Hi Mike,
As you know I was interested not in the translation of Saundarananda or other teachings of this type, but in you and your relationship with Nishijima, with the Alexander Technique and Marjory Barlow. You pointed me out the one thing I was looking for in Nishijma, you made me discover the Alexander Technique and the work of John Appleton that gave me some precious insights.
Interacting with you in the blog has been somewhat difficult :)
Thinking about what else to say in this blog a couple of dreams came to my mind.
The first one dates back to something like five or six years ago.
I was with my children on the beach and I called them for a walk: "Come with me, let go of playing with those toys on the beach! Come with me up there, come with me to the top of the horizon." We left the beach and walked on the sea (yes, in the dream we were walking on water). We were soon almost out of breath: the sea was very steep (!). After a while we reached the top and looked down from the cliff edge of the sea: "Look! how big is the sea...". Then one of my sons fell down the cliff, I plunged after him trying to save him, and I woke up. And I thought: "Why? why it has to be so hard? Why for someone (like me!) even the sea has to be uphill?"
The search for gold in the title reminded me of another dream I had when I was a teenager:
I was a man (I was very often male in my dreams when I was a child, they changed later when I became "a woman" with sexual desires and the rest - the woman of the "tirade" I suppose XD ) and I was climbing a mountain. I had been climbing for a long time (years?) and I was still in the forest but I knew that the top of the mountain was made of gold. It was a perfect pyramid of shining gold.Suddenly I found myself in a place, a house, looking from a window at the sunset on the golden mountain in front of me. For some reason I couldn't understand, I had given up that search for gold as meaningless and I was resting at home. There is a flavor of "waiting for something that it is going to happen" in that resting but I cannot say if I'm adding it right now...
☺♥
d.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Individual Use of the Head (6): Happi
Pre-amble:
It's somewhat difficult for me to sort out the contribution that Saundarananda has made in my understanding of what the Buddha taught from the contributions made by your commentary and my reading of Dogen (not to mention other reading, events, and influences), especially since I began reading Dogen and this blog within a couple of months of each other. I think they complemented each other to keep me on my toes questioning, rather than accepting, my understanding of other things I was learning. One uniqueness of Saundarananda is that as an epic poem it attempts to teach at least in part by example rather than by concept. The examples that come most readily to mind relate to the concepts of asceticism, holding views, striving (or end-gaining), compassion and skillful means, as well as how these concepts are inter-related.
You recently asked me to say something about how I, as a woman and a scientist, responded to the striver's tirade against women. My short answer at the time was "that it seemed only to reflect on his own inability to work through for himself what is probably the most difficult subject in the history of the human race and, I think it's safe to say, continues to be so to this day."
For a couple of reasons I've decided to respond at greater length:
(1) I realized that my answer "it seemed only to reflect on his own inability to work through for himself" is basically the same answer I've been giving most of my life as I encounter difficulties in my interactions with people in order to keep myself from taking things too personally (or at least drop off my defensive responses more readily). Although the answer has truth in it and thus is frequently taught in Western Buddhism and its derivatives and spin-offs, for me I think I learned it sometime in my teens. And to be honest, that answer, in retrospect, typically hasn't worked out that well for me. In addition, because I typically have not been outspoken I also haven't done much in the way of correcting what I see as flaws in the attitudes of either the scientific community or society in general -- though it should be said I have no wish for one of my major roles in life to be a crusader.
(2) When you asked me to respond as a woman and a scientist to the striver's tirade against women, I was initially offended because I thought it was rude and insensitive. I read your blog because I am interested in the Buddha-Dharma -- it shouldn't matter whether I am a woman (or a scientist for that matter). In fact I think this has been a source of some the friction in our exchanges.
Whether your request reflects a progressive attitude or a regressive one I don't know. Using the mirror principle and examining the reasons for my initially offended response, I decided to use this opportunity to treat the request progressively. Here's why: In science, the large majority of women have to bury the fact that they are women to succeed beyond their attainment of PhD (or whatever degree). I could go on about this in greater length but I think making the point is probably enough here. The fact is I am a student of the Buddha-Dharma, a scientist, ... and a woman.
My answer:
At the time you presented and discussed the canto, I didn't have a strong reaction to the striver's tirade against women. The striver's attitude seemed so absurd that I dismissed it thinking he must have a horrible experience in his history to warrant such a tirade. And yes, it identified that he had some work to do study self. Not too long ago though, I happened to encounter some graffiti in a John that read "Boys Suck!" Even though I cannot ever remember having that thought before, on that particular day I could relate because my actions on that day had been interpreted as coming from me as a woman rather than me as a scientist, and used in a way that I consider abuse. (I will say that I recognize that my own attempts to retain a good sense of humor and to be compassionate and make allowances for people gives not only those people but others behaving out of ignorance permission to continue abusive behavior.)
In short, I can find something in me that, rather than responding to the striver's tirade against women with a tirade about how stupid he was, can relate and even see the potential causes and conditions that could give rise to such a tirade. That's an interesting surprise to me. Dogen says to 'study the self is to forget the self'. Is that because when we study ourselves long enough and hard enough, we can find the capacity for, if not the actual existence of, every possible human role and/or response? Does studying the self eventually teach us what real compassion is in order to allow us to deal with those who treat us badly out of their own ignorance? What would that compassion actually look like? I think it would differ in different circumstances and vary depending on the person. It is something that's not always easy to identify. Dogen, I think, would say to just keep practicing and the appropriate response arises naturally.
What I was originally going to try to write was a redux of modern equivalents to some of the situations and characters in Saundarananda. A few that come readily to mind:
1. What were Nanda, the Buddha and/or Aśvaghoṣa thinking having Nanda leave Sundarī without informing her at least by sending a messenger?
2. What would have happened if Nanda could have gone back and asked Sundarī if she wanted to accompany him -- as would be the case in the present day. I can imagine all sorts of scenarios coming out of that that might have been equally skillful means and would have resolved Nanda's attachment to Sundarī one way or another. I guess it would have depended on what kind of woman Sundarī was.
3. The modern day equivalent to the Buddha's skillful means would be something like a brother taking his recently separated brother to a topless bar or something. Is that actually helpful in the majority of cases?
I don't have an answer to how to resolve the difficulties in interactions between the sexes. It's not enough to bury gender as is commonly done in the sciences. I could give you a number of reasons why that approach is a failure as well. Although it seems ludicrous maybe everyone needs to wear tags to identify what role we are speaking or acting from at any particular moment. I think everyone has to continue working at it.
I think a more complete redux of Saundarananda might be fun. As I mentioned, I plan on continuing with the cantos that I missed and then review the cantos without the commentary, but exactly when I'd get to it I don't know. At the moment I still have a substantial amount to read in the Shobogenzo and I have to admit I give the Shobogenzo priority over Saundarananda. The logic behind the priority relates to another difference I perceive between the Shobogenzo and Saundarananda, though not having completely read either. The difference relates to the fact that the Shobogenzo, which translates to The True Dharma Eye Treasury, gives Dogen's best advice on how to see with and use our Dharma eye in our practice. I'm not yet convinced that Saundarananda accomplishes that as well though I have a few cantos yet to read through. Also as far as the Buddha-Dharma is concerned and Zen in particular, Dogen appears to have one of the most enlightened attitudes towards women I've encountered to date.
As always thanks for your efforts Mike -- both in this translation and your daily digging away at your own good self (and others) for the cause of the Buddha-Dharma.
Princess Leia
P.S. I have to admit that on the occasions I've seen the movie(s) I haven't gotten into the Princess Leia character that much. She seems like a snooty know-it-all with a goodly dose of airhead. These days, partially due to to your commentary and dissecting of your own self, I have a better sense of why her character grated. At least she wasn't too bad with a gun.
It's somewhat difficult for me to sort out the contribution that Saundarananda has made in my understanding of what the Buddha taught from the contributions made by your commentary and my reading of Dogen (not to mention other reading, events, and influences), especially since I began reading Dogen and this blog within a couple of months of each other. I think they complemented each other to keep me on my toes questioning, rather than accepting, my understanding of other things I was learning. One uniqueness of Saundarananda is that as an epic poem it attempts to teach at least in part by example rather than by concept. The examples that come most readily to mind relate to the concepts of asceticism, holding views, striving (or end-gaining), compassion and skillful means, as well as how these concepts are inter-related.
You recently asked me to say something about how I, as a woman and a scientist, responded to the striver's tirade against women. My short answer at the time was "that it seemed only to reflect on his own inability to work through for himself what is probably the most difficult subject in the history of the human race and, I think it's safe to say, continues to be so to this day."
For a couple of reasons I've decided to respond at greater length:
(1) I realized that my answer "it seemed only to reflect on his own inability to work through for himself" is basically the same answer I've been giving most of my life as I encounter difficulties in my interactions with people in order to keep myself from taking things too personally (or at least drop off my defensive responses more readily). Although the answer has truth in it and thus is frequently taught in Western Buddhism and its derivatives and spin-offs, for me I think I learned it sometime in my teens. And to be honest, that answer, in retrospect, typically hasn't worked out that well for me. In addition, because I typically have not been outspoken I also haven't done much in the way of correcting what I see as flaws in the attitudes of either the scientific community or society in general -- though it should be said I have no wish for one of my major roles in life to be a crusader.
(2) When you asked me to respond as a woman and a scientist to the striver's tirade against women, I was initially offended because I thought it was rude and insensitive. I read your blog because I am interested in the Buddha-Dharma -- it shouldn't matter whether I am a woman (or a scientist for that matter). In fact I think this has been a source of some the friction in our exchanges.
Whether your request reflects a progressive attitude or a regressive one I don't know. Using the mirror principle and examining the reasons for my initially offended response, I decided to use this opportunity to treat the request progressively. Here's why: In science, the large majority of women have to bury the fact that they are women to succeed beyond their attainment of PhD (or whatever degree). I could go on about this in greater length but I think making the point is probably enough here. The fact is I am a student of the Buddha-Dharma, a scientist, ... and a woman.
My answer:
At the time you presented and discussed the canto, I didn't have a strong reaction to the striver's tirade against women. The striver's attitude seemed so absurd that I dismissed it thinking he must have a horrible experience in his history to warrant such a tirade. And yes, it identified that he had some work to do study self. Not too long ago though, I happened to encounter some graffiti in a John that read "Boys Suck!" Even though I cannot ever remember having that thought before, on that particular day I could relate because my actions on that day had been interpreted as coming from me as a woman rather than me as a scientist, and used in a way that I consider abuse. (I will say that I recognize that my own attempts to retain a good sense of humor and to be compassionate and make allowances for people gives not only those people but others behaving out of ignorance permission to continue abusive behavior.)
In short, I can find something in me that, rather than responding to the striver's tirade against women with a tirade about how stupid he was, can relate and even see the potential causes and conditions that could give rise to such a tirade. That's an interesting surprise to me. Dogen says to 'study the self is to forget the self'. Is that because when we study ourselves long enough and hard enough, we can find the capacity for, if not the actual existence of, every possible human role and/or response? Does studying the self eventually teach us what real compassion is in order to allow us to deal with those who treat us badly out of their own ignorance? What would that compassion actually look like? I think it would differ in different circumstances and vary depending on the person. It is something that's not always easy to identify. Dogen, I think, would say to just keep practicing and the appropriate response arises naturally.
What I was originally going to try to write was a redux of modern equivalents to some of the situations and characters in Saundarananda. A few that come readily to mind:
1. What were Nanda, the Buddha and/or Aśvaghoṣa thinking having Nanda leave Sundarī without informing her at least by sending a messenger?
2. What would have happened if Nanda could have gone back and asked Sundarī if she wanted to accompany him -- as would be the case in the present day. I can imagine all sorts of scenarios coming out of that that might have been equally skillful means and would have resolved Nanda's attachment to Sundarī one way or another. I guess it would have depended on what kind of woman Sundarī was.
3. The modern day equivalent to the Buddha's skillful means would be something like a brother taking his recently separated brother to a topless bar or something. Is that actually helpful in the majority of cases?
I don't have an answer to how to resolve the difficulties in interactions between the sexes. It's not enough to bury gender as is commonly done in the sciences. I could give you a number of reasons why that approach is a failure as well. Although it seems ludicrous maybe everyone needs to wear tags to identify what role we are speaking or acting from at any particular moment. I think everyone has to continue working at it.
I think a more complete redux of Saundarananda might be fun. As I mentioned, I plan on continuing with the cantos that I missed and then review the cantos without the commentary, but exactly when I'd get to it I don't know. At the moment I still have a substantial amount to read in the Shobogenzo and I have to admit I give the Shobogenzo priority over Saundarananda. The logic behind the priority relates to another difference I perceive between the Shobogenzo and Saundarananda, though not having completely read either. The difference relates to the fact that the Shobogenzo, which translates to The True Dharma Eye Treasury, gives Dogen's best advice on how to see with and use our Dharma eye in our practice. I'm not yet convinced that Saundarananda accomplishes that as well though I have a few cantos yet to read through. Also as far as the Buddha-Dharma is concerned and Zen in particular, Dogen appears to have one of the most enlightened attitudes towards women I've encountered to date.
As always thanks for your efforts Mike -- both in this translation and your daily digging away at your own good self (and others) for the cause of the Buddha-Dharma.
Princess Leia
P.S. I have to admit that on the occasions I've seen the movie(s) I haven't gotten into the Princess Leia character that much. She seems like a snooty know-it-all with a goodly dose of airhead. These days, partially due to to your commentary and dissecting of your own self, I have a better sense of why her character grated. At least she wasn't too bad with a gun.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Individual Use of the Head (5): Malcolm
Part One
I started to write in response to your call for testimony a few days ago. Late last night (Nov 25) I was getting close to signing off on my well-considered, nicely expressed thoughts and sending them to you. But this morning, checking whether I'd honestly written what I honestly thought, and having read the latest instalment of your chat with Happi/Gisela (Nov 24/25), I got to thinking…and I noticed, not for the first time, that not having read Saundarananda, I was at a disadvantage.
I’ve read the verses as they’ve appeared each day and sped through one or two finished cantos, but I’ve not read the whole thing from beginning to end or, I confess, given it that much thought. I have been listening, but not always intently. I regret that I can’t tell you that Saundarananda has helped my practice, given me great insights, or knocked my socks off in any way – not that there haven’t been moments of admiration and recognition. I regret not having been affected by Saundarananda because it’s clear that Ashvaghosha’s poem means a lot to you. As they say in these parts, I ain't gonna lie - the truth is, I’ve not been moved by Ashvaghosha’s very skilful, very ancient poem one way or the other.
But your response to Gisela, and hers to you, made me ask myself what I, as a man, thought of the striver's tirade against women. And that led me to reconsider the testimony I’d written, the gist of which was (among other things) that a man like Ashvaghosha, an ancient Indian Buddhist renunciate would say that, wouldn’t he? Just like he has the striver recommend focussed meditative practices (nimittam) such as following the breath, putting attention between the eyebrows and the inhibition of sexual desire by ruminating on rotting female flesh; that's what they did in them days - some still do. But I hadn’t properly asked myself the question ‘Why, if the striver’s advice – the advice of a sincere practitioner - was such good advice, didn’t it work for Nanda? Why would Ashvaghosha want us to see such a highly recommended method for fashioning buddhas fail?’ And I realised that as I hadn’t yet read Suandarananda, not as a story should be read, it was no surprise that the irony you’ve insisted is present in much of the poem might have eluded me.
And then I thought: Well, to an ancient Indian renunciate like Ashvaghosha the striver is merely a man; a striver - but the Buddha is The Buddha, a kind of god; a being who has transcended striving. As a poet and dramatist, Ashvaghosha has got to give the Buddha something fancy to do for a climax or we've got a dull story, no difference between a striver and a buddha and no mahayana. Then: 'Where did that come from,' I wondered - 'mahayana'? Why did that word pop into my head? And so I didn’t know until this morning - until I googled "Ashvaghosha/mahayana" - what every schoolboy knows, that Ashvaghosha is the first Mahayana poet. Although Wiki says he isn't. Whether he is or he isn't, I was led to re-consider your insistence, which I had found unconvincing, that by showing the striver’s method as ineffective, at least as regards Nanda, Ashvaghosha may be pointing to another way; a better way.
That I could have been about to commit myself to an uninformed and ill-considered opinion makes me feel pretty stupid, a bit too eager to come when called; a bit too eager to be right and be seen to be right. But the fact that I stopped myself short makes me not quite so stupid, I like to think...or perhaps demonstrates just how very right I want to be. As soon as you've finished translating it, I’m going to read Saundarananda properly. I may still feel that Richard Gombrich is right about the meaning of nimittam; I may still feel that Ashvaghosha had the striver expound much that he, Ashvaghosha, considered sound Buddhist theory and good Buddhist practice. I may regret having said this much here and now. Ainsi va la vie.
I suppose this is the first part of my testimony, Mike. Whether or not I’ll have anything further to say on the subjects of irony, sex, the true dharma, vehicles great and small or what Ashvaghosha really meant, I do want to say a little more about your blog and your translation. I’ll get back to you soon.
Part Two
As someone who does, on occasion, tell his friends “Yes, I suppose I am a Buddhist… But there are lots of different kinds, you know!” I’ve been reluctant to respond to your request for testimony for fear of disappointing you (see testimony part one) and for fear of not being up to it; of not knowing very much about Sanskrit, Ashvaghosha or Buddhism, and not much about myself, an ex-junkie who many years after reading about Zen Buddhism and dreaming of enlightenment found out he could actually give it a go. But it is appropriate to respond, if only to thank you for the effort you’ve made every day for these past months and years. I’ve already given you some reactions to the poem – to the limited extent that I’m familiar with it. Here are some more thoughts - about your translation and your blog.
As a fellow student of Sanskrit it’s clear to me that your translation is excellent. It's faithful to the Sanskrit text, elegant, economical, and easy to read. To the best of my recollection you’ve never claimed that your translation is right, but you must have a feeling that it isn’t so very wrong, or why would you bother? Just to aim - as an expression of the means-whereby - may be a good thing, but to aim and hit the target surely can’t be a bad thing, and in my opinion you have hit the target time after time. In my opinion, you’ve every right - perhaps I should say it's not inappropriate - to be proud of the gold you’ve mined and to want to show it to others, great big bit of nothing that it is.
