BUDDHACARITA 14.83: Conclusion - Doings Inhibited by Absence of Ignorance

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan:

| ma rig pa ni mza’ dag med las de bźin du | 

| ’du byed ’gag par draṅ sroṅ chen pos mkhyen pa ste |

| ’di las mkhyen bya ’di ni yaṅ dag mkhyen mdzad nas | 

| saṅs rgyas źes ni ’jig rten na rab gnas par gyur |  

ma rig pa: ignorance; avidyā (癡)

rig pa: awareness

med la: non existence

de bzhin du: likewise,

’du byed: formation, doing, saṁskāra (行)

gag: obstructed, suppressed

drang srong chen po: great rishi/ sage, Buddha

mkhyen pa: wisdom, knowing

di las: from this, therefore

mkhyen bya: that which should be known

yang dag: authentically, properly

mkhyen: wisdom, knowing

sangs rgyas: Buddha

'jig rten: world

gyur: become, be

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

83. Similarly the great seer understood that the factors are suppressed by the complete absence of ignorance. Therefore he knew properly what was to be known and stood out before the world as the Buddha.

Revised:

83. Similarly the great seer understood that doings are inhibited by the complete absence of ignorance. Therefore he knew properly what was to be known and stood out before the world as the Buddha.

Chinese: 

癡滅則行滅 大仙正覺成

如是正覺成 佛則興世間

ignorance destroyed, then the saṁskāra will die; the great rishi was thus perfected in wisdom (sambodhi). Thus perfected, Buddha then devised for the world's benefit... (SB)

When delusion is extinguished, formation is extinguished. The great seer’s right awakening was accomplished. When right awakening was thus accomplished, the Buddha appeared in the world (CW)

COMMENT:

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, a person engulfed 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 seep, having doings as its causal grounds. And so with the seeping 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, on the grounds of the realization of reality. In the dispelling of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. At the same time, the dispelling of ignorance is on the grounds 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 in this way is completely inhibited.

(Audio Reading of the above, 

with thanks to Jordan Fountain for making it into a podcast)

BUDDHACARITA 14.82: Links 5, 4, 3, 2 - Nearly There

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan:

| de bźin miṅ daṅ gzugs ni yaṅ dag ’gags pa las | 

| skye mched drug po thams cad rnam par ñams par byed |

| rnam par śes pa ’gags las de dag ’gags pa ste | 

| ’du byed ’gags pa las kyaṅ de ni ’gag pa’o | 

de bzhin: thus, likewise, similarly

ming dang gzugs: name and form 

yang dag: authentically, rightly

gags: obstructed, suppressed

skye mched drug: six senses

thams cad: all, everywhere

rnam par nyams par: spoiled, doomed to death

rnam par śes: consciousness

gags: obstructed, suppressed

’du byed: formation, doing, saṁskāra (行)

gags: obstructed, suppressed

kyang: even, also

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

82. Similarly if name-and-form is rightly suppressed, all the six organs of sense are destroyed too; and the former is suppressed through the suppression of consciousness, and the latter is suppressed also through the suppression of the factors.

Revised:

82. Similarly, if psycho-physicality is well and truly ended, six senses everywhere are ended too; and the former [psycho-physicality] is ended through the ending of divided consciousness, and the latter [divided consciousness] is ended also through the ending of doings.

Chinese:

六入滅觸滅

一切入滅盡 由於名色滅

識滅名色滅 行滅則識滅

destroy the six entrances, then will contact cease; the six entrances all destroyed, from this, moreover, names and things will cease; Knowledge destroyed, names and things will cease ; saṁskāra (names and things) destroyed, then knowledge perishes (SB)

When the six sense faculties are extinguished, contact is extinguished. The extinction of all sense faculties comes from the extinction of name-and-form. When consciousness is extinguished, name-and-form is extinguished. When formation is extinguished, consciousness is extinguished. (CW)

COMMENT:

EHJ notes:

'The factors', ḥdu-byed, saṁskāra, here [means] the working of deeds done in a former life.

The Chinese translator, as in Kumārajīva's translation of the Lotus Sutra, translates saṁskārān as 行, which means action. This makes no sense to a student of Dogen, for whom the dignified behaviour of acting buddha (行仏威儀 ; GYO-BUTSU-YUIGI ) is the centre of the Universe.

For me, for reasons that I have already set out at length, the only way to translate saṁskārān into English -- particularly in in view of MMK26.10 -- is as doings.

