Just looking back at that verse from the Udana, translated by F.L.Wooward, to put it in a more modern idiom:
With mindfulness of the body present,
restrained in her sixfold sense contact,
the seeker continuously collected
can know nibbāna herself.
- Ud.III.iv
I appreciate the poise in this discipline. Here it reminds me of one of my favourite short suttas, called 'Crossing over the Flood' (SN 1.1), where the Buddha says he: "...crossed over the flood without pushing forward, without staying in place."
"When I pushed forward, I was whirled about. When I stayed in place, I sank. And so I crossed over the flood without pushing forward, without staying in place."
The whole sutta, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu can be found at:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn01/sn01.001.than.html
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Contemplating the Great Primary Elements (Mahābhūta)
Continuing with the translation of MN 119, the 'Mindfulness of Body (Kāyagatāsati) Sutta.' The Buddha instructs his disciples (i.e., those undertaking the discipline)...
"Again, seekers, a seeker contemplates this very body - however it is placed and whatever its posture - in respect of the four primary elements: 'In this body, there is the earth element, the water element, the fire element, and the air element.'
Just as, Seekers, a skilled butcher or their apprenctice, having killed a cow, might sit at the crossroads with the dissected portions, a seeker contemplates this very body - however it is placed and whatever its posture, she reviews it [in terms of] the four primary elements: 'In this body, there is the earth element, the water element, the fire element, and the air element.'
"As she dwells thus, ardent, diligent and committed, her thoughts about mundane life are abandoned and hence the mind becomes inwardly steadied, quieted, unified and collected. In this way a practitioner develops mindfulness of the body."
___________
The Four Great Elements of the Body.
Note that in this analysis, at present, we are just looking at the elements as found in the body. It is possible to find correlates of these elements in 'the mind,' but that is not our subject here.
Text: "atthi imasmiṃ kāye pathavīdhātu āpodhātu tejodhātu vāyodhātū." "There are in this body, earth-element (pathavīdhātu), water-element (āpodhātu), fire-element (tejodhātu), air [or wind]-element (vāyodhātū).'
The practitioner inspects the body and discovers it in these qualities, which, for a beginning, we can define thus: earth = the solid, resistant, or hard element of the body; water = fluidity, wetness; fire = temperature (varying levels of warmth and cold); and air = movement or mobility.
It's interesting that none of these stays the same from moment to moment - they are always alive and interactive, lighting up from moment to moment. It can also be easily observed, in these experiential reveiws which we do of the body during the day, that the hardness element varies according to one's posture, one's environment, and level of consciousness of one's body. It can also be discovered, that when we have one element, we have the others.
Exploring the breath is particularly interesting from the movement point of view. How do you know you are breathing? Much of it (besided the sensations in the nostrils and nasal passages) is due to movement in the body. Also, temperature can be explored in the difference between the in-breath and out-breath. How do you know a particular breath is either an in-breath or an out-breath? If one's perception is subtle enough, it's likely a combination of all of the elements. Explore it. (Just note, if you are a beginner, it can be a little scary letting your breath breathe itself. But begin to learn how that can happen, just the same.)
The idea of these 'elements' isn't to provide a scientific model for material events, but to encourage directly seeing what one is actually sensing. The word 'body' presents an entity that is much more than a thing - it is a subtle and complex set of perceptual events. If it wasn't for sensations of this order of subtelty, how would one know there is a 'body,' for designating so. 'Body' is an aggregation of events - this body is conditions.
So, a personal note - during the night I was intimately contemplating my body, in terms of the elements, and I began to wonder, given my fibromyalgia (which was keeping me awake), then, where does pain fit in with this schema? Then I realised that it isn't meant to - 'pain' is a word which designates something which is not a primary element of the body.
This can be seen by the fact that when you go 100% into pain, it changes. This isn't the same for the four elements - go 100% into them, and (near enough, considering the space element may arise) they remain what they are: solid or soft, wet or dry, warm or cool, and moving or still. Pain, on the other hand, can even occasionally dissolve upon complete acceptance.
This contemplation makes possible the discernment of the difference between the fundamental presentation of the body, and the presentations that we call 'mental.' Once one's inner poise (samādhi) is steady enough, discerning the basics of the body makes possible the discovery, on their own ground, of the kinds of experience that we designate as 'mind'; and it becomes possible to see the inter-relation of these experiential dimensions.
What's the purpose of all this? Freedom. It is even possible, once we are 'inwardly steadied, quieted, unified and collected', and when we are familiar with bodily and mental phenomena, to call into question whether there are even such 'things' as 'moments' to justify such phrases as 'from moment to moment' - and so, to become unbound.
May all being enjoy exploring the four great elements!
"Again, seekers, a seeker contemplates this very body - however it is placed and whatever its posture - in respect of the four primary elements: 'In this body, there is the earth element, the water element, the fire element, and the air element.'
Just as, Seekers, a skilled butcher or their apprenctice, having killed a cow, might sit at the crossroads with the dissected portions, a seeker contemplates this very body - however it is placed and whatever its posture, she reviews it [in terms of] the four primary elements: 'In this body, there is the earth element, the water element, the fire element, and the air element.'
"As she dwells thus, ardent, diligent and committed, her thoughts about mundane life are abandoned and hence the mind becomes inwardly steadied, quieted, unified and collected. In this way a practitioner develops mindfulness of the body."
___________
The Four Great Elements of the Body.
Note that in this analysis, at present, we are just looking at the elements as found in the body. It is possible to find correlates of these elements in 'the mind,' but that is not our subject here.
Text: "atthi imasmiṃ kāye pathavīdhātu āpodhātu tejodhātu vāyodhātū." "There are in this body, earth-element (pathavīdhātu), water-element (āpodhātu), fire-element (tejodhātu), air [or wind]-element (vāyodhātū).'
