shiilaM hi sharaNam saumya
kaantaara iva daishikaH
mitraM bandhush ca rakShaa ca
dhanam ca balam eva ca
= = - - - = = -
= = - - - = - =
= = = = - = = -
- = - - - = - -
13.28
For integrity, my friend, is the refuge:
It is like a guide in the wilderness,
It is friend, kinsman, and protector,
It is wealth, and it is strength.
COMMENT:
When a stimulus comes, if I react unconsciously to the idea of doing something about it, then my faulty sensory appreciation comes into play and my behaviour is liable to be characterised by a lack of harmony between parts. This is not "Alexander theory." This is what FM Alexander observed happening, and he called this kind of behaviour end-gaining; in Saundarananda, as I read it, this approach is expressed as pravRtti, or "onward cycle of doing." PravRtti has a connotation of forward movement, progression, advance.
To learn the backward step of turning light and shining is to consciously go back in the opposite direction. To take the backward step is to return to a more integrated state of being, in which the neck releases, the head is released forward and up from the depths of one's being, the back lengthens and widens, while the legs and arms lengthen out of the expanding torso. This is the opposite of end-gaining; this is nivRtti, or "non-doing." NivRtti has a connotation of backward movement, regression, retreat.
If integrity is the refuge, the refuge is within, and non-doing is the path that leads back to it. If integrity is a guide, friend, kinsman, and protector, that person does not exist out there; he exists within me and non-doing is the way to bring him out. If integrity is wealth and power, it is not the wealth and power sought out there in the world; it is the wherewithal within me, and power along the lines of what my old karate teacher used to call "karate power." This is not the power of the body-builder but inner strength, centred around the pelvis/hips, and accompanied by a sense of indomitable resilience in the face of any shock that life might throw at one. This kind of power is an elusive commodity: it seems to come and go, but when it is there it makes all struggles hitherto seem worthwhile.
Here we are on this blog, writer and reader, both interested in the Buddha's teaching of integrity. But when that moment comes that forces us to choose, which way will we go? Will we decide to seek refuge in the inner wealth and power of integrity? Or will we grasp for the end, sell out, go for the money?
Thirty years ago I was doing a degree in Accounting & Financial Management. Just because I turned away from a career in business and went to Japan to seek enlightenment doesn't mean that I became immunized from going for the money and power. It is an ongoing struggle.
All my struggles through the past 30-odd years, from traditional karate-do through sitting-dhyaana and Alexander work and investigation of the vestibular reflexes, have all been inner questing for integrity. They all point in the end not primarily to doing or being something on the outside but primarily to inhibiting something within.
When all come together in one moment of sitting, so that while seated in full lotus the head is being projected forward and up from the vital centre of karate power as the legs being directed out of the hips inhibits any remaining vestige of the symmetrical tonic neck reflex... then what?
Throw it away, have breakfast and do some gardening (while listening to the cricket on Radio 4 long wave).
Master Dogen wrote that there should be both backward step and forward step.
I want to make a lavender hedge along the path that leads to my bodhi-manda (awakening-seat) at the end of the garden. Sadly, I tried to harden off my lavender seedlings too early, but never mind. I will make a better job of it next time.
EH Johnston:
For discipline is the refuge, the guide as it were in the wilderness, the friend, the kinsman, the protector, wealth and strength.
Linda Covill:
For moral self-restraint is a refuge, my friend, like a guide in the wilderness; it is friend, kinsman, protection, wealth and strength.
VOCABULARY:
shiilam: good conduct, integrity
hi: for
sharaNam (nom.) n. refuge , protection
saumya: my friend
kaantaaraH (nom.): mn. a large wood , forest , wilderness ; a difficult road through a forest , forest-path
iva: like
daishikaH (nom.): knowing a place , a guide
mitram (nom.): n. a friend , companion
bandhuH: m. a kinsman (esp. on the mother's side) , relative
ca... ca: both... and
rakShaa (nom.): f. the act of protecting or guarding , protection , care , preservation , security ; a guard , watch , sentinel
dhanam (nom.): n. any valued object , (esp.) wealth , riches , (movable) property , money , treasure , gift
ca ca
balam (nom.) n. power , strength , might
eva: (emphatic)
Monday, August 3, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.27: Where Integrity Comes From
shiilanaac chiilam ity uktaM
shiilanaM sevanaad api
sevanaM tan nideshaac ca
nidesshash ca tad-aashrayaat
= - = = - = = =
= - = = - = - -
= - = = - = = -
- = = - - = - =
13.27
Integrity is so called
because it comes from repeated practice;
Repeated practice comes from devotion;
Devotion to a thing comes from direction in it,
And direction from submitting to that direction.
COMMENT:
Shiila is of course one of the six paaramitaa or "transcendent virtues" to which followers of the Buddha traditionally aspire.
The dictionary definition of shiila includes both the neutral sense of "way of living or acting , practice , conduct , tendency , character"; and the more affirmative sense of "good character, moral conduct, integrity, morality, piety, virtue."
The first line of this verse confirms that the Buddha had the latter sense in mind; that is, the sense of integrity (shiila) as a virtue realised through repeated practice (shiilana). I am sorry that the common root of the two Sanskrit words has been lost in translation, but I could not see a way around it.
In view of Master Dogen's exhortation, in his rules for sitting-dhyaana, "to naturally become one piece," it seems to me that integrity is a worthy aim for a non-Buddhist Zen bastard to aspire to -- even when the incessant grumbling of his furrowed heart gives away how weak his practice is.
