⏑−−⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑−⏑⏑¦⏑−⏑−
tad-evaṁ
sati duḥkhārtaṁ
jarā-maraṇa-bhāginam |
⏑−−−¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑−⏑⏑¦⏑−⏑−
na
māṁ kāmeṣv-anāryeṣu
pratārayitum-arhasi || 4.96
4.96
Since
in this situation I am pained by suffering
And
am an heir to growing old and dying,
You
should not try to persuade me
To
stray into ignoble desires.
COMMENT:
The gist of the
ostensible meaning of today's verse is “I am weak, so please don't
tempt me!”
The real gist, or
ironic sub-text, it strikes me on first reading, is “I am already
awake to harsh reality and have awakened the bodhi-mind, so you needn't waste your time.”
How many deeper levels
of irony there might be, whose surface I have not yet scratched, I
don't know. But anyway I shall get digging, and doubtless produce, as a side effect of my ignoble grasping for Aśvaghoṣa's gold, another veritable slag heap of a comment.
With tad-evaṁ sati
in the 1st pāda, the prince is drawing to a conclusion the arguments he has been
making since BC4.84, which being so, tad-evaṁ sati could be translated
in any number of ways – e.g. “Since then these things are so”
[EBC]; “Such being the case” [EHJ]; “So, that being the case”
[PO]. Being an inveterate worrier, however, I couldn't help worrying
that tad-evaṁ sati might refer in particular to the proceeding
verse which I translated yesterday as ending with a question – Then
is it never appropriate for men to see women, or women men?
I
decided to change the question into an assertion, which on the face of
it seems rhetorical but which can also be read, as explained
yesterday, literally – And if those tainted by redness do
indeed deceive one another, / Then it must never
be appropriate for men to see women, or women men! //
I
think this change better allows tad-evaṁ sati to be read as
referring to the situation the prince himself finds himself in. Hence I have translated tad-evaṁ sati "in this situation, I..."
What kind of situation is this situation?
On
the most superficial level, (1) it is a situation in which the minds
of men and women are tainted by the redness of sexual passion, and in
which, through sexual passion, men and women are liable to lead each
other astray (though of course, as per yesterday's verse, that does not mean that men and women
should be forbidden from looking at each other).
On a
level more relevant to the practical and philosophical problem of how
thinking relates to reality, (2) it is a situation in which a
practitioner's mind is tainted not only by the redness of sexual
desire but also by redness stimulated by miscellaneous ignoble (or end-gaining) desires, as well as by the rose-tint of intellectual bias. It is a situation, in other words, in which a
practitioner is prone to be led astray or deceived or deluded not
only by sensual desires and miscellaneous end-gaining desires but also by intellectual conceptions or
concepts (concepts which, in the final analysis, as per yesterday's
verse, it is not appropriate to be deceived by).
But
at a deeper level of irony, on further reflection/digging, I think
the prince might be describing (3) the situation of buddhas who are
in the world, without being of the world. Hence Nanda in SN18.10:
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 (lokeṣu bhūto 'smi
na loka-dharmā).
Next, then, when the prince says in the first half of today's verse that he is pained by suffering and
an heir to growing old and dying (duḥkhārtaṁ jarā-maraṇa-bhāginam), what does he mean?
At
level (1) the prince means he is in the same boat as other men and
women, being liable to be led astray by sexual passion, in which case
he is asking Udāyin not to tempt him. In that case, bhāginam in the 2nd pāda means “susceptible to.”
Thus, EHJ translated jarā-maraṇa-bhāginam as “my lot is old age
and death,” and PO “under the power of old age and death.” In
EBC's text, by the way, the word is not bhāginam but bhoginam,
translated by EBC as “subject to.”
The amendment to bhoginam may
be indicative: I think it indicates that the editor who made that amendment missed the deeper levels of meaning, viz:
At
level (2) the prince means he is pained by the suffering of others
(like an adult watching children play in a burning house); and,
unlike others who have yet to establish the bodhi-mind, he himself is
already resolutely established on that path which leads to growing
old ( jarā, i.e. wisdom) and dying (maraṇa, i.e. abandoning selfish worries). In
that case, the prince is expressing his resolute will to the truth,
and is telling Udāyin not to waste time and energy trying to lead him
astray, because he has no intention of straying anywhere. And in that
case the prince is describing himself in the 2nd pāda as “an heir
to growing old and dying" in the sense that he is intending to accept in future his birthright of wisdom and nirvāṇa.
