⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑−−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−− Aupacchandasaka
atha
so 'vatatāra harmya-pṣṭhād-yuvatīs-tāḥ śayitā
vigarhamāṇaḥ |
⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑−−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−
avatīrya
tataś-ca nirviśaṅko gha-kakṣyāṁ prathamaṁ vinirjagāma
|| 5.67
5.67
Then he descended from
the palace heights
Scorning those women
who were asleep,
And thus, having
descended, being quite without doubt,
He went directly into
the outer courtyard.
COMMENT:
On the face of it
today's verse has not got much in the way of philosophical content,
apart from praising the hero of the narrative for having that
decisiveness of a man of action which is represented by the word
nir-viśaṅkaḥ, which means being absolutely fearless, confident,
free of doubt.
On the face of it,
then, the main inspiration that a Zen practitioner can take from
today's verse is the certainty – as if we didn't know it already –
that being fearless, confident, and doubt-free is the way to go.
An alternative reading,
which is suggested to me by the repetition of verbs from the root
ava-√tṛṛ (avatatāra,
“he descended,” and avatīrya, “having descended”), is that
the prince's descent from the heights of the palace is a metaphor for
a descent from a higher state of relative uncertainty, in which there
are more options, to a lowly-evolved state of certainty in which
there is only one way to go.
The former, higher
state involves greater consciousness of more possibilities, akin to
being awake. The latter, lower state is a less conscious state, akin
to being asleep.
All energy in the universe, according to the 2nd law of thermodynamics, is tending to go from the former state to the latter state (like water flowing down stream) – unless by some means it is temporarily prevented from doing so (as when water in a Yellowstone geyser is caused by deeply hidden forces to spurt upwards).
All energy in the universe, according to the 2nd law of thermodynamics, is tending to go from the former state to the latter state (like water flowing down stream) – unless by some means it is temporarily prevented from doing so (as when water in a Yellowstone geyser is caused by deeply hidden forces to spurt upwards).
If we follow the
ostensible reading, then, “scorning those women who were asleep”
is a simple description of a fact; it is the repetition of an important
element in the narrative of the prince's escape from the palace.
But
if we permit ourselves to consider – at least as an alternative –
the contrarian reading, then the prince's contempt for the sleeping
women might be another comic playing out of the mirror principle,
since in seeing the women as being given over to the dark
unconsciousness of sleep, the unenlightened prince is looking at
objects who unconsciously remind him of his unconscious self.
And,
being unconsciously reminded of his unconscious self, the prince is
by no means yet on the way out, at least not in the deeper meaning of the canto
title abhi-niṣ-kramaṇaḥ ("Getting the Hell Out"), whose real intention may be as per
Dogen's phrase in his original instructions for everybody for sitting-zen, in which he writes of "the road of getting the body out" (出身之路).
This phrase 出身之路 (SHUSSHIN NO RO), "the road of getting the body out," Dogen later revised up to 出身之活路 (SHUSSHIN NO KATSU-RO), which means “the vigorous road of
getting the body out” or “the escape route for getting the body
out.”
Getting the body out means, as I understand it, moving or
sitting in such a way that one is freed from the grip of habits and
other unconscious attachments.
Again, if we follow the
ostensible reading, EHJ's amendment of prathamaṁ (at once,
forthwith, directly) to prathamāṁ (the first) produces a reasonable result, even if the amendment itself is inexplicable – why on earth did EHJ feel the need to intervene? But make the amendment EHJ did, from prathamaṁ (directly) to prathamāṁ (the first); hence EHJ translated: “he went out unhesitatingly to the first courtyard."
If we take account of the contrarian reading of today's verse – at least as an
option – then prathamaṁ, as per the old Nepalese manuscript, and
as per EBC's text, should certainly not be amended. If we allow at least the
possibility that the real philosophical content of today's verse is
concentrated in its hidden meaning, then prathamaṁ ("directly") might be
intended to convey the sense of going directly for the target relying
on unconscious means – in other words, end-gaining.
