⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑− Vaṁśastha
ahaṁ
viśeyaṁ jvalitaṁ hutāśanaṁ na cāktārthaḥ
praviśeyam-ālayam |
⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−
iti
pratijñāṁ sa cakāra garvito
yatheṣṭam-utthāya
ca nirmamo yayau || 9.79
9.79
I would go into the
oblation-eating fire when it is blazing,
But I would not, with
my task unaccomplished, go back home.”
Thus did he declare,
with pride
But with no sense of me
and mine, as he stood up and,
as per his declared
intent, went on his way.
COMMENT:
The turning word in
today's verse, as I read it, is garvitaḥ (proudly, with pride) in
the 3rd pāda. My first thought, since I had got it into
my head that Aśvaghoṣa was going all out in the present Canto to
praise the bodhisattva for his firm resolve, was to soften any sense
of the bodhisattva being at fault by translating garvitaḥ as
“boldly.” But the original word is garvitaḥ, which, according to
the MW dictionary, means haughty, conceited, proud. If garvitaḥ
somehow obtrudes into our rosy view of the bodhisattva's greatness, that, on reflection, may have been
Aśvaghoṣa's intention – to cause us to engage the old grey
matter.
In SN Canto 17
Aśvaghoṣa described how Nanda, as a bodhisattva, a buddha-to-be,
passed through four dhyānas, four Zens, four stages of
sitting-mediation. The first dhyāna is a joy born of separation, the second
is a deeper joy born of integration, the third transcends joy, and
the fourth is a state of utter lucidity, mindful and indifferent. But
in realizing this fourth dhyāna, Nanda was still only a bodhisattva;
it remained for him to cut the five upper fetters:
dhyānaṃ sa niśritya
tataś-caturtham-arhattva-lābhāya matiṃ cakāra /
Consequently, relying
on the fourth stage of meditation,
he made up his mind to win the
worthy state,
saṃdhāya
mitraṃ balavantam-āryaṃ rājeva deśān-ajitān jigīṣuḥ //17.56//
Like a king joining forces with a strong and noble
ally
and then aspiring to conquer unconquered lands.
and then aspiring to conquer unconquered lands.
ciccheda kārtsnyena
tataḥ sa pañca prajñāsinā bhāvanayeritena /
Then he cut the five
upper fetters:
with the sword of intuitive wisdom which is raised
aloft by cultivation of the mind,
ūrdhvaṁ-gamāny-uttama-bandhanāni
saṃyojanāny-uttama-bandhanāni //17.57//
He completely
severed the five aspirational fetters,
which are bound up with superiority, and tied to the first person.
which are bound up with superiority, and tied to the first person.
(Notice that the
bodhisattva's first word in the sentence with which in today's verse he concludes his
speech is the big aham, “I,” the first person singular.)
bodhy-aṅga-nāgair-api
saptabhiḥ sa saptaiva cittānuśayān mamarda /
Again, with the seven
elephants of the limbs of awakening
he crushed the seven dormant
tendencies of the mind,
dvipān-ivopasthita-vipraṇāśān
kālo grahaiḥ saptabhir-eva sapta // 17.58 //
Like Time, when their
destruction is due,
crushing the seven continents by means of the
seven planets.
agni-drumājyāmbuṣu
yā hi vṛttiḥ kavandha-vāyv-agni-divākarāṇām /
The action which on
fire, trees, ghee and water
is exerted by rainclouds, wind, a flame
and the sun,
doṣeṣu tāṃ
vṛttim-iyāya nando nirvāpaṇotpāṭana-dāha-śoṣaiḥ //
17.59 //
Nanda exerted that
action on the faults,
quenching, uprooting, burning, and drying them
up.
iti tri-vegaṃ
tri-jhaṣaṃ tri-vicam-ekāmbhasaṃ pañca-rayaṃ dvi-kūlam /
Thus he overcame three
surges, three sharks, three swells,
the unity of water, five
currents, two shores,
dvi-grāham-aṣṭāṅgavatā
plavena duḥkhārṇavaṃ dus-taram-uttatāra // 17.60 //
And
two crocodiles: in his eight-piece raft,
he crossed the flood of suffering which is so hard to cross.
he crossed the flood of suffering which is so hard to cross.
arhattvam-āsādya sa
sat-kriyārho nirutsuko niṣpraṇayo nirāśaḥ /
Having attained to the
seat of arhathood, he was worthy of being served.
Without ambition,
without partiality, without expectation;
vibhīr-viśug-vītamado
virāgaḥ sa eva dhṛtyānya ivābabhāse // 17.61 //
Without
fear, without sorrow, without pride,
and without passion;
while being nothing
but himself, he seemed in his constancy to be different.
