n' endriyaM viShaye taavat
pravRttam api sajjate
yaavan na manasas tatra
parikalpaH pravartate
= - = - - = = =
- = - - - = - =
= = - - - = = -
- - = = - = - =
13.49
The power of the senses, though operative,
Does not become glued to an object,
So long as in the mind, with regard to that object,
No fixing goes on.
DUST & FLUFF:
According to the Monier-Williams dictionary, parikalpa has a technical 'Buddhist' meaning, namely, "illusion."
Thus far in Saundarananda, however, I have not noticed the Buddha or Ashvaghosha resorting to technical Buddhist terms.
So, setting aside 'Buddhist' interpretations, what might be the real, original meaning of parikalpa in the fourth line of this verse? The first non-Buddhist definition given in the dictionary is "fixing." And that definition, to me, makes a lot of sense.
If we understand, following on from the previous verse, that we are in the business of constructive conscious control of the individual for the individual by the individual, then enemy number one might be fixing.
A sense getting glued to an object, or the combined power of the senses becoming stuck on an object, can be understood as a general expression of the end-gaining attitude, i.e. the desire to go directly for a specific end, without conscious consideration of the means and the wider side-effects. So the object in question could be understood as the completion of some task, like this translation project for example, or it could be the acquistion of knowledge on some subject, like the Buddha's teaching.
Alternatively, the object in question can be understood more literally as a sensory object upon which a man's sensory system is liable to fixate -- an object like an aircraft buzzing overhead, or like a snake shuffling about in the loft, or a raging fire, or that most dangerous of all objects, another man's wife (3.32).
Either way, whether the object is understood as a mental aim or as a physical thing, fixing on an object was, in the view of FM Alexander, our greatest evil. To illustrate the general aspect of FM's opposition towards fixing, here is an excellent passage from the end of his 2nd book, Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual, in which the object in view is knowledge.
We find that the people who are satisfied that they "know" are the least observant people, and at the same time the most unhappy and discontented. Most people will admit that realization too often is not equal to anticipation, but this again is in consequence of the psycho-physical conditions present. If realization is not only to equal but even sometimes to surpass anticipation, our psycho-physical plan of development must be fundamentally one of continuous growth and of new experiences, and consequently we never reach the point when we may be said to finish learning. This connotes a continuous anticipation of new experiences in growth and development, so that the realization of some new experience in psycho-physical functioning does not bring a sense of finality, with a consequent loss of interest, but is a clear indication that a step forward has been made in growth and development, which again is a stepping-stone to the next stage of advancement, and so on.
Here is another illustration of the evil of fixing, from my own experience in the distant past, given the immediate sensory object of an opponent's fist: If two martial artists are competing, one of them may mount a diversionary attack. If the defender falls for the ploy, he will focus his senses on the diversionary attack and thereby leave an opening for a real attack. The freer in mind, the less fixed in attitude, the defender is, the less likely it is that the power of his senses will be glued to the diversionary object. If the mind of the defender is truly free from fixing, his senses will register a feint as a feint, and he won't react to it. If, however, the attacker comes in for a real attack, and the defender's mind is free, then it is possible that a counter-attack will take place, as if by itself, as an instantaneous manifestation of prajna, or mirror-wisdom.
Finally, and for me most tellingly, here is still another illustration, this time from recent experience in Alexander work, of how fixing in the mind can prevent a person from gaining new sensory experience: A few months ago I was doing some Alexander work with a friend and fellow sitting practitioner whose sitting practice is impeded by a certain stiffness, this stiffness being most evident in his hip joints (where his legs are supposed to be separate from his head/neck/back). I wanted to give him the experience of his whole torso being taken back and up off his hips, so that simply by allowing his knees to bend, he might experience a new quality of ease and lightness in the process of moving towards the chair -- going up and bending his knees in order to arrive at the chair, instead of contracting down towards the chair in his habitual manner. In fact, as soon as I began to take my friend back and up, that is, off balance, he tightened his knees and hips as if his life depended on it. So I asked him why he was doing that. "Because otherwise I wouldn't be in control," he said.
Voila! His vestibular system was stuck, glued to an object (i.e. what he understood to be a state of being in balance or control). And the root of the sticking was a fixed conception in his mind ("I have to be always in control"), which, in turn was rooted in fear (i.e. fear of not being in control). And not only this particular friend is like that. In my experience, beginning with myself, everybody is a little bit like that. Or a lot like that. Because, at the deepest level of the fear reflexes, everybody is prone to lack integrity. Precisely because we are all like that, as I hear him, the Buddha is exhorting each individual to work on his or her own integrity, relying on conscious awareness and reason, and treating the senses with vigilance at every moment, as if they were enemies.
What I would like to suggest with these layers of my dust & fluff, then, is that the mirror-wisdom of buddha is not necessarily a state of freedom from intellectual illusions and fanciful imaginings, but real wisdom is always a state of freedom from fearful fixing. So when I wish to allow my neck to be free, that is the first freedom I am wishing for: freedom from fearful fixing.
Attention.
Balance.
Co-ordination.
Direction of Energy.
Freedom from Fearful Fixing.
And so Finally, F.... well, work it out for yourself.
EH Johnston:
The senses, even though in activity, do not adhere to their objects, so long as imaginations about the latter are not conceived in the mind.
Linda Covill:
So long as fanciful imaginings do not operate in the mind, the senses, though operational, will not be glued to sensory objects.
VOCABULARY:
na: not
indriyam (nom.): n. sense power
viShaye (locative): to sense object
taavat: so long
pravRtta (past part. of pra-√vRt): come forth , resulted , arisen , produced ; commenced , begun ; acting, proceeding, existing
api: though
sajjate = 3rd person singular, passive of saJj: to cling or stick or adhere to , be attached to or engaged in or occupied with (loc.)
yaavat (correlative of taavat): as long as
na: not
manasaH (genitive): of/in the mind
tatra: therin
parikalpaH = nom. sg. of parikalpa (from pari-√klRp): (1) = parikalpana: n. fixing , settling , contriving , making , inventing , providing , dividing , distributing; (2) m. illusion (Buddhist)
pari-√klRp: to fix , settle , determine , destine for ; to choose ; to perform , execute , accomplish , contrive , arrange , make ; to distribute , divide ; to admit or invite to (loc.) ; to suppose , presuppose
pravartate = 3rd person singular of pra-√vRt: to roll or go onwards (as a carriage) , be set in motion or going ; to come forth , issue , originate , arise , be produced , result , occur ; to act
Monday, August 24, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.48: Emotionality Writ Large
anurodha-virodhaabhyaaM
shiit'-oShNaabhyaam iv' aarditaH
sharma n'aapnoti na shreyash
cal'-endriyam ato jagat
- - = - - = = =
= = = = - = - =
= - = = - - = =
- = - - - = - -
13.48
When, by getting and not getting his way,
A man is pained as if by cold or heat,
He finds no refuge; nor reaches higher good:
Hence the fluctuating sense-power of the masses.
COMMENT:
By "sense-power" as a translation of indriyam, I would like to convey the meaning of physical power, or the energy of doing, as opposed to the energy of conscious awareness, or the power of not doing. Judging from the fact that indriyam was used in Sanskrit in the singular, its original meaning may have been closer to Alexander's concept of "sensory appreciation," than the conventional plural translation of "senses."
Again in this verse I think that the Buddha is laying the foundations for his preaching of the noble truth of suffering in Canto 16. In so doing he is pointing in the direction where higher good (shreyas) resides -- up on the noble plane of conscious control.
It is the lower level, the instinctive plane, the plane of blind emotional reaction, where dwell the mass of humanity whom FM Alexander described as lowly-evolved swine. Through the combination of our end-gaining and our faulty sensory appreciation we are pushed and pulled, out of touch with our reasoning faculties, on the endless swing of samsara.
"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."
-- FM Alexander, Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual
What FM saw, as the Buddha saw before him, is that the great mass of humanity is enslaved by reacting blindly and emotionally to the world as we experience it through the senses. What the Buddha seems to be saying here to Nanda is that if Nanda wishes to transcend mass reaction and reach the plane of higher good, as a true individual, ironically, it is necessary for him not to care about getting or not getting his own way.
