⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti
(Kīrti)
tapo-vane
'sminn-atha niṣkriyo vā saṁkīrṇa-dharme patito 'śucir-vā |
−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
dṣṭas-tvayā
yena na te vivatsā tad-brūhi
yāvad-rucito 'stu vāsaḥ || 7.42
7.42
Or
else, in this forest of painful practice,
you
have seen a neglecter of rites;
Or
you have seen one who is not pure,
one
who, in a commingled dharma, has fallen;
For
which reason
there
is in you no desire to dwell --
Then
say so and be pleased to stay!
[or]
express as much and,
on the act of abiding, let light be shone!
on the act of abiding, let light be shone!
COMMENT:
The
implicit question Aśvaghoṣa is asking us again, in today's verse,
as I read it is this:
Is
the speaker one of them?
Or
is he one of us?
If
my starting point is that I am right, because I not only know about
Buddhism (as a Buddhist scholar knows about Buddhism) but I
also through my sitting practice know the Buddha's teaching
itself, that starting point is liable to lead me to the sectarian
conclusion that the veteran forest practitioner, steeped though he
may be in many years of painful practice, is one of them. He is a
devotee of asceticism, whereas I know that the sitting practice I do
every day does not belong to asceticism.
If
my starting point, conversely, is that the only thing I truly know,
the only thing I have learned from 30 years of sitting practice and
20 years of Alexander work, is that “I am right” is wrong, then I
may be more open to the possibility that the veteran forest
practitioner, though he is wearing an ascetic guise, may in fact be on the same side as me. More than that, he might be a bodhi-sattva or a maha-sattva who is presaging the Buddha's golden
preaching of prajñā.
If
the speaker is one of them, every element of today's verse can
be read in the light of him being one of them. Hence:
tapo-vane:
“in the ascetic grove;” the standard Vedic term used by many
generations of forest practitioners since ancient times. Since the
speaker is a devotee of tapas, ascetic practice, he uses the term
tapo-vana, “the ascetic grove” without any of the irony that
might be conveyed by a more knowing translation like “the woods of
asceticism.”
niṣkriyaḥ:
“neglectful of religious rites;” describes, for example, a blameworthy ascetic who, when night falls, neglects the kinds of
rite referred to in BC7.33 – making burned offerings in sacred
flames, performing bathing rites, and muttering prayers.
saṁkīrṇa-dharme
patito 'śuciḥ: “impure from having fallen into an adulterated
dharma” [EHJ]; a conception rooted in ancient Indian views of
purity and adulteration that Aśvaghoṣa lampoons
(albeit circumspectly) in SN Canto 1:
With soft, sandy, and smooth soil, made yellowish white by a covering of kesara blossoms, / And divided into areas, with no commingling (asaṁkīrṇaiḥ), it was like a body painted with cosmetic pigments. // SN1.7 //
[Footnote:
Asaṁkīrṇaiḥ means not mixed, not adulterated, not
polluted, not impure, not born of a mixed marriage. Beneath a
camouflage of kesara flowers, Aśvaghoṣa may be alluding,
always with due circumspection, to traditional Bhramanical
conceptions around caste.]
yena
na te vivatsā: “for which reason you do not wish to stay”; the
veteran ascetic fears that because
of having witnessed somebody's laxity in practice the prince does not
wish to stay in this ashram.
rucito 'stu vāsaḥ:
“be pleased to dwell here” [EHJ]; simple expression of the
veteran ascetic's wish that the prince might remain in this ashram.
If the veteran
practitioner is heard as one of us, however, or as one who is
like us only better, a first among equals, then each of the above
elements has to be read in a different light:
tapo-vane:
“in the forest of painful practice;” an appropriation of the
ancient term by a practitioner who has abandoned the viewpoint of
asceticism, but who nonetheless continues to live in the forest and
to experience practice there as painful.
niṣkriyaḥ:
“neglectful of rites;” describes, for example, a Japanese Zen
master like Kodo Sawaki, or a Chinese Zen master like Tendo Nyojo
(Ch: Tiantong Rujing), each of who famously placed a marked emphasis on
the primacy of sitting-meditation, as opposed to ritual bells and
whistles.
saṁkīrṇa-dharme
patito 'śuciḥ: “fallen, in a dharma of commingling; not pure”
might be, again, an ironic description of Zen masters of the ilk of
Kodo Sawaki and Tendo Nyojo, who sat in lotus with body, sat in lotus
with mind, and who dropped off everything, in a dharma in which body
and mind, subject and object, us and them, inside and outside, are
all commingled; and who thus transcended viewpoints of purity and
impurity.
yena
na te vivatsā: “for which reason there is no desire in you to
dwell”; for which reason, there is no complacency in you -- the veteran practitioner understands how witnessing the
sincere devotion of one human being to the practice of
sitting-meditation can facilitate the growth of that same devotion
(as opposed to lazy dwelling) in another human being.
rucito 'stu vāsaḥ:
“let abiding be shone upon”; in other words, let the backward
step be learned of turning the light and letting it shine.
VOCABULARY
tapo-vane
(loc. sg. n.): in the ascetic wood
asmin
(loc. sg. n.): this
atha:
ind. now, then , else
niṣkriyaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): = niṣ-karman: mfn. inactive ; exempt from or
neglecting religious or worldly acts
vā:
or
saṁkīrṇa-dharmāpatitaḥ
[old Nepalese manuscript / EHJ] (nom. sg. n.): fallen into a
commingled dharma (EHJ: fallen into an adulterated dharma)
saṁkīrṇa:
mfn. mingled , confused , disordered , adulterated , polluted ,
impure ; born of a mixed marriage
dharma:
dharma
āpatita:
mfn. happened , befallen; descended
ā-
√ pat: to fly towards , come flying ; to hasten towards , rush in
or on ; to fall towards or on
saṁkīrṇa-dharme
[Gawronski]: into a commingled dharma
patitaḥ
(nom. sg. n.): mfn. fallen , dropped , descended , alighted ; (ifc.)
fallen upon or from
aśuciḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. impure
vā:
or
dṛṣṭaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. seen
tvayā
(inst. sg.): by you
yena
(inst. sg.): by which, for which reason
na:
not
te
(gen. sg.): of you
vivatsā
(nom. sg.): f. (fr. Desid. of √ 5. vas) desire of dwelling, Bcar.
vas:
, to dwell , live , stop (at a place) , stay (esp. " overnight
"); to remain, abide
tad
(acc. sg. n.): it, that ; ind. in that case, then
brūhi
= imperative brū: to speak , say , tell
yāvat:
ind. (connective particle) during which time; until, up to (acc.);
ind. (relative adv.) for as long as, while, until
EHJ
note: I understand yāvat as = tāvac ca,
this use of the relative being not uncommon in Aśvaghoṣa.
(“mention it and just be pleased to dwell here.”)
rucitaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. shone upon (by the sun &c ) , bright ,
brilliant , glittering ; pleasant , agreeable
astu
(3rd pers. sg. imperative as): let it be
vāsaḥ
(nom. sg.): m. staying , remaining (esp. " overnight ") ,
abiding , dwelling
若汝見我等 懈怠不精進
行諸不淨法 而不樂住者
行諸不淨法 而不樂住者
我等悉應去 汝可留止此
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