BUDDHACARITA 14.77: Links 3, 4, 5, 6 - With the Grain

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan:

| de ltar rnam par śes pa las | | miṅ gzugs ’byuṅ ba mkhyen gyur pa |

| de nas dbaṅ po ’byuṅ ’gyur źiṅ | | dbaṅ po las byuṅ reg pa’o |  

de ltar: thus

rnam par shes pa: consciousness

las: from

ming gzugs: name and form

byung: arise

mkhyen: know

de nas: from that

dbang po: sense faculty (根; indriya)

byung: arise

dbang po: sense faculty

las: from

byung: arise

reg: contact (觸; sparśa)

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

77. Thus he understood that from consciousness arises name-and-form, from the latter originate the senses and from the senses arises contact.

Revised:

77. Thus he understood that from divided consciousness arises psycho-physicality, from which originate senses, and from senses arises contact.

Chinese:

名色生諸根 諸根生於觸

name and thing produce the roots (ayatanas). The roots engender contact; (SB)

...name-and-form produces the faculties. The faculties produce contact, (CW)

COMMENT:

In today's verse the circle (going both with and against the grain) formed by divided consciousness (link 3) and psycho-physicality (4) is followed, going with the grain, by six senses (5) and contact (6).

This is as per chapter 26 of Nāgārjuna's MMK:

The doings that lead to yet further becoming, a person enclosed in ignorance, in the three ways, does do – and by these actions, to a new sphere in the cycle of going, does go. Divided knowing, into the new sphere of going, does set, having doings as its causal grounds. And so with the setting in of this divided consciousness, psycho-physicality is instilled. 

There again: With the instilling of psycho-physicality, there is the coming about of six senses. Six senses having arrived, there occurs contact. Depending on eye, on form, and on the bringing of the two together – depending in other words on psycho-physicality – divided consciousness occurs. 

When the threesome of form, consciousness and eye are combined, that is contact; and from that contact there occurs feeling. With feeling as its causal grounds, there is thirsting – because the object of feeling is thirsted after. While thirsting is going on, taking hold takes hold in the four ways. While taking hold is taking hold, the becoming arises of the taker – because becoming, if it were free of taking hold, would be liberated and would not become becoming. Five aggregates, again, are becoming itself. Out of the becoming arises birth. The suffering and suchlike of ageing and death – sorrows, accompanied by bewailing and complaining; downheartedness, troubles – all this arises out of birth. In this way there is the coming into being of this whole aggregate of suffering.  

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 being realized. In the clearing away of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. The clearing away of ignorance, however, is because of the bringing-into-being of just this act of knowing. By the stopping of this one and that one, this one and that one no longer advance. This whole aggregate of suffering is brought in this way to a complete full stop .

BUDDHACARITA 14.76: The Self-Reinforcing Circle (ctd.)

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan:

| ji ltar lcags ni ’bar ba yis | | rtswa rnams ’bar bar byed na yaṅ |

| ’bar ba de yis de gduṅ ste | | de bźin phan tshun rgyu ñid do |

ji ltar: just as (yathā)

lcags: iron

rtswa: grass

rnams: [plural]

ba de: tree

gdung: torment; be tormented; be scorched;

de bzhin: so (tathā)

phan tshun rgyu: mutual cause

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

76. Just as redhot iron causes grass to blaze and as blazing grass makes iron redhot, of such a kind is their mutual causality.

COMMENT:

EHJ notes that the Chinese translation omits this verse. It might be more accurate to say that in the Chinese translation of verses BC14.75-77 are conflated into 25 (5 lines of 5) Chinese characters. The principle of mutual causality conveyed in today's verse, the Chinese translator must have thought, had already been conveyed in the analogy of the bloke and the coracle.

The point, in any case, is that here in saṁsāra we are confronted with a vicious circle whereby divided consciousness and mind-body disunity reinforce each other.

In that situation, our instinct is to ask what to do about it. 

This is our instinct because this attitude – what shall I do to solve this problem? – represents evolutionary progress that is recapitulated in our reflex development.

The most primitive of all responses to a stimulus is not to do anything other than simply to withdraw, in fear paralysis, like an amoeba. Fear paralysis is opposed by the active panic of the Moro reflex, which is at the root of much unconscious doing. The Moro reflex, in turn, as a symmetrical pattern, is opposed by the Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex, as vigorously demonstrated by guardians standing at temple gates in China and Japan. These guys, looking like body-builders on steroids, seem to be the very embodiment of doing. 

