Saturday, January 31, 2015

BUDDHACARITA 13.59: About Realization of Reality


¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−   Upajāti (Bālā)
yo niścayo hy asya parākramaś ca tejaś ca yad yā ca dayā prajāsu |
¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
aprāpya notthāsyati tattvam eṣa tamāsy ahatveva sahasra-raśmiḥ || 13.59


13.59
For such is his firmness of will, and his courage,

Such is his fire, and such is his compassion for living creatures,

That this one will not rise up without having realized the truth –

Just as the thousand-rayed sun does not rise 
without dispelling darkness.


COMMENT:
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the ignorant one do. / The ignorant one therefore is the doer; the wise one is not, because of reality making itself known (tattva-darśanāt). //MMK26.10// In the destruction of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings./ The destruction of ignorance, however, is because of the allowing-into-being of just this act of knowing (jñānasyāsyaiva bhāvanāt). //MMK26.11// By the destruction of this one and that one, this one and that one are discontinued. / This whole edifice of suffering is thus well and truly demolished.//MMK26.12//

Doings, Nāgārjuna thus clarifies, are a symptom of ignorance. The destruction of ignorance is synonymous with the non-coming-into-being of doings. And ignorance is destroyed by the bringing-into-being, or the cultivation or developing (bhāvana), of what Nāgārjuna refers to as jñānasyāsyaiva, “just this act of knowing” or “just this wisdom.”

The antidote to hatred, so they say, is the developing of compassion. And the antidote to delusion is the developing of absolute confidence in cause and effect.

But the antidote to the ignorance behind doings is the bringing-into-being, or the cultivation or developing, of what Nāgārjuna refers to as jñānasyāsyaiva, “just this act of knowing” or “just this wisdom.”

When Nāgārjuna writes “this” (asya) he seems to be referring back to reality being realized, or reality making itself known, or the truth outing itself. These are translations of tattva-darśana.

Typically, for a phrase of such pivotal importance, tattva-darśana is not amenable to one definitive translation that we can attach to. It is a more ambiguous term than that, covering both realizing of reality by a practitioner, and realization of reality by itself. 

Whether it is a practitioner's realization of reality, or whether it is reality realizing itself, whether it is a practitioner's realization of the truth, or whether it is the truth realizing itself, what is not in doubt in Nāgārjuna's statement is that this realization is characterized by the absence of doings.

Because of tattva-darśana (realization of the truth / reality), the wise one is NOT the doer.


In today's verse, then, when the prophetic being of distinction asserts that the bodhisattva will not rise from sitting without having realized the truth, I think his prophecy is best understood on the basis of non-doing sitting practice.

It is easy for Zen masters to state the principle, and for their gullible students to believe the principle, that just sitting is the realization of reality. But if the “just sitting” of which they speak is a variation on the theme of doing, then Zen master and student alike have only been lying to themselves and to each other, mutually reinforcing a delusion.

Because my Zen master was like that, all of his students were also like that. All without exception, me included, were like that. All being like that, some annoy me more than others. One, in particular, who now comes again raising his ugly head, shamelessly peddling a trivial book, I find very distasteful. Mirror principle? Maybe. 

I needn't say more. What needs to be said has already been said, very clearly and exactly, by Nāgārjuna:
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the ignorant one do. / The ignorant one therefore is the doer; the wise one is not, because of reality making itself known. //MMK26.10// In the destruction of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings./ The destruction of ignorance, however, is because of the allowing-into-being of just this act of knowing. //MMK26.11// By the destruction of this one and that one, this one and that one are discontinued. / This whole edifice of suffering is thus well and truly demolished. //MMK26.12//

What needs to be said has been said. What remains to be demonstrated in practice, by a wise one who is not a doer, is the destruction of ignorance by the bringing-into-being of an act of knowing.

In writing these words I am conscious that one wise one who was not a doer, for example, was the Alexander teacher Marjory Barlow. And an act of knowing that she taught was, for example, to lie down on one's back with the knees bent and extend a leg and put it down on the ground.

In the bringing-into-being of such an act of knowing what is most important is work, in the direction of stopping of doings, BEFORE the actual making of the movement. This, again, requires demonstration in practice.


