imomus | An editor for the 38 Blessings?

An editor for the 38 Blessings?

A little group of us -- Jan Lindenberg, David Woodard, Hisae and I -- has formed a "religious expeditions club". We meet up every week or so to investigate a different religion or philosophy. We started with Christianity (with a trip to the Mount of Olives church), continued with Shinto (via some folk artefacts at the Dahlem ethnographic museum), and yesterday did Buddhism, making a trip to Berlin's Buddhistisches Haus. Here, some Sri Lankan monks gave a two-hour-long exposition of the Mangala Sutta, the list of 38 Blessings found in the Suttanipāta. When Siddhārtha Gautama -- the Buddha -- was staying at Savatthi, in Jeta's Grove, in Anathapindika's monastery, "a certain deity, whose surpassing brilliance and beauty illumined the entire Jeta Grove, late one night came into the presence of the Blessed One. Having come and saluted him, he stood to one side and spoke to him reverently in verse", dictating these blessings one by one.

Now, it so happens that later today I have a meeting with a literary editor. We'll be whittling some of the numbered entries in my Book of Scotlands down to size. With this in mind, perhaps, I remarked to David Woodard after the Buddhist lecture "I couldn't help thinking that, if the Buddha had had a good editor, the Mangala Sutta could have been cut down from 38 blessings to about 20". David is also writing a book, and also going through this kind of editorial process right now.

In this frame of mind -- after a slightly-too-long lecture -- it's tempting to go through the Mangala Sutta with a blue pencil, cutting out repetitions and tautologies:

Mangala Sutta

1. Not to associate with fools
2. To associate with the wise
Could these two be combined in one, perhaps?
3. To honour those worthy of honour
Tautological?
4. Living in a suitable locality
5. Good deeds done in the past
6. Setting oneself on the right course
7. Great learning
8. Skill in work
9. A highly trained discipline
10. Well-spoken speech
11. Looking after one's mother and father
12. Caring for one's wife and children
Maybe combine in a single "be nice to relatives" item?
13. Unconfused actions
14. Generosity
15. A righteous life
16. Caring for one's relatives
See 12, bundle into 11.
17. Blameless actions
Might this be placed under the umbrella of "unconfused actions"?
18. To abhor all evil
19. To avoid all evil
These two could be collapsed into one.
20. Abstention from intoxicants
21. Diligence in righteousness
22. Reverence
23. Humility
24. Contentment
25. Gratitude
26. Hearing the Dhamma at the right time
Product placement? Maybe a little too pushy -- we could use the inside back cover for this.
27. Patience
28. Compliance
29. Seeing the monks
30. Opportune discussion of the Dhamma
See 26.
31. Self-restraint
32. A holy life
33. Seeing the Four Noble Truths
34. Realising Nibbana
35. When affected by worldly conditions, if one's mind remains unshaken
36. Sorrowless
37. Stainless
38. Secure

See, I've already cut the 38 blessings down to 30 in that cursory gloss through. A really good editor could surely get the blessings down to twenty or less.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So will you be whittling down the 3,287 Click Opera "Japan good, UK/US bad" entries into just one?

Once you start on this editing business anything is possible. I could well reduce the entire text of Click Opera to a single "ohhhmmmmmm", sustained for four years.

Momus, I love your fabulous penis. Was it hard to keep it erect for the Cynthia Plaster Cast project? Did you suffer from any "stage fright"? Did you have a girlfriend at the time, and if so what did she think about it?

thanks in advance
Mizuki

"Mizuki", this is your second comment today. In the first you defend the anglosphere against Japan, in the second you pretend to be a Japanese person. Your ISP is in North Carolina, USA.

I suggest you apply yourself to the study of Gautama's 10th, 14th, 31st and 32nd blessings. And remember the Four Noble Truths (http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/fourtruths.html):

1. Life means suffering.

2. The origin of suffering is attachment.

3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.

4. The path to the cessation of suffering is via "the middle way".

Seem to remember reading a Momus piece here or elsewhere in which he said he couldn't maintain a stiffy and the whole thing was an embarrassment, perhaps Momus can point us in the direction of said article.

Hope this helps.