I chose "repeated practice" over "constant practice" as a translation of shiilana, because trying to keep something going continually easily leads to fixing, whereas following the natural waves and cycles of the mind seems to work better. As an old surfer friend of mine once told me, "Everything goes in waves."
On the subject of submitting to a teacher's direction, much could be written. But it might all be pointless pontification, so on this occasion I won't bother.
EH Johnston:
Discipline is so-called from its disciplining, disciplining comes from habitual repetition, habitual repetition from keen desire for a thing and keen desire from dependence on it.
Linda Covill:
It is said that moral self-restraint comes from moral self-restraining, moral self-restraining comes from practice, practice comes from instruction, and instruction comes from seeking it.
VOCABULARY:
shiilanaat = ablative of shiilana: n. repeated practice , constant study
shiilam (nom.): good conduct, integrity
iti: " ... " ; thus
ukta: said, called
shiilanam (nom): n. repeated practice
sevanaat = ablative of sevana: n. the act of frequenting or resorting to; devotion or addiction to , fondness for , indulgence in , practise or employment of
api: and, also
sevanam (nom.): devotion
tat: that, it
nideshaat = ablative of nidesha: order, command, direction
ca: and
nideshaH (nom.): order, command, direction
ca: and
tat: that, it
aashrayaat = ablative of aashraya: m. that to which anything is annexed or with which anything is closely connected or on which anything depends or rests ; a recipient , the person or thing in which any quality or article is inherent or retained or received ; seat , resting-place ; dwelling , asylum , place of refuge , shelter ; depending on , having recourse to ; help , assistance , protection
shiilanaM sevanaad api
sevanaM tan nideshaac ca
nidesshash ca tad-aashrayaat
= - = = - = = =
= - = = - = - -
= - = = - = = -
- = = - - = - =
13.27
Integrity is so called
because it comes from repeated practice;
Repeated practice comes from devotion;
Devotion to a thing comes from direction in it,
And direction from submitting to that direction.
COMMENT:
Shiila is of course one of the six paaramitaa or "transcendent virtues" to which followers of the Buddha traditionally aspire.
The dictionary definition of shiila includes both the neutral sense of "way of living or acting , practice , conduct , tendency , character"; and the more affirmative sense of "good character, moral conduct, integrity, morality, piety, virtue."
The first line of this verse confirms that the Buddha had the latter sense in mind; that is, the sense of integrity (shiila) as a virtue realised through repeated practice (shiilana). I am sorry that the common root of the two Sanskrit words has been lost in translation, but I could not see a way around it.
In view of Master Dogen's exhortation, in his rules for sitting-dhyaana, "to naturally become one piece," it seems to me that integrity is a worthy aim for a non-Buddhist Zen bastard to aspire to -- even when the incessant grumbling of his furrowed heart gives away how weak his practice is.
I chose "repeated practice" over "constant practice" as a translation of shiilana, because trying to keep something going continually easily leads to fixing, whereas following the natural waves and cycles of the mind seems to work better. As an old surfer friend of mine once told me, "Everything goes in waves."
On the subject of submitting to a teacher's direction, much could be written. But it might all be pointless pontification, so on this occasion I won't bother.
EH Johnston:
Discipline is so-called from its disciplining, disciplining comes from habitual repetition, habitual repetition from keen desire for a thing and keen desire from dependence on it.
Linda Covill:
It is said that moral self-restraint comes from moral self-restraining, moral self-restraining comes from practice, practice comes from instruction, and instruction comes from seeking it.
VOCABULARY:
shiilanaat = ablative of shiilana: n. repeated practice , constant study
shiilam (nom.): good conduct, integrity
iti: " ... " ; thus
ukta: said, called
shiilanam (nom): n. repeated practice
sevanaat = ablative of sevana: n. the act of frequenting or resorting to; devotion or addiction to , fondness for , indulgence in , practise or employment of
api: and, also
sevanam (nom.): devotion
tat: that, it
nideshaat = ablative of nidesha: order, command, direction
ca: and
nideshaH (nom.): order, command, direction
ca: and
tat: that, it
aashrayaat = ablative of aashraya: m. that to which anything is annexed or with which anything is closely connected or on which anything depends or rests ; a recipient , the person or thing in which any quality or article is inherent or retained or received ; seat , resting-place ; dwelling , asylum , place of refuge , shelter ; depending on , having recourse to ; help , assistance , protection
Saturday, August 1, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.26: Let It Come Out in the Wash
a-hRllekhasya manasaH
shiilaM t' uupaniShac chuci
ataH shiilaM nayaty agryam
iti shiilaM vishodhaya
- = = = - - - =
= = = - - = - -
- = = = - = = -
- - = = - = - -
13.26
But the freedom of the mind from remorse
Is seated in pristine practice of integrity.
Therefore, realising that integrity comes first,
Purify the practice of integrity.
COMMENT:
In the previous canto, the farmer works so hard with confidence in what?
In this canto, the lotus leaf is cleansed by who?
When a buddha says "Let it come out in the wash," what is the meaning of the word "let"?
I only know that it is not to do.
Even a miniscule amount of pulling in the chin is not it. Pulling in the chin is, as I see it, the first evil not to do.
When a teacher teaches pulling in the chin as the first thing to do, and then slanders others -- for example those who practise mindfulness, or those who tell him that his teaching is wrong -- as "non-Buddhists," it is nothing other than the mirror principle at work. The teacher in question is expressing only his own self-doubt and fear of being wrong. Sadly for my furrowed heart, the teacher in question is my own teacher.