VOCABULARY
yaḥ (nom. sg. m.): which
niścayaḥ (nom. sg.): m. resolution , resolve, fixed intention , design , purpose , aim
hi: for
asya (gen. sg.): of this one
parākramaḥ (nom. sg.): m. bold advance , attack , heroism , courage , power , strength , energy , exertion , enterprise
ca: and

tejaḥ (nom. sg.): n. top of flame ; fiery energy , ardour , vital power , spirit , efficacy , essence
ca: and
yad (nom. sg. n.): which
yā (nom. sg. f.): which
ca: and
dayā (nom. sg.): f. sympathy , compassion , pity for (loc.)
prajāsu (loc. pl. f.): creatures, living beings

aprāpya (= abs. a-pra- √āp) not having obtained, not having realized
na: not
utthāsyati = 3rd pers. sg. future ud- √sthā: to stand up , spring up , rise , raise one's self
tattvam (acc. sg.): n. true or real state , truth , reality
eṣaḥ (nom. sg. m.): this one

tamāṁsi (acc. pl.): n. darkness , gloom (also pl.)
ahatva (= abs. a + √ han): not having dispelled
iva: like
sahasra-raśmiḥ (nom. sg.): m. “thousand-rayed”; the sun


菩薩正思惟 精進勤方便
淨智慧光明 慈悲於一切
此四妙功徳 無能中斷截
而爲作留難 不成正覺道
如日千光明 必除世間闇 

Friday, January 30, 2015

BUDDHACARITA 13.58: Iron Resolve Backed by Innocuous Karma



¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−   Upajāti (Sālā)
apy uṣṇa-bhāvaṁ jvalanaḥ prajahyād āpo dravatvaṁ pthivī sthiratvam |
¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
aneka-kalpācita-puṇya-karmā na tv eva jahyād vyavasāyam eṣaḥ || 13.58


13.58
Even if fire were to give up being hot,

Water its wetness and the earth its solidity,

With the good karma he has heaped up over many kalpas,

This one could never abandon his resolve.


COMMENT:
This being of distinction who has so far seemed to sing the praises of non-doing, from today's verse turns to praising the bodhisattva's iron will to acheive enlightenment. There again, we are well used by now to teaching that, on the face of it, is self-contradictory...


Forward and up.
Forward and up.
Stop doing. Stop lying. 
Stop ageing. Stop dying. 
Never give up!
Never give up!
Stop trying! Stop trying!
Completely stop trying!


VOCABULARY
api: even
uṣṇa-bhāvam (acc. sg. m.): the nature of being hot
uṣṇa: mn. heat , warmth , the hot season
jvalanaḥ (nom. sg.): m. fire
prajahyāt = 3rd pers. sg. optative pra- √ hā: to leave ; to desert , quit , abandon , give up , renounce , violate (a duty) , break (a promise) ; to send off , throw , hurl

āpaḥ (nom. sg.): water
drava-tvam (acc. sg.): n. natural or artificial fluid condition of a substance , fluidity , wetness
pṛthivī (nom. sg.): f. earth
sthiratvam (acc. sg.): n. hardness, stability, solidity

aneka-kalpācita-puṇya-karmā (nom. sg. m.): with good karma accumulated through many kalpas
aneka-kalpa: many kalpas, many ages
ācita: mfn. collected ; accumulated , heaped
puṇya-karman: mfn. acting right , virtuous , pious
puṇya: mfn. auspicious , propitious , fair , pleasant , good , right , virtuous , meritorious , pure , holy , sacred ; n. the good or right , virtue , purity , good work , meritorious act , moral or religious merit

na: not
tu: but
eva: (emphatic)
jahyāt = 3rd pers. sg. optative √ hā: to leave , abandon , desert , quit , forsake , relinquish
vyavasāyam (acc. sg.): m. strenuous effort or exertion; settled determination , resolve , purpose
eṣaḥ (nom. sg. m.): this man

火冷水熾然 地性平軟濡
不能壞菩薩 歴劫修善果 



Thursday, January 29, 2015

BUDDHACARITA 13.57: Not To Do


¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−   Upajāti (Bālā)
moghaṁ śramaṁ nārhasi māra kartuṁ hiṁsrātmatām utsja gaccha śarma |
¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
naiṣa tvayā kampayituṁ hi śakyo mahā-girir merur ivānilena || 13.57


13.57
“Do not do, O Māra, work that is empty!

Let go of hurtfulness! Come to quiet!

For this man can no more be shaken by you

Than the great mountain Meru can be shaken by the wind.


COMMENT:
“Labour not in vain, O Māra!”

That was my first effort at translating the 1st pāda of today's verse. I felt that wording might befit a booming voice.

On further reflection, though, nārhasi māra kartum struck me as being, below the surface, another pointer in the direction of the truth of non-doing – Do not, O Māra, do!”

In that case what is being negated, by the being of distinction, is doing.

The being of distinction, in other words, is not negating moghaṁ śramam, fruitless effort, per se; the being of distinction is negating the doing of moghaṁ śramam.

In that case, again, moghaṁ śramam, idle effort, or empty work, might be an ironic suggestion of what Dogen in the opening sentence of Shobogenzo called “a subtle method which is supreme and free of doing” (最上無為の妙術 ; SAIJO-MUI NO MYO-JUTSU).

