BUDDHACARITA 1.24: The Power of Zealous Absorption

−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti (Indravajrā)

dharmārthibhir-bhūta-gaṇaiś-ca divyais-tad-darśanārthaṁ vanam āpupūre |

−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−

kautūhalenaiva ca pāda-pebhyaḥ puṣpāny akāle 'pi [nipātitāni] || 1.24

1.24

Hosts of divine, dharma-needy beings,

Being motivated to meet him, filled up the forest.

And such indeed was the zealous absorption,

That blossoms, even out of season,

were caused to fall from trees.

COMMENT:

The old Nepalese manuscript on which EHJ based his Sanskrit text ends with the 10^th syllable of the 3^rd pāda (-pe), but EHJ felt confident enough working back from the Tibetan to include in his devanagari text -pebhyaḥ puṣpāny akāle 'pi. The final five syllables of the verse, however, EHJ left blank, stating that the last word is a verb compounded with ni, equivalent to sraṁs (to drop) or vyadh (to pelt) – possibly nipātitāni.

The 1^st and 2^nd pāda of today's verse each centre on words from the root arth: to strive to obtain, desire, wish, request.

The 1^st pāda as I read it is an expression of the truth of suffering, the essence of suffering being desire for an end one lacks (as heavenly beings inevitably lack) the practical means to gain. A divine or religious state of being desirous of dharma or needy for dharma (dharmārthin) is a state of suffering, in which the suffering subject is right here, separated from the desired object over there.

The 2^nd pāda represents progress into a more real, concrete or material sphere, in which desire manifests itself in purposeful movement of subject towards desired object. Thus the purpose of seeing him (tad-darśanārtham) causes the material forest to fill up.

In the 3^rd pāda as I read it intense interest or zealous absorption  (kautūhala) takes the discussion of subjective volition onto the next level, in which subject is no  longer separated from object, but subject is rather absorbed in object, or object and subject are absorped into each other.

It is this kind of zealous absorption, or obsessive interest – the virtue of which others are liable to question – that tends to precipitate change in the world, as described in the 4^th pāda. 

The phrase akāle 'pi “even out of season,” means in other words “not at the expected time.”

Reality changes unexpectedly, but because of the power of his zealous absorption into his sitting practice, without worrying about good and bad, a Zen practitioner is able to cope skilfully with the unexpected change.

That is one view.

But today's verse as I read it points to another kind of situation altogether; namely, that because of his zealous absorption, a Zen practitioner in his blind stupidity unexpectedly changes reality.

Finding myself in such a situation, as seems to happen several times a day, I typically respond by thinking “Oh fuck! Now what have I gone and done?”

Today's translation and comment really is the product of 30 years of making one continuous mistake. That being so, I wrote a couple of paragraphs yesterday to illustrate the meaning of the first two lines from personal experience. But on re-reading this morning what I wrote yesterday, the content was too embarrassing even for me to make public. So I decided to suppress the awful truth. 

VOCABULARY

dharmārthibhiḥ = inst. pl. m. dharmārthin: being desirous of dharma

arthin: one who wants or desires anything (instr. or in comp); longing for , libidinous

bhūta-gaṇaiḥ (inst. pl.): m. the host of living beings ; a multitude of spirits or ghosts

bhūta: n. that which is or exists , any living being (divine , human , animal , and even vegetable) ; n. a spirit (good or evil)

gaṇa: m. a flock , troop , multitude , number ,

ca: and

divyaiḥ (inst. pl.): mfn. divine , heavenly , celestial

tad-darśanārtham (ind.): with the aim/purpose of seeing/visiting him

tad: him

darśana: n. seeing , observing , looking; n. visiting ; n. audience , meeting

artha: aim, purpose; cause, motive, reason

vanam (acc. sg.): n. forest, wood, grove

āpupūre = 3^rd pers. pl. perf: ā- √ pṝ : to fill up, fill

kautūhalena (inst. sg.): n. curiosity , interest in anything , vehement desire for

