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

[Piya Tan]

Mike,

You refer to "my larger poster here." Could you upload it or is it available
online? I have a small picture but osme of the details are missing.

Piya Tan
Singapore


On 11/25/06, Michael J. Wilson <michaeljameswilson at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>   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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