−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti
(Māyā)
ity-evam-ukte
sa tapasvi-madhye tapasvi-mukhyena manīṣi-mukhyaḥ
|
⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
bhava-praṇāśāya
kta-pratijñaḥ svaṁ bhāvam-antar-gatam-ācacakṣe || 7.44
7.44
When
he, in the midst of the ascetics,
was
thus addressed by the first ascetic,
He
the first in perspicacity,
Since
he had vowed to end the bhava which is becoming,
Disclosed
the bhāva of his own real inner feelings and thoughts:
COMMENT:
It is a given in works
like the Lotus Sūtra, and the Sutra of the Collected Past Deeds of
the Buddha (as quoted in Shobogenzo chap. 87), that the Buddha-to-be
is an exemplar of good conduct. The implicit principle – so obvious
that it hardly seems to need stating – is that the Buddha-to-be did
not get to be the Buddha by means of bad karma; on the contrary, he
got to be the Buddha solely by means of good karma.
Aśvaghoṣa, of course, nowhere goes against this principle. At the
same time, in Aśvaghoṣa's descriptions of the Buddha-to-be, the
Buddha-to-be is not yet the Buddha. His feelings and thoughts are not
yet the feelings and thoughts of one who is truly awake. His feelings
and thoughts are the feelings and thoughts of one who is on the way
to being truly awake.
So the Buddha-to-be may
be, as described in the 2nd pāda of today's verse,
manīṣi-mukhyaḥ, “first in perspicacity,” but he is not yet,
for example, prajña-mukhyaḥ, “first in really knowing.”
I am
caused to reflect that when I was at primary school, I was generally
regarded as first in perspicacity – top of the class in such
activities as mental arithmetic, problem solving, and verbal
reasoning. But I would gladly swap that ranking, if I could, for a
mid-table position, or even a place in the relegation zone, in the
Premier League of prajñā. Prajñā, real wisdom, real knowing,
rather than manīṣā, intelligence, is what we are really after –
what we really need, if we are ever going to be of any use to man or
beast.
The
perspicacious Buddha-to-be has reasoned, correctly, that a sojourn in
heaven, even if ascetic practice leads to that goal, will only be a
temporary state of affairs, a bhava (an existence, or a stage in a
cycle of becoming), leading in time to another bhava. On the grounds
of such reasoning the Buddha-to-be, the 3rd pāda of
today's verse reminds us, has vowed to put an end to such existences,
to such re-births, to such becoming.
This vow
of the Buddha-to-be, as a vow of the Buddha-to-be, must have been a
good cause. And yet it does not prevent him from duly becoming an
ascetic practitioner and spending six years punishing himself through
severe ascetic practice.
Hitherto
the Buddha-to-be has been concealing his real feelings and thoughts
from the ascetics in the ashram. So we can understand from this that
sometimes to conceal one's real feelings and thoughts is good karma.
But now the Buddha-to-be deems the moment is right to disclose his
real feelings and thoughts. So we can understand from this that
sometimes to disclose one's real feelings and thoughts, also, is good karma.
But we need not understand that the feelings and thoughts of a buddha-to-be, real though they are, are what causes a buddha-to-be to become a buddha.
In
the 4th
pāda of today's verse, svam means his own, antar-gatam means inner
or secret, and bhāvam means what he really thought or felt, what was
really in his heart, his real state of being.
svaṁ
bhāvam-antar-gatam
his inward thought
[EBC]
his inward feelings
[EHJ]
his inner feeling [PO].
The
word bhāvam seems to me to convey some sense of affirmation of the
reality of what is in our hearts, our feelings and thoughts. So I
read in today's verse affirmation of the reality of feelings and
thoughts, affirmation of concealing those feelings and thoughts when
appropriate, and affirmation of expressing those feelings and
thoughts when appropriate.
And
yet today's verse, with its play on bhava and bhāva, also seems to
point to what remains for the Buddha-to-be to affirm.
I
don't know whether Avśaghoṣa intended any such connection or not,
but today's verse puts me in mind again of what the Nanda is told at
the beginning of SN Canto 16, not by a buddha-to-be but by the
awakened Buddha:
This is suffering, which is constant and akin to trouble; this is the cause of suffering, akin to starting it; / This is cessation of suffering, akin to walking away. And this, akin to a refuge, is a peaceable path. // SN16.4 // Understanding these noble truths, by a process of reasoning, while getting to know the four as one, / He prevails by the means of bhāvanā over all pollutants, and, on finding peace, is no longer subject to becoming. // SN16.5 // For by failing to wake up and come round to this four, whose substance is the reality of what is, / Humankind goes from bhava to bhava without finding peace, hoisted in the swing of saṁsāra. // SN16.6 //
Thus,
1. the bhava (becoming, existence) of the 3rd pāda of
today's verse and of SN16.6;
2.
the bhāva (his real feelings and thoughts)
of the 4th
pāda of today's verse; and
3.
the bhāvanā (meditation, development, training/working the mind) of
SN16.5;
are
each from the root √bhū, to become, to be, to exist.