The practitioner inspects the body and discovers it in these qualities, which, for a beginning, we can define thus: earth = the solid, resistant, or hard element of the body; water = fluidity, wetness; fire = temperature (varying levels of warmth and cold); and air = movement or mobility.
It's interesting that none of these stays the same from moment to moment - they are always alive and interactive, lighting up from moment to moment. It can also be easily observed, in these experiential reveiws which we do of the body during the day, that the hardness element varies according to one's posture, one's environment, and level of consciousness of one's body. It can also be discovered, that when we have one element, we have the others.
Exploring the breath is particularly interesting from the movement point of view. How do you know you are breathing? Much of it (besided the sensations in the nostrils and nasal passages) is due to movement in the body. Also, temperature can be explored in the difference between the in-breath and out-breath. How do you know a particular breath is either an in-breath or an out-breath? If one's perception is subtle enough, it's likely a combination of all of the elements. Explore it. (Just note, if you are a beginner, it can be a little scary letting your breath breathe itself. But begin to learn how that can happen, just the same.)
The idea of these 'elements' isn't to provide a scientific model for material events, but to encourage directly seeing what one is actually sensing. The word 'body' presents an entity that is much more than a thing - it is a subtle and complex set of perceptual events. If it wasn't for sensations of this order of subtelty, how would one know there is a 'body,' for designating so. 'Body' is an aggregation of events - this body is conditions.
So, a personal note - during the night I was intimately contemplating my body, in terms of the elements, and I began to wonder, given my fibromyalgia (which was keeping me awake), then, where does pain fit in with this schema? Then I realised that it isn't meant to - 'pain' is a word which designates something which is not a primary element of the body.
This can be seen by the fact that when you go 100% into pain, it changes. This isn't the same for the four elements - go 100% into them, and (near enough, considering the space element may arise) they remain what they are: solid or soft, wet or dry, warm or cool, and moving or still. Pain, on the other hand, can even occasionally dissolve upon complete acceptance.
This contemplation makes possible the discernment of the difference between the fundamental presentation of the body, and the presentations that we call 'mental.' Once one's inner poise (samādhi) is steady enough, discerning the basics of the body makes possible the discovery, on their own ground, of the kinds of experience that we designate as 'mind'; and it becomes possible to see the inter-relation of these experiential dimensions.
What's the purpose of all this? Freedom. It is even possible, once we are 'inwardly steadied, quieted, unified and collected', and when we are familiar with bodily and mental phenomena, to call into question whether there are even such 'things' as 'moments' to justify such phrases as 'from moment to moment' - and so, to become unbound.
May all being enjoy exploring the four great elements!
Mindfulness of body well-fixed
What a tough time I've been having in this body of mine, lately. The Fibromyalgia has been intense, but last night was so interesting - exploring the (Buddhist) elements and then asking "Exactly what is pain?" Going into the pain with that question revealed new dimensions of interdepdendence. A deep bow to my spiritual ancestors.
______________________________________________
Here's another text (Ud.III.iv), from Woodward's translation of the Udana, in its now-quaint English:
Thus have I heard: On a certain occasionthe Exalted One was staying near Sāvatthi... in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park. And on that occasion the venerable Moggallāna the Great was seated not far from the Exalted One in cross-legged posture, holding his body upright, having mindfulness concerned with body well established within himself. And the exalted one saw the venerable Moggallāna the Great doing so, and at that time, seeing the meaning of it, gave utterance to this verse of uplift:
If mindfulness of body be well fixed,
The monk restrained in the six spheres of sense,
Ever composed, could his Nibbāna know.
______________________________________________
Here's another text (Ud.III.iv), from Woodward's translation of the Udana, in its now-quaint English:
Thus have I heard: On a certain occasionthe Exalted One was staying near Sāvatthi... in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park. And on that occasion the venerable Moggallāna the Great was seated not far from the Exalted One in cross-legged posture, holding his body upright, having mindfulness concerned with body well established within himself. And the exalted one saw the venerable Moggallāna the Great doing so, and at that time, seeing the meaning of it, gave utterance to this verse of uplift:
If mindfulness of body be well fixed,
The monk restrained in the six spheres of sense,
Ever composed, could his Nibbāna know.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
inside a cell & inside the body
Further reflections on the practice of acquainting ourselves with the (you might say) unaesthetic aspects of the human body, the inside bits:
Some Buddhists occasionally get the depressed "the-body-is-a-sordid-pit" kind of approach.
On the other hand, when you've got a spare eight minutes for contemplation (which I hope you do often have), take a look at this video, which gives us taste of the respect and wonder that can be awakened by modern knowledge of the body:
http://timespaceknowledge.socialgo.com/videos/view/giant-body-aid-inside-a-cell_196.html
[The 'giant body' referred to in the video subject entry is to the powerful visualisation used in Tarthang Tulku's book, 'Time, Space, Knowledge' (1977).]
Recently, I watched Dr. Gunther von Hagens dissecting some bodies, on a 2-dvd set called 'Anatomy for Beginners.' I did that as a part of my getting real about our biological fragility, our mortality, and about the messy bits of the human body. It was a mind-blower. I recommend it (if you have a strong stomach). It confronted me with the certainty of death, while educating me in regard to the body. You'll find that there are some youtube videos on his work, online.
He's the same man who invented the controversial process of plasticising bodies for educational purposes. With sevral members of Tortoise Mountain sangha, I saw his exhibition of bodies, in Sydney, and it was a very valuable experience for my mindfulness practice - both 'mindfulness of the body' and 'mindfulness of death.' I was also struck with the compassion and kindness of the people who donate their body to science, for the education of others.
