rakShaN'-aarthena dharmasya
tath" eShiik ety udaahRtaa
loke 'smin dur-labhatvaac ca
ratnam ity abhibhaaShitaa
= - = = - = = -
- = = = - = - =
= = = - - = = -
= - - - - = - =
12.38
For its protection of the Dharma,
I call it the Arrow,
And from the difficulty of finding it in this world
I call it the Jewel.
COMMENT:
The use of the action noun rakShaNa (the act of protecting) plus arthena (on account of, for) with the genitive dharmasya (of/for, with respect to the Dharma) seems to have an indirectness about it which reflects the indirect way that confidence confers its benefits. The same construction appears in the 3rd line of the following verse.
How does confidence defend or protect the Dharma? The answer, I think, has to do with the fact that behaviour which corrupts or taints the original teaching of Buddha is rooted in fear. When we are seriously afraid it is very difficult for us not to grasp for or to hide behind whatever it is that makes us feel secure -- which might be our -ism of choice, or our drug of choice, or our habit of choice. In any event, the true Dharma is always not that.
So it is not that something called confidence intervenes directly to ward off the enemies of the Dharma; it is rather that the absence of fear prevents -isms and the like from arising in the first place. Confidence, as I see it, is not like using radiotherapy to battle lung cancer; it is more akin to not smoking cigarettes in the first place.
Why is real confidence so hard to find in this world? Because we human beings, we tottering bipeds with our precarious upright posture, are creatures of fear. Faced with fearful social situations, I for one was known in my youth to reach too often for my pint of beer and packet of Players No. 6. Later on I cultivated the habit of deliberately stiffening up, sitting as if I had swallowed a ruler, pulling my chin into my neck. Both responses were the same in essence: a deluded response to a deep lack of confidence, a vestibular-based fear, that I wanted somehow to beat -- or failing that, to mask.
From work as an Alexander teacher, and especially from work with children with immature vestibular reflexes, it seems to me that I am not the only one with that kind of deluded tendency. What Alexander called "faulty sensory appreciation" seems to be a universal human problem. At least, when you look for a person who isn't guided by faulty sense of feeling most of the time, but who is instead guided by real confidence (not just lip-service) in something other than their own feeling... it is very difficult to find such a person.
EH Johnston:
It is called the Reed-arrow from its power of protecting the Law, and is named the Jewel from the difficulty of finding it in this world.
Linda Covill:
It is declared to be 'the arrow' by reason of its protection of the dharma, and it is named 'the jewel' because it is so hard to find in this world.
VOCABULARY:
rakShaNa: the act of protecting
arthena (instrumental of artha): cause, reason, purpose, point
dharmasya = genitive of dharma: the teaching, the truth, the Dharma
tathaa: thus, so
iiShiikaa: f. a reed, cane; an arrow
iti: " "
udaahRta: said, declared, illustrated; called, named, entitled
loke (locative): in the world
asmin (locative): in this
dur-labhatvaat (ablative): because it is hard to find, from its rarity
ca: and
ratna: jewel, gem, treasure, precious stone
iti: " "
abhibhaaShitaa: addressed, spoken to
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