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'THE
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Hillside
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The Buddhist Hour Radio Broadcast Sunday 18 February 2001
This program is called: Effective use of libido.
We used our libido to run two successful gift and flower stalls as a fund raiser on Wednesday 14 February 2001, St. Valentine’s Day. With careful planning and organisation, 17 of our Members worked harmoniously in two teams, at 436 Stud Road Wantirna, and Swansea Road Lilydale, rotating in two-hourly shifts over seven and half hours, to sell over 190 bunches of flowers, and generate a net profit of $1336.41 for our Centre. With just a three percent improvement in planning and increased involvement of Members’ ‘libido’ in the organisation of fund raisers, we can help Members to apply ‘not too much and not too little’ energy into running successful fundraising events in the future. ‘Libido’ is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as: “Psychic drive or energy, particularly that associated with the sexual instinct, but also that inherent in other instinctual mental desires”. The physiological basis of the libido and its emotions is hazy, to say the least. The energy level of some women is good enough for them to practise Buddha Dhamma. Unfortunately, most times, libido is channelled into trifling pursuits, such as excessive use of body culture, sculpture or adornment. One example of wasted libido is found in the Japanese preoccupation with Shindai. Shindai literally means a sleeping platform which is used by husband and wife. In the old quarter of Tokyo, there were pleasure houses where you could rent special pillows filled with feathers to engage in the practice of Shindai Hayaishimas (literally, 'before the love-making'), or as Ellen Schumaker and Tomi Nobunuga in 1965 would say, 'a preliminary to love-making'. This Shindai practice was designed to arrange for domestic harmony for married couples. In Japan, some hotels display signs outside them saying 'No pillow-fighting'. The story of Shindai goes back 1500 years to Hirumi Province, where the inhabitants spent their days in badger catching. The men would kill the badgers with clubs and the women would turn the badgers into a decorative form of carpeting. Apparently, the men of Hirumi were great bullies, and frequently chided their womenfolk for not working fast enough, and used their clubs on them as part of their chiding. One year the women invoked the help of the Buddhist goddess Senjo-Kannon (also known as Quan Yin). The goddess advised the women to sew up the badger skins and stuff them with seaweed to defend themselves against their husbands. The goddess appeared in the form of a beautiful woman with a thousand arms, in each of which she wielded a stuffed badger skin. The women, under the tuition of the martial arts form of Quan Yin, defended themselves against their menfolk to such effect that they even extracted a promise from them never to chide them again. In each household, presumably to remind the men of their promise, a stuffed badger skin was hung in the 'tokonoma', the recessed alcove in Japanese households reserved for the most treasured possession. There are many records of badger skins stuffed with cherry blossom mixed with snipe feathers - both of which are common although revered household decoration. In 1606, the Shogun Hidetada issued a decree making it illegal for private persons to own pillows. However, the decree proved almost impossible to enforce, so it was amended in the following year to read that anyone who ‘misused a pillow’ or ‘caused any damage to another person with a pillow’ was made liable to beheading. The variety of Shindai practices remained unaffected by this decree. At the beginning of the 17th Century, when women were prohibited from appearing on the stage with men, some of them looked to alternative arts to practice. We hear of travelling pillow-girls who, for exorbitant sums, would put on demonstrations at the houses of noblemen, and as the climax to their performance would coax their audience to participate in the art with them. In 1910, Lady Hundra drew up a code of behaviour. Great energy is expended in some bouts to no particular point. Lady Hundra lists the 52 Essential Deceits (we would term such attention- scattering plays as distractions). These are: 1. screaming and grunting 2. groaning horribly 3. telling him he has a feather in his ear 4. pointing at imaginary enemies behind him 5. telling him his uncles are waiting on his doorstep 6. looking with disgust at the back of his ankle 7. blowing wind at him 8. constantly spitting 9. shouting abuse 10. smiling mysteriously 11. laughing deprecatingly 12. feigning madness 13. suddenly offering to cook him his favourite dish 14. sucking a garlic 15. making faces 16. making the sound of thunder 17. singing an anthem 18. making the sound of a bittern 19. screaming like an incensed parrot 20. suddenly telling him to turn round while she shampoos the back of his head 21. telling him his feet are dirty or diseased 22. threatening him with spiders 23. reminding him of a social gathering in his honour or a drinking party or picnic he should be attending 24. calling him a gurd or melon 25. calling his uncles gurds or melons 26. telling him he is a dwarf 27. threatening to pinch his nose 28. threatening to destroy his collection of basketwork birds 29. threatening to put mustard in his tea unless he desists from his pillo-blowing 30. arching her body voluptuously 31. sensing that an earthquake is imminent 32. tell him his water-lilies are being devoured by a migration of rare pests 33. telling him that