Not by establishing his own idea but by transmitting a teaching attributed to the Seven Buddhas, the Buddha Gautama began his teaching career like this:
Not to do any evil,
To carry on with every good,
To purify one's own mind,
Is the teaching of the buddhas.
Pulling in the chin, I submit, is the first evil not to do. Pulling in the chin is not the practice of integrity; it is the imitation of integrity.
EH Johnston:
But the freedom of the mind from remorse is based on purity of discipline. Therefore purify your discipline, realising that discipline goes in front as the foremost.
Linda Covill:
But pure moral self-restraint is the secret of a clear conscience; therefore purify your moral self-restraint, for moral self-restraint comes first.
VOCABULARY:
a-hRllekhasya = genitive of a-hRllekha: freedom from heart-furrowing; freedom from anxiety
manasaH = genitive of manas: mind, heart
shiilam (nom.): n. habit , custom , usage , natural or acquired way of living or acting , practice , conduct ; good disposition or character , moral conduct , integrity
tu: but
upaniShad: secret, basis
shuci: bright, white, clear , clean , pure ; unsullied , undefiled , innocent , honest , virtuous
atas: from this, hence
shiilam: practice of integrity, discipline, conduct:
nayati = 3rd person singular of nii: to lead , guide , conduct , direct , govern ;
agrya: mfn. foremost , topmost , principal , best
iti: thus
shiilam: practice of integrity, discipline, conduct
vishodhaya = causative, imperative of vishud: to become perfectly pure (esp. in ritual sense) ; to become clear (said of the senses)
shiilaM t' uupaniShac chuci
ataH shiilaM nayaty agryam
iti shiilaM vishodhaya
- = = = - - - =
= = = - - = - -
- = = = - = = -
- - = = - = - -
13.26
But the freedom of the mind from remorse
Is seated in pristine practice of integrity.
Therefore, realising that integrity comes first,
Purify the practice of integrity.
COMMENT:
In the previous canto, the farmer works so hard with confidence in what?
In this canto, the lotus leaf is cleansed by who?
When a buddha says "Let it come out in the wash," what is the meaning of the word "let"?
I only know that it is not to do.
Even a miniscule amount of pulling in the chin is not it. Pulling in the chin is, as I see it, the first evil not to do.
When a teacher teaches pulling in the chin as the first thing to do, and then slanders others -- for example those who practise mindfulness, or those who tell him that his teaching is wrong -- as "non-Buddhists," it is nothing other than the mirror principle at work. The teacher in question is expressing only his own self-doubt and fear of being wrong. Sadly for my furrowed heart, the teacher in question is my own teacher.
Not by establishing his own idea but by transmitting a teaching attributed to the Seven Buddhas, the Buddha Gautama began his teaching career like this:
Not to do any evil,
To carry on with every good,
To purify one's own mind,
Is the teaching of the buddhas.
Pulling in the chin, I submit, is the first evil not to do. Pulling in the chin is not the practice of integrity; it is the imitation of integrity.
EH Johnston:
But the freedom of the mind from remorse is based on purity of discipline. Therefore purify your discipline, realising that discipline goes in front as the foremost.
Linda Covill:
But pure moral self-restraint is the secret of a clear conscience; therefore purify your moral self-restraint, for moral self-restraint comes first.
VOCABULARY:
a-hRllekhasya = genitive of a-hRllekha: freedom from heart-furrowing; freedom from anxiety
manasaH = genitive of manas: mind, heart
shiilam (nom.): n. habit , custom , usage , natural or acquired way of living or acting , practice , conduct ; good disposition or character , moral conduct , integrity
tu: but
upaniShad: secret, basis
shuci: bright, white, clear , clean , pure ; unsullied , undefiled , innocent , honest , virtuous
atas: from this, hence
shiilam: practice of integrity, discipline, conduct:
nayati = 3rd person singular of nii: to lead , guide , conduct , direct , govern ;
agrya: mfn. foremost , topmost , principal , best
iti: thus
shiilam: practice of integrity, discipline, conduct
vishodhaya = causative, imperative of vishud: to become perfectly pure (esp. in ritual sense) ; to become clear (said of the senses)
Friday, July 31, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.25: Are We Nearly There?
tathaa priiter upaniShat
praamodyaM paramaM matam
praamodyasy' aapy a-hRllekhaH
ku-kRteShv a-kRteShu vaa
- = = = - - - -
= = = - - = - -
= = = = - = = =
- - = - - = - =
13.25
The enjoyment is seated in a great happiness which,
Similarly, is understood to be of the highest order;
And the happiness in a freedom from furrowing the heart
Over things done badly or not done.
COMMENT:
If the following comment is polemical in tone, the tendency I am railing against is not ruffling any feather of wren or willow warbler, nor any leaf of ash or hazel, nor any blade of grass out there beyond my window in the Normandy countryside. The tendency that causes me sleeplessly to furrow my heart exists nowhere other than in my own stupid self -- in the one Marjory Barlow called "an inveterate worrier."
Neither are words like "remorse" and "conscience," as used by EHJ and LC, to blame for the sleepless night I have just passed. What is blameworthy is my own habitual reaction to those words, unless I am able to get to the bottom of that reaction and cut it out.
