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Upajāti (Rāmā)
khāt-prasrute
candra-marīci-śubhre dve vāri-dhāre śiśiroṣṇa-vīrye |
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śarīra-saṁsparśa-sukhāntarāya
nipetatur-mūrdhani tasya saumye || 1.16
1.16
Flowing
out of emptiness, as radiant as moonbeams,
Two
showers of raindrops, with a cooling and a heating effect,
Fell
upon his cool, moist, moon-like head
In
order to bring ease to his body,
by intimately connecting into it.
by intimately connecting into it.
COMMENT:
There
may be meaning in khāt-prasrute
“flowing out of empty space” or “flowing out of emptiness.”
Aśvaghoṣa's idea might be that nothing flows except out of
emptiness. This idea tends to be corroborated by work as an Alexander
teacher, in which a teacher's hands have to be more or less empty,
for which purpose the teacher's mind has to be more or less free of
eager or anxious grasping.
Emptiness,
as my teacher Gudo Nishijima never tired of asserting, is a state of
balance of the autonomic nervous system.
Much
as it pains me to admit it, it is difficult to read today's verse
without acknowledging that it is Aśvaghoṣa's figurative expression
of balance of the autonomic nervous system, wherein the cooling
effect of the parasympathetic nerves is balanced by the heating
effect of the sympathetic nerves.
Balance
of the autonomic nervous system is not a special state that has to be
manufactured on a round black cushion, Gudo used to teach. Rather it
is the natural state of a human being, however old or young. It was
the natural state of the enlightened Gautama Buddha. And it was the
natural state of the infant prince of the Śākyas.
“In
order to realize, or come back to, this state, it is not necessary to
think anything, it is not necessary to feel anything. Just keep the
spine straight vertically.”
That
teaching sounded convincing to my youthful ears. But in my older age
I have come to see it as a very crude approximation of the truth,
born more of philosphical thinking than real wisdom. It is a
dangerous instruction to give any student without skillful
administration of the negative feedback which a student needs as he
or she goes wrong in his or her efforts to “keep the spine straight
vertically.”
So
I am no apologist for the teaching of Gudo Nishijima. I think he went
too far in trying to reduce everything the Buddha taught down to
balance of the autonomic nervous system. Still, if the old bugger
were still compos mentis, I am sure he would have greatly appreciated
today's verse.
Doing
A-level Spanish 35 years ago I was forced to read Latin American
literature that fell into the genre known as “magical realism.”
Names I remember are Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as also the Mexican
writer Carlos Fuentes who I heard on the radio this morning just
popped his clogs.
Above
reading magical realism, I much preferred playing rugby, which on a
good day could seem like a gate into a more magical reality.
If
it is acceptable to describe today's verse as a kind of magical
realism, then the kind of magical reality that it points to might be
the reality of sitting in lotus in the dappled shade of an apple
tree.... in a rare moment of quiet before some bastard with nothing
better to do flies his light leisure aircraft noisily overhead.
VOCABULARY
khāt
(abl. sg.): m. the sun; n. cavity; vacuity , empty space , air ,
ether , sky
prasrute
(nom. dual f.): mfn. flowed forth , oozed out , issued
candra-marīci-śubhre:
(nom. dual f.): radiant as moonbeams
candra:
moon
marīci:
mf. (prob. connected with marút) a particle of light , shining mote
or speck in the air ; ray of light (of the sun or moon)
śubhra:
mfn. radiant , shining , beautiful , splendid ; clear;
bright-coloured , white
dve
(nom.): two
vāri-dhāre
(nom. dual f.): streams of water, showers of raindrops
vāri:
n. water, rain
dhārā:
f. stream or current of water ; flood , gush , jet , drop (of any
liquid) , shower , rain
śiśiroṣṇa-vīrye
(nom. dual f.): with energy/efficacy of cold and heat
śiśira:
m. n. cold , coolness , hoarfrost , dew ; m. the cool or dewy
season (comprising two months , māgha and phālguna , or from about
the middle of January to that of March)
uṣṇa:
mn. heat , warmth , the hot season (June , July)
vīrya:
n. power, energy; efficacy (of medicine)
śarīra-saṁsparśa-sukhāntarāya
(dat. sg.): for the purpose of ease through close contact with the
body
śarīra:
body
saṁsparśa:
m. close or mutual contact; touch
sukha:
n. ease, comfort ;
antara:
n. the interior; n. (ifc.) different , other. [EHJ notes that the use
here is close to the classic use defined as tādarthya, “the being
intended for that”]
nipetatur
= 3rd
pers. dual. perf. ni- √ pat: to fly down , settle down , descend
on (loc.) , alight
mūrdhani
= loc. sg. mūrdhan: m. the forehead, head, skull
tasya
(gen. sg.): his
saumye
(loc. sg. m.): relating or belonging to soma (the juice or the
sacrifice or the moon-god) , connected or dealing with soma , having
his nature or qualities ; cool and moist ; " resembling the moon
" , placid , gentle , mild
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