And so it goes on, with four vestibular reflexes, as I have described before on this blog, acting like four cornerstones for all of the doings which we, in our ignorance, go on developing and doing.

We have evolved to do. 

We have evolved to do. Our doings arise from instinct and from ignorance. As such, they cannot be abandoned by purely physical means.

In terms of today's verse, the mutual causality between glowing iron and burning grass cannot be interrupted by the addition of more and more dry straw.

How can the vicious circle of divided consciousness and mind-body disunity be broken?

Not always by purely physical means.

Hence Dogen said:

Physically sit in full lotus. 

Mentally sit in full lotus.
Sit in full lotus as dropping off of body and mind.

And this, I venture to submit, is what Nāgārjuna meant by “just this act of knowing.”

I've got nothing against working out in the gym. For the past three weeks I have been doing a lot of digging in the garden, and enjoying every moment of it. 

But real understanding of the Buddha's teaching also requires the right kind of mental effort. That's what I understood from Alexander work that I had not understood from Zen in Japan. 

Yesterday I received an email from a person who for many years has experienced so-called “sesshins." Sesshin  is not a word that Dogen ever used to mean a sitting retreat, but people today, even though they are not Japanese, like to use this stupid Japanese word to mean something along the lines of  "an intensive retreat for concentrated doing." 

The person who emailed me purported to agree with me about the desirability of progressively doing less in Zazen. But from where I sit his conceptions are all variations on the theme of doing – just as mine were before I came to the teaching of FM Alexander.

What I would like to say to him -- and all Zen practitioners like him whose doings in Zazen are born of ignorance -- is this:

Doings arise out of ignorance. This is the Buddha's teaching. We cannot abandon doings by purely physical means.

For me, there has to be some sense of Thy will be done – Thy, in my case, as I write with the scent of apple blossom still in my nostrils, being nothing but benevolent nature.

Latest amendments to the translation of MMK chapter 26 have been made for ease of reading aloud: 

The doings that lead to yet further becoming, a person enclosed in ignorance, in three ways, does do – and by these actions, to a new sphere in the cycle of going, does go. Divided knowing, into the new sphere of going, does set, having doings as its causal grounds. And so with the setting in of this divided consciousness, psycho-physicality is instilled. 

There again: With the instilling of psycho-physicality, there is the coming about of six senses. Six senses having arrived, there occurs contact. Depending on eye, form, and the bringing of the two together – depending in other words on psycho-physicality – divided consciousness occurs.

When the threesome of form, consciousness and eye are combined, that is contact; and from that contact there occurs feeling. With feeling as its causal grounds, there is thirsting – because the object of feeling is thirsted after. While thirsting is going on, taking hold takes hold in the four ways. While taking hold is taking hold, the becoming arises of the taker – because becoming, if it were free of taking hold, would be liberated and would not become becoming. Five aggregates, again, are becoming itself. Out of the becoming arises birth. The suffering and suchlike of ageing and death – sorrows, accompanied by lamenting; downheartedness, troubles – all this arises out of birth. In this way there is the coming into being of this whole aggregate of suffering. 

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 being realized. In the clearing away of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. The clearing away of ignorance, however, is because of the bringing-into-being of just this act of knowing. By the stopping of this one and that one, this one and that one no longer advance. This whole aggregate of suffering is brought in this way to a complete full stop .

BUDDHACARITA 14.75: The Coracle and the Bloke Who Carries It

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan:

| ji ltar gru yis mi ’dren źiṅ || de bźin rnam par śes pa daṅ | 

| miṅ gzugs phan tshun gyi rgyu’o | 

ji ltar: just as (yathā)

gru: gru: boat, ship

yis: [instrumental]

mi: person

de bzhin: so (tathā)

rnam par shes pa: consciousness

ming gzugs: name and form (nāma-rūpa)

phan tshun: mutual

gyi: [genitive particle]

rgyu: cause

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

75. Just as a boat conveys a man.......................，so consciousness and name-and-form are causes of each other.

Revised:

75. Just as the coracle carries the bloke who carries the coracle, so divided consciousness and psycho-physicality are causes of each other.

Chinese:

猶人船倶進 水陸更相運 

如識生名色 

Just as a man and ship advance together, the water and the land mutually involved; thus knowledge brings forth name and thing; (SB)

Just as a man and his boat advance together, there is mutual transportation on water and on dry land. Just as consciousness produces name-and-form... (CW)

COMMENT:

One pāda of Aśvaghoṣa's original is missing from the Tibetan translation, as indicated by EHJ's use of dots in his translation into English. EHJ notes that “one would expect to be told that a man propels a boat, as the boat conveys the man.” 

