The twilight language of the charyagiti

[Michael Sternbach]

Charyapada 23

Poet: Bhusukupada, Raga Barari

 

If you want to go hunting

Then kill five people.

 

If you set out to find the truth, do away with preconceptions that would prevent you from seeing it.

 

"Kill the Buddha", "empty your cup", etc.

 

To enter the lotus-garden

Remain single-minded

 

To work with the chakras, concentration is needed.

 

At morning it is alive at night it is dead.

 

The true self "dies" as it is immersed in the world of illusion.

 

Unless he gets the hunter's meat

bhusuku will not enter the hut.

 

The true self cannot be restored if the search is not successful.

 

He caught the maya-deer

with the maya-net.

 

The maya-net we contemplated when we were looking at the High Priestess here. It both divides and connects. Used the right way, it serves us to get a hold on delusion, see things in their true interconnection, and transcend duality.

 

I know from Guru whose story it is.

The death of the body is not the end of self.

The garland remains.

 

No worries... Transcendence of material and dualistic reality does not mean that the self will end.

 

As for the garland, it signifies the triumph over illusion and the finding of the world in its suchness.

 

 

The net cannot catch it.

Nor can the chains catch the deer.

In the restless race

the deer vanishes into the void.

 

Eventually, we have to understand that the truth is not something to attain, as the hunt for it sets it apart from us. Instead, we need to relax, let go and see what has always been in front of our eyes already.

 

The commanding and restless mind of the Magician won't grasp the truth. (And he is also the God of the hunt Apollo on this card).

 

 

Only the receptivity of the High Priestess can take us here.

[RigdzinTrinley]

Yes again the the emergence of a new shakta cult, I think it becomes more and more apparent

 

The high priestess (the woman of the twilight, in the tradition of the charyagiti mostly low caste woman prostitutes etc. I think this again is a mere symbol for usual male misunderstanding and approaching the whole thing through lenses of lust and fiery aggressive passion)

 

Love is the law, love under will ("will" I would equate with sahaja - the spontaneously arising samadhi or our natural non dual gnosis that flows like a river - if the dams are broken by the high priestess enough...)

 

The five man in the poem that busukhu has to slay are the five skandhas

 

Busuku means someone who only eats, sleeps and shits

 

Its a name of mahasiddha shantideva

And also CH. Namkhai Norbu uses it sometimes

 

Dza Patrul called himself "old dog"

[RigdzinTrinley]

I'll post a new one soon

 

Any remarks anybody?

[ilumairen]

I'll post a new one soon

Any remarks anybody?

 

Yes, but I don't have time at the moment.

[RigdzinTrinley]

I'm happy to hear them

[Michael Sternbach]

I'm looking forward to them too.

[RigdzinTrinley]

Its getting a bit "one sided"

[ilumairen]

Charyapada 23

Poet: Bhusukupada, Raga Barari

If you want to go hunting

Then kill five people.

 

To me this speaks of the senses, and the concept(s) of self we create through them - no matter what we touch, smell, see etc, that is not us. Kill any such thought that arises..

 

To enter the lotus-garden

Remain single-minded

 

Remain in the clear understanding shared above, or as was later said, 'sit at the edge of consciousness'.

 

 

At morning it is alive at night it is dead.

 

When one first awakes this 'state' is natural, as the day goes on the five people are given 'life', and the state is one of darkness (in regard to true nature). Or more plainly the more interaction with the world, the easier it is to fall into it.

 

 

That's it for me on this one guys. I had other thoughts, but they would require too much thought on my part.

[ilumairen]

Busuku means someone who only eats, sleeps and shits

 

So in this context could this be referring to something similar to the state of someone in a dark retreat?

[RigdzinTrinley]

It means something like

 

There is nothing to be done - no worthwhile projects, nothing outwardly - the only thing we have to do enlightened or not is eat sleep and shit

 

Its an epitaph for the great siddha beings - they live like that eating fish guts on the ghats (luipa)

 

Sitting in trash and eating trash (tilopa)

 

Etc

 

They outwardly manifested completely asocial, crazy, dirty - so they are left alone to just enjoy the unitary nature of everything

 

Just eating sleeping shitting

 

Sometimes throwing stones at people when they approach without honesty

 

Maybe read some mahasiddha stories, they are great and very strange and symbolic too, not dry philosophy very colourful depictions of inner alchemy

 

Keith dowman translated the stories of the 84mahasiddhas + wonderful drawings by Richard beer

 

Or also the divine madman - its about "drukpa kunley" one of the three great mad yogins of Tibet (also with great drawings of the different, strange happenings around him)

 

What a funny bizarre and enlightening book

 

Then busuku becomes even more alive maybe?

[ilumairen]

Thanks. There are a lot of words here I don't know.