"Free of doing" is a translatin of 無為 (Jap: MU-I; Ch: wu-wei).  無為 is given as a noun in the Japanese-English dictionary as “idleness.” So 無為 means "free of doing," or "inactive" or "idle" in the sense of being empty of superflous activity. 

Going back to the Sanskrit, as discussed in a previous post, 無為 represents a-saṁskṛta, which means "not prepared" or "not formed" or “not done.” 

The saṁskṛta of  a-saṁskṛta“not done,” is the past participle of the root  saṁ-s-kṛ, from which, in the following sentence of Nāgārjuna's, are formed the words saṁskārān (acc. pl.), "doings," and saṁskaroti (3rd. pers. sg.), "does do": 

saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ |
avidvān kārakas tasmān na vidvāṁs tattva-darśanāt ||MMK26.10
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra
Thus does the ignorant one do.
The ignorant one therefore is the doer;
The wise one is not, because of reality making itself known.

This verse from Nāgārjuna's MMK, as I read it, like today's verse from Aśvaghoṣa's Buddhacarita, is not so much a statement of doctrine as it is an inspiration to practise non-doing. It is a reminder of the principle that, in the words of FM Alexander, "Stop doing the wrong thing, and the right thing does itself." 

When the Buddha speaks of śraddhā, "belief, confidence," I hear him speaking not of religious belief but rather of confidence in just this truth -- stop ignorant doing, and the right thing does itself.  

Stop doing the wrong thing,  and the truth outs, reality makes itself known, the right thing does itself. 

Thus, it struck me just now as I sat, letting go of hurtfulness is not something I can do. Holding on to hurtfulness is something I do. And so if I were truly to practise non-doing, hurtfulness might already have been let go of. 

Evidently, however, there are levels and levels of non-doing, and levels and levels of letting go. I know of no words that clarify the principle of non-doing more concisely and clearly than Nāgārjuna's words. And when it comes to poetry that encourages us, subliminally, using metaphors, to keep digging deeper and deeper, it might be difficult to beat Aśvaghoṣa. 

For those of us who revere Aśvaghoṣa and Nāgārjuna not only as poets and philosophers, but as buddha-ancestors, as paragons of sitting practice, then, superficial intellectual understanding of non-doing and letting go is no good. We are called upon to demonstrate the proof of the pudding in the eating -- primarily in our manner of accepting and using the self in sitting. 


VOCABULARY
mogham (acc. sg. m.): mfn. vain , fruitless , useless , unsuccessful , unprofitable; left , abandoned ; idle ; ind. in vain , uselessly , without cause
śramam (acc. sg.): m. fatigue ; exertion , labour , toil , exercise , effort either bodily or mental , hard work of any kind
na: not
ārhasi = 2nd pers. sg. arh: to ought
māra (voc. sg.): Māra!
kartum = inf. kṛ: to do

hiṁsrātmatām (acc. sg.): f. malevolence Bcar.
hiṁsra: mfn. injurious , mischievous , hurtful , destructive , murderous , cruel , fierce , savage ; n. cruelty
ātmatā: f. essence , nature
utsṛja = 2nd pers. sg. imperative ut- √ sṛj : to let loose, let go ; to lay aside ; to quit, leave off
gaccha = 2nd pers. sg. imperative gam: to go, to enter into
śarma (acc. sg.): n. shelter ; Joy , bliss , comfort , delight , happiness

na: not
eṣaḥ (nom. sg. m.): this man
tvayā (inst. sg.): by you
kampayitum = inf. causative kamp: to cause or make to tremble , shake
hi: for

śakyaḥ (nom. sg. m.): to be able
mahā-giriḥ (nom. sg. m.): the mighty mountain
meruḥ (nom. sg.): m. Meru
iva: like
anilena (inst. sg.): m. air or wind

當捨恚害心 寂靜默然住
汝不能口氣 吹動須彌山 




Wednesday, January 28, 2015

BUDDHACARITA 13.56: A Non-Doing Being Booms


¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−   Upajāti (Vāṇī)
bhūtaṁ tataḥ kiṁ cid adśya-rūpaṁ viśiṣṭa-bhūtaṁ gagana-stham eva |
¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
dṣṭvarṣaye drugdham a-vaira-ruṣṭaṁ māraṁ babhāṣe mahatā svareṇa || 13.56


13.56
Then a certain being,
being of great distinction

But having no discernible form,
just hanging there in the emptiness,

Saw Māra seeking to do the seer harm and,
without vengefulness or fury,

Boomed at Māra in a mighty voice:


COMMENT:
In the 1st pāda of today's verse, as I read it, the truth of non-doing is suggested by the description of this being of distinction as adṛśya-rūpam, which ostensibly means “invisible” but which below the surface might be intended to mean “without any [interest in] visible form.” So not like a Japanese temple priest when, for example, he is called upon to put on a good show for a funeral ceremony. More like some hermit we have never heard of just sitting in some remote location, forgetting himself as he watches the trees change colour with the seasons.