The Chinese translation, however, speaks of carrying each other (相運) on water (水) and land (陸). 

EHJ noted this sense in the Chinese but, this sense being contrary to his expectations, he evidently didn't trust it. When I think of Welshmen going down to the river to catch salmon, however, with coracles on their back, the analogy of boat carrying man who carries boat makes good sense to me, as an example of the kind of circularity under discussion – the chicken and egg being the more usual example in English – and so I have revised EHJ's translation accordingly.

BUDDHACARITA 14.74: Divided Consciousness & Psycho-Physicality – Let's Go Round Again

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan: 

| rnam par śes pa’i rkyen las ni | | miṅ daṅ gzugs la brten nas ni |

| slar yaṅ rnam par śes pa skye | |

rnam par shes: consciousness (識)

rkyen: condition; cause; minor cause; factor; reason (pratyaya)

ming dang gzugs: name and form (名色; nāma-rūpa)

brten: supported; in dependence on; leans on; based upon;

la brten nas: in dependence upon

slar yang: again, further (api punar)

rnam par shes pa: consciousness

skye: arising, production (生)

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

74. Consciousness is the causal condition from which name-and-form is produced. Name-and-form again is the support on which consciousness is based.

Revised:

74. Divided consciousness is the causal grounds from which arises psycho-physicality. Psycho-physicality, again, is the basis of divided consciousness.

Chinese:

縁識生名色 縁名色生識

by some concurrent cause knowledge engenders name and thing, whilst by some other cause concurrent, name and thing engender knowledge; (SB)

Because of consciousness, one produces name-and-form; and because of name-and-form, one produces consciousness.(CW)

COMMENT:

One more time, with feeling...

punar-bhavāya saṁskārān avidyā-nivṛtas tridhā |
abhisaṁskurute yāṁs tair gatiṁ gacchati karmabhiḥ ||MMK26.1||
The doings that lead to yet further becoming, the one enclosed in ignorance, in three ways, does do – and by these actions, to a new sphere in the cycle of going, does go.

vijñānaṁ saṁniviśate saṁskāra-pratyayaṁ gatau |
saṁniviṣṭe 'tha vijñāne nāma-rūpaṁ niṣicyate ||2||
Divided knowing, into the new sphere of going, does set, having as its causal grounds the doer's doings. With the setting in, then, of this divided consciousness, psycho-physicality is instilled.

niṣikte nāma-rūpe tu ṣaḍāyatana-saṁbhavaḥ |

ṣaḍāyatanam āgamya saṁsparśaḥ saṁpravartate ||3||
There again: With the instilling of psycho-physicality, there is the coming about of six senses. Six senses having arrived, there occurs contact. 

cakṣuḥ pratītya rūpaṁ ca samanvāhāram eva ca |
nāma-rūpaṁ pratītyaivaṁ vijñānaṁ saṁpravartate ||4||
Depending on eye, form, and the bringing of the two together – depending in other words on psycho-physicality – divided consciousness occurs.

saṁnipātas trayāṇāṁ yo rūpa-vijñāna-cakṣuṣām |
sparśaḥ saḥ tasmāt sparśāc ca vedanā saṁpravartate ||5||
When the threesome of form, consciousness and eye are combined, that is contact; and from that contact there occurs feeling.

vedanā-pratyayā tṛṣṇā vedanārthaṁ hi tṛṣyate |
tṛṣyamāṇa upādānam upādatte catur-vidham ||6||
With feeling as its causal grounds, there is thirsting – because the object of feeling is thirsted after. While thirsting is going on, taking hold takes hold in the four ways.

upādāne sati bhava upādātuḥ pravartate |
syād dhi yady anupādāno mucyeta na bhaved bhavaḥ ||7||
While taking hold is taking hold, the becoming arises of the taker – because becoming, if it were free of taking hold, would be liberated and would not become becoming.

pañca skandhāḥ sa ca bhavaḥ bhavāj jātiḥ pravartate |
jarā-maraṇa-duḥkhādi śokāḥ sa-paridevanāḥ ||8||
Five aggregates, again, are becoming itself. Out of the becoming arises birth. The suffering and suchlike of ageing and death – sorrows, accompanied by lamenting; 

daurmanasyam upāyāsā jāter etat pravartate |
kevalasyaivam etasya duḥkha-skandhasya saṁbhavaḥ ||9||
downheartedness, troubles – all this arises out of birth. In this way there is the coming into being of this whole aggregate of suffering.

saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ |
avidvān kārakas tasmān na vidvāṁs tattva-darśanāt ||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 being realized.

avidyāyāṁ niruddhāyāṁ saṁskārāṇām asaṁbhavaḥ |
avidyāyā nirodhas tu jñānasyāsyaiva bhāvanāt ||11||
In the clearing away of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. The clearing away of ignorance, however, is because of the bringing-into-being of just this act of knowing.

tasya tasya nirodhena tat tan nābhipravartate |
duḥkha-skandhaḥ kevalo 'yam evaṁ samyaṅ nirudhyate ||12||
By the stopping of this one and that one, this one and that one no longer advance. This whole aggregate of suffering is brought in this way to a complete full stop .

The doings that lead to yet further becoming, the one enclosed in ignorance, in three ways, does do – and by these actions, to a new sphere in the cycle of going, does go. Divided knowing, into the new sphere of going, does set, having as its causal grounds the doer's doings. With the setting in, then, of this divided consciousness, psycho-physicality is instilled.

There again: With the instilling of psycho-physicality, there is the coming about of six senses. Six senses having arrived, there occurs contact. Depending on eye, form, and the bringing of the two together – depending in other words on psycho-physicality – divided consciousness occurs.

When the threesome of form, consciousness and eye are combined, that is contact; and from that contact there occurs feeling. With feeling as its causal grounds, there is thirsting – because the object of feeling is thirsted after. While thirsting is going on, taking hold takes hold in the four ways. While taking hold is taking hold, the becoming arises of the taker – because becoming, if it were free of taking hold, would be liberated and would not become becoming. Five aggregates, again, are becoming itself. Out of the becoming arises birth. The suffering and suchlike of ageing and death – sorrows, accompanied by lamenting; downheartedness, troubles – all this arises out of birth. In this way there is the coming into being of this whole aggregate of suffering.

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 being realized. In the clearing away of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. The clearing away of ignorance, however, is because of the bringing-into-being of just this act of knowing. By the stopping of this one and that one, this one and that one no longer advance. This whole aggregate of suffering is brought in this way to a complete full stop .

BUDDHACARITA 14.73: Turning It Over & Over

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan:

| de nas rgyu yi go rims ni | | mkhyen nas de yi blor gyur te |

| sems ni lugs ’byuṅ bskor ba ste | | gźan du lugs las zlog par min | 

de nas: then, from that, therefore

rgyu: cause

yi: [genitive particle]

go rims: proper order

mkhyen nas: having known

blor: mind

sems: think

lugs: system; mode; way ; doctrine, viewpoint ; line of thought

bskor ba: turn round

gzhan du: otherwise

lugs: system; mode; way ; doctrine, viewpoint ; line of thought

zlog pa: reverse, turn back, avert

min: not

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

73. Then after he had understood the order of causality, he thought over it; his mind travelled over the views that he had formed and did not turn aside to other thoughts.

Revised:

73. And so, having understood the order of causality, he thought it over; his mind turned it over this way and that way and did not turn aside to other thoughts.

Chinese:

展轉更無餘

the two are intervolved leaving no remnant; (SB)

Nothing is omitted from such transformation. (CW)

COMMENT:

The mention in the Tibetan of turning over (bskor ba = turn round) without turning away (zlog pa = turn away, avert) seems to suggest devoted consideration of the circular relation between link 3, consciousness, and link 4, psycho-physicality. Perhaps there is a suggestion also of consideration going both with the grain (anulomam) and against the grain (pratilomam).

The sense of wholehearted giving of attention to the matter of causality, or dependent arising, is echoed by the Chinese characters 更無餘 which mean with nothing (無) left over (餘) at all (更).


Meanings of ni-√rudh given in the MW dictionary include to stop, to destroy, to keep away, and to remove. Turning it over and over, however, what effect exactly does the act of knowing have upon ignorance? Does knowing end ignorance, once and for all? Does knowing cause ignorance, for the moment, to cease? Does knowing destroy ignorance? Does knowing nullify ignorance? Is this whole heap of suffering well and truly ended, destroyed, annihilated ? Simply stopped ? 