[RigdzinTrinley]

Dear ilumairen,

 

Would you like to write some more of your thoughts?

 

I'm specially interested how you resonate with what we say about the high priestess

 

And what are your own feelings and ideas connected with the symbol of the high priestess (in the context of this thread)

[RigdzinTrinley]

Charyapada 23

Poet: Bhusukupada, Raga Barari

 

If you want to go hunting

Then kill five people.

To enter the lotus-garden

Remain single-minded

At morning it is alive at night it is dead.

Unless he gets the hunter's meat

bhusuku will not enter the hut.

He caught the maya-deer

with the maya-net.

I know from Guru whose story it is.

The death of the body is not the end of self.

The garland remains.

The net cannot catch it.

Nor can the chains catch the deer.

In the restless race

the deer vanishes into the void.

Before we move further into the next Doha, I would like to hear more about the deer

 

I feel to unlock this particular charyagiti understanding the image of the deer is essential - I have an idea of course but I'll be quiet

 

"Keeping quiet" by the way is in line with being a deer...

Edited March 5, 2016 by RigdzinTrinley

[RigdzinTrinley]

The first line: if you want to go hunting then...

 

Here the 5people = the 5 psycho-physical aggregates (5skandhas)

 

Form,feeling,perception,mental formation and consciousness

 

What makes up "Samsara"

 

That might help to understand the deer better too

 

The deer in our european celtic roots was very important right? Any thoughts on that in relation to this doha?

 

Tarot wisdom is highly appreciated of course (Nungali? Michael? Apech? ZYD? - anybody still around in this thread?)

 

Who or what is this deer? Its such a beautiful image in this giti

Edited March 5, 2016 by RigdzinTrinley

[RigdzinTrinley]

http://parvathybaul.srijan.asia/

[RigdzinTrinley]

https://www.facebook.com/899135896838084/videos/905856502832690/

still alive the charyagiti

[Michael Sternbach]

Nice!

 

This thread is also still alive. I would say, you should go ahead sharing your thoughts on the deer now.

[RigdzinTrinley]

long life to all dead and undead!

 

I was hoping to get some tasty bits of information from someone of the hermetic order first, but alllllll riiiiight..

 

He caught the maya-deer

with the maya-net.

I know from Guru whose story it is.

The death of the body is not the end of self.

The garland remains.

The net cannot catch it.

Nor can the chains catch the deer.

In the restless race

the deer vanishes into the void.

 

Busuku (remember means the one who only eats, sleeps and shits) - so Busuku said first that when he doesn't get the "meat" he won't enter the hunter hut right?

 

I just make a wild guess and the meat here is the meat of the maya-deer that the hunter caught with the maya-net

 

He says "I know from Guru whose story it is" - I would guess that Busuku says here "this" secret of tantra he learned from the master: that the way to get realisation is not to abandon or dispise maya but to use it as upaya or skillfull means - like the famous quote "the relative is the method and the ultimate is the result of the method"

 

only through understanding or realizing the relative, relative means just to remind you: all these illusory forms of our daydream state and night dream state. this dance of lights and shapes, sounds, thoughts/emotions etc - all contained within the five skandhas that you should slay in the first line... so all those illusory forms sounds etc. are the relative - holding unto them as real and substantial things means being caught within the net of maya - now this net of maya as we found out is both liberating and bounding depending on how you use it or be used by it (the high priestress)

 

on the other hand in tantra we are thought that the five skandhas are not impure like in the lower vehicles but are actually the five buddha families - they are divine if one sees clearly

 

and that secret is shown by the guru, or vajramaster

 

so then the meat of this deer? I would say it is connected with siddhis or spiritual attainments, because meat is one of the samaya substances of tantra and relying on them gives siddhi (what that means is beyond the scope of my scribbles and because I don't know for sure what this actually means writing about it - I might create a lot of misunderstanding so better to not share half knowledge)

 

so this meat of the deer, might be pointing to an essential point of buddhist tantra - transmuted perception or pure perception

 

maya (the 5 skandhas) are not longer evil/holy and foul/beautiful, this body, perceptions etc and the emotions are not longer foul/beautiful and painful/pleasurable - this dualism is a source of suffering, but this suffering that seems to be so inherent to maya is seen as great bliss/emptiness - a sacred dance of forms, lights, sounds etc.