The same truth of non-doing is suggested in the 2nd pāda of today's verse, as I read it, by gagana-stham eva, which is repeated from BC13.40:
One who was different put above himself a blazing mass of straw, as high as the mountains' peaks; / As soon as he released it, it just hung there in the emptiness, then shattered, at his suggestion, into a hundred pieces.//

For anybody interested in the connection between non-doing and vocal resonance (or a booming voice), see, for example, FM Alexander's book The Use of the Self.

When it comes to using the voice, non-doing does not necessarily mean not speaking. Non-doing might mean getting maximun resonant sound from minimum physical effort -- in which case the ability to listen might be primary. 



A non-doing voice, then, is one in which there is an absence of superfluous effort, or an absence of noise. 

Similarly, when it comes to accepting and using the self in sitting, non-doing does not necessarily mean not sitting. Non-doing might mean not interfering, in such a way that sitting tends in the direction of simplicity. Non-doing might mean sitting in such a way that noise is minimized and the right thing is simply allowed to do itself.  I think this is what Nāgārjuna meant by jñānasyāsyaiva bhāvana, the allowing-into-being of just this act of knowing...

saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ |
avidvān kārakas tasmān na vidvāṁs tattva-darśanāt ||MMK26.10
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra
Thus does the ignorant one do.
The ignorant one therefore is the doer;
The wise one is not, because of reality making itself known.

avidyāyāṁ niruddhāyāṁ saṁskārāṇām asaṁbhavaḥ |
avidyāyā nirodhas tu jñānasyāsyaiva bhāvanāt ||MMK26.11
In the ceasing of ignorance,
There is the non-coming-into-being of doings.
The cessation of ignorance, however,
Is because of the allowing-into-being of just this act of knowing.

My Zen teacher seemed to understand all this very well. The way he explained it, the point is simply to sit so that the autonomic nervous system can do its work of returning us to our original state of natural balance. 

Then, with ineffable stupidity, he proved that he hadn't really understood the principle of non-doing at all, by teaching his students to pull in the chin -- just a little,  you understand -- in order to keep the neck bones straight vertically. 

So not doing, in the context of sitting-zen, means for me precisely NOT doing the very things that my Zen teacher taught me to do. 

He has not been the only Zen teacher in Japan, by any means, in recent years, who got everything upside down, in the matter of doing, not doing, and non-doing. But he is the one whose teaching I made no little effort to get to know.


VOCABULARY
bhūtam (nom. sg.): n. a being
tataḥ: then
kiṁ cid (nom. sg. n.): a certain
adṛśya-rūpam (nom. sg. n.): of invisible shape/form

viśiṣṭa-bhūtam (nom. sg. n.): (ifc.) being or being like anything ; n. a being
viśiṣṭa: mfn. distinguished , distinct , particular , peculiar ; pre-eminent , excellent
gagana-stham (nom. sg. n.): standing in the sky
gagana: n. the atmosphere , sky , firmament
stha: (only ifc.) standing , staying , abiding , being situated in , existing or being in or on or among
eva: (emphatic)

dṛṣṭvā = abs. dṛś: to see
rṣaye (dat. sg.): m. seer
drugdham (acc. sg. n.): mfn. (past. part. druh) one who has tried to harm , hurtful , malicious ; n. offence , misdeed
druh: to hurt , seek to harm , be hostile to
a-vaira-ruṣṭam (acc. sg. n.): not being hostile or angry
a-: (negative prefix)
vaira: mfn. hostile , inimical , revengeful
ruṣṭa = ruṣita: mfn. injured , offended , irritated , furious , angry

māram (acc. sg.): m. Māra
babhāṣe = 3rd pers. sg. perf. bhāṣ: to speak, say
mahatā (inst. sg.): big, great
svareṇa (inst. sg.): voice

空中負多神 隱身出音聲
我見大牟尼 心無怨恨想
衆魔惡毒心 無怨處生怨

癡諸惡魔 徒勞無所爲 

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

BUDDHACARITA 13.55: Māra Does More


¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−   Upajāti (Chāyā)
bhayāvahebhyaḥ pariṣad-gaṇebhyo yathā yathā naiva munir bibhāya |
¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
tathā tathā dharma-bhtāṁ sapatnaḥ śokāc ca roṣāc ca sasāra māraḥ || 13.55

13.55
The less the sage was afraid

Of the fear-inducing mobs assembled there,

The more did Māra, the enemy of upholders of dharma,

Out of sorrow and out of rage, attack.

