When you set out for Ithaka
ask that your way be long,
full of adventure, full of instruction.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – do not fear them:
such as these you will never find
as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare
emotion touch your spirit and your body.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – you will not meet them
unless you carry them in your soul,
unless your soul raise them up before you.
Ask that your way be long.
At many a Summer dawn to enter
with what gratitude, what joy -
ports seen for the first time;
to stop at Phoenician trading centres,
and to buy good merchandise,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensuous perfumes of every kind,
sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;
to visit many Egyptian cities,
to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.
Have Ithaka always in your mind.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
But don’t in the least hurry the journey.
Better it last for years,
so that when you reach the island you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.
Ithaka gave you a splendid journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She hasn’t anything else to give you.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn’t deceived you.
So wise you have become, of such experience,
that already you’ll have understood what these Ithakas mean.
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Courtesy of Poetry Please, read by Roger McGough, on Radio Four last night. This really is the sanest way to look at life, if only we could all manage it! Some of of us seem to spend our journeys policing the wa, though.
That was followed by a deliciously, horribly spooky story called Lullaby by Francis Turnly. Recommended listening while you’re going to sleep, if you like a nice scare! http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00d7jh3
Anyway, Ithaka was a nice contrast to the other inspiring thing I’ve read recently, the Buddha’s “Fire Sermon”. Both deal very differently with the role of pleasures and pains in life. I think it’s best to notice and take the wisdom in each piece of advice.
The combination of the fire sermon, and realising that my energy levels were probably all over the place because of the fast-release energy snacks I kept having, have actually stopped me eating unhealthy snacks (as much), by making it easy for me to stop wanting them. Usually, the wanting has gone unabated (cos I don’t care enough about my waistline!) and with it the eating is just inevitable in my case!! But I’ve realised that things I actually value- conducive energy levles, not craving more sweet things- are precluded by eating them, and often that’s been enough to make me contentedly reach for the red bush tea/ weatabix/ satsumas instead!
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Samyutta Nikaya XXXV.28
Aditta-pariyaya Sutta
The Fire Sermon
(Translated by Bhikkhu Thanissaro)
Several months after his Awakening, the Buddha delivers this sermon to an audience of 1,000 fire-worshipping ascetics. In his characteristically brilliant teaching style, the Buddha uses a metaphor that quickly penetrates to the heart of the audience — in this case, the metaphor of fire. Upon hearing this sermon, the entire audience attains full Awakening (arahatta).
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Gaya, at Gaya Head, with 1,000 monks. There he addressed the monks:
“Monks, the All is aflame. What All is aflame? The eye is aflame. Forms are aflame. Consciousness at the eye is aflame. Contact at the eye is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, and despairs.
“The ear is aflame. Sounds are aflame. Consciousness at the ear is aflame. Contact at the ear is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the ear — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, and despairs.
“The nose is aflame. Aromas are aflame. Consciousness at the nose is aflame. Contact at the nose is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the nose — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, and despairs.
“The tongue is aflame. Flavors are aflame. Consciousness at the tongue is aflame. Contact at the tongue is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the tongue — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, and despairs.
“The body is aflame. Tactile sensations are aflame. Consciousness at the body is aflame. Contact at the body is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the body — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, and despairs.
“The intellect is aflame. Ideas are aflame. Consciousness at the intellect is aflame. Contact at the intellect is aflame. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the intellect — experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain — that too is aflame. Aflame with what? Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I say, with birth, aging and death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, and despairs.
“Seeing thus, the instructed noble disciple grows disenchanted with the eye, disenchanted with forms, disenchanted with consciousness at the eye, disenchanted with contact at the eye. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the eye, experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: With that, too, he grows disenchanted.
“He grows disenchanted with the ear, disenchanted with sounds, disenchanted with consciousness at the ear, disenchanted with contact at the ear. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the ear, experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: With that, too, he grows disenchanted.
“He grows disenchanted with the nose, disenchanted with aromas, disenchanted with consciousness at the nose, disenchanted with contact at the nose. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the nose, experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: With that, too, he grows disenchanted.
“He grows disenchanted with the tongue, disenchanted with flavors, disenchanted with consciousness at the tongue, disenchanted with contact at the tongue. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the tongue, experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: With that, too, he grows disenchanted.
“He grows disenchanted with the body, disenchanted with tactile sensations, disenchanted with consciousness at the body, disenchanted with contact at the body. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the body, experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: With that, too, he grows disenchanted.
“He grows disenchanted with the intellect, disenchanted with ideas, disenchanted with consciousness at the intellect, disenchanted with contact at the intellect. And whatever there is that arises in dependence on contact at the intellect, experienced as pleasure, pain or neither-pleasure-nor-pain: He grows disenchanted with that too.
“Disenchanted, he becomes dispassionate. Through dispassion, he is fully released. With full release, there is the knowledge, ‘Fully released.’ He discerns that ‘Birth is depleted, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world.’ “
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the monks delighted at his words. And while this explanation was being given, the hearts of the 1,000 monks, through no clinging (not being sustained), were fully released from fermentation/effluents.