Anyway, here goes with the polemic:
Is the point of this verse to try to be right now, for the sake of securing for oneself a higher order of rapturous delight in the Kingdom of Heaven? Or is the point to try to be right in a more Buddhist manner, with a view to securing for oneself a higher-order happiness in a future life? Or, on the contrary, is the point to exercise what FM Alexander called "Man's Supreme Inheritance," and make a decision to stop trying to be right?
Is this verse a stimulus to get stuck in the rut of dwelling on past mistakes and failures? Or is it a stimulus to start afresh from here?
Should we bring to the reading of this verse the religious baggage of "remorse" and "conscience"? Or should we boot such baggage into the long grass, go back to bed, sleep on it, and try again?
How does one experience this freedom from furrowing the heart? Directly, by fixing one's jaw in redoubled determination that "I shall never make another mistake"? Or by some indirect means of forgetting oneself?
Now we arriving at the nub of the matter. Enough discussion of what is seated in what. Let's get down to it.
EH Johnston:
Similarly ecstasy is deemed to be based on pre-eminent cheerfulness and cheerfulness on freedom from remorse over misdeeds and omissions.
Linda Covill:
Likewise great rapture is considered the secret of joy, and the secret of rapture is a clear conscience in respect of things ill-done or undone.
VOCABULARY:
tathaa: likewise, similarly
priiter = genitive of priiti: joy
upaniShad: secret, basis
praamodyam (nom.): n. rapture , delight
parama: chief , highest , primary, most prominent; best, most excellent
mata: mfn. thought , believed , imagined , supposed , understood ; regarded or considered as
praamodyasya = genitive of praamodya: rapture
api: and
a- : (negative prefix) not, without, lack of, freedom from
hRl: in comp. for hRd: heart
likh: to scratch , scrape , furrow , tear up (the ground)
hRllekhaH (nom.): m. " heart-furrow " , anxiety of the mind , disquietude
ku-kRteShu = locative, plural of ku-kRta: mfn. badly made ; one who has acted badly
a-kRteShu = locative, plural of a-kRta: undone , not committed ; not made , uncreated ; unprepared , incomplete ; one who has done no works
vaa: or
praamodyaM paramaM matam
praamodyasy' aapy a-hRllekhaH
ku-kRteShv a-kRteShu vaa
- = = = - - - -
= = = - - = - -
= = = = - = = =
- - = - - = - =
13.25
The enjoyment is seated in a great happiness which,
Similarly, is understood to be of the highest order;
And the happiness in a freedom from furrowing the heart
Over things done badly or not done.
COMMENT:
If the following comment is polemical in tone, the tendency I am railing against is not ruffling any feather of wren or willow warbler, nor any leaf of ash or hazel, nor any blade of grass out there beyond my window in the Normandy countryside. The tendency that causes me sleeplessly to furrow my heart exists nowhere other than in my own stupid self -- in the one Marjory Barlow called "an inveterate worrier."
Neither are words like "remorse" and "conscience," as used by EHJ and LC, to blame for the sleepless night I have just passed. What is blameworthy is my own habitual reaction to those words, unless I am able to get to the bottom of that reaction and cut it out.
Anyway, here goes with the polemic:
Is the point of this verse to try to be right now, for the sake of securing for oneself a higher order of rapturous delight in the Kingdom of Heaven? Or is the point to try to be right in a more Buddhist manner, with a view to securing for oneself a higher-order happiness in a future life? Or, on the contrary, is the point to exercise what FM Alexander called "Man's Supreme Inheritance," and make a decision to stop trying to be right?
Is this verse a stimulus to get stuck in the rut of dwelling on past mistakes and failures? Or is it a stimulus to start afresh from here?
Should we bring to the reading of this verse the religious baggage of "remorse" and "conscience"? Or should we boot such baggage into the long grass, go back to bed, sleep on it, and try again?
How does one experience this freedom from furrowing the heart? Directly, by fixing one's jaw in redoubled determination that "I shall never make another mistake"? Or by some indirect means of forgetting oneself?
Now we arriving at the nub of the matter. Enough discussion of what is seated in what. Let's get down to it.
EH Johnston:
Similarly ecstasy is deemed to be based on pre-eminent cheerfulness and cheerfulness on freedom from remorse over misdeeds and omissions.
Linda Covill:
Likewise great rapture is considered the secret of joy, and the secret of rapture is a clear conscience in respect of things ill-done or undone.
VOCABULARY:
tathaa: likewise, similarly
priiter = genitive of priiti: joy
upaniShad: secret, basis
praamodyam (nom.): n. rapture , delight
parama: chief , highest , primary, most prominent; best, most excellent
mata: mfn. thought , believed , imagined , supposed , understood ; regarded or considered as
praamodyasya = genitive of praamodya: rapture
api: and
a- : (negative prefix) not, without, lack of, freedom from
hRl: in comp. for hRd: heart
likh: to scratch , scrape , furrow , tear up (the ground)
hRllekhaH (nom.): m. " heart-furrow " , anxiety of the mind , disquietude
ku-kRteShu = locative, plural of ku-kRta: mfn. badly made ; one who has acted badly
a-kRteShu = locative, plural of a-kRta: undone , not committed ; not made , uncreated ; unprepared , incomplete ; one who has done no works
vaa: or
Thursday, July 30, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.24: More Backtracking
prashrabdhiH kaaya-manasaH
sukhasy' opaniShat paraa
prashrabdher apy upaniShat
priitir apy avagamyataam
= = = = - - - =
- = = - - = - =
= = = = - - - =
= - = - - = - =
13.24
An assurance on which sits ease of the body-mind
Is of the highest order,
And the assurance is seated in enjoyment.