This is a difficult balancing act, extremely difficult to solve on an individual basis, but I suspect impossible to solve on a group or societal basis. A group or society organized on the principle of individuals not caring about getting their own way is not a group or society that I, for one, would want to align myself with. North Korea springs obviously to mind, or Nazi Germany. But in many ways the Japan I knew of the 1980s, as exposed brilliantly in Karel von Wolferen's book The Enigma of Japanese Power, also functioned along totalitarian lines.
The individual wish for freedom, as I see it, has to come first. Even with the best will in the world, freedom cannot be imposed from the outside. Not even the Buddha could make Nanda free. What the Buddha could do, and what the Buddha is doing in this verse, is to guide Nanda's own discovery, given Nanda's autonomous statement of his confidence in the existence of higher good and his wish to pursue it.
So Constructive, Conscious Control -- yes. But not imposed by America, or anybody else, as the world's policeman. Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual for the Individual by the Individual. This was the teaching of FM Alexander and I think it was also the Zen teaching of Master Kodo Sawaki. Sadly, one or two of Master Kodo's followers, possibly blinded by their own position of privilege in the authoritarian upper echelons of Japanese society, may not quite have got Master Kodo's fundamental point.
EH Johnston:
The man who is harassed by likes and dislikes, as by heat and cold, obtains neither peace nor the supreme good ; hence the instability of men's senses.
Linda Covill:
When a man is tormented by likes and dislikes as by cold and heat, he finds no relief, nor does he find Excellence; hence the restlessness of a person's senses.
VOCABULARY:
anurodha: m. obliging or fulfilling the wishes (of any one); obligingness , compliance
virodhaabhyaam = inst. dual of virodha: m. opposition , hostility ; (logical) contradiction , contrariety , antithesis , inconsistency , incompatibility ; hindrance , prevention
shiita: n. cold , coldness , cold weather
uShNaabhyaam = inst. dual of uShNa: mn. heat , warmth , the hot season (June , July)
iva: like
arditaH (nom. m.): a man who is injured , pained , afflicted , tormented , wounded
sharma (acc.): n. shelter , protection , refuge , safety ; joy , bliss , comfort , delight , happiness
na: not
aapnoti = 3rd person singular of aap: to reach , overtake , meet with , fall upon etc. ; to obtain , gain , take possession of
na: not
shreyaH (acc.): higher good
cala: moving , trembling , shaking , loose ; unsteady , fluctuating indriyam (nom. sg.): n. sense, faculty of sense
ataH: from this, hence, from this or that cause or reason
jagat (nom.): n. that which moves or is alive , men and animals , animals as opposed to men , men; n. the world , esp. this world , earth
shiit'-oShNaabhyaam iv' aarditaH
sharma n'aapnoti na shreyash
cal'-endriyam ato jagat
- - = - - = = =
= = = = - = - =
= - = = - - = =
- = - - - = - -
13.48
When, by getting and not getting his way,
A man is pained as if by cold or heat,
He finds no refuge; nor reaches higher good:
Hence the fluctuating sense-power of the masses.
COMMENT:
By "sense-power" as a translation of indriyam, I would like to convey the meaning of physical power, or the energy of doing, as opposed to the energy of conscious awareness, or the power of not doing. Judging from the fact that indriyam was used in Sanskrit in the singular, its original meaning may have been closer to Alexander's concept of "sensory appreciation," than the conventional plural translation of "senses."
Again in this verse I think that the Buddha is laying the foundations for his preaching of the noble truth of suffering in Canto 16. In so doing he is pointing in the direction where higher good (shreyas) resides -- up on the noble plane of conscious control.
It is the lower level, the instinctive plane, the plane of blind emotional reaction, where dwell the mass of humanity whom FM Alexander described as lowly-evolved swine. Through the combination of our end-gaining and our faulty sensory appreciation we are pushed and pulled, out of touch with our reasoning faculties, on the endless swing of samsara.
"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."
-- FM Alexander, Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual
What FM saw, as the Buddha saw before him, is that the great mass of humanity is enslaved by reacting blindly and emotionally to the world as we experience it through the senses. What the Buddha seems to be saying here to Nanda is that if Nanda wishes to transcend mass reaction and reach the plane of higher good, as a true individual, ironically, it is necessary for him not to care about getting or not getting his own way.
This is a difficult balancing act, extremely difficult to solve on an individual basis, but I suspect impossible to solve on a group or societal basis. A group or society organized on the principle of individuals not caring about getting their own way is not a group or society that I, for one, would want to align myself with. North Korea springs obviously to mind, or Nazi Germany. But in many ways the Japan I knew of the 1980s, as exposed brilliantly in Karel von Wolferen's book The Enigma of Japanese Power, also functioned along totalitarian lines.
The individual wish for freedom, as I see it, has to come first. Even with the best will in the world, freedom cannot be imposed from the outside. Not even the Buddha could make Nanda free. What the Buddha could do, and what the Buddha is doing in this verse, is to guide Nanda's own discovery, given Nanda's autonomous statement of his confidence in the existence of higher good and his wish to pursue it.
So Constructive, Conscious Control -- yes. But not imposed by America, or anybody else, as the world's policeman. Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual for the Individual by the Individual. This was the teaching of FM Alexander and I think it was also the Zen teaching of Master Kodo Sawaki. Sadly, one or two of Master Kodo's followers, possibly blinded by their own position of privilege in the authoritarian upper echelons of Japanese society, may not quite have got Master Kodo's fundamental point.
EH Johnston:
The man who is harassed by likes and dislikes, as by heat and cold, obtains neither peace nor the supreme good ; hence the instability of men's senses.
Linda Covill:
When a man is tormented by likes and dislikes as by cold and heat, he finds no relief, nor does he find Excellence; hence the restlessness of a person's senses.
VOCABULARY:
anurodha: m. obliging or fulfilling the wishes (of any one); obligingness , compliance
virodhaabhyaam = inst. dual of virodha: m. opposition , hostility ; (logical) contradiction , contrariety , antithesis , inconsistency , incompatibility ; hindrance , prevention
shiita: n. cold , coldness , cold weather
uShNaabhyaam = inst. dual of uShNa: mn. heat , warmth , the hot season (June , July)
iva: like
arditaH (nom. m.): a man who is injured , pained , afflicted , tormented , wounded
sharma (acc.): n. shelter , protection , refuge , safety ; joy , bliss , comfort , delight , happiness
na: not
aapnoti = 3rd person singular of aap: to reach , overtake , meet with , fall upon etc. ; to obtain , gain , take possession of
na: not
shreyaH (acc.): higher good
cala: moving , trembling , shaking , loose ; unsteady , fluctuating indriyam (nom. sg.): n. sense, faculty of sense
ataH: from this, hence, from this or that cause or reason
jagat (nom.): n. that which moves or is alive , men and animals , animals as opposed to men , men; n. the world , esp. this world , earth
Saturday, August 22, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.47: Guarding Against Dejectedness
daurmanasy'-aabhidhaanas tu
pratigho viShay'-aashritaH
mohaad yen' aanuvRttena
paratr' eha ca hanyate
= - = = - = = =
- - = - - = - =
= = = = - = = -
- = = - - = - =
13.47
What is called dejectedness, conversely,
Is, in connection with an object, a contrary reaction
By going along with which, in one's ignorance,
One is smitten thereafter, and smitten there and then.
COMMENT:
My first draft of a comment on this verse consisted of only three words: Quad Erat Demonstrandum.
The teaching of FM Alexander may be regarded as an exercise in finding out how all too true this verse is, on multiple levels.
The challenge in translating a verse like this is to find a translation that is open enough to allow the full range of intended meanings, which may be more numerous than we can imagine.
I associate dejectedness in the first instance with failure to achieve an object in the sense of an ambition, an end, a goal in life. This kind of failure is liable to be followed by a dialectic swing of the kind FM Alexander described in his famous quote pertaining to the middle way: "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."
Again, hostility against or 'repulsion' (as per EHJ and LC) from a noxious sensory stimulus, that is, an object directly perceptible by the senses, can also be associated with a kind of dejectedness. The contrary reaction that certain wimpish individuals are liable to experience every time a noisy aircraft flies overhead, might be a case in point. Guarding against dejectedness, in such instances, might mean refusing to let the blighters get you down. Or at least, if they have got you down already, then it might mean starting afresh from there.