Your blog comments, however much you might protest, have been an essential part of your project, certainly for me. The comments are what draw me to your blog every day. You're a good writer. You often make me think and you often make me laugh. Having no real experience of Alexander Technique much of what you say about it can have no real meaning for me, but you have explained something of what AT is and what it means to you in such a way that I can see how it must be relevant to what we are; to what we do and how we do it. And so AT can’t be a million miles away from the Buddhadharma and the various other truths. AT aside, it’s your ongoing struggle to be honest with yourself and other people that is not merely entertaining to voyeuristic Buddhists looking for some excitement, but, I hope, is valuable to anyone interested in the self. If the Buddhadharma is about anything useful, it cannot be merely a model of how we should be, but must be a way of seeing how we are, and that's something you acknowledge.
Maybe there are differences between what the Buddha, Ashvaghosha, Dogen and Gudo Nishijima taught. Maybe they're not teaching the same thing. If that's so, I don't see it as a problem. I can’t deny that I find similarities between the many different Buddhisms and other teachings like science reassuring, satisfying my desire to be right and to feel safe; to have laid claim to a view which is true for all people at all times and in all places. But no view can be that. So I'm content to understand that the true dharma, the truth, is beyond views - and there is no end to the different forms of its expression.
Thanks a lot, Mike, for deciding to do this great big bit of nothing, sticking at it, and doing it so well.
Malcolm
Part Three
Slowly reading Saundarananda...
I started to write in response to your call for testimony a few days ago. Late last night (Nov 25) I was getting close to signing off on my well-considered, nicely expressed thoughts and sending them to you. But this morning, checking whether I'd honestly written what I honestly thought, and having read the latest instalment of your chat with Happi/Gisela (Nov 24/25), I got to thinking…and I noticed, not for the first time, that not having read Saundarananda, I was at a disadvantage.
I’ve read the verses as they’ve appeared each day and sped through one or two finished cantos, but I’ve not read the whole thing from beginning to end or, I confess, given it that much thought. I have been listening, but not always intently. I regret that I can’t tell you that Saundarananda has helped my practice, given me great insights, or knocked my socks off in any way – not that there haven’t been moments of admiration and recognition. I regret not having been affected by Saundarananda because it’s clear that Ashvaghosha’s poem means a lot to you. As they say in these parts, I ain't gonna lie - the truth is, I’ve not been moved by Ashvaghosha’s very skilful, very ancient poem one way or the other.
But your response to Gisela, and hers to you, made me ask myself what I, as a man, thought of the striver's tirade against women. And that led me to reconsider the testimony I’d written, the gist of which was (among other things) that a man like Ashvaghosha, an ancient Indian Buddhist renunciate would say that, wouldn’t he? Just like he has the striver recommend focussed meditative practices (nimittam) such as following the breath, putting attention between the eyebrows and the inhibition of sexual desire by ruminating on rotting female flesh; that's what they did in them days - some still do. But I hadn’t properly asked myself the question ‘Why, if the striver’s advice – the advice of a sincere practitioner - was such good advice, didn’t it work for Nanda? Why would Ashvaghosha want us to see such a highly recommended method for fashioning buddhas fail?’ And I realised that as I hadn’t yet read Suandarananda, not as a story should be read, it was no surprise that the irony you’ve insisted is present in much of the poem might have eluded me.
And then I thought: Well, to an ancient Indian renunciate like Ashvaghosha the striver is merely a man; a striver - but the Buddha is The Buddha, a kind of god; a being who has transcended striving. As a poet and dramatist, Ashvaghosha has got to give the Buddha something fancy to do for a climax or we've got a dull story, no difference between a striver and a buddha and no mahayana. Then: 'Where did that come from,' I wondered - 'mahayana'? Why did that word pop into my head? And so I didn’t know until this morning - until I googled "Ashvaghosha/mahayana" - what every schoolboy knows, that Ashvaghosha is the first Mahayana poet. Although Wiki says he isn't. Whether he is or he isn't, I was led to re-consider your insistence, which I had found unconvincing, that by showing the striver’s method as ineffective, at least as regards Nanda, Ashvaghosha may be pointing to another way; a better way.
That I could have been about to commit myself to an uninformed and ill-considered opinion makes me feel pretty stupid, a bit too eager to come when called; a bit too eager to be right and be seen to be right. But the fact that I stopped myself short makes me not quite so stupid, I like to think...or perhaps demonstrates just how very right I want to be. As soon as you've finished translating it, I’m going to read Saundarananda properly. I may still feel that Richard Gombrich is right about the meaning of nimittam; I may still feel that Ashvaghosha had the striver expound much that he, Ashvaghosha, considered sound Buddhist theory and good Buddhist practice. I may regret having said this much here and now. Ainsi va la vie.
I suppose this is the first part of my testimony, Mike. Whether or not I’ll have anything further to say on the subjects of irony, sex, the true dharma, vehicles great and small or what Ashvaghosha really meant, I do want to say a little more about your blog and your translation. I’ll get back to you soon.
Part Two
As someone who does, on occasion, tell his friends “Yes, I suppose I am a Buddhist… But there are lots of different kinds, you know!” I’ve been reluctant to respond to your request for testimony for fear of disappointing you (see testimony part one) and for fear of not being up to it; of not knowing very much about Sanskrit, Ashvaghosha or Buddhism, and not much about myself, an ex-junkie who many years after reading about Zen Buddhism and dreaming of enlightenment found out he could actually give it a go. But it is appropriate to respond, if only to thank you for the effort you’ve made every day for these past months and years. I’ve already given you some reactions to the poem – to the limited extent that I’m familiar with it. Here are some more thoughts - about your translation and your blog.
As a fellow student of Sanskrit it’s clear to me that your translation is excellent. It's faithful to the Sanskrit text, elegant, economical, and easy to read. To the best of my recollection you’ve never claimed that your translation is right, but you must have a feeling that it isn’t so very wrong, or why would you bother? Just to aim - as an expression of the means-whereby - may be a good thing, but to aim and hit the target surely can’t be a bad thing, and in my opinion you have hit the target time after time. In my opinion, you’ve every right - perhaps I should say it's not inappropriate - to be proud of the gold you’ve mined and to want to show it to others, great big bit of nothing that it is.
Your blog comments, however much you might protest, have been an essential part of your project, certainly for me. The comments are what draw me to your blog every day. You're a good writer. You often make me think and you often make me laugh. Having no real experience of Alexander Technique much of what you say about it can have no real meaning for me, but you have explained something of what AT is and what it means to you in such a way that I can see how it must be relevant to what we are; to what we do and how we do it. And so AT can’t be a million miles away from the Buddhadharma and the various other truths. AT aside, it’s your ongoing struggle to be honest with yourself and other people that is not merely entertaining to voyeuristic Buddhists looking for some excitement, but, I hope, is valuable to anyone interested in the self. If the Buddhadharma is about anything useful, it cannot be merely a model of how we should be, but must be a way of seeing how we are, and that's something you acknowledge.
Maybe there are differences between what the Buddha, Ashvaghosha, Dogen and Gudo Nishijima taught. Maybe they're not teaching the same thing. If that's so, I don't see it as a problem. I can’t deny that I find similarities between the many different Buddhisms and other teachings like science reassuring, satisfying my desire to be right and to feel safe; to have laid claim to a view which is true for all people at all times and in all places. But no view can be that. So I'm content to understand that the true dharma, the truth, is beyond views - and there is no end to the different forms of its expression.
Thanks a lot, Mike, for deciding to do this great big bit of nothing, sticking at it, and doing it so well.
Malcolm
Part Three
Slowly reading Saundarananda...
Monday, December 5, 2011
Individual Use of the Head (4): George
Following the Saundarananda, for the last few years, is a daily activity for me. Some times I feel tired and very little of what is written sinks into my mind. Some times what I read has so much relevance with the specific circumstances of my life that is almost freaky, it makes me wonder if someone is following me! Like the other day where after a long sleepless night I hear Buddha talking to Saundarananda about sleep and Mike about people have not conquered even the state of natural sleep.
I wish I could be able to say that since following the blog my sitting has become like a mountain and that I have experienced the great pleasures the masters of the past have talked about! No I did not! But I think, day after day, I am becoming a bit more clear about the true nature of my ongoing difficulties with sitting and of course life.
I am also happy that through the blog I actually managed to meet Mike in person. Every time we meet he (and his wife) gives me generously Alexander lessons, we sit together, have cups of tea, fish and chips, long walks, discussions! Through this contact I discovered that behind this blog there is a sincere practitioner, teacher and friend.
George
I wish I could be able to say that since following the blog my sitting has become like a mountain and that I have experienced the great pleasures the masters of the past have talked about! No I did not! But I think, day after day, I am becoming a bit more clear about the true nature of my ongoing difficulties with sitting and of course life.
I am also happy that through the blog I actually managed to meet Mike in person. Every time we meet he (and his wife) gives me generously Alexander lessons, we sit together, have cups of tea, fish and chips, long walks, discussions! Through this contact I discovered that behind this blog there is a sincere practitioner, teacher and friend.
George
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Individual Use of the Head (3): Harry
Hi Mike,
Re your suggestion about individual accounts of 'the work'.
What I'm at might look something like this:
I'm working at relinquishing my desire to know and achieve imagined goals, including some based on deeply accepted enduring assumptions about myself that I have internalised and retained for years. This isn't a passive, negative process though, as increasingly I realise that I have to use and express this relinquishing positively and actively in things like parenting, making music, dealing with people, and other everyday tasks.
Besides sitting for set periods I try to integrate relinquishing striving and selfish desire into all areas of my life by 'checking' myself at points through the day. In this way I find I can consciously unyoke myself from selfish desires and striving and proceed in a way not dictated by restricted courses of action. Sounds good written down, of course, but the reality of it is inconsistent and messy.
Regards,
Harry.
Re your suggestion about individual accounts of 'the work'.
What I'm at might look something like this:
I'm working at relinquishing my desire to know and achieve imagined goals, including some based on deeply accepted enduring assumptions about myself that I have internalised and retained for years. This isn't a passive, negative process though, as increasingly I realise that I have to use and express this relinquishing positively and actively in things like parenting, making music, dealing with people, and other everyday tasks.
Besides sitting for set periods I try to integrate relinquishing striving and selfish desire into all areas of my life by 'checking' myself at points through the day. In this way I find I can consciously unyoke myself from selfish desires and striving and proceed in a way not dictated by restricted courses of action. Sounds good written down, of course, but the reality of it is inconsistent and messy.
Regards,
Harry.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Individual Use of the Self (2): Ian
I’m Mike’s brother, a teacher of swimming and the Alexander Technique. I’m not a sitting-zen practitioner.
I’m essentially lazy, not an explorer, a digger, a seeker of truth. More than twenty years ago, when I was 19, I had some experience of the Dogen Sangha, briefly living with a group of Tokyo westerners studying under Gudo Nishijima. I didn’t feel I belonged there and never wanted to sign up to a life following the Buddha’s teaching. One thing I’ve always been clear about in my own mind is that I wouldn’t give up the desire to be with a woman. So I have no real interest in Nanda’s struggle with that.
But, on the advice of my brother (MC), I did start having Alexander Technique lessons in my mid-twenties and something about this felt suitable for me. Looking back, I don’t think I had the sense or self-awareness at that time to see that I really needed the AT. I went for lessons wanting to find out how to be right, perhaps even wanting confirmation that I already was! Many kicks up the backside later the penny started to drop.
The Alexander Technique, with its roots in the performing arts, perhaps engenders the feeling that there’s room just to be oneself. I am beginning to understand from MC’s translation of Ashvaghosha that following the Buddha is the same. But something has kept me going with the Alexander Technique, and stopped me from sitting. Having said that, maybe there’s too much room for interpretation in the AT world of what one can be and the discipline of daily sitting practice, as MC recommends it, would be good for all AT teachers. But with the Alexander Technique I like the fact that there is nothing to conform to, that it’s always a matter of individual choice - I can end-gain if I want to!
This isn’t to say I’m ruling out the possibility of sitting-zen practice. If anything, the translation and the blog inspire me to sit. But apart from odd periods of sitting, I can’t claim to be a practitioner. I do practise the AT though (that is, I devote some time to it each day, often with my hands on a pupil) and on a daily basis explore the meaning of the words: I’d like my neck to be free so that my head goes forward and up, out of my body, so that my back lengthens and widens and my knees go forward and away from each other.
But as I don’t sit, or follow the Buddha, how can I answer this question about accomplishment of the work that has to be done in order to make the teaching of the four noble truths one's own?
What attracts me to the translation and the comments is this: the possibility of change through work on yourself as an individual.
The translation and blog have helped me because they encourage me in my quest for forward movement, albeit imperceptibly slow, with the Alexander Technique. Yes, change is very gradual, and possibly imperceptible, like the growth of a tree. But there are moments where there’s ‘a bit of nothing’ among all the fixing and doing. Perhaps very slowly a new direction is emerging. And my understanding of these experiences, though not the experiences themselves, come largely from MC.
Here are a few gems from the blog, which I’ve jotted down in my diary in 2011.
‘Being wrong is the best friend you’ve got.’ Marjory Barlow, quoted often.
In sitting, there is the ‘possibility of transcending the vestibular system, for which purpose the vestibular system has in the the first place to be still, quiet, undisturbed.’ MC 14th June
‘Keep coming back to those words. They will take you where you want to go’ MB (quoted 6th July)
On 26th August (As an example of how my understanding of AT experiences are informed by MC) I noted after giving an AT lesson that I ‘worked to do less.. small desires.. not trying to feel anything. Not trying to achieve the end. She floated out of chair and said it was a lovely experience.’
Negative feedback is the principle upon which a thermostat functions to prevent a central heating system from creating too much heat. It is a truly excellent principle, a preventive principle. MC (16th September)
Tomatis recognized that the ear is the primary route whereby the brain and nervous system receive nourishment from the environment. MC (October)
Paul Madaule describes the ear as a battery that energises the brain. (October)
Sometimes MC mentions me as someone who applies AT to swimming and gives a brief description of my modus operandi. I look at it and think, yes, this is how I would like to be working and it gives me new inspiration. For example, there was something (I can’t find it) about helping people get rid of their misconception that to overcome fear of water they are required to do something.
I find that when teaching the AT, I can’t go too far wrong if I remember Marjory Barlow’s clear message, as remembered by MC. Something like, Say no to your reaction, give your directions and go into movement without a care in the world - let it come out in the wash.
For me the AT work is primarily about direction, from the brain, of energy. From darkness and uselessness, you can get yourself going in a new direction and carry out an activity quietly. It is something you can always do and get others to do. You’re working to a principle rather than a feeling. ‘Be present to endgaining rather than endgaining to be present.’ ‘Stop doing the wrong thing, and the right thing does itself’, I am reminded of Alexander’s words and appreciate the emphasis on the Buddha’s teaching primarily not to do wrong.
MC brings colour to the translation of Ashvaghosha by understanding the verses from the viewpoint of one who knows about the human condition through practise of sitting-zen, teaching of AT, and work as a neuro developmental therapist. I often look at the two other translations and they don't seem so grounded in practice; the influence of Christianity possibly limits EHJ's understanding. The other two translations of Saundara-nanda would never have interested me. But if I’m honest I wouldn’t be interested in MC's translation either, if it wasn’t for his comments. There’s too much about kings and warriors, chariots and snakes. So all the more credit to MC for wading through the Sanskrit and attempting to dig out the real meaning, as a gift to lazy armchair followers like me.
I often glaze over and fail to give the translation the attention it deserves. MC has attempted to do the translation, as a daily job, according to the means whereby principle. All I have to do is sit and read it but I don’t often do so attending to that principle, especially as I usually read in the morning, before I’ve got myself going. I collapse over the computer with a coffee and if anything catches my attention it is MC’s new interpretations, trains of thought or notes on his personal experiences. So, as with so many things from my brother, my understanding is second hand. He does the work, he works it out, he bangs on until others get the point. And despite being a poor listener, I do listen to him.
So ...the Four Noble Truths
What are they?
From Wikipedia. A simple rendition of the Four Noble Truths is as follows:
1. Suffering does exist
2. Suffering arises from attachment to desires
3. Suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases
4. Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the eightfold path.
From the translation, canto 16.
Suffering does exist.
The cause of suffering is faults which start with thirsting (redness and darkness, attachment, doing).... [Yep.]
There is the possibility of cutting out faults .....[This is where I think I am and will remain, increasingly aware of my faults and working to prevent them from getting the better of me. But Is there really the possibility of cutting them out?]
Cessation means peace and well being, rest, absence of redness and the taint of thirsting.....[I get glimpses of this in AT work.]
There is the possibility of an eternal refuge which is irremovable and noble, where there is total wellbeing, wanting little, with no fondness for worldy activity..... [I don’t know about that.]
16.25
So my friend, with regard to the many forms of becoming,
Know their causes to be [the faults] that start with thirsting
And cut out those [faults], if you wish to be freed from suffering;
For ending of the effect follows from eradication of the cause.
16.26
Again, the ending of suffering
follows from the disappearance of its cause.
Experience that reality for yourself as peace and well-being,
A place of rest, a cessation,
an absence of the red taint of thirsting,
An eternal refuge which is irremovable and noble,
16.37
Giving oneself to this path with its three divisions
And eight branches
-- this straightforward, irremovable, noble path --
One abandons the faults, which are the causes of suffering,
And comes to that step which is total well-being.
16.38
Attendant on it are constancy and straightness;
Modesty, attentiveness, and reclusiveness;
Wanting little, contentment,
and freedom from forming attachments;
No fondness for worldly activity, and forbearance.
The following two verses are useful.
16.41
So with regard to the truth of suffering,
see suffering as an illness;
With regard to the faults,
see the faults as the cause of the illness;
With regard to the truth of stopping,
see stopping as freedom from disease;
And with regard to the truth of a path,
see a path as a remedy.
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.
I think I find myself at, and momentarily step on to, a new path but then set off again along the old, familiar one, fixing and holding my breath, pushing forward against the wind and through thick, slippery mud.
In the Alexander teaching room, I glimpse the truth of the noble truths. The overall aim, and effect, of the work for me personally seems to be the unblocking of energy. And the fact of the unblocked energy gives me hope re. the possibility of an energised life.
