TOKUMEIKAN

Buddhist Thought

Introversion

With his vigour grown strong, his mind should be placed in samadhi;

For if thought be distracted we lie in the fangs of the passions.

No distractions can touch the man who's alone both in his body and mind;

Therefore renounce you the world, give up all thinking discursive!

Thirsting for gain, and loving the world, the people fail to renounce it.

But the wise can discard this love, reflecting as follows:

Through stillness joined to insight true,

His passions are annihilated.

Stillness must first of all be found.

That springs from disregarding worldly satisfactions.

Short-lived yourself, how can you think that others, quite as fleeting, are worthy of your love?

Thousands of births will pass without a sight of him you cherish so.

When unable to see your beloved, discontent disturbs your samadhi;

When you have seen, your longing, unsated as ever, returns as before.

Then you forfeit the truth of the Real; your fallen condition shocks you no longer;

Burning with grief you yearn for re-union with him whom you cherish.

Worries like these consume a brief life - over and over again to no purpose;

You stray from the Dharma eternal, for the sake of a transient friend.

To share in the life of the foolish will lead to the states of woe;

You share not, and they will hate you; what good comes from contact with fools?

Good friends at one time, of a sudden they dislike you,

You try to please them, quite in vain - the worldly are not easily contented!

Advice on their duties stirs anger; your own good deeds they impede;

When you ignore what they say they are angry, and head for a state of woe.

Of his betters he is envious, with his equals there is strife;

To his inferiors he is haughty, mad for praise and wroth at blame;

Is there ever any goodness in these foolish common men?

Self-applause, belittling others, or encouragement to sin,

Some such evils's sure to happen when one fool another meets.

Two evils meet when fools consort together.

Alone I'll live, in peace and with unblemished mind.

Far should one flee from fools. When met, they should be won by kindness,

Not in hope of intimacy, but so as to preserve an even, holy, mind.

Enough for Dharma's work I'll take from him, just as a bee takes honey from a flower.

Hidden and unknown, like the new moon, I will live my life.

The fools are no one's friends, so have the Buddhas taught us;

They cannot love unless their interest in themselves impels them.

Trees do not show disdain, and they demand no toilsome wooing;

Fain would I now consort with them as my companions.

Fain would I dwell in a deserted sanctuary, beneath a tree, or in a cave,

In noble disregard for all, and never looking back on what I left.

Fain would I dwell in spacious regions owned by no one,

And there, a homeless wanderer, follow my own mind,

A clay bowl as my only wealth, a robe that does not tempt the robbers,

Dwelling exempt from fear, and careless of my body.

Alone a man is born, and quite alone he also meets his death;

This private anguish no one shares; and friends can only bar true welfare.

Those who travel through Becoming should regard each incarnation

As no more than a passing station on their journey through Samsara.

So will I ever tend delightful and untroubled solitude,

Bestowing bliss, and stilling all distractions.

And from all other cares released, the mind set on collecting my own spirit,

To unify and discipline my spirit I will strive.

"The Practice of Introversion"

from Buddhist Scriptures

(Conze, E. (Trans.) (1959). London, UK: Penguin Classics.)

The Buddha’s advice to Sariputra

The monk alert, rapt farer on the edge,

Should have no fear of these five fears:

Gadflies and stinging bees and things that creep,

Attacks of men and of four-footed beasts.

Nor should he be afraid of others’ views,

When the great perils of them he hath seen;

So should the expert seeker overcome

All other troubles that may here befall.

When stricken by disease or hunger’s pangs,

Cold and excessive heat should he endure;

When stricken sore by them, that homeless man

Must stir up energy and strive with strength.

Let him not steal nor let him tell a lie,

Let him show amity to he weak and strong;

And when he knows disquiet of the mind,

Let him expel that as dark Mara’s gloom.

Nor must he fall a prey to wrath and pride,

But digging up their roots, let him stay poised;

And, as he wrestles, let him overcome

All that is dear to him, all that repels.

With joy in what is lovely, wisdom-led,

Let him then put to flight these troubles here,

Conquer dislike for his lone lodging place,

Conquer the four that cause him discontent:

‘Alack! What shall I eat, and where indeed?

How ill I’ve slept! Where shall i sleep to-day?’

Whosoe’er trains and leads the homeless life

Must oust these thoughts that lead to discontent.

With food and clothing timely gotten, he

Must therein measure know for his content;

He, faring thus, restrained and curbed, would speak

In village no harsh words, tho’ vexed indeed.

Then let him loiter not, but with eyes downcast,

Be ever bent on musing, much awake;

Then let him strive for poise, intent-of-self

Cut doubt and hankering and fretful ways.

Alert, let him rejoice, when urged by words,

Break fallowness in fellow-wayfarers,

Utter in season due the expert word,

Not ponder on the views and talk of folk.

Alert, then let him train to discipline

Those things which are the five dusts in the world:

To conquer lust for forms and sounds and tastes,

To conquer lust for scents and things of touch.

When he hath disciplined desire for these,

Alert, with mind released in full, that monk

As studies he the thing aright, in time

Alone, uplifted, may the darkness rend.

Thus spake the Master.

"The Monk’s Life"

from Buddhist Scriptures

(Conze, E. (Trans.) (1959). London, UK: Penguin Classics.)

The Dhammapada

The hunger of passions is the greatest disease… (203)

From lust arises sorrow and from lust arises fear. If a man is free from lust, he is free from fear and sorrow.   (215)

Life seems easy for those who shamelessly are bold and self-assertive, crafty and cunning, sensuously selfish, wanton and impure, arrogant and insulting, rotting with corruption.   (244)

There is no fire like lust, and no chains like those of hate. There is no net like illusion, and no rushing torrent like desire.   (251)

Not by mere fine words and appearance can a man be a man of honour, if envy, greed and deceit are in him. But he in whom these three sins are uprooted and who is wise and has love, he is in truth a man of honour.   (262-263)

Empty the boat of your life, O man; when empty, it will swiftly sail. When empty of passions and harmful desires, you are bound for the land of Nirvana.   (369)

He who has broken the five fetters – lust, hate, delusion, pride, false views – is one who has crossed to the other shore.   (370)

All excerpts from: The Dhammapada (Mascaro, J. (1973). London, UK: Penguin Books)