In the final analysis,
there might be truth in both the ostensible reading and the
contrarian reading of today's verse. And there might be truth in the negation of each.
Apropos of which,
incidentally, and speaking of roads, the personal motto of my teacher
Gudo Nishijima was 愚直一路
(GUCHOKU-ICHIRO).
愚直:
simple honesty; tactless frankness;
一路:
one road; one way; straight; sincere.
The Chinese characters
I chose for my own personal motto, of which Gudo approved with a nod
and a smile, were 理性禅
(RISEI-ZEN): intellectual Zen.
From where I sat, Gudo
for whatever reason departed from the simple, sincere and straight road we
had been on.
And I, from where Gudo
sat, probably saw me acting irrationally – reacting emotionally,
from an injured heart, despite the intention to respond on the basis
of reason.
“Western people have
brains like computers,” Gudo used to observe.
The anti-thesis to Gudo's thesis is provided by my wife, who counters. "He did not know you at all."
The truth may be somewhere in between. I am as intellectual as I am. (If you don't like it, fuck off.) And at the same time I have got a brain
and a heart that are liable to be governed, when the stimulus is
strong, or when I am weak (as I generally am in the auditory
channel), by an imperfectly integrated Moro (or baby panic) reflex.
So what?
So things are seldom
what they appear to be on the surface.
So please don't believe
a single word I write.
VOCABULARY
atha:
ind. then, and so
saḥ
(nom. sg. m.): he
avatatāra
= 3rd pers. sg. perf. ava-√ tṛṛ: to descend into
(loc. or acc.) , alight from , alight (abl.)
harmya-pṛṣṭhāt
(abl. sg.): from the flat roof of the palace
harmya:
n. a large house , palace , mansion , any house or large building or
residence of a wealthy person
pṛṣṭha:
n. the upper side , surface , top , height ; the flat roof of a house
yuvatīḥ
(acc. pl.): f. girl, young woman
tāḥ
(acc. pl. f.): those
śayitāḥ
(acc. pl. f.): mfn. lying, sleeping
vigarhamāṇaḥ
= nom. sg. m. pres. part. vi- √ garh: to blame , abuse , revile ,
reproach , despise , contemn : Caus. -garhayati , to revile , rail at
, vituperate
avatīrya
= abs. ava-√ tṛṛ: to descend
tataḥ:
ind. then, from that, on that basis
ca:
and
nirviśaṅkaḥ
(nom. sg.): mfn. fearless , confident
nir-:
ind. out , forth , away &c, mostly as a prefix to verbs and
their derivatives or to nouns not immediately connected with verbs ,
in which case it has the sense , " out of " , " away
from " or that of a privative or negative adverb " without
" , " destitute of " , " free from " , "
un- " or that of a strengthening particle " thoroughly "
, " entirely " , " very " [cf. nih-śūnya ,
niṣ-kevala , nir-muṇḍa].
viśaṅka:
mfn. fearless , not afraid of (ifc.)
śaṅka:
m. (for 2. » below) fear , doubt
gṛha-kakṣyām
(acc. sg. f.): the house-girth; outer courtyard
gṛha:
m. house, habitation
kakṣyā:
f. girth ; f. the enclosure of an edifice (either the wall &c
so enclosing it , or the court or chamber constituting the enclosure
, the inner apartment of a palace)
prathamam:
ind. firstly , at first , for the first time ; just , newly , at once
, forthwith (prathamam-anantaram or paścāt , first--afterwards ;
prathamam-tatas , first—next)
prathamām
(acc. sg. f.): mfn. foremost , first (in time or in a series or in
rank)
vinirjagāma
= 3rd
pers. sg. perf. vi-nir- √ gam: to go out or away , depart or
escape from (abl.)
太子時徐起 出諸婇女間
踟躕於内
太子時徐起 出諸婇女間
踟躕於内
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