eva: (emphatic)

ca: and

pāda-pebhyaḥ = abl. pl. pāda-pa: m. “drinking at foot or root " , a tree , plant

puṣpāni (acc. pl.): n. flower, blossom

akāle (loc. sg.): m. a wrong or bad time; (ind.) unseasonably

kāla: m. a fixed or right point of time

kāle: ind. loc. in time , seasonably

api : even

nipātitāni (acc. pl. n.): made to fly down

ni- √pat : to fly down , settle down

pātita: mfn. (fr. Caus. √pat) made to fall , felled , struck down , lowered , depressed , overthrown

BUDDHACARITA 1.23: Spontaneous Flow Facilitates Practice

−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti (Indravajrā)

prāg-uttare cāvasatha-pradeśe kūpaḥ svayaṁ prādur-abhūt-sitāmbuḥ |

−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−

antaḥ-purāṇy-āgata-vismayāni yasmin kriyās-tīrtha iva pracakruḥ || 1.23

1.23

In the north-eastern corner of the residence

A well of pure water spontaneously appeared;

And there the royal householders, filled with wonder,

Performed bathing practices 
as if on the bank of a sacred stream.

COMMENT:

EH Johnston wrote somewhere that Aśvaghoṣa does not anywhere waste any word, and on the basis of my own investigations so far, I think EHJ was right on this point.

Googling“significance of north-east direction,” led me to a blog post which confirms that “Out of the eight directions the North-east has a special importance. The sun rises from the East, moves towards the North and sets in the West. The early morning rays are auspicious and must fall on the land we live on. These rays, to a great extent are absorbed by water; therefore it is beneficial to have wells and underground water tanks in the North-East direction.”

“The northeast direction” the blogpost continues, “is enriched with the confluence of this energy pool with the magnetic and subtler energy currents of the earth and the etheric hole. The rishis, the Indian sages of Vedic Age had mastered this knowledge.”

Fair enough. Nice one, Indian sages of the Vedic Age.

What interests me even more about today's verse is the meaning of the word svayam “spontaeously, by itself,” in the 2^nd pāda, and the way that this meaning was not missed, but rather given particular emphasis, in the Chinese translation. Nice one, Chinese translator, whoever you were. 

In the following series of four 5-character lines, the Chinese character 自corresponding to the Sanskrit svayam appears not once but twice, describing not only the spontaneous appearance of the well in today's verse but also the spontaneous burning of fire in yesterday's verse.

世界諸火光 無薪自炎熾
淨水清涼井 前後自然生

Svayam, “by itself,” expresses the principle of spontaneity which the Chinese, even before the eastern migration of the Buddha's teaching from India to China, were already investigating in connection with the Tao. Hence, when in the opening words of Shobogenzo Dogen described the supreme and subtle method of the buddha-tathāgatas as 無為 , “free of doing, spontaneous,” (Chinese: WU-WEI; Japanese: MU-I), he was using a term borrowed from Taoism to express a fundamental principle of the Buddha's teaching.

Thus, when in yesterday's verse I interpreted anīritaḥ, “without being stirred,” as an expression of non-doing, it turns out that I wasn't thinking anything original: the Chinese translator had gone even further in the direction of a “non-doing” interpretation and written of the light of fires (諸火光) spontaneously (自) blazing (炎熾) without any firewood (無薪). The Chinese translator lent emphasis to this sense of spontaneous arising by repeating the character which means “spontaneously, by itself,” (自) in connection with the arising of a well in today's verse. Thus:

世界諸火光 無薪自炎熾
淨水清涼井 前後自然生

S. Beal: whilst in the world the fire’s gleam of itself prevailed without the use of fuel. Pure water, cool and refreshing from the springs, flowed here-and there, self-caused; 

C. Willemen: Fires flared up spontaneously, without any fuel, all over the world. Cool wells with clean water sprang up here and there all by themselves.

