Studio être
Florilegium — The story’s quotations, their sources and their translations
In the story that opens the home page, a figure — the Vitruvian Man — practises, and every posture it holds, except the cartwheel, carries a sentence in the margin. The sentence does not name the posture: it says what postures are for — alignment, attention, intelligence, clarity, consciousness — in the words of the texts the method comes from and of the sciences that study it. A sentence belongs to the place where it is read, not to the posture: a posture that comes back further on says something else there. The florilegium gathers all these sentences, place by place, with the three quotations from the chapters.
Every sentence in the margin comes from a primary text in the public domain. Unless a translator is named, the English is the studio’s own, translated from the original text, whether Sanskrit, Chinese or French, and not from the French version of the site; William James is quoted in his own words. A few sentences are quoted as printed from nineteenth-century translations in the public domain, and the translator is named. For each sentence in the margin, the entry gives the author (or, failing that, the work), the exact reference of the passage and how it was translated; where relevant, the edition followed, what was cut and how a word was rendered.
The opening
As the manuscript opens, the figure practises alone, at its own pace, and the margin follows its postures.
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A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, III.5, tr. G. Long - Reference
- Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν III.5, last sentence (Greek: ed. J. H. Leopold, Teubner, 1908); cf. VII.12.
- Translation
- Tr. George Long, The Thoughts of the Emperor M. Aurelius Antoninus, London, 1862, as printed, “then” omitted (public domain).
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Yoga is skill in action.
Bhagavad Gītā, II.50 - Reference
- Bhagavad Gītā II.50d (yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam).
- Translation
- Studio’s translation.
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A sage turned his gaze inward, and saw himself.
Kaṭha Upaniṣad, II.1.1 - Reference
- Kaṭha Upaniṣad II.1.1cd (4.1 in continuous numbering): āvṛtta-cakṣus, pratyag-ātman; “amṛtatvam icchan” omitted; pratyag-ātman (the inner self) rendered “himself”.
- Translation
- Studio’s translation; cf. F. Max Müller, 1884.
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The length of a man’s outspread arms is equal to his height.
Leonardo da Vinci, Vitruvian Man, c. 1490, tr. J. P. Richter - Reference
- Venice, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Gabinetto dei disegni e stampe, inv. 228, text below the drawing.
- Translation
- Tr. Jean Paul Richter, The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci, London, 1883, vol. I, § 343, as printed (public domain).
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To concentrate is to hold the mind to a single point.
Patañjali, Yoga Sūtra, III.1 - Reference
- Yoga Sūtra III.1 (deśa-bandhaś cittasya dhāraṇā); deśa, “a place”, rendered “a single point”.
- Translation
- Studio’s translation; cf. J. H. Woods, 1914.
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Without going outside his door, one understands (all that takes place) under the sky.
Tao Te Ching, ch. 47, tr. J. Legge - Reference
- Daodejing, ch. 47 (不出戶，知天下); tr. James Legge, The Tâo Teh King, in The Texts of Tâoism, Sacred Books of the East XXXIX, Oxford, 1891, p. 89, as printed to the first semicolon, the brackets his (public domain).
- Translation
- Translation by J. Legge
Classical Yoga
In “Classical Yoga”, the figure moves from one posture to the next as you scroll down the page, while the pen draws the triangle; the line “Postures to align the whole system” introduces the first sentence.
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Āsana gives steadiness, health and lightness of limb.
Svātmārāma, Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā, I.17 - Reference
- Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā I.17 (Jyotsnā/Adyar, Bihar, critical ed.; I.19 in Pancham Sinh 1914 and GRETIL). “Lightness” follows the vulgate aṅgalāghavam (the critical ed. reads aṅgapāṭavam).
- Translation
- Studio’s translation.
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Attention is an effort, perhaps the greatest of efforts, but it is a negative effort.
Simone Weil, 1942 - Reference
- “Réflexions sur le bon usage des études scolaires en vue de l’amour de Dieu” (1942), in Attente de Dieu, Paris, La Colombe, 1950, p. 119.