frogs are eating his lotus blossom 34. telling him that frogs are preparing to jump on him from the ceiling 35. telling him that thieves are stealing his quails 36. telling him his quails have got loose and are destroying his sprouts 37. telling him he has six toes 38. challenging him to solve dirty riddles 39. commenting on his filthy personal habits 40. telling him he is bleeding in the small of the back 41. telling him his front tooth has fallen out 42. asking him to complete a stanza 43. challenging him to arrange the words of a verse written irregularly by separating the vowels from the consonants 44. casting doubt upon his knowledge of mines and quarries 45. mispronouncing his name 46. urgently requesting him to make her a sherbet 47. suggesting they cease their pillow-fighting in order to play on musical glasses filled with water 48. placing doubt in his mind regarding her identity 49. calling him a sprout 50. casting an unfavourable horoscope for him 51. belittling him with reference to his impotence 52. calling him a mustard-seed Because the records of the Shindai Mistresses have never been available for public inspection, it is difficult to know how widespread the practice was outside Hirumi Province. That considerable energy was expended in compiling this list of practices is not in dispute, but upon analysis, there is not a single deceit on this list which is of much use for the purposes of cultivating Buddha Dhamma. How ought we channel our libido? The Pali word viriya has vast meaning and is given to mean vigour, energy, effort, strength. Libido may be regarded as a subset of viriya. It would be better to use viriya for the development of good minds than to apply it to trifling pursuits. The application of viriya to wholesome purposes requires right motivation. If motivation is not correct, then application of viriya will not lead to the development of the good life, regardless of the amount of vigour. The higher forms of the good life involve the Four Bases of Supernormal Power. Each of the Four Bases of Supernormal Power are used as a triad with twin cofactors: chanda, with co-factors effort and concentration, viriya, with co-factors effort and concentration, citta, with co-factors effort and concentration and vimansa, with co-factors effort and concentration. It is noteworthy that one of the seven factors of enlightenment is viriya. The others are: sati (mindfulness) dhamma-vicaya (discerning the truth) piti (rapture) passaddhi (serenity) samadhi (concentration) upekkha (equanimity) Viriya, persistence and right effort are the tools and support of the good practice mind. For example, the practice of saddha (confidence), or conviction in the Path (magga) leads to their fruitions (phala). Mindfulness and discernment know what we contemplate along the Path, seeing what is right and what is wrong will become known each for himself or herself. There are Ten Paramitas (or Perfections). These are: viriya (energy) dana (generosity) sila (morality) nekkhamma (renunciation) panna (wisdom) khanti (patience) sacca (truthfulness) aditthana (determination) metta (loving-kindness) upekkha (equanimity) Although many mental factors are possible, only five of these factors are called jhananga, meaning constituents of correct meditation. Only five cetasikas, (mental factors), are entitled to be called jhana (concentration of mind) factors because their function is more important. There are other mental factors, for example sati and panna. Panna or alobha (disinterestedness) are always associated with jhana citta, but they are not called jhananga. Therefore, in samatha (concentration meditation) the function of panna is not significant, it must be associated with jhana citta. For example, associations or societies may have many members, but only committee members might do the work. They are responsible for the whole society. These mental factors are like the executive committee members. The goal is to awaken ourselves by use of the five cetasikas to the mind sets we would like to cultivate. Then sustain this practice into that series of tomorrows called the future times. To restate the essence of using our libido is to cultivate the five controlling faculties needed to practice. These are: viriya (effort or energy), sati (mindfulness), samadhi (concentration), saddha (confidence) and panna (wisdom). In the poetic sense, the union of these faculties in the right balance may be compared to an ‘elixir’ - a term used in Alchemy for a preparation by the use of which it was hoped to change the baser metals into gold. By self-development along these methods, a person will have a brighter, better and more stable future. Viriya and concentration must be in the correct balance for optimum progression along the Path. There are four positions of practice. Standing and walking are regarded as conducive to the cultivation of viriya. This practice is best done in the fresh air of our Dhamma garden, in the shade if it is a hot day. Bright sunlight is to be avoided. The sitting and lying positions are more conducive to the development of concentration. This practice is best done in our Hall of Assembly. So if meditators practice more walking but less sitting, over-emphasis of viriya will result. The symptom of excess viriya is a wandering mind. These two ‘elixirs’ must be balanced just as if you have a bicycle, both tyres should be pumped up to ride smoothly and quickly. And to have the confidence to balance the practice, it is necessary to accede to differences between Buddha Dhamma and the diversity of schools of philosophy followed by humans. When you enter our Dhamma-cetiya, our Hall of Assembly, containing the Tipitaka or other scriptures we ought