The Buddhist Hour Radio Broadcast Archives

Energy is action at work.

"Libido" is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as: "Psychic drive or energy, particularly that associated with the sexual instinct, but also that inherent in other instinctual mental desires."

In 1929, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. VIII, 399/2 stated that: "The physiological basis of the libido and its emotions is hazy, to say the least".

The journal "Encounter", in 1953 (Nov. 25/2) commented that: "The political libido can be defined as the individual's need to feel himself as part of a community, his urge to belong".

In our view, the sexist language used in this journal is unacceptable. It should read "to feel himself or herself as part of a community, his or her urge to belong".

In spite of old-fashioned notions to the contrary, the energy level of women is adequate for them to practise Buddha Dhamma. Many times our libido energy is channelled into trivial pursuits rather than used for the development of our good minds.

One example of wasted energy 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 pillos filled with feathers to engage in the practice of Shindai Hayaishimasu (literally, 'before the love-making'), or as Ellen Schumaker and Tomi Nobunaga 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 pillo-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 decorations. In 1606, the Shogun Hidetada issued a decree making it illegal for private persons to own pillos.

However, the decree proved almost impossible to enforce, so it was amended in the following year to read that anyone who "misused a pillo" or "caused any damage to another person with a pillo" was made liable to beheading.

The real variety of Shindai 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 pillo-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 gourd or melon
25. calling his uncles gourds 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 pillo-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.

The Pali word viriya is given to mean vigour, energy, effort, strength.

It would be better to use the energy of the libido, or viriya, for the development of good minds, and to apply the exertion energy to this end.

In 1859, John S. Mill wrote, in his book on liberty:

"Energy may be turned to bad uses: but more good may always be made of an energetic nature than of an indolent and impassive one."

The application of energy (viriya) to wholesome purposes requires right motivation. If motivation is not correct, then application of energy will not lead to the development of good minds, regardless of the amount of vigour.

The Four Bases of Supernormal Power are -

a. Wish (chanda), with co-factors Effort and Concentration,
b. Energy (viriya), with co-factors Effort and Concentration,
c. Mind (citta), with co-factors Effort and Concentration and
d. Investigation (vimamsa), with co-factors Effort and Concentration.

The seven factors of enlightenment are :

1. Mindfulness (sati)
2. Discerning the truth (dhamma-vicaya)
3. Energy (viriya)
4. Rapture (piti)
5. Serenity (passaddhi)
6. Concentration (samadhi)
7. Equanimity (upekkha)

Persistence, effort, and energy (viriya) which are the mind's tools and the mind's support, come together.

For example, saddha, conviction in the paths (magga) and their fruitions (phala), conviction in the realm beyond suffering and stress; viriya, persistence, perseverance in gaining release for oneself step by step; khanti, stamina, endurance in order to be unyielding in passing over and beyond: All of these things come together.

Mindfulness and discernment which will contemplate along the way, seeing what is right and what is wrong, will come in their wake.

The Ten Perfections are:

1. Generosity, 2. Morality, 3. Renunciation, 4. Wisdom, 5. Energy, 6. Patience, 7. Truthfulness, 8. Determination, 9. Loving-kindness, 10. Equanimity.

Although many mental factors exist, only five factors are called jhananga, or constituents of meditation. There are other mental factors, for example sati, also panna; panna or alobha are always associated with jhana citta, but they are not called jhananga. Therefore in samatha the function of panna is not significant, it must be associated with jhana citta. There are saddha, sati, viriya, and panna and many other mental factors, but only five cetasika, mental factors, are entitled to be called jhana (concentration of mind) factors because their function is more important. For example associations or societies may have many members, but only committee members 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 to the mind sets we would like to cultivate to sustain our practice into that series of tomorrows called the future times.

The five controlling faculties, needed to practice are (in Pali) sati (mindfulness), samadhi (concentration), viriya (effort or energy), 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 lines, a person heads for a brighter future.

Concentration and energy (viriya) must be in the correct balance for optimum progression along the Path.

