BUDDHACARITA 8.67: Playing in the Lap of Ancestors

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−   Vaṁśastha

abhāginī yady-aham-āyatekṣaṇaṁ śuci-smitaṁ bhartur-udīkṣituṁ mukham |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−

na manda-bhāgyo 'rhati rāhulo 'py-ayaṁ kadā-cid-aṅke parivartituṁ pituḥ || 8.67

8.67

Even if I am not to be blessed with the good fortune

To behold the brightly smiling face, with its long eyes, of my husband;

[To look up to the brightly smiling face, with its long eyes, of a master;]

Does this poor unfortunate Rāhula deserve

Never to roll around in his father's lap?

[Never to be reborn in the lap of ancestors?]

COMMENT:

Ostensibly Yaśodharā is resorting to another weapon in her emotional arsenal, citing her concern for the son Rāhula whom she bore to the husband who has left her. That being so, bhartur mukham in the 2^nd pāda means “my husband's face” and aṅke pituḥ in the 4^th pāda means “his father's lap.”

In the original Sanskrit, however, there is no possessive pronoun “my” or “his.” This leaves open a way to read today's verse, below the surface, as an invitation to reflect on the complex web of causes and effects whereby Rāhula did in fact come to be reborn in the lap of the ancestors, as a Zen practitioner in his own right. 

The evidence for this rebirth of Rāhula in the lap of the ancestors (and equally his playfull rolling around, or wandering, in the lap of the ancestors) is preserved in The Long Discourse Giving Advice to Rāhula, (Mahārāhulovādasuttaṁ; MN 62).

In this sutra the Buddha advises Rāhula on many different kinds of meditation. At the same time, everything is in the context of Rāhula sitting cross-legged by a tree and directing his whole self upward – an activity which, though it does not manifest much noticeable movement, at least not on the outside, might itself be described as playing in the lap of the ancestors.

The sutra (translated by Ānandajoti Bhikkhu) describes Rāhula thus:

Tato paṭinivattitvā aññatarasmiṁ rukkhamūle nisīdi.
Therefore having turned back he sat down at the root of a certain tree.

Pallaṅkaṁ ābhujitvā, ujuṁ kāyaṁ paṇidhāya,
After folding his legs crosswise, and setting his body straight,

parimukhaṁ satiṁ upaṭṭhapetvā.
he established mindfulness at the front.

And one way of reading this is that setting the body straight, or directing the body upwards, is a preliminary step before establishing mindfulness – taking the absolutive paṇidhāya as an expression of one action followed in time by another independent action, like going to the post office and then to the baker's. 

Another way of reading this is that directing the body upwards is part of the process of establishing mindfulness (a process in which establishing mindfulness might, conversely have a role to play in directing the body upwards). The absolutive paṇidhāya in the latter reading expresses a prior action upon which the subsequent action depends, like going to the post office and buying a stamp, or like going to the baker's and buying a loaf.

From where I sit, a lot of investigation is being done in Buddhist and scientific circles about what mindfulness meditation is and how to practice it. Less attention tends to be paid to the matter of setting the body straight, or directing the body upwards, or directing the whole self upwards – as if we all already knew what that might  mean. 

If true mindfulness and truly directing oneself upwards form a virtuous circle, then, I admit, it does not matter from which side one joins in. 

But if the circuit has somehow got blocked so that the virtuous circle is not working, then the problem might be in a practitioner's lack of true mindfulness, and, equally, the problem might be in a practitioner's taking it for granted that he knows what it means to set the body straight or to direct the body upwards. 

It is against the latter kind of misconception that the teaching of FM Alexander is an antidote of inestimable value. Alexander saw with unrivalled clarity that in civilized societies almost every person's circuit tends easily to get blocked by what he called "faulty sensory appreciation," centered on faulty working of the vestibular system. 

This much, at least, I have gleaned from my 54 years. The vestibular system is much more fundamental, and much less reliable, than we tend to assume. 

VOCABULARY 

abhāginī (nom. sg. f.): mfn. having no share

bhāgin: mfn. entitled to or receiving or possessing a share , partaking of , blessed with , concerned in , responsible for (loc. , gen. or comp.)