I think Dogen would say that there should be thousands and tens of thousands of such questions. But there might not be any right answer. Because rightness might never be a destination. Rightness, if there is any such thing, might be a direction of travel... going sometimes with the flow, sometimes against the flow, and sometimes round and round in circles. Or, better, round and round in spirals...

punar-bhavāya saṁskārān avidyā-nivṛtas tridhā |

abhisaṁskurute yāṁs tair gatiṁ gacchati karmabhiḥ ||MMK26.1||

vijñānaṁ saṁniviśate saṁskāra-pratyayaṁ gatau |

saṁniviṣṭe 'tha vijñāne nāma-rūpaṁ niṣicyate ||2||

niṣikte nāma-rūpe tu ṣaḍāyatana-saṁbhavaḥ |

ṣaḍāyatanam āgamya saṁsparśaḥ saṁpravartate ||3||

cakṣuḥ pratītya rūpaṁ ca samanvāhāram eva ca |

nāma-rūpaṁ pratītyaivaṁ vijñānaṁ saṁpravartate ||4||

saṁnipātas trayāṇāṁ yo rūpa-vijñāna-cakṣuṣām |

sparśaḥ saḥ tasmāt sparśāc ca vedanā saṁpravartate ||5||

vedanā-pratyayā tṛṣṇā vedanārthaṁ hi tṛṣyate |

tṛṣyamāṇa upādānam upādatte catur-vidham ||6||

upādāne sati bhava upādātuḥ pravartate |

syād dhi yady anupādāno mucyeta na bhaved bhavaḥ ||7||

pañca skandhāḥ sa ca bhavaḥ bhavāj jātiḥ pravartate |

jarā-maraṇa-duḥkhādi śokāḥ sa-paridevanāḥ ||8||

daurmanasyam upāyāsā jāter etat pravartate |

kevalasyaivam etasya duḥkha-skandhasya saṁbhavaḥ ||9||

saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ |

avidvān kārakas tasmān na vidvāṁs tattva-darśanāt ||10||

avidyāyāṁ niruddhāyāṁ saṁskārāṇām asaṁbhavaḥ |

avidyāyā nirodhas tu jñānasyāsyaiva bhāvanāt ||11||

tasya tasya nirodhena tat tan nābhipravartate |

duḥkha-skandhaḥ kevalo 'yam evaṁ samyaṅ nirudhyate ||12||

The doings that lead to yet further becoming, the one enclosed in ignorance, in three ways, does do; and by these actions he goes to a sphere of existence. Divided consciousness, with doings as its causal grounds, seeps into the sphere of existence. And so, divided consciousness having seeped in, psycho-physicality is instilled. 

Conversely, once psycho-physicality is instilled, there is the coming about of six senses; six senses having arrived, there occurs contact; and – depending upon an eye, upon physical form, and upon the two being brought together – depending thus upon psycho-physicality, there occurs divided consciousness. 

When the threesome of form, consciousness and eye are combined, that is contact; and from that contact there occurs feeling. With feeling as its causal grounds, there is thirsting – because the object of feeling is thirsted after. While thirsting is going on, taking hold takes hold in the four ways. While there is taking hold, the becoming arises of the taker – because becoming, if it were free of taking, would be liberated and would not become becoming. The five aggregates, again, are becoming itself. Out of the becoming arises birth. The suffering and suchlike of aging and death – sorrows accompanied by complaining; downheartedness, troubles – all this arises out of birth. In this way this whole aggregate of suffering comes into being.

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 realizing. In the clearing away of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. The clearing away of ignorance, however, is because of the bringing-into-being of just this act of knowing. By the clearing up of this one and that one, this one and that one no longer advance. This whole aggregate of suffering in this way is well and truly cleared away.

BUDDHACARITA 14.72: Circularity (3<>4)

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan: 

| de nas pa ni | | gaṅ las yin źes bsams par gyur |

| miṅ daṅ gzugs la brten nas de | | de nas de yi skya pha mkhyen | 

de nas: then, next

gang las: whence?

yin shes: to know something to be the situation

bsams pa: consider, think

ming dang gzugs: name and form

la brten nas: dependence

mkhyen: knowing, seeing

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

72. Next he considered, “From what does consciousness come into being?” Then he knew that it is produced by supporting itself on name-and-form.”

Revised:

72. Next he considered, “From what does divided consciousness come into being?” Then he knew that it is produced by supporting itself on pscyho-physicality.”