Again, let this be realised in experience.
COMMENT:
EHJ notes that: prashrabdhi is properly the feeling of intense, almost buoyant, calm that ensues on the sudden cessation of great pain and has a similar meaning as applied to the mind.
This explanation and EHJ's translation "buoyancy" seem to fit in the context of prashrabdhi being the link between enjoyment of some worthwhile process and the condition of psycho-physical ease. EHJ's description suggests some kind of a positive feedback loop in which the flow of endorphins is boosted.
Enjoyment of the translation process I am engaged in now has been linked, it seems to me, in my own experience, with almost total disappearance of a symptom of pscyho-physical dis-ease: namely, a stomach pain that had been bothering me for several months. In general, a link between enjoying some worthwhile process, and greater ease in one's body-mind, seems to ring true in everyday experience.
When his students arrived with long faces, taking too seriously the matter of going up, FM Alexander used to send them off to enjoy a walk around the block. Alexander's point, and maybe also the point of this verse, is that doing something wholesome and enjoyable cheers us up. In other words, enjoyment is the seat of buoyancy.
In that case, the buoyancy in question is neither the air-punching euphoria of a battle won nor even the nice sensory buzz that follows a good massage or a physical work-out. The buoyancy in question is of the highest order (paraa). It might be, to use Marjory Barlow's phrase, "a cut above" other kinds of buoyancy. (Marjory used to say that real Alexander work was a "a cut above" bodywork.)
Having prepared the outline of this comment yesterday, I had a night of sleep intermittently invaded by the word prashrabdhi. Although EJH's translation "buoyancy" fits on the basis of common sense and, with its connotation of an upward force, gels nicely with Alexander experience, the thought kept bothering me that the root of the word has to do with confidence, trust, being free of cares or worries. Maybe "buoyancy" is erring on the interpretive. So this morning I considered as a translation of prashrabdhi "assurance," for which Webster's (the dictionary I used in Japan for the Shobogenzo translation) gives the following definition:
2: the state of being assured: as a: security b: a being certain in the mind [the puritan's assurance of salvation] c: confidence of mind or manner : easy freedom from self-doubt or uncertainty ; also : excessive self-confidence : brashness, presumption
The sense of "easy freedom from self-doubt or uncertainty" certainly fits well in context.
Plus, the further possible meaning of excessive self-confidence brings into still clearer focus the point of the word paraa ("of the highest order.") If prashrabdhi means self-confidence, it does not mean empty brashness, or unearned self-esteem; it means self-assurance of a higher order, rooted in actual conduct of one's life. But neither is this assurance the same as grim puritanical self-righteousness. It is seated in enjoyment. To come back again to a saying of Marjory Barlow: "It is the most serious thing in the world, this work. But you mustn't take it seriously. It is supposed to be fun!"
EH Johnston:
Bliss of body and mind is based on supreme buoyancy, and know too that buoyancy is based on ecstasy.
Linda Covill:
Understand that complete confidence is the real secret of physical and mental bliss, and that joy is the secret of confidence.
VOCABULARY:
prashrabdhiH (nom.): f. ( √shrambh) trust , confidence
√shrambh: to be careless or negligent ; to trust , confide ,
kaaya: body
manasaH = genitive singular of manas: mind
sukhasya = genitive of sukha: ease, happiness
upaniShad: secret, basis
paraa (f.): on the other or farther side of;
prashrabdher = genitive of prashrabdhi: trust, confidence
api: and, also
upaniShad: secret, basis
priitiH (nom.): f. any pleasurable sensation , pleasure , joy , gladness , satisfaction
api: and, also
avagamyataam (passive, imperative of ava-√gam): let it be realised
ava-√gam: to go down , descend to (acc. or loc.) ; to reach , obtain ; to get power or influence ; to go near , undertake ; to hit upon , think of, conceive , learn , know , understand , anticipate , assure one's self , be convinced
sukhasy' opaniShat paraa
prashrabdher apy upaniShat
priitir apy avagamyataam
= = = = - - - =
- = = - - = - =
= = = = - - - =
= - = - - = - =
13.24
An assurance on which sits ease of the body-mind
Is of the highest order,
And the assurance is seated in enjoyment.
Again, let this be realised in experience.
COMMENT:
EHJ notes that: prashrabdhi is properly the feeling of intense, almost buoyant, calm that ensues on the sudden cessation of great pain and has a similar meaning as applied to the mind.
This explanation and EHJ's translation "buoyancy" seem to fit in the context of prashrabdhi being the link between enjoyment of some worthwhile process and the condition of psycho-physical ease. EHJ's description suggests some kind of a positive feedback loop in which the flow of endorphins is boosted.
Enjoyment of the translation process I am engaged in now has been linked, it seems to me, in my own experience, with almost total disappearance of a symptom of pscyho-physical dis-ease: namely, a stomach pain that had been bothering me for several months. In general, a link between enjoying some worthwhile process, and greater ease in one's body-mind, seems to ring true in everyday experience.
When his students arrived with long faces, taking too seriously the matter of going up, FM Alexander used to send them off to enjoy a walk around the block. Alexander's point, and maybe also the point of this verse, is that doing something wholesome and enjoyable cheers us up. In other words, enjoyment is the seat of buoyancy.