Sure Mizuki, it is easy to get lost in the size and glamour and sheer awesomeness of momus's massive ding dong. I've done it, hell, I think we all have at some point, but did you ever consider the downside? Imagine trying to go out for a jog with that thing all flappity bappity between your knees. Not very comfortable, is it?
Or consider what he has to go through every time he wants to fly somewhere... Berlin Customs Inspector: "And vat iz ziss Herr Momus? You are perhaps trying to smuggle some of our famous german sausages in your pants? Some bratwurst, or knockwurst or maybe even a kielbasa? (pulls down momus's pants) Mein Gott in Heaven!?! Quick, Call de Fuhrer! We have discovered secret weapon!"

I think the Buddha must have used repetition purposefully, as all of his teachings were orally transmitted. The more important bits come up again and again, like the refrain of a song...but this appears redundant when put down on paper.
Perhaps a spiritual repeat sign would be useful here?

"I couldn't help thinking that, if the Buddha had had a good editor, the Mangala Sutta could have been cut down from 38 blessings to about 20".

It's unlikely that list was compiled by Buddha. It's most likely an interpretation of Buddha's words.

With Buddhism, you have sects that are conventional religions as we know them (Such as the Tibetan sect) that feature doctrines, prayers, and numerous Buddhist Gods. Then you have other sects (such as Chan/Zen sect) that are predominantly philosophical world views (give or take a few rituals such as Dharma transmission that I personally find slightly bogus, but that's religious institutionalisation for you).

One of the absolute core teaching of Buddhism, a fundamental principle they all share however, is the notion of following personal experience and following what's right for you based on your individual understanding of existence.

Well say what you like about Jesus, he was a pretty amazing editor (though I gather he was a day labourer in the timber industry).

He managed to condense the Halakha into a single phrase.

What is the point of this post?

I don't get 35: is it in context with any of the following/above ?
Also, Momus, I keep getting this opaque gray square on opening Click Opera. Anyone else got this problem? (from the new formatting perhaps...?)

Alex P.

It's about remaining detached and unperturbed by what happens in the world.

A different translation reads: "The mind of an Arahant who is confronted by worldly conditions does not flutter".

One gloss: When the highest path has been attained, the Arahant is unaffected by gain and loss, praise and blame, fame and defame, happiness and sorrow.

A Zen Story: A young girl got pregnant, but did not want to reveal the father. When pressed by her parents, she said it was a monk living in the local monastery. The parents scolded the monk, but he just smiled without protesting. When a boy was born, they took him to the monk and left him. The monk devotedly cared for the boy for seven years. When the girl married, she wanted her boy back, so went and took him. The monk smiled and blessed her and the boy, wishing them every happiness. He did not sorrow over the loss of his novice.

Me, I adhere to P.O.D.
No bull authoritan punchlines , just plain ol' Cristian rock out with their cock out.

I wonder if they'r still in market ...

Alex P.

Yeah, editors suck.

1. Not to associate with fools
2. To associate with the wise
Could these two be combined in one, perhaps?

No, they could not.

3. To honour those worthy of honour

Tautological?

Not in the least. Being worthy of honour and being honoured is not the same.

11. Looking after one's mother and father
12. Caring for one's wife and children

Not really —the existing form permits us to be looking after our mother and father without caring for them.

16. Caring for one's relatives
See 12, bundle into 11.

No —it fits in the same pattern, but its a different kind of blessing.

This is more about the joy we get nailing our cousins.

17. Blameless actions
Might this be placed under the umbrella of "unconfused actions"?

The exist both blameless *and* focused actions.

18. To abhor all evil
19. To avoid all evil
These two could be collapsed into one.

Not really —the first is about felt morals the other is about practical ethical action.

26. Hearing the Dhamma at the right time
Product placement? Maybe a little too pushy -- we could use the inside back cover for this.

Nope, this is all about timing.

30. Opportune discussion of the Dhamma
See 26.

Hmm, maybe.

3. To honour those worthy of honour

Tautological?

Not in the least. Being worthy of honour and being honoured is not the same.

Yes, but to call someone "worthy of honour" is to imply pretty heavily, already, that they ought to be honoured, no? Better, surely, to say "There are people worthy of honour, and they are x,y,z (specific characteristics, groups of people, deeds, etc)" than simply to insert a linguistic tautology. You might as well say that it's important to find good that which is good. Pretty circular, no? Better to spell out what actually is good.