Two positions (sitting and lying) are more conducive to the development of concentration. This practice is done in our Hall of Assembly.

The other two positions (standing and walking) are regarded as more conducive to the cultivation of energy. This practice is done in the fresh air of our garden.

So if meditators practice more walking but less sitting, over-emphasis of energy will result. The symptom of excess energy 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 philosophers followed by human types.

When you enter our Dhamma-cetiya (containing the Tipitaka or other scriptures), remember it is within the five categories of objects worthy of homage.

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 poring 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 about 2500 years ago. The range of writing about Lord Buddha's learning is extremely vast.

Notions, myths and rumours of an esoteric doctrine designated as sexual vajrayana or tantrayana or yidam yogic practice has a long history.

Because the energy (viriya) mixed up in the Practice may be turned to unwholesome purposes by corrupt teachers, traditional methods of supervising of the practice, to prevent misunderstandings from occurring, have a moral edict prohibiting overt written instructions being compiled.

Over many years, the writer has been privy to a series of anecdotes about persons who chose to ignore such moral edicts, and it has been noted they get ill-health sufficient to shorten their life expectancy.

The good news is that wholesome results with power sufficient to destroy the non-compliant written material quickly follow.

The story runs that the British explorer, Richard Burton (1821-1890), collected a vast store of tantra manuscripts from the Indian continent, many of which were illustrated, but it is said that upon his death his wife burnt the full collection.

Nevertheless, a Buddha Dhamma practice survives in this dhamma-ending age world of today. What is permissible and used to protect the teachings because it is prohibited for tantra teachings or drawings showing the practice to be written down in an overt form?

Admissible is "twilight" language so that non-practitioners cannot have access to the methods.

Experience about this practice is written in so called "twilight" language, such as, for example:

-Is it day?
- No!
-Is it night?
- No!

At first sight, if all that was given was the two questions and their negation, it would require some sovereignty mind to arrive at a conclusion that the construct sought was "twilight".

At initial meeting of two such sentences, a person may guess they to refer to something indicated by the Irish term "malarky".

However, if they had resource to some form of the Boolean algebra logic, they might well arrive at the term "twilight".

Whose task is it to supervise and improve the tantra methods?

Before attempting suggestions for answering such a question, would it not be better to start by asking about who should guide persons towards the extra-curricular activities that play an important part of what is referred to as "personal development"?

Ideally, such development should reach beyond a householder's life where newspaper reading means a glance at the headlines, an absorption of sport pages and comic strips and the ignoring of leading articles.

A talk was given to Harvard "freshmen" who were told that if they were spending more than forty hours each week on books, they should seek advice.

The speaker added, "This is a place to do more than study".

It is no accident that the increased interest in tantra may arise because highly educated persons come to the belief that like it or not like it, individuals are of less importance in the world's affairs than they once were, and working as a member of a group, often composed of persons of widely different attributes and experiences, is taking the place of individual effort.

Thus young persons entering professional life should spend long hours and, preferably, should have lived with men and women with interests other than their own.

They should have had the opportunity of meeting students from other countries and cities than their own, of discussing international affairs and, even, as A.P. Rowe, former Vice-Chancellor of Adelaide University put it, have discussed "how to set the world aright".

As President Dodds, formally of Princeton University, described localism in the sense that living near a learning centre rather than in the learning centre is a curse, but few students feel it to be so.

In tantrayana, it is vital for the Student to spend considerable time with the Teacher in a variety of situations over all of the four seasons.

At times, this means this means they must be prepared to spend some time at the Teacher's residence.

Tantric Teachers have vision - because they make a protracted study of the process of learning - they have an uncanny knack of knowing who will make a suitable cohort in the future.

If the time is not right to practise now, they make appointments to meet with the students, maybe within the next decade or two or even within the next life or two.

It is taught covertly as a secret teaching for individuals who wish to be born at a suitable time to become Monks and Nuns to help the Buddha sasane in future times.