Faults including laziness, habits including fixing and breath-holding, modern life and a weak vestibular system..... all these things and lack of commitment... close the window of hope. But the more often it’s opened, the more easily it opens again.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Individual Use of the Head (1): Jordan
Hi Mike,
I used to play with the 8-fold path a whole lot. I don't know if maybe it could even have been too much. But I know there was a whole lot of repetition and maybe even the gratuitous act of trying to convince myself I knew what "It" all meant. And I do recall I wrote a few posts on it in the past that I would probably be embarrassed by if I looked at them now. My quick answer today in how I make it my own is not a zen parrot "Don't know" but a frank I know that I fail at it, but I do my best. I might try to answer the question again after some thinking, if I remember. But judging by my current e-mail address, my answer might be noisy and may wobble from side to side a bit.
Yours from the sea,
Jordan
I used to play with the 8-fold path a whole lot. I don't know if maybe it could even have been too much. But I know there was a whole lot of repetition and maybe even the gratuitous act of trying to convince myself I knew what "It" all meant. And I do recall I wrote a few posts on it in the past that I would probably be embarrassed by if I looked at them now. My quick answer today in how I make it my own is not a zen parrot "Don't know" but a frank I know that I fail at it, but I do my best. I might try to answer the question again after some thinking, if I remember. But judging by my current e-mail address, my answer might be noisy and may wobble from side to side a bit.
Yours from the sea,
Jordan
Individual Use of the Head: Preamble
As a translation of ājñā-vyākaraṇa, I feel very happy to have arrived at "affirmation of full autonomy." Because this translation is both literal and, at least to me, totally meaningful, it feels right.
This feeling, due to the problem that FM Alexander identified as faulty sensory appreciation, is generally a bad sign. Again, if what felt right to me yesterday also feels right today, that probably only means I haven't grown...
This pre-amble is in danger of turning into a pre-ramble.
What is paramount for Aśvaghoṣa, we have heard, is liberation, mokṣa, the coming undone of all the bonds that tie us, so that we are free.
Following the noble eightfold path of cessation in this direction is no bed of roses, no pleasure cruise. Being required to let go of cherished ideas, beliefs, views, misconceptions, along with the familiarity and security of old habits and emotional attachments, is a bitter pill to have to swallow. But the more we succeed in this work, the more fully autonomous we are. And the more fully autonomous we are, not only in the abstract but in a real situation like sitting on a round black cushion or walking in the open air, the more truly upright the whole body is, centred upon use of the head. (But do not call it right posture!)
With this in mind, even before alighting upon "Affirmation of Full Autonomy" as a translation of the title of the final canto, I had thought to call the contributions that follow:
Individual Use of the Head (1): Jordan
Individual Use of the Head (2): Ian
and so on.
So now I will shut up for a while.
All being well, towards the end of this month or at the beginning of the New Year I will get going again on Aśvaghoṣa's other kāvya poem, Buddha-carita. But for the time being I intend to keep quiet and let a half dozen or so other individuals have their say, in the order they sent in their contributions, starting with Jordan.
This feeling, due to the problem that FM Alexander identified as faulty sensory appreciation, is generally a bad sign. Again, if what felt right to me yesterday also feels right today, that probably only means I haven't grown...
This pre-amble is in danger of turning into a pre-ramble.
What is paramount for Aśvaghoṣa, we have heard, is liberation, mokṣa, the coming undone of all the bonds that tie us, so that we are free.
Following the noble eightfold path of cessation in this direction is no bed of roses, no pleasure cruise. Being required to let go of cherished ideas, beliefs, views, misconceptions, along with the familiarity and security of old habits and emotional attachments, is a bitter pill to have to swallow. But the more we succeed in this work, the more fully autonomous we are. And the more fully autonomous we are, not only in the abstract but in a real situation like sitting on a round black cushion or walking in the open air, the more truly upright the whole body is, centred upon use of the head. (But do not call it right posture!)
With this in mind, even before alighting upon "Affirmation of Full Autonomy" as a translation of the title of the final canto, I had thought to call the contributions that follow:
Individual Use of the Head (1): Jordan
Individual Use of the Head (2): Ian
and so on.
So now I will shut up for a while.
All being well, towards the end of this month or at the beginning of the New Year I will get going again on Aśvaghoṣa's other kāvya poem, Buddha-carita. But for the time being I intend to keep quiet and let a half dozen or so other individuals have their say, in the order they sent in their contributions, starting with Jordan.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Canto 18: Affirmation of Full Autonomy
18.1
And so like a young initiate who mastered the Vedas,
Like a trader who turned a quick profit,
Or like a royal warrior who conquered a hostile army,
Nanda, a success, approached the Guru.
18.2
For it is pleasant,
at a time when wisdom has been fully realized,
For teacher to see student, and for student to see teacher,
Each thinking, "Your toil has rewarded me";
For which same reason
the wish to see Nanda arose in the Sage.
18.3
Thus is a noble person obliged to pay respect, to his face,
To the one through whom he has acquired distinction.
Even a noble person who retains the taint of redness
is so obliged, out of gratitude:
How much more is one with no red taint,
all pride having perished?
18.4
For when devotion springs from an agenda or desire,
There it remains rooted;
But when there is love and devotion for dharma,
That person is steeped to the core in tranquillity.
18.5
And so, a glowing gold in his yellow-red robe,
He bowed his head to the Guru
Like a karnikāra tree, with an outburst of ruddy shoots,
And a glorious blaze of flowers, nodding in the wind.
18.6
Then,
as a manifestation of his individual merit as a student
And, indeed, of the great Sage's merit as a teacher
-- Not out of pride --
He described his own accomplishment
of the work that has to be done:
18.7
"The splinter of a view, that had penetrated to my core,
O Mighty One,
was paining me intensely, being very sharp;
Via the jaws of the pincers of your words
-- by means of a means and by way of a mouth --
It was pulled out of me
as a splinter is removed by a surgeon.
18.8
A doubt,
by which I fell into a state of hesitant questioning,
O One Beyond Doubt, has been eradicated in me --
Through your teaching I have arrived at a true path
Like a straggler, under a good guide, getting on the road.
18.9
With senses ruled by relishing,
I madly drank the drug of love;
Its action was blocked in me
by the antidote of your words,
As a deadly poison is by a great remedy.
18.10
Rebirth is over, O Refuter of Rebirth!
I am dwelling as one with observance of true dharma.
What was for me to do,
O Doer of the Necessary! is totally done.
I am present in the world without being of the world.
18.11
Having drunk from the milk-cow of your voice,
whose udder is loving-kindness,
whose lovely dewlap is figures of speech,
Who is milked for true dharma,
and whose horns are boldness of expression,
I am properly satisfied, O Most Excellent One,
Like a little calf that, because of thirst, has drunk milk.
18.12
And so, O Sage, hear from me in brief
What, through seeing, I have made my own.
Though you know it anyway, O All-knowing One,
Still I wish to mention how I have worked on myself.
18.13
For true freedom-loving people
(however individual they are)
When they hear of another person's plan
that led to freedom
-- Like sick men hearing the plan
of one who became free from a disease --
Will happily work at freedom via that same path.
18.14
In a birth, I perceive earth and the other elements,
But in earth and those other elements, no self at all.
On that basis,
there is no attachment in me to those elements;
My orientation is equal
with regard to my body and outside.
18.15
Again, the five skandhas,
beginning with the organized body,
I see to be inconstant and without substance,
As well as unreal and life-negating;
Therefore I am free from those pernicious constructs.
18.16
Since I see for myself an arising and a vanishing
In all situations in the realms of the senses,
Therefore, again, there is in me no clinging
To those aforementioned elements which are
impermanent, impersonal, and unsatisfactory.
18.17
Again, on the grounds that I see the whole world
as emerging and in the same moment passing away,
As having no essential meaning
and not being as it ought to be,
On these grounds, because of meditation,
the world is bound fast by my mind
In such a way that there is no flicker in me of 'I am.'
18.18
There is all manner of indulging in four sorts of food,
But since I am not attached to how I take food,
Since when it comes to food
I am not congealed or trussed up,
I am free, on that score,
from the three realms of becoming.
18.19
In the daily round of dharma-practice
Since I am neither certain about nor bound in mind to
visual, auditory and other kinds of perception,
And since through that dharma-round
I am graced by trailing equanimity,
On that account I am detached and am free."
18.20
After speaking thus,
out of deep appreciation of the Guru
He prostrated himself on the ground
with his whole body.
He looked like a great fallen column
Of gold tinged with red sandalwood.
18.21
Then, after listening to him
who had emerged already out of heedlessness,
After hearing his firmness and his testimony
And a clarity consistent with the gist of dharma,
The Sage boomed at him like a thundercloud:
18.22
"You who stands firm
in the dharma loved by those who study it,
stand up!
Why are you fallen with your head at my feet?
The prostration does not honour me so much
As this surefootedness in the dharma.
18.23
Today, conqueror of yourself, you have truly gone forth,
Since you have thereby gained sovereignty
over yourself.
For in a person who has conquered himself,
going forth has worked;
Whereas in an impulsive person
whose senses remain unconquered, it has not.
18.24
Today you are possessed of purity of the highest order,
In that your voice, body, and mind are untainted,
And in that, henceforward, my gentle friend,
you will not again be confined
In the ungentle womb of unready slumber.
18.25
Listening ears open to the truth replete with listening,
and with purpose,
Today you stand surefooted in the dharma,
in a manner that befits the listening tradition.
For a man equipped with listening ears who is wavering
Is like a swordsman lacking valour:
he is worthy of blame.
18.26
Ah! What firmness in you,
who is a slave to objects no more,
In that you have willed the means of liberation.
For it is a fool in this world who,
thinking 'I will be finished,'
Gives in, in the face of the end of existence,
to a state of quivering anxiety.
18.27
Happily, this meeting with the present moment,
which is so hard to come by,
Is not being wasted under the sway of ignorance.
For a man who has been down goes up with difficulty,
Like a turtle to a hole in a yoke, in the foaming sea.
18.28
Having conquered Māra,
who is so hard to stop in battle,
Today, at the forefront of the fight,
you are a hero among men.
For even a hero is not recognized as a hero
Who is beaten by the foe-like faults.
18.29
Today, having extinguished the flaming fire of redness,
Happily, you will sleep well, free of fever.
For even on a fabulous bed he sleeps badly
Who is being burned in his mind by the fires of affliction.
18.30
You used to be markedly mad about possessions;
Today, because you have stopped thirsting, you are rich.
For as long as a man in the world thirsts,
However rich he may be, he is always deprived.
18.31
Today you may fittingly proclaim
That King Śuddhodana is your father.
For it is not commendable for a backslider,
after falling from the dharma alighted on by ancestors,
To proclaim his lineage.
18.32
How great it is
that you have reached the deepest tranquillity,
Like a man making it through a wasteland
and gaining possession of treasure.
For everyone in the flux of saṁsāra is afflicted by fear,
Just like a man in a wasteland.
18.33
Thinking 'When shall I see Nanda settled,
Given over to the living of a forest beggar's life?',
I had harboured from the start the desire to see you thus.
What a wonderful sight you are for me to behold!
18.34
For even an unlovely sort is a sight to behold
When well-adorned with his own best features.
But a man who is full of the befouling faults,
Strikingly beautiful man though he may be, is truly ugly.
18.35
Developed in you today is the real wisdom
By which you have done, totally,
the work you had to do on yourself.
For even a highly educated man lacks wisdom,
If wisdom fails to show in his practice of a better way.
18.36
So it is with seeing,
Among people with eyes open and with eyes closed.
For when a man lacks sight packed with intuition,
Though he has eyes, the Eye is not present in him.
18.37
Struck by calamity,
stung to do something to combat suffering,
The world exhausts itself with work like ploughing;
And yet it is ceaselessly re-visited by that suffering,
To which,
using what you know, you today have put an end.
18.38
'There might be for me no hardship;
there might be for me just happiness....'
Thus is the world impelled ever forward:
And yet it does not know a means whereby
that happiness might come to be --
That rarely attained happiness
which you today have realized, properly."
18.39
While the Tathāgata told him this and more
for his benefit
Nanda remained firm in his judgement and thinking
And was indifferent to plaudits or criticisms.
With hands joined, he spoke these words:
18.40
"Oh, how particular, O Seer of Particularities,
Is this compassion that you have shown to me!
Since I who was sunk, Glorious One, in the mire of love
Have been a reluctant refugee from the terror of saṁsāra.
18.41
If not set free by you, a brother,
a guide along a better way,
A fruitful father, and equally a mother,
I would be done for;
Like a straggler dropped from a caravan,
I would not have made it.
18.42
Solitude is sweet for one who is calm and contented,
Who looks into and has learned what is.
Again, for one who is sober and shorn of conceits,
For one who is detached in his decision-making,
dispassion is a pleasure.
18.43
And so, through squarely realising what is,
Through shaking off faults and coming to quiet,
I worry now neither about my own place,
Nor about the person there,
nor about apsarases, nor about gods.
18.44
For now that I have tasted this pure, peaceful happiness,
My mind no longer hankers
after happiness born of desires --
Just as the costliest earthly fare cannot entice
A god who has supped the heavenly nectar.
18.45
Alas, the world has its eyes closed
by blind unconsciousness;
It does not see utmost happiness in a different robe.
Flinging away lasting inner happiness,
It exhausts itself so, in pursuit of sensual happiness.
18.46
For just as a fool, having made it to a jewel mine,
Might leave the jewels and carry off inferior crystals,
So would one reject the highest happiness
of full awakening
And struggle to gain sensual gratification.
18.47
Oh! high indeed, then, is the order of that desire
to favour living beings
Which the Tathāgata,
overflowing with benevolence, has:
Since, O Sage, you throw away
the highest-order happiness of meditation
And are consumed by your effort
to stop others suffering.
18.48
How today could I possibly repay you,
My compassionate Guru whose desire is others' welfare,
By whom I was taken totally up and out
of the foaming sea of becoming,
Like a man out of a great ocean
when his boat is being battered by waves?"
18.49
Then the Sage, hearing his well-founded words
Which signified the end of everything superfluous,
Voiced, as the Very Best of Speakers,
These lines that none but a buddha,
being 'Sheer Radiance,' should voice:
18.50
"As a man of action who got the job done
and who knows the primary task,
None but you, O crafty man!,
should express this affirmation --
Like a great trader,
having crossed a wasteland and got the goods,
Who affirms the work of a good guide.
18.51
An arhat, a man of action whose mind has come to quiet,
Knows the Buddha as a charioteer
of human steeds who needed taming:
Not even a seer of truth
appreciates the Buddha in this manner:
How much less does the common man,
however intelligent he may be?
18.52
This gratitude is fitting, again, in none but you
Whose mind has been liberated
from the dust of the passions and from darkness.
For while dust prevails in the world,
O man of gratitude! real gratitude is a rare state of being.
18.53
O possessor of dharma!
Since, because of abiding by dharma,
You have skill in making it your own
and quiet confidence in me,
I have something else to say to you.
For you are surrendered and devoted,
and up to the task.
18.54
Walking the transcendent walk,
you have done the work that needed to be done:
In you, there is not the slightest thing left to work on.
From now on, my friend, go with compassion,
Loosening others up
who are pulled down into their troubles.
18.55
The lowest sort of man only ever sets to work
for an object in this world.
But a man in the middle does work
both for this world and for the world to come.
A man in the middle works for a result,
I repeat, in the future.
The superior type, however,
tends towards abstention from goal-oriented action.
18.56
But deemed to be higher than the highest in this world
Is he who, having realized the supreme ultimate dharma,
Desires, without worrying about the trouble to himself,
To teach tranquillity to others.
18.57
Therefore
forgetting the work that needs to be done
in this world on the self,
Do now, stout soul, what can be done for others.
Among beings who are wandering in the night,
their minds shrouded in darkness,
Let the lamp of this transmission be carried.
18.58
Just let the astonished people in the city say,
While you are standing firm, voicing dharma-directions,
'Well! What a miracle this is,
That he who was a lover boy is preaching liberation!'
18.59
Surely then, when she hears of your steadfast mind
With its chariots turned back from sundry objects,
Your wife following your example will also talk,
To women at home, the talk of dispassion.
18.60
For, with you showing constancy of the highest order,
as you get to the bottom of what is,
She surely will not enjoy life in the palace,
Just as the mind of an enlightened man
does not enjoy sensual pleasures
When his mental state is tranquil and controlled,
and his thinking is detached, distinct, separate."
18.61
Thus spoke the Worthy One,
the instructor whose compassion
was of the highest order,
Whose words and equally whose feet
Nanda had accepted, using his head;
Then, at ease in himself, his heart at peace,
his task ended,
He left the Sage's side like an elephant free of rut.
18.62
When the occasion arose
he entered the town for begging
and attracted the citizens' gaze;
Impartial towards gain, loss,
comfort, discomfort, and the like,
his senses composed, he was free of longing;
And being there, in the moment,
he talked of liberation to people so inclined --
Never putting down others on a wrong path
or raising himself up.
18.63
This work is pregnant with the purpose of release:
it is for cessation, not for titillation;
It is wrought
out of the figurative expression of kāvya poetry
in order to capture an audience
whose minds are on other things --
For what I have written here
not pertaining to liberation,
I have written
according to the conventions of kāvya poetry.
This is through asking myself
how the bitter pill might be made pleasant to swallow,
like bitter medicine mixed with something sweet.
18.64
Seeing, in general, that the world
is moved primarily by fondness for objects
and is repelled by liberation,
I for whom liberation is paramount
have told it here like it is,
using a kāvya poem as a pretext.
Being aware of the deceit,
take from this what pertains to peace
and not to idle pleasure.
The elemental (verb-root-rooted) dust,
assuredly, shall yield up abundant gold.
The 18th canto in the epic poem Handsome Nanda,
titled "Affirmation of Full Autonomy."
This is the work of a beggar, the respected teacher Aśvaghoṣa of Saketa, son of the noble Suvarṇākṣī, crafter of epic poetry and talker of the great talk.
And so like a young initiate who mastered the Vedas,
Like a trader who turned a quick profit,
Or like a royal warrior who conquered a hostile army,
Nanda, a success, approached the Guru.
18.2
For it is pleasant,
at a time when wisdom has been fully realized,
For teacher to see student, and for student to see teacher,
Each thinking, "Your toil has rewarded me";
For which same reason
the wish to see Nanda arose in the Sage.
