⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti
(Kīrti)
girau
vane cāpsu ca sāgare ca yān-bhraṁśam-archanty-abhilaṅghamānāḥ |
−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
teṣu
druma-prāgra-phalopameṣu
kāmeṣu kasyātmavato ratiḥ syāt || 11.28
11.28
On a mountain; in the
forest; in still waters; and in the ocean –
Leaping the extra inch
as they reach for them,
people veer in the
direction of falling off.
When desires are like
the fruit at the top of the tree,
Who in possession of
himself would delight in those desires?
COMMENT:
From today's verse, as
also from yesterday's verse, I get a sense of being encouraged to be
adventurous, to go for it, to take a risk, to gamble, not to play it
safe for fear of encountering adversity in a hazardous abode, or for
fear of falling off a high branch.
For such adventure to
have a successful outcome, however, the suggestion once again is that
a practitioner has to be in possession of him or her self.
In a footnote in which
he gives his reason for amending
yad bhraṁśam
archanty abhilaṅghamānāḥ
to
yān bhraṁśam
archanti vilaṅghamānāḥ,
EHJ
concludes that
A
free rendering meets the case better here, as one cannot climb up to
a thing on the sea.
I have followed EHJ's first amendment, from yad to yān, but I think I would translate the line much the same either way, accepting EHJ's case for a free rendering. A free rendering might be necessary accurately to convey the spirit of the metaphor which Aśvaghoṣa has in mind.
EHJ's own free rendering is:
"On the mountains, in the forest, on the rivers, on the sea, men precipitate themselves after them and thereby come to ruin."
The ostensible point of
the metaphor, evidently, is that reaching too high for what one
desires is dangerous and should be avoided. But the hidden meaning
may be that a person who is desirous of the highest freedom sometimes
needs to transcend what he or she feels is possible, in order to
experience the dropping off of body and mind.
For that reason I have
stuck with the old Nepalese manuscript's abhilaṅghamānāḥ, which
includes the meaning of to go beyond or to transcend. EHJ amended to
vilaṅghamānāḥ
on the basis that abhi-√laṅgh is only found in the causative. I
would venture to suggest that we might have one instance, at least,
where abhi-√laṅgh is not found in the causative, and that is
namely today's verse, BC11.28.
Still
in the 2nd
pāda, bhraṁśam archanti can be seen as mirroring vināśam archanti
in BC11.24. Both bhraṁśam (falling down, ruin) and vināśam
(utter loss, decay) ostensibly suggest a downfall, an undesirable
outcome in a downward direction, ruination. Hence EHJ "they come to ruin." But archanti, ironically, originally
means “they tend upwards.” The first definition of √ṛ given
in the dictionary is to
go, move, rise, tend upwards... much as a tree tends upwards when it is growing.
Going back to the 1st
pāda, and reading it in the above light, the four elements can be
read as forming a dialectic progression whereby
- (1) a mountaintop is a prime location, a grand and ideal place for reaping the fourth fruit in the noble dharma, a massive invitation to climb boldly up;
- (2) a forest is a natural hideaway to which to reteat;
- (3) still waters, whether in a mountain tarn or in a forest lake – or even in a tea-cup in a caravan, being used like a spirit-level – are in practice always balanced; and
- (4) the ocean is something as unfathomable and inclusive as reality itself.
This being so, EHJ's
literal objection that one cannot climb up to a thing on
the sea, might serve to underline that what Aśvaghoṣa has in
mind is metaphorical fruit of practice, up towards which a
practitioner rises in a metaphorical sea of practice. In
other words, the highest fruit might be the worthy state of an arhat,
i.e. the reality of a buddha's enlightenment. The sea might be the
ocean of practice. And a tree might be a developmental process,
growth of which cannot be hurried.
When, with this in
mind, we look for a concrete historical example of a man in
possession of himself delighting in another's attainment of treasure
which is desirable but difficult to reach, like fruit at the top of a
tree, the following two verses spring to mind from SN Canto 18, where
the Buddha tells Nanda:
diṣṭyāsi śāntiṃ
paramām-upeto nistīrṇa-kāntāra ivāpta-sāraḥ /
How great it is that
you have reached the deepest tranquillity,
like a man making it
through a wasteland and gaining possession of treasure.
sarvo hi saṃsāra-gato
bhayārto yathaiva kāntāra-gatas-tathaiva // 18.32
For everybody in the
flux of saṁsāra is afflicted by fear,
just like a man in a
wasteland.
āraṇyakaṃ
bhaikṣa-caraṃ vinītaṃ drakṣyāmi nandaṃ nibhṛtaṃ
kadeti /
'When shall I see Nanda
settled, given over to the living of a forest beggar's life?',
āsīt purastāt-tvayi
me didṛkṣā tathāsi diṣṭyā mama darśanīyaḥ // 18.33
So thinking, I had
harboured from the start the desire to see you thus.
What a wonderful sight
you are for me to behold!
VOCABULARY
girau
(loc. sg.): m. a mountain
vane
(loc. sg.): n. a forest
ca:
and
apsu
(loc. pl.): f. water
ca:
and
sāgare
(loc. sg.): m. the ocean
ca:
and
yad:
[relative pronoun] which, that ; yad also = " so that " , "
in order that " , " wherefore " , " whence "
, " as " , " in as much as " , " since "
, " because " [the correlative being tad , " therefore
"] , " when " , " if "
yān
[EHJ] (acc. pl. m.): [those desires] which
bhraṁśam
(acc. sg.): m. falling or slipping down or off ; decline , decay,
ruin
archanti
= 3rd pers. pl. ṛ: to go , move , rise , tend upwards;
to go towards , meet with , fall upon or into , reach , obtain ; to
fall to one's share , occur , befall (with acc.)
abhilaṅghamānāḥ
= nom. pl. m. pres. part. abhi- √ laṅgh: Caus. to jump across
or over ; to transgress , violate ; to injure
abhi:
ind. (a prefix to verbs and nouns , expressing) to , towards , into ,
over , upon.
√ laṅgh:
to leap over , go beyond ; to ascend , mount upon ; to overstep ,
transgress , violate , neglect
vilaṅghamānāḥ
= nom. pl. m. pres. part. vi- √ laṅgh: to leap , jump , rise up
to (acc.)
teṣu
(loc. pl. m.): those
druma-prāgra-phalopameṣu
(loc. pl. m.): like fruit at the top of the tree
druma:
m. a tree
prāgra:
(pra-agra) n. the highest point , summit
phala:
n. fruit
upama:
(ifc.) equal , similar , resembling , like
kāmeṣu
(loc. pl.): m. pleasures, desires
kasya
(gen. sg.): who?
ātmavataḥ
(gen. sg. m.): being self-possessed
ratiḥ
(nom. sg.): f. pleasure , enjoyment , delight in , fondness
syāt
= 3rd pers. sg. optative as: to be
如樹高條果 貪取多墮死
貪欲境如是 雖見難可取
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