COMMENT:
EHJ notes that the old Nepalese manuscript's sasāra ("he attacked"; EBC: "he continued his attack") in the 4th pāda is hopeless. The Chinese translation, EHJ asserts further, clearly indicates sasāda (EHJ: "he was cast down"). 

I am not inclined to agree with EHJ on either of these counts.

With sasāda, the translation might be:
The less the sage was afraid of the fear-inducing mobs assembled there, / The more cast down, in his sorrow and rage, was Māra, the enemy of upholders of dharma. //

In the context, however, and especially looking ahead to tomorrow's verse, a verb seems to be called for which expresses repeated active trying rather than emotional negativity. So I prefer sasāra ("he attacked") to sasāda  ("he was cast down").

And the Chinese translation seems to me to offer no clue either way.

So, again, I prefer sasāra to sasāda. And the point might be that the demon-king Māra is a typical doer, a paragon of dopey doing. He is a typical doer in that the less his doing works, the more he is inclined to do.
saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the dopey one do.

Contrast the wisdom in Marjory Barlow's teaching aphorism, “When successful, do less!”

saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the dopey one do.
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the ignorant one do.

The reason I keep coming back to this sentence of Nāgārjnuna is that I have a sense, as touched on yesterday, that my whole life has been for the purpose of translating this one sentence. Rugby, karate-do, sitting-zen, and Alexander work, have all been an arrow pointing to this one sentence. 

Rugby tends to involve a lot of heavy lifting, especially in the forwards, but it also has its non-doing aspect, for example in not retaliating -- or at least, waiting for an opportune moment to retaliate within the laws of the game (or, failing that, to retaliate when the referee is not watching!). 

Karate-do, certainly compared with gentler ways such as aikido and tai-chi, also tends to involve a lot of physical effort, but in karate maybe more than in rugby the principle of non-doing is consciously to the fore. In tournament fighting, especially, waiting for a chance to counter-punch gave me my first real taste of the principle that I would come to study in Alexander work as "conscious inhibition." But also in practice of kata (traditional forms), karate practitioners talk of a point in which you don't do the kata, but the kata does you. And here might be the essence of Zen in the martial arts. 

In both sitting-zen and Alexander work, the very essence of the practice is NOT TO DO. But in sitting-zen as it has been taught in Japan in recent years, a lot of unnecessary doing has crept in. 

Thus, when my Zen teacher opined, "If AT is the same as Buddhism, it is not necessary for me to study it; and if AT is different from Buddhism, I don't have any interest in studying it," that was just my Zen teacher's ignorance expressing itself. On that point, he was dead wrong. My Zen teacher ought to have studied in more detail what Alexander's teaching makes clear -- that the whole idea of "correct sitting posture" achieved by doing this, that, and the other, is sheer ignorance. 

saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the dopey one do.

The reason I keep coming back to this sentence of Nāgārjuna, again, is that I have a sense that my whole life has been for the purpose of translating this sentence. Studying at school not only the truths of mathematics and the fallacies of classical economics, but studying also French, Spanish, and Latin; and then translating Shobogenzo from Japanese to English; and more recently translating Aśvaghoṣa's epic poems from Sanskrit to English, have all been an arrow pointing to these 16-syllables of Nāgārjuna's verse. 

saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the dopey one do.

The essence of the Buddha's teaching of sitting-meditation is simply NOT TO DO. 

As is said so often in karate training, mo ichi do. One more time: 

saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ |
avidvān kārakas tasmān na vidvāṁs tattva-darśanāt ||MMK26.10
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra
Thus does the ignorant one do.
The ignorant one therefore is the doer;
The wise one is not, because of reality making itself known.

avidyāyāṁ niruddhāyāṁ saṁskārāṇām asaṁbhavaḥ |
avidyāyā nirodhas tu jñānasyāsyaiva bhāvanāt ||MMK26.11
In the ceasing of ignorance,
There is the non-coming-into-being of doings.
The cessation of ignorance, however,
Is because of the allowing-into-being of just this act of knowing.

tasya tasya nirodhena tat-tan nābhipravartate |
duḥkha-skandhaḥ kevalo 'yam evaṁ samyaṅ nirudhyate ||MMK26.12
By the destruction of each 
[of the 12 links beginning with ignorance and doings],
Each is discontinued.
This whole edifice of suffering
Is thus well and truly demolished.


