Four hundred stanzas on the middle way with commentary (18)

Clean things like flowers, perfume, ornaments and so forth are looked upon as the most worthless of all by virtue of having been in contact with a woman's body, just as the sweet water of the Ganges becomes saline on meeting the ocean Assertion: The body is clean, because one sees people taking pride in it Answer: Whatever is born from the womb has lived in the mother's womb between the stomach and intestines, which is like living inside a privy Like a dung-worm, it has been nurtured by excremental juices without which it would not have survived Pride thinking of that as clean arises only through stupidity It is absurd to be proud of just that! It is like the following analogy: A young man who had been put in a cesspit and lived on excrement escaped, and afterward thought it was unclean when someone else's clothing touched him A young man took up with the wife of another rich young man and went to his house He was caught and put in a cesspit, where he survived on excrement One day, during heavy rain, the sides of the cesspit collapsed and he escaped Some relatives took him home and called a good doctor After a few days his strength and color were restored Some time later, after bathing and applying perfume, he went out to a busy road A beggar inadvertently brushed against him with his clothing He drew back indignantly and scolded him, saying, "Your vile clothing has made me unclean!"" Assertion: The body is definitely clean since washing and so forth removes dirt from it Answer: When whatever means employed, such as ritual ablution and washing, not cleanse the inside of the body, [why make effort to clean what is by nature unclean?"] You not make as much effort to clean the external filth that has come out of your body as you to cleanse the inside of the body, but it would be reasonable to so [One might think the former cannot be cleaned because it is filthy by nature In that case exactly the same applies to the inside of the body.16] It is like the following analogy: [Two jackals were sitting under a palasa27tree.] When a palasa blossom fell, one of them thought they were all like that The other thought that though the blossom that had fallen was not meat, the ones still on the tree were meat This is like thinking what leaves the body is filthy while what remains in it is clean Assertion: Since ascetic sages not give up women's bodies, craving for women is not something to abandon Answer: Although women are full of urine, these sages not give them up because they themselves are the same If only some and not all were full of urine, those full of urine would be shunned by those who were not, just as one holds one's nose and avoids contact with lepers Women are not avoided because all are alike, not because they are clean It is like the following analogy: A man without a goiter visited a place full of people with goiters and was thought ugly The analogy of the king is as in Candrakirti's commentary A soothsayer told a king that whoever used the water when it rained would go mad The king had his well covered When it rained the people of that place went mad after using the water and since only the king remained sane, they thought he was mad When the king found out, he feared they might mock or harm him because they considered him mad, so he used the water too.' Assertion: Though a woman's body is unclean, the uncleanness can be removed by beautifying it with perfumes and so forth Answer: It is like a man lacking a part because his nose has been cut off, who is delighted with and proud of a golden artificial substitute.29 Attaching flowers and so forth to the body as a means to remedy its foulness and holding that this will make the body clean will not so [In lustful childish people who, because of their stupidity, not see the body's nature, desire is stirred by flowers, perfume, jewelry and so forth intended to remedy uncleanness, and because of these they consider themselves and others clean.-'O Through stupidity people desire this body which is like a festering sore disguised by garlands of flowers and clothes.31] It is like smearing butter on a cat's nose, which makes it think even a handful of insipid food is rich and tasty Assertion: There are fragrances and so forth for which one invariably feels desire Answer: There is no thing which is a definitive cause of desire since in the end one will become free of desire toward all things [Even flowers and so forth, which are held to be clean, become unappealing when they wither, and one sees practitioners who are free from attachment to such things.32] To call clean the body, toward which exalted Foe Destroyers have generated freedom from desire, is inappropriate It is like the following analogy: A merchant, not recognizing his daughter, felt strong desire for her, but when he recognized her, he was free from desire A merchant was on a long journey when his daughter was born On the day he returned, his daughter, who had grown up, was playing with other girls in a park on the outskirts of the town On seeing her he felt strong desire, but when he heard from someone else that she was his daughter, his desire left him.33 Question: Is it possible or not