Monday, June 8, 2009

SAUNDARANANDA 12.16: Joy in Believing

atash ca nikhilaM lokaM
viditvaa sa-car'-aacaram
sarva-duHkha-kShaya-kare
tvad-dharme parame rame

12.16
And on the basis of this insight
into the total extent of the world of man,

With its changeability and its fixity,

It is the eradicator of all suffering,

Your most excellent teaching, that I rejoice in.


COMMENT:
What is Nanda expressing here about the world? The viewpoint of a know-all who has understood the whole universe? Or is he saying that he has seen quite enough of the world of man to know that freedom from suffering does not exist out there?

Worldly movements are, for example, broken promises, acts of betrayal. Worldly non-movements are, for example, fixed prejudices, rigid adherence to -isms. Those kinds of faults seem to arise when we are interested, either selfishly or altruistically, more in the gaining of some end than in actually being truthful.
Q. E. D.

In the third line, again, what is Nanda expressing? His own enlightenment? His own confidence? Or belief in the Buddha’s enlightenment? Or confidence in the Buddha himself? Or trust in a process?

When the Buddha begins his long monologue, from 12.19, he will emphasize the importance of shraddhaa, which the dictionary defines as “faith, trust, confidence.”

Religious people usually go on about faith -- especially faith in God. So I am suspicious of the word faith. It seems often to be used in connection with delusory belief in what might not exist at all. Being a lover of BBC Radio 4, I find myself increasingly irritated by a certain kind of bible-bashing that pops up at certain intervals, particularly during the 9.45 daily service. Why should I have £10 a month license fee payment debited from my bank account, for the privilege of having an extremely weird and unscientific Abrahamical doctrine preached to me over the airwaves?

Still, even having booted belief in biblical God into the long grass, I still believe in belief.

In Alexander work, which is nothing if not practical, when faced with an unduly nervous pupil the experienced teacher works in a manner that conduces to the building of confidence (as opposed to traditional methods of schooling which tend to excite students’ fear reflexes). To this end, it is important that the pupil should be able to trust the teacher. This trust in its truest form, as I see it, has neither to do with personality nor professionalism. I trust a teacher who I sense is herself truly given over to the work she is teaching -- so that there is no gap between what she preaches and what she practises. So this trust, in essence, is trusting a process. It is trusting a process which, as one continues with it, tends not always to feel good. Without trust in something other than feeling, how would we be able to continue with a process that made us feel bad?

What Nanda seems to be expressing here, then, to answer my own question, is belief that has nothing to do with whacko faith, but which has to do with confidence and trust. It is belief in the practical teaching of the Buddha to whose real voice, preaching freedom from suffering, Nanda now wishes to listen.

When mutual trust is broken
and confidence is shaken
there is joy in believing
still, in freedom
from faults
digging
deeper

EH Johnston:
And having obtained hence an understanding of the whole world with all it contains, I delight only in Thy supreme Law, the destroyer of all suffering.

Linda Covill:
Comprehending the entire world with its moving and unmoving parts, I find pleasure in your supreme teaching, which puts an end to all suffering.

VOCABULARY:
atas: from this, hence
ca: and
nikhila: complete , all , whole , entire
lokam (accusative): world ; the earth or world of human beings ; people , ordinary life, worldly affairs, common practice

viditvaa = absolutive of vid: to know , understand , perceive , learn , become or be acquainted with , be conscious of , have a correct notion of (with accusative)
sa: with its (possessive prefix)
cara: moving
acaram (accusative): not moving

sarva: all
duHkha: suffering
kShaya: loss, end, destruction
kare = locative of kara: a doer , maker , causer , doing , making , causing, producing (esp. ifc.); promoting, helping

tvad: your
dharme = locative of dharma: teaching, method
parama: best , most excellent
rame = 1st person singular of ram: to be glad or pleased , rejoice at , delight in , be fond of (locative).

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