 

so busuku is not interessted in entering the hunters hut, this big mental construct or prison of samsaric perception, if he cant extract the essence - that this samsara is nirvana, the impure 5 skandhas are in actuality the 5 buddha families

 

so this deer is non other then the adept on the path, not as a siddha or a being who gained the fruit of this path

 

the traditional example of the stages of a tantric adept is as follows, and here we are discovering stage number 2:

 

first he/she should be like a bee - flying from flower to flower to collect the pollen (means meet many teachers and teachings - taste many approaches)

 

then he/she should be like a deer - a deer is very careful, never too much in the open, sometimes appearing on a clearing in the forest but always aware whats happening, this means that the adept should be in retreat more, focus on the essence of the teachings and cultivate them in secrecy, if there is the need to go out - into the world/human society (forest clearing) then one is adviced to do so with great caution

 

the next stage is the lion - the king of animals, free to roam and do as he/she pleases with true self confidence, this means that the adept has reached a certain realisation that is more stable and unshakable by outer circumstances, so if there is a need to be more active in society then now is the time

 

the last stage is the madman - the siddha, utterly beyond any social and religious constrains, dogma etc.

 

so here in this giti I think we talk about the adept as this deer - and there are also certain threatening forces in the giti, specially at the end. on one hand the maya net can never catch enlightenment or our true nature, because the nature of maya is enlightened - maya can't catch herself on this fundamental level

 

the deer can't be chained either, once the adept becomes a deer - society (as a threatening force that might interfere with the dealings of the tantrica or mage in the hermetic tradition) can't chain him or her any longer, he/she entered the twilight of the forest and society doesn't know this twilight and can't enter and follow the adept to where he or she is destined to go

 

in the restless race (of wordly life,dualistic vision and thinking processes) - the deer vanished into the void

Edited March 29, 2016 by RigdzinTrinley

[RigdzinTrinley]

a truly hermetic answer dear micheal

[Machin Shin]

For some context

 

 

Good discovery.  The 3 metals/elements are accurately described as mind body and soul, or the triple jewel.  The usage of the triple jewel would imply a higher level of practice where the meditator would be working with people instead of their own personal aggregates. 

 

 

Peacocks are natures radar stations.  If you look at the geometry of the males plumage you can see that it is a parabolic reflector and the crown is the receiver. 

[RigdzinTrinley]

Nice!

 

This thread is also still alive. I would say, you should go ahead sharing your thoughts on the deer now.

'

 

May I ask you to share your thoughts on the deer now

[Michael Sternbach]

' May I ask you to share your thoughts on the deer now

 

Sure.

 

Charyapada 23

Poet: Bhusukupada, Raga Barari

 

If you want to go hunting

Then kill five people.

To enter the lotus-garden

Remain single-minded

At morning it is alive at night it is dead.

Unless he gets the hunter's meat

bhusuku will not enter the hut.

He caught the maya-deer

with the maya-net.

 

The deer is the seeker's innermost nature that basically resides beyond the matrix (a word that is etimologically related with maya). While it tentatively shows itself every now and then, it is of great subtlety and keeps evading the grasp of the mind. Yet the mind must find access to non-duality in the midst of its dualistic activity. Seeing through the seeming contradictions in this part of the text serves as an exercise.

 

I know from Guru whose story it is.

The death of the body is not the end of self.

The garland remains.

The net cannot catch it.

Nor can the chains catch the deer.

In the restless race

the deer vanishes into the void.

 

Yet it cannot be grasped by thinking, as it belongs to the void. However, it may take the mind to its dwelling place, even if only momentarily, when the latter silences its relentless chatter.

[9th]

Sāṃdhyābhāṣā always requires context - in fact, it is a language of context, a language of relationship between subject and object - rather than a language of subject and/or object.  To truly understand the medieval songs and scriptures written in this way requires access to a high degree of familiarity with the "pop culture" of the time.  This is because the so-called twilight language draws heavily on worldly symbolism that is directly related to the language of the day in which it was written.  

 

The other thing to keep in mind is that each phrase and statement almost always has double, triple, or more valid meanings, depending on how deep you are able to penetrate into the multi-dimensionality of the various symbolic relationships given.  This multi-dimensional nature is the essence of Sāṃdhyābhāṣā - it aims to show infinite context - infinite and boundless relationship between all things.  The height of creation in this method is akin to automatic writing in that all of these multidimensional aspects just tend to flow out, rather than being a premeditated design for each and every term and phrase.

 

So with this in mind, it may be rather difficult to get the most esoteric details out of these ancient writings.  Even with extensive training in the tibetan tradition as it is today probably wont prepare you to reach deeply into the most complicated aspects - because usually terms are used in a way in which they were many hundreds of years ago, in a context that is lost today.  Of course there are more or less timeless symbols, which certainly gives a glimpse, and even fairly "simple" songs or poems in this tradition.  But there are many other codified practices and methods, ideas and insights which will remain entirely obscure for anyone except clairvoyants... simply due to the lack of having a speaking mind and internal dialog which resides in the indo-tibetan region circa 1000 AD. 

