[Rancon]

One member on HSTD had a dream, he saw white elephants coming. Upon answering his questions about the meaning of the dream, Tibu brought up the painting of "Taming the Elephant". It took him days to finally compose what he saw from that pictures into a long, and well written Darmah teaching. Hopefully this translation of it can be somewhat helpful to those who are unfamiliar with Vietnamese.  Please feel free to ask questions and discuss.  
As always, I ask that you please point out any grammatical or vocabulary mistakes. In addition, please forgive my imperfect English, might it bother you.

[Rancon]

The Painting: Taming of the elephant

This is a wonderful demonstration about the art of mental fixation. The painting shows a step by step process that one experiences as he begins his journey on the Buddha’s path.

1/ Setting
This part focuses on the three Trees and the two-and-a-half Mountains at the right corner.  This period discusses Tham – San – Si, known as Raga, Krodha, and Moha in Sankrit. Tham is Vietnamese for Greed/Desire, San means Anger, and Si translates as Stupidity or Ignorant.  Those three habits are represented as the mountains for they are so extremely hard to overcome. However, some people easily mistake them as the three giant trees.
Due to this misconception, many have made up the wrong mind:

+The amateur a.k.a. the part time-ers: only look at the close-up, hence, they think Greed, Anger, and Stupidity are only three big trees behind the temple. Which leads to this setting of the mind: "after I have been full with food and filled with drinks, I’ll take my axe out to uproot those trees. Such an easy job!"
+The professionals a.k.a. the full time-ers: they see further out and realize that matters are not as simple. Greed, Anger, and Stupidity are such huge obstacles that can be compared the great Himalaya. To overcome them, there is no other way but to build up one’s strength slowly and frequently. They understand that getting rid of those bad habits are nothing one can do in the course of a few days. It will take a lot of time and hard work!

From the bridge of the the Twelve Nidànas, represented by the 12 flowing streams of water, the monk set his first few steps. He looks out. At first, he looks at his mind. The monk finds that his mind consists of two parts: The mind – Elephant, and the diffusion - Monkey. At this stage, both bare the color black. The Elephant is black for his mind is still dull and full of thoughts of a mindless man. As for the monkey, it bares the black color of agitation.

Those two are so wild that they are almost uncontrollable. The monk, who is really us, can only follow them blindly. Fortunately, he is equipped with a Hook – his mindfulness, and a Noose – his alertness. During this first stage, Monkey leads Elephant to run in chaos.  Moreover, Monkey keeps talking to charm Elephant, who is running full speed after him. The two completely ignore the Monk behind them. Picture (1) describes the monk standing still; he helplessly looks at the two unmanageable animals. Nothing has happened yet! Even though there are Hook of mindfulness and Noose of Alertness, Monkey and Elephants are still unstoppable. In another word, the monk has yet to accomplish anything, at this first stage.

-----
Some foot note
+People who practices Tibu's method are called lubu (pronounces looboo). Lubu is Vietnamese term for people who juggle between work, family, life, and many other things - in this case is Buddhism.
+The twelve nidànas: They are the twelve links in the chain of existence: (1) vô minh avidyà, ignorance; (2) hành samskàra, karma formation; (3) thức vijnàna, consciousness; (4) danh sắc nàmarùpa, name and form; (5) lục nhập sadàyatana, the six sense organs; (6) xúc sparsa, contact, touch; (7) thụ vedàna, sensation, feeling; (8 ) ái trsnà, thirst, desire, craving; (9) thủ upàdàna, laying hold of, grasping; (10) hữu bhava, being, existing; (11) sinh jàti, birth; (12) lão tử jaràmarana, old age death.

[hoasentrenda]

Thank you, rancon.
Good work and well done.
Paving the Way ...

[Rancon]

Stage (2): The Continual
Focusing on the monk’s feet, we notice that he has set a few steps. He has gained some knowledge on fixing the mind. Hence, Monkey and Elephant are no longer running in chaos. Then again, the monk is still running after them breathlessly. Now, he keeps Hook of Mindfulness straight in front of him, Noose of Alertness is raised high for catching the unmanageable animals. Because they are now is his target area.
During this stage, the monk usually realized it when he is unmindful. As a result, he would tell himself:”Why did I have such unpleasant thought?”, or would self-criticize: “What I have just done is full of Anger. I have been Stupid.”   This means that he now can separate right and wrong, good deeds and bad deeds…
While those things happen on the path, the fire represents the necessity of mindfulness has started by both sides. Helpfully, it helps guide the unmanageable animals into their path. On the other hand, it also slow the monk down, because keeping the Hook of mindfulness in front of him at all time is a bit too difficult. Furthermore, scents from the pink flower of sexual desire and the fruit of reputation are luring the monk to step out of his path. While the flowers and fruits are far to the side, they can easily distract the monk and defeat him at no time.

