⏑⏑−⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑−−⏑¦⏑−⏑−
iti dharmam arāḍasya
viditvā na tutoṣa saḥ |
⏑−⏑⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑−⏑⏑¦⏑−⏑−
aktsnam iti vijñāya
tata pratijagāma ha || 12.83
12.83
Thus, having understood
the dharma of Arāḍa,
He was not satisfied.
Knowing it to be
incomplete,
Back he went from
there.
COMMENT:
Aśvaghoṣa does
not imply in today's verse that the bodhisattva turned away from
Arāḍa's teaching because that teaching was false. He says,
emphatically, that knowing Arāḍa's teaching to be incomplete, the
bodhisattva went back from there.
EBC translated tata
pratijagāma ha, “then... he turned away”; EHJ as “he turned
away from there”; and PO as “he went away from there.”
Thus each of the three
professors, I think, missed the true point of pratijagāma, the
significance of which might best be understood in light of the
teaching – discussed yesterday – of pratītya-samutpāda.
In a footnote to
today's verse, having translated pratijagāma as "he turned away," EHJ observed:
The use of pratijagāma in this sense is unusual but certified by T [the Tibetan translation].
I think Aśvaghoṣa used pratijagāma in this unusual sense for a very good reason.
The MW dictionary gives
prati-√gam: to
go towards; to go back, return, go home.
This
definition tends to confirm that prati-√gam is more or less synonymous
with prati-√i, which the MW dictionary also gives as: to
go towards or against, go to meet (as friend or foe) ; to come back,
return.
And prati-√i
is the root from which is derived the pratītya of
pratītya-samutpāda.
Yesterday I translated pratītya-samutpāda as springing up by going back, but in view of the content of today's verse, the sam of pratītya-samutpāda should also be emphasized. The sam- indicates that the springing up is all together, integral, complete.
The
ostensible meaning of the 4th
pāda of today's verse, then, is something like “He left there at
once.” But
by using pratijagāma in an unusual way – and by emphasizing it
with ha – Aśvaghoṣa may, below the surface, have been suggesting
that the bodhisattva's knowing Arāḍa's teaching to be incomplete
was the basis of his own subsequent realization, as the fully
awakened Sambuddha, of the teaching of pratītya-samutpāda,
or “completely
springing up, by going
back.”
The same suggestion of
going back, to the real root of suffering, might be there in the
title of BC Canto 6, chandaka-nivartanaḥ,
Chandaka / Turning Back.
For
a more explicit reminder of the importance in the Buddha's teaching
of the backward step, we have for example SN16.42:
tasmāt
pravṛttiṃ parigaccha duḥkhaṃ pravartakān apy avagaccha doṣān
/
Comprehend, therefore,
that suffering is doing;
witness the faults impelling it forward;
witness the faults impelling it forward;
nivṛttim āgaccha ca
tan-nirodhaṃ nivartakaṃ cāpy avagaccha mārgam // 16.42
Realise its stopping as
non-doing;
and know the path as a turning back.
and know the path as a turning back.
In
conclusion, the bodhisattva did not turn away or go away from Arāḍa because Arāḍa's teaching was false. Arāḍa was theman – the only man – the Buddha recognized as having been his teacher. The bodhisattva knew Arāḍa's teaching was incomplete, but
he also knew it was true. And because Arāḍa's teaching was true,
it was from there that he went back – thus, in due course,
realizing the teaching of pratītya-samutpāda, completely springing
up, by going back.
I have laboured the point. But it seems to me to be a really important point.
VOCABULARY
iti:
thus
dharmam
(acc. sg.): m. dharma
arāḍasya
(gen. sg.): Arāḍa
viditvā
= abs. vid: to know , understand , perceive , learn , become or be
acquainted with , be conscious of
na:
not
tutoṣa
= 3rd pers. sg. perf. tuṣ: to become calm , be satisfied
or pleased with
saḥ
(nom. sg. m.): he
akṛtsnam
(acc. sg. m.): mfn. incomplete
akṛtsnaḥ
[Hultzsch] (nom. sg. m.): mfn. incomplete
iti:
“....,” thus
vijñāya
= abs. vi- √ jñā: to distinguish , discern , observe ,
investigate , recognize , ascertain , know , understand
tataḥ:
ind. from that place, thence
pratijagāma
= 3rd pers. sg. perf. prati- √gam: to go towards; to go
back , return , go home
prati-
√i: to go towards or against , go to meet (as friend or foe) ; to
come back , return
ha:
ind. (prob. orig. identical with 2. gha , and used as a particle for
emphasizing a preceding word , esp. if it begins a sentence closely
connected with another ; very frequent in the brāhmaṇas and sūtras
, and often translatable by) indeed , assuredly , verily , of course
, then &c
所作則畢竟 於阿羅藍説
不能悦其心 知非一切智
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