Chinese:

識還從名色 

Knowledge, in turn, proceeds from name and thing, (SB)

But consciousness comes from name-and-form. (CW)

COMMENT:

The circular reasoning manifested in today's verse will later be mirrored by Nāgārjuna in MMK chapter 26, verses 3 and 4:

punar-bhavāya saṁskārān avidyā-nivṛtas tridhā |

abhisaṁskurute yāṁs tair gatiṁ gacchati karmabhiḥ ||MMK26.1||

vijñānaṁ saṁniviśate saṁskāra-pratyayaṁ gatau |

saṁniviṣṭe 'tha vijñāne nāma-rūpaṁ niṣicyate ||2||

niṣikte nāma-rūpe tu ṣaḍāyatana-saṁbhavaḥ |

ṣaḍāyatanam āgamya saṁsparśaḥ saṁpravartate ||3||

cakṣuḥ pratītya rūpaṁ ca samanvāhāram eva ca |

nāma-rūpaṁ pratītyaivaṁ vijñānaṁ saṁpravartate ||4||

saṁnipātas trayāṇāṁ yo rūpa-vijñāna-cakṣuṣām |

sparśaḥ saḥ tasmāt sparśāc ca vedanā saṁpravartate ||5||

vedanā-pratyayā tṛṣṇā vedanārthaṁ hi tṛṣyate |

tṛṣyamāṇa upādānam upādatte catur-vidham ||6||

upādāne sati bhava upādātuḥ pravartate |

syād dhi yady anupādāno mucyeta na bhaved bhavaḥ ||7||

pañca skandhāḥ sa ca bhavaḥ bhavāj jātiḥ pravartate |

jarā-maraṇa-duḥkhādi śokāḥ sa-paridevanāḥ ||8||

daurmanasyam upāyāsā jāter etat pravartate |

kevalasyaivam etasya duḥkha-skandhasya saṁbhavaḥ ||9||

saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ |

avidvān kārakas tasmān na vidvāṁs tattva-darśanāt ||10||

avidyāyāṁ niruddhāyāṁ saṁskārāṇām asaṁbhavaḥ |

avidyāyā nirodhas tu jñānasyāsyaiva bhāvanāt ||11||

tasya tasya nirodhena tat tan nābhipravartate |

duḥkha-skandhaḥ kevalo 'yam evaṁ samyaṅ nirudhyate ||12||

The doings that lead to yet further becoming, the one enclosed in ignorance, in three ways, does do; and by these actions he goes to a sphere of existence. Divided consciousness, with doings as its causal grounds, seeps into the sphere of existence. And so, divided consciousness having seeped in, psycho-physicality is instilled.

Conversely, once psycho-physicality is instilled, there is the coming about of six senses; six senses having arrived, there occurs contact; and – depending upon an eye, upon physical form, and upon the two being brought together – depending thus upon psycho-physicality, there occurs divided consciousness. 

When the threesome of form, consciousness and eye are combined, that is contact; and from that contact there occurs feeling. With feeling as its causal grounds, there is thirsting – because the object of feeling is thirsted after. While thirsting is going on, taking hold takes hold in the four ways. While there is taking hold, the becoming arises of the taker – because becoming, if it were free of taking, would be liberated and would not become becoming. The five aggregates, again, are becoming itself. Out of the becoming arises birth. The suffering and suchlike of aging and death – sorrows accompanied by complaining; downheartedness, troubles – all this arises out of birth. In this way this whole aggregate of suffering comes into being. 

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 realizing. In the nullification of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. The nullification of ignorance, however, is because of the bringing-into-being of just this act of knowing. By the nullification of this one and that one, this one and that one no longer advance. This whole aggregate of suffering in this way is well and truly annihilated.

Let us review that second paragraph again:

Conversely, once psycho-physicality (4) is instilled, there is the coming about of six senses (5); six senses having arrived, there occurs contact (6); and – depending upon an eye (5), upon physical form (4b), and upon the two being brought together (4) – depending thus upon psycho-physicality (4), there occurs divided consciousness (3).

Divided consciousness (link no. 3) gives rise to psycho-physicality (4), which gives rise to six senses (5), which gives rise to contact (6). This is the standard linear progression, going with the grain. 

But the division in divided consciousness (3) depends upon a separate sense, like the eye (5) which upon meeting with a material physical form (4b), experiences eye-consciousness (3; 4a). Divided consciousness (3) thus depends on something psychological or immaterial (e.g. eye-consciousness; 4a) and something physical or material (e.g. a visible form; 4b). And so in this sense link no. 3 in the chain (divided consciousness) not only gives rise to link 4, but is also dependent on link no. 4 (psycho-physicality) – in just the same way as a chicken not only lays an egg but is originally hatched from an egg.

This circular  logic of chicken and egg is not difficult for us to get our heads around. The difficult connection to make – at least I have found it difficult in memorizing and translating Nāgārjuna's words – is Nāgārjuna's equation of psycho-physicality with separation and bringing together of eye and form. 