In his instructions for how to sit, Dogen describes the secret of sitting-dhyāna as 

自成 一片 

 “to spontaneously become all of a piece.”

“Be totally oblivious to all involvements,” Dogen recommended, “and spontaneously become all of a piece.”

The words of the Chinese Zen Master Tozan were 

打 成 一片 

"become all of a piece in action,” “become all of a piece by just doing it!”

But Dogen evidently felt that he could improve on that with

自成 一片 

“spontaneously become all of a piece.”

I am tempted to go on and on at length about this point, because it is so intimately related to my own struggles when I was in Japan and somehow knew that something in my practice and in my life wasn't flowing as easily as it might flow, but I couldn't see or figure out how I was getting in the way – until, filled with wonder (āgata-vismayaḥ), I began to experience for myself what FM Alexander was going on about.

In the Saundarananda, Aśvaghoṣa describes Nanda's successive entry into four stages of sitting-meditation – though in practice itself there do not seem to be any clear boundaries between one stage and the next. Anyway the first stage might be described as a condition of spontaneous flow in which endorphins are flowing around freely and in profusion and one is thinking whatever one likes. In the second stage thoughts are recognized as akin to waves that make ripples on a steady spontaneous flow of clear water, and on this basis thoughts are stopped.

The practice of sitting-dhyāna, then, is akin to the witnessing of the spontanous flow of a sacred stream, and the 4^th pāda of today's verse, as I read it, points to that.

VOCABULARY

prāg-uttare (loc. sg. m.): mfn. north-eastern

ca: and

āvasatha-pradeśe (loc. sg. m.): in a corner of the dwelling-place

āvasatha: m. dwelling-place , abode , habitation

pradeśa: m. pointing out; a spot , region , place

kūpaḥ (nom. sg.): m. a well

svayam: (ind.) by itself, spontaneously

prādur abhūt: it appeared

prādur: (ind.) " out of doors " (with bhū , to become manifest , be visible or audible , appear , arise , exist)

sitāmbuḥ (nom. sg. m.): with pure water

sita: mfn. white , pale , bright , light ; candid, pure

ambu: n. water

antaḥ-purāṇi (acc. pl.): n. the king's palace , the female apartments , gynaeceum ; those who live in the female apartments

antar: inside, internal

pura: n. fortress; the female apartments , gynaeceum

āgata-vismayāni (acc. pl. n.): mfn. filled with wonder

āgata: mfn. entered (into any state or condition of mind)

vismaya: wonder , surprise , amazement , bewilderment , perplexity

yasmin (loc. sg. relative pronoun): wherein

kriyāḥ (acc. pl.): f. doing , performing , performance , occupation with (in comp.) , business , act , action , undertaking , activity , work , labour ; bodily action , exercise of the limbs ; a religious rite or ceremony ; religious action , worship

tīrthe (loc. sg.): n. a passage , way , road , ford , stairs for landing or for descent into a river , bathing-place , place of pilgrimage on the banks of sacred streams , piece of water

iva: like, as if

pracakruḥ = 3^rd pers. pl. pra- √ kṛ : to make , produce , accomplish , perform 

BUDDHACARITA 1.22: Winds of Change

−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti (Indravajrā)

vātā vavuḥ sparśa-sukhā mano-jñā divyāni vāsāṁsy-avapātayantaḥ |

−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−

sūryaḥ sa evābhyadhikaṁ cakāśe jajvāla saumyārcir-anīrito 'gniḥ || 1.22

1.22

Breezes blew that were pleasant to the touch

and agreeable to the mind,

Causing fancy clothing to fall off.

The sun shone with extra brightness,

being nothing but itself.

Fire, with a full, moon-like flame,

burned without being stirred.

COMMENT:

The breezes in today's verse can be understood as symbolizing the teachings of buddhas, which cause us to abandon fancy stuff and simply be ourselves, naturally letting our own light shine.