bhāginī: f. a co-heiress

yadi: if

aham: I

āyatekṣaṇam (acc. sg. n.): with its lengthened eyes

āyata: mfn. lengthened ; extended , long

īkṣaṇa: n. a look , view , aspect sight ; eye

śuci-smitam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. smiling brightly

bhartur (gen. sg.): m. a preserver , protector , maintainer , chief , lord , master ; a husband

udīkṣitum = inf. ud- √ īkṣ : to look up to ; to look at , regard , view , behold ; to wait , delay , hesitate ; to expect

mukham (acc. sg.): n. face

na: not

manda-bhāgyaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. unfortunate , ill-fated , unhappy

manda: mfn. slow, idle, lazy ; unhappy , miserable ; ill

bhāgya: mfn. (fr. bhāga) entitled to a share ; lucky, fortunate

arhati = 3^rd pers. sg. arh: to deserve to

rāhulaḥ (nom. sg.): m. Rāhula; n. of a son of gautama buddha

api: even

ayam (nom. sg. m.): this

kadā-cit: ind. at some time or other , sometimes , once (na = never)

aṅke (loc. sg.): m. a hook , curve ; the curve in the human , especially the female , figure above the hip (where infants sitting , astride are carried by mothers hence often = " breast " or " lap ")

parivartitum = inf. pari- √ vṛt: to turn round , revolve , move in a circle or to and fro , roll or wheel or wander about , circumambulate (acc.) ; to be reborn in (loc.)

pituḥ (gen. sg.): a father; m. pl. (°taras) the fathers , forefathers , ancestors , (esp.) the pitṛs or deceased ancestors ; m. a father and his brothers , father and uncles , paternal ancestors

羅睺羅何故 不蒙於膝下

BUDDHACARITA 8.66: The Chariot of a Mind

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−   Vaṁśastha

na khalv-iyaṁ svarga-sukhāya me sphā na taj-janasyātmavato 'pi dur-labham |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−

sa tu priyo mām-iha vā paratra vā kathaṁ na jahyād-iti me mano-rathaḥ || 8.66

8.66

This longing in me is truly not for the happiness of paradise

(Nor is that happiness hard for a determined person to achieve),

But how might I never be deserted by what I hold most dear?

– That is the chariot of my mind.

COMMENT:

If we look for hidden meaning in today's verse, the question to ask might be what is the one thing that a bodhisattva holds most dear.

What is the one thing a bodhisattva holds most dear?

Not the fleeting personal happiness of paradise, for a start.

One answer might be that what a bodhisattva holds most dear is the bodhi-mind itself, i.e. the will to understand what can be understood, not only for one's own benefit but for the benefit of the world.

Hence in BC Canto 5 the Buddha says to Kanthaka:

“Fully appreciate, then, this act of mine, yoked to dharma, of getting out, proceeding from here, for the welfare of the world; / And exert yourself, O best of horses, with quick and bold steps, for your own good and the good of the world.”//BC5.78//

As a kind of confirmation of this line of thought, Dogen wrote somewhere in Shobogenzo something to the effect, if memory serves, that the thing he feared most was not aging, sickness and death, and not cold or hunger, but the thing Dogen feared most was being deserted by the will to the truth.

In the glossary of Aśvaghoṣa's favourite terms with double meanings,

m is for mārga (way, lit. and fig.);

m is for mahārham (very precious; white sandalwood);

m is for madhya-stha (being in the middle; being in the air; being neutral);

m is for mada (intoxication) and for madā (lust or pride or intoxicating substance);

m is for mukha (mouth, face, or fore-part);

m is for mama-tā (selfishness or really owning oneself);

m is for mūla (root, lit. and fig., foundation);

m is for mokṣa (release from worldly existence, or untying [of hair], or shedding [tears]);

m is for mati (intention or mind, or view);

m is for mukuṭa (crown, headdress, head);

m is for muhur (in a moment / suddenly, at every moment / constantly);

m is for mūrdha-ja (a head-born hair, or a head-born thought); and

m is for mano-ratha (a heart's desire, or the chariot of a mind).

The ratha of mano-ratha may derive from the root √ṛ, to go (hence “goer,” chariot) or from the root √ram, to delight (hence joy or desire).

In today's verse, as ostensibly the expression of an emotional woman's romantic sentiment, me mano-rathaḥ means “my heart's desire” (EBC/EHJ: my one desire).

But in SN Canto 5, in describing Nanda's establishment of the bodhi-mind, Aśvaghoṣa picks up the sense of mano-rathaḥ meaning the chariot of a person's mind:

Turning back from heaven, the chariot of his mind (mano-rathaḥ), whose horse was willpower, / Was like a great chariot (mahā rathaḥ) turned back from a wrong road by an attentive charioteer. // SN12.5 //

Consequently Nanda tells the Buddha:

Now that I have seen through the whole world of man, with its changeability and its fixity, / It is the eradicator of all suffering, your most excellent dharma, that I rejoice in. // SN12.16 // Therefore, in detail and in summary, could you please communicate it to me, / O Best of Listeners, so that through listening I might come to the ultimate step.” // SN12.17 //

Then, knowing from where he was coming, and that, though his senses were set against it, / A better way was now emerging, the Realised One spoke: // 12.18 //

