−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti
(Indravajrā)
tīrthāni
puṇyāny-abhitas-tathaiva sopāna-bhūtāni nabhas-talasya |
−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
juṣṭāni
dharmātmabhir-ātmavadbhir-devarṣibhiś-caiva
nṛparṣibhiś-ca || 7.40
7.40
All
around us, likewise, are holy [or wholesome] bathing places,
Which
are akin to stairways to heaven
[or
which, at the level of the air, consist of steps];
They
are frequented by seers whose essence is dharma
and
by seers who are full of the essence –
By
divine seers and by seers who are protectors of men.
COMMENT:
The
reference to stairs or steps (sopāna = stairs, steps, stairway)
conjures images in the mind of steps leading down to the Ganges, and
indeed googling “sacred bathing places, India” causes vague
images in the mind to be replaced by more concrete images right there
on the screen.
The
2nd
pāda of today's verse also inevitably brings to mind the words of an
old folk song written by a bloke like me who emanated out of the west
middle-earths. Robert Plant, Wikipedia confirms, was born in West
Bromwich and went to school in Stourbridge – not a million miles
from where I was born. If we had stuck to our original career-paths,
he might have ended up mentoring me in chartered accountancy.
The 2nd pāda of today's verse, then, sopāna-bhūtāni
nabhas-talasya, which
might be translated “akin to a stairway to heaven” on
the face of it confirms that puṇyāni in the 1st pāda is describing the bathing
places, or fords, as sacred or holy, leading to heaven.
That being so,
tīrthāni
puṇyāni sopāna-bhūtāni nabhas-talasya ought to be translated in
such a way as to emphasize the heavenward orientation of the sacred
bathing places; hence:
holy spots of
pilgrimage, which become ladders to heaven (EBC)
holy pilgrimage
places, very stairways to the sky (EHJ)
sacred fords, which
are true stairways to the heavenly plane (PO).
But this is not the
only way to understand bhūta (which means both “being
like” and “being/consisting of”) and tala (which means
“level/plane” [as per PO's translation], but which can be
understood as pleonastic, and hence not necessary to be translated
[as per EBC/EHJ's translations], and which at the same
time can mean something as concrete and basic as “the sole of the
foot”).
When we think in concrete material terms what a place called a tīrtha (a sacred bathing site, a sacred ford, a place of sacred waters) really is, it can never be nothing but holy water. A place that consisted only of holy water might be a suitable place of pilgrimage for a fish, but not for a human being – unless equipped with scuba-diving gear. When we think in these terms, sceptically, irreligiously, it is evident that a sacred bathing place where human beings bathe, at the level of water, must consist of water, but at the level of the air it must consist of steps.
Thus, on further reflection,
I think Aśvaghoṣa deliberately constructed the 2nd pāda
both of today's verse and of yesterday's verse to be amenable to be
read as an expression of something religious, spiritual and sacred,
and, on the contrary, as an expression of something natural, material and
concrete – possibly as a kind of test of our mental flexibility.
That
being so, I have not only used square brackets in today's verse but have also gone back to yesterday's verse and added an
alternative translation of puṇyaḥ
himavān śailaḥ
in square brackets, so that the 2nd
line now reads:
Rises
a holy Himālayan mountain
[or a pleasant snow-clad peak]
[or a pleasant snow-clad peak]
If we read the first
two pādas of today's verse in this light, as expressions of the
sacred and the concrete being combined together, then the 3rd
pāda can also be read like that, and the 4th pāda can
also be read like that.
On
the surface, then, the veteran ascetic is again simply trying to
persuade the Buddha-to-be that this ashram will be a good place for
him to stay and practise. But below the surface, I think Aśvaghoṣa
has put into the mouth of the veteran practitioner words that are
designed to really make us wonder.
In
conclusion, what has a verse like today's verse got to do with
sitting in lotus? Not much, you might think – except that sitting
with the body and sitting with the mind are mutually antithetical
conceptions.
A
boat is a boat. Whether it is powered and directed by oar or by sail,
the movement of a boat is the movement of a boat. If a person uses a
boat to get from A to B for years and years only by rowing, and then
he puts a sail up and starts to sail from A to B, the movement from A
to B is still the movement from A to B, and the boat is still the
boat. But moving the boat by one's own muscular doing, and sailing
the boat using the power of the wind, are totally different
approaches.
So
it is, as I see it, with sitting with the body and sitting with the
mind.
And thus, I hope, I passed Aśvaghoṣa's test of mental flexibility, not so much because of being a bright spark, but rather because of having spent several hours a day for the last thirty years investigating what the hell it is to sit in full lotus and yet fail to drop off body and mind.
VOCABULARY
tīrthāni
(nom./acc. pl.): n. a passage , way , road , ford , stairs for
landing or for descent into a river , bathing-place , place of
pilgrimage on the banks of sacred streams , piece of water
puṇyāni
(nom./acc.. pl. n.): mfn. auspicious , propitious , fair , pleasant ,
good , right , virtuous , meritorious , pure , holy , sacred
abhitaḥ:
ind. near to , towards ; (with acc.) on all sides , everywhere ,
about , round
tathā:
ind. likewise
eva:
(emphatic)
sopāna-bhūtāni
(nom./acc. pl.): being / being like a stairway
sopāna:
n. stairs , steps , a staircase , ladder to (gen. or comp.)
bhūta:
(ifc.) being or being like anything , consisting of
nabhas-talasya
(gen. sg.): n. " sky-surface " , firmament
nabhas:
n. mist , clouds , vapour (esp. of the soma); the sky or atmosphere
(du. heaven and earth AV. )
tala:
n. surface , level , flat roof (of a house) ; the part underneath ,
lower part , base , bottom ; mn. the palm (of the hand) ; mn. the
sole (of the foot) ; n. the root or seed of events
juṣṭāni
(nom./acc. pl. n.): mfn loved, frequented, visited
dharmātmabhiḥ
(inst. pl. m.): mfn. religious-minded , just , virtuous , dutiful ;
m. a saint , religious person
ātmavadbhiḥ
(inst. pl. m.): mfn. having a soul ; self-possessed , composed ,
prudent
ātman:
m. breath ; the soul , principle of life and sensation ; the
individual soul , self , abstract individual ; essence , nature ,
character , peculiarity (often ifc. e.g. karmā*tman , &c )
devarṣibhiḥ
(inst. pl.): m. a ṛṣi , a saint of the celestial class
ca:
and
eva:
(emphatic)
nṛparṣibhiḥ
[old Nepalese manuscript] (inst. pl.): m. a royal sage, Bcar.
nṛ-pa:
m. (√3. pā) protector of men , prince , king , sovereign
√pā:
to watch , keep , preserve ; to protect (a country) i.e. rule ,
govern ; to observe , notice , attend to , follow
maharṣibhiḥ
[EBC/EHJ] (inst. pl.): m. a great ṛṣi , any great sage or saint
ca:
and
衆多諸學士 由此路生天
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