18.3
Thus is a noble person obliged to pay respect, to his face,
To the one through whom he has acquired distinction.
Even a noble person who retains the taint of redness
is so obliged, out of gratitude:
How much more is one with no red taint,
all pride having perished?
18.4
For when devotion springs from an agenda or desire,
There it remains rooted;
But when there is love and devotion for dharma,
That person is steeped to the core in tranquillity.
18.5
And so, a glowing gold in his yellow-red robe,
He bowed his head to the Guru
Like a karnikāra tree, with an outburst of ruddy shoots,
And a glorious blaze of flowers, nodding in the wind.
18.6
Then,
as a manifestation of his individual merit as a student
And, indeed, of the great Sage's merit as a teacher
-- Not out of pride --
He described his own accomplishment
of the work that has to be done:
18.7
"The splinter of a view, that had penetrated to my core,
O Mighty One,
was paining me intensely, being very sharp;
Via the jaws of the pincers of your words
-- by means of a means and by way of a mouth --
It was pulled out of me
as a splinter is removed by a surgeon.
18.8
A doubt,
by which I fell into a state of hesitant questioning,
O One Beyond Doubt, has been eradicated in me --
Through your teaching I have arrived at a true path
Like a straggler, under a good guide, getting on the road.
18.9
With senses ruled by relishing,
I madly drank the drug of love;
Its action was blocked in me
by the antidote of your words,
As a deadly poison is by a great remedy.
18.10
Rebirth is over, O Refuter of Rebirth!
I am dwelling as one with observance of true dharma.
What was for me to do,
O Doer of the Necessary! is totally done.
I am present in the world without being of the world.
18.11
Having drunk from the milk-cow of your voice,
whose udder is loving-kindness,
whose lovely dewlap is figures of speech,
Who is milked for true dharma,
and whose horns are boldness of expression,
I am properly satisfied, O Most Excellent One,
Like a little calf that, because of thirst, has drunk milk.
18.12
And so, O Sage, hear from me in brief
What, through seeing, I have made my own.
Though you know it anyway, O All-knowing One,
Still I wish to mention how I have worked on myself.
18.13
For true freedom-loving people
(however individual they are)
When they hear of another person's plan
that led to freedom
-- Like sick men hearing the plan
of one who became free from a disease --
Will happily work at freedom via that same path.
18.14
In a birth, I perceive earth and the other elements,
But in earth and those other elements, no self at all.
On that basis,
there is no attachment in me to those elements;
My orientation is equal
with regard to my body and outside.
18.15
Again, the five skandhas,
beginning with the organized body,
I see to be inconstant and without substance,
As well as unreal and life-negating;
Therefore I am free from those pernicious constructs.
18.16
Since I see for myself an arising and a vanishing
In all situations in the realms of the senses,
Therefore, again, there is in me no clinging
To those aforementioned elements which are
impermanent, impersonal, and unsatisfactory.
18.17
Again, on the grounds that I see the whole world
as emerging and in the same moment passing away,
As having no essential meaning
and not being as it ought to be,
On these grounds, because of meditation,
the world is bound fast by my mind
In such a way that there is no flicker in me of 'I am.'
18.18
There is all manner of indulging in four sorts of food,
But since I am not attached to how I take food,
Since when it comes to food
I am not congealed or trussed up,
I am free, on that score,
from the three realms of becoming.
18.19
In the daily round of dharma-practice
Since I am neither certain about nor bound in mind to
visual, auditory and other kinds of perception,
And since through that dharma-round
I am graced by trailing equanimity,
On that account I am detached and am free."
18.20
After speaking thus,
out of deep appreciation of the Guru
He prostrated himself on the ground
with his whole body.
He looked like a great fallen column
Of gold tinged with red sandalwood.
18.21
Then, after listening to him
who had emerged already out of heedlessness,
After hearing his firmness and his testimony
And a clarity consistent with the gist of dharma,
The Sage boomed at him like a thundercloud:
18.22
"You who stands firm
in the dharma loved by those who study it,
stand up!
Why are you fallen with your head at my feet?
The prostration does not honour me so much
As this surefootedness in the dharma.
18.23
Today, conqueror of yourself, you have truly gone forth,
Since you have thereby gained sovereignty
over yourself.
For in a person who has conquered himself,
going forth has worked;
Whereas in an impulsive person
whose senses remain unconquered, it has not.
18.24
Today you are possessed of purity of the highest order,
In that your voice, body, and mind are untainted,
And in that, henceforward, my gentle friend,
you will not again be confined
In the ungentle womb of unready slumber.
18.25
Listening ears open to the truth replete with listening,
and with purpose,
Today you stand surefooted in the dharma,
in a manner that befits the listening tradition.
For a man equipped with listening ears who is wavering
Is like a swordsman lacking valour:
he is worthy of blame.
18.26
Ah! What firmness in you,
who is a slave to objects no more,
In that you have willed the means of liberation.
For it is a fool in this world who,
thinking 'I will be finished,'
Gives in, in the face of the end of existence,
to a state of quivering anxiety.
18.27
Happily, this meeting with the present moment,
which is so hard to come by,
Is not being wasted under the sway of ignorance.
For a man who has been down goes up with difficulty,
Like a turtle to a hole in a yoke, in the foaming sea.
18.28
Having conquered Māra,
who is so hard to stop in battle,
Today, at the forefront of the fight,
you are a hero among men.
For even a hero is not recognized as a hero
Who is beaten by the foe-like faults.
18.29
Today, having extinguished the flaming fire of redness,
Happily, you will sleep well, free of fever.
For even on a fabulous bed he sleeps badly
Who is being burned in his mind by the fires of affliction.
18.30
You used to be markedly mad about possessions;
Today, because you have stopped thirsting, you are rich.
For as long as a man in the world thirsts,
However rich he may be, he is always deprived.
18.31
Today you may fittingly proclaim
That King Śuddhodana is your father.
For it is not commendable for a backslider,
after falling from the dharma alighted on by ancestors,
To proclaim his lineage.
18.32
How great it is
that you have reached the deepest tranquillity,
Like a man making it through a wasteland
and gaining possession of treasure.
For everyone in the flux of saṁsāra is afflicted by fear,
Just like a man in a wasteland.
18.33
Thinking 'When shall I see Nanda settled,
Given over to the living of a forest beggar's life?',
I had harboured from the start the desire to see you thus.
What a wonderful sight you are for me to behold!
18.34
For even an unlovely sort is a sight to behold
When well-adorned with his own best features.
But a man who is full of the befouling faults,
Strikingly beautiful man though he may be, is truly ugly.
18.35
Developed in you today is the real wisdom
By which you have done, totally,
the work you had to do on yourself.
For even a highly educated man lacks wisdom,
If wisdom fails to show in his practice of a better way.
18.36
So it is with seeing,
Among people with eyes open and with eyes closed.
For when a man lacks sight packed with intuition,
Though he has eyes, the Eye is not present in him.
18.37
Struck by calamity,
stung to do something to combat suffering,
The world exhausts itself with work like ploughing;
And yet it is ceaselessly re-visited by that suffering,
To which,
using what you know, you today have put an end.
18.38
'There might be for me no hardship;
there might be for me just happiness....'
Thus is the world impelled ever forward:
And yet it does not know a means whereby
that happiness might come to be --
That rarely attained happiness
which you today have realized, properly."
18.39
While the Tathāgata told him this and more
for his benefit
Nanda remained firm in his judgement and thinking
And was indifferent to plaudits or criticisms.
With hands joined, he spoke these words:
18.40
"Oh, how particular, O Seer of Particularities,
Is this compassion that you have shown to me!
Since I who was sunk, Glorious One, in the mire of love
Have been a reluctant refugee from the terror of saṁsāra.
18.41
If not set free by you, a brother,
a guide along a better way,
A fruitful father, and equally a mother,
I would be done for;
Like a straggler dropped from a caravan,
I would not have made it.
18.42
Solitude is sweet for one who is calm and contented,
Who looks into and has learned what is.
Again, for one who is sober and shorn of conceits,
For one who is detached in his decision-making,
dispassion is a pleasure.
18.43
And so, through squarely realising what is,
Through shaking off faults and coming to quiet,
I worry now neither about my own place,
Nor about the person there,
nor about apsarases, nor about gods.
18.44
For now that I have tasted this pure, peaceful happiness,
My mind no longer hankers
after happiness born of desires --
Just as the costliest earthly fare cannot entice
A god who has supped the heavenly nectar.
18.45
Alas, the world has its eyes closed
by blind unconsciousness;
It does not see utmost happiness in a different robe.
Flinging away lasting inner happiness,
It exhausts itself so, in pursuit of sensual happiness.
18.46
For just as a fool, having made it to a jewel mine,
Might leave the jewels and carry off inferior crystals,
So would one reject the highest happiness
of full awakening
And struggle to gain sensual gratification.
18.47
Oh! high indeed, then, is the order of that desire
to favour living beings
Which the Tathāgata,
overflowing with benevolence, has:
Since, O Sage, you throw away
the highest-order happiness of meditation
And are consumed by your effort
to stop others suffering.
18.48
How today could I possibly repay you,
My compassionate Guru whose desire is others' welfare,
By whom I was taken totally up and out
of the foaming sea of becoming,
Like a man out of a great ocean
when his boat is being battered by waves?"
18.49
Then the Sage, hearing his well-founded words
Which signified the end of everything superfluous,
Voiced, as the Very Best of Speakers,
These lines that none but a buddha,
being 'Sheer Radiance,' should voice:
18.50
"As a man of action who got the job done
and who knows the primary task,
None but you, O crafty man!,
should express this affirmation --
Like a great trader,
having crossed a wasteland and got the goods,
Who affirms the work of a good guide.
18.51
An arhat, a man of action whose mind has come to quiet,
Knows the Buddha as a charioteer
of human steeds who needed taming:
Not even a seer of truth
appreciates the Buddha in this manner:
How much less does the common man,
however intelligent he may be?
18.52
This gratitude is fitting, again, in none but you
Whose mind has been liberated
from the dust of the passions and from darkness.
For while dust prevails in the world,
O man of gratitude! real gratitude is a rare state of being.
18.53
O possessor of dharma!
Since, because of abiding by dharma,
You have skill in making it your own
and quiet confidence in me,
I have something else to say to you.
For you are surrendered and devoted,
and up to the task.
18.54
Walking the transcendent walk,
you have done the work that needed to be done:
In you, there is not the slightest thing left to work on.
From now on, my friend, go with compassion,
Loosening others up
who are pulled down into their troubles.
18.55
The lowest sort of man only ever sets to work
for an object in this world.
But a man in the middle does work
both for this world and for the world to come.
A man in the middle works for a result,
I repeat, in the future.
The superior type, however,
tends towards abstention from goal-oriented action.
18.56
But deemed to be higher than the highest in this world
Is he who, having realized the supreme ultimate dharma,
Desires, without worrying about the trouble to himself,
To teach tranquillity to others.
18.57
Therefore
forgetting the work that needs to be done
in this world on the self,
Do now, stout soul, what can be done for others.
Among beings who are wandering in the night,
their minds shrouded in darkness,
Let the lamp of this transmission be carried.
18.58
Just let the astonished people in the city say,
While you are standing firm, voicing dharma-directions,
'Well! What a miracle this is,
That he who was a lover boy is preaching liberation!'
18.59
Surely then, when she hears of your steadfast mind
With its chariots turned back from sundry objects,
Your wife following your example will also talk,
To women at home, the talk of dispassion.
18.60
For, with you showing constancy of the highest order,
as you get to the bottom of what is,
She surely will not enjoy life in the palace,
Just as the mind of an enlightened man
does not enjoy sensual pleasures
When his mental state is tranquil and controlled,
and his thinking is detached, distinct, separate."
18.61
Thus spoke the Worthy One,
the instructor whose compassion
was of the highest order,
Whose words and equally whose feet
Nanda had accepted, using his head;
Then, at ease in himself, his heart at peace,
his task ended,
He left the Sage's side like an elephant free of rut.
18.62
When the occasion arose
he entered the town for begging
and attracted the citizens' gaze;
Impartial towards gain, loss,
comfort, discomfort, and the like,
his senses composed, he was free of longing;
And being there, in the moment,
he talked of liberation to people so inclined --
Never putting down others on a wrong path
or raising himself up.
18.63
This work is pregnant with the purpose of release:
it is for cessation, not for titillation;
It is wrought
out of the figurative expression of kāvya poetry
in order to capture an audience
whose minds are on other things --
For what I have written here
not pertaining to liberation,
I have written
according to the conventions of kāvya poetry.
This is through asking myself
how the bitter pill might be made pleasant to swallow,
like bitter medicine mixed with something sweet.
18.64
Seeing, in general, that the world
is moved primarily by fondness for objects
and is repelled by liberation,
I for whom liberation is paramount
have told it here like it is,
using a kāvya poem as a pretext.
Being aware of the deceit,
take from this what pertains to peace
and not to idle pleasure.
The elemental (verb-root-rooted) dust,
assuredly, shall yield up abundant gold.
The 18th canto in the epic poem Handsome Nanda,
titled "Affirmation of Full Autonomy."
This is the work of a beggar, the respected teacher Aśvaghoṣa of Saketa, son of the noble Suvarṇākṣī, crafter of epic poetry and talker of the great talk.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA Colophon: Great New Beginnings?
saundaranande mahā-kāvya ājñā-vyākaraṇa nāmaṣṭādaśaḥ sargaḥ/
ārya-suvarṇākṣī-putrasya sāketakasya bhikṣor ācārya-bhadant'-āśvaghoṣasya mahā-kaver mahā-vādinaḥ kṛtir iyam //
The 18th canto in the epic poem Handsome Nanda,
titled "Affirmation of Full Autonomy."
This is the work of a beggar, the respected teacher Aśvaghoṣa of Saketa, son of the noble Suvarṇākṣī, crafter of epic poetry and talker of the great talk.
COMMENT
My working title for Canto 18 was originally simply "Affirmation" but for the last couple of months, further to commenting on 18.6, I have favoured "Bearing Witness."
In 18.21, I translated vyākaraṇaṁ as "testimony" (EHJ: "declaration;" LC: "discriminating analysis"). Canto titles consistent with that translation might be "Attesting to Enlightenment" or "Enlightened Testimony."
But I have reverted to "affirmation" for the vyākaraṇaḥ of the canto title," firstly because (as already mentioned in comments to 18.6) vyākaraṇa corresponds to 授記 JUKI, the title of Shobogenzo chap. 32, which in the Nishijima-Cross translation is translated as "affirmation" or "giving affirmation;" and secondly because "affirmation" fits the content of Canto 18, in which the Buddha and Nanda affirm each other's respective virtues.
That leaves the problem of how to understand ājñā, which as a noun is given first in the dictionary as order, command, unlimited authority, power -- "Affirmation of a Mission"? "Affirmation of Unlimited Authority/Power"?
As a verb, ā-√jñā means to notice, undertand or realize. Hence, according to a note by EHJ, "ājñā is the special knowledge of the man who has attained salvation" -- and hence EHJ's chapter title "The Declaration of Insight." Accepting EHJ's gist might lead us in the direction of "Affirmation of Insight" or "Affirmation of Enlightenment."
This would fit well enough with the content of Canto 18. But since the original meaning of ājñā, according to the dictionary, has to do not so much with the exercise of wisdom as with the exercise of power, I am drawn back to translations like "Affirmation of Free Rein" or "Affirmation of Unlimited Power" or "Affirmation of Full Autonomy."
The canto title I have thus arrived at could hardly be further away from the spirit of LC's "His Instructions Revealed." But again, it would be not uncharacteristic of Aśvaghoṣa to choose a title which seemed to mean one thing while really meaning the opposite.
Some readers might like to ask a supreme Buddhist authority for a ruling on the canto title -- they might like to ask some Buddhist Patriarch or other to reveal his instructions. Some might prefer to use their own head.
You pays your money and you takes your choice. But it is Aśvaghoṣa fans from the latter group whose individual testimonies I am interested in, and I will start publishing those contributions the day after tomorrow, beginning with Jordan's, on Friday. Anybody who wishes to contribute but hasn't yet is welcome to do so by emailing me at mike.cross@the-middle-way.org.
Moving from the canto title to the closing sentence (or "colophon"), this line represents Aśvaghoṣa taking individual responsibility for a work of Sanskrit literature -- the first buddha-ancestor, as far as we know, who thus announced that "I, So and So, son of So and So, wrote this."
This attitude of Aśvaghoṣa, it might be argued, also says something about the affirmation of full individual autonomy.
To what extent was Aśvaghoṣa approach a new departure?
The Monier Williams dictionary defines mahā-yāna as: "great vehicle" (as opposed to hīna-yāna), name of the later system of Buddhist teaching said to have been first promulgated by Nāgārjuna and treated of in the Mahā-yāna-sūtras.
I regard with skepticism this designation of a great vehicle beginning with Nāgārjuna. Should we recognize that there was anything great in the teaching of later ancestors like Nāgārjuna, Bodhidharma, and Dogen that wasn't already greatly present in the teaching of earlier ancestors like Gautama, Ānanda, and Aśvaghoṣa?
As a rule, probably not. At the same time, I remember Dogen praising, as a secret of the great vehicle, the tradition of wearing a buddha-robe to sit in, regardless of distinctions such as male and female monk, lay man and lay woman.
However one understands the significance of the mahā in the closing words of the colophon, I think the attempts of EHJ and LC to translate mahā-kaver mahā-vādinaḥ (great eloquent poet; great poet and eloquent speaker) fail to reflect real understanding of the value system of a buddha-ancestor like Aśvaghoṣa, according to which the primary thing -- as he has just told us -- is never great poetry. The first way these epithets should be undestood, as I read them, is ironic self-deprecation.
mahā-vādin is given in the dictionary as "a great controversialist." In this sense Aśvaghoṣa following on from yesterday's verse, I am sure, was describing himself in a self-deprecating way, as a purveyor of verb-root-rooted dust, as a great talker of the talk -- that is to say, not necessarily a great walker of the walk.
At the same time, mahā-vādin can also be understood as "a propounder of the great" i.e. "teacher of the great vehicle" or "proponent of the mahāyāna teaching." Might this also be what Aśvaghoṣa intended?
My answer is the usual refuge of the dabbler whose staff lacks the iron thump of Zen enlightenment: I don't know.
