SAUNDARANANDA 13.8: Versatility, Fellow-Feeling, & Indirect Means of Healing

atash ca saMdadhe kaayaM
mahaa-karuNayaa tayaa
mocayeyaM kathaM duHkhaat
sattvaan' ity anukampakaH

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13.8
Thus did the benevolent one take on,

Out of that great compassion,

A form by which he might release from suffering

Fellow living beings.

COMMENT:
In six verses from 13.3 to 13.8 Ashvaghosha in his indirect way has taken us on a diversion from the main narrative in order to tell us what qualities the Buddha exemplified as a teacher. This verse, as I read it, is the concluding verse in that series of six.

A more literal translation of the verse is:

Thus did he gird together a body,

Out of that great compassion,

"By which means I might release from suffering

Living beings:" so [reasoned] he of fellow-feeling.

What the verse is describing, as I read it, is nothing too mystical or miraculous: just the kind of versatility and fellow-feeling that is exhibited by many good teachers of the present day -- in Alexander work and in other fields.

An example that springs to mind of taking on a form, or girding a body, with a view to releasing others from suffering, is that of FM Alexander: he of Tasmanian bushman's eyes and Edwardian gent's suit. Again, to engage in play an infant suffering from developmental delay, the only place to be is down on the floor.

"That great compassion" in mahaa-karuNayaa tayaa refers I think specifically to cikits'-aartham in the previous verse, i.e, the intention, through the use of various indirect means, to heal.

The truest manifestation of the Buddha's fellow-feeling, it seems to me, was that he gave to others the indirect means to help themselves. A healer is not much use to anybody if he temporarily releases his patient from the symptoms of suffering without addressing the root cause. Speaking for myself, I only really began to get this point under the influence of the teaching of -- you guessed it -- FM Alexander.

EH Johnston:
And so out of the greatness of His compassion He had put on a mortal body in His sympathy that He might release all beings from suffering.

Linda Covill:
In his sympathy discerning how he might free sentient beings from suffering, with great compassion he had taken on a bodily form.

VOCABULARY:
atash: from this, hence
ca: and
saMdadhe = 3rd person singular, perfect of saMdhaa: to place or hold or put or draw or join or fasten or fix or sew together , unite, (with manas , " to compose the mind "); make use of
kaayam (accusative): body

mahaa: (f.) great
karuNayaa = instrumental of karuNaa: f. pity , compassion
tayaa = instrumental of saa: (f.) that

muc: to release, set free, liberate, let loose
mocayeyam (1st person singular, present causative, optative of muc): I might release, set free, liberate, let loose
katham: how
duHkhaat (ablative): from suffering

sattvaani (accusative, plural): being, living or sentient being
iti: " "
anukampakaH (nominative, singular): the compassionate one, the sympathizer, he of fellow-feeling