Friday, December 25, 2015

3. praviveka


3. Seclusion
pavivitta
praviveka
樂寂靜
(gyo-jakujo; enjoying peace and quiet)

The Tibetan translation of Aśvaghoṣa's Buddhacarita Canto 26:
| źi ba’i bde ba dam pa thob par ’dod rnams kyis | | de ltar tshogs la dga’ ba rnams su ’gyur mi bya |
| źi ba’i bdag ñid gcig tu rgyu phyir ’jig rten na | | brgya byin la sogs lha rnams kyis kyaṅ re ’dod byed |  58
| chags po sdug bsṅal gyi ni gnas pa’i śiṅ yin te | | raṅ gi skye bo la ’am skye la chags pa spaṅs |
| chags pa rnam rgyas sdug bsṅal la ni ’jig rten na | | gñis ’thuṅ ’khogs pa ’dam la bźin du chags par ’gyur | 59
EHJ58. Those who desire to obtain the highest bliss of peace should not give themselves up to the pleasures in such degree. For even Indra and the other gods envy the man in the world who is solely devoted to tranquility. 
EHJ59. Attachment is the roosting-tree of suffering; therefore give up attachment, whether to relations or to strangers. He who has many attachments in the world is stuck fast in suffering, like a decrepit elephant in the mud.

The Chinese translation of Aśvaghoṣa's Buddhacarita Canto 26:
不多受眷屬 其心常安隱
If one does not often accept one's retinue, one's mind is always tranquil.
安隱寂靜故 人天悉奉事
Because of tranquility and quietude, all humans and gods serve him.
是故當捨離 親疏二眷屬
That is why one should give up both of the two retinues of close and distant loved ones.
如曠澤孤樹 衆鳥1多集栖
“For instance, suppose many birds and monkeys live on a lone tree in a vast marsh.
多畜衆亦然 長夜受衆苦
The same applies to a large retinue one may care for. For a long time one experiences much suffering.
多衆多纒累 如老象溺泥 
A large crowd means many entanglements, like an old elephant that is sunk in the mud.

Anuruddha Sutta
“When it was said: ‘This Dhamma is for one who resorts to solitude (pavivittassa)1, not for one who delights in company (saṅgaṇikārāmassa),’ with reference to what was this said?
Here, when a bhikkhu resorts to solitude, bhikkhus, bhikkhunīs, male lay followers, female lay followers, kings, royal ministers, heads of other sects, and disciples belonging to other sects approach him. In each case, with a mind that slants, slopes, and inclines to seclusion, withdrawn, delighting in renunciation, he gives them a talk invariably concerned with dismissing them. When it was said: ‘This Dhamma is for one who resorts to solitude, not for one who delights in company,’ it is with reference to this that this was said.

Yuikyo-gyo (Bequeathed Teaching Sūtra)
汝等比丘。若求寂靜無爲安樂。當離憒閙獨處閑居。 靜處之人帝釋諸天所共敬重。 是故當捨己衆他衆。空閑獨處思滅苦本。 若樂衆者則受衆惱。 譬如大樹衆鳥集之則有枯折之患。 世間縛著沒於衆苦。 譬如老象溺泥不能自出。 是名遠離
Nishijima-Cross translation from Master Dogen's Shobogenzo Chapter 95:
If you bhikṣus wish to pursue tranquil and unintentional2 peace and joy, you should depart from noise and live alone in seclusion. People of quiet places are revered alike by the god Śakra and all the gods. For this reason you should abandon your own groups and other groups, live alone in an empty space, and think of dissolving the root of suffering. Those who take pleasure in groups suffer many troubles—like a flock of birds gathering on a great tree and then worrying that it will wither or break. [Those] fettered by and attached to the world are immersed in many kinds of suffering—like an old elephant drowning in mud, unable to get out by itself. This is called “distancing.”


1Pavivitta [pp. of pa+vi+vic] separated, detached, secluded, singled. Often in phrase appiccha santuṭṭha pavivitta referring to an ascetic enjoying the satisfaction of seclusion.
2 無爲 (from the Sanskrit asaṁskṛta, would better be translated as “free of doing” – or, as per Gudo Nishijima's original translation “natural.” 

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