⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti
(Mālā)
śarīra-pīḍā
tu yadīha dharmaḥ sukhaṁ śarīrasya bhavaty-adharmaḥ |
−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
dharmeṇa
cāpnoti sukhaṁ paratra tasmād-adharmaṁ phalatīha dharmaḥ ||
7.26
7.26
If
causing the body pain, in contrast, is the dharma here,
The
body being happy constitutes the opposite of dharma.
And
yet by dharma the body obtains happiness in future....
Therefore
the dharma here results in the opposite of dharma.
COMMENT:
The
conclusion that the prince's power of reasoning leads him to in
today's verse, as I read it, is that when means and ends are divided,
the means are liable to produce a result which is diametrically
opposed to the end originally aimed for. Thus is a dharma liable to be turned into its opposite.
Shortly
before I decided to go and look for some quiet, cheap place in the
Norman countryside to use as a retreat, ten or so years ago, I had a conversation with
Marjory Barlow in which she impressed on me that in order to spread a
teaching that is supposed to conduce to happiness, the teacher has to
be happy in himself or herself, so that ripples of happiness radiate
outward in waves.
That
conversation, to my mind, resonates with what the prince recognizes
in today's verse about disunity or unity of means and end.
I notice that the
Chinese translation of the 2nd pāda is a good one:
安樂爲非法
安樂
ease/happiness
爲
is/constitutes
非
un-, anti-, non-
法
dharma
And the Chinese characters 安樂, representing the Sanskrit sukhaṁ śarīrasya (the body being happy , physical ease), resonate with
the phrase that Dogen famously uses to describe sitting-dhyāna in
his various instructions for how to sit:
安樂法門
(ANRAKU [no] HOMON)
The Dharma-gate of
ease/happiness.
There are many people
in the academic world, and specifically in the world of Buddhist
studies, who know a lot about the Buddha's teaching but who
seem to me not really to know the Buddha's teaching at all. I
received an email from one such person yesterday.
After I sent a brief and challenging reply along these lines, I asked myself whether I had just expressed the mirror
principle. Do I myself know the Buddha's teaching, or am I one of
those who knows a lot about the Buddha's teaching?
It is a good question
to ask oneself and it is not irrelevant to today's verse, especially
when today's verse is seen in the wider context of the Buddha-to-be's
six years of severe ascetic practice, as very briefly described at the end of BC Canto 12 – the point being that in
today's verse the prince has figured out intellectually, with
impeccable reasoning, that asceticism is not the way to lasting inner
happiness; but when the Buddha-very-shortly-to-be sits in lotus under
the bodhi tree, feeling himself going up with the bodhi tree and with
all the grass and trees all around, as the good food he has eaten
releases the energy of life into his bloodstream, then he really
knows, with his whole body and mind, that asceticism is not it.
VOCABULARY
śarīra-pīḍā
(nom. sg. f.): bodily pain ; paining of the body
pīḍā:
f. pain , suffering , annoyance , harm , injury , violation , damage
; obscuration , eclipse (of a planet)
pīḍ:
to press , squeeze ; to hurt , harm , injure , oppress , pain , vex
tu:
but
yadi:
ind. if
iha:
ind. here, in this place
dharmaḥ
(nom. sg.): m. dharma
sukham
(nom. sg.): n. ease, happiness, comfort
śarīrasya
(gen. sg.): n. body
bhavati
= 3rd pers. sg. bhū: to be, become
adharmaḥ
(nom. sg.): m. non-dharma; unrighteousness , injustice , irreligion ,
wickedness ; demerit
dharmeṇa
(inst. sg.): mn. dharma
ca:
and
apnoti
= 3rd pers. sg. āp: to reach , overtake , meet with ,
fall upon ; to obtain, gain ;
sukham
(acc. sg.): n. ease, happiness, comfort
paratra:
ind. elsewhere , in another place , in a future state or world ,
hereafter
tasmād:
ind. therefore
adharmam
(acc. sg.): m. non-dharma; unrighteousness , injustice , irreligion ,
wickedness ; demerit
phalati
= 3rd pers. sg. phal: to bear or produce fruit , ripen
(lit. and fig.) , be fruitful , have results or consequences , be
fulfilled , result , succeed
iha:
ind. here, in this place
dharmaḥ
(nom. sg.): m. dharma
苦身是法者 安樂爲非法
行法而後樂 因法果非法
行法而後樂 因法果非法
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