On a more subtle level, as a method of working on his own integrity, a person might, say, form the intention to join hands and bow without stiffening the neck and tightening in various joints. In this case, the conscious intention is not to be drawn into end-gaining for a particular object, but rather to attend to the means-whereby of directing muscles not to contract unduly. But notwithstanding this conscious desire, unconsciously a reaction is likely to take place which is contrary to the practitioner's intention. That is to say, when he actually goes into movement, he is liable to do just the opposite of what he was intending. So instead of his head being allowed to release out of the body as he inclines forward, his unconscious end-gaining attitude may cause the person in question actually to pull his head in, like a frightened tortoise. And this contrary reaction may also be understood as a very subtle form of dejectedness.
Lest all this sounds like too much doom and gloom, I'll finish by remembering how Marjory Barlow responded when, called upon to extend my leg on her teaching table while directing my neck to be free, my head to go forward and up, and my back to lengthen and widen, I in fact made a horlicks of it and gained the end of extending my leg only at the expense of stiffening and twisting horribly. "At least you know you made a mess of it!" Marjory said encouragingly. In the same vein, Nelly Ben-Or once told me, when I expressed to her my anxiety about taking people's money for purporting to transmit to them what FM Alexander taught: "As long as you know you are a fraud, you are not a true fraud."
In order not to be a fraud, I begin every day by sitting in lotus and wishing to be free. And the wish has to be real. It can't be just a question of merrily observing how fixed I am. The first thing has to be a genuine wish to be free. Then I observe how fixed I am.
Maybe the most insidious form of dejectedness is that sometimes very subtle fixing which is associated, on so many levels, with trying to be right. In the end, being fixed is the greatest evil to guard against, as the Buddha, if I hear him correctly, indicates from 13.49.
In order to steer an exact middle course, it is no use being fixed: one has to be free to change direction at every moment. And the best way to study this in practice for oneself is to keep totally still, being totally ready to move. (Even in a swimming, I suppose, such a moment might be possible? My brother may confirm.) I first realised this for myself a long time ago in the context of competition karate. But then I got bogged down in a couple of heavy emotional attachments -- I got well and truly smitten, by a double punch -- and it has taken me more than 30 years to come back to this most basic and simple of truths: the best way to study what freedom is, the best way to experience non-dejectedness, is to keep totally still, being totally ready to move.
EH Johnston:
But what is known as the desire of avoidance is repulsion with regard to any object ; by giving way to it out of delusion a man is ruined in this world and hereafter.
Linda Covill:
What is termed aversion is the repulsion of a sensory event, to which acquiescence, out of delusion, brings ruin in both this life and the next.
VOCABULARY:
daurmanasya: dejectedness
abhidhaanaH (nom): n. telling , naming; a name , title , appellation ,
tu: But
pratighaH (nom.): m. ( √han) hindrance , obstruction , resistance , opposition ; struggling against (comp.) ; anger , wrath , enmity ; combat , fighting ; an enemy ; opposition , contradiction
viShaya: object, sense object
aashritaH (nom.): attaching one's self to , joining; relating or belonging to , concerning
mohaad = abl. of moha: m. ( √1. muh ) loss of consciousness , bewilderment , perplexity , distraction , infatuation , delusion , error , folly ; ignorance
yena (inst.): by which
anuvRttena = inst. of anuvRtta: obedience , conformity , compliance
anu: after , along , alongside
vRt: to roll along, go
anuvRt: to go along with, follow, obey, assent
paratra: ind. elsewhere , in another place , in a future state or world , hereafter
iha: in this place , here ; in this world
ca: and
hanyate = 3rd pers. sing., passive of han: to smite , slay , hit , kill , mar , destroy
pratigho viShay'-aashritaH
mohaad yen' aanuvRttena
paratr' eha ca hanyate
= - = = - = = =
- - = - - = - =
= = = = - = = -
- = = - - = - =
13.47
What is called dejectedness, conversely,
Is, in connection with an object, a contrary reaction
By going along with which, in one's ignorance,
One is smitten thereafter, and smitten there and then.
COMMENT:
My first draft of a comment on this verse consisted of only three words: Quad Erat Demonstrandum.
The teaching of FM Alexander may be regarded as an exercise in finding out how all too true this verse is, on multiple levels.
The challenge in translating a verse like this is to find a translation that is open enough to allow the full range of intended meanings, which may be more numerous than we can imagine.
I associate dejectedness in the first instance with failure to achieve an object in the sense of an ambition, an end, a goal in life. This kind of failure is liable to be followed by a dialectic swing of the kind FM Alexander described in his famous quote pertaining to the middle way: "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."
Again, hostility against or 'repulsion' (as per EHJ and LC) from a noxious sensory stimulus, that is, an object directly perceptible by the senses, can also be associated with a kind of dejectedness. The contrary reaction that certain wimpish individuals are liable to experience every time a noisy aircraft flies overhead, might be a case in point. Guarding against dejectedness, in such instances, might mean refusing to let the blighters get you down. Or at least, if they have got you down already, then it might mean starting afresh from there.
On a more subtle level, as a method of working on his own integrity, a person might, say, form the intention to join hands and bow without stiffening the neck and tightening in various joints. In this case, the conscious intention is not to be drawn into end-gaining for a particular object, but rather to attend to the means-whereby of directing muscles not to contract unduly. But notwithstanding this conscious desire, unconsciously a reaction is likely to take place which is contrary to the practitioner's intention. That is to say, when he actually goes into movement, he is liable to do just the opposite of what he was intending. So instead of his head being allowed to release out of the body as he inclines forward, his unconscious end-gaining attitude may cause the person in question actually to pull his head in, like a frightened tortoise. And this contrary reaction may also be understood as a very subtle form of dejectedness.
Lest all this sounds like too much doom and gloom, I'll finish by remembering how Marjory Barlow responded when, called upon to extend my leg on her teaching table while directing my neck to be free, my head to go forward and up, and my back to lengthen and widen, I in fact made a horlicks of it and gained the end of extending my leg only at the expense of stiffening and twisting horribly. "At least you know you made a mess of it!" Marjory said encouragingly. In the same vein, Nelly Ben-Or once told me, when I expressed to her my anxiety about taking people's money for purporting to transmit to them what FM Alexander taught: "As long as you know you are a fraud, you are not a true fraud."
In order not to be a fraud, I begin every day by sitting in lotus and wishing to be free. And the wish has to be real. It can't be just a question of merrily observing how fixed I am. The first thing has to be a genuine wish to be free. Then I observe how fixed I am.
Maybe the most insidious form of dejectedness is that sometimes very subtle fixing which is associated, on so many levels, with trying to be right. In the end, being fixed is the greatest evil to guard against, as the Buddha, if I hear him correctly, indicates from 13.49.
In order to steer an exact middle course, it is no use being fixed: one has to be free to change direction at every moment. And the best way to study this in practice for oneself is to keep totally still, being totally ready to move. (Even in a swimming, I suppose, such a moment might be possible? My brother may confirm.) I first realised this for myself a long time ago in the context of competition karate. But then I got bogged down in a couple of heavy emotional attachments -- I got well and truly smitten, by a double punch -- and it has taken me more than 30 years to come back to this most basic and simple of truths: the best way to study what freedom is, the best way to experience non-dejectedness, is to keep totally still, being totally ready to move.
EH Johnston:
But what is known as the desire of avoidance is repulsion with regard to any object ; by giving way to it out of delusion a man is ruined in this world and hereafter.
Linda Covill:
What is termed aversion is the repulsion of a sensory event, to which acquiescence, out of delusion, brings ruin in both this life and the next.
