SAUNDARANANDA 8.47: An Impure View of Women's Bodies

atha suukshman atidvay'-aashivaM
laghu taasaaM hRdayaM na pashyasi
kim u kaayam asad-gRhaM sravad
vanitaanaam ashuciM na pashyasi

- - = - - = - = - =
- - = = - - = - = - -
- - = - - = - = - =
- - = = - - = - = - -

8.47
So you do not see that their little lightweight hearts

Are pernicious in their intense duplicity.

Do you not at least see that women's bodies

Are impure, oozing houses of foulness?

COMMENT:
As the striver's dualistic consideration of the inherent ugliness of women's minds and bodies finally passes from the mental to the physical dimension, Ashvaghosha as I understand him is encouraging us to continue in our game of spot the difference.

To that end, it may be instructive to contrast and compare today's verse with the Buddha's advice to Nanda in Canto 13:

On seeing a form with your eye, you are contained in the sum of the elements: / That 'it is a woman' or 'it is a man' you should not interpose. // If a notion of woman or man intrudes at any time in relation to anyone, / Upon hair, teeth, and the rest, for their beauty, you should not linger. // Nothing, then, is to be taken away and nothing is to be added: / One must investigate the reality as it really is, whatever and however it is. // [13.42 - 13.44]

Again, what is the meaning of "impure" (ashuci ) in line 4?

What unenlightened strivers mean by "impure" and what buddhas mean by "impure," even if they use the same word, might be as far apart as heaven and earth.

In order that Nanda might realize untaintedness, the Buddha recommends him to go and practise in solitude. As a matter of fact, to sit alone in a solitary place is conducive to practice that is not tainted by consciousness, for example, of how other people see me. But this kind of purity, or untaintedness, has got nothing whatever to do with absence of germs. A buddha whose body is totally pure, in terms of absence of germs, is not a non-buddha but a dead buddha, a defunct buddha, a buddha who was never real.

Thus, in Canto 17, sitting alone by a solitary stream, Nanda examines his own body and finds it to be impure (ashuci):

Desiring to experience its total material and immaterial substance, he examined the body, / And as impure, as suffering, as impermanent, as without an owner, and again as devoid of self, he perceived the body. [17.16]

To be totally pure is totally impossible and totally undesirable. If there were any water that were totally pure, fish could never live in it.

Untaintedness is another question, a more difficult question. Is it possible, for example, even for one moment, to do something just as a service, without any thought or feeling of what's in it for me, without any expectation of ulterior reward?

To investigate such questions, unquestionably, it helps to go someplace where there aren't any women -- or for that matter any men.

EH Johnston:
But if you do not see how their hearts are flighty, subtle in intention and working mischief by deceit, do you not see at least how their bodies are impure, verily oozing abodes of evil?

Linda Covill:
So you don't see that women's hearts are cunning, utterly duplicitous, pernicious and superficial! Do you at least see that their bodies are dirty, oozing, houses of vice?

VOCABULARY:
atha: ind. so, then, but
suukshman (acc. sg. n.): mfn. minute , small , fine , thin , narrow , short , feeble , trifling , insignificant , unimportant; acute , subtle , keen ;
atidvay'-aashivam (acc. sg. n.): pernicious due to excessive duplicity
ati: ind. excessively , too ; exceedingly , very
dvaya: mfn. twofold , double , of 2 kinds or sorts ; n. twofold nature , falsehood
ashivam (acc. sg. n.): unkind , envious , pernicious , dangerous

laghu (acc. sg. n.): mfn. light; easy in mind , light-hearted
taasaam (gen. pl. f.): of them
hRdayam (acc. sg.): n. heart
na: not
pashyasi = 2nd pers. sg. pash: to see

kim u: ind. how much more? how much less?
kaayam (acc. sg.): m. the body
asad-gRham (acc. sg. m.): house of evil
a-sat: mfn. untrue , wrong; bad n. untruth , falsehood ; evil
sat: mfn. being, existing ; real , actual , as any one or anything ought to be , true , good , right (tan na sat , " that is not right ") , beautiful , wise , venerable , honest ;
gRha: home, house
sravat = acc. sg. n. pres. part. sru: to flow , stream , gush forth , issue from ; to leak , trickle

vanitaanaam (gen. pl.): f. a loved wife , mistress , any woman (also applied to the female of an animal or bird)
ashucim (acc. sg. m.): mfn. impure , foul
na: not
pashyasi = 2nd pers. sg. pash: to see