Maybe I am deluding myself, but I see the translation of  saṁskārān as doings as a relatively big deal. As I have said already, I think one reason the teaching outlined by Nāgārjuna in MMK chapter 26 has never got the attention it deserved in Japan, is that the teaching was not adequately translated into Chinese. 

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, a person engulfed 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 seep, having doings as its causal grounds. And so with the seeping 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, on the grounds of the realization of reality. In the dispelling of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. At the same time, the dispelling of ignorance is on the grounds 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 in this way is completely inhibited.

Apropos of which, a question: 

Do you see a natual link between Alexander's 'whispered ah' and Dogen's instruction
"Having readied the posture, make one complete exhalation"?
Harada roshi teaches this quite a lot, a type of ‘re-learning’ of the hara, to allow it to deflate naturally.

An answer: 

When what happens naturally is allowed to happen naturally, that is non-doing. Alexander's whispered ah is an exercise in non-doing. 

Japanese Zen, in general, whether we are talking about the mechanisms of upright posture, or about abdominal breathing, is an exercise in doing this, that and the other. 

Alexander work is NOT about learning, or re-learning, how to breathe out. Nobody needs to learn how to breathe out.  

But sad dupes who believe in the teachings of Japanese Zen roshis need to learn exactly what Nāgārjuna meant when he said, "The doings which are the root of saṁsāra, thus does the ignorant one do." 

Japanese Zen can never lead people back to the original teaching of Gautama, Aśvaghoṣa, Nāgārjuna, and Dogen. 

Why not? Because you cannot do an undoing. 

The two directions are mutually incompatible. 

Thinking that Japanese Zen might be a vehicle to arrive at the original teaching of the Buddha is like trying to arrive at John O'Groats by walking south. 

Comprehend, therefore, that suffering is doing; witness the faults impelling it forward; / Realise its stopping as non-doing; and know the path as a turning back. // SN16.42 //

BUDDHACARITA 14.81: Links 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 - Against the Grain

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan:

| de nas srid ’gags pa las de ni ’gag pa ste | 

| tshor ba yod pa min na sred pa yod ma yin |

| reg las chud zos gyur na tshor ba yod min źiṅ | 

| skye mched ’jug pa med las reg pa zad pa’o |  

de nas: from that, further

srid: existence, becoming

gags: stoppage, obstructed

tshor ba: feeling

yod pa min na: if it does not exist

sred pa: thirsting

yod ma yin: does not exist

reg: contact

chud zos: go to waste

gyur na: if it happened

tshor ba: feeling

yod min: does not exist

skye mched ’jug: six senses

med la: in its nonexistence

reg pa: contact

zad pa: extinction

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

81. Further the latter is suppressed through the suppression of thirst; if sensation does not exist, thirst does not exist; if contact is destroyed, sensation does not come into existence; from the non-existence of the six organs of sense, contact is destroyed.

Revised:

81. Further, the latter is ended through the ending of thirst; if feeling does not exist, thirst does not exist; if contact is ended, feeling does not come about; from the non-existence of six senses, contact is ended.

Chinese:

有滅則生滅 取滅則有滅 

愛滅則取滅 受滅則愛滅 

觸滅則受滅 

Destroy bhava then will birth cease; destroy 'cleaving' (upādāna) then will bhava end; destroy tṛṣnā (desire) then will cleaving end ; destroy sensation then will tṛṣnā end; Destroy contact then will end sensation; (SB)

When existence is extinguished, birth is extinguished. When grasping is extinguished, existence is extinguished. When craving is extinguished, grasping is extinguished. When experiencing is extinguished, craving is extinguished. When contact is extinguished, experiencing is extinguished. (CW)

COMMENT:

The word nirodha probably featured somewhere in Aśvaghoṣa's original of today's verse, maybe several times, just as words derived from ni- √ rudh feature in each of the four closing lines of MMK chapter 26.

The first definition of ni-√rudh given in the MW dictionary is to hold back, stop; and this seems to be the meaning conveyed by gags (stopped, obstructed) in the 1^st line of the Tibetan, translated by EHJ as suppressed.

We can only hold back, obstruct, or suppress things, if those things really exist.

If, however, given the indivisible reality of a moment of human existence, there has never been any such thing as psycho-physicality, how can we hold it back or obstruct it or suppress it?

That being so, “stop” is maybe a better word, since in regard to psycho-physicality, we may at least be able to stop believing in it.

The Tibetan also three times uses the expression yod min (does not exist) – if A does not exist, then B does not exist.

This yod min corresponds in Nāgārjuna's Sanskrit with asaṁbhavaḥ, as in saṁskārāṇām asaṁbhavaḥ in MMK26.11, “there is the non-coming-into-being of doings.”