I understand today's verse like this firstly because of sitting four times a day for thirty years, and secondly because of having been taught that, as a general rule, whenever the Buddha's teaching is presented in four lines, by a writer who is steeped in the practice of it, the 2^nd line is liable to contain the negation of idealism.

Thus in the 2^nd pāda of today's verse, Aśvaghoṣa's original Sanskrit divyāni vāsāṁsy-avapātayantaḥ, as I read it, permits an interpretation along totally irreligious lines; it might be translated for example, “causing gorgeous lingerie to slip off”....

Forgive the mind-wandering. For a moment there I was back in the bedroom with Nanda and Sundarī...

Framed by the tamāla smudges, her face with its cherry red lips, and wide eyes extending to her hair, /

Seemed like a lotus framed by duck-weed, with crimson tips, and two big bees settled on it. // 4.21

Where was I? Ah yes, divyāni vāsāṁsy-avapātayantaḥ:

EBC: dropping down heavenly garments

EHJ: wafting down heavenly raiment

PO: bringing down showers of garments divine

Translation into Chinese:

天衣從空下 觸身生妙樂

S Beal: the garments of Devas descending from heaven touching the body, caused delightful thrills of joy;

C Willemen: Celestial garments descended from the sky, and upon touching them, one was thrilled.

A message passed back from the front line, “Send reinforcements, we are going to advance!” is thus ever liable to reach field HQ as “Send three and fourpence; we're going to a dance.”

Every one of the above translations makes it seem as if Aśvaghoṣa were telling the tale of some kind of religious miracle of clothes falling out of a supernatural sky. Why? Because that's the kind of expression people expect to find in Aśvaghoṣa's writing, when they are approaching it from the viewpoint of religious idealism.

“Lord Buddha”? “His Holiness the Dalai Lama”? “Ven. Mike Cross”? I don't think so.

If we look in the writings of Aśvaghoṣa himself  for a real example of what he might mean by  divyāni vāsāṁsy-avapātayantaḥ, fancy apparel being caused to fall off, there is the example of Nanda as described in Saundarananda cantos 4 and 5. 

Nanda is described as wearing apparel that was gorgeous indeed:

When he heard that the great Seer had entered his house and departed again without receiving a welcome, /

Nanda in his brightly-coloured gems and garments and garlands, flinched, like a tree in Indra's paradise shaken by a gust of wind. // SN4.31.

 Subsequently Nanda “took off clothes that were suited to love and took on a form that befitted his task.” (SN4.38)

Shortly thereafter, at the end SN Canto 5, Nanda is described as clothed, “in drab garb with the dull yellow-red colour of tree bark, and despondent as a newly-captured elephant.” (SN5.53).

Read in this light, the 2^nd line of today's verse describes not the miraculous magicing of something fancy out of thin air, but rather the dropping off of something fancy, leaving nothing fancy. The clothes that are caused to drop off are described as divyāni, which has three meanings, each of which might be intended, namely: (1) “divine, heavenly, of the gods” -- i.e. religious; (2) “supernatural, magical” -- i.e. inclining towards negation of cause and effect; and (3) “gorgeous, beautiful.” The implied negation, then, might be the negation of fancy religious idealism, or fancy hedonistic materialism, or the fancy bells and whistles of superstition, or all three of the above. Divyāni vāsāṁsy might mean, for example, fancy priestly vestments, or fancy ladies' lingerie, or the fancy uniform of a Tibetan Buddhist soothsayer.

The phrase that appears in the 3^rd pāda of today's verse, sa eva, “being nothing but itself,” also appears in the 17^th canto of the Saundarananda, where it describes Nanda after his own realization of the worthy state:

Having attained to the seat of arhathood, he was worthy of being served. Without ambition, without partiality, without expectation; /

Without fear, sorrow, pride, or passion; while being nothing but himself, he seemed in his constancy to be different. // 17.61

In the gap before starting on the present translation of Buddhacarita, I wrote an article for submission to an academic journal in which I quoted SN17.61 in the process of challenging what seems to be the generally accepted assumption that the Saundarananda is “a story of religious conversion.”  The Saundarananda, I argued, is not the story of how Nanda became more religious; it is the story of how he became less religious, in coming back to himself. 


