BUDDHACARITA 6.61: Detached Give & Take

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−   Upajāti (Mālā)

śivaṁ ca kāṣāyam-ṣi-dhvajas-te na yujyate hiṁsram-idaṁ dhanuś-ca |

−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−

tat-saumya yady-asti na saktir-atra mahyaṁ prayacchedam-idaṁ ghāṇa || 6.61

6.61

“Your propitious ochre robe, the banner of a seer,

Does not go with this pernicious bow.

Therefore, my friend, should there be no attachment in this matter,

Give me that and you take this.”

COMMENT:

What distinguishes today's verse in terms of its hidden meaning – and the same could have been said for yesterday's verse – is that there doesn't seem on first and second reading to be any hidden meaning. The same could be said again for the description, in SN Canto 17, of Nanda's progress through the four stages of sitting-meditation. The general rule might be that the further Aśvaghoṣa appears to be straying from the essence – for example in describing the end-gaining of the bustling big-breasted women in BC Canto 3, or the playful tricks of the seductive girls in BC Canto 4, or the various attitudes of the sleeping beauties in BC Canto 5 – the more teaching of the essence he tends to bury below the surface. Conversely, in descriptions of essential matters like receiving a kaṣāya, there seems to be a dearth of hidden meaning: all the meaning seems to be on the surface.

That said, one can still observe in a verse like today's verse an underlying philosophical progression so that the 1^st pāda represents a kind of benign thesis which is opposed in the 2^nd pāda by a murderous anti-thesis – sort of like the idealistic thesis of French revolutionary liberty, fraternity, and equality which, as Hegel keenly observed, gave rise, on the slaughter-bench of history, to the antithesis of Napoleonic despotism. The 3^rd pāda, then, represents the Buddha's truth of cessation, and the 4^th pāda the realization of mutual interaction between subject and object.

Thinking further along these lines, atra in the 3^rd pāda ostensibly means “in this matter of my clothing and yours,” but it could also be read as meaning “in this matter of propitious and pernicious, of benign and murderous, of good and bad” – in which case the 3^rd and 4^th pādas can be understood as an oblique expression of the central imperative of sitting-meditation itself, in which idam (this) means the self. 

Not being interested in good and bad, realize the samādhi of accepting and using this!

mahyaṁ prayacchedam-idaṁ gṛhāṇa

For me, extend this and accept this!

Perhaps we shouldn't be too quick to conclude that, in any verse that Aśvaghoṣa wrote, all the meaning is on the surface.

Beyond right

And wrong,

The big bell

Goes BONG.

VOCABULARY
śivam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. auspicious , propitious , gracious , favourable , benign , kind , benevolent , friendly , dear ; happy, fortunate

ca: and

kāṣāyam (nom. sg.): n. a brown-red cloth or garment

ṛṣi-dhvajaḥ (nom. sg. m.): the emblem of a sage

dhvaja: m. a banner , flag , standard ; mark , emblem , ensign , characteristic , sign

te (gen. sg.): your

na: not

yujyate = 3^rd pers. sg. passive yuj: to be fit or proper or suitable or right , suit anything (instr.) , be fitted for (loc.) , belong to or suit any one (loc. or gen.) , deserve to be (nom.)

hiṁsram (nom. sg. n.): mfn. injurious , mischievous , hurtful , destructive , murderous , cruel , fierce , savage

idam (nom. sg. n.): this

dhanuḥ (nom. sg.): n. a bow

ca: and

tad: ind. therefore

saumya (voc. sg.): O mild man of the soma

yadi: if

asti (3^rd pers. sg. as): there is

na: not

śaktiḥ: f. power , ability , strength , might , effort , energy , capability

saktiḥ (nom. sg.): f. connexion , entwinement (of creepers) ; clinging or adhering to (loc. or comp.) , attachment , addiction (esp. to worldly objects)

atra: ind. in this matter

mahyam (dat. sg.): to me

prayaccha = 2^nd pers. sg. imperative pra- √ yam: to hold out towards , stretch forth , extend ; to offer , present , give , grant , bestow

idam (acc. sg. n.): this

idam (acc. sg. n.): this

gṛhāṇa = 2^nd pers. sg. imperative grah: to take, grasp

太子念此衣 染色清淨服
仙人上標飾 獵者非所應
即呼獵師前 軟語而告曰
汝於此衣服 貪愛似不深
以我身上服 與汝相貿易