−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti
(Indravajrā)
kaś
cij jvalann arka ivoditaḥ khād aṅgāra-varṣaṁ mahad
utsasarja |
−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
cūrṇāni
cāmīkara-kandarāṇāṁ
kalpātyaye merur iva pradīptaḥ || 13.41
13.41
One of them, burning brightly as the
risen sun,
Unloosed from the sky a great shower of
embers,
Like blazing Meru at the end of a kalpa
Spewing clouds of ash out of golden
vents.
COMMENT:
The eruption of Mount Meru at the end
of a kalpa sounds like the ultimate climactic event. In fact,
however, today's verse as I read it is unusual in having its
resolution not in its own 4th pāda, with Meru's
explosion, but rather in the 4th pāda of tomorrow's
verse.
The effect is to mark a transition into
a new phase. Up to here, by the sheer act of sitting, the bodhisattva
has stopped the angry monsters in Māra's army in their tracks,
causing them to become immobile (13.37), to fall down (13.38), to
evaporate (13.39), and to explode into a hundred bits (13.40). In
other words, by sitting in the state of zero, the bodhisattva has
neutralized all attacks.
In the section that is beginning now,
which seems to comprise the five verses from here to BC13.45, the
principle is not so much neutralization as transformation.
And the principle of transforming
negativity into positivity is all very well. But when we look for
corroborating examples they are not always easy to find.
Contrary
examples of professed positivity turning into negativity spring more
easily to my mind. I think for example of the Altamont Festival of
6th December 1969 which, as this article records, brought
the decade of Love to a violent end.
But one good example that does spring to
mind is Nelson Mandela's taking an interest in rugby, as a skillful
means of befriending, in the first instance, a hostile
Afrikaans-speaking jailer who was a big fan of the game. Mandela
thereby procured the hotplate he wanted to warm up his prison food,
and he also came to realize that he could use rugby as a tool more broadly in South Africa to defuse distrust and transform it into friendship.
VOCABULARY
kaś
cit (nom. sg. m.): somebody
jvalan
= nom. sg. m. pres. part. jval: to burn brightly , blaze , glow ,
shine
arkaḥ
(nom. sg.): m. the sun
iva:
like
ud-itaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. risen , ascended
khāt
(abl. sg.): n. vacuity , empty space , air , ether , sky
aṅgāra-varṣam
(nom. sg. n.): a shower of coals
aṅgāra:
m. charcoal , either heated or not heated
mahat
(nom. sg. n.): mfn. great, large, vast
utsasarja
= 3rd pers. sg. perf. ut- √ sṛj: to let loose ; to
pour out , emit , send forth
cūrṇāni
(acc. pl.): n. powder flour , aromatic powder , pounded sandal ;
chalk, lime
cūrṇ:
to reduce to powder or flour , pulverise , grind , pound , crush ,
bruise
cāmīkara-kandarāṇām
(gen. pl. f.): golden rifts
cāmīkara:
n. gold
kandarā:
f. " great cliff " , an artificial or natural cave , glen ,
defile , valley
kalpātyaye
(loc. sg.): m. the end of a kalpa, Bcar.
aty-aya:
m. (fr. √ i with ati) , passing , lapse , passage ; passing away ,
perishing , death
meruḥ
(nom. sg.): m. N. of a fabulous mountain (regarded as the Olympus of
Hindu mythology
iva:
like
pradīptaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. kindled , inflamed , burning , shining ; excited
, stimulated
[No
corresponding Chinese translation]
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