"Aha! This gaining of a foothold is the harbinger of a higher good in you, / As, when a firestick is rubbed, rising smoke is the harbinger of fire. // 12.19 // Long carried off course by the restless horses of the senses, / You have now set foot on a path, with a clarity of vision that, happily, will not dim. // 12.20 // Today your birth bears fruit; your gain today is great; / For though you know the taste of love, your mind is yearning for indifference. // 12.21 // In this world which likes what is close to home, a fondness for non-doing is rare; / For men shrink from the end of becoming like the puerile from the edge of a cliff. // 12.22 // People think 'there might be no suffering, just happiness for me!' And as they labour under this illusion, / Any respite from incessant suffering they sense not as such, but as happiness. // 12.23 // Upon whims which are transient and akin to enemies, forever causing suffering, / Upon things like love, the world is fixed. It does not know the happiness that is immune to change. // 12.24 // But that deathless nectar which prevents all suffering you have in your hands: / It is an antidote which, having drunk poison, you are going in good time to drink...."// SN12.25 //

The Buddha as I hear him in this passage is not saying that the nectar of immortality should be a bodhisattva's one desire. The gist is rather that, because the chariot of a bodhisattva's mind, by definition, is going in the right direction, a bodhisattva already has the nectar of immortality in his hands.

Ostensibly then, in today's verse, Yaśodharā is saying that her heart's desire is never to be separated from the man she holds most dear.

“How might the man I hold most dear never desert me? – That is my heart's desire!”

But below the surface Yaśodharā's words might be inferring that what a bodhisattva holds most dear is just the deathless nectar which is the chariot of a her mind.

“How might I never be deserted by what I hold most dear – that is, the chariot of my mind?”

VOCABULARY 

na: not

khalu: ind. (as a particle of asseveration) indeed , verily , certainly , truly

iyam (nom. sg. f.): this

svarga-sukhāya (dat. sg.): heavenly happiness, paradise

svarga: mfn. going or leading to or being in light or heaven , heavenly , celestial ; m. heaven , the abode of light and of the gods , heavenly bliss , (esp.) indra's heaven or paradise

sukha: n. ease , easiness , comfort , prosperity , pleasure , happiness

me (gen. sg.): of/in me

sphā (nom. sg.): f. eager desire , desire , covetousness , envy , longing for , pleasure or delight in (dat.)

na: not

tad (acc. sg.): that

janasya (gen. sg.): m. a person ; m. a common person , one of the people

ātmavataḥ (gen. sg. m.): mfn. having a soul ; self-possessed , composed , prudent

ātman; m. the soul; essence , nature , character ; effort ; (= dhṛti) firmness

api: even.

dur-labham (acc. sg.): mfn. difficult to be obtained or found , hard , scarce , rare

sa (nom. sg. m.): he

tu: but

priyaḥ (nom. sg.): m. friend; lover, husband, beloved ; mfn. beloved , dear to (gen. loc. dat. or comp.) , liked , favourite , wanted , own; dear , expensive , high in price ; fond of attached or devoted to (loc.)

mām (acc. sg. f.): me

iha: ind. in this world, here and now

vā: or

paratra: ind. elsewhere , in another place , in a future state or world , hereafter

vā: or

katham: ind. how?

na: not

jahyāt = 3^rd pers. sg. optative hā: to leave , abandon , desert , quit , forsake

iti: thus

me (gen. sg.): my

mano-rathaḥ (nom. sg. m.): " heart's joy "; a wish , desire ; the heart compared to a car

ratha: 1. (√ṛ, to go): m. " goer " , a chariot ; 2. m. ( √ ram, to delight) pleasure , joy , delight

以我薄命故 夫妻生別離

[relation with Sanskrit tenuous] 

BUDDHACARITA 8.65: Physically Being There

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−   Vaṁśastha

iyaṁ tu cintā mama kīdśaṁ nu tā vapur-guṇaṁ bibhrati tatra yoṣitaḥ |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−

vane yad-arthaṁ sa tapāṁsi tapyate śriyaṁ ca hitvā mama bhaktim-eva ca || 8.65

8.65

But this concern I do have –

What kind of physical excellence 
do those women possess who are there?

On which account he undergoes austerities in the forest,

Having abandoned not only royal power but also my loving devotion.

COMMENT:

Ostensibly what is bothering Yaśodharā is jealous thoughts about apsarases in Indra's heaven, so that tatra yoṣitaḥ means “the women in that world,” and vapur-guṇam means physical attributes like upturned breasts, lotus-like faces, and all the rest of it.

Another way of reading today's verse is to understand that, below the surface, tu (but) might be signalling a change of tack, so that hitherto Yaśodharā has been wasting her breath lamenting, or at least venting, on the basis of her ancient Indian conceptions of dharma, but in today's verse her thinking takes a more constructive turn.