For a soft introduciton, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKsujA42tW4
These are modern ways that we can do the kind of contemplations that open graveyards made possible in the time of the Buddha. Again, I think it's important that you remember that these contemplations will have a deep impact, and so they need to be balanced with the positivity of love, compassion and appreciative discernment. I was surprised how affected I was by viewing 'Anatomy for Beginnners.'
Outside my window right now: Eucalypts: shadows against the mist. The call of the whip-bird.
Some Buddhists occasionally get the depressed "the-body-is-a-sordid-pit" kind of approach.
On the other hand, when you've got a spare eight minutes for contemplation (which I hope you do often have), take a look at this video, which gives us taste of the respect and wonder that can be awakened by modern knowledge of the body:
http://timespaceknowledge.socialgo.com/videos/view/giant-body-aid-inside-a-cell_196.html
[The 'giant body' referred to in the video subject entry is to the powerful visualisation used in Tarthang Tulku's book, 'Time, Space, Knowledge' (1977).]
Recently, I watched Dr. Gunther von Hagens dissecting some bodies, on a 2-dvd set called 'Anatomy for Beginners.' I did that as a part of my getting real about our biological fragility, our mortality, and about the messy bits of the human body. It was a mind-blower. I recommend it (if you have a strong stomach). It confronted me with the certainty of death, while educating me in regard to the body. You'll find that there are some youtube videos on his work, online.
He's the same man who invented the controversial process of plasticising bodies for educational purposes. With sevral members of Tortoise Mountain sangha, I saw his exhibition of bodies, in Sydney, and it was a very valuable experience for my mindfulness practice - both 'mindfulness of the body' and 'mindfulness of death.' I was also struck with the compassion and kindness of the people who donate their body to science, for the education of others.
For a soft introduciton, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKsujA42tW4
These are modern ways that we can do the kind of contemplations that open graveyards made possible in the time of the Buddha. Again, I think it's important that you remember that these contemplations will have a deep impact, and so they need to be balanced with the positivity of love, compassion and appreciative discernment. I was surprised how affected I was by viewing 'Anatomy for Beginnners.'
Outside my window right now: Eucalypts: shadows against the mist. The call of the whip-bird.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Contemplating the less aesthetic side of things
Continuing with MN 119, Kāyagatāsati Sutta...
In the next section of the sutta, we are invited to consider the less aesthetic aspects of the body. This hardly needs any commentary. Two easy observations arise, straight away: a culture which is obsessed with the external appearance of the body, is unlikely to be inclined to acknowledge the basic biological actualities. This portion is not a rap-song for the cat-walk set.
Secondly, regular contemplation of this kind will definitely impress the contemplative with the truth of their mortality, providing the reflection is loving and kind, and especially if it brings an 'inner smile' to the organs of the body - Thich Nhat Hanh-style,for example. This contemplation needs to be balanced with positivity, so that it doesn't affect the yogi morbidly. It can be the ground for a realistic care of one's fragile life; and being positive and realistic is can bring to light our narcissistic constructions based our lack of grounded knowledge of the body.
The sutta:
"Again, Seekers, up from the soles of the feet, down from the hair on the head, this very body bounded by skin and full of various impurities, the practitioner contemplates thus: “There is in this body: head-hair and body-hair, nails and teeth, skin and flesh, ligaments, bones and marrow, kidneys, heart and liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, intestines and mesentery, the stomach, faeces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, the fat, tears, grease, saliva, mucus, synovial fluid and urine.” Just as if there was a bag opened at both ends, full of various grains – such as, fine rice and paddy, green peas and beans, sesame and husked rice – and a man with eyes to see were to reflect, as he emptied the bag, that, “This is fine rice; this paddy; these are green peas; these are beans; this is sesame; and this is husked rice. In just the same way does the seeker contemplate this very body, up from the soles of the feet, down from the hair on the head, bounded by kind and full of various impure things: “In this body there are head-hair and body-hair, nails and teeth, skin and flesh, … synovial fluid and urine.”
As she dwells thus, ardent, diligent and committed, her thoughts about mundane concerns are abandoned and hence the mind becomes inwardly steadied, quieted, unified and collected. In this way a seeker develops mindfulness of the body."
This is another marvellous aspect of mindfulness of the body. There is an irony in this, of course. Contemplating the less beautiful side of our bodies, we can engender a respect for the beautiful intricacy of biological processes. What science has taught us about the workings of these organs - their intricately dynamic conditions - is staggeringly wondrous. Let's leave that wonder in place, and even celebrate the awesome creativity of nature. However, none of it establishes that the body can provide the mind with unassailable peace, with true fulfilment - only the discovery of an unconditioned element (nibbāna) can provide this.
In the next section of the sutta, we are invited to consider the less aesthetic aspects of the body. This hardly needs any commentary. Two easy observations arise, straight away: a culture which is obsessed with the external appearance of the body, is unlikely to be inclined to acknowledge the basic biological actualities. This portion is not a rap-song for the cat-walk set.
Secondly, regular contemplation of this kind will definitely impress the contemplative with the truth of their mortality, providing the reflection is loving and kind, and especially if it brings an 'inner smile' to the organs of the body - Thich Nhat Hanh-style,for example. This contemplation needs to be balanced with positivity, so that it doesn't affect the yogi morbidly. It can be the ground for a realistic care of one's fragile life; and being positive and realistic is can bring to light our narcissistic constructions based our lack of grounded knowledge of the body.