None of this is news to practitoners steeped in the Pali suttas, in countries where the 12 links are recited and learned along with ABCs, almost at the mother's knee, going with the grain, against the grain, and round and round in a circle. 

But, after more than 30 years practising sitting-zen as "dropping off of body and mind," this teaching of the circular relation between links 3 and 4 in the 12-fold chain, comes as news to me. So now I am working hard to get my 55-year-old brain around it. 

There is evidently a strange situation in the world today whereby Zen practioners, even having received the Buddha-dharma in a line from Bodhidharma, do not know this most fundamental teaching about body and mind. And at the same time Theravada monks who know this teaching well, though they embody an unbroken monastic tradition going back to the time of the Buddha, lack the one-to-one face-to-face transmission from the Indian patriarchs. 

The Tibetans might be the prime example of practitioners who know well the teaching of dependent arising (albeit not as clearly and accurately preserved in Tibetan translation from Sanskrit as it is in the original Sanskrit) and at the same time who have preserved a one-to-one transmission from the Buddha (though not via Bodhidharma). 

When we are able to go back to Aśvaghoṣa and Nāgārjuna, however, there might be nothing for Tibetans or Theravadins or Zen practitioners to disagree about, in terms of the original teaching and its one-to-one transmission.

BUDDHACARITA 14.71: A Linear Progression, Like Seed Producing Sprout

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan: 

| rnam par śes pa ’das pa na | | miṅ daṅ gzugs ni rab gnas te |

| sa bon bskrun pa rdzogs pa na | | myu gu rnam par ’dzin pa’o |

rnam par shes pa: consciousness

’das pa: past; pass away; go beyond; pastness

'ongs pa [EHJ]: advent, arrival

ming dang gzugs: name and form

ni: [separative particle]

na [Weller]: [accusative, dative, locative particle]

rab gnas: abide; thoroughly abide; highest abode

te: [continuative particle]

[EHJ notes: The translation of the first line is conjectural; for T's nonsensical ḥdas-pa, I put an o over ḥ and read ḥoṅs-pa, and I also retain ni for Weller's amendment na.]

sa bon: seed (種; bīja)

bskrun pa: form, developed

rdzogs pa: complete

myu gu: sprout

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

71. When consciousness arises, name-and-form is produced. When the development of the seed is completed, the sprout assumes a bodily form.

Revised

71. When divided consciousness arises, psycho-physicality is produced. When the development of the seed is completed, the sprout assumes a bodily form.

Chinese:

如種芽葉生

as the seed which germinates and brings forth leaves. (SB) 

just as a seed means the production of the shoot and leaves. (CW)

COMMENT:

Let us review where we are in the overall scheme of things, as with the bodhisattva we step back  from the suffering of aging and death [12] to the root cause of this suffering in ignorance [1].

It was back in BC14.52 that,

After considering [how human beings blindly repeat the cycle of saṁsāra, the bodhisattva] reflected in his mind, “What is it, whose existence causes the approach of old age and death?”

The last twenty verses since then have taken us back from link 12 (suffering of aging and death) to link 3 (divided consciousness). And so far, though the linkage has been an against-the-grain regression rather than a with-the-grain progression, it has been linear – just as there is a linear progression when a seed produces a shoot; and when (as per BC14.69) a shoot produces a leaf and a stalk:

Just as the leaf and the stalk are only said to exist when there is a shoot in existence, so six senses only arise where psycho-physicality has arisen.

But the metaphor of seed producing sprout is like the metaphor egg producing chicken – it lends itself easily to consideration of non-linear or circular progression whereby seed produces sprout, and sprout produces fruit, and fruit produces seed; or whereby egg produces chicken and chicken produces egg.

Thus today's verse marks a temporary end to the linear linkage which has taken us from link 12 (suffering of aging and death) back to link 3 (divided consciousness). For the next five verses we will be required to exercise our grey matter more vigorously than usual as the bodhisattva considers a circular linkage between link 3 (divided consciousness) and link 4 (psycho-physicality). After that the bodhisattva will double back again to link 12.

Finally, like a ram that has drawn back in order to charge, we will speed through the links from 12 to 3 again, and finally break through to link 2 (doings) at the end of BC14.82.

It puts me in mind of the Japanese proverb isogaba maware, which loosely translated means “When you are in a hurry to get somewhere, take the roundabout route.” The corresponding English proverb, I suppose, would be “More haste, less speed.”

So the conclusion is going to have to do with link 2 (doings) and link 1 (ignorance). 

Ironically, however, if we are in a hurry to reach that conclusion, that hurry might be nothing but links 1 & 2 manifesting themselves.