In that case tatra yoṣitaḥ, “women who are there,” are a symbol of the Zen practitioners of the ten directions and three times who are in the state towards which Yaśodharā's husband is now directing himself. And in that case kīdṛśaṁ nu tā vapur-guṇaṁ bibhrati, “What kind of physical excellence do they possess?” might be a very good question.

FM Alexander described Alexander work as the most mental thing there is. It is the most mental thing there is because it centers on the decision not to do (aka inhibiting) and the thinking of directions such as “head to go forward and up” (aka directing). But the criterion of success or failure in this inhibiting and directing is whether the head keeps pulling back and down, or whether it is allowed to release in the opposite direction (forward and up) so that the back can lengthen and widen and so that breathing can happen freely and fully.

Now when we stop and reflect on it, as I have just spent the last hour doing, this head and this back, and this act of breathing out and breathing in, are never mental constructs.

That being so, to sit upright with one's knees on a mat on the floor and one's sitting bones drilling down into a round black cushion, is a very excellent laboratory for testing out the relation between thinking and physical criteria of excellence.

“What kind of physical excellence do those possess who are there?”

For a start, I would venture, in response to Yaśodharā's question, they don't gasp in a panic-stricken manner for air, pulling their heads back unduly in the process, and then on the out-breath stammer out a load of old nonsense in a voice choking with emotion about dharma having favourites....

But lest this sounds too critical, I think Aśvaghoṣa's secret intention behind today's verse is to credit Yaśodharā for asking a question that is a valid concern (cintā), taking concern to mean “a matter for consideration” rather than “anxious thought.” So the ostensible meaning of iyaṁ cintā in today's verse is "this anxious thought" but the real meaning might be "this matter for consideration" or "this thought." 

VOCABULARY

iyam (nom. sg. f.): this

tu: but

cintā (nom. sg.: f. thought , care , anxiety , anxious thought ; consideration

mama (gen. sg.): of mine

kīdṛśam (acc. sg. m.): of what kind? what like? ; of what use? i.e. useless

nu: ind. now, indeed ; sometimes it lays stress upon a preceding word , esp. an interr. pronoun or particle

tā (nom. pl. f.): those [women]

vapur-guṇam (acc. sg.): m. personal beauty [EBC: the attributes which belong to bodies; EHJ: excellent beauty; PO: bodily splendor]

vapus: mfn. having form or a beautiful form , embodied , handsome , wonderful ; n. form , figure , (esp.) a beautiful form or figure , wonderful appearance , beauty ; n. the body

guṇa: m. a quality , peculiarity , attribute or property ; good quality , virtue , merit , excellence

bibhrati = 3^rd pers. pl. bhṛ: to bear , carry , convey , hold ; to bear i.e. contain , possess , have , keep

tatra: ind. there

yoṣitaḥ (nom. pl.): f. a girl , maiden , young woman , wife

vane (loc. sg.): n. the forest

yad-artham: ind. on which account , for which purpose , wherefore , why

sa (nom. sg. m.): he

tapāṁsi (acc. pl.): n. ascetic practices, austerities

tapyate = 3^rd pers. sg. passive tap: to be heated or burnt , become hot ; to be purified by austerities (as the soul); to suffer or feel pain ; to suffer pain voluntarily , undergo austerity (tapas)

śriyam (acc. sg.): f. light , lustre , radiance , splendour , glory , beauty ; prosperity , welfare , good fortune , success , auspiciousness , wealth , treasure , riches (śriyā , " according to fortune or wealth ") , high rank , power , might , majesty , royal dignity

ca: and

hitvā = abs. hā: to abandon, quit

mama (gen. sg.): my

bhaktim (acc. sg.): f. attachment , devotion , fondness for , devotion to (with loc. , gen. or ifc.) , trust , homage , worship , piety , faith or love or devotion

eva: (emphatic)

ca: and

爲何勝徳色 修習於苦行

BUDDHACARITA 8.64: A Partial Dharma

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−   Vaṁśastha

dhruvaṁ sa jānan mama dharma-vallabho manaḥ priyerṣyā-kalahaṁ muhur-mithaḥ |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−

sukhaṁ vibhīr-mām-apahāya rosaṇāṁ mahendra-loke 'psaraso jighkṣati || 8.64

8.64

Evidently, as dharma's beloved, he left me suddenly and in secret,

Knowing that my mind would be violently jealous

where he, my own darling, was concerned.

Having so easily and fearlessly deserted me in my anger,

He is wishing to obtain heavenly nymphs in the world of Great Indra!

COMMENT:

Judaism, Christianity, Islaam, Buddhism... all religions, so people say, come down to the same thing. Maybe so, but today's verse, as I read it, contains below the surface a reminder not to include the Buddha-dharma along with the -isms in that list.