In the end, the only certainty is that Saundara-nanda is full of ironic twists and ambiguity. From the first verse to the colophon, what Aśvaghoṣa seems to mean on the surface is not what he seems to mean after one has dug around for a while. And there may be deeper and deeper levels of meaning that requie a spade sharper than mine to dig them out.
It is perhaps permissible, nevertheless, to hope that this work, despite its shortcomings, may attract readers to a very fine poem, and that it may help them to the understanding and enjoyment of it. So wrote EH Johnston, 80 years ago in October 1931 in the preface to his English translation of Saundara-nanda. It is perhaps permissible to hope, in other words, even as Aśvaghoṣa himself may have hoped and intuited two thousand years ago, that this moment might not be the end of anything but rather the beginning of something, based on true foundations.
* The discoveries of FM Alexander.
* Practical understanding of how vestibular reflexes underpin all human behaviour.
* Reliable translations (based on the original words, not some poser's Buddhist intuition) of ancient texts.
*Devotion to upright sitting in the traditional cross-legged manner.
These are my four corners stones. Whether they are solid enough foundations for what Gudo Nishijima called "the establishment of true Buddhism" in the world, time will tell. My sense, as an old rugby player, is that, deep into the second half, we are several converted tries behind.
EH Johnston:
This poem was written by the great eloquent poet, the mendicant and teacher, his reverence Ashvaghosha, the noble son of Suvarnakshi of Saketa.
Linda Covill:
End of Canto 18: His Instructions Revealed
This is the composition of the Venerable Ashva-ghosha of Saketa, noble son of Suvarnakshi, monk, teacher, great poet and eloquent speaker.
VOCABULARY:
saundara-nande mahaa-kaavye (loc.): in the epic poem Handsome Nanda
aajNaa-vyaakaraNaH (nom. sg. m.)
aajNaa: f. order , command ; authority , unlimited power ; permission
ā- √ jñā: to mind , perceive , notice , understand ; (causative) to order , command , direct ; to assure
vyaakaraNa: n. separation , distinction , discrimination ; explanation , detailed description ; manifestation , revelation ; (with Buddhists) prediction , prophecy (one of the nine divisions of scriptures)
vy-aa-√kR: to undo , sever , divide , separate from (instr.) ;
to expound , explain , declare ; (with Buddhists) to predict (esp. future births)
naama: by name
aShTaa-dashaH sargaH (nom. sg. m.): 18th canto
aarya-suvarNaakShii-putrasya (gen. sg.): the son of noble Suvarṇakṣī
aarya: noble
suvarNaakShii: f. name
suvarNa: of a good or beautiful colour , brilliant in hue , bright , golden , yellow ; gold , made of gold ; of a good tribe or caste
putra: m. son
saaketakasya (gen. sg.): of Saketa
bhikShoH = gen. sg. bhikShu: m. a beggar , mendicant
aacaarya-bhadant'-aashvaghosasya (gen. sg. m.): the respected/celebrated teacher Aśvaghoṣa
aacaarya: m. "knowing or teaching the aacaara or rules" , a spiritual guide or teacher (especially one who invests the student with the sacrificial thread , and instructs him in the vedas , in the law of sacrifice and religious mysteries)
bhadanta: m. (from √bhand) a term of respect applied to a Buddhist , a Buddhist mendicant
√bhand: to be greeted with praise , receive applause
ashva: m. a horse
ghosa: m. indistinct noise , tumult , confused cries of a multitude , battle-cry , cries of victory , cries of woe or distress , any cry or sound , roar of animals ;
mahaa-kaveH = gen. sg. mahaa-kavi: m. a great or classical poet ; a great seer, an eminently sly man, a man of great cunning
mahat: great (in space , time , quantity or degree) i.e. large , big , huge , ample , extensive , long , abundant , numerous , considerable , important , high , eminent
kavi: mfn. gifted with insight , intelligent , knowing , enlightened , wise , sensible , prudent , skilful , cunning ; m. a thinker , intelligent man , man of understanding , leader ; m. a wise man , sage , seer , prophet
mahaa-vaadinaH = gen. sg. mahaa-vaadin: m. a great controversialist ; a great talker ; a propounder of the great
vaadin: mfn. saying , discoursing , speaking , talking , speaking or talking about ; m. a speaker , asserter , (ifc.) the teacher or propounder
kRtiH (nom. sg.): f. the act of doing , making , performing , manufacturing , composing; creation , work ; literary work
iyam (nom. sg. f.): this
ārya-suvarṇākṣī-putrasya sāketakasya bhikṣor ācārya-bhadant'-āśvaghoṣasya mahā-kaver mahā-vādinaḥ kṛtir iyam //
The 18th canto in the epic poem Handsome Nanda,
titled "Affirmation of Full Autonomy."
This is the work of a beggar, the respected teacher Aśvaghoṣa of Saketa, son of the noble Suvarṇākṣī, crafter of epic poetry and talker of the great talk.
COMMENT
My working title for Canto 18 was originally simply "Affirmation" but for the last couple of months, further to commenting on 18.6, I have favoured "Bearing Witness."
In 18.21, I translated vyākaraṇaṁ as "testimony" (EHJ: "declaration;" LC: "discriminating analysis"). Canto titles consistent with that translation might be "Attesting to Enlightenment" or "Enlightened Testimony."
But I have reverted to "affirmation" for the vyākaraṇaḥ of the canto title," firstly because (as already mentioned in comments to 18.6) vyākaraṇa corresponds to 授記 JUKI, the title of Shobogenzo chap. 32, which in the Nishijima-Cross translation is translated as "affirmation" or "giving affirmation;" and secondly because "affirmation" fits the content of Canto 18, in which the Buddha and Nanda affirm each other's respective virtues.
That leaves the problem of how to understand ājñā, which as a noun is given first in the dictionary as order, command, unlimited authority, power -- "Affirmation of a Mission"? "Affirmation of Unlimited Authority/Power"?
As a verb, ā-√jñā means to notice, undertand or realize. Hence, according to a note by EHJ, "ājñā is the special knowledge of the man who has attained salvation" -- and hence EHJ's chapter title "The Declaration of Insight." Accepting EHJ's gist might lead us in the direction of "Affirmation of Insight" or "Affirmation of Enlightenment."
This would fit well enough with the content of Canto 18. But since the original meaning of ājñā, according to the dictionary, has to do not so much with the exercise of wisdom as with the exercise of power, I am drawn back to translations like "Affirmation of Free Rein" or "Affirmation of Unlimited Power" or "Affirmation of Full Autonomy."
The canto title I have thus arrived at could hardly be further away from the spirit of LC's "His Instructions Revealed." But again, it would be not uncharacteristic of Aśvaghoṣa to choose a title which seemed to mean one thing while really meaning the opposite.
Some readers might like to ask a supreme Buddhist authority for a ruling on the canto title -- they might like to ask some Buddhist Patriarch or other to reveal his instructions. Some might prefer to use their own head.
You pays your money and you takes your choice. But it is Aśvaghoṣa fans from the latter group whose individual testimonies I am interested in, and I will start publishing those contributions the day after tomorrow, beginning with Jordan's, on Friday. Anybody who wishes to contribute but hasn't yet is welcome to do so by emailing me at mike.cross@the-middle-way.org.
Moving from the canto title to the closing sentence (or "colophon"), this line represents Aśvaghoṣa taking individual responsibility for a work of Sanskrit literature -- the first buddha-ancestor, as far as we know, who thus announced that "I, So and So, son of So and So, wrote this."
This attitude of Aśvaghoṣa, it might be argued, also says something about the affirmation of full individual autonomy.
To what extent was Aśvaghoṣa approach a new departure?
The Monier Williams dictionary defines mahā-yāna as: "great vehicle" (as opposed to hīna-yāna), name of the later system of Buddhist teaching said to have been first promulgated by Nāgārjuna and treated of in the Mahā-yāna-sūtras.
I regard with skepticism this designation of a great vehicle beginning with Nāgārjuna. Should we recognize that there was anything great in the teaching of later ancestors like Nāgārjuna, Bodhidharma, and Dogen that wasn't already greatly present in the teaching of earlier ancestors like Gautama, Ānanda, and Aśvaghoṣa?
As a rule, probably not. At the same time, I remember Dogen praising, as a secret of the great vehicle, the tradition of wearing a buddha-robe to sit in, regardless of distinctions such as male and female monk, lay man and lay woman.
However one understands the significance of the mahā in the closing words of the colophon, I think the attempts of EHJ and LC to translate mahā-kaver mahā-vādinaḥ (great eloquent poet; great poet and eloquent speaker) fail to reflect real understanding of the value system of a buddha-ancestor like Aśvaghoṣa, according to which the primary thing -- as he has just told us -- is never great poetry. The first way these epithets should be undestood, as I read them, is ironic self-deprecation.
mahā-vādin is given in the dictionary as "a great controversialist." In this sense Aśvaghoṣa following on from yesterday's verse, I am sure, was describing himself in a self-deprecating way, as a purveyor of verb-root-rooted dust, as a great talker of the talk -- that is to say, not necessarily a great walker of the walk.
At the same time, mahā-vādin can also be understood as "a propounder of the great" i.e. "teacher of the great vehicle" or "proponent of the mahāyāna teaching." Might this also be what Aśvaghoṣa intended?
My answer is the usual refuge of the dabbler whose staff lacks the iron thump of Zen enlightenment: I don't know.
In the end, the only certainty is that Saundara-nanda is full of ironic twists and ambiguity. From the first verse to the colophon, what Aśvaghoṣa seems to mean on the surface is not what he seems to mean after one has dug around for a while. And there may be deeper and deeper levels of meaning that requie a spade sharper than mine to dig them out.
It is perhaps permissible, nevertheless, to hope that this work, despite its shortcomings, may attract readers to a very fine poem, and that it may help them to the understanding and enjoyment of it. So wrote EH Johnston, 80 years ago in October 1931 in the preface to his English translation of Saundara-nanda. It is perhaps permissible to hope, in other words, even as Aśvaghoṣa himself may have hoped and intuited two thousand years ago, that this moment might not be the end of anything but rather the beginning of something, based on true foundations.
* The discoveries of FM Alexander.
* Practical understanding of how vestibular reflexes underpin all human behaviour.
* Reliable translations (based on the original words, not some poser's Buddhist intuition) of ancient texts.
*Devotion to upright sitting in the traditional cross-legged manner.
These are my four corners stones. Whether they are solid enough foundations for what Gudo Nishijima called "the establishment of true Buddhism" in the world, time will tell. My sense, as an old rugby player, is that, deep into the second half, we are several converted tries behind.
EH Johnston:
This poem was written by the great eloquent poet, the mendicant and teacher, his reverence Ashvaghosha, the noble son of Suvarnakshi of Saketa.
Linda Covill:
End of Canto 18: His Instructions Revealed
This is the composition of the Venerable Ashva-ghosha of Saketa, noble son of Suvarnakshi, monk, teacher, great poet and eloquent speaker.
VOCABULARY:
saundara-nande mahaa-kaavye (loc.): in the epic poem Handsome Nanda
aajNaa-vyaakaraNaH (nom. sg. m.)
aajNaa: f. order , command ; authority , unlimited power ; permission
ā- √ jñā: to mind , perceive , notice , understand ; (causative) to order , command , direct ; to assure
vyaakaraNa: n. separation , distinction , discrimination ; explanation , detailed description ; manifestation , revelation ; (with Buddhists) prediction , prophecy (one of the nine divisions of scriptures)
vy-aa-√kR: to undo , sever , divide , separate from (instr.) ;
to expound , explain , declare ; (with Buddhists) to predict (esp. future births)
naama: by name
aShTaa-dashaH sargaH (nom. sg. m.): 18th canto
aarya-suvarNaakShii-putrasya (gen. sg.): the son of noble Suvarṇakṣī
aarya: noble
suvarNaakShii: f. name
suvarNa: of a good or beautiful colour , brilliant in hue , bright , golden , yellow ; gold , made of gold ; of a good tribe or caste
putra: m. son
saaketakasya (gen. sg.): of Saketa
bhikShoH = gen. sg. bhikShu: m. a beggar , mendicant
aacaarya-bhadant'-aashvaghosasya (gen. sg. m.): the respected/celebrated teacher Aśvaghoṣa
aacaarya: m. "knowing or teaching the aacaara or rules" , a spiritual guide or teacher (especially one who invests the student with the sacrificial thread , and instructs him in the vedas , in the law of sacrifice and religious mysteries)
bhadanta: m. (from √bhand) a term of respect applied to a Buddhist , a Buddhist mendicant
√bhand: to be greeted with praise , receive applause
ashva: m. a horse
ghosa: m. indistinct noise , tumult , confused cries of a multitude , battle-cry , cries of victory , cries of woe or distress , any cry or sound , roar of animals ;
mahaa-kaveH = gen. sg. mahaa-kavi: m. a great or classical poet ; a great seer, an eminently sly man, a man of great cunning
mahat: great (in space , time , quantity or degree) i.e. large , big , huge , ample , extensive , long , abundant , numerous , considerable , important , high , eminent
kavi: mfn. gifted with insight , intelligent , knowing , enlightened , wise , sensible , prudent , skilful , cunning ; m. a thinker , intelligent man , man of understanding , leader ; m. a wise man , sage , seer , prophet
mahaa-vaadinaH = gen. sg. mahaa-vaadin: m. a great controversialist ; a great talker ; a propounder of the great
vaadin: mfn. saying , discoursing , speaking , talking , speaking or talking about ; m. a speaker , asserter , (ifc.) the teacher or propounder
kRtiH (nom. sg.): f. the act of doing , making , performing , manufacturing , composing; creation , work ; literary work
iyam (nom. sg. f.): this
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 18.64: Mining Aśvaghoṣa's Gold
prāyeṇālokya lokaṃ viṣaya-rati-paraṃ mokṣāt pratihataṃ
kāvya-vyājena tattvaṃ kathitam-iha mayā mokṣaḥ param-iti /
tad-buddhvā śāmikaṃ yat-tad-avahitam-ito grāhyaṃ na lalitaṃ
pāṃsubhyo dhātu-jebhyo niyatam-upacitaṃ cāmīkaram-iti // 18.64 //
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Suvadanā
18.64
Seeing, in general, that the world
is moved primarily by fondness for objects
and is repelled by liberation,
I for whom liberation is paramount
have told it here like it is,
using a kāvya poem as a pretext.
Being aware of the deceit,
take from this what pertains to peace
and not to idle pleasure.
The elemental (verb-root-rooted) dust,
assuredly, shall yield up abundant gold.
COMMENT:
As we limp towards the finishing line, rather than sailing through victorious and unimpeded, we find that last line of the last verse of Saundara-nanda presents some difficulties and dangers -- like fences, walls, tiles and pebbles, not to mention potholes.
LC translates upakaraṁ cāmīkaram as "serviceable gold," which might be difficult to improve upon if one accepts the reading upakaraṁ. EHJ, however, notes that upakara is not met with elsewhere, nor is there any obvious amendment, so that its exact sense is uncertain.
Setting that difficulty aside for a moment, another difficulty is that the last line of the last verse of Saundara-nanda, as I read it, contains one of Aśvaghoṣa's most memorable, and least easily translatable, plays on words.
dhātu-jebhyaḥ is defined as 1) elemental, born of primary elements of the earth, and 2) derived from a verbal root.
The latter definition "derived from a verbal root," describes the vast majority of the words in Saundara-nanda. In today's verse, for example, prāyeṇa is derived from the root √i, to go; ālokya is derived from the root √lok, to see; lokaṃ is thought possibly to be derived from the root √ruc, to shine; viṣaya is derived probably either from √viṣ, to act, or from vi + √si, to extend; rati is derived from the root √ram, to delight; and so on, and so on.
Following only the former definition, dhātu-jebhyaḥ is a literal description of dust: it describes the dust from which gold is to be extracted as "born from the primary elements of the earth." In that case the 4th line, as a bare statement of the facts about dust and gold, sounds almost apologetic:
"Out of dust born from earth elements, necessarily, [comes] serviceable gold."
But what Aśvaghoṣa is really saying in the 4th line, as I read it, is not only self-deprecating but also cocksure: his intention is explicitly to describe his own poem as only so many words, so much verbage, so much of the dust that is dhātu-jebhyaḥ "derived from verbal roots." And yet from this verbal dust, Aśvaghoṣa is confident -- for those of us who are inspired on a regular basis to get off the sofa, put down the remote, and sit on a round cushion swallowing the bitter pill -- the essence of the Buddha's teaching can be extracted. Read like this, the fourth line is an assurance, a confident prediction, a guarantee, and an expression of Aśvaghoṣa's own prajñā:
"Out of [this] dust derived from verbal roots, it is guaranteed, [there shall be] abundant gold."
Read like this, the last line of Saundara-nanda is very close to the last line of Fukan-zazengi, in which Dogen promises that the treasure house will spontaneously open, allowing us to accept and use the treasure as we please.
For that reason I have dared to amend the uncertain upakaraṁ into upacitaṁ, which means furnished abundantly, posessed plentifully, from the verbal root upa- √ci: to heap up, to furnish oneself with.
The difficulty of the last line does not allow any sense of going out in a blaze of glory, or of closure. Rather one is left with a sense of lingering ambiguity and uncertainty, of difficulty continuing.
So the rainbow-chaser in me cannot help but feel empty and disappointed: there is evidently no pot of gold waiting to be found at the end of this particular rainbow, just continuing uncertainty and the promise of gold. The miner in me who likes mining, however, is undeterred, because Aśvaghoṣa's Buddha-carita might be another goldmine -- or it might be another bottle of bitter pills, deceitfully presented in the guise of kāvya poetry.
EH Johnston:
Since I saw mankind mainly given over to the pleasure of the objects of the senses and averse from Salvation, I have here told of the final truth under the guise of a Kavya, considering Salvation to be supreme. Let the reader understand this and study attentively in it that which leads to tranquillity and not that which is merely pleasurable, as only the residue of gold is taken after it has been separated from the metal dust.
Linda Covill:
Seeing that the world generally holds the pleasure of sensory experience uppermost and is resistant to liberation, I, holding liberation to be paramount, have described the truth in the guise of poetry. Knowing this, that part which relates to peace should be carefully extracted from it, not the entertaining part; serviceable gold necessarily comes from ore-born dust.