The Chinese goes in every case with 滅, translated by SB as “destroy” and by CW as “extinguish.” In the rendering into Chinese of the third noble truth, nirodha-satya, 滅 is the character usually used to represent nirodha. 

In the opening verses of MMK24, Nāgārjuna seems implicity to link bhāvanā (bringing-into-being, growing, developing, cultivating) with the third noble truth (the truth of cessation, the truth of stopping, the truth of inhibition; nirodha-satya). 

yadi śūnyam idaṁ sarvam udayo nāsti na vyayaḥ |

caturṇām ārya-satyānām abhāvas te prasajyate ||MMK24.1||

parijñā ca prahāṇaṃ ca bhāvanā sākṣikarma ca |

caturṇām ārya-satyānām abhāvān nopapadyate ||MMK24.2||

If all this is empty, there is neither appearance or disappearance. The non-existence follows, for you, of the four noble truths. Understanding [1], letting go [2], cultivating [3], and the act in which one sees for oneself [4], in the absence of the four nobles truths, are impossible.

The underlying logic is that the 1st noble truth is understood by understanding, the 2nd by letting go, the 3rd by cultivating something [or a bit of nothing], and the 4th by realizing something for oneself, in one's own action. 

Whatever understanding I have of the four noble truths has most certainly not been been arrived at via Japanese Soto Zen, in which forms, including a person's form in sitting, tend to be placed higher than philosophical contents.  Whatever understanding I have got has come from studying Shobogenzo, along with the Lotus Sutra, and more recently the teachings of Aśvaghoṣa. But when it came to sākṣikarma, really seeing for myself, what made the difference for me was Alexander work. 

In Alexander terms, if we are talking bhāvanā, what we wish to develop or cultivate is primarily our human powers of inhibition. 

In the end, any way up, I have decided to translate the final sentence of MMK chapter 26 as "This whole aggregate of suffering in this way is completely inhibited." 

For the time being, I won't be making any further changes to the translation of MMK chapter 26 -- even if I want to -- since I have made a recording of the English and sent the MP3 file to Jordan Fountain to put on line as a podcast. I will include a link in due course. 

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, a person engulfed 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 seep, having doings as its causal grounds. And so with the seeping 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, on the grounds of the realization of reality. In the dispelling of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. At the same time, the dispelling of ignorance is on the grounds 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 in this way is completely inhibited.

BUDDHACARITA 14.80: Links 12, 11, 10 - Against the Grain

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan:

| de nas ’di yi blo gros ṅes par soṅ ba ni | 
| skye ba zad las ’chi daṅ rga ba ’gags pa ste |

| srid pa ñams pa las kyaṅ skye pa ñams pa ñid | 
| len pa ’gags pa las ni srid pa rnam ldog ciṅ | 

de nas: then, from that

blo gros: understanding

nges par: definite

song ba: occurred

skye ba: birth (生, jāti)

zad: extinction, removal, annihilation

las: from

shi: death (死)

rga ba: aging (老)

srid pa: existence, becoming

nyams pa: decline, degeneration

skye pa: birth (生)

nyid: only, itself

len pa: taking hold

srid pa: srid pa: existence, becoming

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

80. Then this conclusion came firmly on him, that from the annihilation of birth old age and death are suppressed, that from the destruction of existence birth itself is destroyed, and that existence ceases to be through the suppression of appropriation.

Revised:

80. Then this conclusion came firmly on him, that from the ending of birth, old age and death are ended; that from the ending of becoming, birth itself is ended; and that becoming ends through the ending of taking hold.

Chinese:

決定正覺已 生盡老死滅

... firmly established, thus was he enlightened; destroy birth, old age and death will cease; (SB)

[The Bodhisattva’s] right awakening was certain to be completed. The end of birth meant the extinction of old age and death. (CW)

COMMENT:

From BC14.50 - 67, the bodhisattva went against the grain (pratilomam), starting with link no. 12, the suffering of aging and death, and getting back as far as the circular relation between link no. 4, psycho-physicality, and link no. 3, divided consciousness. 

Then from BC14.68 – 76 he observed this circular relationship, whereby divided consciousness and mind-body disunity depend on each other to keep going, like a Welsh bloke and his coracle floating down the River Taff. 

In the last three verses, BC14.77 – BC14.79, the bodhisattva has gone swiftly with the grain (anulomam), from psycho-physicality (3) to the suffering of aging and death (12). 