VOCABULARY:
daurmanasya: dejectedness
abhidhaanaH (nom): n. telling , naming; a name , title , appellation ,
tu: But
pratighaH (nom.): m. ( √han) hindrance , obstruction , resistance , opposition ; struggling against (comp.) ; anger , wrath , enmity ; combat , fighting ; an enemy ; opposition , contradiction
viShaya: object, sense object
aashritaH (nom.): attaching one's self to , joining; relating or belonging to , concerning
mohaad = abl. of moha: m. ( √1. muh ) loss of consciousness , bewilderment , perplexity , distraction , infatuation , delusion , error , folly ; ignorance
yena (inst.): by which
anuvRttena = inst. of anuvRtta: obedience , conformity , compliance
anu: after , along , alongside
vRt: to roll along, go
anuvRt: to go along with, follow, obey, assent
paratra: ind. elsewhere , in another place , in a future state or world , hereafter
iha: in this place , here ; in this world
ca: and
hanyate = 3rd pers. sing., passive of han: to smite , slay , hit , kill , mar , destroy
Friday, August 21, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.46: Guarding Against Longing
abhidhyaa priya-ruupena
hanti kaam'-aatmakaM jagat
arir mitra-mukhen' eva
priya-vaak kaluSh'-aashayaH
- = = - - = = -
= - = = - = - -
- = = - - = = =
- - = - - = - =
13.46
Longing, using cherished forms,
Smites the sensual masses:
A foe who has a friendly face,
She's fair of speech and foul of heart.
COMMENT:
Who would like to be a person of integrity? Everybody, surely. Then apart from wishing for it, what practical means are available for going in that direction?
In the passage I quoted yesterday, FM Alexander wrote of a condition of co-ordination of the entire psycho-physical mechanism being (a) restored and (b) maintained.
The restorative aspect has to do with setting time aside to pay attention to how one uses body and voice -- "working on the self."
In this verse, again, I see the Buddha laying down -- on broad, general lines -- the preventive principles by which Nanda is to maintain integrity, as a condition of co-ordination of the entire psycho-physical mechanism. The maintaining aspect has a lot to do with being mindful, being constantly on one's guard.
Like a father concerned for the welfare of his son going on a dangerous journey, or like a commander concerned for the welfare of a soldier going into battle, the Buddha seems here to be taking pains to point out to Nanda the broad dangers to guard against. One way in which a practitioner is liable to be smitten, hit, or slain is by falling prey to the allure of some cultural mirage of happiness. This is a danger for those who tend to long for their creature comforts, trappings of status, name in lights or on the front cover of a book, etc. The danger on the other side, for the more goal-driven type, as described in the following verse, might be the danger of giving in to disillusionment on failing to achieve a perceived objective.
The translation of this section ceases to be such hard going for me on stepping back and seeing the section in its broader context: The Buddha, as I hear him, is laying down the preventive principles by which Nanda is to maintain that condition of psycho-physical integrity which is going to be necessary in his coming confrontation with the grim truth of suffering. It somehow cheers me up to remember that this battle against faulty sensory appreciation is but one battle in a campaign whose ultimate prize is possession of the four noble truths. But even in being cheered up like this, it strikes me on reflection, I might be in danger of taking at least one eye off the ball.
If one is truly to be a person of integrity, then overcoming the powerful influence of faulty sensory appreciation has to be seen as an end in itself, a ball away from which one cannot afford to take one's eye -- even, as the Buddha reminds us in the concluding verse of this canto, for an instant (ksanam api).
EH Johnston:
The desire of possession destroys the passion-filled world by means of attractive forms, like an enemy with friendly face, having pleasant words on his lips and evil in his heart.
Linda Covill:
Like an enemy with a friendly face, fair of speech but foul at heart, attraction with its pleasing form destroys people of passionate nature.
VOCABULARY:
abhidhyaa: f. wish , longing for , desire
priya (from √prii): mfn. beloved , dear to , liked , favourite , wanted
√prii: to please , gladden , delight, gratify , cheer , comfort , soothe ,
ruupena = instrumental of ruupa: n. any outward appearance or phenomenon or colour (often pl.) , form , shape , figure (ruupeNa ifc. in the form of); dreamy or phantom shapes (pl.)
hanti = 3rd pers. sg. of han: to smite , slay , hit , kill , mar , destroy
kaama: wish , desire , longing ; pleasure , enjoyment ; love , especially sexual love or sensuality
aatmakam (acc.): having or consisting of the nature or character of (in comp.)
jagat (acc.): n. that which moves or is alive , men and animals ; n. the world , esp. this world ; n. people , mankind ;
ariH (nom.): m. an enemy
mitra-mukhena (inst.): with a friendly face
iva: like
priya: beloved , dear to (gen. loc. dat. or comp.) , liked , favourite , wanted
vaak = vaac: speech, voice
kaluSha: mfn. turbid , foul , muddy
aashayaH (nom. sg.): m. the seat of feelings and thoughts , the mind , heart , soul
hanti kaam'-aatmakaM jagat
arir mitra-mukhen' eva
priya-vaak kaluSh'-aashayaH
- = = - - = = -
= - = = - = - -
- = = - - = = =
- - = - - = - =
13.46
Longing, using cherished forms,
Smites the sensual masses:
A foe who has a friendly face,
She's fair of speech and foul of heart.
COMMENT:
Who would like to be a person of integrity? Everybody, surely. Then apart from wishing for it, what practical means are available for going in that direction?
In the passage I quoted yesterday, FM Alexander wrote of a condition of co-ordination of the entire psycho-physical mechanism being (a) restored and (b) maintained.
The restorative aspect has to do with setting time aside to pay attention to how one uses body and voice -- "working on the self."
In this verse, again, I see the Buddha laying down -- on broad, general lines -- the preventive principles by which Nanda is to maintain integrity, as a condition of co-ordination of the entire psycho-physical mechanism. The maintaining aspect has a lot to do with being mindful, being constantly on one's guard.
Like a father concerned for the welfare of his son going on a dangerous journey, or like a commander concerned for the welfare of a soldier going into battle, the Buddha seems here to be taking pains to point out to Nanda the broad dangers to guard against. One way in which a practitioner is liable to be smitten, hit, or slain is by falling prey to the allure of some cultural mirage of happiness. This is a danger for those who tend to long for their creature comforts, trappings of status, name in lights or on the front cover of a book, etc. The danger on the other side, for the more goal-driven type, as described in the following verse, might be the danger of giving in to disillusionment on failing to achieve a perceived objective.
The translation of this section ceases to be such hard going for me on stepping back and seeing the section in its broader context: The Buddha, as I hear him, is laying down the preventive principles by which Nanda is to maintain that condition of psycho-physical integrity which is going to be necessary in his coming confrontation with the grim truth of suffering. It somehow cheers me up to remember that this battle against faulty sensory appreciation is but one battle in a campaign whose ultimate prize is possession of the four noble truths. But even in being cheered up like this, it strikes me on reflection, I might be in danger of taking at least one eye off the ball.
If one is truly to be a person of integrity, then overcoming the powerful influence of faulty sensory appreciation has to be seen as an end in itself, a ball away from which one cannot afford to take one's eye -- even, as the Buddha reminds us in the concluding verse of this canto, for an instant (ksanam api).
EH Johnston:
The desire of possession destroys the passion-filled world by means of attractive forms, like an enemy with friendly face, having pleasant words on his lips and evil in his heart.
Linda Covill:
Like an enemy with a friendly face, fair of speech but foul at heart, attraction with its pleasing form destroys people of passionate nature.
VOCABULARY:
abhidhyaa: f. wish , longing for , desire
priya (from √prii): mfn. beloved , dear to , liked , favourite , wanted
√prii: to please , gladden , delight, gratify , cheer , comfort , soothe ,
ruupena = instrumental of ruupa: n. any outward appearance or phenomenon or colour (often pl.) , form , shape , figure (ruupeNa ifc. in the form of); dreamy or phantom shapes (pl.)
hanti = 3rd pers. sg. of han: to smite , slay , hit , kill , mar , destroy
kaama: wish , desire , longing ; pleasure , enjoyment ; love , especially sexual love or sensuality
aatmakam (acc.): having or consisting of the nature or character of (in comp.)
jagat (acc.): n. that which moves or is alive , men and animals ; n. the world , esp. this world ; n. people , mankind ;
ariH (nom.): m. an enemy
mitra-mukhena (inst.): with a friendly face
iva: like
priya: beloved , dear to (gen. loc. dat. or comp.) , liked , favourite , wanted
vaak = vaac: speech, voice
kaluSha: mfn. turbid , foul , muddy
aashayaH (nom. sg.): m. the seat of feelings and thoughts , the mind , heart , soul
Thursday, August 20, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.45: Always in Sensory Territory
evaM te pashyatas tattvaM
shashvad indriya-gocare
bhaviShyati pada-sthaanaM
n' aabhidhyaa-daurmanasyayoH
= = = = - = = =
= - = - - = - =
- = - - - = = =
= = = = - = - =
13.45
In your observing what is, like this,
Always in the territory of the senses,
There will be no foothold
For longing and dejection.