The sutta:
"Again, Seekers, up from the soles of the feet, down from the hair on the head, this very body bounded by skin and full of various impurities, the practitioner contemplates thus: “There is in this body: head-hair and body-hair, nails and teeth, skin and flesh, ligaments, bones and marrow, kidneys, heart and liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, intestines and mesentery, the stomach, faeces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, the fat, tears, grease, saliva, mucus, synovial fluid and urine.” Just as if there was a bag opened at both ends, full of various grains – such as, fine rice and paddy, green peas and beans, sesame and husked rice – and a man with eyes to see were to reflect, as he emptied the bag, that, “This is fine rice; this paddy; these are green peas; these are beans; this is sesame; and this is husked rice. In just the same way does the seeker contemplate this very body, up from the soles of the feet, down from the hair on the head, bounded by kind and full of various impure things: “In this body there are head-hair and body-hair, nails and teeth, skin and flesh, … synovial fluid and urine.”
As she dwells thus, ardent, diligent and committed, her thoughts about mundane concerns are abandoned and hence the mind becomes inwardly steadied, quieted, unified and collected. In this way a seeker develops mindfulness of the body."
This is another marvellous aspect of mindfulness of the body. There is an irony in this, of course. Contemplating the less beautiful side of our bodies, we can engender a respect for the beautiful intricacy of biological processes. What science has taught us about the workings of these organs - their intricately dynamic conditions - is staggeringly wondrous. Let's leave that wonder in place, and even celebrate the awesome creativity of nature. However, none of it establishes that the body can provide the mind with unassailable peace, with true fulfilment - only the discovery of an unconditioned element (nibbāna) can provide this.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Mahāmoggallāna
I'm in the process of a major transition, having completed my separation from the town that I've lived in for the last twenty-three years. Hopefully, I will be able to regularly write in this blog from here on.
I've been re-reading the Udana, and this translation (by John Ireland) if from that Pali collection:
3.5 Mahāmoggallāna
Thus have I heard. At one time the Lord was staying near Sāvatthī in the Jeta Wood at Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery. On that occasion the venerable Mahāmoggallāna was sitting cross-legged not far from the Lord, holding his body erect, having mindfulness with regard to the body well established within him.
The Lord saw the venerable Mahāmoggallāna sitting cross-legged not far away, holding his body erect, having mindfulness with regard to the body well established within him.
Then on realising its significance, the Lord uttered on that occasion this inspired utterance:
With mindfulness of the body established,
Controlled over contact's sixfold base,
A bhikkhu who is always concentrated
Can know Nibbāna for himself.
_______________________________________________________________
I've been re-reading the Udana, and this translation (by John Ireland) if from that Pali collection:
3.5 Mahāmoggallāna
Thus have I heard. At one time the Lord was staying near Sāvatthī in the Jeta Wood at Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery. On that occasion the venerable Mahāmoggallāna was sitting cross-legged not far from the Lord, holding his body erect, having mindfulness with regard to the body well established within him.
The Lord saw the venerable Mahāmoggallāna sitting cross-legged not far away, holding his body erect, having mindfulness with regard to the body well established within him.
Then on realising its significance, the Lord uttered on that occasion this inspired utterance:
With mindfulness of the body established,
Controlled over contact's sixfold base,
A bhikkhu who is always concentrated
Can know Nibbāna for himself.
_______________________________________________________________
Monday, July 5, 2010
Body as Way and Goal
Amataṃ tesaṃ viraddhaṃ, yesaṃ kāyagatā sati viraddhā.
Amataṃ tesaṃ aviraddhaṃ, yesaṃ kāyagatā sati aviraddhā.
Amataṃ tesaṃ aparibhuttaṃ, yesaṃ kāyagatā sati aparibhuttā.
Amataṃ tesaṃ paribhuttaṃ, yesaṃ kāyagatā sati paribhuttā.
“Those who have missed mindfulness of the body, have missed nibbāna. Those who have not missed mindfulness of the body, have not missed nibbāna. Those who have not made use of mindfulness of the body, have not made use of nibbāna. Those who have made use of mindfulness of the body, have made use of nibbāna.” (A.i.46)
(translator: possibly, U Sein Nyo Tun, because the same text is at http://www.aimwell.org/Books/Ledi/Anapanasati/anapanasati.html#BodyMindfulness)
Amata is an ambrosia of immortality. It also means a state of security from change. Amata is a synonym for nibbana. So, here we are talking about the realisation of the deathless, and the deathless realisation.
"Those who have made use of mindfulness of the body, have made use of nibbana." The deathless is often made into something so aloof that the idea of 'using' the deathless is rarely heard of. It reminds me of Sariputta's advice to Anaruddha to "turn toward the deathless." Again, often we encouraged to be very passive in our relation with the immeasureable. So, these passages need investigating in our actual lives. How can we now make use of nibbāna? Maybe Buddhadasa's idea (and I'm remembering this and not verifying the concept from his books, right now), the idea of little nibbānas that happen everyday, would be useful here?
Along with this teaching, or in the context of this teaching on the mindfulness of the body, there is a lovely teaching in the Majjhima Nikaya, the Samana-Mundika Sutta, where the Buddha says (in Bhikkhu Thanissaro's translation):
"Now, an individual endowed with which ten qualities is one whom I describe as being consummate in what is skillful, foremost in what is skillful, an invincible contemplative attained to the highest attainments? One endowed with the right view of one beyond training, the right resolve of one beyond training, the right speech... the right action... the right livelihood... the right effort... the right mindfulness... the right concentration... the right knowledge... the right release of one beyond training. An individual endowed with these ten qualities is one whom I describe as being consummate in what is skillful, foremost in what is skillful, an invincible contemplative attained to the highest attainments."
This is the ten-fold path = nibbāna = with the vision of things-as-they-are (which is right knowledge beyond training). The present path is the goal, the goal is the path. This very body - is the way and the goal.
Amataṃ tesaṃ aviraddhaṃ, yesaṃ kāyagatā sati aviraddhā.