[Rancon]

**the following are rough translation only. Please be patient as I will try to make it "glossier" when I have time (as well as when I gain more understanding for the stuff. My knowledge right now is very limited). Please bear with me. If you have any questions please let me know and I will seek the answer from the advanced or from Tibu.**

Stage 3:
About perfect distance! The Monk throws his Noose out. Under the power of Alertness, Elephant was alarmed. Consequencely, the partially tamed animal turns around and realizes the Monk. At this point, Elephant (the Mind) and Monkey (Delusion)' most important body part - head and kneck - have changed in color. Just then, the Monk was able to see Rabbit of Refined Mind ( or Subtle Mind - Vi Te Tam), who was sitting on Elephant's back for the whole time.

You see, during Stage 1 and 2, the Monk didnt have enough Alertness to see that Rabbit was there. Now that he is at level 3 of meditation (the third dhyàna), he is able to see Rabbit sitting on top of Elephant. Simultaneously, his Hook of Mindfulness has been utilized smoothly. Hence, he no longer needs to raise it right in front of him all the time, but keeps it readily by his side.

At this stage, there are two different school of thoughts:

A/ The Tibetian Lamas points out that from stages 1 to 3, students should utilize Noose of Alertness more than Hook of Mindfulness. They argue that if once uses the Noose of Alertness more, they will be able to controll their confusion of heart. Once they have had it well under control, they can use Hook of Mindfulness to defeat bad habbits such as Sleepiness and Tiredness.

B/ Tibu, on the contrary, uses the Hook of Mindfulness at its max to  beat down both confusion, sleepiness, and tiredness. Perhaps because Tibu lives in a Tropical country, he follows the painting more litterally.

**Foot note: When you live in tropical countries, you often get very sleepy because of the weather being hot and humid. Infact, people take a nap after lunch because of this, even at business and government office.
However, Tibet are known to its high altitude and cold temperature, which is a completely opposite thing. Thats why there are different attitudes in meditating.

[Rancon]

Stage 4:

Elephant is on the verge of dying, he struggles and groans fiercely. The Monk has to shorten his Noose and step into the hazzradous distance. He is ready to fight a battle of live and death with the animal in order to completely tame it.

(Practically, a student will do  this in real life by moving on to advanced lessons, practice closely and carefully both the lessons and spiritual life experiences. And most importantly, keep in mind :"If they can do it, so can I").

Mean while, Monkey (the Delusion) is seeing Fruit of Status and Wealth on the sides of the path. He points and reaches out to grab them. Fortunately, Fire of Discipline stoped him and burned the Fruits down. In another word, when a student reaches this point, he can ask for anything: cars, mansions, etc., and easily gets them, as long as he compromises his faith in return. Which is why it is critical that Fire of Discipline ignited to burn those garbage down, helping the monk step up to Stage 5.

[quyettu]

ui trời!mình mới bít chập chững zài từ tiếng anh!đọc cứ rối mù cả lên!
ở đây viết song ngữ thì khỏe quá!ở trên mấy bạn viết tiếng anh sau đó phần dưới mấy bạn viết tiếng việt trên cùng một bài đăng có được hok zị?như thế vừa hiểu bài viết mà vừa học thêm được tiếng anh!hehe

[Rancon]

Phần tiếng việt đã có trong diễn đàn rồi. Làm một cái search là ra. "Tranh chăn voi".
Ở đây viết là viết cho những ai không đọc được tiếng việt, thì dùng cái chữ tiếng anh bập bõm của mình mà cố gắng viết cho họ đọc. Tui không có ép bạn đọc.
Tên topic là English Corner. Không phải là Bilingual Corner. Mục đích là truyền đạo, không phải dạy tiếng anh. Và cái đứa dịch bài này cũng không có tư cách dạy ai học tiếng anh cả, vì nó gần banh đâu rồi mà còn chưa dịch nổi phần còn lại.