First indications are that my article was not well received. Never mind. I didn't much enjoy writing the article, but thought (mea culpa) that it might help draw people's attention to my translation; I also sort of wanted to contribute something back having benefitted so much from the groundwork done by Oxford scholars like EH Johnston and Linda Covill, and from the Clay Sanskrit Library publications of Aśvaghoṣa. Any way up, writing the article seemed to make me all the clearer in seeing that (a) Aśvaghoṣa's teaching is much more scientific, in the true sense, than it is religious, and (b) it is up to me to clarify for others what my teacher took pains to clarify for me, that the Buddha's teaching includes -- at the second of four phases corresponding to the Buddha's four noble truths -- the negation of idealism.

Negation of religious idealism, along with negation of other forms of end-gaining, is by no means the whole story. But it might be a golden key that unlocks the door out of the trap of trying, my friend, to be anything else other than what you fucking well are.

The final point I would like to make, in connection with the last line of today's verse, is that anīritaḥ “without being stirred,” is as I read it an expression of non-doing – that is, not an expression of intervening to try to get one's own light to shine, but just an expression of letting.

VOCABULARY

vātāḥ (nom. pl.): m. wind, air

vavuḥ = 3^rd pers. pl. perf. vā: to blow

sparśa-sukhāḥ (nom. pl. m.): pleasant to the touch

mano-jñāḥ (nom. pl. m.): agreeable to the mind

divyāni (acc. pl. n.): mfn. divine , heavenly , celestial ; supernatural , wonderful , magical ; charming , beautiful , agreeable

vāsāṁsi = acc. pl. vāsas: n. cloth , clothes , dress , a garment

avapātayantaḥ = nom. pl. m. caus. pres. part. ava- √ pat: to throw down

ava- √ pat: to fly down , jump down , fall down

sūryaḥ (nom. sg.): m. the sun

sa eva: its very self

abhyadhikam: (ind) surpassingly, extra-brightly

abhi: (prefix) over, upon

adhika: mfn. additional; surpassing; abundant, excellent

cakāśe = 3^rd pers. sg. perf. kāś: to shine , be brilliant , have an agreeable appearance

jajvāla = 3^rd pers. sg. perf. jval: to burn brightly , blaze , glow , shine

saumyārciḥ (nom. sg. m.): with placid flames

saumya: " resembling the moon " , placid , gentle , mild ; auspicious

arci: m. ray, flame

anīritaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. unstirred

agniḥ (nom. sg.): m. fire

BUDDHACARITA 1.21: Miraculous Nature

−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti (Rāmā)

yasya prasūtau giri-rāja-kīlā vātāhatā naur-iva bhūś-cacāla |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−

sa-candanā cotpala-padma-garbhā papāta vṣṭir-gaganād-anabhrāt || 1.21 

1.21

At his birth the earth, anchored by the king of mountains,

Shook like a ship being battered in a gale;

And a sandalwood-scented rain, 
containing lillies and lotuses,

Fell from the cloudless sky.

COMMENT:

This verse as I read it is a poetic description of the magic of nature, and not a religious description of unnatural miracles.

Without movement of the earth, the king of mountains would still be on the bottom of the sea, but the movement is so slow that when short-lived human beings find marine fossils in the Himalayas, we express amazement. It seems like a miracle to us, but we who prefer science to superstition, religion, et cetera, consider that the miracle is just nature itself.

As regards rain being scented by sandalwood, it may be that all rain has been forever scented by sandalwood already, but the senses of human beings are not sufficiently refined to know it. Maybe dogs know it.

And as Dogen memorably pointed out, a single drop of dew can contain the whole of the moon and sky: how then can it be difficult for a single drop of rain not to contain innumerably many lillies and lotuses?