Amataṃ tesaṃ aparibhuttaṃ, yesaṃ kāyagatā sati aparibhuttā.
Amataṃ tesaṃ paribhuttaṃ, yesaṃ kāyagatā sati paribhuttā.
“Those who have missed mindfulness of the body, have missed nibbāna. Those who have not missed mindfulness of the body, have not missed nibbāna. Those who have not made use of mindfulness of the body, have not made use of nibbāna. Those who have made use of mindfulness of the body, have made use of nibbāna.” (A.i.46)
(translator: possibly, U Sein Nyo Tun, because the same text is at http://www.aimwell.org/Books/Ledi/Anapanasati/anapanasati.html#BodyMindfulness)
Amata is an ambrosia of immortality. It also means a state of security from change. Amata is a synonym for nibbana. So, here we are talking about the realisation of the deathless, and the deathless realisation.
"Those who have made use of mindfulness of the body, have made use of nibbana." The deathless is often made into something so aloof that the idea of 'using' the deathless is rarely heard of. It reminds me of Sariputta's advice to Anaruddha to "turn toward the deathless." Again, often we encouraged to be very passive in our relation with the immeasureable. So, these passages need investigating in our actual lives. How can we now make use of nibbāna? Maybe Buddhadasa's idea (and I'm remembering this and not verifying the concept from his books, right now), the idea of little nibbānas that happen everyday, would be useful here?
Along with this teaching, or in the context of this teaching on the mindfulness of the body, there is a lovely teaching in the Majjhima Nikaya, the Samana-Mundika Sutta, where the Buddha says (in Bhikkhu Thanissaro's translation):
"Now, an individual endowed with which ten qualities is one whom I describe as being consummate in what is skillful, foremost in what is skillful, an invincible contemplative attained to the highest attainments? One endowed with the right view of one beyond training, the right resolve of one beyond training, the right speech... the right action... the right livelihood... the right effort... the right mindfulness... the right concentration... the right knowledge... the right release of one beyond training. An individual endowed with these ten qualities is one whom I describe as being consummate in what is skillful, foremost in what is skillful, an invincible contemplative attained to the highest attainments."
This is the ten-fold path = nibbāna = with the vision of things-as-they-are (which is right knowledge beyond training). The present path is the goal, the goal is the path. This very body - is the way and the goal.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
An Aspiration
Jacob Needleman, always a servant of the Good, the True and the Beautiful, posted these words on the body, on his blog, at http://jacobneedleman.com/blog/
"And what we are seeking is a body, a life on earth, in which our actions and behavior serve the higher impulses and intentions, the higher feelings, that constitute the heart of true human virtue. We are not simply searching for an improved version of moralist automatism nor for childish self-assertion masquerading as freedom. In a breathtakingly real sense, we are searching for a new kind of body, a body that has a new aim, a new purpose: voluntarily to serve the Good. And, to compound the mystery, in the search for a new kind of body within ourselves, there exists the possibility of discovering a new heart, source of love within ourselves that we have perhaps glimpsed within our lives, as in the legends where the seeker or the hunter has but one fleeting glimpse of a serenely beautiful face or a great winged being - a glimpse which, when understood, has the power to change entirely the direction of one’s life."
- Excerpt from Why Can’t We Be Good
"And what we are seeking is a body, a life on earth, in which our actions and behavior serve the higher impulses and intentions, the higher feelings, that constitute the heart of true human virtue. We are not simply searching for an improved version of moralist automatism nor for childish self-assertion masquerading as freedom. In a breathtakingly real sense, we are searching for a new kind of body, a body that has a new aim, a new purpose: voluntarily to serve the Good. And, to compound the mystery, in the search for a new kind of body within ourselves, there exists the possibility of discovering a new heart, source of love within ourselves that we have perhaps glimpsed within our lives, as in the legends where the seeker or the hunter has but one fleeting glimpse of a serenely beautiful face or a great winged being - a glimpse which, when understood, has the power to change entirely the direction of one’s life."
- Excerpt from Why Can’t We Be Good
Sunday, May 30, 2010
In Whatever We are Doing
Continuing with MN 119, Kāyagatāsati Sutta... In the following passage I took the liberty of replacing the usual "carrying her robe and bowl" with a more neutral reference, "in respect of clothing."
"Furthermore, seekers, a practitioner is fully aware when going forward or stepping backward. When looking at (something) or looking away - she is fully aware. When moving or extending her limbs - fully aware. In respect of clothing - fully aware. In eating and drinking - fully aware. While chewing and tasting - fully aware. While urinating and defecating - fully aware. Walking, standing, sitting; asleep or awake; speaking or silent - she is fully aware.
As she dwells thus, ardent, diligent and committed, her thoughts about mundane concerns are abandoned and hence the mind becomes inwardly steadied, quieted, unified and collected. In this way a practitioner develops mindfulness of the body."
"Furthermore, seekers, a practitioner is fully aware when going forward or stepping backward. When looking at (something) or looking away - she is fully aware. When moving or extending her limbs - fully aware. In respect of clothing - fully aware. In eating and drinking - fully aware. While chewing and tasting - fully aware. While urinating and defecating - fully aware. Walking, standing, sitting; asleep or awake; speaking or silent - she is fully aware.
As she dwells thus, ardent, diligent and committed, her thoughts about mundane concerns are abandoned and hence the mind becomes inwardly steadied, quieted, unified and collected. In this way a practitioner develops mindfulness of the body."
Mindfulness of the Fragility of the Body.
