SAUNDARANANDA 17.64: Words that Turn Us Back

ahaM hy an-aaryena shariira-jena
duHk'-aatmake vartmani kRShyamaaNaH
nivartitas tad-vacan'-aaNkushena
darp'-aanvito naaga iv'-aaNkushena

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17.64
For while being dragged, by ignoble physicality,

Down a path pregnant with suffering,

I was turned back by the hook of his words,

Like an elephant in musk by a driver's hook.

COMMENT:
There is intellectual discussion in which words beget more words, and there are words of buddhas that turn people back.

So, on turning back from intellectual activity, Zen Master Dogen wrote:

GON O TAZUNE GO O OU NO GEGYO O KYU SUBESHI.
Cease the intellectual activity
of seeking words and chasing sayings.
EKO-HENSHO NO TAIHO O GAKU SUBESHI.
Learn the backward step of turning light and letting it shine.
SHIN-JIN JINNEN NI DATSURAKU SHITE,
Body and mind spontaneously drop off,
HONRAI NO MENMOKU GENZEN SEN.
And the original features emerge.

And these words of Dogen might be only a distant echo of the golden turning words of the Buddha himself:

16.42
Then comprehend that suffering is doing

And witness the faults moving it forward.

Realise its stopping as non-doing,

And know the path as a turning back.


EH Johnston:
For I, who was full of wantonness and was being carried away by ignoble (desire) born of the body down the path whose nature is suffering, have been turned back from it by the goad of His words, like a must elephant by a goad.

Linda Covill:
For I was being pulled down the path of suffering by ignoble physicality, but I was turned back, hooked by his words, as a proud elephant is turned back with a hook.

VOCABULARY:
aham (nom. sg.): I
hi: for
an-aaryena = inst. sg. an-aarya: mfn. not honourable or respectable , vulgar , inferior
shariira-jena = inst. sg. shariira-ja: mfn. produced from or belonging to or performed with the body , bodily; m. lust , passion
shariira: the body
ja: mfn. ( √jan) ifc. born or descended from , produced or caused by

duHkh'-aatmake = loc. duHk-aatmaka: composed of suffering
duHkha: suffering
aatamaka: having or consisting of the nature or character of (in comp.), composed of
vartmani = loc. sg. vartman: n. the track or rut of a wheel , path , road , way , course (lit. and fig.) RV. &c (instr. or loc. ifc. = by way of, along , through , by)
kRShyamaaNaH (nom. sg. m. pres. part. passive kRSh): being dragged

nivartitaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. turned or brought back
tad-vacan-aaNkushena: by the hook of his words
tad: those, his
vacana: speech , sentence , word
aNkusha: mn. a hook , especially an elephant-driver's hook

darpa: m. ( dRp) pride , arrogance , haughtiness , insolence , conceit ; musk
dRp: to be mad or foolish , to rave ; to be extravagant or wild , to be arrogant or proud , to be wildly delighted
anvitaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. gone along with; having as an essential or inherent part , endowed with , possessed of , possessing
naagaH (nom. sg.): m. an elephant
iva: like
aNkushena (inst. sg.): by the hook