And now in today's verse he turns back again against the grain, going more swiftly now along a track that he has already opened up, like a facilitated pathway in the human nervous system, so that with this swifter momentum he is going to get beyond the circularity of psycho-physicality (4) and divided consciousness (3) and break through to the doings (2), born of ignorance (1), which are the root of saṁsāra.

This is how, as Aśvaghoṣa is telling it, the bodhisattva became the fully awakened Sambuddha. He sat and made an effort to get to the bottom of suffering, in ignorance. His direction was towards consciousness of ignorance. 

I have had a couple of enquiries in recent days from people who, for their sins, are attracted to Japanese Zen. They are impressed by photos of Zen practitioners who shave their heads, wear black robes, and devote themselves to pursuit of right posture. 

Ironically, it seems to me, these practitioners are going in exactly the opposite direction to the bodhisattva. Their starting point is the ignorance of "right posture" and the more they sit, feeling their posture to be right, the further and further they go from enlightened consciousness of ignorance. 

I am able to say this so provocatively, and with such cocksure confidence, sticking my tongue out at the whole "Soto Zen" tradition, because it is exactly what I did myself for the 13 years when I lived in Japan -- before I began to be turned around by Alexander's teaching that there is no such thing as right posture, though there might be such a thing as a right direction. 

BUDDHACARITA 14.79: Links 10, 11, 12 - With the Grain

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan: 

| srid pa las ni skye ba dag | | skye bas rga śi ’byuṅ bar mkhyen |

| ’gro ba dag ni rkyen rnams las | | skyes źes yaṅ dag mkhyen pa’o | 

srid pa: existence, becoming (有)

las: from

skye ba: birth (生)

skye ba: birth

rga shi: aging and death (老死)

byung ba: arise

mkhyen: know

'gro ba: transmigration [state of rebirth]; transmigrator; going (gati); [sentient] beings; the world (loka)

dag: pluralizing particle

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

rkyen rnams las: from causal conditions

skyes: be born; be produced; be engendered ; arise

shes: to know

yang dag: authentically

mkhyen pa: knowing, wisdom

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

79. From existence comes birth, from birth he knew old age and death to arise. He rightly understood that the world is produced by the causal conditions.

Revised:

79. From becoming arises birth, from birth he knew ageing and death to arise. He truly realized that the birth of living beings, in new spheres in the cycle of saṁsāra, arises from causal grounds.

Chinese:

有則生於生 

生生於老死 輪迴周無窮 

衆生因縁起 正覺悉覺知

and these again engender birth ; birth again produces age and death ; so does this one incessant round cause the existence of all living things. Rightly illumined, thoroughly perceiving this,... (SB)

and existence then produces birth. Birth produces old age and death. The turning of the wheel is endless for all. The conditioned origination of the beings is completely known in right awakening. (CW)

COMMENT:

It would be particularly valuable to know what the original Sanskrit of today's verse was.

The Tibetan 'gro ba is variously defined as transmigration; going (gati); [sentient] beings (衆生); and the world (loka).

EHJ read 'gro ba as representing the Sanskrit loka; hence: “the world is produced by the causal conditions.”

In Nāgārjuna's rendering, however, the gist of which we would not expect to depart from Aśvaghoṣa's gist, what arises out of causal grounds is continued suffering in one sphere of going (gati) after another in the cycle of saṁsāra. So I have read 'gro ba as representing gati, which means going or sphere of existence. 

In MMK26.1, Nāgārjuna uses gatim (going, sphere of existence) as the object of the verb gacchati (does go), and so to capture this sense of repetition of words derived from the root √gam (to go), I have resorted to the translation “does go to a new sphere in the cycle of going.”

Better to understand what Nāgārjuna meant by gati, however, I need to study MMK Chapter 2, in which Nāgārjuna investigates in detail gata, agata, gamana, gantā, and gati -- going, not going, an act of going, a goer, and a/the way/process of going. 

In any case, such a long-winded translation of gatim (a new sphere in the cycle of going) in MMK26.1, is not very satisfactory. 

The Chinese translation, incidentally, contains not only 衆生 (living beings) which would represent the Sanskrit loka, but also 輪迴 (turning of the wheel; transmigration) which represents the Sanskrit saṁsāra.

Of further interest in the Chinese is the compound 因縁起 (dependent arising) which represents the Sanskrit pratītya-samutpāda. Judging from the Chinese, then, if Aśvaghoṣa used the phrase pratītya-samutpāda anywhere, he used it in today's verse.

The Tibetan for dependent arising, however, is said to be rten cing 'brel bar 'byung ba, and there is no sign of this phrase in the Tibetan translation.