Ostensibly today's verse concerns a wife's jealousy: Yaśodharā, in jumping to a wrong conclusion, is at least being open and honest about her own jealousy. She is portraying herself and dharma as jealous rivals for her husband's love.

Below the surface, however, today's verse is the fourth in a series of four verses that have stimulated us to clarify what the Buddha-dharma is NOT.

The point as I take it is that, unlike the jealous God of Judaism, Christianity, and Islaam, the Buddha-dharma has no beloved ones, no favourites, no chosen people. So that when Yaśodharā speaks of her husband being a dharma-vallabhaḥ, a favourite of the dharma, the dharma she is talking about cannot be the Buddha-dharma.

EBC missed and obscured this point when he translated dharma-vallabhaḥ as “this fond lover of religion.”

EHJ responded to EBC's mistake by noting: The exact significance of the first line is not clear to me. Vallabha can only mean 'beloved of,' not 'fond of.' Therefore dharma-vallabha is 'the favourite of dharma,' and so 'distinguished for it.'

EHJ consequently translated: “Being distinguished for dharma, he must have held my mind to be secretly and repeatedly given to jealousy and quarrelling.”

In each of the three professors' translations, muhur mithaḥ is thus taken as describing Yaśodharā's mind (EHJ: my mind to be secretly (mithaḥ) and repeatedly (muhur) given to...). But I have taken muhur mithaḥ as describing the prince's exit, suddenly (muhur) and in secret  (mithaḥ) . In that case, the two elements at the end of the 2^nd pāda and the two elements at the beginning of the 3^rd pāda form a series of four elements describing the prince's desertion of his wife as

1. muhur (momentary),

2. mithaḥ (secret),

3. sukham (easy),

4. vibhīḥ (fearless).

When four elements are thus presented in a series, I usually seek to understand them in four phases; but momentariness, for a start, generally belongs to the third phase (where subject meets object in the moment of the present) and so that approach initially looks unpromising here.

On further reflection, and re-reading the end of BC Canto 5, it is true that

1. the desire to leave is described as suddenly springing up in the prince's mind;

2. the escape was secret in the sense of not observed by others;

3. the action of leaving flowed with spontaneous ease; and

4. prince and horse together exhibited fearlessness.

Whether this interpretation is valid or not, I can say with confidence that

(a) it fills the word vibhīḥ (fearless) with more meaning;

(b) it has helped me (when commiting today's verse to short-term memory) to remember the four elements in their original sequence.

In any event, the exact significance EHJ refers to in his note, as I see that significance, is this: By describing her husband as 'the favourite of dharma,' Yaśodharā was expressing the implicit view that the dharma can have favourites, and Aśvaghoṣa is inviting us to see exactly that this is just the wrong view of an emotional woman.

Does this have anything to do with American exceptionalism, the bubble of US supremacy, the New Great Game, the decline through 2013 of the price of gold, and the accumulation of physical gold by the central banks and citizens of Russia and China? I suspect it does, in some way that I do not yet clearly understand. 

I did witness the inflation and bursting of the bubble of “Japan as Number One” during the 1980s and early 1990s, during which time I heard my own Zen teacher say, in a lecture in English, “I believe that Master Dogen is the most excellent Zen master in the history of Japan. Therefore I believe that Master Dogen is the most excellent Zen master in the history of the world.”

Dogen himself asserted that the Buddha-dharma is sitting and sitting is the Buddha-dharma. If this is Dogen's conclusion, for those of us who consider ourselves to be Dogen's dharma-descendants, it might be a good starting point. So what, in the end, is the Buddha-dharma? I don't know. But yesterday's verse seems, below the surface, to say it is nothing sacred. And today's verse seems to say it is nothing partial. 

So anybody who thinks that the Buddha-dharma is especially partial to, say, America, or Tibet, or Japan might, in Aśvaghoṣa's book as I read it, be deluding themselves – and in so deluding themselves creating the conditions for the inflation and subsequent inevitable bursting of the kind of bubble of arrogance against which Dogen warned in the 2^nd section of his instructions for sitting, Fukan-zazengi.

However, if there is a thousandth or a hundredth of a gap, heaven and earth are far apart, and if a trace of disagreement arises, we lose the mind in confusion. Even if, proud of our understanding and richly endowed with enlightenment, we obtain special states of insight, attain the truth, clarify the mind, manifest a zeal that pierces the sky, and ramble through those remote spheres that are entered with the head; we have almost completely lost the vigorous path of getting the body out. 

God bless America? God save us all from the delusion of American exceptionalism, more like. 