VOCABULARY
bhayāvahebhyaḥ (abl. pl. m.): mfn. bringing fear or danger , formidable , fearful
bhaya: n. fear , alarm, dread, apprehension
bhayāvaha: mfn. bringing fear or danger , formidable , fearful
āvaha: mfn. bringing , bringing to pass , producing
pariṣad-gaṇebhyaḥ (abl. pl. m.): the assembled multitudes
pariṣad: f. an assembly , meeting , group , circle
pari-√sad: to sit around
gaṇa: m. a flock , troop , multitude

yathā yathā: ind. in whatever manner
na: not
eva: (emphatic)
muniḥ (nom. sg.): m. the sage
bibhāya = 3rd pers. sg. perf. bhī: to fear , be afraid

tathā tathā: ind. in that manner
dharma-bhṛtām (gen. pl.): m. " law-supporter " , N. of princes and other men
sapatnaḥ (nom. sg.): m. (fr. sa-patnī, rival mistress) a rival , adversary , enemy

śokāt (abl. sg.): n. sorrow, grief
ca: and
roṣāt (abl. sg.) m. anger , rage , wrath , passion , fury
ca: and
sasāra = 3rd pers. sg. perf. sṛ: to run , flow , speed , glide , move , go (with vā́jam , or ājim , " to run a race " i.e. " exert one's self "); to blow (as wind); to run after , pursue (acc.) ; to go against , attack , assail
sasāda [EHJ] = 3rd pers. sg. perf. sad: to sit down (esp. at a sacrifice) ; to sink down , sink into despondency or distress , become faint or wearied or dejected or low-spirited , despond , despair , pine or waste away , perish
māraḥ (nom. sg.): m. Māra

如是等魔衆 種種醜類身
作種種惡聲 欲恐怖菩薩

不能動一毛 諸魔悉憂慼 


[Roughly summarizes verses 50 - 55] 

Monday, January 26, 2015

BUDDHACARITA 13.54: Not Wobbling, Not Doing


¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−   Upajāti (Rāmā)
teṣāṁ praṇādais tu tathā-vidhais taiḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣv api kampiteṣu |
¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
munir na tatrāsa na saṁcukoca ravair garutmān iva vāyasānām || 13.54

13.54
But even as those individuals,
by such sonorous expressions of themselves,

Were causing all beings to tremble,

The sage did not wobble, and did not make himself small,

Any more than would Garuda, at the cawing of crows.

COMMENT:
The ostensible meaning of today's verse is once again conveyed by EHJ's translation:
But although all beings shivered at such howls of theirs, the sage, like Garuda at the noise of crows, neither trembled nor quailed.

The irony might be, again, that the sonorous roars Aśvaghoṣa had in mind were the vocal teachings of buddhas, alerting living beings to the truth of suffering.

So why did the sage himself not waver or wobble (na tatrāsa; EHJ: neither trembled); and how did he not make himself small (na saṁcukoca; EHJ: nor qualied)?

If we follow the ostensible meaning, the answer is simple: whereas all other beings were afraid of the howls of aforementioned beasties, the sage was not afraid.

In the hidden meaning, when individual buddhas give voice to the truth of suffering, all beings are stimulated to react unconsciously, except for the bodhisattva who remains single-mindedly devoted to just sitting. In other words, he or she, in just sitting, DOES NOT DO.

All beings are stimulated to react unconsciously because, in Nāgārjuna's words, “The doings which are the root of saṁsāra, thus does the dopey one do.”

The dopey one therefore is the doer. The bodhisattva who just sits is not the doer, because he is the one who allows the right thing to do itself.

This is how, below the surface, I understand na saṁcukoca in the 3rd pāda of today's verse.

This na saṁcukoca (he did not make himself small) contrasts with the saṁcukucur of BC13.52 (they made themselves small). Both verbs are from the root saṁ-√kuc which means to contract, to shrink or to close (as a flower)

In 13.52 I translated saṁcukucur as “made themselves small” and read it as suggesting, below the surface, the opposite of being puffed up with arrogance, or bigging oneself up. But in today's verse the sage na saṁcukoca, DID NOT make himself small.

Ostensibly the contrast is that those untrue beings contracted into themselves when they cowered in fear, whereas the sage was not afraid. But if the real meaning is that those true beings were modest in their attitude, thus making themselves small, in what sense did the sage NOT make himself small?

And the answer that presents itself, having asked this question, is that the sage DID NOT DO anything to make himself small. Equally he DID NOT DO anything to make himself big. He rather allowed a big bamboo to be a big bamboo and left a small bamboo to be a small bamboo.

In that case, what is negated in na saṁcukoca is the idea that I am here to do something. What is negated, in that case, is not the fearful reaction, but the idea of doing something.

The point is that when I am in a state of trembling, I cannot intervene directly to stop the trembling. But insofar as the trembling is the manifestation of the will to do something, I might be able to stop the problem at source by giving up all idea of doing anything. This, as I understand it, is the wisdom of FM Alexander's principle of indirectness. 


When I was at primary school, I was precocious at solving problems. So deep down I developed a certain confidence in my problem-solving ability. Then when I was aged ten, I skipped a year of primary school and passed an exam to go to King Edwards School Birmingham, which was full of people who were much better at solving problems than I was.