Nick,

Speaking of editing divine texts: ever hear of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible>The Jefferson Bible?</a> The Jefferson Bible, <i>or </i>The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth<i> as it is formally titled, was Thomas Jefferson's effort to extract the doctrine of Jesus by removing sections of the New Testament containing supernatural aspects as well as perceived misinterpretations he believed had been added by the Four Evangelists.</i>

That's interesting! The enlightenment trying to take the voodoo out of Jesus and see what was left!

US history is rife with such "blasphemies". Tamanend, the Lenape chief who signed the treaty with William Penn, was once considered a "patron saint" of America, often referred to as "St. Tammany".

This visiting-religions project is pretty interesting. Which others do you plan to do? Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Scientology (whose status as "religion" is apparently unclear; plus, you may never return from the visit), Louisiana Voodoo (may require a bit of travel), Wicca and other Neo-Paganisms, Scandinavian Black Metal?

Which religion do you think you find or would find most disagreeable?

The next one we're doing is Theosophy; there must be a pretty good Rudolf Steiner community somewhere in Berlin.

Out of the ones we've investigated so far, I was expecting to like Buddhism most and Christianity least, but -- counter-intuitively -- the experiences proved the other way around. The Buddhists bored me with a long, dry lecture, whereas the Christians put on a fantastic concert.

The Christians got lucky... unless those Zoroastrians can organise a performance of Des canyons aux etoiles.

Scientology (whose status as "religion" is apparently unclear; plus, you may never return from the visit)

Though on the other hand, there could be a Beck collaboration in it.

Hasn't Scientology been sent packing by the German gov't? I know they're always complaining that they can't compromise it like they've done so successfully elsewhere. That the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) in the USA
allowed them to keep their totally bogus from the beginning non-profit "church" status says something about the power they've acquired. If you
do find a Scientology center there to visit be sure to ask about that mysterious ship L. Ron Hubbard sailed the Seven Seas on for years. My dad's pal Paul Prebe taught him how to sail in Seattle's Puget Sound. Hubbard's father was the Commandant of the Bremerton Naval Shipyard during WWII. L. Ron's uncle Elbert Hubbard founded the Roycrofters which was a self-sustaining arts and crafts community that was quite an interesting experiment in deliberate living.

Sorry to write this Nick, but your new layout reminds me of Windows.

What beautiful script! Looks kind of like, uh, Burmese? (is that even the correct name for the language now that it's called Myanmar?) Or is it something else?

I'm'a download "Tender Pervert" and let that lull me to sleep now. Good night!

i do like editing very much myself, but on the other hand i couldn't help but think of a section from the intro to Kerouac's 'Wake Up' that i just skimmed through earlier this evening:

...almost all translators and scholars in the 1950s thought that "emptiness" and "nothingness" were the same thing, and so spread the misconception that Buddhists were ultimately nihilistic. Kerouac shows precisely here his knowledge of the difference.

i would at least be careful of collapsing distinctions that should remain distinct. (but i'm thinking primarily of the translation stage, and i suppose you really are thinking more of the original writing of the text)

i'm not familiar with this text (or really much of anything from Theravada, to be honest) and i don't read any Pali, but actually have you seen the Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangala_Sutta) for this?

the 38 sections are laid out in a table, grouped in 10 sections.
for a second i thought that the groupings corresponded with some of your editing, but not really...

> 18. To abhor all evil
> 19. To avoid all evil
> These two could be collapsed into one.

you'll be glad to see that these two apparently have been collapsed in one, as "Avoiding unwholesomeness," and yet rather than this:

> 11. Looking after one's mother and father
> 12. Caring for one's wife and children
> Maybe combine in a single "be nice to relatives" item?

#12 is actually further divided into "Cherishing one's children" and "Cherishing one's spouse," although are all part of the same grouping. (The blessing that corresponds with "Caring for one's relatives," however, is in a separate grouping altogether... The original editor apparently saw "Not leaving work undone" as a better fit for this grouping than "Caring for extended family"... So obvious, yes, now why didn't you see that...?!)

I'm obviously a terrible editor!

And this entry is, at least in part, a satire on the idea of editing. Because, you know, to reduce blessings -- even in the name of logic and tidiness -- is not really in anyone's interest, is it?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

An editor for the 38 Blessings?

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Love thy neighbour as thyself

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Momus: a man of the cloth(s)

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new layout

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