Food!

"Next having closed off the dam of the senses with the gate of mindfulness, be measured in your food intake, for the sake of meditation as well as good health."

Handsome Nanda 14.1, Ashvaghosha

This next canto deals with food and sleep. The food aspect is very important to me because at heart I'm a "hobbit" and really enjoy food and drink. But just as with everything, this can get out of balance, into the too much or too little, into the clinging to or pushing away category. As always, it is to find the Middle Way and this is what Ashvaghosha says:

"Just as the scaled go down with a heavy weight and up with a light one, but stay level with the correct weight, so does this body with its food. Therefore you should take food with due consideration for your own capacity. Don't apportion yourself too much or too little even if you have strong opinion on this subject, for when it is weighed down with heavy food, the fire of the body dies down like a small fire all at once covered with a lot of fuel.

Total avoidance of food is not recommended, for a person who doesn't eat is extinguished like a fire without fuel." 14.5-8

These words sound so simple but it is not so easy in our culture where the possiblities of getting food and the choices are so great. It must have even been so at the time that Ashvaghosha was writing as he says:

"The world likes alternatives and is distracted to the core by sensual experience. If a man lives in it in seclusion, indifferent to choice, virtuous and with his heart at peace, then he has sipped the taste of wisdom as if it were the cup of deathlessness and is content at heart. A man of discernment, he grieves for the clinging world as it hoards sensual experience."

14.51-52

So, now I try to take a "sip of wisdom" when I'm at the supermarket, before I cook or when I look for choices for my lunch or an evening out. To not be so distracted by sensual experiences and alternatives and definitely not to hoard those experiences. Not so easy, when you have the heart, and stomach, and tongue, and eyes of a hobbit!

Garden of the Senses

In Frankfurt we have so many "hidden" gardens in the city. They are in some out of the way places where people pass by without noticing them. As I was going by one of my favorite ones this morning, it is actually sunken down from street level, so many walk by without even noticing, I thought once again about what I've been reading in Handsome Nanda. The 13th Canto is "The Conquest of the Senses By Moral Self-Restraint", and it is full of wonderful words.

Ashvaghosha writes:

"In order to reach deathlessness, my friend, you, with the faculty of faith as your forerunner, should from now onwards increase the guard on your conduct. So that your physical and verbal acts become pure, they should be upright, open, regulated and without blemish---upright because of the working of your true character, open because nothing is hidden, regulated because the focus on self-government, and without blemish because they are irreproachable." 13.10-11

At the park today the "gate" reminded me of the "gateway of the senses" and the fountain with the face reminds me of how we can lose ourselves in the flooding of the senses and cannot see clearly. We follow and become completely attached to what is pleasant or push away what is unpleasant. This can be such a difficult part of training. Ashvaghosha continues with:

"Next, establishing mindfulness, hold back those naturally restless senses from sensory experience, for one's own senses, ever injurious, are more to be feared than an enemy, a fire, a snake or a thunderbolt." 13.30

These things in themselves are not inherently good or bad, it is what we do with them. He continues:

"Here in the world the senses must necessarily operate, each in its particular sphere, but htere should be no grasping at either the major attributes or the minor details of an object." 13.41

And:

"the village of the senses never has enough of sensory experience, just as the ocean, though rivers perpetually fill it, never has enough water." 13.40

Then comes the hard stuff to work on:

"Nothing should be taken away, nothing should be added; whatever the kind of object, it should be seen as it really is. If in the realm of the senses, you continuously observe what is real, then neither attraction nor aversion will leave the footprint in your mind." 13.44-45

"Just as a a fire burns when it has both fuel and air, so too does the fire of defilement arise when both sense objects and imaginings about them are present. For a man is imprisoned by unreal imaginings about a sense object, but when he sees that very sense bject as it really is, then he is freed." 13.50-51

How often do I coat what is before me with my own imaginations, my own paint of desire or aversion. It is very often throughout the day. To see things as they really are...a hard one!

"It follows sense objects are not the cause of bondage or liberation; whether attachment arises or not is due to specific imaginings. For this reason you should control your senses with the maximum of effort, for ungoverned senses make for sorrow and rebirth. (...) In every situation, therefore, be careful to place restrictions on those enemies---sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch---which produce unwholesome state. Don't be negligent about his for an instant!" 13.53-55

Good (and difficult) advice to follow!

Comprehension

(from a statue at the Louvre)

A few entries ago I had mentioned reading Handsome Nanda by Ashvaghosha. It has really been a delight and I'm not through with it yet, I still have a few cantos to go. However, the cantos I've read in between have some lovely language and quotes. We see Nanda passing slowly from a state of ignorance and reaching out for Faith. In the 11th canto he is caught between the Life of Training and the life of the senses. Ashvaghosha writes wonderfully:

"He was soothed by calming restraint and drained by violent passion, just as one is calmed and dried from a combination of water and fire." 11.5

I know exactly that feeling! Knowing the feeling how training is changing my heart, but still feeling the pull of the senses. This "water and fire" really creates "steam" for me somtimes and it is difficult to "see" the right way to go. What is missing at those times is a FULL commitment!

"For just as a bird bound by a string flies back again although it has flown far, so do people bound by the string of ignorance return again though they have traveled far." 11.59

the 12th canto is entitled "Comprehension" and it is where Ashvaghosha presents the importance of Steadfastness and Faith, Faith being such an important element in his writings .

"Steadfastness is in every respect hard to accomplish when the mind is given to unfettered passion, just as it is hard for a thirsty traveler to maintain slef-control when he sees dirty water." 11.27

And now comes such a lovely description of Faith:

"That is why I refer to faith particularly as 'the hand', since it reaches out to the true dharma like an unimpaired had reaches out for a gift. It is described as 'the sense organ' because of its prevelance, and as 'strong' because of its persistence, and as 'wealth' because it allays the impoverishment of virtue. It is declared to be the 'arrow' by reason of its protection of the dharma, and it is named 'jewel' because it is so hard to find in this world. What is more, it is said to be 'the seed', since it causes the arising of Excellence; again, it is called 'the river' because it cleanses wickedness.

As faith is the primary factor in the arising of dharma, I have called it different names on various occasions due to its effects. Therefore you should nurture this shoot of faith; when it grows, dharma grows, just as a tree grows when its roots grow. When a man's vision is blurred and he is weak in resolved, his faith wavers, for it is not operating towards its proper outcome.

As long as reality is not seen or heard, faith is not firm or strongly fixed. But when a man's senses are governed by the rules of restraint and he sees reality, then the tree of faith is fruitful and supportive." 12.36-43

(from Handsome Nanda, Ashvaghosha. Trans. Linda Covill. New York University Press, 2007)

Surounded by kindness

We were in Paris this weekend for my birthday and something really struck us: how friendly and helpful the Parisians are! We had both heard how "arrogant" and "unfriendly" Parisians were and that was never the case. From the evening when we arrived and went to eat and they were about to close as the last table had just finished. Instead of turning us away, they opened their arms and told us what was good on the menu and were happy and smiled through our whole meal. It was the same way everywhere we went.

Then I was reminded about an article I read last Thursday about how they have found out that birds and especially those of the Crow-Raven family have such a strong memory...especially about who has been kind or unkind to them. As we were sitting in the park with the Eifel tower to the back of us we were joined in our lunch by a crow sitting across from us on the other bench. It was really fun how he was there the whole time, taking us in and maybe sensing that we were kind. I hope so!

Here's the article:http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/28/healthscience/sncrows.php