⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑−−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−− Aupacchandasaka
aparā
na babhur-nimīlitākṣyo vipulākṣyo 'pi śubha-bhruvo 'pi satyaḥ
|
⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑−−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−
pratisaṁkucitāravinda-kośāḥ
savitary-astam-ite yathā nalinyaḥ || 5.57
5.57
Different women,
though truly they had
large eyes and beautiful brows,
Did not make a pretty
sight, with their eyes closed,
Like lotus ponds with
their lotus buds closed
At the setting of the
sun.
COMMENT:
The ostensible meaning
of the simile in today's verse is to compare other women (aparāḥ; i.e. not the beautiful ones
described so far) to lotus plants, or to lotus pools (nalinyāḥ), where, as night
falls, closed lotus buds are like closed human eyes. Nalinyāh can
mean either lotus plants (hence, "Like lotus plants with their buds closed")
or lotus ponds (hence, "Like lotus ponds where the buds of the lotuses are closed").
Though the former translation has the merit of brevity, śubha-bhruvaḥ
(“having beautiful brows”), as part of the ostensible simile, might be intended to suggest the
beautiful brows of ornamental ponds.
Either way, the
ostensible gist is that just as a lotus flower that has contracted
into itself does not display its beauty, so these women with their
eyes closed, i.e. being asleep, do not show their beauty. Far from
it, these women show themselves in a most unattractive light, and
nobody more so than the woman described in the last verse of the
series, BC5.61, who lets it all hang out as if she is drunk, genitals
exposed and saliva dropping from her gaping mouth.
At the end of SN Canto 2, also, Aśvaghośa describes the prince fleeing in the night like a
goose from a lake of ruined lotuses (mathita-nalināt).
Mathita originally means “stirred round,” and so “ruined”
might be too strong. Anyway, the ostensible point is that the prince
in fleeing from the palace sees women who are originally beautiful, like lotuses, in an
unattractive light, like bruised or battered lotuses.
Having focused his
agitated mind on the end of becoming,
He fled the king's
palace, indifferent to the most beautiful of women sleeping there; /
Determined to go to the
forest, he fled in the night,
Like a goose
from a lake of ruined lotuses . // SN2.65 //
So much for the simile.
What of the metaphor?
Returning first to the beautiful brows of the women (and possibly also of the ponds), śubha-bhruvaḥ as part of the underlying metaphor might rather be intended to suggest "having good foreheads," or in other words being bright in the top two inches, having good thinking ability.
In general, following the
metaphorical sub-text becomes more challenging from here. Hitherto Aśvaghoṣa has been describing the women, even in their sleep, as beautiful. But from here he tells us that the women na babhur (EBC: “showed no
lustre;” EHJ/PO: “showed no beauty”).
The solution, I think,
is to understand na babhur as expressing negation of any intention
to look beautiful.
In this sense, all the
women in the harem ( = sitting practitioners in the meditation hall)
were different (aparā) in the same way that Bodhidharma was
different, in his not going to China, and in the same way that 大祖慧可
(Daizu Huike; Jap: Taiso Eka) was different, in his not going
to India.
The real gist of
today's verse, then, is concentrated in its first six syllables aparā
na babhur, which is in the past tense and in the feminine: Women who
were different made no display of their beauty. But the intention
might be to suggest as a general principle aparo na bhānti: Those
who are different do not put on a show. Non-buddhas, in other words,
do not always make a pretty sight.
Aśvaghoṣa, in the
writings we have studied so far, nowhere enters into a philosophical
discussion of the affirmation and negation of buddha-nature. But a
verse like today's verse contains implicit affirmation of the
buddha-nature. More than that, it suggests, as I read it, the
buddha-nature as negation.
Hence, the practical
usefulness of today's verse, for people who practise sitting-Zen in
Dogen's lineage, might be to remind us of Dogen's instruction Do not
try to become buddha.
Apopros of which, an
old friend recently made me aware of the existence of a guide to
successful investing, a book whose title is “Being Right Or Making
Money.”
VOCABULARY
aparāḥ
(nom. pl. f.): others, other women, women who were different
na:
not
babhur
= 3rd pers. pl. perf. bhā: to shine , be bright or
luminous ; to be splendid or beautiful or eminent ; to show ,
exhibit , manifest
nimīlitākṣyaḥ
(nom. pl. f.): with their eyes closed
nimīlita:
mfn. having closed the eyes
akṣa:
n. [only ifc. (f(ī). ) for akṣi] , the eye.
vipulākṣyaḥ
(nom. pl. f.): large-eyed
vipula:
mfn. large , extensive , wide
api:
even, though
śubha-bhruvaḥ
(nom. pl. f.): beautiful-browed ; having capable foreheads
śubha:
mfn. splendid , bright , beautiful ; pleasant , agreeable , suitable
, fit , capable , useful , good (applied to persons and things) ;
eminent , distinguished
bhrū:
f. an eyebrow , the brow
api:
even, though
satyaḥ
(nom. pl. f.): mfn. being ; real , actual , as any one or anything
ought to be , true , good , right
pratisaṁkucitāravinda-kośāḥ:
with lotus buds closed
prati-saṁkucita:
mfn. closed
saṁkucita:
mfn. contracted , shrunk , shrivelled , narrowed , closed , shut
saṁ-
√ kuc: to contract , shrink , close (as a flower) ; to contract ,
compress , absorb , destroy
aravinda:
n. a lotus
kośa:
m. a cask , vessel for holding liquids ; a bud , flower-cup ,
seed-vessel
savitari
= loc. sg. m. savitṛ: m. a stimulator , rouser , vivifier; N. of a
sun-deity; the orb of the sun (in its ordinary form) or its god (his
wife is pṛśni)
astam
(acc. sg.): m. setting (as of the sun or of luminaries) ; m. astam-
√i, astaṁ- √gam to go to one's eternal home , cease , vanish ,
perish , die
ite
= loc. sg. m. past part. √i: to go
yathā:
ind. as, in the same way as, like
nalinyaḥ
= nom. pl. nalinī: f. a lotus , Nelumbium Speciosum (the plant or
its stalk) , an assemblage of lotus flowers or a lotus pond
nailna:
n. (fr. nala because of its hollow stalk?) a lotus flower or
water-lily
[No
corresponding Chinese]
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