Recently I came in passing on the name of an Oxford economics professor named Paul Klemperer. Recognizing the unusual name from school, I checked online and sure enough the dates tallied with the Paul Klemperer I knew from school:

Cambridge University, BA in Engineering 1975-78,
1st Class Honours with Distinction (1st of 240 graduating Engineers).
Stanford University, MBA 1980-82,
Top Student Award (1st of 285 graduating students)

So relative to that kind of superlative brain-box at King Edwards School, I no longer felt so precocious at problem-solving.

Especially in Maths in the first year at King Edwards, this came as one hell of a shock. My confidence took a hell of a battering. Suddenly I had been thrust into an unfamiliar situation of not being top of the class, and being asked by teachers questions that I did not know how to solve. In one maths lesson I burst into tears, which was embarrassing to say the least.

At one stroke, my strength seemed to have been taken away, and my underlying emotional weakness revealed.

As my secondary school career progressed, I manned up somewhat and found chances to shine on the rugby pitch, if not in the classroom. I ended up going not to Cambridge but to Sheffield University, and I didn't shine academically there, either. I put more energy into karate training than into academic study. And thus I ended up, a few months after graduating, in Japan, with the idea of finding a teacher who might teach me Zen and the martial arts.

When I met Gudo Nishijima in June of 1982, he sort of re-kindled my confidence in my problem-solving ability. “You have a very excellent mind for philosophical problems,” he told me. And underlying emotional weakness, evidently, was a problem that could be solved simply by the non-intellectual task of sitting with the spine kept straight vertically. 

If only it really were so simple. 

Gudo Nishijima seemed to me to have the answers to all questions. Everything seemed to make perfect sense... except something did not quite add up.

Setting aside any nagging doubts, we joined forces to make the first full translation of Shobogenzo from Japanese into English. This was a mammoth undertaking initiated, guided and mainly financed by him, but in which the donkey work was mainly done by me. It was a partnership. I have never said anything else. For better or for worse, it was a joint effort. It was incredibly sad that my teacher, in his senility, would come to describe it after the event as “my personal job” and to encourage various of his Dharma-heirs who did not have their own eyes to treat the Nishijima-Cross Shobogenzo translation as if it was the work of Gudo Nishijima and not me. Brad Warner actually stated as much in an email that was circulated among Gudo's Dharma-heirs. I wasn't on that particular list. But I heard from somebody who was on the list Gudo's reply to Brad: “Thank you for your beautiful words.”

After this Brad back-tracked, realizing that he had read the situation wrongly. But the exchange was symptomatic, as I saw it, of wrongness emanating from Gudo. In other words, from where I sat, quite apart from all the garbage that tends to follow in senility's wake, I was aware that it was part of something in Gudo's teaching that had never quite added up. 

This past year, 2014, was the year in which, on one level, I sort of arrived at the point where 12 x 12 finally, at least to  my own satisfaction, equalled 144. And the key – ironically enough, since Gudo had been encouraging me for many years to study Nāgārjuna – was Nāgārjuna's phrase

saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the dopey do.

In my “Notes on the Translation” first published in February 1994 I discussed the meaning of 無為 (Chinese: wu-wei; Japanese: MU-I). In the opening sentence of Shobogenzo chap. 1, Bendowa, Master Dogen describes sitting-zen, as transmitted by the buddhas, as 無為. Gudo Nishijima's translation of 無為 was “natural,” and for him “natural” meant in the state of natural balance of the autonomic nervous system. To go back to this natural state, nothing was necessary but just to sit, keeping the spine straight vertically. 

It was all patenly true. And yet something did not add up. On some level, I knew that I had been presented with a problem that I had not solved, either verbally or emotionally. 

For a start 無為 is a negative, meaning “without or “free of .” Free of what, exactly?

From the work of scholars like William Soothill, we knew that 無為 represented the Sanskrit a-saṁskṛta, given in the Monier-Williams dictonary as not prepared ; not consecrated; unadorned ; unpolished , rude (as speech).

What I did not know at that time, was that saṁskṛta is the past participle of saṁ-s-√kṛ, from which root is also derived the word saṁskāra:
(pl. , with Buddhists) a mental conformation or creation of the mind (such as that of the external world , regarded by it as real , though actually non-existent , and forming the second link in the twelvefold chain of causation or the fourth of the 5 skandhas) [MW]

Now in Nāgārjuna's sentence which somehow seemed, some time in the summer of 2014, to cause a light-bulb to start glimmering, saṁ-s-√kṛ is used in the verb saṁskaroti, in connection with the object saṁskārān. Hence:

saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ

In some strange way, it was the desire to find an elegant translation of these words that caused the light bulb to start flickering. In other words, I hit upon the translation first, then the meaning hit me. 