pay respect to the Buddha Rupa before we start. It is worthwhile to recall how numerous persons studied to create the resources of the Collection assembled by our Teacher for use by Members and Scholars. To evoke past scholars, prior to pouring over our Texts housed in the John D. Hughes Collection, Students were advised to make a light and flower offerings on the Deva of Learning Shrine at our Centre. The Collection exists to show the Middle Way and correct wrong views just as Lord Buddha corrected the views of many philosophers and scholars when he was in human birth over 2500 years ago. The range of writings about Lord Buddha's learning is extremely vast. As the kaliyuga (the cycle of destruction) deepens, the minds of the people and the psycho-atmosphere darkens and people become more and more difficult to teach because they become proud. If a Bodhisattva wishes to take human rebirth to learn more and teach, then he or she will need bala (great strength) and viriya (energy) to overcome pride. The causes of these qualities must be generated in this very life. As a result of our Teacher’s repeated viriya over many years, in his 70th year, John D. Hughes was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in the Senior Australian of the Year Awards 2000. The National Australia Day Council acknowledged our Teacher’s outstanding achievements and recognised his contribution to the nation by awarding him with a certificate. There are three similes that occur in the Middle Collection of the Pali texts: the Greater Discourse to Saccaka, the Discourse to Prince Bodhi and the Discourse to Sangarava. The first one is to suppose there is a piece of wet, sappy wood lying in the water, and someone happens along with a fire-stick, thinking, “I will make a fire and produce heat”. Do you think that he will be able to do so, by rubbing the fire-stick against this piece of wet, sappy wood lying in the water? Such is the case of persons who dwell neither physically nor mentally withdrawn from sense-pleasures because they will be incapable of knowledge, vision and unsurpassed enlightenment. The second simile deals with a piece of wet, sappy wood lying well away from the water on dry land. It would still be useless for rubbing with the fire-stick in the same way, persons who dwell only physically withdrawn from sense pleasures are incapable of knowledge, vision and unsurpassed enlightenment. The third simile is the case where you have a piece of dry, sapless wood lying well away from the water on dry land and use the fire-stick. You will have success in this case because this is the simile of those who dwell both physically and mentally withdrawn from sense pleasures and they will be capable of knowledge, vision and unsurpassed enlightenment, and even if they do not undergo unpleasant feeling they will still be capable of knowledge, vision and unsurpassed enlightenment. Having said this, there are variant readings for the second simile. The difficulty is the equivalent Sanskrit-Tibetan texts and the Chinese texts do not give the passage of the Three Similes but give some variations on it. It must be noted that all Sanskrit-Tibetan versions give both body and mind, as do the Burmese and Nalanda editions. Peter Skilling (1981-1982) has elaborated these difficulties. Our Teacher has commented that to travel on the most successful path in this age of backsliding degeneration, where all non-pleasurable efforts to improve one’s character are labelled as the worst disease of “masochism”, while its opposite “sadism” is considered as the safest and preventative “panacea” against all suffering, it is probably better for most persons to consider only the first and third simile until their minds get better. The next five day bhavana course will be held at the Centre during Easter. Persons who are thinking of attending are invited to contact us as soon as possible as there is only about six weeks to go. If you spent the next month in preliminary preparation, you would maximise your learning opportunities at our Centre. Please read our web sites before then so you are well prepared. We are aiming to give one gigabyte of good information free of charge. At that point, we will have plenty to celebrate. Each web site has been dedicated to our Teacher. May you read to develop the causes of viriya in this very life. And by persistence of reading of our good information, may you make a difference in your country and throughout the world. May you be well and happy. This script was written and edited by: John D. Hughes, Julian Bamford, Vincenzo Cavuoto, Vanessa Macleod, Lisa Nelson and Pennie White. Disclaimer:
As we, the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd., do not control the actions of our service providers from time to time, make no warranty as to the continuous operation of our website(s). Also, we make no assertion as to the veracity of any of the information included in any of the links with our websites, or an other source accessed through our website(s).
Accordingly, we accept no liability to any user or subsequent third party, either expressed or implied, whether or not caused by error or omission on either our part, or a member, employee or other person associated with the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.
References: 1. Oxford English Dictionary 2. An Introduction to the Abhidhamma - Two Essays, Dhamma Study Group, Bangkok. 3. ISYS Search Engine on the Centre’s LAN 4. Skilling, Peter, ‘The Three Similes’ in Pali Buddhist Review, Vol. 6. No.2 1981-82, pp. 105-112. Readability
Statistics For more information, contact the Centre or better still, come and visit us. |
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