In that case, the buoyancy in question is neither the air-punching euphoria of a battle won nor even the nice sensory buzz that follows a good massage or a physical work-out. The buoyancy in question is of the highest order (paraa). It might be, to use Marjory Barlow's phrase, "a cut above" other kinds of buoyancy. (Marjory used to say that real Alexander work was a "a cut above" bodywork.)
Having prepared the outline of this comment yesterday, I had a night of sleep intermittently invaded by the word prashrabdhi. Although EJH's translation "buoyancy" fits on the basis of common sense and, with its connotation of an upward force, gels nicely with Alexander experience, the thought kept bothering me that the root of the word has to do with confidence, trust, being free of cares or worries. Maybe "buoyancy" is erring on the interpretive. So this morning I considered as a translation of prashrabdhi "assurance," for which Webster's (the dictionary I used in Japan for the Shobogenzo translation) gives the following definition:
2: the state of being assured: as a: security b: a being certain in the mind [the puritan's assurance of salvation] c: confidence of mind or manner : easy freedom from self-doubt or uncertainty ; also : excessive self-confidence : brashness, presumption
The sense of "easy freedom from self-doubt or uncertainty" certainly fits well in context.
Plus, the further possible meaning of excessive self-confidence brings into still clearer focus the point of the word paraa ("of the highest order.") If prashrabdhi means self-confidence, it does not mean empty brashness, or unearned self-esteem; it means self-assurance of a higher order, rooted in actual conduct of one's life. But neither is this assurance the same as grim puritanical self-righteousness. It is seated in enjoyment. To come back again to a saying of Marjory Barlow: "It is the most serious thing in the world, this work. But you mustn't take it seriously. It is supposed to be fun!"
EH Johnston:
Bliss of body and mind is based on supreme buoyancy, and know too that buoyancy is based on ecstasy.
Linda Covill:
Understand that complete confidence is the real secret of physical and mental bliss, and that joy is the secret of confidence.
VOCABULARY:
prashrabdhiH (nom.): f. ( √shrambh) trust , confidence
√shrambh: to be careless or negligent ; to trust , confide ,
kaaya: body
manasaH = genitive singular of manas: mind
sukhasya = genitive of sukha: ease, happiness
upaniShad: secret, basis
paraa (f.): on the other or farther side of;
prashrabdher = genitive of prashrabdhi: trust, confidence
api: and, also
upaniShad: secret, basis
priitiH (nom.): f. any pleasurable sensation , pleasure , joy , gladness , satisfaction
api: and, also
avagamyataam (passive, imperative of ava-√gam): let it be realised
ava-√gam: to go down , descend to (acc. or loc.) ; to reach , obtain ; to get power or influence ; to go near , undertake ; to hit upon , think of, conceive , learn , know , understand , anticipate , assure one's self , be convinced
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.23: Two More Steps
jNaanasy' opaniShac c' aaiva
samaadhir upadhaaryataam
samaadher apy upaniShat
sukhaM shaariira-maanasaM
= = = - - = = -
- = = - - = - =
- = = = - - - =
- = = = - = - =
13.23
And let it be experienced, again,
That the knowing is seated in a stillness
And that the seat of the stillness
Is a body-mind at ease.
COMMENT:
Knowing (jNaana), stillness or balance (samaadhi), and pyscho-physical ease (sukhaM shaarira-maanasam) are like three descending rungs on a ladder. Each is to be experienced for what it is. But the base that the whole thing is resting on is not Alexandrian insight, is not balance of the autonomic nervous system, and is not even the principle and practice of body-mind integration. The base that everything is resting on is nothing other than conduct.
Not doing any evil,
Allowing every good,
To cleanse one's own mind
Is the teaching of buddhas.
EH Johnston:
Realise that knowledge is based on mental concentration and mental concentration on bliss of body and mind.
Linda Covill:
Recognize that concentration is the secret of knowledge, and physical and mental bliss of concentration.
VOCABULARY:
jNaanasya (gentive): of knowing
upaniShad: secret, basis
ca: and
eva: (emphatic)
samaadhiH (nom.): m. putting together; setting to rights ; bringing into harmony , agreement
upadhaaryataam = passive, imperative of upa-√dhR: to hold up , support , bear ; to hold as , consider as , regard , think ; to hold in the mind , reflect or meditate on ; to perceive , comprehend , hear , experience , learn
samaadheH = genitive of samaadhi: balance, harmony, stillness
api: also
upaniShad: secret, basis
sukham (nom. singular): n. ease , easiness , comfort , prosperity , pleasure , happiness
shaariira: body
maanasam (nom. singular): n. the mental powers , mind , spirit , heart , soul
samaadhir upadhaaryataam
samaadher apy upaniShat
sukhaM shaariira-maanasaM
= = = - - = = -
- = = - - = - =
- = = = - - - =
- = = = - = - =
13.23
And let it be experienced, again,
That the knowing is seated in a stillness
And that the seat of the stillness
Is a body-mind at ease.
COMMENT:
Knowing (jNaana), stillness or balance (samaadhi), and pyscho-physical ease (sukhaM shaarira-maanasam) are like three descending rungs on a ladder. Each is to be experienced for what it is. But the base that the whole thing is resting on is not Alexandrian insight, is not balance of the autonomic nervous system, and is not even the principle and practice of body-mind integration. The base that everything is resting on is nothing other than conduct.
Not doing any evil,
Allowing every good,
To cleanse one's own mind
Is the teaching of buddhas.
EH Johnston:
Realise that knowledge is based on mental concentration and mental concentration on bliss of body and mind.