Again, a Zen master in China observed that the buddhas of the three times were in the flame of a fire, preaching the Dharma.

Who knows what natural wonders remain to be discovered inside a drop of rain?

The original cloudlessness of the sky, whether the sky is blue, white, or grey, has already been discussed in connection with the description in SN3.9 of the Buddha's completion of his task:

The earth with its mountains shook, that which feeds the fire blew benignly, /

The drums of the gods resounded, and from the cloudless sky rain fell. // SN3.9

In today's verse, then, a parallel is being drawn between the miraculous state of the world at the time of the Buddha's birth and at the time when he “awoke to the step which is happy, irremovable, and irreducible” (SN3.7).

VOCABULARY

yasya (gen. sg.): of whose

prasūtau = loc. sg. prasūti: f. procreation, birth

giri-rāja-kīlā (nom. sg. f.):

giri-rāj: m. " mountain-king " , N. of the himavat

kīla: m. a sharp piece of wood , stake , pin , peg , bolt , wedge , &c

vātāhatā (nom. sg. f.): battered by the winds

vāta: m. wind or the wind-god (pl. also " the maruts ")

āhata: mfn. struck , beaten , hit , hurt

nauḥ (nom. sg.): f. a ship , boat , vessel

iva: like

bhūḥ (nom. sg.): f. the earth

cacāla = 3^rd pers. sg. perf. cal: to be moved , stir , tremble , shake , quiver

sa-candanā (nom. sg. f.): [perfumed] with sandalwood

ca: and

utpala-padma-garbhā (nom. sg. f.): full of lotuses and water-lillies ; full of blue and pink lotus blossoms

utpala: n. the blossom of the blue lotus ; any water-lilly

padma: mn. a lotus (esp. the flower of the lotus-plant Nelumbium Speciosum which closes towards evening ; often confounded with the water-lily or Nymphaea Alba); red or coloured marks on the face or trunk of an elephant; a partic. posture of the body in religious meditation (cf. padmāsana)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo_nucifera

garbha: ifc. " having in the interior , containing , filled with "

papāta = 3^rd pers. sg. perf. pat: to fall

vṣṭiḥ (nom. sg.): f. (sg. and pl.) rain (ifc. often = a shower of)

gaganāt (abl. sg.): n. the atmosphere , sky , firmament

anabhrāt (abl. sg.): mfn. cloudless

BUDDHACARITA 1.20: Far-flung Ripples of Gladness

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti (Kīrti)

tathāgatotpāda-guṇena tuṣṭāḥ śuddhādhivāsāś-ca viśuddha-sattvāḥ |

−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−

devā nanandur-vigate 'pi rāge magnasya duḥkhe jagato hitāya || 1.20

1.20

Gladdened by a birth that went so well,

Those whose essence is pure

and who dwell in the clear blue yonder,

The gods, though devoid of any red taint of passion,

Rejoiced for the welfare of a world steeped in sorrow.

COMMENT:

What people call "Buddhism," as if it were some kind of ideology, is the practical teaching of one who went well, having realized what is as it is, coming like this -- though, as EHJ pointed out, "Aśvaghoṣa does not apply such terms [as Sugata and Tathāgata] to him till he reached bodhi."

Thus whereas EBC and PO left tathāgata in the 1st pāda untranslated as “the Tathāgata” (i.e. the One Thus Come, or the One [from whom afflictions are] Thus Gone, or the Realised One, the Buddha),  EHJ translated  tathāgata  as “in this fashion.” 


Hence, 

EBC: Gladdened through the influence of the birth of the Tathāgata...

EHJ: And gladdened by the virtue of his birth in this fashion...

I think EHJ was right up to a point; at the same time, Aśvaghoṣa as he often does in Saundarananda, was making a play on the various possible meanings of  tathāgata,  in order to emphasize that the Buddha was already, at his birth, one who went well. Even though he was one who was already going well at the time of his birth, he was not called  Sugata or Tathāgata until after he had experienced a spell of not going so well, during which he devoted himself to extreme asceticism. After that, (in EHJ's words) he "reached bodhi" -- i.e. realized full awakening -- and thenceforth was known by such epithets as Sugata and Tathāgata and Buddha. 

