The State of the Body

Filianic Sutras: The Clew of the Horse

Verses 47-49

Thou art not thy body, nor is it any portion of thee.

It is an estate thou hold'st for a time, and after a time shall pass from thee.

Therefore let thou have governance of thy body, nor let it be in anything thy ruler.

It is easy to assume that the body is our adversary. So much of what our culture teaches us is that the mind is superior to the body. Our culture teaches us to have shame in our body's apperance and functionality if it does not meet a narrow criteria for acceptance. Our culture teaches us that our bodies are what fails us when life gets hard and that illness is in some fashion a moral failing. Most of all, we are taught that we are our bodies.

We can not be condensed down to a fingernail or a hair clipping. We have limbs and organs but they do not make up the whole of what we are or who we are. If we were to lose one, or have one replaced, we remain unchanged except for what is gained from the experience. Still, social conventions teach us that the disabled and sick are their bodies through their disability and illness.

The Clew of the Horse passage I quoted above speaks of how we are not our bodies. It is something that can be quite hopeful when one is suffering from a chronic ailment. We are not our illness. We are not our weaknesses in body or inability to do something. We are more than this. It is the third line of the passage that is challenging when living with conditions where the body exerts heavy influence upon one's mind.

Governance of our bodies is an adominshment for moderation in how we treat our bodies. It is care and consideration for what we consume and put into our bodies. It is the exercise of restraint in cases where excess may lead to problems with our health and welfare. It is the careful regimine of exercise that we engage in to promote our greater health when we have the ability to do so.

This is not an exhortation to feel guilt because faulty biochemistry has given you an illness you can not control. This is not an admonishment of any sort for weaknesses that are associated with addictions of any sort. It is most definitely and in absolute certianty not an argument that we must be completely stoic about any and all challenges that come into our lives.

This passage is a lesson that we must be tender and careful in how we approach our bodies. It is a reminder that we are more than what our bodies show us to be. It is a gentle lesson that we must handle ourselves with care because our bodies are fragile and must be attended to well. As well as a lesson in self discipline in the face of temptations to not be as responsible in the care and feeding of our bodies.