VOCABULARY 

dhruvam: ind. firmly , constantly , certainly , surely

sa (nom. sg. m.): he

jānan = nom. sg. m. pres. part jñā: to know

mama (gen. sg.): my

dharma-vallabhaḥ (nom. sg. m.): dharma's favourite

vallabha: mfn. beloved above all , desired , dear to (gen. loc. , or comp.) ; a favourite , friend , lover , husband

vallabhā: f. a beloved female , wife , mistress

manaḥ (acc. sg.); n. mind

priyerṣyā-kalaham (acc. sg. n.): having strife due to being jealous about my husband

priya: m. a lover , husband

īrṣyā: f. envy or impatience of another's success; spite, malice ; jealousy

kalaha: m. strife , contention , quarrel , fight ; the sheath of a sword; a road, way; deceit ; violence without murderous weapons , abuse , beating , kicking

priye [EBC] (loc. sg.): m. a lover , husband

api : even

ākalaham [EBC: quarrelling]

muhur: ind. suddenly , at once , in a moment ; for a moment, for a while ; at every moment , constantly , incessantly

mithaḥ: ind. together , together with (instr.) , mutually , reciprocally , alternately , to or from or with each other ; privately , in secret ; by contest or dispute

sukham: ind. easily , comfortably , pleasantly , joyfully , willingly

vibhīḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. fearless

bhī: f. fear , apprehension , fright , alarm , dread

mām (acc. sg. f.): me

apahāya = abs. apa- √ hā: to run away from (abl.) or off

rosaṇām (acc. sg. f.): mfn. angry , wrathful , passionate , enraged

mahendra-loke (loc. sg.): in the world of great Indra

apsarasaḥ (acc. pl.): f. apsarases, celestial nymphs

jighṛkṣati = loc. sg. m. desid. pres. par. grah: to seize, take ; " to take by the hand in the marriage ceremony " , marry ; to take possession of , gain over , captivate

或見我嫉惡 更求無嫉者
或當嫌薄我 更求淨天女 

BUDDHACARITA 8.63: What the Buddha Left Behind

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−   Vaṁśastha

makheṣu vā veda-vidhāna-saṁsktau na daṁpatī paśyati dīkṣitāv-ubhau |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−

samaṁ bubhukṣū parato 'pi tat-phalaṁ tato 'sya jāto mayi dharma-matsaraḥ || 8.63

8.63

Or else he fails to see that, during sacrificial oblations,

Both husband and wife are consecrated,

both being sanctified through Vedic rites,

And both wishing thereafter to enjoy together

the fruit of that sanctification –

Out of such blindness is born

the besotted stinginess with dharma that he has shown towards me.

COMMENT:

Freedom can exist inside and outside of a house or a temple and inside and outside of marriage. But religious dharma as a rule is all about the opposite of freedom; namely, fixing.

That being so, Yaśodharā as I hear her  is expressing in her lament the very thing that the Buddha-to-be wishes to get the hell away from.

Similarly when Dogen asserted that the Buddha-dharma is just to sit and just to sit is the Buddha-dharma, what he was pointing to, as I hear him, is not necessarily a religious dharma, but quite possibly a totally irreligious dharma.

Because what has the act of sitting got to do with religion? And what has the direction “Let the head go forward and up, while letting the back lengthen and widen” got to do with religion?

That act and that dharma-direction, in my book, are the essence of the Buddha-dharma whose relation to the dharma of religious rites is like the relation between the sun and darkness.

Still, the 4^th pāda of today's verse remains a difficult one to translate. A literal translation would be something like:

“Thence is born in him towards me this dharma-selfishness/stinginess.”

EBC translated: “he therefore grudges me a share in his merit.”

EHJ: “therefore he has become miserly of dharma towards me.”

PO: “That's the reason why he acts selfishly with respect to dharma concerning me.”

Matsaraḥ is given in the dictionary as selfishness, envy, jealousy, but it probably derives from the root  √mad, and therefore has connotations of exhilaration or intoxication, so dharma-matsaraḥ might be translated “besotted stinginess with dharma” – or, more simply, “selfishness about dharma.” At time of writing this comment, I still haven't decided which translation to opt for. 

“Besotted stinginess with dharma” might have the advantage of bringing out the irony in Yaśodharā's words, since she might truly be the blindly besotted one, who would like to bind her husband to herself using the mouldy old rope of a religious conception of dharma.

The main point of today's verse, then, as I read it, is to cause us to reflect further on the Venn diagram wherein there might be some superficial overlap between two conceptions of dharma, but also, more importantly, a vast area that Yaśodharā hasn't glimpsed even in her dreams.

Thus, if we substitute for “dharma” the English words Nature or Direction, EBC's translation could become “he therefore grudges me a share in Nature” and EHJ's could become something like “therefore he has become miserly  towards me in the matter of the Direction of the Universe.”