VOCABULARY:
praayeNa: ind. mostly , generally , as a rule
aalokya = abs. aa - √ lok: to look at, behold
lokam (acc. sg.): m. the world
viShaya-rati-param (acc. sg. m.): delighting in objects as its paramount aim
viShaya: m. an object of sense; anything perceptible by the senses , any object of affection or concern or attention , any special worldly object or aim or matter or business , (pl.) sensual enjoyments , sensuality
rati: f. pleasure , enjoyment , delight in , fondness for (loc. or comp)
paraa: f. any chief matter or paramount object (ifc. having as the chief object , given up to , occupied with , engrossed in
mokShaat (abl. sg.): liberation, release
pratihatam (acc. sg. m.): mfn. struck or striking against ; repelled ; hostile
prati- √ han: to beat against (gen.) ; to attack ; to strike in return , strike back , ward off, remove , dispel , check , prevent , frustrate
kaavya: m. a poem
vyaajena (inst.): treacherously , deceitfully , under the pretext or guise of
vyaaja: m. deceit , fraud , deception , semblance , appearance , imitation , disguise , pretext , pretence
tattvam (nom. sg.) n. true or real state , truth , reality
kathitam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. told, related, narrated
iha: here
mayaa (inst. sg.): by me
mokShaH (nom. sg.): m. liberation, release
param (acc. sg.): mfn. best, highest, supreme, chief, paramount
iti: thus
tad (acc. sg. n.): that, it
buddhvaa = abs. to wake , wake up , be awake ; to perceive , notice , learn , understand , be aware of
shaamikam (acc. sg.) : (from √ sham) tranquillity, peace
√ sham: be quiet or calm or satisfied or contented ; to cease , be allayed or extinguished
yat (acc. sg. n.): [that] which
tat (acc. sg n.): that [which]
avahitam (acc. sg.): mfn. plunged into (loc.); fallen into , placed into , confined within
itaH: ind. (used like the abl. case of the pronoun idam) from this, from it
graahyam = acc. sg. gerundive grah: to seize , take ; to pluck , pick , gather ; to receive into the mind , apprehend , understand , learn
na: not
lalitam (acc. sg.): mfn. sported , played , playing , wanton , amorous ;
n. sport , dalliance , artlessness , grace , charm ; languid gestures in a woman (expressive of amorous feelings , " lolling , languishing " &c )
paaMsubhyaH = abl. pl. paaMsu: m. crumbling soil , dust , sand (mostly pl.)
dhaatu-jebhyaH = abl. pl. m dhaatu-ja: mfn. produced or derived from a verbal root ; born from a primary element of the earth
dhaatu: primary element of the earth i.e. metal , mineral , are (esp. a mineral of a red colour) ; element of words i.e. grammatical or verbal root or stem
ja: mfn. ( √jan) ifc. born or descended from , produced or caused by ; prepared from ; belonging to , connected with , peculiar to
niyatam (nom. sg. n.): fixed , established , settled , sure , regular , invariable , positive , definite; : ind. always , constantly , decidedly , inevitably , surely
upakaram (nom. sg. n.): doing a favour (?), providing a service (?), being yielded up (?);
upa- √ kR: to bring or put near to , furnish with , provide ; to assist , help, favour; to serve
upakāra: m. help , assistance , benefit , service , favour; use , advantage ; preparation , ornament , decoration , embellishment (as garlands suspended at gateways on festivals , flowers &c )
upakaraNa: n. the act of doing anything for another , doing a service or favour , helping , assisting , benefiting
upacitam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. heaped up , increased; big , fat , thick ; covered over , furnished abundantly , possessing plentifully
upa- √ ci: to heap up, to furnish oneself with
upagatam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. obtained
upacaram (nom. sg. n.): mfn. accessory , supplementary
upanatam (nom. sg. n.): fallen to one's share
uparavam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. eclipsed, obscured
caamiikaram (nom. sg.) n. gold
iti: "....," thus
kāvya-vyājena tattvaṃ kathitam-iha mayā mokṣaḥ param-iti /
tad-buddhvā śāmikaṃ yat-tad-avahitam-ito grāhyaṃ na lalitaṃ
pāṃsubhyo dhātu-jebhyo niyatam-upacitaṃ cāmīkaram-iti // 18.64 //
= = = = - = = - - - - - - = = = - - - =
= = = = - = = - - - - - - = = = - - - =
= = = = - = = - - - - - - = = = - - - =
= = = = - = = - - - - - - = = = - - - =
Suvadanā
18.64
Seeing, in general, that the world
is moved primarily by fondness for objects
and is repelled by liberation,
I for whom liberation is paramount
have told it here like it is,
using a kāvya poem as a pretext.
Being aware of the deceit,
take from this what pertains to peace
and not to idle pleasure.
The elemental (verb-root-rooted) dust,
assuredly, shall yield up abundant gold.
COMMENT:
As we limp towards the finishing line, rather than sailing through victorious and unimpeded, we find that last line of the last verse of Saundara-nanda presents some difficulties and dangers -- like fences, walls, tiles and pebbles, not to mention potholes.
LC translates upakaraṁ cāmīkaram as "serviceable gold," which might be difficult to improve upon if one accepts the reading upakaraṁ. EHJ, however, notes that upakara is not met with elsewhere, nor is there any obvious amendment, so that its exact sense is uncertain.
Setting that difficulty aside for a moment, another difficulty is that the last line of the last verse of Saundara-nanda, as I read it, contains one of Aśvaghoṣa's most memorable, and least easily translatable, plays on words.
dhātu-jebhyaḥ is defined as 1) elemental, born of primary elements of the earth, and 2) derived from a verbal root.
The latter definition "derived from a verbal root," describes the vast majority of the words in Saundara-nanda. In today's verse, for example, prāyeṇa is derived from the root √i, to go; ālokya is derived from the root √lok, to see; lokaṃ is thought possibly to be derived from the root √ruc, to shine; viṣaya is derived probably either from √viṣ, to act, or from vi + √si, to extend; rati is derived from the root √ram, to delight; and so on, and so on.
Following only the former definition, dhātu-jebhyaḥ is a literal description of dust: it describes the dust from which gold is to be extracted as "born from the primary elements of the earth." In that case the 4th line, as a bare statement of the facts about dust and gold, sounds almost apologetic:
"Out of dust born from earth elements, necessarily, [comes] serviceable gold."
But what Aśvaghoṣa is really saying in the 4th line, as I read it, is not only self-deprecating but also cocksure: his intention is explicitly to describe his own poem as only so many words, so much verbage, so much of the dust that is dhātu-jebhyaḥ "derived from verbal roots." And yet from this verbal dust, Aśvaghoṣa is confident -- for those of us who are inspired on a regular basis to get off the sofa, put down the remote, and sit on a round cushion swallowing the bitter pill -- the essence of the Buddha's teaching can be extracted. Read like this, the fourth line is an assurance, a confident prediction, a guarantee, and an expression of Aśvaghoṣa's own prajñā:
"Out of [this] dust derived from verbal roots, it is guaranteed, [there shall be] abundant gold."
Read like this, the last line of Saundara-nanda is very close to the last line of Fukan-zazengi, in which Dogen promises that the treasure house will spontaneously open, allowing us to accept and use the treasure as we please.
For that reason I have dared to amend the uncertain upakaraṁ into upacitaṁ, which means furnished abundantly, posessed plentifully, from the verbal root upa- √ci: to heap up, to furnish oneself with.
The difficulty of the last line does not allow any sense of going out in a blaze of glory, or of closure. Rather one is left with a sense of lingering ambiguity and uncertainty, of difficulty continuing.
So the rainbow-chaser in me cannot help but feel empty and disappointed: there is evidently no pot of gold waiting to be found at the end of this particular rainbow, just continuing uncertainty and the promise of gold. The miner in me who likes mining, however, is undeterred, because Aśvaghoṣa's Buddha-carita might be another goldmine -- or it might be another bottle of bitter pills, deceitfully presented in the guise of kāvya poetry.
EH Johnston:
Since I saw mankind mainly given over to the pleasure of the objects of the senses and averse from Salvation, I have here told of the final truth under the guise of a Kavya, considering Salvation to be supreme. Let the reader understand this and study attentively in it that which leads to tranquillity and not that which is merely pleasurable, as only the residue of gold is taken after it has been separated from the metal dust.
Linda Covill:
Seeing that the world generally holds the pleasure of sensory experience uppermost and is resistant to liberation, I, holding liberation to be paramount, have described the truth in the guise of poetry. Knowing this, that part which relates to peace should be carefully extracted from it, not the entertaining part; serviceable gold necessarily comes from ore-born dust.
VOCABULARY:
praayeNa: ind. mostly , generally , as a rule
aalokya = abs. aa - √ lok: to look at, behold
lokam (acc. sg.): m. the world
viShaya-rati-param (acc. sg. m.): delighting in objects as its paramount aim
viShaya: m. an object of sense; anything perceptible by the senses , any object of affection or concern or attention , any special worldly object or aim or matter or business , (pl.) sensual enjoyments , sensuality
rati: f. pleasure , enjoyment , delight in , fondness for (loc. or comp)
paraa: f. any chief matter or paramount object (ifc. having as the chief object , given up to , occupied with , engrossed in
mokShaat (abl. sg.): liberation, release
pratihatam (acc. sg. m.): mfn. struck or striking against ; repelled ; hostile
prati- √ han: to beat against (gen.) ; to attack ; to strike in return , strike back , ward off, remove , dispel , check , prevent , frustrate
kaavya: m. a poem
vyaajena (inst.): treacherously , deceitfully , under the pretext or guise of
vyaaja: m. deceit , fraud , deception , semblance , appearance , imitation , disguise , pretext , pretence
tattvam (nom. sg.) n. true or real state , truth , reality
kathitam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. told, related, narrated
iha: here
mayaa (inst. sg.): by me
mokShaH (nom. sg.): m. liberation, release
param (acc. sg.): mfn. best, highest, supreme, chief, paramount
iti: thus
tad (acc. sg. n.): that, it
buddhvaa = abs. to wake , wake up , be awake ; to perceive , notice , learn , understand , be aware of
shaamikam (acc. sg.) : (from √ sham) tranquillity, peace
√ sham: be quiet or calm or satisfied or contented ; to cease , be allayed or extinguished
yat (acc. sg. n.): [that] which
tat (acc. sg n.): that [which]
avahitam (acc. sg.): mfn. plunged into (loc.); fallen into , placed into , confined within
itaH: ind. (used like the abl. case of the pronoun idam) from this, from it
graahyam = acc. sg. gerundive grah: to seize , take ; to pluck , pick , gather ; to receive into the mind , apprehend , understand , learn
na: not
lalitam (acc. sg.): mfn. sported , played , playing , wanton , amorous ;
n. sport , dalliance , artlessness , grace , charm ; languid gestures in a woman (expressive of amorous feelings , " lolling , languishing " &c )
paaMsubhyaH = abl. pl. paaMsu: m. crumbling soil , dust , sand (mostly pl.)
dhaatu-jebhyaH = abl. pl. m dhaatu-ja: mfn. produced or derived from a verbal root ; born from a primary element of the earth
dhaatu: primary element of the earth i.e. metal , mineral , are (esp. a mineral of a red colour) ; element of words i.e. grammatical or verbal root or stem
ja: mfn. ( √jan) ifc. born or descended from , produced or caused by ; prepared from ; belonging to , connected with , peculiar to
niyatam (nom. sg. n.): fixed , established , settled , sure , regular , invariable , positive , definite; : ind. always , constantly , decidedly , inevitably , surely
upakaram (nom. sg. n.): doing a favour (?), providing a service (?), being yielded up (?);
upa- √ kR: to bring or put near to , furnish with , provide ; to assist , help, favour; to serve
upakāra: m. help , assistance , benefit , service , favour; use , advantage ; preparation , ornament , decoration , embellishment (as garlands suspended at gateways on festivals , flowers &c )
upakaraNa: n. the act of doing anything for another , doing a service or favour , helping , assisting , benefiting
upacitam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. heaped up , increased; big , fat , thick ; covered over , furnished abundantly , possessing plentifully
upa- √ ci: to heap up, to furnish oneself with
upagatam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. obtained
upacaram (nom. sg. n.): mfn. accessory , supplementary
upanatam (nom. sg. n.): fallen to one's share
uparavam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. eclipsed, obscured
caamiikaram (nom. sg.) n. gold
iti: "....," thus
Monday, November 28, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 18.63: A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down
ity-eṣā vyupaśāntaye na rataye mokṣārtha-garbhā kṛtiḥ
śrotṛṛṇāṃ grahaṇārtham-anya-manasāṃ kāvyopacārāt kṛtā /
yan-mokṣāt kṛtam-anyad-atra hi mayā tat-kāvya-dharmāt kṛtaṃ
pātuṃ tiktam-ivauṣadhaṃ madhu-yutaṃ hṛdyaṃ kathaṃ syād-iti // 18.63 //
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Śārdūlavikrīḍitā
18.63
This work is pregnant with the purpose of release:
it is for cessation, not for titillation;
It is wrought
out of the figurative expression of kāvya poetry
in order to capture an audience
whose minds are on other things --
For what I have written here
not pertaining to liberation,
I have written
according to the conventions of kāvya poetry.
This is through asking myself
how the bitter pill might be made pleasant to swallow,
like bitter medicine mixed with something sweet.
COMMENT:
Here is Aśvaghoṣa, as a named individual, taking ownership in the first person singular of a poem -- a kāvya poem replete with courtly imagery and metaphors, and written in strict conformity with the rules of classical Sanskrit metre -- that he has written himself.
Hence in the 3rd line yad... kṛtam... mayā tat... kṛtaṃ (lit. "what was done by me... that was done by me").
In the 4th line, as I read it "the bitter pill" is understood.
A bitter pill is something that is difficult to accept -- like, for example, the fact that I can't hope to change for the better, in the direction of release or liberation, while hanging on to all my old views, bad habits, and attachments.
Being in the Śārdūlavikrīḍitā metre, today's verse as I read it, is composed in four distinct lines, and so the kind of four-phased progression which my teacher Gudo Nishijima was so adept in identifying is readily apparent. That is to say, the 1st line relates to meaning, aim, or purpose. The 2nd line describes the stuff the poem is wrought out of. The 3rd line is subject expressing object realized by his own action -- what was done by me was done by me. And the 4th line just points us exactly to where we are, still struggling to swallow the bitter pill.
EH Johnston:
This poem, dealing thus with the subject of Salvation, has been written in the Kavya style, not to give pleasure, but to further the attainment of tranquillity and with the intention of capturing hearers devoted to other things. For, that I have handled other subjects in it besides Salvation is in accordance with the laws of Kavya poetry to make it palatable, as sweet is put into a bitter medicine to make it drinkable.
Linda Covill:
This composition on the subject of liberation is for calming the reader, not for his pleasure. It is fashioned out of the medicine of poetry with the intention of capturing an audience whose minds are on other things. Thinking how it could be made pleasant, I have handled in it things other than liberation, things introduced due to the character of poetry, as bitter medicine is mixed with honey when it is drunk.
VOCABULARY:
iti: thus
eShaa (nom. sg. f.): this
vyupashaantaye = dat. sg. vyupashaanti.
shaanti: f. tranquillity , peace , quiet , peace or calmness of mind , absence of passion; alleviation (of evil or pain) , cessation , abatement , extinction
vyupashaanta: mfn. calmed , allayed , ceased (as pain) ; desisting
vy-upa- √ śam: to become quiet , be allayed , cease
na: not
rataye = dat. sg. rati: f. rest , repose ; pleasure , enjoyment , delight in , fondness for ; the pleasure of love , sexual passion or union , amorous enjoyment
mokSh'-aartha-garbhaa (nom. sg. f.): filled with the purpose of release
mokSha: m. emancipation , liberation , release
artha: aim, purpose
garbha: m. womb; ifc. f. (garbhaa), having in the interior , containing , filled with
kRtiH (nom. sg.): f. act of doing; creation , work ; literary work
shrotRRnaaM = gen. pl. m. shrotR: mfn. one who hears, a hearer
grahaN'-aartham: in order to capture
grahaNa: n. seizing , holding , taking; n. catching , seizure , taking captive
artha: aim, purpose
anya-manasaam = gen. pl. m. anya-manas: mfn. whose mind is fixed on something else, absent
anya: other, something else
manas: mind
kaavy'-opacaaraa (abl. sg.): out of the figurative expression of a kāvya poem
kaavya: mfn. (fr. kaví) , endowed with the qualities of a sage or poet , descended or coming from a sage , prophetic , inspired , poetical; m. a poem , poetical composition with a coherent plot by a single author
upacaara: mode of proceeding towards (gen.) , treatment ; attendance on a patient , medical practice , physicking; present , offering , bribe; usage , custom or manner of speech ; a figurative or metaphorical expression (upacaaraat ind. metaphorically) , metaphor , figurative application
upa- √ car: to come near , wait upon , serve , attend ; to attend on (a patient) , physic (a person) , treat , tend , nurse; to use figuratively or metaphorically , apply figuratively
kRtaa (nom. sg. f.): mfn. done , made , accomplished ; worked, wrought
yat (acc. sg. n.): what (relative pronoun)
mokShaat (abl. sg.): liberation, release
kRtam (nom./acc. sg. n.): done, worked
anyat (acc. sg. n.): other than , different from , opposed to (abl. or in comp.)
atra: ind. in this matter , in this work, in it; here, at this time
hi: for
mayaa (inst. sg.): by me
tat: (correlative of yat) that
kaavya-dharmaat (abl. sg.): because of the law of the poem, because of the conventions of poetry
kaavya: poem, poetry
dharma: that which is established or firm, law; usage , practice , customary observance or prescribed conduct.
kRtam (nom./acc. sg. n.): done, worked
paatum = infinitive paa: to drink, suck, swallow
tiktam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. bitter
iva: like
auShadham (acc. sg.) n. herbs used in medicine , simples , a medicament, drug , medicine in general
madhu-yutam (acc. sg. n.): combined with something sweet, mixed with honey
madhu: mfn. sweet , delicious , pleasant ; n. anything sweet (esp. if liquid) , mead &c ; honey ; n. the juice or nectar of flowers , any sweet intoxicating drink ; sugar
yuta: mfn. united , combined , joined or connected or provided or filled or covered with , accompanied by , possessed of (instr. or comp.)
hRdya (acc. sg. n.): mfn. being in the heart ; pleasing or dear to the heart ; pleasant to the stomach, savoury , dainty (as food)
katham: how
syaat (3rd pers. sg. optative as): it might be
iti: [thinking] thus
śrotṛṛṇāṃ grahaṇārtham-anya-manasāṃ kāvyopacārāt kṛtā /
yan-mokṣāt kṛtam-anyad-atra hi mayā tat-kāvya-dharmāt kṛtaṃ
pātuṃ tiktam-ivauṣadhaṃ madhu-yutaṃ hṛdyaṃ kathaṃ syād-iti // 18.63 //
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - =
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - =
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - =
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - =
Śārdūlavikrīḍitā
18.63
This work is pregnant with the purpose of release:
it is for cessation, not for titillation;
It is wrought
out of the figurative expression of kāvya poetry
in order to capture an audience
whose minds are on other things --
For what I have written here
not pertaining to liberation,
I have written
according to the conventions of kāvya poetry.