At the end of an Alexander lesson, Marjory Barlow would sometimes say to me, by way of encouragement, as I was heading for the door, "You are going well." 

Going well, for me, has to do with not end-gaining. When I make the choice not to end-gain but give myself time, then I go well. When I become impatient and anxious about a result, then I don't go so well. 

This translation effort, going at the undemanding snail's pace of one verse per day,  was intended from the beginning as an exercise in not end-gaining, but going well instead. 


In the months between finishing the verse-per-day translation of Saundarananda and starting the verse-per-day translation of Buddhacarita, I got a bit bogged down in dotting i's and crossing t's, as well as making audio recordings, of the Saundarananda text and translations. I have a sense of not having gone so well in those months -- through nobody else's fault but my own. 

To decide not to end-gain, thereby giving oneself space and time to act freely, and in that space to experience what an action is -- an action, say, like moving a leg -- makes a person happy. And to be happy, Marjory Barlow taught me, is important not only for the person himself but also for others, since happiness tends to ripple outwards... even to those far-flung orbits of samsāra where the air is vanishingly thin and gods may be imagined, in a magical realist scenario, harmlessly to reside. 


We are conditioned to believe that gods might be important, and conditioned to see the gaining of ends as important. But in the teaching of buddhas, as I have heard it, gods are not important and gaining of ends is not important. What is important is to go well -- then gods and gaining of ends can be left to take care of themselves. 

VOCABULARY

tathāgatotpāda-guṇena: (inst. sg.): by the excellence of the being born in such a manner

tathāgata: mfn. being in such a state or condition , of such a quality or nature ; realised like this ; the Realized One (epithet of the awakened Buddha)

utpāda: m. coming forth , birth , production

guṇa: good quality , virtue , merit , excellence

tuṣṭāḥ (nom. pl. m.): mfn. satisfied , pleased

śuddhādhivāsāḥ (nom. pl. m.): mfn. inhabiting pure abodes

śuddha: mfn. cleansed , cleared , clean , pure , clear

adhivāsa: m. an inhabitant; a neighbour; one who dwells above

ca: and

viśuddha-sattvāḥ (nom. pl. m.): mfn. of a pure character

viśuddha: mfn. completely cleansed or purified (also in a ritual sense) , clean , clear , pure (lit.and fig.)

sattva: n. being, existence; true essence , nature , disposition of mind , character

devāḥ (nom. pl.): m. gods

nananduḥ = 3^rd pers. pl. perf. nand: to rejoice , delight

vigate (loc. abs.): mfn. gone asunder , dispersed ; gone away , departed , disappeared , ceased , gone

api: though

rāge (loc. abs.): redness; inflammation; any feeling or passion , (esp.) love

magnasya (gen. sg. n.): mfn. sunk , plunged , immersed in (loc. )

duḥkhe (loc. sg.): n. uneasiness , pain , sorrow , trouble , difficulty, suffering

jagataḥ (gen. sg.): n. people, mankind; the world

hitāya (dat. sg.): n. anything useful or salutary or suitable or proper , benefit , advantage , profit , service , good , welfare , good advice &c

BUDDHACARITA 1.19: Magical Realism (ctd.), Suffering Hoodies

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti (Haṁsī)

mahoragā dharma-viśeṣa-tarṣād-buddheṣv-atīteṣu ktādhikārāḥ |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−

yam-avyajan bhakti-viśiṣṭa-netrā mandāra-puṣpaiḥ samavākiraṁś-ca || 1.19

1.19

Mighty serpents who, in their thirst for the choicest dharma,

Had watched over buddhas of the past,

Fanned him, their eyes exuding partiality,

And covered him in a confetti of mandāra blossoms.

