasure of love , sexual passion or union , amorous enjoyment
phalaaH = nom. plural of phala: the point of an arrow ; a point or spot on a die

viShaya: sphere (of activity); an object of sense (these are five in number , the five indriya , or organs of sense having each their proper viShaya or object , viz. 1. shabda , " sound " , for the ear; 2. sparsha , " tangibility " , for the skin ; 3. ruupa , " form " or " colour " , for the eye ; 4. rasa , " savour " , for the tongue ; 5. gandha , " odour " for the nose); anything perceptible by the senses , any object of affection or concern or attention , any special worldly object or aim or matter or business , (pl.) sensual enjoyments , sensuality
aakaasha: a free or open space , vacuity ; the ether , sky or atmosphere
gocaraaH = nom. plural of gacara: m. pasture ground for cattle ; range , field for action , abode , dwelling-place , district (esp. ifc. " abiding in , relating to " ; " offering range or field or scope for action , within the range of , accessible , attainable , within the power ") ; the range of the organs of sense , object of sense , anything perceptible by the senses , esp. the range of the eye