So when, taking
garvitaḥ as a starting point, we re-examine today's verse in light
of these verses from SN Canto 17, I think we are being encouraged to appreciate and reflect on the sameness and difference between the state
of a bodhisattva and the state of buddha.
In some ways there is
no difference between a bodhisattva and a buddha, in the same way
that there is no difference between ice and water. And in some ways a
bodhisattva is totally different from a buddha, in the same way that
ice – for example, if you want to dip your face into a block of it – is
totally different from water.
It may be that
Aśvaghoṣa intended to suggest the sameness with yatheṣṭam,
“as per intended,” or, in context, “as per the intent [of his
declaration (pratijñām)].” The sameness might be in the iron
tendency, manifested by bodhisattvas and buddhas alike, to stick to a
decision, and especially to stick to a decision NOT to do.
The
difference I think might be concealed in the juxtaposition of garvitaḥ (with pride) and an ironic nirmamaḥ (without any
sense of self, with no sense of me and mine). We encountered the
latter expression at the beginning of BC Canto 8, with the same
ironic double-meaning – at least as I read the verse at that time.
8.1
In low
spirits, meanwhile
– With his
master gone thus,
with no sense of me and mine, to the forest –
with no sense of me and mine, to the forest –
(tathā vanaṁ
bhartari nirmame gate)
He whose sphere was
horses
made on the road an effort to suppress his sorrow.
made on the road an effort to suppress his sorrow.
And surely enough,
while also being thus,
he failed to banish his tears.
he failed to banish his tears.
Thus, whereas the enlightened Nanda in SN Canto
17 is described as being free of faults like pride and being nothing
but himself, the bodhisattva in today's verse is described as being
proud (garvitaḥ) and being without any sense of me and mine
(nirmamaḥ).
So today's verse, as I
read it, serves in practice as a reminder that a bodhisattva's firm
resolve is something admirable, and something to be affirmed as it
is; but at the same time a bodhisattva's pride might be a signal to
self and others that a bodhisattva is still a bodhisattva – one
who, when compared with a buddha, still has something faulty, or
immature.
On the surface, then,
nirmamaḥ (being selfless) sounds like something admirable and
altruistic. But I think that below the surface, as in BC8.1,
Aśvaghoṣa is suggesting, by describing a bodhisattva as nirmamaḥ
(being without the sense of me and mine) that a bodhisattva is one
who has yet to come into full possession, like a mighty tree, or like a buddha, of the
whole earth under his own feet and the whole sky over his own head.
I might be wrong, but
in reading today's verse like this, I get a renewed sense of
Aśvaghoṣa being quite unlike a religious, bodhisattva-worshiping
Buddhist. I get a sense of him being extremely practical. I get a
renewed sense of Aśvaghoṣa being interested, above all, in
practice in the direction of freedom from faults.
VOCABULARY
aham
(nom. sg.): I
viśeyam
= 1st pers. sg. optative viś: to enter
jvalitam
(acc. sg. m.): mfn. blazing
hutāśanam
(acc. sg.): m. " oblation-eater " , fire
na:
not
ca:
and
akṛtārthaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. having one's object unaccomplished , unsuccessful
praviśeyam
= 1st pers. sg. optative pra- √ viś: to enter
ālayam
(acc. sg.): m. and n. a house , dwelling
iti:
“...,” thus
pratijñām
(acc. sg.): f. admission , acknowledgment , assent , agreement ,
promise , vow ; a statement , assertion , declaration , affirmation
sa
(nom. sg. m.): he
cakāra
= 3rd per. sg. perf. kṛ: to do, make
garvitaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. haughty , conceited , proud of (in comp.)
garv:
to be or become proud or haughty
yatheṣṭam:
ind. according to wish or inclination
√iṣ:
to endeavour to obtain , strive , seek for ; to desire , wish , long
for , request ; to wish or be about to do anything , intend
utthāya
= abs. ud- √sthā: to stand up , spring up , rise , raise one's
self , set out ; to rise (from any occupation) , leave off ; to
finish
ca:
and
nir-mamaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. unselfish , disinterested , (esp.) free from all
worldly connections
yayau
= 3rd per. sg. perf. yā: to go, to go away
寧身投盛火 不以義不畢
還歸於本國 入於五欲火
還歸於本國 入於五欲火
表斯要誓已 除起而長辭
太子辯鋒炎 猶如盛日光
太子辯鋒炎 猶如盛日光
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