COMMENT:

The present series of verses is similiar to the 10^th canto of the Saundarananda in the insight it gives into the working of Aśvaghoṣa's imagination. Here, as there,  Aśvaghoṣa's  thoughts are very much grounded in reality. Aśvaghoṣa's magical realism, a kind of thinking, is grounded in the reality which is beyond thinking (though in certain circumstances, as George Soros observantly points out, it can be greatly influenced by human thinking).

The gulf that exists between thinking and reality was at the centre of the teaching of my teacher, Gudo Nishijima. That is why when I went off to explore the work of FM Alexander, who described his work as “an exercise in finding out what thinking is,” Gudo became suspicious of what I was getting into and expressed the hope that I would “come back to Buddhism.”

From where I sit, the one who went astray in this thinking about the relation between thinking and reality was Gudo himself. He fell into what Soros calls “the enlightenment fallacy,” which is that the reasoning observer and the reality he observes must always be absolutely divorced from each other. Whereas the truth, as anybody who persists with Alexander work, or who studies market bubbles, cannot fail to realize, is that human thinking sometimes condition reality -- generally for the worse, but sometimes for the better. 

In such matters as directing the spine to lengthen without accidentally narrowing the back in process, Gudo was blind to the potential practical usefulness of thinking. Nevertheless, in his investigations of how Dogen thought about the reality which is beyond thinking, Gudo astutely recognized an implicit four-phased approach. Progress through four phases, which Gudo sometimes called “three philosophies and one reality” or “subject, object, action, reality (SOAR)” is generally implicit in the structure of four-line Chinese verses and, before them, of four-pāda Sanskrit verses like those we are studying by Aśvaghoṣa. 

Today's verse, then, as I read it, is not only humorous but also deeply philosophical. The 1st line relates to the first noble truth, i.e. to the suffering of the thirsting subject. The 2^nd line can be understood as antithetical to idealism, or to religion, or to the subjective values of the suffering Buddhist subject, in that it puts big snakes (presumably slithering in big trees) above buddhas. The 3^rd line relates to action, namely the action of fanning (which the serpents presumably realised by means of their hoods). And the 4^th line points to a glorious reality which I for one have experienced while sitting outside in springtime under a big tree in blossom.

Instead of giving Gudo what he wanted, which was a translation into English of Nagarjuna's writings which he could call his own, I went off to France and bought a place where I could sit in springtime under a confetti of falling blossoms. I don't regret doing the latter, but in retrospect, if I had manned up and sent my knees more forwards and away, I might have been able to do the former as well. 

VOCABULARY

mahoragāḥ (nom. pl.): m. a great serpent (with jainas and Buddhists a class of demons)

uraga: m. (fr. ura = uras and ga , " breast-going ") , a serpent , snake ; a nāga (semi-divine serpent usually represented with a human face)

dharma-viśeṣa-tarṣād (abl. sg.): out of thirst for choicest dharma

viśeṣa: m. distinction , peculiar merit , excellence , superiority (in comp. often = excellent , superior , choice , distinguished)

buddheṣv (loc. pl.): buddhas

atīteṣu (loc. pl.): mfn. gone by , past

kṛtādhikārāḥ (nom. pl. m.): mfn. superintending, watching over (loc.)

adhikāra: m. authority; rule; office; prerogative; privilege

yam (acc. sg. m.): him (relative pronoun)

avyajan = 3^rd pers. pl. imperfect vyaj: to fan

bhakti-viśiṣṭa-netrāḥ (nom. pl. m.): their eyes exuding attachment

bhakti: f. attachment , devotion , fondness for

viśiṣṭa: mfn. distinguished, distinct; characterized by (comp.); pre-eminent , excellent , excelling in or distinguished by (comp.)

mandāra-puṣpaiḥ (inst. pl.) mandāra flowers, flowers of the coral tree [see also SN10.16]

samavākiran = 3^rd pers. pl. imperfect sam-ava- √ kṝ: to scatter completely over , cover entirely , overwhelm with

ca: and