⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑−−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−− Aupacchandasaka
atha
mantri-sutaiḥ kṣamaiḥ
kadā-cit-sakhibhiś-citra-kathaiḥ
ktānuyātraḥ |
⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑−−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−
vana-bhūmi-didkṣayā
śamepsur-nara-devānumato bahiḥ
pratasthe || 5.2
5.2
Then one
day, attended by sons of ministers
Whose
diverse chatter would make them suitable companions,
Since, in
his desire for tranquillity, he wanted to visit the forest,
With the
king's permission he set off out.
COMMENT:
The title of the
present Canto is abhi-niṣkramaṇaḥ, from the root √kram, to step, walk, go. I think I may translate it as Getting Away (EHJ: Flight; PO: The Departure). The MW dictionary gives abhi-niṣkramaṇa
as “going forth.”
These opening verses, however, describe not the prince's famous clanestine escape in the middle of the night accompanied only by the servant Chandaka and the horse Kanthaka; they describe a preliminary excursion, undertaken with the king's permission, in which the prince temporarily loses his gossiping companions and sits down to rest at the foot of a rose-apple tree, where he naturally enters the first dhyāna, i.e. the first stage of sitting-meditation. Shortly after that he meets a wandering mendicant whose example inspires him to want properly to go forth himself into the wandering life.
These opening verses, however, describe not the prince's famous clanestine escape in the middle of the night accompanied only by the servant Chandaka and the horse Kanthaka; they describe a preliminary excursion, undertaken with the king's permission, in which the prince temporarily loses his gossiping companions and sits down to rest at the foot of a rose-apple tree, where he naturally enters the first dhyāna, i.e. the first stage of sitting-meditation. Shortly after that he meets a wandering mendicant whose example inspires him to want properly to go forth himself into the wandering life.
So
what these opening verses seem to describe is going forth without going
forth – i.e., getting away or getting out of the palace, without
going forth in the more decisive sense associated with shaving the head, wearing a
mendicant's robe, and begging with a bowl. Inferior though this kind
of provisional getting away may have been, tainted though it was by the
prattle of sons of ministers, it was enough for the prince, as
Aśvaghoṣa tells his story, at least to enter the first stage of
sitting-meditation.
So
was going forth the cause of the prince realizing the first dhyāna?
Or was realizating the first dhyāna a cause of the prince going
forth?
By
telling the story as he tells it, it seems to me, Aśvaghoṣa is not
encouraging us to take a view on which comes first, the chicken or
the egg.
In
the Books and arts section of this week's Economist, by way of contrast, is a review of a
book on W.D. Hamilton, who is credited (if credited is the right
word) with putting the -ism into Darwinism. The review mentions in
passing the suicide of [Hamilton's] early collaborator, George Price (a
mentally unstable individual, who was driven mad by his conversion
from atheism to Christianity).
The
bit in parenthesis struck me as demonstrating shoddy thinking on the part of the reviewer, and shoddy editing on the part of the Economist. Just
because George Price converted to Christianity and went mad, or went
mad and converted to Christianity, does not mean the conversion drove
him mad, or that the madness drove the conversion. It may have been
that there was another cause altogether of George Price's mental
instability, and both the madness and the conversion were symptoms of
that instability. For all we know George Price might have gone madder
sooner without his conversion to Christianity.
It really bugs me that
this reviewer smugly passes off his own biased view as if it were
fact.
This is a sure warning sign, via the mirror principle, that
I am unconsciously aware of, or afraid of, a similar tendency in
myself.
The
reviewer who was chosen to review a book about evolutionary biology, I am assuming, was himself
steeped in the science of evolutionary biology. And yet, instead of
pursuing the truth for the benefit of all in the open-minded manner
of a true scientist, the reviewer seems to describe George Price in a manner that distorts the objective truth in such a way as to support some
personal bias, or agenda, or self-serving narrative.
Hmmm.
Hypocritical
bastard.
VOCABULARY
atha:
ind. now, and so, then
mantri-sutaiḥ
(inst. pl.): m. the son of a minister
mantrim:
mfn. wise or eloquent ; m. " knowing sacred texts or spells "
, a conjurer , enchanter ; m. a king's counsellor , minister;
kṣamaiḥ
(inst. pl. m.): mfn. patient (said of the earth); enduring ,
suffering , bearing , submissive , resisting; adequate , competent ,
able , fit for ; fit , appropriate , becoming , suitable
kadā-cit:
ind. at some time or other , sometimes , once
sakhibhiḥ
(inst. pl.): m. a friend , assistant , companion
citra-kathaiḥ
(inst. pl. m.): mfn. full of varied converse
citra:
mfn. conspicuous , excellent , distinguished ; variegated ; agitated
(as the sea , opposed to sama); various , different , manifold
kath:
to converse with any one
kṛtānuyātraḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. accompanied by
kṛta:
mfn. made, done
anuyātra:
n. retinue , attendance
vana-bhūmi-didṛkṣayā
(inst. sg.): with the desire of seeing the forest environs
vana-bhūmi: f.
" forest-region " , the neighbourhood of a wood
didṛkṣā:
f. (fr. Desid. √ dṛś ) desire of seeing / visiting
√ dṛś:
to see, wait on, visit
śamepsuḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. desirous of a tranquil life
śama:
m. tranquillity , calmness , rest , equanimity , quietude ; peace
īpsu:
mfn. (fr. Desid. of √āp) striving to obtain ; wishing to get or
obtain , desirous of (with acc.)
nara-devānumataḥ
(nom. sg m.) with the king's permission
nara-deva:
m. " man-god " , a king
anumata:
mfn. approved , assented to , permitted , allowed , agreeable ,
pleasant ; loved , beloved
bahiḥ:
ind. out , forth , outwards , outside (a house , village , city ,
kingdom &c )
pratasthe
= 3rd pers. sg. perf. pra- √ sthā: to set out
王使諸大臣 貴族名子弟
年少勝姿顏 聰慧執禮儀
晝夜同遊止 以取太子心
年少勝姿顏 聰慧執禮儀
晝夜同遊止 以取太子心
如是未幾時 啓王復出遊
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