−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti
(Indravajrā)
trāsaś-ca
nityaṁ maraṇāt-prajānāṁ yatnena cecchanti punaḥ-prasūtim
|
−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
satyāṁ
pravttau niyataś-ca mtyus-tatraiva magnā yata eva bhītāḥ
|| 7.23
7.23
Though
people are ever afraid of dying,
Still
actively they strive for re-birth,
And
just in their doing, their death is assured –
Right
there, where they are drowning, in fear itself.
COMMENT:
We
are pursuing it, or what?, i.e., something ineffable,
by means which are ineffable.
Pain itself is never the means,
although discovery and application of the means is apt to be painful,
even under the best of teachers – as has been demonstrated by
Nanda's example.
Similarly, verbal reasoning itself is never the means,
although working out of the means is apt to involve some verbal
reasoning along the way – as is being demonstrated to us now by the
Buddha-to-be.
In
his current monologue, it seems to me, the Buddha-to-be is
demonstrating the kind of verbal reasoning by which we can know
intellectually what the way is NOT. His biography indicates, as
discussed already, that this kind of intellectual knowing did not
satisfy the Buddha-to-be, and so, even after reasoning out intellectually that asceticism was NOT the way, he neverthless went on to spend six years experiencing with
his skin, flesh, bones and marrow that the way of asceticism was not
the way he was seeking.
Even though the Buddha-to-be
ultimately did not fully believe in, or rely upon, his own reasoning, the
fact remains that such reasoning was a factor in his establishment of
the bodhi-mind, but not as a faculty which enabled the Buddha-to-be
to work out by verbal reasoning what an effective means might be.
Rather, the Buddha-to-be is working out by verbal reasoning what such
a means CANNOT be.
Thus,
in today's verse as in yesterday's verse, the impeccable a priori
reasoning of the prince presages realization that cannot be reasoned
out a priori, because it is a function of practice and experience.
Yesterday the unenlightened prince's
consideration of using pain and suffering, as a means to no end other than pain and suffering, presaged the Buddha's teaching of using
attention, or mindfulness, or consciousness, as a means of dispelling
the unconsciousness of saṁsāra. The prince was not capable of
figuring out, a priori, that the means-whereby unconsciousness is
dispelled is consciousness itself. But he was capable of observing
that the unconscious behaviour of ascetics (who failed to attend to
the faults that fuel saṁsāra) was never going to be an effective
means of eradicating those suffering-causing faults.
So the unspoken
contrast in yesterday's verse was between saṁsāra-doṣān-aparīkṣamāṇaḥ
(failing to attend to the faults that fuel saṁsāra), which the
prince could see was not the way, and saṁsāra-doṣān-parīkṣamāṇaḥ
(consciously attending to the faults that fuel saṁsāra), which the Buddha will
later advocate as a vital element of the way.
Today
the unspoken contrast is between the pravṛtti (forward movement, active
life, doing), which is mentioned in the 3rd pāda, and nivṛtti (non-doing).
The
contrast which in today's verse is thus left unspoken by the
Buddha-to-be, in SN Canto 16 is spelled out by the enlightened Buddha
in the most explicit terms possible:
Comprehend, therefore, that suffering is doing (pravṛttiṃ); witness the faults impelling it forward (pravartakān); / Realise its stopping as non-doing (nivṛttim); and know the path as a turning back (nivartakaṃ). // SN16.42 //
tasmāt
pravṛttiṃ-parigaccha duḥkhaṃ pravartakān-apy-avagaccha doṣān
/
nivṛttim-āgaccha ca
tan-nirodhaṃ nivartakaṃ cāpy-avagaccha mārgam // SN16.42 //
The
metaphor in the 4th pāda of drowning in one's fearful doing, is a good one in
light of the fact that when a non-swimmer gets into difficulty in still
water, like the still water of a pond, it is not so much the water
that drowns him as his own fear.
This
being so, water turns out to be a very effective medium for learning
the central principle of Alexander work, which is namely that If
you stop doing the wrong thing, the right thing does itself. The principle in the water of a swimming pool, roughly translated, is that if you stop splashing fearfully around, the water will support you.
Realization
of this truth awaits the Buddha-to-be under the bodhi tree. It might
be a realization that strikes him rather than something he has been
able to reason out for himself. What the Buddha-to-be is able to
deduce from circumstances, as early as his first visit to an ashram,
is that unconscious striving after desired result A sometimes
produces result Z, the extreme opposite of desired result A.