Insofar as the Buddha-dharma might be wider still than even Nature, or Direction, to represent it with a closed circle in a Venn diagram, on reflection, might be to insult it. Many arrows pointing away from the old conception of dharma might be more like it. 

The point, in conclusion, is that Yaśodharā's lament is rooted in a very limited appreciation of dharma which is all bound up with ancient Indian thinking. 

A prevailing current in the ocean of Buddhist studies is that Aśvaghoṣa sought to portray the Buddha-dharma as a teaching that evolved out of the ancient Indian conception of dharma. I think Yaśodharā, on the evidence of the present series of verses, would have found herself in agreement with that line of thought. But the dharma of the Buddha himself and of Aśvaghoṣa himself might be to abandon that idea -- to cut that conception out, by the dharma of directed sitting.

VOCABULARY 

makheṣu (loc. pl. m.): mfn. jocund , cheerful , sprightly , vigorous ; m. jocund , cheerful , sprightly , vigorous ; m. a sacrifice , sacrificial oblation

vā: or

veda-vidhāna-saṁskṛtau (acc. dual): initiated into the performance of Vedic rites

veda: m. (fr. √vid, to know) knowledge , true or sacred knowledge or lore , knowledge of ritual ; N. of certain celebrated works which constitute the basis of the first period of the Hindu religion (these works were primarily three , viz. 1. the ṛg-veda , 2. the yajur-veda 3. the sāma-veda)

vidhāna: n. order , measure , disposition , arrangement , regulation , rule , precept , method , manner ; n. performance (esp. of prescribed acts or rites) , execution , making , doing , accomplishing

saṁskṛta: mfn. put together , constructed , well or completely formed , perfected; made ready , prepared , completed , finished ; purified , consecrated , sanctified , hallowed , initiated

na: not

dampatī (acc. dual): " the two masters " , husband and wife

dampati: the lord of the house

paśyati = 3^rd pers. sg. paś: to see (with na " to be blind ")

dīkṣitau (acc. dual): mfn. consecrated

ubhau (acc. dual): both

samam: ind. in like manner , alike , equally , similarly ; ind. together with or at the same time with

bubhukṣū (acc. dual): mfn. (fr. Desid. of √bhuj) desirous of enjoying

bubhukṣu: mfn. wishing to eat , hungry ; desirous of worldly enjoyment (opp. to mumukṣu)

bhuj: to enjoy , use , possess , (esp.) enjoy a meal

parataḥ: ind. farther , far off , afterwards

api: also

tat-phalam (acc. sg.): the fruit of that

phala: n. fruit (met.) , consequence , effect , result , retribution (good or bad) , gain or loss , reward or punishment , advantage or disadvantage ; benefit

tataḥ: ind. thence, from that

asya (gen. sg.): of this one, in him

jātaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. born

mayi (loc. sg.): towards me

dharma-matsaraḥ (nom. sg. m.): selfishness in relation to dharma

matsara: mfn. (prob. fr. √ mad) , exhilarating , intoxicating ; selfish , greedy ; m. the exhilarater , gladdener (soma) ; m. selfishness , envy , jealousy , hostility

梵志祠祀典 夫妻必同行
同行法爲因 終則同受報
汝何獨法慳 棄我而隻遊

BUDDHACARITA 8.62: Wanting Freedom vs Wanting to Do Dharma

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−   Vaṁśastha

śṇoti nūnaṁ sa na pūrva-pārthivān mahāsudarśa-prabhtīn pitā-mahān |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−

vanāni patnī-sahitān-upeyuṣas-tathā hi dharmaṁ mad-te cikīrṣati || 8.62

8.62

He surely has never heard of the earth-lords of ancient times,

Such as 'Very Beautiful to Behold' Mahā-su-darśa 
and other ancestors,

Who went into the woods accompanied by their wives –

Since thus he wishes, without me, to perform dharma.

COMMENT:

The directions “Let the head go forward and up, while letting the back lengthen and widen” are words and at the same time are directions. Those directions, in my book, are dharma as directions and directions as dharma. But they are nothing that anybody can do.

The above paragraph of commentary might not sound like much, but it is the fruit of thirty years of painful struggle. For that reason, as discussed yesterday, I am alert to Yaśodharā's description of her husband's desire to do dharma – as if dharma were some kind of thing to be performed, like a religious ceremony or like sitting in lotus as an ascetic practice.

Yesterday I considered dharma, comparing and contrasting what Yaśodharā might have meant by dharma with the use of the term dharma in SN Canto 18.

Today I will consider Yaśodharā's description of her husband's “wanting to do,” with reference to the earlier cantos of Buddha-carita in which Aśvaghoṣa describes, and the Buddha-to-be declares in his own words, what he wants.

