This is one of the best instructions in step 3 of 16 APS ever given. I'm planning to translate this passage to pali, in a verse with exposition form, like SN 8.4 ānanda-suttaṃ, or like SN 22.95:
“Pheṇapiṇḍūpamaṃ rūpaṃ,
| “Form is like a lump of foam; |
vedanā bubbuḷūpamā;
| feeling is like a bubble; |
Marīcikūpamā saññā,
| perception seems like a mirage; |
saṅkhārā kadalūpamā;
| co-doings like a banana tree; |
Māyūpamañca viññāṇaṃ,
| and consciousness like a magic trick: |
desitādiccabandhunā.
| so taught the Kinsman of the Sun. |
Yathā yathā nijjhāyati,
| However you contemplate them, |
yoniso upaparikkhati;
| examining them carefully, |
Rittakaṃ tucchakaṃ hoti,
| they’re void and hollow |
yo naṃ passati yoniso.
| when you look at them closely. |
The intention of the verse is to make it easy to memorize, and also to have checksums. That is, you know appoximately how many syllables are in each line, there's a small number of couplets, so if you don't chant for many months, you can "feel" your way back and know if you have it correct by counting syllables, and lines to make sure you got everything.
409 CE Dhyāna Samādhi Sutra
Dhyāna Samādhi Sutra (corresponds with Ānāpānā step 3, sabba kāya patisamvedi)
| Dhyāna Samādhi Sutra (chinese to english trans. By Dr. William Chu) |
T15n0614_p0275b25(08)║念諸息遍身。亦念息出入。
| “One is mindfully aware of various breaths suffusing the whole body, as one attends to the exhalation and inhalation of the breath. |
T15n0614_p0275b26(05)║悉觀身中諸出息入息。
| As one pervasively observes the various kinds of inhalation and exhalation inside the body, |
T15n0614_p0275b27(14)║覺知遍至身中乃至足指遍諸毛孔如水入沙。
| one becomes aware and comprehends what is happening throughout the body, up to and including one’s toes and pores—[awareness] pervades as if water seeps into sands. |
T15n0614_p0275b28(13)║息出覺知從足至髮遍諸毛孔亦如水入沙。譬如[夢-夕+棐]囊入出皆滿。
| In the same way, with [each] out-breath, awareness and understanding pervade—from the toes to the hairs, permeating all the pores—as if water seeps into sands. Just like a sack that is completely filled from its bottom to its opening, |
T15n0614_p0275b29(05)║口鼻風入出亦爾。觀身周遍見風行處。
| so too should one experience the body being saturated this way with [each] in-breath coming in from mouth [and/or] nose. |
T15n0614_p0275c01(07)║如藕根孔亦如魚網。復心非獨口鼻觀息入出。
| One should perceive that throughout the body, where ‘wind’ traverses, it is as if it traverses through the holes of a lotus root; it is as if it traverses through the eyes of a fish net. |
T15n0614_p0275c02(06)║一切毛孔及九孔中。亦見息入息出。
| Furthermore, one should not just perceive the breath as going in and out of one’s mouth [and/or] nose; one should also see that the breath comes in and out from all the pores and from the nine orifices of the body. |
T15n0614_p0275c03(09)║是故知息遍諸身
| For this reason, one should understand that the breath pervades throughout the body." |
why am I doing this?
My goal is purely pragmatic, not to produce professional quality poetry with artistic merit.
I
simply want the verse to serve as a concise outline, as a way to
facilitate memory of the meditation instructions contained within. I had
contemplated memorizing the chinese, but since it's archaic chinese
that modern chinese and myself can't understand, it seemed like an
impractical idea*. Since I already have a lifestyle and habit of
memorizing pali, I thought it would be nice to memorize that instead of
an english verse composition.
*impractical
idea: One might ask why I memorize a dead pali language - it's to make
sure when I teach other people meditation, I'm teaching according to the
Buddha's words. I may have distorted and wrong interpretations of those
words, but at least the student knows the original source to
investigate and compare against. This is in contrast to teachers who
don't constantly recite the buddha's words and compare against that,
they develop style drift and start teaching their own versions of
Buddhism.
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