an-arha-saMsaara-bhayaM
maan'aarhaM te cikiirShitam
raag'-aagnis taadRsho yasya
dharm'-onmukha paraaN-mukhaH
- = - = = - - =
= = = = - = - -
= = = = - = = -
= = - - - = - =
12.26
In its fear of worthless flux
Your intention is worthy of respect,
For a fire of passion such as yours
Is being re-directed, upwards,
in the direction of the Dharma.
COMMENT:
I wish I could be more confident in my understanding of Sanskrit grammar, but the 3rd and 4th lines, as I read them, are constructed in the style of a nominal sentence whose essence is nominal subject (raag’-aagniH; a fire of passion) and nominal non-verbal predicate (paraaN-mukhaH; a turning away).
So a literal reading, as I understand it, is:
“A fire of passion such as yours is a turning away which is Dharma/upwards-looking.”
I suspect that EH Johnston veered from the literal translation, as translators are ever prone to do, because he could not understand it. But maybe it is me who has got it wrong, in which case, if anybody knows or thinks I have got it wrong, I would be grateful to be corrected or happy to be challenged.
What the Buddha is praising, as I hear him, is Nanda’s intention to re-direct his emotional energy of fear and lust. The Buddha in this verse is encouraging Nanda, I think, not to disown or deny his emotional energy, not to turn his back on it, but rather to channel it for a higher good -- to “sublimate” his energy, to borrow a word from the alchemists who, in their own way, were also after gold.
This description of energy being re-directed then leads to the Buddha’s description in the following verse of how difficult it can be to keep one’s re-directed libido flowing constantly in the new, consciously-chosen direction -- which might primarily be up along the spine.
If I have got the grammar wrong then by continuing with this comment I am only digging myself into a deeper hole. Anyway, here goes:
At the place Master Dogen called “the inside of sitting,” there might not be any Dharma to look up at. But going up might be the Dharma itself.
So in the compound dharma’onmukha, or “Dharma/upwards” as I read it, there may be a hint that the up of upright sitting is the Dharma, and the Dharma is the up of upright sitting.
The syllable pronounced as on in the compound dharm’onmukha is originally ud, which means up.
ud + mukha = un-mukha;
dharma + unmukha = dharm’onmukha.
If we find a place where nobody can hear us and try reciting the verse in Sanskrit, the first two syllables of the fourth line are heavy, or long, and they are bordered by four light syllables. So those two long syllables seem to have pride of place in the verse.
dharm’on
Dharma / Up
I think Ashvaghosha is giving us a clue here as to what is of primary importance.
The ud of dharm’onmukha is the up of upright sitting. The difficulty for many of us who sit is that our senses, centred on faulty vestibular functioning, are set against it: what we feel to be up is liable to be down. For such a faulty individual, learning the backward step includes learning not to feel up but to think up.
EH Johnston:
Your intention deserves to be honoured, in that it holds the dangers of the cycle of existence to be unworthy ; for you are facing towards the Law and have turned your back on so great a fire of passion.
Linda Covill:
Worthy of honour is your intention and its fear of a worthless samsara. You have put that kind of fiery passion behind you; you are facing the dharma.
VOCABULARY:
an-arha: unworthy
saMsaara: flowing together, mass unconscious reaction
bhayam (accusative): fear , alarm, dread, danger
maana: consideration , regard , respect , honour
arham (accusative): worthy
te (genitive): of you
cikiirShitam (accusative): n. " intended to be done , designed " , purpose , design , intention
raaga: redness, passion
aagniH (nominal): fire
taadRshaH (nominal): of such a kind, so
yasya (genitive): of whom
dharma: the teaching, the Dharma, the Truth
unmukha (ud + mukha): mf(i)n. raising the face , looking up
ud: up, upwards
mukha: face
paraaN-mukhaH (nominative): having the face turned away or averted , turning the back upon
3 comments:
Here is my understanding of the syntax of this verse:
There is no doubt about that (as you write) "raag'-aagni" (fire of passion) is the subject, and "paraaN-mukhaH" (turning away) is the nominal predicate.
So "… raag'-aagnis taadRsho yasya … paraaN-mukhaH" literally means: “…, who has (“yasya”) such a fire of passion that is turning away”.
“dharma-unmukha” is in vocative case,: “O you, who is raising the face towards / is looking at the dharma”. “dharma-unmukha” is not (directly) qualifying the “fire of passion”, but Nanda himself.
Line b, c and d can literally be translated as:
“Your intention is worthy of respect, for a fire of passion such as yours – O you, rising the face up to the dharma – is turning away.”
So the connection between “face upward to the dharma” (unmukha) and the “turning away of the passion” is not directly expressed in the syntax of the Sanskrit sentence. But a process of transformation (as in your interpretation) might be a hidden meaning.
That is an extremely clear and helpful translation and explanation and I am very grateful. I will change the translation accordingly when posting the whole canto next week. Thank you very much.
Having slept on it, as a translation that reflects Karttikeya's elucidation of the literal meaning, and also reflects what might be the hidden meaning of the ud in unmukha...
12.26
In its fear of worthless flux
Your intention is worthy of respect,
For a fire of passion such as yours,
Upward looking Dharma-seeker,
is changing direction.
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