Linda Covill:
Recognize that concentration is the secret of knowledge, and physical and mental bliss of concentration.
VOCABULARY:
jNaanasya (gentive): of knowing
upaniShad: secret, basis
ca: and
eva: (emphatic)
samaadhiH (nom.): m. putting together; setting to rights ; bringing into harmony , agreement
upadhaaryataam = passive, imperative of upa-√dhR: to hold up , support , bear ; to hold as , consider as , regard , think ; to hold in the mind , reflect or meditate on ; to perceive , comprehend , hear , experience , learn
samaadheH = genitive of samaadhi: balance, harmony, stillness
api: also
upaniShad: secret, basis
sukham (nom. singular): n. ease , easiness , comfort , prosperity , pleasure , happiness
shaariira: body
maanasam (nom. singular): n. the mental powers , mind , spirit , heart , soul
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.22: Backward Steps towards Integrity
mokShasy' opaniShat saumya
vairaagyam iti gRhyataam
vairaagyasy' aapi saMvedaH
saMvido jNana-darshanam
= = = - - = = -
= = - - - = - =
= = = = - = = =
= - = - - = - -
13.22
Let it be grasped, my friend,
That release is seated in indifference,
Indifference in conscious awareness,
And conscious awareness in knowing and seeing.
COMMENT:
MokSha expresses the goal of release, freedom, liberation, being set free.
As translations of vairyagam, what is the difference between, for example:
- freedom from redness,
- freedom from passion,
- dispassion,
- detachment,
- indifference?
In the end, who cares?
SaMveda, conscious awareness, is seated, as far as I understand it, in knowing and seeing what I wish to inhibit: a pattern of unconscious reaction to an idea.
But this knowing and seeing (jNana-darshana) is not the end of the story. We know in advance where this regression is leading: back to the practice of integrity (shiila). Integrity is the foundation on which rest such things as insight, conscious awareness, indifference and the ultimate aim of freeing oneself from the prison of habit.
"Who cares?" I asked, as I prepared this comment yesterday. And having slept on it, and sat, the answer is that I care. My heart wants to pour out the following:
A structure built on a foundation which lacks integrity is bound to collapse. This, I venture to predict, is the inevitable fate of Dogen Sangha. And when it comes crumbling down, I wish to be well away from the falling debris.
The Buddha's teaching thrives when a follower of the Buddha, on an individual basis, eschewing all -isms and political shenanigans, acts truthfully, with integrity. This is what today I would like to prove, starting afresh from here.
The Buddha's way is to act, as an individual, with integrity. I don't see any other way. A few years ago Gudo Nishijima wrote me an email outlining his intention to establish Dogen Sangha in the middle way between the Soto Sect and secular society. From where I sit, there is no such way.
In 1997, Gudo Nishijima betrayed me. Blinded by his conviction that the Shobogenzo translation was essentially his own "personal job," he could not see that he was betraying me. He did not know that he was betraying me. But in his action, he betrayed me. For ten years I argued with him back and forth by email, holding on to the optimistic belief that he would see the light and redeem himself. That optimism of mine was totally false, as optimism always is. Instead of redeeming himself, he just got older, and more and more mistrustful of the one who had always criticized him.
To count on the integrity of another was absolutely my mistake. My integrity is only a matter for me, as an individual. This, as I see it, is the teaching not only of the Buddha but also of FM Alexander. FM Alexander was a man of integrity. FM had his personal foibles, like betting on horses, but nobody, as far as I know, accused FM Alexander of lacking basic integrity. How could a movement founded by a man who lacked integrity be true?
In the womb, before our heads were filled with views on Buddhism, realism, humanism, theism, atheism, and the rest, all of us knew what integrity was. Learning the backward step of turning one's own light and shining has to do with allowing that kind of integrity to shine through again.
This translation is to lay the groundwork for that kind of individual practice of integrity. But more than that, I want this work to exemplify individual practice of integrity in the process of doing it, at this snail's pace of one verse per day.
"Who cares?" I asked, as I prepared this comment yesterday. And having slept on it, and sat, the answer is that I care. Seeing thus that my own foundations are not so stout, I am more convinced than ever of the need to start digging totally afresh, from here.
EH Johnston:
My friend, comprehend that salvation is based on freedom from passion, freedom from passion on right understanding, and right understanding on the apprehension of knowledge.
Linda Covill:
My dear friend, accept that dispassion is the secret of liberation, understanding of dispassion, and knowledge of understanding.
VOCABULARY:
mokShasya = genitive of mokSha: m. emancipation , liberation , release from ; falling off or down ; setting free , deliverance (of a prisoner); loosing , untying (hair)
upa-ni-√sad: to sit down near to ; to approach , set about
upaniShad: f. (according to some) the sitting down at the feet of another to listen to his words (and hence , secret knowledge given in this manner ; but according to native authorities upaniShad means " setting at rest ignorance by revealing the knowledge of the supreme spirit ") ; the mystery which underlies or rests underneath the external system of things ; esoteric doctrine , secret doctrine , mysterious or mystical meaning , words of mystery ; a class of philosophical writings (more than a hundred in number , attached to the brAhmaNas ; their aim is the exposition of the secret meaning of the veda , and they are regarded as the source of the vedAnta and sAMkhya philosophies)
saumya: voc. = " O gentle Sir! " " O good Sir! " " O excellent man! " as the proper mode of addressing a Brahman
vairaagyam (accusative): n. change or loss of colour , growing pale ; disgust , aversion , distaste for or loathing of ; freedom from all worldly desires , indifference to worldly objects and to life , asceticism
iti: " .... " ; that
gRhyataam = passive, imperative of grah: to grasp
vairaagyasya (genitive): dispassion
api: and, also
saMvedaH (nom.): m. perception , consciousness
saMvidaH = nom. of saMvida: having consciousness , conscious
jNana: n. knowing ; conscience
darshanam (accusative): ifc. seeing , looking at
vairaagyam iti gRhyataam
vairaagyasy' aapi saMvedaH
saMvido jNana-darshanam
= = = - - = = -
= = - - - = - =
= = = = - = = =
= - = - - = - -
13.22
Let it be grasped, my friend,
That release is seated in indifference,
Indifference in conscious awareness,
And conscious awareness in knowing and seeing.