This is through asking myself
how the bitter pill might be made pleasant to swallow,
like bitter medicine mixed with something sweet.
COMMENT:
Here is Aśvaghoṣa, as a named individual, taking ownership in the first person singular of a poem -- a kāvya poem replete with courtly imagery and metaphors, and written in strict conformity with the rules of classical Sanskrit metre -- that he has written himself.
Hence in the 3rd line yad... kṛtam... mayā tat... kṛtaṃ (lit. "what was done by me... that was done by me").
In the 4th line, as I read it "the bitter pill" is understood.
A bitter pill is something that is difficult to accept -- like, for example, the fact that I can't hope to change for the better, in the direction of release or liberation, while hanging on to all my old views, bad habits, and attachments.
Being in the Śārdūlavikrīḍitā metre, today's verse as I read it, is composed in four distinct lines, and so the kind of four-phased progression which my teacher Gudo Nishijima was so adept in identifying is readily apparent. That is to say, the 1st line relates to meaning, aim, or purpose. The 2nd line describes the stuff the poem is wrought out of. The 3rd line is subject expressing object realized by his own action -- what was done by me was done by me. And the 4th line just points us exactly to where we are, still struggling to swallow the bitter pill.
EH Johnston:
This poem, dealing thus with the subject of Salvation, has been written in the Kavya style, not to give pleasure, but to further the attainment of tranquillity and with the intention of capturing hearers devoted to other things. For, that I have handled other subjects in it besides Salvation is in accordance with the laws of Kavya poetry to make it palatable, as sweet is put into a bitter medicine to make it drinkable.
Linda Covill:
This composition on the subject of liberation is for calming the reader, not for his pleasure. It is fashioned out of the medicine of poetry with the intention of capturing an audience whose minds are on other things. Thinking how it could be made pleasant, I have handled in it things other than liberation, things introduced due to the character of poetry, as bitter medicine is mixed with honey when it is drunk.
VOCABULARY:
iti: thus
eShaa (nom. sg. f.): this
vyupashaantaye = dat. sg. vyupashaanti.
shaanti: f. tranquillity , peace , quiet , peace or calmness of mind , absence of passion; alleviation (of evil or pain) , cessation , abatement , extinction
vyupashaanta: mfn. calmed , allayed , ceased (as pain) ; desisting
vy-upa- √ śam: to become quiet , be allayed , cease
na: not
rataye = dat. sg. rati: f. rest , repose ; pleasure , enjoyment , delight in , fondness for ; the pleasure of love , sexual passion or union , amorous enjoyment
mokSh'-aartha-garbhaa (nom. sg. f.): filled with the purpose of release
mokSha: m. emancipation , liberation , release
artha: aim, purpose
garbha: m. womb; ifc. f. (garbhaa), having in the interior , containing , filled with
kRtiH (nom. sg.): f. act of doing; creation , work ; literary work
shrotRRnaaM = gen. pl. m. shrotR: mfn. one who hears, a hearer
grahaN'-aartham: in order to capture
grahaNa: n. seizing , holding , taking; n. catching , seizure , taking captive
artha: aim, purpose
anya-manasaam = gen. pl. m. anya-manas: mfn. whose mind is fixed on something else, absent
anya: other, something else
manas: mind
kaavy'-opacaaraa (abl. sg.): out of the figurative expression of a kāvya poem
kaavya: mfn. (fr. kaví) , endowed with the qualities of a sage or poet , descended or coming from a sage , prophetic , inspired , poetical; m. a poem , poetical composition with a coherent plot by a single author
upacaara: mode of proceeding towards (gen.) , treatment ; attendance on a patient , medical practice , physicking; present , offering , bribe; usage , custom or manner of speech ; a figurative or metaphorical expression (upacaaraat ind. metaphorically) , metaphor , figurative application
upa- √ car: to come near , wait upon , serve , attend ; to attend on (a patient) , physic (a person) , treat , tend , nurse; to use figuratively or metaphorically , apply figuratively
kRtaa (nom. sg. f.): mfn. done , made , accomplished ; worked, wrought
yat (acc. sg. n.): what (relative pronoun)
mokShaat (abl. sg.): liberation, release
kRtam (nom./acc. sg. n.): done, worked
anyat (acc. sg. n.): other than , different from , opposed to (abl. or in comp.)
atra: ind. in this matter , in this work, in it; here, at this time
hi: for
mayaa (inst. sg.): by me
tat: (correlative of yat) that
kaavya-dharmaat (abl. sg.): because of the law of the poem, because of the conventions of poetry
kaavya: poem, poetry
dharma: that which is established or firm, law; usage , practice , customary observance or prescribed conduct.
kRtam (nom./acc. sg. n.): done, worked
paatum = infinitive paa: to drink, suck, swallow
tiktam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. bitter
iva: like
auShadham (acc. sg.) n. herbs used in medicine , simples , a medicament, drug , medicine in general
madhu-yutam (acc. sg. n.): combined with something sweet, mixed with honey
madhu: mfn. sweet , delicious , pleasant ; n. anything sweet (esp. if liquid) , mead &c ; honey ; n. the juice or nectar of flowers , any sweet intoxicating drink ; sugar
yuta: mfn. united , combined , joined or connected or provided or filled or covered with , accompanied by , possessed of (instr. or comp.)
hRdya (acc. sg. n.): mfn. being in the heart ; pleasing or dear to the heart ; pleasant to the stomach, savoury , dainty (as food)
katham: how
syaat (3rd pers. sg. optative as): it might be
iti: [thinking] thus
Sunday, November 27, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 18.62: Nanda Uses His Head Nicely
bhikṣārthaṃ samaye viveśa sa puraṃ dṛṣṭīr-janasyākṣipan
lābhālābha-sukhāsukhādiṣu samaḥ svasthendriyo niḥspṛhaḥ /
nirmokṣāya cakāra tatra ca kathāṃ kāle janāyārthine
naivonmārga-gatān parān paribhavann-ātmānam-utkarṣayan // 18.62 //
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= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - =
Śārdūlavikrīḍitā
18.62
When the occasion arose
he entered the town for begging
and attracted the citizens' gaze;
Impartial towards gain, loss,
comfort, discomfort, and the like,
his senses composed, he was free of longing;
And being there, in the moment,
he talked of liberation to people so inclined --
Never putting down others on a wrong path
or raising himself up.
COMMENT:
Nanda has walked the walk of liberation following a course prescribed by the Buddha, which involved going alone into the forest, sitting with the legs crossed in the manner traditionally prescribed for yoga practitioners, observing progress (or regress) through four stages of sitting-meditation, and so on.
The point of today's verse, and especially the 3rd line, seems to be that talking the talk of liberation is less a question of following a protocol and more a question of intuiting what is appropriate at a particular place and time.
Note to self -- putting down others who are on a wrong path, and thereby seeming to big oneself up, might not be enlightened behaviour at any place or time.
The point about wrong paths might be not to put down people who are on them, but rather to steer clear of them oneself and point them out to others, so that eventually a lot of long grass and brambles might grow over them.
EH Johnston:
Indifferent to gain or loss, to pleasure or suffering etc., free from yearnings and with senses stilled, he entered the city to ask for alms at the due time and attracted the gaze of the folk ; and there in due course he told the tale of Salvation to the folk who had need of it, neither contemning others still wandering far from the true Path nor exalting himself.
Linda Covill:
At the appropriate time he entered the city for alms, catching the eye of the people. Staying the same in gain or loss and in happiness and sadness alike, he was free of longings, with his senses in sound health. There in due course he spoke of deliverance to people in need of it, not disparaging those on the wrong path nor vaunting himself.
VOCABULARY:
bhikShaa: f. the act of begging or asking
artham: for, for the purpose of
samaye: ind. (loc.) at the appointed time, at the right moment, in good time for
samaya: m. coming together; appointed or proper time , right moment for doing anything, opportunity , occasion , time , season
vivesha = 3rd pers. sg. perfect vish: to enter, to into
saH (nom. sg. m.): he
puram (acc. sg.): n. a fortress , castle , city , town
dRShTiiH = acc. pl. dRShTi: f. seeing , viewing , beholding; regard , consideration; eye , look , glance
janasya = gen. sg. jana: m. people , subjects (the sg. used collectively)
akShipan = 3rd pers. pl. imperfect aa-√ kSip: to draw or take off or away ,
√ kSip: to throw, send; to throw a glance
laabha: m. obtaining , getting , attaining , acquisition , gain , profit
alaabha: m. non-acquirement, loss
sukha: n. n. ease , easiness , comfort , prosperity , pleasure , happiness
asukha: n. sorrow , pain , affliction
aadiShu (loc. pl.): and so on
samaH (nom. sg. m.): always the same , constant , unchanged , fair , impartial towards (loc.)
svasth'-endriyaH (nom. sg. m.): being well in his senses
svastha: mfn. self-abiding , being in one's self , uninjured , unmolested , contented , doing well , sound, well , healthy ; relying upon one's self , confident , resolute , composed
indriya: n. power of the senses; n. faculty of sense , sense , organ of sense
niH-spRhaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. not longing for (loc. or comp.) , abstaining from (abl.)
√spRh: to be eager , desire eagerly , long for ; to envy , be jealous
nirmokShaaya (dat. sg.): m. liberation , deliverance
cakaara = 3rd pers. sg. kR: to do, make
tatra: ind. there, therefore, in those circumstances
ca: and
kathaam (acc. sg.): f. conversation , speech , talking together ; talk
kaale: ind. in due time, in due course
janaaya (dat. sg.): m. the people
arthine = dat. sg. m. arthin: mfn. one who wants or desires anything
na: not
eva: (emphatic)
unmaarga-gataan: on a/the wrong way
unmaarga: m. deviation from the right way , wrong way (lit. and fig.)
gata: being located on, situated in
paraan (acc. pl. m.): others
paribhavan = nom. sg. m. pres. part. pari-√bhuu: to be superior , excel , surpass , subdue , conquer ; to pass round or over , not heed , slight , despise , insult ; to disgrace
aatmaanam (acc. sg. m.): himself
utkarShayan = nom. sg. m. pres. part. causative ut-√ kRSh: to draw or drag or pull up
lābhālābha-sukhāsukhādiṣu samaḥ svasthendriyo niḥspṛhaḥ /
nirmokṣāya cakāra tatra ca kathāṃ kāle janāyārthine
naivonmārga-gatān parān paribhavann-ātmānam-utkarṣayan // 18.62 //
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - =
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - =
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - =
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - =
Śārdūlavikrīḍitā
18.62
When the occasion arose
he entered the town for begging
and attracted the citizens' gaze;
Impartial towards gain, loss,
comfort, discomfort, and the like,
his senses composed, he was free of longing;
And being there, in the moment,
he talked of liberation to people so inclined --
Never putting down others on a wrong path
or raising himself up.
COMMENT:
Nanda has walked the walk of liberation following a course prescribed by the Buddha, which involved going alone into the forest, sitting with the legs crossed in the manner traditionally prescribed for yoga practitioners, observing progress (or regress) through four stages of sitting-meditation, and so on.
The point of today's verse, and especially the 3rd line, seems to be that talking the talk of liberation is less a question of following a protocol and more a question of intuiting what is appropriate at a particular place and time.
Note to self -- putting down others who are on a wrong path, and thereby seeming to big oneself up, might not be enlightened behaviour at any place or time.
The point about wrong paths might be not to put down people who are on them, but rather to steer clear of them oneself and point them out to others, so that eventually a lot of long grass and brambles might grow over them.
EH Johnston:
Indifferent to gain or loss, to pleasure or suffering etc., free from yearnings and with senses stilled, he entered the city to ask for alms at the due time and attracted the gaze of the folk ; and there in due course he told the tale of Salvation to the folk who had need of it, neither contemning others still wandering far from the true Path nor exalting himself.
Linda Covill:
At the appropriate time he entered the city for alms, catching the eye of the people. Staying the same in gain or loss and in happiness and sadness alike, he was free of longings, with his senses in sound health. There in due course he spoke of deliverance to people in need of it, not disparaging those on the wrong path nor vaunting himself.
VOCABULARY:
bhikShaa: f. the act of begging or asking
artham: for, for the purpose of
samaye: ind. (loc.) at the appointed time, at the right moment, in good time for
samaya: m. coming together; appointed or proper time , right moment for doing anything, opportunity , occasion , time , season
vivesha = 3rd pers. sg. perfect vish: to enter, to into
saH (nom. sg. m.): he
puram (acc. sg.): n. a fortress , castle , city , town
dRShTiiH = acc. pl. dRShTi: f. seeing , viewing , beholding; regard , consideration; eye , look , glance
janasya = gen. sg. jana: m. people , subjects (the sg. used collectively)
akShipan = 3rd pers. pl. imperfect aa-√ kSip: to draw or take off or away ,
√ kSip: to throw, send; to throw a glance
laabha: m. obtaining , getting , attaining , acquisition , gain , profit
alaabha: m. non-acquirement, loss
sukha: n. n. ease , easiness , comfort , prosperity , pleasure , happiness
asukha: n. sorrow , pain , affliction
aadiShu (loc. pl.): and so on
samaH (nom. sg. m.): always the same , constant , unchanged , fair , impartial towards (loc.)
svasth'-endriyaH (nom. sg. m.): being well in his senses
svastha: mfn. self-abiding , being in one's self , uninjured , unmolested , contented , doing well , sound, well , healthy ; relying upon one's self , confident , resolute , composed
indriya: n. power of the senses; n. faculty of sense , sense , organ of sense
niH-spRhaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. not longing for (loc. or comp.) , abstaining from (abl.)
√spRh: to be eager , desire eagerly , long for ; to envy , be jealous
nirmokShaaya (dat. sg.): m. liberation , deliverance
cakaara = 3rd pers. sg. kR: to do, make
tatra: ind. there, therefore, in those circumstances
ca: and
kathaam (acc. sg.): f. conversation , speech , talking together ; talk
kaale: ind. in due time, in due course
janaaya (dat. sg.): m. the people
arthine = dat. sg. m. arthin: mfn. one who wants or desires anything
na: not
eva: (emphatic)
unmaarga-gataan: on a/the wrong way
unmaarga: m. deviation from the right way , wrong way (lit. and fig.)
gata: being located on, situated in
paraan (acc. pl. m.): others
paribhavan = nom. sg. m. pres. part. pari-√bhuu: to be superior , excel , surpass , subdue , conquer ; to pass round or over , not heed , slight , despise , insult ; to disgrace
aatmaanam (acc. sg. m.): himself
utkarShayan = nom. sg. m. pres. part. causative ut-√ kRSh: to draw or drag or pull up
Saturday, November 26, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 18.61: What the Buddha Taught
ity-arhataḥ parama-kāruṇikasya śāstur-
mūrdhnā vacaś-ca caraṇau ca samaṃ gṛhītvā /
svasthaḥ praśānta-hṛdayo vinivṛtta-kāryaḥ
pārśvān-muneḥ pratiyayau vimadaḥ karīva // 18.61 //
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Vasantatilaka
18.61
Thus spoke the Worthy One,
the instructor whose compassion
was of the highest order,
Whose words and equally whose feet
Nanda had accepted, using his head;
Then, at ease in himself, his heart at peace,
his task ended,
He left the Sage's side like an elephant free of rut.
COMMENT:
Why is the Buddha's compassion described as supreme, or of the highest order (parama)?
I think Aśvaghoṣa described the Buddha's compassion as being of the highest order in the sense that if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day; whereas if you teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime.
This principle has from an early age informed, I confess, my own ambition.
Translation is in essence very modest work, sort of like being a referee in a football match. If you stand out, it is probably because you have committed some major blunder, like impulsively reaching for a red card in the first twenty minutes, or like neglecting the real meaning of the author's original words in your eagerness to assert your own crappy views and opinions. No young lad is likely to have a photo pinned on his bedroom wall of a referee or a translator in some heroic pose -- vigorously blowing his whistle, or stooping over the Monier-Williams dictionary.
The reason I have been doing such modest work all these years, ironically, is a big desire to do something momentous with my life. I always thought, and indeed was very much encouraged so to think by Gudo Nishijima, that if I could succeed in helping to clarify what the Buddha really taught, then I might thereby live a supremely meaningful and valuable life.
Now, according to Dogen, the one and only way to live a life which in meaning and value surpasses the Buddha himself, is to spend it sitting in full lotus.
At the same time, in the final chapter of Shobogenzo Dogen quotes the ultimate teaching of the Buddha on the night before he died as to have small desire and know satisfaction.
Mindful of these two points, I am limping to the end of this final canto at something of a low ebb, feeling like a failure, unable to sit in full lotus due to a torn bit of cartilage in my left knee that resulted from falling off my push-bike at the end of May, and at the same time suffering, as has been my wont for 30 years, from a gnawing sense of frustrated ambition.
Such are the clouded eyes of the bad referee who wants to be a sporting legend, or the rubbish translator who wants to broadcast his own pet theory.
Endeavouring nonetheless, with my whole body and mind, to keep my clouded eye on the ball, I am struck in line 2 by the word mūrdhnā, which is instrumental singular of mūrdhan (forehead, head). So the point might be that Nanda used his own head.
And that may be why needy Nanda was finally able to leave the Sage's side, like a great war elephant free of all wildness -- because he had learned for himself how to use his head.
What was it that the Buddha taught about the use of the head?