- Translation
- Studio’s translation from the French.
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The body is the chariot; the intellect, the charioteer; the mind, the reins.
Kaṭha Upaniṣad, I.3.3 - Reference
- Kaṭha Upaniṣad I.3.3bcd (3.3 in continuous numbering), extract: the first pāda (the self, lord of the chariot) is omitted.
- Translation
- Studio’s translation; cf. F. Max Müller, 1884.
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It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to apply it well.
Descartes, Discourse on Method, I - Reference
- Discours de la méthode, Leiden, 1637, Part I, first paragraph (AT VI, 2); the opening “Car” omitted.
- Translation
- Studio’s translation from the French.
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Still water grows clear; a still mind, clearer still.
Zhuangzi, ch. 13 - Reference
- Zhuangzi, ch. 13 “天道” (Outer Chapters), opening: 水靜猶明，而況精神; the stillness of the mind, implied, is said.
- Translation
- Studio’s translation; cf. J. Legge, 1891.
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When the mind grows still, the seer rests in himself.
Patañjali, Yoga Sūtra, I.2–3 - Reference
- Yoga Sūtra I.2–3 together: the condition set in I.2 (yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ, which the page quotes) and I.3 (tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe ’vasthānam), so that the sentence stands on its own.
- Translation
- Studio’s translation; cf. J. H. Woods, 1914.
The three doors
In Chapter III, “The Method”, the sentences follow the three doors in their order — the body, the breath, the mind — and then the seated posture in which the mind’s door ends.
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By regulating the action… we can indirectly regulate the feeling.
William James, Talks to Teachers, 1899 - Reference
- “The Gospel of Relaxation”, in Talks to Teachers on Psychology: and to Students on Some of Life’s Ideals, New York, Henry Holt, 1899, p. 201; extract: the end of the sentence that begins “Action seems to follow feeling”, the clause “which is under the more direct control of the will” elided.
- Translation
- Original text.
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By practising the steps of yoga, what troubles the mind falls away, and knowledge grows bright.
Patañjali, Yoga Sūtra, II.28 - Reference
- Yoga Sūtra II.28 (yogāṅgānuṣṭhānād aśuddhi-kṣaye jñāna-dīptir ā viveka-khyāteḥ), extract: “ā viveka-khyāteḥ” omitted; aṅga (“limbs”) rendered “steps”, aśuddhi (“impurity”) “what troubles the mind”.
- Translation
- Studio’s translation; cf. J. H. Woods, 1914.
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Of the senses, the mind is master; of the mind, the breath.
Svātmārāma, Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā, IV.29 - Reference
- Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā IV.29, vulgate (indriyāṇāṃ mano nātho manonāthas tu mārutaḥ); 4.1 of the critical ed., the same text.
- Translation
- Studio’s translation; cf. Pancham Sinh, 1914.
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The observer’s mind must be passive, that is, keep silent; it listens to nature.
Claude Bernard, Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine, 1865 - Reference
- Introduction à l’étude de la médecine expérimentale, Paris, J.-B. Baillière, 1865, Part I, ch. I, § VI, p. 40; extract, cut before “et écrit sous sa dictée”.
- Translation
- Studio’s translation from the French.
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A lamp sheltered from the wind does not flicker: such is the image of the mastered mind.
Bhagavad Gītā, VI.19 - Reference
- Bhagavad Gītā VI.19 (yathā dīpo nivāta-stho neṅgate sopamā smṛtā | yogino yata-cittasya…); “the traditional image” condensed to “the image”.
- Translation
- Studio’s translation.
The chapters
Finally, the three quotations that close chapters I, III and V — Montaigne, Patañjali, Thoreau — are given with the reference the page prints; Montaigne is quoted in Cotton’s translation.
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When I dance, I dance; when I sleep, I sleep.
Montaigne, Essays, III, “Of Experience”, tr. C. Cotton -
Sthira-sukham āsanam. Posture: steady, and at ease.
Patañjali, Yoga Sūtra, II.46 -
To be awake is to be alive.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden