The skilful means of Ashvaghosha
From D.T. Suzuki translation of Ashvaghosha's Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, page 35:
"Ashvaghosha then went to Pataliputra for his teaching-tour, there he composed an excellent tune called Lai cha huo lo (Rastavara), that he might by this means convert the people of the city.
Its melody was classical, mournful and melodious, inducing the audience to ponder on misery, emptiness and non-atman-ness of life. That is to say, the music roused in the mind of the hearer the thought that all aggregates are visionary and subject to transformation; that the triple world is a jail and a bondage, with nothing enjoyable in it; that since royalty nobility and the exercise of supreme power, are all characterized with
transitoriness, nothing can prevent their decline, which will be as sure as the dispersion of clouds in the sky; that this corporeal existence is a sham, is as hollow as a plantain tree, is an enemy, a foe, one not to be intimately related with; and again that like a box where a cobra is kept, it should never be cherished by anybody; that therefore all Buddhas denounce all persons clinging to corporeal existence.
Thus explaining in detail the doctrine of the non-atman and the shunyata, Ashvaghosha had the melody played by musicians, who, however, not being able to grasp the significance of the piece, failed to produce the intended tune and harmony. He then donned a white woollen dress, joined the band of musicians, beating the drum, ringing the bell, and tuning the lyre, and this done, the melody in full perfection gave a not at once mournful and soothing, so as to arouse in the mind of the audience the idea of misery, emptiness, and non-atman-ness of all things.
The five hundred royal princes in the city thus moved all at once were fully awakened, and abhorring the curse of the five evil passions abandoned their worldly life and took refuge in the Bodhi. The king of Pataliputra was very much terrified by the event, thinking that if the people who listen to this music abandon their homes, his country would be depopulated and his royal business ruined. So he warned the people never to play this music hereafter."
Taranatha's History of Buddhism in India, page 391, says: "After his conversion, Ashvaghosha worked eagerly for the propagation of the Buddha's teaching in Kusumapura (modern Patna), not only as a preacher, but also as a poet and musician."
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu." Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
Re: The skilful means of Ashvaghosha
Post by Aemilius » Fri Aug 26, 2016 9:42 am
Thanks!
There are huge problems with enlightenment, or a tentative enlightenment. It is something unprovable, and thus it is an authoritative phenomenon. That is to say, everything depends on an authority or a teacher who approves somebody's state of mind as "enlightened". All who are on lower levels in this hierarchical structure must trust, and they will trust this authority. Thus a person X is generally considered to be "enlightened". Various Buddhist schools have their own systems of hierarchy and their own openly or secretly declared enlightened persons. Different words are used to indicate a person's spiritual attainment in different schools and lineages, but the principle is the same. Some people say that nobody is better that others, and they really dislike anything that sounds like the existence of Noble or Aryan individuals. One does wonder why are they then drawn to Buddhism? -To disprove it?
The buddhist master Candrakirti says that Nirvana is a relative truth. Quite a statement! (I found it in Candrakriti's Madhyamaka Avatara, transl. C.W. Huntington)
. This truth is evident in the hierarchical, sociological, and nationalistic meaning of enlightenment. This means that you won't get Pink Floyd, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Miles Davis or anybody else accepted as artists who transmit the energy, merit and wisdom of enlightenment. Perhaps you can do it in some special tradition that is devoted to these artists or to the theme of art as a skilful means. But not in any of the established buddhist schools.
It doesn't matter if Frank Zappa and the rest are enlightened or not. Nirvana or enlightenment is a relative truth, a sociological phenomenon. Enlightenment is empty too.
Re: The skilful means of Ashvaghosha
Post by Queequeg » Fri Aug 26, 2016 4:31 pm
The buddhist master Candrakirti says that Nirvana is a relative truth.
Zhiyi, the founder of the Tiantai Lotus Sutra tradition taught something similar.
At the theoretical level, he talked about the Relative Sublime Dharma and the Absolute Sublime Dharma.
The Relative Sublime is evident in the increasingly refined teachings of Buddhism. Briefly, Non-Buddhist teachings are coarse in comparison to the more sublime teachings of Buddhism. The Hinayana is coarse in comparison to the more sublime Mahayana. The Provisional Mahayana is coarse compared to the more sublime higher Mahayana, and so on, all the way to AnnuttaraSamyakSambodhi. The Absolute Sublime Dharma, however, he described as Sublime without reference to anything else.
As part of this explanation, he actually said that the Hinayana Buddha is inferior to Bodhisattvas of higher level teachings. And Buddhas of Provisional Mahayana are inferior to Bodhisattvas of yet higher teachings.
There is also, however, absolute enlightenment, which is without comparison...
Re: The skilful means of Ashvaghosha
Post by Aemilius » Mon Sep 05, 2016 2:27 pm
Something about music and Buddhism: There is a tradition against music in Dharma, because it is seen as conducive to one of the five hindrances to dhyana, i.e. to the desire for sense experience. This would apply to the other senses also. It is not the case that sound itself is sinful. A form/colour is not in itself guilty for he arising of a hindrance in a person's mind, and same for the other sense objects.
Visual art like and music is an expression of a state of mind, it communicates a state of mind. Much of music expresses a state of mind belonging to kamadhatu, sphere of sense desires. Its use is therefore often avoided by meditators.
But sense objects are empty of inherent existence, same objects can be experienced differently by different persons.
Buddhist uses of sound, or music even, have existed in India, China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Burma etc... mainly, how ever, as part of the Mahayana schools.There is a link to a lecture about Japanese Shomyo music here in the Dharma-wheel, the shomyo samples in this lecture feel and sound quite non-sensual.
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