SAUNDARANANDA 16.1 - 16.6: The Four Noble Truths

16.1
evaM mano-dhaaraNayaa krameNa
vyapohya kim cit samupohya kim cit
dhyaanaani catvaary adhigamya yogii
praapnoty abhijNaa niyamena paNca

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16.1
"Thus, by methodically taking possession of the mind,

Getting rid of something
and gathering something together,

The practitioner makes the four dhyanas his own,

And duly acquires the fivefold power of knowing:

16.2
Rddhi-pravekaM ca bahu-prakaaraM
parasya cetash-carit'-aavabodham
atiita-janma-smaraNam ca diirghaM
divye vishuddhe shruti-cakShuShii ca

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16.2
The principal psychic power, taking many forms;

Then being awake to what others are thinking;

And remembering past lives from long ago;

And divine lucidity of ear; and of eye.

16.3
ataH paraM tattva-pariikShaNena
mano dadhaaty aasrava-saMkShayaaya
tato hi duHkha-prabhRtiini samyak-
catvaari satyaani padaany avaiti

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16.3
From then on, through investigation of what is,

He applies his mind to stopping off energy leaks,

For on this basis, fully, suffering and the rest --

The four truths -- are understood as fundamental steps:

16.4
baadh'-aatmakaM duHkham idaM praskataM
duHkhasya hetuH prabhav'aatmako 'yam
duHkha-kShayo niHsaran'-aatmako 'yam
traaN-aatmako 'yaM prashamaaya maargaH

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16.4
This is suffering, which is constant and akin to trouble;

This is the cause of suffering, akin to starting it;

This is cessation of suffering, akin to walking away.

And this, akin to a refuge, is a peaceable path.

16.5
ity aarya-satyaany avabudhya buddhyaa
catvaari samyak pratividhya c' aiva
sarv'-aasravaan bhaavanay" abhibhuuya
na jaayate shaantim avaapya bhuuyaH

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16.5
Understanding these noble truths,
by a process of reasoning

While getting to know the four as one,

He contains all leaks,
through the means of directed thought,

And, on finding peace, is no longer subject to becoming.

16.6
a-bodhato hy a-prativedhatash ca
tattv'-aatmakasy' aasya catuShTayasya
bhavaad bhaavaM yaati na shaantim eti
saMsaara-dolaam adhiruhya lokaH

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16.6
For by failing to wake up and come round

To this four, whose substance is what is,

Mankind goes from existence to existence
without finding peace --

The world is hoisted in the swing
of mass unconscious reaction.


COMMENT:
As befits a work in progress, I have changed the translation of 16.1 (from the versions posted on 13th February, and then 22nd May, last year), in light of Canto 15.

The metaphor we have just been studying of washing dirt away from the rudiments of gold, and then heating the fragments of gold so as to bring them together into a unified liquid mass, is a metaphor for the means whereby a practitioner of sitting-dhyana methodically takes possession of his own mind (mano-dhaaraNayaa krameNa), getting rid of something (faults like dirt) and gathering something together (the mind like molten gold which is turned in on itself during the backward step of sitting).

So this series of six verses forms a link between the metaphor at the end of the preceding canto and the coming detailed exposition of the four noble truths, the gist of which seems to have to do with cleansing the mind from the faults.

Because of the work we have done in 2009, going through Cantos 12 through 15, let us hope we can get closer this time round to the true intention of the most fundamental teaching of the Buddha, as recorded by Dogen in Shobogenzo chap. 10, Sho-aku-maku-sa. The chapter begins with the following verse, known as the Universal Precept of the Seven Buddhas:

SHO-AKU-MAKU-SA
Not to do any evil,
SHU-ZEN-BUGYO
To allow what is good,
JI-JO-GO-I
To cleanse one's own mind,
ZE-SHOBUTSU-KYO
This is the teaching of the buddhas.