MEDITATIONS: THE DHAMMAPADA, CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The Elephant

It is a mistake to conceive of a human being as merely an individual. But make no second mistake; that is not to say that group identity is more primary that the singular person. While societies are fundamentally built on the family, tribe, polis, and nation, community is composed most fundamentally of individual members. The single is the more essential component than the collective—that is to say that the singular is what composes the essence of the collective.

What, then, comprises the essence of the individual?

Returning to our first mistake, that being the taking of a single person as singular. He is not. A human being is a fracted animal. He possesses many instincts, many biological drives, and these primordial motives do not always—or even often—arrive at the same desire. And that is to say nothing of the ego, the proud “I” which claims responsibility for things well beyond its capacity to provide—such as the next sentence out of one’s mouth: ask thyself, from whence cometh thine idea before it emerged in thy conscious awareness?

An honest man admits at this junction that he is not alone in his own house, and a wise man goes so far as to confess that he is not even the master.

Human consciousness is like a rider atop an elephant. it is the beast which ultimately makes the decision to turn or to stop or to trample all those around. The rider merely makes suggestions at the best of times. At the worst, he lies—he rationalizes the elephant’s behavior as his own decision making when he lacks any such control—of himself or of the elephant.

That is why the tamed—read: discipled, trained, cultivated—beast is to be valued above all those like it. Likewise, that is why the disciplined, trained, cultivated self is to be valued above any prized beast one might have in his possession:

As an elephant in battle
Endures an arrow shot from a bow,
So will I endure verbal abuse;
Many people, indeed, lack virtue

The tamed elephant is the one
They take into a crowd.
The tamed elephant is the one
The king mounts.
Best among humans is the tamed person
Who endures verbal abuse.

Excellent are tamed mules,
Thoroughbreds, horses of the Indrus valley,
Tusked elephants and great elephants.
But even more excellent
Are people who have tamed themselves.

Not by means of these animals could one go
To that place not gone to,
Where a self-tamed person goes
By means of a well-tamed, disciplined self. (Buddha 78)

Just like a well trained beast of burden resists temptations, urges, and retaliatory impulses, so too does the self-disciplined soul. This is self-mastery as opposed to self-slavery—and worse. For when one possesses to the capacity to choose whether or not to react to the abuse cast against him, he is in control; his elephant is calm and receptive to his commands. However, he who has failed to master himself will find that he isn’t just his own slave, at the whims of his biological impulses. No. he will also discover, to his horror, that his is the slave of every belligerent assailant to cast aspersions his way.

Failing to resist reacting to another’s words is to hand that person the reins of your soul. The heckler taunts, and like puppets we act in accordance with his provocations. We are his slaves, then. Or, better said, we are lawyers on behalf of elephants that don’t even belong to us but to our loudest, most belligerent enemy.

That is why one should conceive of himself as many. He is his own traveling companion, and:

If you find an intelligent companion,
A fellow traveler
A sage of good conduct,
You should travel together,
Delighted and mindful,
Overcoming all dangers. (79)

But . . .

There is no companionship with a fool;
It is better to go alone.
Travel alone, at ease, doing no evil
Like the elephant Matanga in the forest. (80)

Taken literally, the moral is simple. Seek good influences who will help you steer yourself along the Path. Avoid the bad who will drag you with them down to Hell. However, when considered in regard to oneself as his own companion, new meanings emerge.

If we are like well-tamed elephants, disciplined and self-mastered, we can trust ourselves to intuit the Path. We can retain faith that our feelings are to be trusted, that in hard times we will look out for ourselves.

If we are ill-trained, undisciplined moral slaves, then we will only ever lead ourselves astray from the Path. We will lose faith again and again and again. We will self-sabotage when things get hard—because those hard times and cruel people will be the true masters of our elephants. In this case, it is better not to journey outwardly at all. To try to cross a narrow mountain pass on an unruly animal is foolishness. Stop, tame the beast first, which means reflecting and coming to terms with what lives in the forest—the unconscious and the unknown.

Only then can the Path to happiness become traversable:

Happiness is having friends when the need arrises.
Happiness is contentment with whatever there is.
Happiness is merit at the end of one’s life.
Happiness is the abandoning of all suffering. . . .
Happiness is virtue lasting through old age.
Happiness is steadfast faith.
Happiness is the attainment of wisdom.
Not doing evil is happiness. (80)

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama. The Dhammapada; Teachings of the Buddha, translated by Gil Fronsdal, Shambala Publications Inc, 2008.