Unconscious
striving is the essence of pravṛtti, doing. But the real gist of
today's verse, as I read it, is to leave a gap for the 8-letter
antonym of doing – a gap that Aśvaghoṣa is inviting each reader
to fill in for himself or herself (and not only by verbal reasoning).
The
rational and perceptive Buddha-to-be speaks, like a scientist, of
people drowning in the very thing we fear, or more literally drowning
(magnāḥ) precisely because (yata eva) we are afraid (bhitāḥ),
or drowning (magnāḥ) exactly where (yata eva) we are afraid
(bhitāḥ) – in which circumstance our death (mṛtyu) is
dependent on, or tied to (niyataḥ), doing happening (satyāṁ
pravṛttau [loc.]).
The
as-yet unspoken practical truth – familiar to swimming teachers
like my wife and my brother (at least when they are in the water) –
is that we needn't drown in what we fear, if only we are able to stop
our fearful doing.
If
there is any merit in this translation, which is to say, if it serves
any useful purpose in helping man or beast to cross the fathomless
sea of faults, that merit derives not so much from me perservering on
with the doing of it as from me knowing the path as a turning back.
Not well enough, some would say, and I wouldn't argue with them. But
sitting-dhyāna as Dogen transmitted that practice and experience
from China to Japan, is a turning back – a backward step, that can
be learned, of turning the light and letting it shine. And Alexander
work as demonstrated by FM Alexander's niece Marjory Barlow, and
others, is rooted in turning back – through inhibition of the
thirsting (or “end-gaining”) that stimulates unduly excited fear
reflexes and emotions.
Starting 30 years ago I strove very actively to become a leading
proponent of the former, and for the past 20 years have striven,
gradually less actively, to be a proponent of the latter. In however
many years I have got left, I firmly intend, by degrees, to do less and less. Just
watch me not go!
VOCABULARY
trāsaḥ
(nom. sg.): m. fear , terror , anxiety
ca:
and (ca-ca: though-yet)
nityam:
ind. constantly, always
maraṇāt
(abl. sg.): death, dying
prajānām
(gen. pl.): f. procreation , propagation , birth ; a creature ,
animal , man , mankind ; people , subjects (of a prince)
yatnena
(inst. sg.): m. activity of will , volition , aspiring after ; (also
pl.) effort , exertion , energy , zeal , trouble , pains , care ,
endeavour after ; (yatnena " with effort " , "
carefully " , " eagerly " , " strenuously ")
ca:
and (ca-ca: though-yet)
icchanti
= 3rd pers. pl. iṣ: to endeavour to obtain , strive ,
seek for ; to desire , wish , long for , request ;
punaḥ:
ind. again
prasūtim
(acc. sg.): f. procreation , generation , bringing forth (children or
young) , laying (eggs) , parturition , birth; coming forth ,
appearance ,
satyām
= loc. sg. f. sat (pres. part. of √as, to be) being , existing ,
occurring , happening , being present
pravṛttau
(loc. sg.): f. forward movement, active life, doing
niyataḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. mfn. (ní-) held back or in , fastened , tied to
(loc.); connected with , dependent on (loc.) ; contained or joined in
(loc.) ; fixed , established , settled , sure , regular , invariable
, positive , definite
ca:
and
mṛtyuḥ
(nom. sg.): m. death, dying
tatraiva:
right there
tatra:
ind. there, in that state ; in that , therein , in that case , on
that occasion , under those circumstances , then , therefore
eva:
(emphatic)
magnāḥ
(nom. pl. f.): mfn. sunk , plunged , immersed in (loc. or comp.)
magnaḥ
[EBC]: (nom. pl. m.): mfn. sunk , plunged , immersed in (loc. or
comp.)
majj:
to sink (into) , (acc. or loc.) , go down , go to hell , perish ,
become ruined ; to sink (in water) , dive , plunge or throw one's
self into (loc.) , bathe , be submerged or drowned
yataṣ:
ind. (fr. 3. ya , correlative of tátas , and often used as abl. or
instr. of the relative pron.) from which or what ; where, in what
place ; wherefore , for which reason , in consequence where of
eva:
(emphatic)
bhītaḥ
[EBC/Old Nepalese manuscript] (nom. sg. m.): mfn. frightened ,
alarmed , terrified , timid , afraid of or imperilled by (abl. or
comp.)
bhītāḥ
(nom. pl. f.): mfn. frightened , alarmed , terrified , timid , afraid
of or imperilled by (abl. or comp.)
自枯槁其形 修行諸苦行
而求於受生 増長五欲因
不觀生死故 以苦而求苦
而求於受生 増長五欲因
不觀生死故 以苦而求苦
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