Going into hospital this week for a small operation on this body. How fragile, how vulnerable, it is to the illnesses typical of old age. I think of that description by the Buddha of his body before he died. Ananda suggested he stay longer, don't die now, but the Buddha said:
"Now I am frail, Ananda, old, aged, far gone in years. This is my eightieth year, and my life is spent. Even as an old cart, Ananda, is held together with much difficulty, so the body of the Tathagata is kept going only with supports. It is, Ananda, only when the Tathagata, disregarding external objects, with the cessation of certain feelings, attains to and abides in the signless concentration of mind, that his body is more comfortable.
"Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge."
I find that so moving, that he counsels Ananda to take up his practice, at this point.
(By the way, often this and similar passages are rendered as "be a light unto yourselves." However, I go with Thanissaro's translation, here: 'island.' The 'island'-translation is not only more likely, but it has phenomenological and psychological implications that are more helpful to our practice. One of the issues met on the path is the unwillingness to feel the separation that comes with increasing differentiation. "Island" raises the issue of 'independence.')
Anyhow, all that said, off to hospital to have them cut up this composite body of organs.
"Now I am frail, Ananda, old, aged, far gone in years. This is my eightieth year, and my life is spent. Even as an old cart, Ananda, is held together with much difficulty, so the body of the Tathagata is kept going only with supports. It is, Ananda, only when the Tathagata, disregarding external objects, with the cessation of certain feelings, attains to and abides in the signless concentration of mind, that his body is more comfortable.
"Therefore, Ananda, be islands unto yourselves, refuges unto yourselves, seeking no external refuge; with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge."
I find that so moving, that he counsels Ananda to take up his practice, at this point.
(By the way, often this and similar passages are rendered as "be a light unto yourselves." However, I go with Thanissaro's translation, here: 'island.' The 'island'-translation is not only more likely, but it has phenomenological and psychological implications that are more helpful to our practice. One of the issues met on the path is the unwillingness to feel the separation that comes with increasing differentiation. "Island" raises the issue of 'independence.')
Anyhow, all that said, off to hospital to have them cut up this composite body of organs.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Whether Moving, Stationary, Sitting or Lying.
I am exploring the Kāyagatāsatisuttaṃ, or, Mindfulness of the Body Sutta. The opening passages encourage us to 'let go' of our hard-won sense of identity, 'atta,' and to not to be fixated on some egoistic result from our mindfulness/meditation/contemplation. This openness is usually expressed by the phrase 'setting aside worldly concerns.' It requires turning attention toward what is essential in our lives.
This way of freedom is to sincerely open to the 'more' that we don't yet know, and to open to not knowing who or what the 'I' is, in us. This sutta is an invitation to really care a lot about being intimate with 'what is.' Anyway, let's look at the next paragraph. It indicates that the contemplative life, the life of meditation, is about more than sitting on a zafu, a meditation cushion; more than sitting in an ashram, a temple, a safe haven; more than being good on Sundays.
"When moving about, when stationary, when sitting, or lying, or whatever way the body is, [the yogi] knows clearly what she's doing."
Literally speaking, the text reads that: "When moving [about], she knows: "I am moving."' And, "When sitting, she knows: "I am sitting."' This phrasing (which is rendered in Enlgish with speech marks) and similar phrasing in other suttas, (such as the 'Four Establishments of Mindfulness Sutta') has been taken by some traditions as the scriptural basis of the mindfulness practice of 'labelling.' It can also mean, simply, that she is present in what she is doing, fully conscious of whatever she is doing, whenever.
Then the text goes on to say that this is done in the same spirit of wakefulness expressed hitherto:
"As she dwells thus, ardent, diligent and committed, her thoughts about household life [mundane life] are abandoned and hence the mind becomes inwardly steadied, quieted, unified and collected. In this way a practitioner develops mindfulness of the body."
How are we householders to understand this abandonment? Certainly, this is not an invitation to not take care of outward responsibilities. I suggest that it's best approached by understanding that we are invited to abandon our selfishness, our narcissism - nothing in our householder's life is worth clinging to as 'me' or 'mine.' There's nothing - not the 'me,' the 'mine,' nor the relationship between them - that is not dependently arisen. This is to be realised right in the midst of our relational life.
So, let's put these together:
"When moving about, when stationary, when sitting, or lying, or whatever way the body is, [the yogi] knows clearly what she's doing. As she dwells thus, ardent, diligent and committed, her thoughts about mundane concerns are abandoned and hence the mind becomes inwardly steadied, quieted, unified and collected. In this way a practitioner develops mindfulness of the body."
The attachment to 'I' and 'mine,' the division which constellates our preoccupation with narcissistic concerns, drops away. Such freedom is realised with mindfulness of the body. Isn't it: "Amazing! Wonderful! Marvellous! What the Blessed One says about mindfulness of the body is amazing."
This way of freedom is to sincerely open to the 'more' that we don't yet know, and to open to not knowing who or what the 'I' is, in us. This sutta is an invitation to really care a lot about being intimate with 'what is.' Anyway, let's look at the next paragraph. It indicates that the contemplative life, the life of meditation, is about more than sitting on a zafu, a meditation cushion; more than sitting in an ashram, a temple, a safe haven; more than being good on Sundays.
"When moving about, when stationary, when sitting, or lying, or whatever way the body is, [the yogi] knows clearly what she's doing."
Literally speaking, the text reads that: "When moving [about], she knows: "I am moving."' And, "When sitting, she knows: "I am sitting."' This phrasing (which is rendered in Enlgish with speech marks) and similar phrasing in other suttas, (such as the 'Four Establishments of Mindfulness Sutta') has been taken by some traditions as the scriptural basis of the mindfulness practice of 'labelling.' It can also mean, simply, that she is present in what she is doing, fully conscious of whatever she is doing, whenever.