COMMENT:
MokSha expresses the goal of release, freedom, liberation, being set free.
As translations of vairyagam, what is the difference between, for example:
- freedom from redness,
- freedom from passion,
- dispassion,
- detachment,
- indifference?
In the end, who cares?
SaMveda, conscious awareness, is seated, as far as I understand it, in knowing and seeing what I wish to inhibit: a pattern of unconscious reaction to an idea.
But this knowing and seeing (jNana-darshana) is not the end of the story. We know in advance where this regression is leading: back to the practice of integrity (shiila). Integrity is the foundation on which rest such things as insight, conscious awareness, indifference and the ultimate aim of freeing oneself from the prison of habit.
"Who cares?" I asked, as I prepared this comment yesterday. And having slept on it, and sat, the answer is that I care. My heart wants to pour out the following:
A structure built on a foundation which lacks integrity is bound to collapse. This, I venture to predict, is the inevitable fate of Dogen Sangha. And when it comes crumbling down, I wish to be well away from the falling debris.
The Buddha's teaching thrives when a follower of the Buddha, on an individual basis, eschewing all -isms and political shenanigans, acts truthfully, with integrity. This is what today I would like to prove, starting afresh from here.
The Buddha's way is to act, as an individual, with integrity. I don't see any other way. A few years ago Gudo Nishijima wrote me an email outlining his intention to establish Dogen Sangha in the middle way between the Soto Sect and secular society. From where I sit, there is no such way.
In 1997, Gudo Nishijima betrayed me. Blinded by his conviction that the Shobogenzo translation was essentially his own "personal job," he could not see that he was betraying me. He did not know that he was betraying me. But in his action, he betrayed me. For ten years I argued with him back and forth by email, holding on to the optimistic belief that he would see the light and redeem himself. That optimism of mine was totally false, as optimism always is. Instead of redeeming himself, he just got older, and more and more mistrustful of the one who had always criticized him.
To count on the integrity of another was absolutely my mistake. My integrity is only a matter for me, as an individual. This, as I see it, is the teaching not only of the Buddha but also of FM Alexander. FM Alexander was a man of integrity. FM had his personal foibles, like betting on horses, but nobody, as far as I know, accused FM Alexander of lacking basic integrity. How could a movement founded by a man who lacked integrity be true?
In the womb, before our heads were filled with views on Buddhism, realism, humanism, theism, atheism, and the rest, all of us knew what integrity was. Learning the backward step of turning one's own light and shining has to do with allowing that kind of integrity to shine through again.
This translation is to lay the groundwork for that kind of individual practice of integrity. But more than that, I want this work to exemplify individual practice of integrity in the process of doing it, at this snail's pace of one verse per day.
"Who cares?" I asked, as I prepared this comment yesterday. And having slept on it, and sat, the answer is that I care. Seeing thus that my own foundations are not so stout, I am more convinced than ever of the need to start digging totally afresh, from here.
EH Johnston:
My friend, comprehend that salvation is based on freedom from passion, freedom from passion on right understanding, and right understanding on the apprehension of knowledge.
Linda Covill:
My dear friend, accept that dispassion is the secret of liberation, understanding of dispassion, and knowledge of understanding.
VOCABULARY:
mokShasya = genitive of mokSha: m. emancipation , liberation , release from ; falling off or down ; setting free , deliverance (of a prisoner); loosing , untying (hair)
upa-ni-√sad: to sit down near to ; to approach , set about
upaniShad: f. (according to some) the sitting down at the feet of another to listen to his words (and hence , secret knowledge given in this manner ; but according to native authorities upaniShad means " setting at rest ignorance by revealing the knowledge of the supreme spirit ") ; the mystery which underlies or rests underneath the external system of things ; esoteric doctrine , secret doctrine , mysterious or mystical meaning , words of mystery ; a class of philosophical writings (more than a hundred in number , attached to the brAhmaNas ; their aim is the exposition of the secret meaning of the veda , and they are regarded as the source of the vedAnta and sAMkhya philosophies)
saumya: voc. = " O gentle Sir! " " O good Sir! " " O excellent man! " as the proper mode of addressing a Brahman
vairaagyam (accusative): n. change or loss of colour , growing pale ; disgust , aversion , distaste for or loathing of ; freedom from all worldly desires , indifference to worldly objects and to life , asceticism
iti: " .... " ; that
gRhyataam = passive, imperative of grah: to grasp
vairaagyasya (genitive): dispassion
api: and, also
saMvedaH (nom.): m. perception , consciousness
saMvidaH = nom. of saMvida: having consciousness , conscious
jNana: n. knowing ; conscience
darshanam (accusative): ifc. seeing , looking at
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