In his coming
five-verse speech, the Buddha-to-be is first going to express the
warm feelings of gratitude he sincerely feels for the hospitality the ascetics
have shown him; then he is going to state frankly the secret
thoughts he has been harbouring about the difference between what the
ascetics are aiming for (a sojourn in heaven) and what he is aiming
for (a less impermanent solution, the end of becoming). So bhāvam in
today's verse would seem to represent those feelings and those
thoughts.
The Buddha-to-be is
going to express to the ascetics svaṁ
bhāvam-antar-gatam, his own inner bhāvam, including his bhāvam
(thinking) about bhava (becoming).
But
where does this bhāvam, this thinking, lead the prince in the end?
Only to six years of ascetic bhava, becoming.
In
the end it is not the bhāva of one's own feelings and thoughts that
the Buddha advocates as a means of prevailing over mental pollutants
like greed, anger, and delusion; he rather advocates bhāvanā, which
literally seems to mean something like “the act of bringing into
being,” but whose dictionary
definitions include meditation, reflection, contemplation:
Even if, as a result of calm consideration, you have let go of desires, / You must, as if shining light into darkness, abolish them by means of their opposite. // SN15.4 // What lies behind those desires sleeps on, like a fire covered with ashes; / You are to extinguish it, my friend, by the means of bhāvanā, as if using water to put out a fire. // SN15.5 //
While translating these
references to bhāvanā in Saundara-nanda (at which time I eventually
opted to translate bhāvanā “mental development,” I asked myself
what bhāvanā meant – as distinct, if distinct, from dhyāna,
which literally means “thinking.” I thought long and hard about
what bhāvanā meant at that time, but did not come to a conclusion
that I felt satisfied with, which is doubtless why I am taking this
opportunity now to return to unfinished business.
Today's verse does not
throw any direct light on what bhāvanā means. But, within the
broader context of the journey of the Buddha-to-be, today's verse may
provide a hint about what bhāvanā does not mean – the suggestion
being, as I receive it, that bhāvanā does not mean the bhāva of
one's own inner feelings and thoughts, however warm those feelings
might be, and however perspicacious those thoughts might be.
Some things, perhaps we
can say in conclusion, Aśvaghoṣa does not touch upon directly, but
he rather hints at obliquely...
yāvad rucito 'stu
vāsaḥ
during which time, let
the act of abiding be shone upon.
This process that is
going on here and now, at least the more real, less intellectual
aspects of it, which I compare to digging, might be bhāvanā. Digging at such a snail's pace of one verse per day, at least, is intended as the use of an opposite, or an antidote, to the habit of impatient end-gaining.
Again, what FM Alexander called “the Work” or “working on the self” might
be bhāvanā – except that the “on” somehow sounds superfluous.
bhāvanā
working the self (?)
training the mind (?)
working the mind –
like a farmer works the land, or like a goldsmith works gold (?)
As with prajṇā, knowing, and dhyāna, thinking, it may be that bhāvanā would most accurately be translated by an action word, by a word ending in -ing.
As with prajṇā, knowing, and dhyāna, thinking, it may be that bhāvanā would most accurately be translated by an action word, by a word ending in -ing.
To be continued.
VOCABULARY
ity-evam-ukte
(loc. sg.): thus addressed
sa
(nom. sg. m.): he
tapasvi-madhye
(loc. sg.): in the middle of the ascetics
tapasvin:
mfn. distressed , wretched , poor , miserable ; practising
austerities , (m.) an ascetic
madhya:
mfn. middle (used like medius e.g. mádhye samudré , " in the
midst of the sea "); mn. the middle of the body , (esp.) a
woman's waist
tapasvi-mukhyena
(inst. sg.): by the first ascetic
mukhya:
mfn. being in or coming from or belonging to the mouth or face ;
being at the head or at the beginning , first , principal , chief ,
eminent (ifc. = the first or best or chief among )
manīṣi-mukhyaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): the first in intelligence
manīṣin:
mfn. thoughtful , intelligent , wise , sage , prudent ;
bhava-praṇāśāya
(dat. sg.): for the cessation of becoming
bhava:
m. (√bhū) coming into existence, birth ; becoming ; being,
existence
praṇāśa:
m. vanishing , disappearance , cessation , loss , destruction , death
kṛta-pratijñaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. one who fulfils a promise or agreement
pratijñā:
f. admission , acknowledgment , assent , agreement , promise , vow; a
statement , assertion , declaration , affirmation ; (in logic) a
proposition , the assertion or proposition to be proved
svam
(acc. sg. m.): his own
bhāvam
(acc. sg.): m. ( √ bhū) being ; true condition ; any state of
mind or body , way of thinking or feeling , sentiment , opinion ,
disposition , intention ; the seat of the feelings or affections ,
heart , soul , mind
antar-gatam
(acc. sg. m.): mfn. inward, internal, secret
ācacakṣe
= 3rd pers. sg. perf. ā- √ cakṣ : to look at ,
inspect ; to tell , relate , make a communication about (acc.) ,
announce , declare , make known , confess
√ cakṣ:
to appear , become visible
菩薩向梵志 説己心所期
我修正方便 唯欲滅諸有
我修正方便 唯欲滅諸有
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