Then the text goes on to say that this is done in the same spirit of wakefulness expressed hitherto:
"As she dwells thus, ardent, diligent and committed, her thoughts about household life [mundane life] are abandoned and hence the mind becomes inwardly steadied, quieted, unified and collected. In this way a practitioner develops mindfulness of the body."
How are we householders to understand this abandonment? Certainly, this is not an invitation to not take care of outward responsibilities. I suggest that it's best approached by understanding that we are invited to abandon our selfishness, our narcissism - nothing in our householder's life is worth clinging to as 'me' or 'mine.' There's nothing - not the 'me,' the 'mine,' nor the relationship between them - that is not dependently arisen. This is to be realised right in the midst of our relational life.
So, let's put these together:
"When moving about, when stationary, when sitting, or lying, or whatever way the body is, [the yogi] knows clearly what she's doing. As she dwells thus, ardent, diligent and committed, her thoughts about mundane concerns are abandoned and hence the mind becomes inwardly steadied, quieted, unified and collected. In this way a practitioner develops mindfulness of the body."
The attachment to 'I' and 'mine,' the division which constellates our preoccupation with narcissistic concerns, drops away. Such freedom is realised with mindfulness of the body. Isn't it: "Amazing! Wonderful! Marvellous! What the Blessed One says about mindfulness of the body is amazing."
Monday, March 15, 2010
Practising, Training & Learning
The Pāli verb in this text which is used to describe the practitioner's process - where the whole-body awareness and the breath are unified - the verb is 'sikkhati' which means (from the Pāli English Dictionary) that the practitioner 'learns; trains oneself; practises.' The practitioner is learning to do something unusual, to intimately know the present, intimately know the actual breath, and be embodied. And the practitioner is learning to discern the difference between the concept of the breath - or of the body, or even the concepts about attention itself - and the actual referent, the event that the word point to. It's a re-training of our natural sensitivity, after years of living in our self-representations (and their corresponding 'world-representations.') When I say 're-training,' I don't mean like dog-training. It's a natural unfolding, an organic process of awakening to how things are.
Breathing with Whole Body
So, in the Kāyagatā Sutta, in response to the monks' discussion, the Buddha expands on the practice of mindfulness of the body. And to begin with he describes a person who accustoms herself to unifying breath and whole-body awareness.
This passage is relatively straight-forward, though translators often leave the phrase, "parimukhaṃ satiṃ upaṭṭhapetvā" unclear (in this and in other suttas, such as the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta). It's translated usually as, 'setting up mindfulness in front of him.' What can this mean? The scholars don't know. Some practitioners take it to mean that one should concentrate on the nostrils in breathing meditation. I like the Lord Chalmers translation (1926-27), where he says: the bhikkhu sits at the foot of a tree "with mindfulness as the objective he set before himself." Of course, we sit down with the intention to be present for our experience.
Chalmers also translates the lines about knowing the length of the breath sensibly: "[the bhikkhu] knows precisely what he is doing when he is inhaling or exhaling a long breath or a short breath." This instead of the usual "Breathing in long, he understands that he breaths in a long breath." This last has been taken by some to be an instruction to take long and short breaths deliberately. So, to me, the Chalmers translation makes it clearer.
Notice also that, just as in the Anapanasati Sutta, after the initial simple awareness of the breath, then the attitude of 'schooling' the mind (Chalmers expression) comes in. The form of the Pali verbs changes to give the idea of making the effort to teach the mind a skill. The language changes from 'He knows the breath,' to 'He trains thus: I shall breath [in or out] experiencing [such and such].'
I think this means that we take a less passive approach after initially contacting the breath. There is a gentle tending of the will toward (what is for it) a new kind of knowing, a non-habitual knowledge. This, by the way, is best be done without losing our intimate entry into the experience - knowing the whole body from inside the body, not from some detached distance.
So, translating freely and with an adjustment of the usual male pronouns, and translating 'bhikkhu' as 'practitioner':
The Blessed One said, "Take a practitioner who goes to the forest, or the foot of a tree, or to some empty hut, and who sits crosslegged with her body erect - setting foremost the intention to be mindful, she is ever mindful. She knows if she is breathing in, or if she is breathing out; and she knows if she is breathing a short breath or if she is breathing a long breath. She trains thus: 'I shall breathe in and breathe out while experiencing the body as a whole. I shall breath in and out, knowing the calming of the bodily activity.' As she dwells thus, ardent, diligent and committed, her thoughts about household life are abandoned and hence the mind becomes inwardly steadied, quieted, unified and collected. In this way a practitioner develops mindfulness of the body."
As you sit gently being intimate with your breathing, and then as you intentionally include the whole body in consciousness with the breath, it naturally follows that after a short time there is a change in the body's condition. It's traditionally spoken of as the calming of the 'bodily formations.' It's enough to know that this simply means that the body calms down after a period of this kind, whole-body attention.
This opens up new dimensions of bodily-based experience.
This passage is relatively straight-forward, though translators often leave the phrase, "parimukhaṃ satiṃ upaṭṭhapetvā" unclear (in this and in other suttas, such as the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta). It's translated usually as, 'setting up mindfulness in front of him.' What can this mean? The scholars don't know. Some practitioners take it to mean that one should concentrate on the nostrils in breathing meditation. I like the Lord Chalmers translation (1926-27), where he says: the bhikkhu sits at the foot of a tree "with mindfulness as the objective he set before himself." Of course, we sit down with the intention to be present for our experience.
Chalmers also translates the lines about knowing the length of the breath sensibly: "[the bhikkhu] knows precisely what he is doing when he is inhaling or exhaling a long breath or a short breath." This instead of the usual "Breathing in long, he understands that he breaths in a long breath." This last has been taken by some to be an instruction to take long and short breaths deliberately. So, to me, the Chalmers translation makes it clearer.
Notice also that, just as in the Anapanasati Sutta, after the initial simple awareness of the breath, then the attitude of 'schooling' the mind (Chalmers expression) comes in. The form of the Pali verbs changes to give the idea of making the effort to teach the mind a skill. The language changes from 'He knows the breath,' to 'He trains thus: I shall breath [in or out] experiencing [such and such].'
I think this means that we take a less passive approach after initially contacting the breath. There is a gentle tending of the will toward (what is for it) a new kind of knowing, a non-habitual knowledge. This, by the way, is best be done without losing our intimate entry into the experience - knowing the whole body from inside the body, not from some detached distance.
So, translating freely and with an adjustment of the usual male pronouns, and translating 'bhikkhu' as 'practitioner':
The Blessed One said, "Take a practitioner who goes to the forest, or the foot of a tree, or to some empty hut, and who sits crosslegged with her body erect - setting foremost the intention to be mindful, she is ever mindful. She knows if she is breathing in, or if she is breathing out; and she knows if she is breathing a short breath or if she is breathing a long breath. She trains thus: 'I shall breathe in and breathe out while experiencing the body as a whole. I shall breath in and out, knowing the calming of the bodily activity.' As she dwells thus, ardent, diligent and committed, her thoughts about household life are abandoned and hence the mind becomes inwardly steadied, quieted, unified and collected. In this way a practitioner develops mindfulness of the body."
As you sit gently being intimate with your breathing, and then as you intentionally include the whole body in consciousness with the breath, it naturally follows that after a short time there is a change in the body's condition. It's traditionally spoken of as the calming of the 'bodily formations.' It's enough to know that this simply means that the body calms down after a period of this kind, whole-body attention.
This opens up new dimensions of bodily-based experience.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Kāyagatā Sutta (MN 119) - the Mindfulness of the Body Sutta
Mindfulness of the Body is often underrated. The disbelief or surprise - I imagine, even the skepticism - at this practice and teaching, the teaching of the power of mindfulness of the body, is hinted at in the beginning of the Kāyagatā Sutta, the Mindfulness of the Body Sutta, MN 119. I'm going to see if I can make the time to slowly translate it, with a commentary.
In the beginning of the sutta, the scene is set. This introduction is something like the later scene beginning the short Heart Sutra. The Buddha is meditating, and Avolokitesvara looks into the five skandhas and sees they are empty.
In this earlier Pāli sutta, the Kāyagatā Sutt, the morning almsround has has been completed and the monks are sitting around in the main hall talking after their meal. The Buddha, the Blessed One, is meditating in his hut, and the conversation in the hall turns to discussion of the Buddha's claims about the power of mindfulness of the body. The monks' are generally exclaiming, "Amazing! Wonderful! Marvellous! What the Blessed One says about mindfulness of the body is amazing." One translation has it that they were in awe of the depth to which the Buddha had developed mindfulness of the body. We might well be astonished at the depth of his embodiment. So let's add that into the atmosphere in the hall, as the Buddha, having risen from his meditation, enters the hall. The one who has seen into the nature of the body, the Blessed One, enters, and the monks go quiet.
In the beginning of the sutta, the scene is set. This introduction is something like the later scene beginning the short Heart Sutra. The Buddha is meditating, and Avolokitesvara looks into the five skandhas and sees they are empty.
In this earlier Pāli sutta, the Kāyagatā Sutt, the morning almsround has has been completed and the monks are sitting around in the main hall talking after their meal. The Buddha, the Blessed One, is meditating in his hut, and the conversation in the hall turns to discussion of the Buddha's claims about the power of mindfulness of the body. The monks' are generally exclaiming, "Amazing! Wonderful! Marvellous! What the Blessed One says about mindfulness of the body is amazing." One translation has it that they were in awe of the depth to which the Buddha had developed mindfulness of the body. We might well be astonished at the depth of his embodiment. So let's add that into the atmosphere in the hall, as the Buddha, having risen from his meditation, enters the hall. The one who has seen into the nature of the body, the Blessed One, enters, and the monks go quiet.
Mindfulness of the Body is Rare
The following words from Almaas ring true, for me. People that I interact with daily are centred, for the most part, in the rarified atmosphere of their imaginal world; and some cannot at all grasp that there may be a difference between how they conceive their world to be, and their actual phenomenological, lived-world of embodied experience.
Douglas Harding's Headlessness is a classic example - people think that the little buzzes and sensate squiggles in the space of awareness are directly a 'head.' They don't get that this 'head' is a concept, a referring thing, meant to point to the actual experience. A typical seeker's response, to a experiential inquiry question, is to go straight to conceptual understanding.
In an interview Almaas said: "Most people live in one part of themselves. They live in their thoughts, or their emotions. It is rare to find a human being who truly lives in his body. Most people are not that interested in their bodies, not in a real way. People are interested in their bodies in a superficial way. They take baths and go running, things like that. But to actually feel the body, sense it, make it a real part of themselves, that's a different story."
May all human beings inhabit their bodies.
Douglas Harding's Headlessness is a classic example - people think that the little buzzes and sensate squiggles in the space of awareness are directly a 'head.' They don't get that this 'head' is a concept, a referring thing, meant to point to the actual experience. A typical seeker's response, to a experiential inquiry question, is to go straight to conceptual understanding.
In an interview Almaas said: "Most people live in one part of themselves. They live in their thoughts, or their emotions. It is rare to find a human being who truly lives in his body. Most people are not that interested in their bodies, not in a real way. People are interested in their bodies in a superficial way. They take baths and go running, things like that. But to actually feel the body, sense it, make it a real part of themselves, that's a different story."
May all human beings inhabit their bodies.
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