If we characterise the practice in terms of a path, the tantra practice is superior in so far as it is benign.

Generally, in non-tantric sexual practices, there is an endeavour to reach out to melt or absorb some supposed permanent notion of a "psyche" within the cohort.

An attempt to attain some form of chauvinistic capture of this imagined "psyche" is made by diverse scripts.

Historically, diverse scripts were adequately expounded in the genuine and forged literature of romantic novels.

Many novels are converted into romantic film scripts with sexual scenes becoming covert if the rating sought is from general exhibition, up to vignettes depicting what appears to be overt high grade pornographic exercises if R ratings are sought.

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. Therefore, long life practice (e.g. White Tara) is essential and must be done.

To approach thorough skill in understanding, a variety of methods, including the satipatthana method to get the right sequence of five factors (generate the intention, make the effort, arouse the energy, apply the mind and put ardour on top) are taught to overcome pride and help the sentient beings. If you compare yourself to the Mahabodhisattvas, you can see you have no cause for pride. For this reason, the Prajnaparamita Sutra details the bare bones of all the 84,000 methods of practice leading to Teaching.

Slowly, the Students see they need to practice the Buddha Dharma methods if they are to help others. They must learn to explain to others how they developed their skills in at least one method.

"Gotami, the qualities of which you may know, 'These qualities lead to dispassion, not to passion; to being unfettered, and not to being fettered; to self-effacement, and not to self-aggrandizement; to modesty, and not to ambition; to contentment, and not to discontent; to seclusion, and not to entanglement; to energy, and not to idleness; to being unburdensome, and not to being burden-some,' you may definitely hold, 'This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher's instruction.'" (Cv.X.5)

Ultimately, the Buddha said, just as the sea has a single taste, that of salt, so too the Dhamma and Vinaya have a single taste: that of release. The connection between discipline and release is spelled out in a passage which recurs at several points in the Canon:

"Discipline is for the sake of restraint, restraint for the sake of freedom from remorse, freedom from remorse for the sake of joy, joy for the sake of rapture, rapture for the sake of tranquillity, tranquillity for the sake of pleasure, pleasure for the sake of concentration, concentration for the sake of knowledge and vision of things as they are, knowledge and vision of things as they are for the sake of disenchantment, disenchantment for the sake of dispassion, dispassion for the sake of release, release for the sake of knowledge and vision of release, knowledge and vision of release for the sake of total unbinding without clinging." (Pv.XII.2)

And what, monks is right effort? There is the case where a monk arouses desire, endeavours, arouses energy, extends and exerts his mind for the sake of the non-arising of evil, bad qualities that have not yet arisen...for the sake of the abandonment of evil, bad qualities that have arisen...for the sake of the arising of good, wise qualities that have not yet arisen... (and) for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, & culmination of good qualities that have arisen. This, monks, is right effort.

Avihimsa-sankappo (thoughts of not doing harm), not creating trouble or doing harm to ourselves, i.e., (1) not thinking about our own shortcomings, which would depress us; (2) if we think about our own shortcomings, it will spread like wildfire to the shortcomings of others. For this reason, wise people will lift their thoughts to the level of goodness so that they can feel love and good will for themselves, and so that they can then feel love and good will towards others as well.

When our mind has the three forms of energy, it is like a table with three legs that can spin in all directions. To put it another way, once our mind has spun up to this high a level, we can take pictures of everything above and below us. We develop discernment like a bright light, or like binoculars that can magnify every detail. This is called nana--intuitive awareness that can know everything in the world: Lokavidu. The discernment here is not ordinary knowledge or insight. It is a special cognitive skill, the skill of the Noble Path. We give rise to three eyes in the heart, so as to see the reds and greens, the highs and lows of the mundane world: a sport for those with wisdom. Our internal eyes will look at the Dhamma in front and behind, above and below and all around us, so as to know all the ins and outs of goodness and evil. This is discernment. We will be at our ease, feeling pleasure with no pain interfering at all. This is called vijja-carana-sampanno--being fully equipped with cognitive skill.