If we follow MW:
The mental conformations that are the root of saṁsāra, the ignorant one thus mentally conforms.

At some point in the process I emailed Ānandajoti Bhikkhu and asked him whether, on the basis of his deep knowledge of the twelve links as they recur in the Pali Suttas, he could permit “doings” as a translation of saṁskārā. His response was not very encouraging, but he did not seem to dismiss “doings” as being totally without merit as a translation of the 2nd in the 12 links.

Then, at some point, the translation seemed to do itself.
saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the ignorant one do.

It was the nearest I shall ever get to a moment like Einstein realizing that e = mc2.

Once the translation had done itself, I wondered how it could have taken me so long to see it.
saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the ignorant one do.
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the dopey one do.
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the idiot do.

The 2nd link in the 12 links is saṁskārāḥ, doings. Simple as that.
The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the ignorant one do. / The ignorant one therefore is the doer; the wise one is not, because of reality making itself known. //MMK26.10// In the destruction of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings./ The destruction of ignorance, however, is because of the allowing-into-being of just this act of knowing.//MMK26.11// By the destruction of this one and that one, this one and that one are discontinued. / This whole edifice of suffering is thus well and truly demolished.//MMK26.12//

This is not the teaching of causality. It does not belong to a doctrine of “dependent arising.” It belongs to the four noble truths. It is the practical teaching of cessation, completely springing up by going back. 

It is the teaching of Nāgārjuna and equally of Aśvaghoṣa.

The big difference between Aśvaghoṣa and Nāgārjuna is that Aśvaghoṣa teaches primarily by metaphor, whereas in Nāgārjuna's MMK metaphor seems conspicuous by its absence.

In today's verse, then, Aśvaghoṣa does not describe the bodhisattva's sitting as asaṁskṛta. This meaning is hidden behind Aśvaghoṣa's description of the bodhisattva na saṁcukoca, not making himself small.

But the real point, as I have endeavored to clarify above, is that when the bodhisattva just sat under the bodhi tree, his sitting was asaṁskṛta, not done, and was 無為, free of doing.

This is my right answer, from which I will never wobble. Quad Erat Fucking Demonstrandum.


When it comes to helping others to work this answer out for themselves, however, I am not quite sure yet, after finishing work on BC Canto 14, what my next step might be.

But I shall continue to err on the side of making myself scarce, knowing that, at the emotional level, I have never overcome the kind of weakness that caused my ten-year-old self to burst into tears in the maths class. At that level, there has been no right answer -- except the acceptance that emotional difficulties very often have vestibular roots, in which case unconscious attempts to keep the spine straight vertically turn into a vain and fruitless effort to stop doing by doing. 

While standing on the platform of a train station in Tokyo sometime in the mid-1980s, Gudo Nishijima said to me, "As translator of Shobogenzo, you can become very famous!" With what kind of intuition I don't know, and not fully understanding my own answer, I told him back something along the lines of, "But when that happens I won't be around." I wasn't picturing myself as being dead already.  I was rather picturing myself as sitting in seclusion in some forest somewhere. I do remember that my teacher seemed very pleased with my reply.  He often seemed to have very good intuition about things, even though, when it came to Nāgārjuna's saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ, he was very much the dopey one. 


VOCABULARY
teṣām (gen. pl. m.): of them
praṇādaiḥ (inst. pl.): m. a loud sound or noise (esp. expressive of approbation or delight) , shout , cry , roar , yell , neigh &c
tu: but
tathā-vidhaiḥ (inst. pl. m.): mfn. of such a sort or kind , being in such a condition or state , of such qualities

taiḥ (inst. pl. m.): those
sarveṣu (loc. abs.): all
bhūteṣu (loc. abs.): beings
api: even, though
kampiteṣu (loc. abs.): mfn. trembling , shaking ; caused to tremble , shaken , swung
kamp: to tremble , shake

muniḥ (nom. sg.): m. the sage
na: not
tatrāsa = 3rd pers. sg. perf. tras: to tremble , quiver , be afraid of
na: not
saṁcukoca = 3rd pers. sg. perf. saṁ- √ kuñc / √ kuc: to contract , shrink , close (as a flower) ; to contract , compress , absorb , destroy

ravaiḥ (inst. pl.): m. ( √1. ru) a roar , yell , cry , howl; clamour, outcry
garutmān = nom. sg. m. garut-mat: 'winged' ; m. the bird garuḍa
garut: mn. the wing of a bird
iva: like
vāyasānām (gen. pl.): m. (fr. vayas) a bird , (esp.) a large bird , a crow
vayas: n. a bird , any winged animal , the winged tribe (esp. applied to smaller birds)


[No corresponding Chinese translation]