⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑−−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−− Aupacchandasaka
vimśed-yadi
yoṣitāṁ manuṣyaḥ praktiṁ svapna-vikāram-īdśaṁ
ca |
⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑−−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−
dhruvam-atra
na vardhayet-pramādaṁ guṇa-saṁkalpa-hatas-tu rāgam-eti ||
5.65
5.65
If a man reflected on
women's original nature,
And on how such change
is wrought by sleep,
Surely by these means
he would not be making intoxication grow.
Smitten by a notion of
excellence, however, he is moved to redness.
COMMENT:
The ambiguity discussed
at length in connection with yesterday's verse continues in today's
verse. And the more one digs into today's verse for deeper meaning,
the more ambiguity seems to be unearthed; and the more questions seem
to be raised.
On
the surface, what the prince means by “the original condition of
women” (yoṣitāṁ prakṛtiṁ) and “the change brought about
by sleep” (svapna-vikāram) are ugliness; and a man's reflection on
such female ugliness, the prince is postulating, might be a means of
not causing himself to be intoxicated by the redness of sexual desire
for women. Reflection or meditation (e.g. “impurity meditation”),
in other words, might be a means of preventing the intoxication, or
red infatuation, that is liable to grow in a man when he obsesses
about a woman's sexual attractiveness.
But below the surface,
now that I have sat on it and slept on it – now that changes in my
understanding of it have been wrought by dropping off and sleeping –
today's verse speaks to me of things that sometimes interest me even
more than the sexual
attractiveness of women. Now that I have slept on it, today's verse
seems to speak of sitting itself; it seems to speak of the Buddha's
four noble truths; it seems to speak of the Buddha's ultimate
practical teaching of wanting little and being content (alpecchu
saṁtuṣṭa); and it seems to speak, conversely, of the mirror
principle by which an idealistic young prince expresses his discontented scorn and
contempt for others who are smitten by an idealistic notion of
excellence.
More than that, today's
verse raises questions:
- about human nature
and about buddha-nature;
- about what it means consciously to meditate/reflect on one's human/buddha-nature;
- about consciousness
and unconsciousness/sleep;
- about the
relationship between consciousness and unconsciousness/sleep;
- about the
parallel relationship between enlightenment and
delusion/intoxication;
- about what it might
mean to allow one's delusion to be, or indeed to allow
it to grow, by the reflective means of sitting-meditation (as opposed to using the direct, non-reflective, forceful
means of making and doing);
- about how to counter
in practice, using reflective means, the reflexive relationship that exists between idealistic
thinking and those unduly excited fear reflexes and emotions which
manifest themselves as redness.
Thus, if I am not
careful, I shall fall once more into the trap using too many words
in the effort to clarify every little nuance that Aśvaghoṣa might
or might not have intended to convey. The truth may be that, if Aśvaghoṣa did indeed intend to raise the above questions, he did so clear in the knowledge that they are questions that can't be answered adequately in words.
So suffice to say the following:
Dogen's
instructions for how to sit do not recognize any distinction between
the nature of men and the nature of women. Dogen called his
instructions 普勧坐禅儀
(Jap: FUKAN-ZAZEN-GI). The 普
(FU) means “universal” or
“for everybody everywhere.” So 普勧坐禅儀
means the rule[s] of
sitting-meditation recommended for everybody everywhere.
That being so, for a
bloke to reflect on what women originally are, in the truest sense,
might mean for that bloke to sit on a round black cushion and to
investigate what it is for his own self to have two arms, two legs,
one head, one heart, two ears, two eyes, two lungs, one body, and one
mind.
He might ask what it means,
going further, for a bloke to allow his whole self to expand, in a
lengthening and widening direction like a tree growing upward and
outward?
He might ask what it means to
let the neck be free, to let the head go forward and up, to let the
back lengthen and widen, while sending the knees forwards and away?
He might ask what it means to
allow body and mind spontaneously to drop off, so that one's original
face emerges?
A small aircraft flies
overhead at an unreasonably low level, while I am sitting out in the
garden, and my mind in an instant is as red in tooth and claw as the mind of a
snarling wolf.
VOCABULARY
vimṛśet
= 3rd pers. sg. opt. vi- √ mṛś : to touch (with the
hands) , stroke , feel ; to touch (mentally) , be sensible or aware
of , perceive , consider , reflect on , deliberate about ; to
investigate , examine , try , test
yadi:
if
yoṣitām
(gen. pl.): f. a girl , maiden , young woman , wife
manuṣyaḥ
(nom. sg.): m. a man , human being
prakṛtim
(acc. sg.): f. " making or placing before or at first " ,
the original or natural form or condition of anything , original or
primary substance ; nature , character , constitution , temper ,
disposition
svapna-vikāram
(acc. sg. m.): change of form/nature due to sleep
svapna:
m. sleep , sleeping
vikāra:
m. change of form or nature , alteration or deviation from any
natural state , transformation , modification , change (esp. for the
worse)
īdṛśam
(acc. sg. m.): mfn. endowed with such qualities , such
ca:
and
dhruvam:
ind. assuredly
atra:
ind. in this matter , in this respect
na:
not
vardhayet
= 3rd pers. sg. opt. causative vṛdh: to cause to
increase or grow , augment , increase , make larger or longer ,
heighten , strengthen , further , promote; to rear , cherish , foster
, bring up ; to elevate , raise to power , cause to prosper or
thrive ; to exalt , magnify , glorify (esp. the gods) ,
pramādam
(acc. sg.): m. intoxication ; madness , insanity ; error, mistake
guṇa-saṁkalpa-hataḥ
(nom. sg. m.): smitten by a conception of her excellence
guṇa:
m. good quality , virtue , merit , excellence
saṁkalpa:
m. conception or idea or notion formed in the mind or heart , (esp.)
will , volition , desire , purpose , definite intention or
determination or decision or wish for (with loc. dat. , or ifc.) ,
sentiment , conviction , persuasion
hata:
mfn. struck , beaten (also said of a drum) , smitten , killed , slain
tu:
but
rāgam
(acc. sg.): m. colour , hue , tint , dye , (esp.) red colour ,
redness; any feeling or passion , (esp.) love , affection or
sympathy for , vehement desire
eti
= 3rd
pers. sg. i: to go
我今已覺了 決定出無疑
我今已覺了 決定出無疑
[Relation to Sanskrit
tenuous]
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