With what result?

śokāḥ sa-paridevanāḥ daurmanasyam upāyāsāḥ
Sorrows, accompanied by loud complaining, downheartedness, troubles.

Thus, even in the traditional listing of the 12 links, which on the face of it seems dry, there might be a hint of ironic humour. 

The greatest irony, or the best example of a joke being on me, might be doggedly to sit for x hours every day believing that oneness of body and mind depends on me doing something to realize it. 

The doings which are the root of the saṁsāra thus does the ignorant one do.

BUDDHACARITA 14.70: Psycho-Physicality Arises Depending on Divided Consciousness (4→3)

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan: 

| miṅ daṅ gzugs ni rgyu gaṅ źes | | de yi de nas gyur de nas |

| de yi skye ba rnam śes su | | ye śes pha rol son pas mkhyen | 

miṅ daṅ gzugs: name and form (名色)

rgyu gang: for what reason

zhes: [quotation particle]

de nas: then

skye ba: produced

rnam shes: [ordinary] consciousness (識; vijñana)

ye shes: wisdom ; cognition, knowledge

pha rol son pa: go beyond

mkhyen: knowing, seeing

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

70. Then the thought occurred to him, “What is the cause of name-and-form? ” Thereon he, who had passed to the further side of knowledge, saw its origin to lie in consciousness.

Revised:

70. Then the thought occurred to him, “What is the cause of psycho-physicality? ” Thereon he, who had passed to the further side of knowledge, knew its origin to lie in divided consciousness.

Chinese: 

名色由識生 

name and thing are born from knowledge (vijñāna), (SB) 

Name-and-form are produced by consciousness, (CW)

COMMENT:

The MW dictionary gives vijñāna as n. the act of distinguishing or discerning , understanding , comprehending , recognizing , intelligence , knowledge …. (with Buddhists) consciousness or thought-faculty (one of the 5 constituent elements or skandhas).

Like the jñāna (knowing, act of knowing) in MMK26.11, vijñāna is an -na neuter action noun, and hence accurately translated in the first instance as the act of [****]ing. MW gives “the act of distinguishing.” In the context of today's verse, distinguishing works well enough:

Q: What is the cause of psycho-physicality? 

A:  Distinguishing. 

In other words:

Q: What is the cause of an individual human being being construed dually as a mind and a body? 

A: Divided consciousness.

Division is suggested by the prefix vi-, which the MW dictionary gives as meaning apart, asunder, in different directions. MW indicates that, with these meanings, vi- probably stands for an original dvi, meaning "in two parts,” as opposed to sam-, which expresses togetherness, integration.

Further justification for translating vijñāna not simply as “consciousness” but as the more pejorative “divided consciousness” is once again provided by the Pratītya-samutpādādi-vibhaṅga-nirdeśa-sūtra:

vijñānaṁ katamat?
What is consciousness?

Ṣaḍ vijñāna-kāyāḥ: cakṣur-vijñānaṁ śrotra-ghrāṇa-jihvā-kāya-mano-vijñānam.Six bodies of consciousnesses are: eye-consciousness, ear-, nose-, tongue-, body-, and mind-consciousness.

Over the years, in using developmental movements to help especially children with immature vestibular reflexes, I have said many times that when in school we were taught of five senses – sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch – the most important sense was left out, that sense being the compound sense of proprioception centred on the vestibular system. This “lost sixth sense,” I have opined, might correspond to what is called in the ancient sūtras mano-vijñānam, or “mind-consciousness.”

But in the context of the real purport of the teaching of pratītya-samutpāda, this kind of affirmation of the lost sixth sense might be more part of the problem than part of the solution. Which is to say that even emphasis of the foundational importance of the vestibular sense is, to borrow a phrase from Charles Sherrington “a convenient fiction.” Sherrington wrote of “the convenient fiction of the simple reflex” in a book whose thrust was well summarized in its title – The Integrative Action of the Nervous System (1905).

In a book he wrote nearly 40 years later, titled The Endeavour of Jean Fernel (1946), Sherrington paid the following tribute to the work of FM Alexander:

Mr. Alexander has done a service to the subject by insistently treating each act as involving the whole integrated individual, the whole psycho-physical man. To take a step is an affair, not of this limb or that limb solely, but of the total neuromuscular activity of the moment--not the least of the head and the neck.

Since originally each of us is a whole psycho-physical person, what is the cause of separation of a person into a psychological mind and a physical body? One proximate cause, the bodhisattva observed, is in the distinctions that we ourselves make.