Engulfed in this cloud of uncertainty, I for one am happy to have the twelve verses of Nāgārjuna's MMK chapter 26, to keep reading and reciting.

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, a person engulfed 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 seep, having doings as its causal grounds. And so with the seeping 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 dispelling of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. At the same time, the dispelling of ignorance 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 in this way is completely inhibited.

BUDDHACARITA 14.78: Links 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 - With the Grain

[No Sanskrit text]

Tibetan:

| reg pa las skyes tshor ba mkhyen | | tshor ba las skyes sred pa’o |

| sred pa las skyes len pa’o | | len pa las ni de bźin srid |

reg pa: contact (觸)

las: from

skyes: is born (生)

tshor ba: feeling (受)

mkhyen: know

tshor ba las: from feeling

skyes: is born

sred pa: thirsting (愛欲)

sred pa las: from thirsting

skyes: is born

len pa: taking hold (取)

de bzhin: like that, similarly

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:

78. But of contact he knew sensation to be born, out of sensation thirst, out of thirst appropriation, and out of appropriation similarly existence.

Revised:

78. But out of contact, he knew feeling to be born; out of feeling, thirsting; out of thirsting, taking hold; and out of taking hold, again, becoming.

Chinese:

觸復生於受 受生於愛欲

愛欲生於取 取生於業有

contact again brings forth sensation; sensation brings forth longing desire; longing desire produces upādāna; Upādāna is the cause of deeds ; (SB)

and contact further produces experiencing. Experiencing produces craving, and craving produces grasping. Grasping produces the existence of actions, (CW)

COMMENT:

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 dispelling of ignorance, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. The dispelling of ignorance, however, is because of the bringing-into-being of just this act of knowing. By the dispelling 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 dispelled. 

Thinking about nirodha-satya, which he interpreted as "the philosophy of action," my Zen teacher sometimes used the word evaporate -- as in, when we are sincerely devoted to our action, thoughts and feelings evaporate. 

Does sincere devotion to action mean doing something? Or does sincere devotion to action mean not doing anything? 

There again, how about insincere devotion to action? 

Answer that one, mother-"£$%&*! 

Dogen taught that there should be thousands and tens of thousands of questions like these. 

But setting such questions aside, for the moment, evaporate is a useful word in suggesting the disappearance of what never had any solid substance to it in the first place. 

As observed already, Nāgārjuna in general seems to eschew metaphorical expressions, but he does say that with the setting in, or seeping in, of divided consciousness, psycho-physicality is sprinkled down, poured in, infused, instilled, irrigated -- these are all translations of niṣicyate in MMK26.2, in accordance with the dictionary definition of  ni-√sic: to sprinkle down, pour upon or into, infuse, instil, irrigate. 

As a a general rule, evaporation would probably not hit the target as a translation of ni-rodha, which has more of a connotation of confinement or suppression, the prefix ni- indicating down, back, in. But another word that does convey the same sense of causing to disappear what in any case lacked substance is dispel. 

So in the above rendering of MMK Chapter 26, I have gone with dispel. If I dared to use evaporate, the translation would be something like this: 

The doings that lead to yet further becoming, a person engulfed 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 seep, having doings as its causal grounds. And so with the seeping 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 allowing ignorance to evaporate, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. The evaporation of ignorance, however, is because of the bringing-into-being of just this act of knowing. By the evaporation of this one and that one, this one and that one no longer advance. This whole aggregate of suffering in this way is caused completely to evaporate.

As a PS, having published this post and recited to myself MMK Chap. 26 in Sanskrit and English, I wondered about translating nābhipravartate in verse 12 with a liquid connotation -- e.g. "this and and that one no longer flow forth." Given Nāgārjuna's usual avoidance of figurative expressions, I supposed that the grounds for such a translation would be weak. I knew, having checked before, that the Monier Williams dictionary gave abhi-pra-√vṛt as "to advance." But anyway I decided to check again, and saw that the second definition, referenced to the Rāmāyana, is "to disembogue." I had overlooked this definition since I did not know what disembogue meant. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, disembogue means to flow or come forth as if from a channel. 

BINGO! 

Here we go again, then. 

- Liquid Nāgārjuna -

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, a person engulfed 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 seep, having doings as its causal grounds. And so with the seeping 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 allowing ignorance to evaporate, there is the non-coming-into-being of doings. The evaporation of ignorance, however, is because of the bringing-into-being of just this act of knowing. By the evaporation of this one and that one, this one and that one no longer flow forth. This whole aggregate of suffering in this way is caused completely to evaporate.