for a single thing to comprise all four of these undistorted features, such as impermanence and so forth? Answer: In summary, all four-impermanence, uncleanness, suffering and selflessnessare possible with regard to a single [contaminated'] thing, for whatever is a product is impermanent, because of being momentary Whatever is impermanent is unclean because it produces aversion Whatever is unclean is suffering because it harms Whatever is suffering is selfless, because it is not under its own power [An ogress lived with a man, pretending to be his wife He treated her as his wife until he realized that she made him suffer and was unpleasant, disobedient and unreliable Then he realized that she was not his wife but an ogress, and his desire left him when he felt afraid Similarly the intelligent become free from desire because they see the nature of products.35] Therefore, developing aversion to cyclic existence, the uncleanness of which is exemplified by one's own body, make effort to gain the path to liberation The summarizing stanza: This is the third chapter of the Four Hundred on the Yogic Deeds, showing the means to abandon belief in cleanness This concludes the commentary on the third chapter, showing how to abandon erroneous belief in cleanness, from Essence of Good Explanations, Explanation of the "Four Hundred on the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas" COMMENTARY TO CHAPTER III BY GESHE SONAM RINCHEN Along with ignorance, desire is the most serious cause of our problems To overcome it completely we must gain effective knowledge of how things exist, but meanwhile we need to cultivate ways of dealing with and counteracting desire when it manifests Whether directed toward things, experiences or people, desire arises from an incorrect mental approach which misapprehends its object Distortion takes place in that the attractiveness and wholesomeness of the desired object are exaggerated, and this is accompanied by grasping Desire inevitably creates difficulties because projection based on misconception without any basis in reality takes place By observing it in action, we can discover the self-deception and fabrication in this process It is difficult but vital to distinguish desire and attachment from love and compassion, which are constructive emotions that we need to cultivate toward all beings, and to cultivate actively toward those with whom we have daily contact The stronger these positive qualities become, the more ready we are to act unselfishly to alleviate others' suffering and ensure their well-being Since love and compassion have a sound basis in reality, seeing others as they really are, they are not capricious but stable Relationships governed by genuine concern of this kind not constrict and are of lasting benefit When counteracting desire, the intention is not to provoke hatred and antipathy toward oneself or others Indeed, for spiritual growth it is essential to see all living beings as valuable and lovable There are many valid reasons to support the cultivation of these attitudes, such as our total dependence on others for survival It is also important to value the body as a precious tool However, desire of all kinds, particularly sexual desire, has a disturbing effect and prevents us from seeing things as they are Our profound dissatisfaction with the body is revealed by our preoccupation with cleansing it, removing its natural odors, hiding its flaws, beautifying it, altering its shape and proportions and disguising signs of aging Our unwillingness to accept that the body is unclean, which expresses itself in terms of our immediate response to any mention of that fact, shows the intensity of our attachment to and identification with the body This makes us crave comfort and sensual pleasure and react with hostility toward anything which threatens to deprive us of these Yet when we examine our own bodily processes and bodily excretions, it is difficult to cling to the idea of it as clean Desire and attachment cannot be driven out by subjugating the body through asceticism The body must be nurtured appropriately, since good health enables us to be active for others' benefit Our efforts should be directed toward subduing the mind and bringing about changes in our attitudes This will bring us and others happiness, for there is no doubt that people and animals experience a sense of well-being and tranquillity in the presence of those who are not at the mercy of turbulent emotions but in whom the warmth of love and compassion is steady We respond to dependently arising phenomena that come about through ... gain the path to liberation The summarizing stanza: This is the third chapter of the Four Hundred on the Yogic Deeds, showing the means to abandon belief in cleanness This concludes the commentary. .. commentary on the third chapter, showing how to abandon erroneous belief in cleanness, from Essence of Good Explanations, Explanation of the "Four Hundred on the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas" COMMENTARY. .. born On the day he returned, his daughter, who had grown up, was playing with other girls in a park on the outskirts of the town On seeing her he felt strong desire, but when he heard from someone