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.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
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.
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