A person whose heart has discernment is capable of helping the nation and the religion, just as a farmer who grows rice that can be sold both inside and outside the country strengthens the nation's economy. A person without discernment will make the religion degenerate. When he brings disaster on himself, the disaster will have to spread to others as well. In other words, a single, solitary person with no goodness to him--nothing but defilements and craving--can do evil to the point where he wipes himself out, and it will spread to wipe out people all over the country. But when a person has the three virtues in his or her heart, they will turn into the strength of concentration. The heart will be as clear as crystal or a diamond. The whole world will become transparent. Discernment will arise, the skill of liberating insight and intuitive understanding, all at once.

Whoever sees the world as having highs and lows does not yet have true intuitive discernment. Whoever has the eye of intuition will see that there are no highs, no lows, no rich, no poor. Everything is equal in terms of the three common characteristics: inconstant, stressful and not self. It is like the equality of democracy. Their home is the same as our home, with no differences at all. People commit burglaries and robberies these days because they do not see equality. They think that one person is good, that another person is not; this house is a good place to eat, that house is not; this house is a good place to sleep, that house is not, and so on. It is because they don't have insight, the eye of discernment, that there is all this confusion and turmoil.

Keep your attention focused exclusively on the body--a cubit wide, a fathom long, a span thick. This is the middle path. If you make your awareness of the breath too narrow, you will end up sitting stock stiff, with no self-awareness at all. If you make your awareness too broad--all the way to heaven and hell--you can end up falling for aberrant perceptions. So neither extreme is good. You have to keep things moderate and just right if you want to be on the right track. If you do not have a sense of how to practice correctly, then even if you ordain until you die buried in heaps of yellow robes, you won't succeed in the practice. You lay people can sit in concentration till your hair turns white, your teeth fall out and your backs get all crooked and bent, but you'll never get to see nibbana.

And so it is with the application of energy (viriya). Right motivation is the foundation for success.

If we can get our practice on the Noble Path, we will enter nibbana. Virtue will disband, concentration will disband, discernment will disband. In other words, we will not dwell on our knowledge or discernment. If we are intelligent enough to know, we simply know, without taking intelligence as being an essential part of ourselves. On the lower level, we are not stuck on virtue, concentration or discernment. On a higher level, we are not stuck on the stages of stream-entry, once-returning or non-returning. Nibbana is not stuck on the world, and the world is not stuck on nibbana. Only at this point can we use the term 'arahant'.

This is where we can relax. Others can say inconstant, but it is simply what they say. They can say stress, but it is simply what they say. They can say not-self, but it is simply what they say. Whatever they say, that's the way it is. It's true for them, and they are completely right--but completely wrong. As for us, only if we can get ourselves beyond right and wrong will we be doing fine.

Roads are built for people to walk on, but dogs and cats can walk on them as well. Sane people and crazy people will use the roads: They didn't build the roads for crazy people, but crazy people have every right to use them. As for the precepts, even fools and idiots can observe them. The same with concentration: Crazy or sane, they can come and sit. And discernment: We all have the right to come and talk our heads off, but it is simply a question of being right or wrong. None of the valuables of the mundane world give any real pleasure. They are nothing but stress. They're good as far as the world is concerned, but nibbana doesn't have any need for them. Right views and wrong views are an affair of the world. Nibbana has no right views or wrong views.

May all beings be well and happy.

This script was written and edited by John D. Hughes and Leanne Eames.

Disclaimer:

As we, the Chan Academy Australia, Chan Academy being a registered business name of 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 another 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 Chan Academy Australia (Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.)

This Radio Script is for Free Distribution. It contains Buddha Dhamma material and is provided for the purpose of research and study.

Permission is given to make printouts of this publication for FREE DISTRIBUTION ONLY. Please keep it in a clean place.

"The gift of Dhamma excels all other gifts".

For more information, contact the Centre or better still, come and visit us.

Disclaimer

© 2002. Copyright. The Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.