COMMENT:
In this canto, as I read it, the Buddha is laying the foundations upon which Nanda will make the four noble truths his own. The Buddha is laying down for Nanda, on broad, general lines, the preventive principles whereby integrity may be maintained, even in the face of the grim truth of suffering. The Buddha is not at all concerned in this canto, as I hear him, with gaining the end of realising big-R Reality. He is thinking out, rather, a reasonable means whereby Nanda may eventually make the noble truths his own. So tattvam in the first line, as I read it, means not big-R Reality but this mundane painful reality, what really is.
Alexander work and Zen sitting practice are both nominally concerned with real integrity -- i.e. not intellectual integrity, but integrity in the use of the whole body-mind. But we are all prone to lie to ourselves, to delude ourselves, to believe in fantastic stories about our own lives. Inspired by the image of a moon reflected in a dewdrop, we wish to identify ourselves with it. And in so wishing, we are prone to fail to notice what is actually going on with our own end-gaining and faulty sensory appreciation. This is the painful, shocking truth of how we really are -- tattvam -- what is.
I wanted to quote a passage at this point from FM Alexander's book Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual, in which he describes life as a constant process of reacting to stimuli perceived through the senses. I couldn't find the particular passage, but the whole book is full of passages that are totally relevant to the present discussion of faulty sensory appreciation.
The truth is, we have not given sufficient consideration to this essential matter. We have merely acted on the presumption, in the usual subconscious way, that if we have a potentiality such as sensory appreciation (feeling), it must as a matter of course be reliable. (pp 24)
To sum up, we have seen how, in his choice of "physical exercises" as a remedy for what he recognized as physical deterioration, man overlooked certain important facts. Firstly, he left out of account the fact that he had developed a state of unreliability in his sensory appreciation, which was therefore no longer a reliable guide in psycho-physical activity. Secondly, he did not think of his body as a co-ordinated mechanism, and was therefore misled into choosing a specific remedy for a specific malcondition, instead of laying down on broad, general lines preventive principles, by which a condition of co-ordination of the entire psycho-physical mechanism could be restored and maintained. Above all, he did not apply to his problem the one great principle on which I claim man's satisfactory progress in civilization depends -- namely, the principle of thinking out the reasonable means whereby a certain end can be achieved, as opposed to the old subconscious plan of working blindly for an immediate "end." (pp. 42)
The moon reflected in a dewdrop is all very well, but here we all are, in fact, with faulty sensory appreciation. Recognizing just this mundane reality, the two buddhas, Gautama and FM, are saying nothing about meditating, visualizing a balloon floating up to the ceiling, or establishing a new school of philosophy. They are talking about being always in the territory of the senses.
As regards the overall logic of the verse, rationally thinking, the observer of what is cannot be the one who longs for, and who is dejected about, what is not.
As Marjory Barlow once taught me when I described myself to her as a terrible end-gainer: "It is up to you. Either you end-gain or you follow the means-whereby. Your choice!"
EH Johnston:
If you thus regard persistently the reality in the sphere of the senses, you will give no foothold to desires to possess or avoid.
Linda Covill:
If, in the realm of the senses, you continuously observe what is real, then neither attraction nor aversion will leave a footprint in your mind.
VOCABULARY:
evam: thus
te (genitive): of you
pashyataH = gen. sg. of pashyat (pres. part. of pash): seeing, beholding, etc.
pash: to see , behold , look at , observe , perceive , notice &c ; to be a spectator , look on (esp. part. e.g. tasya pashyataH , while he looks on , before his eyes)
tattvam (acc.): n. true or real state , truth , reality
shashvat: ind. perpetually , continually , repeatedly , always
indriya: sense, power of the senses
gocare = loc. of gocara: range , field for action , district (esp. ifc. " abiding in , relating to " ; " offering range or field or scope for action , within the range of , accessible , attainable , within the power ")
bhaviShyati = 3rd person singular, future of bhuu: to become, be, arise
pada: n. a step , pace , stride ; a footstep , trace , vestige , mark , the foot itself ; a footing , standpoint
sthaana: n. the act of standing , standing firmly ; position or posture of the body (in shooting &c )
pada-sthaana: n. footprint, footmark
na: not
abhidhyaa: f. wish , longing for , desire
abhi: (a prefix to verbs and nouns , expressing) to , towards , into , over , upon.
dhyaa: f. thinking, meditation
√dhyai: to think of , imagine , contemplate , meditate on , call to mind , recollect; to brood mischief against
daurmanasyayoH = genitive, dual of daurmanasya: n. dejectedness , melancholy , despair
shashvad indriya-gocare
bhaviShyati pada-sthaanaM
n' aabhidhyaa-daurmanasyayoH
= = = = - = = =
= - = - - = - =
- = - - - = = =
= = = = - = - =
13.45
In your observing what is, like this,
Always in the territory of the senses,
There will be no foothold
For longing and dejection.
COMMENT:
In this canto, as I read it, the Buddha is laying the foundations upon which Nanda will make the four noble truths his own. The Buddha is laying down for Nanda, on broad, general lines, the preventive principles whereby integrity may be maintained, even in the face of the grim truth of suffering. The Buddha is not at all concerned in this canto, as I hear him, with gaining the end of realising big-R Reality. He is thinking out, rather, a reasonable means whereby Nanda may eventually make the noble truths his own. So tattvam in the first line, as I read it, means not big-R Reality but this mundane painful reality, what really is.
Alexander work and Zen sitting practice are both nominally concerned with real integrity -- i.e. not intellectual integrity, but integrity in the use of the whole body-mind. But we are all prone to lie to ourselves, to delude ourselves, to believe in fantastic stories about our own lives. Inspired by the image of a moon reflected in a dewdrop, we wish to identify ourselves with it. And in so wishing, we are prone to fail to notice what is actually going on with our own end-gaining and faulty sensory appreciation. This is the painful, shocking truth of how we really are -- tattvam -- what is.
I wanted to quote a passage at this point from FM Alexander's book Constructive Conscious Control of the Individual, in which he describes life as a constant process of reacting to stimuli perceived through the senses. I couldn't find the particular passage, but the whole book is full of passages that are totally relevant to the present discussion of faulty sensory appreciation.
The truth is, we have not given sufficient consideration to this essential matter. We have merely acted on the presumption, in the usual subconscious way, that if we have a potentiality such as sensory appreciation (feeling), it must as a matter of course be reliable. (pp 24)
To sum up, we have seen how, in his choice of "physical exercises" as a remedy for what he recognized as physical deterioration, man overlooked certain important facts. Firstly, he left out of account the fact that he had developed a state of unreliability in his sensory appreciation, which was therefore no longer a reliable guide in psycho-physical activity. Secondly, he did not think of his body as a co-ordinated mechanism, and was therefore misled into choosing a specific remedy for a specific malcondition, instead of laying down on broad, general lines preventive principles, by which a condition of co-ordination of the entire psycho-physical mechanism could be restored and maintained. Above all, he did not apply to his problem the one great principle on which I claim man's satisfactory progress in civilization depends -- namely, the principle of thinking out the reasonable means whereby a certain end can be achieved, as opposed to the old subconscious plan of working blindly for an immediate "end." (pp. 42)
The moon reflected in a dewdrop is all very well, but here we all are, in fact, with faulty sensory appreciation. Recognizing just this mundane reality, the two buddhas, Gautama and FM, are saying nothing about meditating, visualizing a balloon floating up to the ceiling, or establishing a new school of philosophy. They are talking about being always in the territory of the senses.
As regards the overall logic of the verse, rationally thinking, the observer of what is cannot be the one who longs for, and who is dejected about, what is not.
As Marjory Barlow once taught me when I described myself to her as a terrible end-gainer: "It is up to you. Either you end-gain or you follow the means-whereby. Your choice!"
EH Johnston:
If you thus regard persistently the reality in the sphere of the senses, you will give no foothold to desires to possess or avoid.
Linda Covill:
If, in the realm of the senses, you continuously observe what is real, then neither attraction nor aversion will leave a footprint in your mind.