 

Ive made many modern attempts... heres a few:

 

tentacles upon tentacles and the legend of the overfiend 

ejected life capsule observation deck records
rising wheel of fiery lightning based jewels
as spearhead point of cascading legions
descends upon fields of nubile flesh
thrusting directly into the heart of the matter
again and again and again
wielding foregone diagrams and expedient
excellence of expert knowledge on root-cuttings
scaled chains of earthquake tremor worms
striking blackened pit in a haze of ozone
fruitful multiplication of swarming hordes
trampling winds upon waves of marking epochs
bit by bit calculated in cast stone column
devices turning circles by measured degrees
reckoning in the light of its remote eye
blinking steadily with the pulse of pounding
blood rushing towards orgasmic fury
showering sparks of multicolored escape velocity
shattering articles into textbook conclusion
mass confusion of tongues brings hyper-spatial bypass
and fleeting chances for rescue
accorded random statistical advantage manipulation
at the last minute by a heart of gold engine
and falling

 

 

antique ethera of the protractys
pythagoreans traced
pentagrams inscribed
in nested rings described
outer space xenophile 
pearlescent inner orbit 
extraneous submergence
internal coalescence 
expressed in cycles
rotational forces expelled
from centrifugal excellence
enfolded zenith and horizon
in spinning insurgence
hyper-elastic transition
explicable translation emergence
inverted serpent trance
coiled transistor
enhanced capacitor
rising heliocentric lunacy
encodes particulate excelsior

 

 

 

graphic novel of the dead

the revolution will not be sanitized
it will be commercialized
transmogrified by a ZAP! 
from the ray gun administration
in calculated incunabula extirpation
crackpot germination from ambulatory
masturbation, circulation of extant
genetic materials and hazmat procedure
crunchy captains chomping down Big Corn
holes available for exploration and
intercourse with mermaids on the dinner table
breakfast nooks with common crooks
untenable criminals forsook their chains
drenched the walls with mass spermicide
run out from underside of Hades drizzle
chasing the trains from excised wounds
ripped stripped and dew-drop dripped
upside-down with grass ingrown 
setting fires and starlit mires ablaze
unfazed in the haze of wrong ways
right down the line and stopped
on a dime, dropped spinning time

spaceman spliffs trailing 

 

 

 

one thousand holes for double snake-head freak show 
Changing hands, not changing shovels;
in the black for the black list with five coins dropped.
If six braids wind up for double-helix triple knot,
eight maids milk endless herd of cows. 



fox enters rabbit hole, sun and moon diving into ocean 
seven birds shaking tree, eleven snakes boiled for potion
lights in sky read by procurer of prostitutes
no use for automatic weapons when rising in bed for dog
sesame grinder has laser guided shoe 

 

 

 

The Law of Force

full spectrum sheen on the slick oil

anointing the heads of runaway overflow
gushing tiger blood in the halls of the Vatican
caressed by the lust for screaming witches 
smashed together and burned alive 
thrashed and trashed or recycled
in the name of our Sweet Lord
stashed the cash under statue of Baphomet
and stuffed like Christmas goose 
in mouth of John the Baptist’s severed head 
with pronounced Cymatic registration 
for Logos tuning forked tongues and tails
haunted by echos of the Superuser marching down
the command line interfaces of death
with hot sticky breath chasing fogged sunglasses
worn at night with red shoes for dancing
black and blue Skyline racing invisible sunlight 
wrapped tight so the bedbugs wont bite the white wall tires
like termites in the root access directory structure
punctured by the fangs of our Sweet Lord
who maketh all the young girls lie down
and wait for sweet rape in the tall grass
squeezed like grapes and a piece of ass
fermenting still waters into cyclone tsunami 
wine bottle tidal wave killing punani
with the jammy that listens to the way we slay
bad brains damaged by raiding black flags
nailed to the crossbones under crystal skulls
trailed to lost homes of child sacrifice 
in the name of our Sweet Lord

[Spotless]

Forgive me but this is what came to me - I have no context for this - my translation:

 

If you find the barren desert and cannot be rid of it

Overcome the five shadows.

Remain steadfast

In light dreams cease

Make barren the hut except for need

In noise the light will not enter.

Come with that which does not catch.

That which dies has no death.

Be mindless.

Remain relinquished.

On a side no answer can be found.

 

Original:

 

Charyapada 23

Poet: Bhusukupada, Raga Barari

 

If you want to go hunting

Then kill five people.

To enter the lotus-garden

Remain single-minded

At morning it is alive at night it is dead.

Unless he gets the hunter's meat

bhusuku will not enter the hut.

He caught the maya-deer

with the maya-net.

I know from Guru whose story it is.

The death of the body is not the end of self.

The garland remains.

The net cannot catch it.

Nor can the chains catch the deer.

In the restless race

the deer vanishes into the void.

Edited February 23, 2017 by Spotless