I haven't yet fully understood. But it wasn't what Gudo Nishijima taught me in the Zazen Hall of Tokei-in temple, when he grabbed my chin and yanked it several inches backwards, wishing to cause my neck bones to become straight vertically. That is for damn sure.
If the teaching of a buddha-ancestor like Gudo Nishijima can patently be so utterly unreliable, what else is there for each of us to do but to learn to use our own heads?
With this in mind I am looking foward next week to publishing contributions from individual readers of this blog. So far I have received individual testimonies (in the order of receiving them) from Jordan, Ian, Harry, George, and Malcolm. Anybody else is welcome to contribute, whether man or woman, Buddhist or non-Buddhist. The only criterion is that you have to be an individual who, instead of subscribing to anybody's Buddhist view, is willing to use his or her own head.
EH Johnston:
Then Nanda grasped with his head the words and the feet simultaneously of the worshipful, supremely compassionate Master, and cheerful with heart at rest and his aims accomplished, he left the Sage, being freed from conceit like an elephant from must.
Linda Covill:
So with his head he grasped the words and feet together of the worthy one, the supremely compassionate teacher ; and sound in himself, his heart at ease, his task ended, he left the sage's side like an elephant free of rut.
VOCABULARY:
iti: "....", thus
arhataH (gen. sg. m.): worthy , venerable , respectable
parama-kaaruNikasya (gen. sg. m.): supremely compassionate
parama: highest, supreme
kaaruNika: mfn. compassionate
shaastur (gen. sg.): m. a chastiser , punisher ; a ruler , commander ; a teacher , instructor
muurdhnaa = inst. sg. muurdhan: m. the forehead , head in general , skull
vacaH = acc. sg. vacas: n. speech , voice , word ; advice , direction , command , order
ca: and
caraNau = acc. dual caraNa: foot
ca: and
samam: ind. in like manner , alike , equally , similarly
gRhiitvaa = abs. √grah: to seize , take, lay hold of ; to lay the hand on , claim ; to place upon (instr. or loc.) ; to take on one's self ; to receive hospitably (a guest) , take back (a divorced wife) ; to perceive (with the organs of sense or with m/anas) , observe , recognise ; to receive into the mind , apprehend ; to accept , admit , approve ; to obey, follow
sva-sthaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. self-abiding , being in one's self (or " in the self " Sarvad. ), being in one's natural state , being one's self uninjured , unmolested , contented , doing well , sound well , healthy (in body and mind ; comfortable , at ease
prashaanta-hRdayaH (nom. sg. m.): his heart at peace
prashaanta: mfn. tranquillized , calm , quiet ; extinguished , ceased , allayed
hRdaya: n. heart
vinivRtta-kaaryaH (nom. sg. m.): his work to be done having ended
vinivRtta: mfn. turned back , returned , retired , withdrawn ; desisting from (abl.) , having abandoned or given up R, disappeared , ended , ceased to be
kaarya: n. work or business to be done , duty , affair
paarshvaat (abl. sg.): n. the side
muneH (gen. sg.): m. the sage
pratiyayau = 3rd pers. sg. perfect prati- √yaa:to come or go to
vi-madaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. free from intoxication , grown sober ; free from rut ; free from pride or arrogance
karii = nom. sg. karin: m. " having a trunk " , an elephant
iva: like
mūrdhnā vacaś-ca caraṇau ca samaṃ gṛhītvā /
svasthaḥ praśānta-hṛdayo vinivṛtta-kāryaḥ
pārśvān-muneḥ pratiyayau vimadaḥ karīva // 18.61 //
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Vasantatilaka
18.61
Thus spoke the Worthy One,
the instructor whose compassion
was of the highest order,
Whose words and equally whose feet
Nanda had accepted, using his head;
Then, at ease in himself, his heart at peace,
his task ended,
He left the Sage's side like an elephant free of rut.
COMMENT:
Why is the Buddha's compassion described as supreme, or of the highest order (parama)?
I think Aśvaghoṣa described the Buddha's compassion as being of the highest order in the sense that if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day; whereas if you teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime.
This principle has from an early age informed, I confess, my own ambition.
Translation is in essence very modest work, sort of like being a referee in a football match. If you stand out, it is probably because you have committed some major blunder, like impulsively reaching for a red card in the first twenty minutes, or like neglecting the real meaning of the author's original words in your eagerness to assert your own crappy views and opinions. No young lad is likely to have a photo pinned on his bedroom wall of a referee or a translator in some heroic pose -- vigorously blowing his whistle, or stooping over the Monier-Williams dictionary.
The reason I have been doing such modest work all these years, ironically, is a big desire to do something momentous with my life. I always thought, and indeed was very much encouraged so to think by Gudo Nishijima, that if I could succeed in helping to clarify what the Buddha really taught, then I might thereby live a supremely meaningful and valuable life.
Now, according to Dogen, the one and only way to live a life which in meaning and value surpasses the Buddha himself, is to spend it sitting in full lotus.
At the same time, in the final chapter of Shobogenzo Dogen quotes the ultimate teaching of the Buddha on the night before he died as to have small desire and know satisfaction.
Mindful of these two points, I am limping to the end of this final canto at something of a low ebb, feeling like a failure, unable to sit in full lotus due to a torn bit of cartilage in my left knee that resulted from falling off my push-bike at the end of May, and at the same time suffering, as has been my wont for 30 years, from a gnawing sense of frustrated ambition.
Such are the clouded eyes of the bad referee who wants to be a sporting legend, or the rubbish translator who wants to broadcast his own pet theory.
Endeavouring nonetheless, with my whole body and mind, to keep my clouded eye on the ball, I am struck in line 2 by the word mūrdhnā, which is instrumental singular of mūrdhan (forehead, head). So the point might be that Nanda used his own head.
And that may be why needy Nanda was finally able to leave the Sage's side, like a great war elephant free of all wildness -- because he had learned for himself how to use his head.
What was it that the Buddha taught about the use of the head?
I haven't yet fully understood. But it wasn't what Gudo Nishijima taught me in the Zazen Hall of Tokei-in temple, when he grabbed my chin and yanked it several inches backwards, wishing to cause my neck bones to become straight vertically. That is for damn sure.
If the teaching of a buddha-ancestor like Gudo Nishijima can patently be so utterly unreliable, what else is there for each of us to do but to learn to use our own heads?
With this in mind I am looking foward next week to publishing contributions from individual readers of this blog. So far I have received individual testimonies (in the order of receiving them) from Jordan, Ian, Harry, George, and Malcolm. Anybody else is welcome to contribute, whether man or woman, Buddhist or non-Buddhist. The only criterion is that you have to be an individual who, instead of subscribing to anybody's Buddhist view, is willing to use his or her own head.
EH Johnston:
Then Nanda grasped with his head the words and the feet simultaneously of the worshipful, supremely compassionate Master, and cheerful with heart at rest and his aims accomplished, he left the Sage, being freed from conceit like an elephant from must.
Linda Covill:
So with his head he grasped the words and feet together of the worthy one, the supremely compassionate teacher ; and sound in himself, his heart at ease, his task ended, he left the sage's side like an elephant free of rut.
VOCABULARY:
iti: "....", thus
arhataH (gen. sg. m.): worthy , venerable , respectable
parama-kaaruNikasya (gen. sg. m.): supremely compassionate
parama: highest, supreme
kaaruNika: mfn. compassionate
shaastur (gen. sg.): m. a chastiser , punisher ; a ruler , commander ; a teacher , instructor
muurdhnaa = inst. sg. muurdhan: m. the forehead , head in general , skull
vacaH = acc. sg. vacas: n. speech , voice , word ; advice , direction , command , order
ca: and
caraNau = acc. dual caraNa: foot
ca: and
samam: ind. in like manner , alike , equally , similarly
gRhiitvaa = abs. √grah: to seize , take, lay hold of ; to lay the hand on , claim ; to place upon (instr. or loc.) ; to take on one's self ; to receive hospitably (a guest) , take back (a divorced wife) ; to perceive (with the organs of sense or with m/anas) , observe , recognise ; to receive into the mind , apprehend ; to accept , admit , approve ; to obey, follow
sva-sthaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. self-abiding , being in one's self (or " in the self " Sarvad. ), being in one's natural state , being one's self uninjured , unmolested , contented , doing well , sound well , healthy (in body and mind ; comfortable , at ease
prashaanta-hRdayaH (nom. sg. m.): his heart at peace
prashaanta: mfn. tranquillized , calm , quiet ; extinguished , ceased , allayed
hRdaya: n. heart
vinivRtta-kaaryaH (nom. sg. m.): his work to be done having ended
vinivRtta: mfn. turned back , returned , retired , withdrawn ; desisting from (abl.) , having abandoned or given up R, disappeared , ended , ceased to be
kaarya: n. work or business to be done , duty , affair
paarshvaat (abl. sg.): n. the side
muneH (gen. sg.): m. the sage
pratiyayau = 3rd pers. sg. perfect prati- √yaa:to come or go to
vi-madaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. free from intoxication , grown sober ; free from rut ; free from pride or arrogance
karii = nom. sg. karin: m. " having a trunk " , an elephant
iva: like
Friday, November 25, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 18.60: What the Buddha Foresaw -- a Woman Walking the Walking of Dispassion
tvayi parama-dhṛtau niviṣṭa-tattve
bhavana-gatā na hi raṃsyate dhruvaṃ sā /
manasi śama-damātmake vivikte
matir-iva kāma-sukhaiḥ parīkṣakasya // 18.60 //
- - - - - - = - = - = =
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Puṣpitāgrā
18.60
For, with you showing constancy of the highest order,
as you get to the bottom of what is,
She surely will not enjoy life in the palace,
Just as the mind of an enlightened man
does not enjoy sensual pleasures
When his mental state is tranquil and controlled,
and his thinking is detached, distinct, separate."
COMMENT:
In my inelegant endeavour to capture the meaning of today's verse, I have translated manasi twice (mental state, thinking) and vivikte three times (detached, distinct, separate).
Today's verse as I read it contains a kind of meditation by the Buddha, in his final words in Saundara-nanda, on the meaning of separation (vivikte), which can be the essence of suffering, and the essence of a solitary sitter's enlightenment.
So the love story between Nanda and Sundarī is not a fairy story that ends, once Nanda has slain dragons and crossed moats, with the two of them re-united and living together happily ever after. On the contrary, the story ends with the Buddha foreseeing that Sundarī, following Nanda's example, may opt herself for the higher-order happiness of solitude and detachment -- separation without stress.
Getting to the bottom of what is (niviṣṭa-tattve) might be akin to water that is totally transparent, in which fishes are swimming like fishes.
Understood like that, both constancy of the highest order (parama-dhṛtau) and getting to the bottom of what is (niviṣṭa-tattve), are expressions of nothing but the lifeblood, which is sitting-dhyāna.
Being an enlightened man (or woman -- though parīkṣakasya is masculine), that is to say, a person who is truly looking all around, having abandoned all views, might be an expression of nothing but the lifeblood, which is sitting-dhyāna.
And being in a mental state of tranquillity, composure, and separated thinking (manasi śama-damātmake vivikte) might also be an expression of nothing but the lifeblood, which is sitting-dhyāna.
EH Johnston:
For certainly since you are filled with supreme steadfastness and have entered into reality, she will find no pleasure in the palace, just as the intelligence of the enlightened man, whose mind is discriminating and characterised by tranquillity and self-restraint, finds none in the pleasure of love.'
Linda Covill:
Since your firmness is paramount and you have penetrated the real nature of things, she will certainly not enjoy being in the palace -- just as when the mind of a careful examiner is discerning, tranquil and subdued in its nature, his thoughts find no enjoyment in sensuality."
VOCABULARY:
tvayi (loc. sg.): you
parama-dhRtau (loc. sg.): firmness of the highest order
parama: chief , highest , primary, best
dhRti: f. firmness , constancy , resolution ,
niviShTa-tattve (loc. sg.): penetrating reality
niviShTa: mfn. settled down , come to rest; entered , penetrated into
ni- √ viś: to enter or penetrate into (acc. or loc.) ; to alight , descend ; to come to rest , settle down or in a home ; to encamp ; to sit down upon. ; to resort to (acc.) ; to settle , take a wife ; to be founded (said of a town) ; to be fixed or intent on (loc. , said of the mind) ; to sink down , cease , disappear , vanish
tattva: n. true or real state , truth , reality
bhavana-gataa (nom. sg. f.): being in the palace
bhavana: n. a place of abode , mansion , home , house , palace
gata: mfn. being in, contained in
na: not
hi: for
raMsyate = 3rd pers. sg. future ram: to stop , stay ; to delight ; to enjoy one's self
dhruvam: ind. surely, certainly
saa (nom. sg. f.): she
manasi (loc. sg.): n. mind (in its widest sense as applied to all the mental powers) , intellect , intelligence , understanding , perception , sense , conscience , will
shama-dam'-aatmake (loc. sg.): being tranquil and tamed in nature
shama: m. tranquillity , calmness , rest , equanimity
dama: mfn. ifc. " taming , subduing "; m. taming; self-command , self-restraint , self-control
aatmaka: mfn. having or consisting of the nature or character of (in comp.)
vivikte (loc. sg.): mfn. separated , kept apart , distinguished , discriminated ; isolated , alone , solitary; discriminative , judicious ;
matiH (nom. sg.): f. the mind , perception , understanding , intelligence , sense , judgement
iva: like
kaama-sukhaiH (inst. pl.):
kaama: m. desire; love , affection , object of desire or of love or of pleasure ; pleasure , enjoyment ; love , especially sexual love or sensuality
sukha: n. ease , easiness , comfort , prosperity , pleasure , happiness
pariikShakasya = gen. sg. pariikShaka: m. a prover , examiner , judge
pariikSh: to look round , inspect carefully , try , examine , find out , observe , perceive
bhavana-gatā na hi raṃsyate dhruvaṃ sā /
manasi śama-damātmake vivikte
matir-iva kāma-sukhaiḥ parīkṣakasya // 18.60 //
- - - - - - = - = - = =
- - - - = - - = - = - = =
- - - - - - = - = - = =
- - - - = - - = - = - = =
Puṣpitāgrā
18.60
For, with you showing constancy of the highest order,
as you get to the bottom of what is,
She surely will not enjoy life in the palace,
Just as the mind of an enlightened man
does not enjoy sensual pleasures
When his mental state is tranquil and controlled,
and his thinking is detached, distinct, separate."
COMMENT:
In my inelegant endeavour to capture the meaning of today's verse, I have translated manasi twice (mental state, thinking) and vivikte three times (detached, distinct, separate).
Today's verse as I read it contains a kind of meditation by the Buddha, in his final words in Saundara-nanda, on the meaning of separation (vivikte), which can be the essence of suffering, and the essence of a solitary sitter's enlightenment.
So the love story between Nanda and Sundarī is not a fairy story that ends, once Nanda has slain dragons and crossed moats, with the two of them re-united and living together happily ever after. On the contrary, the story ends with the Buddha foreseeing that Sundarī, following Nanda's example, may opt herself for the higher-order happiness of solitude and detachment -- separation without stress.
Getting to the bottom of what is (niviṣṭa-tattve) might be akin to water that is totally transparent, in which fishes are swimming like fishes.
Understood like that, both constancy of the highest order (parama-dhṛtau) and getting to the bottom of what is (niviṣṭa-tattve), are expressions of nothing but the lifeblood, which is sitting-dhyāna.
Being an enlightened man (or woman -- though parīkṣakasya is masculine), that is to say, a person who is truly looking all around, having abandoned all views, might be an expression of nothing but the lifeblood, which is sitting-dhyāna.
And being in a mental state of tranquillity, composure, and separated thinking (manasi śama-damātmake vivikte) might also be an expression of nothing but the lifeblood, which is sitting-dhyāna.
EH Johnston:
For certainly since you are filled with supreme steadfastness and have entered into reality, she will find no pleasure in the palace, just as the intelligence of the enlightened man, whose mind is discriminating and characterised by tranquillity and self-restraint, finds none in the pleasure of love.'
Linda Covill:
Since your firmness is paramount and you have penetrated the real nature of things, she will certainly not enjoy being in the palace -- just as when the mind of a careful examiner is discerning, tranquil and subdued in its nature, his thoughts find no enjoyment in sensuality."
VOCABULARY:
tvayi (loc. sg.): you
parama-dhRtau (loc. sg.): firmness of the highest order
parama: chief , highest , primary, best
dhRti: f. firmness , constancy , resolution ,
niviShTa-tattve (loc. sg.): penetrating reality
niviShTa: mfn. settled down , come to rest; entered , penetrated into
ni- √ viś: to enter or penetrate into (acc. or loc.) ; to alight , descend ; to come to rest , settle down or in a home ; to encamp ; to sit down upon. ; to resort to (acc.) ; to settle , take a wife ; to be founded (said of a town) ; to be fixed or intent on (loc. , said of the mind) ; to sink down , cease , disappear , vanish
tattva: n. true or real state , truth , reality
bhavana-gataa (nom. sg. f.): being in the palace
bhavana: n. a place of abode , mansion , home , house , palace
gata: mfn. being in, contained in
na: not
hi: for
raMsyate = 3rd pers. sg. future ram: to stop , stay ; to delight ; to enjoy one's self
dhruvam: ind. surely, certainly
saa (nom. sg. f.): she
manasi (loc. sg.): n. mind (in its widest sense as applied to all the mental powers) , intellect , intelligence , understanding , perception , sense , conscience , will
shama-dam'-aatmake (loc. sg.): being tranquil and tamed in nature
shama: m. tranquillity , calmness , rest , equanimity
dama: mfn. ifc. " taming , subduing "; m. taming; self-command , self-restraint , self-control
aatmaka: mfn. having or consisting of the nature or character of (in comp.)
vivikte (loc. sg.): mfn. separated , kept apart , distinguished , discriminated ; isolated , alone , solitary; discriminative , judicious ;
matiH (nom. sg.): f. the mind , perception , understanding , intelligence , sense , judgement
iva: like
kaama-sukhaiH (inst. pl.):
kaama: m. desire; love , affection , object of desire or of love or of pleasure ; pleasure , enjoyment ; love , especially sexual love or sensuality
sukha: n. ease , easiness , comfort , prosperity , pleasure , happiness
pariikShakasya = gen. sg. pariikShaka: m. a prover , examiner , judge
pariikSh: to look round , inspect carefully , try , examine , find out , observe , perceive
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