VOCABULARY:
evam: thus
te (genitive): of you
pashyataH = gen. sg. of pashyat (pres. part. of pash): seeing, beholding, etc.
pash: to see , behold , look at , observe , perceive , notice &c ; to be a spectator , look on (esp. part. e.g. tasya pashyataH , while he looks on , before his eyes)
tattvam (acc.): n. true or real state , truth , reality
shashvat: ind. perpetually , continually , repeatedly , always
indriya: sense, power of the senses
gocare = loc. of gocara: range , field for action , district (esp. ifc. " abiding in , relating to " ; " offering range or field or scope for action , within the range of , accessible , attainable , within the power ")
bhaviShyati = 3rd person singular, future of bhuu: to become, be, arise
pada: n. a step , pace , stride ; a footstep , trace , vestige , mark , the foot itself ; a footing , standpoint
sthaana: n. the act of standing , standing firmly ; position or posture of the body (in shooting &c )
pada-sthaana: n. footprint, footmark
na: not
abhidhyaa: f. wish , longing for , desire
abhi: (a prefix to verbs and nouns , expressing) to , towards , into , over , upon.
dhyaa: f. thinking, meditation
√dhyai: to think of , imagine , contemplate , meditate on , call to mind , recollect; to brood mischief against
daurmanasyayoH = genitive, dual of daurmanasya: n. dejectedness , melancholy , despair
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.44: Reality With Nothing Added or Taken Away
n' aapaneyaM tataH kiM cit
prakShepyaM n' aapi kiMcana
draShTavyaM bhuutato bhuutaM
yaadRshaM ca yathaa ca yat
= - = = - = = =
= = = = - = - -
= = = = - = = =
= - = - - = - -
13.44
Nothing, then, is to be taken away
And nothing is to be added:
One must investigate the reality, really,
Both what and how it is.
DUST & FLUFF:
As I predicted, I am finding the present series of verses hard going.
Where to begin grappling with this one, wherein negative gives way to a positive imperative? The main difficulty is what kind of reality is expressed in the 3rd line by bhuutam.
Is the Buddha saying that “Reality [with a capital R] is to be seen/realised as it really is”?
That might be asking a lot.
If he is saying that the whole of Reality is to be seen/realised as it really is, does he mean for Nanda to realise it all right now, in one gigantic gulp of Zen ‘satori’? Or is it that in a few cantos time, at the end of his present campaign of many battles, the Buddha expects Nanda to Realise Reality?
Or is the Buddha saying, more modestly and manageably, that “one real fact is to be investigated in accordance with what actually happened,” in the manner of a scientist or historian or detective or judge & jury; or maybe in the manner of a mindful Theravada monk? If so, is there any particular fact that the Buddha has in mind?
Is the Buddha saying, following on more explicitly from the previous verses, that the real human being with hair, teeth, and the rest is not to be gawped at as a beauteous object of sensual desire, but is to be observed, in the detached manner of a clinician or plastic surgeon, as the smelly bag of aging human skin she really is?
Having given serious consideration to each of the above, I think the clue to exactly what the Buddha is intending with this verse may lie in the remaining verses of the canto. These verses seem to be leading Nanda gradually in the direction of liberation from “suffering and becoming“ (13.54). The closing verses of this canto might therefore be seen as precursors of the following verses from Canto 16:
16.3
From then on, through investigation of what is,
He applies his mind to stopping off energy leaks,
For on this basis, fully, suffering and the rest --
The four truths -- are understood as fundamental steps:
16.4
This is suffering, which is constant and akin to trouble;
This is the cause of suffering, akin to starting it;
This is cessation of suffering, akin to walking away.
And this, akin to a refuge, is a peaceable path.
16.5
Understanding these noble truths, by a process of reasoning
While getting to know the four as one,
He contains all leaks, through the means of directed thought,
And, on finding peace, is no longer subject to becoming.
16.6
For by failing to wake up and come round
To this four, whose substance is what is,
Mankind goes from existence to existence without finding peace:
The world is hoisted in the swing of mass unconscious reaction.
The reality in question, then, can be understood as the whole painful situation -- not yet a bright pearl -- that has been under discussion since 13.31. It is the reality of the suffering of one who, in his hankering after objects, is besieged by the enemy-like senses. The description of this suffering touches on aspects of unconsciousness (13.39); insatiability (13.40); the slavery of being manacled to feelings (13.41); the state of grace implied in being not originally separate from forms seen with one’s eyes (13.42), and the fall from grace implied in becoming subject to the intrusion of notions of separation, based on male vs female sexuality (13.43).
A friend of mine studied with a Gurdjieff teacher who used to quote the phrase, “You all want to get to heaven with your boots on.” I think there is a lot of that in the world of Zen, too -- people wanting to get to heaven wearing their muddy boots. Zen practitioners browse the chapter of Shobogenzo called “One Bright Pearl,” and they fancy themselves to be already sailing in the vast ocean of enlightenment. I have surely been in that boat, although on some level I somehow always knew that I was lying to myself and wished to bail out (while also wishing, neurotically, to take the helm). Digging deeply on dry land as I am endeavoring to do now, in the muddy boots of end-gaining and faulty sensory appreciation, might be the best possible antidote to all that. But it is not easy. It sometimes feels like it is killing me.
My old Zen teacher, Gudo Nishijima, spent years and years preaching for my benefit on the subject of Reality with a capital R. When I endeavoured to report back to him on the more mundane reality FM Alexander had discovered, however, relating to suffering arising from end-gaining and faulty sensory appreciation, my teacher’s response was this: “If AT is the same as Buddhism, it is needless for me to study it. If AT is different from Buddhism, I do not have any interest at all in studying it.” That was not Reality with a capital R. That was Ignorance with a capital I. Some enlightened witness he turned out to be! In certain respects, as I see it now, Gudo Nishijima was even more ignorant, even less willing to recognize his own faulty sensory appreciation, than my biological father, and that is saying something. Out of the suffering of his own end-gaining mind and faulty sensory appreciation, Gudo built his little self a little empire, which he called Dogen Sangha, and I in my own stupidity and arrogance devoted my youth to helping him build it. But the foundation of the empire is ignorance, not truth, not true integrity. What true integrity is, I do not know. But, having waited and waited and waited until I was truly sure, I know it is not that. So this post, in a manner of speaking, is a counterpunch that I am allowing to do itself.
In conclusion, then, I understand bhuuta, the reality referred to in this verse, as the reality of the suffering whose main components are (1) faulty sensory appreciation, and (2) end-gaining. The point of this verse as I understand it is to investigate the reality of this suffering, nothing more and nothing less -- pure wholesome muddy boot, with nothing added on (e.g. by exaggerating the problem of one’s vestibular dysfunction), and nothing taken away (e.g. by denying it). To investigate what kind (yaadRsha) this suffering is, we study the words of buddhas like Gautama and Alexander. To investigate how (yathaa) it is, mainly, as followers of Gautama, we sit. And conversely, when we truly sit as followers of Gautama we sit, not as an expression of formalized Japanese ignorance, but to investigate how this suffering is.
Sitting in lotus, I think the words: Let the neck release to let the head be released out of the grip of the fear reflexes, forward and up, to let the back lengthen and widen, while releasing the legs and arms out. And while thinking like this, generally I know or at least suspect that I am pulling my head back and down in some vestige of fear. For, deeply implicated in both faulty sensory appreciation and end-gaining is the baby panic reflex, whose direction is head back and down. But that is no good. Forward and up has to really mean forward and up, not back and down in fearful trying to be right. The breath of life depends on it. The lifeblood depends on it. This, mostly, is how I investigate it.
And so, as I finally sign off this post, and read back through another great layer of dust and fluff that has accumulated too thickly, I remind myself of a character from the Fast Show, about to go back into his shed.
EH Johnston:
Nothing should be subtracted from the object, nothing added to it ; it is to be seen as it really is according to its nature and kind.
Linda Covill:
Nothing should be taken away, nothing should be added: whatever the kind of object, it should be seen as it really is.
