aho pratyavamarsho 'yaM
shreyasas te purojavaH
araNyaaM mathyamaanaayaam
agner dhuuma iva' otthitaH
12.19
"Aha! This gaining of a foothold
Is the harbinger of a higher good in you,
As, when a firestick is rubbed,
Rising smoke is the harbinger of fire.
COMMENT:
The spontaneous exclamation expressed in Sanskrit as aho we might render into English as Ah! or Oh! or Aha! It is a sound that doesn't mean anything. At the same time, it means a lot.
The pratyavamarsha of the first line I have translated as "gaining of a foothold." I understand it to mean Nanda's gaining of a foothold in his struggle to consciously direct his own energy, autonomously, instead of allowing energy to leak out here and there as happens when we are a slave to emotional reaction. This gaining of a foothold, equally, might be called an insight or a true conception: as described in 12.8, 12.14, and 12.16, Nanda has become acutely aware of, and shocked by the changeability of, the cycle of unconscious reaction.
The pratyavamarsha of the first line of this verse is also the chapter title. EH Johnston notes:
It is hard to determine the exact meaning of pratyavamarsha as it does not apparently occur in any other Buddhist work, Sanskrit or Pali... The original meaning of mRsh with pratyava seems to be 'lay hold of,' which suggests that it means the first step in the path of enlightenment, consisting of laying hold of the Law by faith in the Buddha.
The dictionary gives primacy to the mental aspect of pratyavamarsha, i.e., making contact mentally, forming a mental conception. But the more concrete original meaning that Johnston indicates also appeals. If we go with the more concrete meaning, that the kind of hold intended might be a foothold fits with the title of chapter 14 aadi-prasthaanaH, which carries a connotation of walking; e.g., "The First Steps" or "Initial Marching Out," and with the meta-metaphor of truth of a path, the fourth noble truth.
There is evidence to support both "gaining a foothold" and "touching mentally" in the next verse, where the Buddha tells Nanda he has set foot on a true path, with the kind of insight that does not become confused.
For the moment, as a title of this chapter, I am leaning towards "Gaining a Foothold," because this wording suggests in particular Nanda's readiness to stand on his own two feet. Whereas Nanda has hitherto shown a dependent attitude, from here he is deemed ready to assume responsibility for working on himself -- like a patient who has become well enough to take care of himself without medical supervision, or like a child ready to ride a bicycle without the stabilizing hand of a parent.
In the metaphor of the firestick, it is not that fire is created by twirling the firestick. The 2nd law of thermodynamics describes the tendency that wood always has to combust spontaneously, unless prevented from doing so by activation energy barriers. What the twirling of the firestick does is break down the activation energy barriers so that combustion can begin, whereupon combustion will tend to continue as a spontaneous process.
This, as I see it, is why twirling of the firestick to start a fire is such an excellent and recurrent metaphor. The point is that we have to persist with consciously directed effort, in order to initiate a spontaneous process of energy flow. That is the central irony of sitting practice: the need to make a great and sustained conscious effort in order to initiate a process that we wish in the end simply to allow, as a spontaneous flow of energy.
Sitting with the body is the breaking down of mental barriers, and sitting with the mind is the breaking down physical barriers. As physical and mental activation energy barriers are thus broken down, sitting tends to assert itself, so that body and mind spontaneously drop away and our original features emerge.
I am afraid this attempt to express spontaneity, by the worst of listeners, is too long-winded and convoluted. The Best of Listeners put it much better in a word:
aho!
EH Johnston:
' Ah! This discernment arises as the harbinger of the highest good for you, as the smoke, rising when the stick is rubbed, is the harbinger of the fire.
Linda Covill:
"Oh! This comprehension is the precursor of Excellence arising in you, just as when a firestick is rotated, smoke arises as a precursor of fire.
VOCABULARY:
aho: Ah! (expressing praise)
mRsh: to touch, stroke, handle ; to touch mentally, consider, reflect, deliberate
pratyava-mRsh: to touch; to reflect, to meditate
pratyava-marshaH (nominative, singular): inner contemplation, profound meditation; counter conclusion ; recollection ; consciousness
ayam: this
shreyasaH = genitive of shreyas: most excellent, the best ; the better state ; good (as opposed to evil)
te (genitive): of you, belonging to you, inherent in you
purojavaH (nominative, singular): m. one who goes before
araNyaam = locative of araNi: f. firestick
mathya: to be rubbed out of, to be extracted from
mathyamaana (present participle): being extracted by rubbing
agneH = ablative/genitive of agni: fire
dhuuma: smoke
iva: like
utthita: risen or rising
No comments:
Post a Comment