[Buddha-l] Re: Tibetan word for "meditation"

[Michael J. Wilson]

jkirk:
Interesting picture----------thanks. Would you mind spelling out the 
 entire illustration? what do the clouds stand for? the monkey? one figure seems
 to be carrying a double whip.
 JK
>     http://www.andyweberstudios.com/s_samatha.html

Explanation of the symbols

1. The elephant represents the mind.
      a) Wild or rampaging elephants are dangerous
      b) Once tamed, the elephant obyes the will of its master
      c) The footprint of the elephant is very large and obvious
2. The monk is the meditator
3. The dark colour of the elephant represents mental dullness or sinking
4. The monkey represents scattering ('phro-ba), and its dark colour distraction (rgod-pa).  The monkey leads the elephnat everywhere, always to different objects.
5. The rope held by the monk represents mindfulness and the hook represents alertness.
6. The fire is the energy for meditation.
7. The conch, cymbals, mirror, perfume, and fruits represent the five sense objects.  During meditation the mid is easily distracted by the objects of sense.
8. There are six curves, representing the six forces (Skt. bala, Tib. stobs) which have to be applied on the path.
9. There are nine monks (not including the tpo three), representing the nine stages of the samatha path.

There is some more brief commentary on what the animal and ojbect symbols for each stage on the path in this teaching.  For example, the elephant is changing colour from dark to white symoblizing the transformation from mental dullness to crystal clarity.  To type out all this commentary would take me some time.  If you are still interested maybe I could just make a PDF and email it to you.

I think the double whip is actually a rope, based on the picture in my larger poster here.

Mike


 
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