VOCABULARY:
na.... kim cit: not anything
apaneya = gerundive of apa-√nii: to lead away or off ; to rob , steal , take or drag away ; to remove , frighten away ; to put off or away (as garments , ornaments , or fetters) ; to extract , take from ; to deny
tatas: from that place, from there, from that [object]; from that [reason; therefore
prakShepya (gerundive from pra-√kShip): mfn. to be thrown or put on (as an ornament)
na kiMcana: not anything
api: also
draShTavya: mfn. (fr. √ dRsh) to be seen , visible , apparent ; to be examined or investigated
bhuuta: mfn. become , been , gone , past; actually happened , true , real (n. an actual occurrence , fact , matter of fact , reality); n. that which is or exists; any living being (divine , human , animal , and even vegetable)
-taH: ablative/adverbial suffix
bhuutataH: in accordance with what actually happened, on a factual basis, as it really is, on the basis of reality, really
bhuutam (acc..): n. actual occurrence, fact, reality; that which exists; a living being
yaadRsham = accusative, singular of yaadRsha: rel. adj. of which kind
ca: and
yathaa: ind. in which manner
ca: and
yat = accusative, singular of ya: rel. pron. which, what; it being [of which kind and in which manner]
prakShepyaM n' aapi kiMcana
draShTavyaM bhuutato bhuutaM
yaadRshaM ca yathaa ca yat
= - = = - = = =
= = = = - = - -
= = = = - = = =
= - = - - = - -
13.44
Nothing, then, is to be taken away
And nothing is to be added:
One must investigate the reality, really,
Both what and how it is.
DUST & FLUFF:
As I predicted, I am finding the present series of verses hard going.
Where to begin grappling with this one, wherein negative gives way to a positive imperative? The main difficulty is what kind of reality is expressed in the 3rd line by bhuutam.
Is the Buddha saying that “Reality [with a capital R] is to be seen/realised as it really is”?
That might be asking a lot.
If he is saying that the whole of Reality is to be seen/realised as it really is, does he mean for Nanda to realise it all right now, in one gigantic gulp of Zen ‘satori’? Or is it that in a few cantos time, at the end of his present campaign of many battles, the Buddha expects Nanda to Realise Reality?
Or is the Buddha saying, more modestly and manageably, that “one real fact is to be investigated in accordance with what actually happened,” in the manner of a scientist or historian or detective or judge & jury; or maybe in the manner of a mindful Theravada monk? If so, is there any particular fact that the Buddha has in mind?
Is the Buddha saying, following on more explicitly from the previous verses, that the real human being with hair, teeth, and the rest is not to be gawped at as a beauteous object of sensual desire, but is to be observed, in the detached manner of a clinician or plastic surgeon, as the smelly bag of aging human skin she really is?
Having given serious consideration to each of the above, I think the clue to exactly what the Buddha is intending with this verse may lie in the remaining verses of the canto. These verses seem to be leading Nanda gradually in the direction of liberation from “suffering and becoming“ (13.54). The closing verses of this canto might therefore be seen as precursors of the following verses from Canto 16:
16.3
From then on, through investigation of what is,
He applies his mind to stopping off energy leaks,
For on this basis, fully, suffering and the rest --
The four truths -- are understood as fundamental steps:
16.4
This is suffering, which is constant and akin to trouble;
This is the cause of suffering, akin to starting it;
This is cessation of suffering, akin to walking away.
And this, akin to a refuge, is a peaceable path.
16.5
Understanding these noble truths, by a process of reasoning
While getting to know the four as one,
He contains all leaks, through the means of directed thought,
And, on finding peace, is no longer subject to becoming.
16.6
For by failing to wake up and come round
To this four, whose substance is what is,
Mankind goes from existence to existence without finding peace:
The world is hoisted in the swing of mass unconscious reaction.
The reality in question, then, can be understood as the whole painful situation -- not yet a bright pearl -- that has been under discussion since 13.31. It is the reality of the suffering of one who, in his hankering after objects, is besieged by the enemy-like senses. The description of this suffering touches on aspects of unconsciousness (13.39); insatiability (13.40); the slavery of being manacled to feelings (13.41); the state of grace implied in being not originally separate from forms seen with one’s eyes (13.42), and the fall from grace implied in becoming subject to the intrusion of notions of separation, based on male vs female sexuality (13.43).
A friend of mine studied with a Gurdjieff teacher who used to quote the phrase, “You all want to get to heaven with your boots on.” I think there is a lot of that in the world of Zen, too -- people wanting to get to heaven wearing their muddy boots. Zen practitioners browse the chapter of Shobogenzo called “One Bright Pearl,” and they fancy themselves to be already sailing in the vast ocean of enlightenment. I have surely been in that boat, although on some level I somehow always knew that I was lying to myself and wished to bail out (while also wishing, neurotically, to take the helm). Digging deeply on dry land as I am endeavoring to do now, in the muddy boots of end-gaining and faulty sensory appreciation, might be the best possible antidote to all that. But it is not easy. It sometimes feels like it is killing me.
My old Zen teacher, Gudo Nishijima, spent years and years preaching for my benefit on the subject of Reality with a capital R. When I endeavoured to report back to him on the more mundane reality FM Alexander had discovered, however, relating to suffering arising from end-gaining and faulty sensory appreciation, my teacher’s response was this: “If AT is the same as Buddhism, it is needless for me to study it. If AT is different from Buddhism, I do not have any interest at all in studying it.” That was not Reality with a capital R. That was Ignorance with a capital I. Some enlightened witness he turned out to be! In certain respects, as I see it now, Gudo Nishijima was even more ignorant, even less willing to recognize his own faulty sensory appreciation, than my biological father, and that is saying something. Out of the suffering of his own end-gaining mind and faulty sensory appreciation, Gudo built his little self a little empire, which he called Dogen Sangha, and I in my own stupidity and arrogance devoted my youth to helping him build it. But the foundation of the empire is ignorance, not truth, not true integrity. What true integrity is, I do not know. But, having waited and waited and waited until I was truly sure, I know it is not that. So this post, in a manner of speaking, is a counterpunch that I am allowing to do itself.
In conclusion, then, I understand bhuuta, the reality referred to in this verse, as the reality of the suffering whose main components are (1) faulty sensory appreciation, and (2) end-gaining. The point of this verse as I understand it is to investigate the reality of this suffering, nothing more and nothing less -- pure wholesome muddy boot, with nothing added on (e.g. by exaggerating the problem of one’s vestibular dysfunction), and nothing taken away (e.g. by denying it). To investigate what kind (yaadRsha) this suffering is, we study the words of buddhas like Gautama and Alexander. To investigate how (yathaa) it is, mainly, as followers of Gautama, we sit. And conversely, when we truly sit as followers of Gautama we sit, not as an expression of formalized Japanese ignorance, but to investigate how this suffering is.
Sitting in lotus, I think the words: Let the neck release to let the head be released out of the grip of the fear reflexes, forward and up, to let the back lengthen and widen, while releasing the legs and arms out. And while thinking like this, generally I know or at least suspect that I am pulling my head back and down in some vestige of fear. For, deeply implicated in both faulty sensory appreciation and end-gaining is the baby panic reflex, whose direction is head back and down. But that is no good. Forward and up has to really mean forward and up, not back and down in fearful trying to be right. The breath of life depends on it. The lifeblood depends on it. This, mostly, is how I investigate it.
And so, as I finally sign off this post, and read back through another great layer of dust and fluff that has accumulated too thickly, I remind myself of a character from the Fast Show, about to go back into his shed.
EH Johnston:
Nothing should be subtracted from the object, nothing added to it ; it is to be seen as it really is according to its nature and kind.
Linda Covill:
Nothing should be taken away, nothing should be added: whatever the kind of object, it should be seen as it really is.