At
level (3) the prince is not only expressing the will to enlightenment
but also expressing – unbeknowns to himself – that very
enlightenment which is wisdom and nirvāṇa. In that case when he
describes himself as jarā-maraṇa-bhāginam, the real meaning of
bhāgin is “being blessed with” or “being already in receipt
of” or “having already received my share of” growing old and
dying. And when, in that case, the prince tells Udāyin not to
bother even trying, what he is expressing is not his own
determination to stay on the right path but rather the total
impossibility of anyone leading him in any direction other than the
right one in which he naturally wishes to go. Wild horses, as the saying goes, couldn't drag him away.
For
an illustration of the latter meaning, there are the words of Zen
Master Enchi Dai-an quoted in Shobogenzo chap. 64, Kajo, who wrote of
watching over and occasionally whipping a castrated water buffalo; the water buffalo turned in time into the kind of white ox described in the Lotus Sutra. Even when driven away, the white ox would not stray, but remained all day long conspicuously in the master's view.
In
light of the above, why in the 3rd pāda does the prince call desires/pleasures
(kāmeṣu) “ignoble” (anāryeṣu)?
At
level (1), because pursuit of sensual pleasure is always ignoble when
compared to loftier intellectual pursuits – like (to use an example
from recent personal experience) beating the combined efforts of one's two
sons at University Challenge. At this level kāmeṣv-anāryeṣu
(“ignoble pleasures” [EBC/PO]; “ignoble passions” [EHJ]))
might be a tautology, since all sensual pleasures/passions are
inherently ignoble.
At
level (2), the desire to go in the right direction might be noble,
whereas other desires that conflict with this noble desire might be
ignoble. In the illustration from Shobogenzo quoted above, a castrated water
buffalo's desire to scoff seedlings that his master has laboriously planted might be an example of an ignoble desire, whereas a castrated water buffalo's desire to obey his master might be noble.
At
level (3), any small desire, whether of a human being or of a white ox, might be a noble desire – insofar as a
person (or white ox) of small desire already has nirvāṇa.
Why
did the Buddha call the four noble truths "noble" (ārya)? Because they represent a
plan for eliminating desire? Or because they represent a plan for
eliminating the suffering that stems from that particular ignoble manifestation of desire which is thirsting?
When we investigate it like this, the ultimate teaching of the Buddha is not so difficult to understand. And when we test it out in the laboratory of practice, it really works, one hundred times out of a hundred. Still, for some reason, probably related to the force of habit, it can remain difficult even for veteran Zen practitioners to put into practice.
"Wild horses couldn't drag me away," incidentally, was how I felt about continuing the marathon effort of the Shobogenzo translation until finally reaching the finishing line. My feeling turned out to have been wrong. Tough lesson. Harsh reality.
Hard cheese. Tough cheddar. But it tastes more real than God.
"Wild horses couldn't drag me away," incidentally, was how I felt about continuing the marathon effort of the Shobogenzo translation until finally reaching the finishing line. My feeling turned out to have been wrong. Tough lesson. Harsh reality.
Hard cheese. Tough cheddar. But it tastes more real than God.
VOCABULARY
tad: (nom. sg. n.): it;
ind. there , in that place ; ind. then , at that time , in that case
; ind. thus , in this manner , with regard to that ; ind. on that
account , for that reason , therefore , consequently ; ind. now
(clause-connecting particle) ; ind. so also , equally , and
evam: ind: thus , in
this way , in such a manner , such
sati = loc. sg. pres.
part. as: to be
duḥkhārtam (acc.
sg. m.): mfn. visited by pain , distressed
ārta: mfn. fallen into
(misfortune) , struck by calamity , afflicted , pained , disturbed ;
injured ; oppressed , suffering , sick , unhappy
jarā-maraṇa-bhāginam
(acc. sg. m.): being in receipt of a share of growing old and dying
bhāgin: mfn. entitled
to or receiving or possessing a share , partaking of , blessed with ,
concerned in , responsible for (loc. , gen. or comp.) ; m. a partner
, owner , possessor , fortunate man ; m. " the whole " as
consisting of parts ; m. a co-heir
bhogin: mfn. enjoying
, eating ; suffering , experiencing , undergoing
na: not
mām (acc. sg. m.): me
kāmeṣu (loc. pl.):
m. desires
anāryeṣu (loc. pl.
m.): mfn. ignoble
pratārayitum =
infinitive causative pra- √ tṝ: to mislead , take in , deceive ;
to lead astray , seduce , persuade to (dat. or loc.)
arhasi = 2nd
pers. sg. arh: to ought
如是老病死 大苦之積聚
令我墜其中 此非知識説
No comments:
Post a Comment