VOCABULARY:
na.... kim cit: not anything
apaneya = gerundive of apa-√nii: to lead away or off ; to rob , steal , take or drag away ; to remove , frighten away ; to put off or away (as garments , ornaments , or fetters) ; to extract , take from ; to deny
tatas: from that place, from there, from that [object]; from that [reason; therefore
prakShepya (gerundive from pra-√kShip): mfn. to be thrown or put on (as an ornament)
na kiMcana: not anything
api: also
draShTavya: mfn. (fr. √ dRsh) to be seen , visible , apparent ; to be examined or investigated
bhuuta: mfn. become , been , gone , past; actually happened , true , real (n. an actual occurrence , fact , matter of fact , reality); n. that which is or exists; any living being (divine , human , animal , and even vegetable)
-taH: ablative/adverbial suffix
bhuutataH: in accordance with what actually happened, on a factual basis, as it really is, on the basis of reality, really
bhuutam (acc..): n. actual occurrence, fact, reality; that which exists; a living being
yaadRsham = accusative, singular of yaadRsha: rel. adj. of which kind
ca: and
yathaa: ind. in which manner
ca: and
yat = accusative, singular of ya: rel. pron. which, what; it being [of which kind and in which manner]
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
SAUNDARANANDA 13.43: Don't Dilly Dally On the Way
sacet strii-puruSha-graahaH
kva cid vidyeta kash cana
shubhataH kesha-dant'-aadiin
n' aanuprasthaatum arhasi
- = = - - = = =
- - = = - = - -
- - = = - = = =
= = = = - = - -
13.43
If a notion of woman or man intrudes
At any time in relation to anyone,
Upon hair, teeth, and the rest, for their beauty,
You should not linger.
COMMENT:
The negative directions are building.
In verse 13.41, the subject of vartitavyam may be better understood, as indicated by jiblet, not as the senses themselves but as the person himself, i.e., Nanda, or us. In that case, the meaning is stronger than “the senses must function.” The meaning is that “one must function through the senses.” This is precisely in line with what Marjory Barlow took pains to teach: that one cannot control the feelings; the feelings control us. This is something about which we cannot do anything.
Even in those circumstances (tatra), even though we cannot do anything to change the human condition of being controlled by our sense of feeling, we can practise NOT doing -- not holding on to sensory impulses and not trusting our faulty sensory appreciation. So I would like to revise the translation of 13.41 as follows:
13.41
It is necessarily through the senses,each in its own sphere,
That one must function in this world.
But no impulse, in those circumstances, is to be held onto,
Nor any associated impression.
In 13.42, again, first a reality is described: when we are in our original state and we open our eyes and look, there is originally no separation between beholder and beheld. We are not asked to do something to bring about that reality. Rather, in order to prevent it from being lost to us, we are asked NOT to do something. We are asked, namely, not to barge in with our own prejudiced views.
And in this verse, 13.43, again, first a real eventuality is posited: a false conception has intervened between beholder and beheld. In that case, again, we are not called upon to do something to make the situation right. Rather we are called upon NOT to do something to make it worse. We are called upon not to stand by idling gawping at how incredibly beautiful a person’s hair, teeth and other features may be -- although there may be times when a man in a relationship finds himself in deep trouble if he fails to make a polite show of doing just this.
In practice, how does one go about not dilly-dallying? If somebody says, for example, "Don't think about a pink elephant," how does one avoid falling into the trap of standing there gormlessly meditating on the subject of a pink elephant?
One way might be to think the words: "I wish to allow my neck to release, to allow the head forward and out, to allow the back to lengthen and widen, while the legs release out of the pelvis... altogether, one after another."
Marjory Barlow used to say: "Say No, think those words, and go into movement without a care in the world. Let it come out in the wash."
Working in that way doesn't make a person a saint but at least it may help a person, quoting Marjory again, "to avoid my worst excesses."
EH Johnston:
If in relation to any object some perception of a woman or a man does present itself, you must not look on their hair, teeth, etc. as beautiful.
Linda Covill:
If any perception of a woman or man does occur, don't linger over their hair, teeth and so on as beautiful.
VOCABULARY:
sacet (3rd person singular, optative of sac, to have to do with): if.... [apparently used at beginning of an optative sentence]
strii: woman, female; the feminine gender
puruSha: man, male
graahaH (nom.): m. seizure , grasping , laying hold of; m. conception , notion of (in comp.)
kva cid: anywhere ; in any case , at any time
vidyeta = 3rd person singular, passive, optative of vid: to find , discover , meet or fall in with , obtain; Passive vidyate to be found , exist ; (esp. in later language) vidyate , " there is , there exists "
vidyeta: there might be, it might occur
kash cana: anyone
shubha: n. beauty
-taH: (ablative/adverbial suffix) in accordance with, as
kesha: the hair of the head
danta: an elephant's tusk, tooth
aadiin = accusative, plural of aadi: beginning with, and so on
na: not
anu: ind. (as a prefix to verbs and nouns , expresses) after , along , alongside , lengthwise
pra-√sthaa: to stand or rise up (esp. before the gods. an altar &c )
anuprasthaatum = infinitive of anuprasthaa: 'to [keep] standing up alongside,' to linger (?)
arhasi: you should
kva cid vidyeta kash cana
shubhataH kesha-dant'-aadiin
n' aanuprasthaatum arhasi
- = = - - = = =
- - = = - = - -
- - = = - = = =
= = = = - = - -
13.43
If a notion of woman or man intrudes
At any time in relation to anyone,
Upon hair, teeth, and the rest, for their beauty,
You should not linger.
COMMENT:
The negative directions are building.
In verse 13.41, the subject of vartitavyam may be better understood, as indicated by jiblet, not as the senses themselves but as the person himself, i.e., Nanda, or us. In that case, the meaning is stronger than “the senses must function.” The meaning is that “one must function through the senses.” This is precisely in line with what Marjory Barlow took pains to teach: that one cannot control the feelings; the feelings control us. This is something about which we cannot do anything.
Even in those circumstances (tatra), even though we cannot do anything to change the human condition of being controlled by our sense of feeling, we can practise NOT doing -- not holding on to sensory impulses and not trusting our faulty sensory appreciation. So I would like to revise the translation of 13.41 as follows:
13.41
It is necessarily through the senses,each in its own sphere,
That one must function in this world.
But no impulse, in those circumstances, is to be held onto,
Nor any associated impression.
In 13.42, again, first a reality is described: when we are in our original state and we open our eyes and look, there is originally no separation between beholder and beheld. We are not asked to do something to bring about that reality. Rather, in order to prevent it from being lost to us, we are asked NOT to do something. We are asked, namely, not to barge in with our own prejudiced views.
And in this verse, 13.43, again, first a real eventuality is posited: a false conception has intervened between beholder and beheld. In that case, again, we are not called upon to do something to make the situation right. Rather we are called upon NOT to do something to make it worse. We are called upon not to stand by idling gawping at how incredibly beautiful a person’s hair, teeth and other features may be -- although there may be times when a man in a relationship finds himself in deep trouble if he fails to make a polite show of doing just this.
In practice, how does one go about not dilly-dallying? If somebody says, for example, "Don't think about a pink elephant," how does one avoid falling into the trap of standing there gormlessly meditating on the subject of a pink elephant?
One way might be to think the words: "I wish to allow my neck to release, to allow the head forward and out, to allow the back to lengthen and widen, while the legs release out of the pelvis... altogether, one after another."
Marjory Barlow used to say: "Say No, think those words, and go into movement without a care in the world. Let it come out in the wash."
Working in that way doesn't make a person a saint but at least it may help a person, quoting Marjory again, "to avoid my worst excesses."
EH Johnston:
If in relation to any object some perception of a woman or a man does present itself, you must not look on their hair, teeth, etc. as beautiful.
Linda Covill:
If any perception of a woman or man does occur, don't linger over their hair, teeth and so on as beautiful.
VOCABULARY:
sacet (3rd person singular, optative of sac, to have to do with): if.... [apparently used at beginning of an optative sentence]
strii: woman, female; the feminine gender
puruSha: man, male
graahaH (nom.): m. seizure , grasping , laying hold of; m. conception , notion of (in comp.)
kva cid: anywhere ; in any case , at any time
vidyeta = 3rd person singular, passive, optative of vid: to find , discover , meet or fall in with , obtain; Passive vidyate to be found , exist ; (esp. in later language) vidyate , " there is , there exists "
vidyeta: there might be, it might occur
kash cana: anyone
shubha: n. beauty
-taH: (ablative/adverbial suffix) in accordance with, as
kesha: the hair of the head
danta: an elephant's tusk, tooth
aadiin = accusative, plural of aadi: beginning with, and so on
na: not
anu: ind. (as a prefix to verbs and nouns , expresses) after , along , alongside , lengthwise
pra-√sthaa: to stand or rise up (esp. before the gods. an altar &c )
anuprasthaatum = infinitive of anuprasthaa: 'to [keep] standing up alongside,' to linger (?)
arhasi: you should
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