Before beginning that investigation, a thought about the reference in today's verse to Mahā-su-darśa:

EBC notes that Mahāsudassana is the name of a king in Jātaka I, 95.

EHJ notes further that Mahāsudarśa is presumably the Mahāsudassana of the geneologies of the Dipavaṁsa and Mahāvaṁsa.

Why did Aśvaghoṣa alight upon this particular royal ancestor? Could a clue be in the name mahā-su-darśa, “Very Good Looking”? Is the cynical implication that an ancestor who looked like George Clooney would have been all the more likely to be followed into the ascetic forest by his dutiful, dharma-doing wife?

In any event, what strikes me as truly noteworthy in today's verse is the repetition of the formula in which dharma is the object of a desire to do or to perform. Yesterday the phrase was dharmaṁ kartum-icchati, “he wishes to do/perform dharma”; today the phrase is dharmaṁ cikīrṣati, which again means “he wishes to do/perform dharma.” Both phrases are desiderative forms of dharmaṁ kṛ, which the dictionary gives as “to do one's duty.”

In Yaśodharā's mind, her husband has been motivated by a desire to go into the woods and do something, i.e. to perform an ascetic dharma.

That being so, it may be instructive to review BC Cantos 3 & 4, and especially BC Canto 5, and recall what Aśvaghoṣa, and what the Buddha-to-be himself, said about his motivation and desire.

In the first place, as described at length in Canto 3 titled “Arising of Nervous Excitement,” the prince's fear reflexes were excited by manifestations of aging, sickness, and death. So, for example, Aśvaghoṣa describes him thus:

And so he whose mind had been cleansed by good intentions, before the fact, he who had heaped up piles of good karma, through long kalpas, by his acts, / When he heard about growing old, recoiled mightily, like a bull hearing the crash of a nearby thunderbolt.//BC3.34//

In Canto 4 the Buddha-to-be expresses this nervous agitation in his own words:

“I, in contrast, am fearful – I am exceedingly agitated, as I contemplate the terror of aging, death, and disease; / I know neither peace nor constancy, much less enjoyment, seeing the world blazing as if it were on fire. //BC4.98//

Out of this state of nervous agitation arises a desire for tranquillity, like a desire to get out of a burning house. As described in BC Canto 5, it is not a desire to do or perform dharma – although the buddha-to-be does speak of

• “my knowing this most excellent dharma [i.e. sitting-meditation]” (paramaṁ dharmam-imaṁ vijānato me; BC5.13).
• turning to dharma (patitasyāpadi dharma-saṁśraye; BC5.76).
• this my act of getting out, being yoked to dharma (dharma-yuktaṁ mama niryāṇam; BC5.78)

Nowhere in BC Canto 5, however, does either Aśvaghoṣa or the Buddha-to-be himself express the kind of desire to do or to perform dharma that Yaśodharā ascribes to her husband. The desire is rather a desire

• for tranquillity,
• for solitude,
• for the benefit of others,
• for an end to aging and dying,
• for the happiness of complete extinction,
• for a wandering life of freedom,
• for escape from a burning house,
• for ultimate riches,
• for escape,
• for the nectar of immortality,
• for the deathless step.

So plenty of desire is expressed in BC Canto 5, but none of it is desire to do or to perform dharma. Thus:

[Aśvaghoṣa]

Then one day, attended by sons of ministers, whose diverse chatter would make them suitable companions, / Since, in his desire for tranquillity, he wanted to visit the forest, with the king's permission he set off out. //5.2//

And desiring to be alone with his thoughts, he fended away those amicable hangers on / And drew close to the root of a solitary rose-apple tree whose abundant plumage fluttered agreeably all around. //5.8//

[Buddha-to-be]

For if I here, being like that myself, should disavow another in the same condition, / That would not be worthy of me, or conduce to my knowing this most excellent dharma.” //5.13 //

[Aśvaghoṣa]

Desiring to put an end to aging and dying, he had – while remaining mindful –  directed his thinking towards living in the forest, / And yet he reluctantly re-entered the city, like a mighty elephant from the jungle entering a ring. //5.23 //

Then, he of battle-cry like roaring thunder-cloud, listened to this cry of woe, and experienced a calmness most profound; / For as he heard the words “perfectly contented,” he set his mind on the matter of pari-nirvāṇa – the happiness of complete extinction. //5.25 //

Bowing down with hollowed hands joined, he said: “Grant me, O god among men, proper assent! / I desire to go wandering, for the sake of liberation, since, for a man such as I am, the invariable rule is separation.” //5.28//

Then he who had the moment of Meru  addressed his momentous relative: “Whether or not this turns out to be a way, I ought not to be held back; / For when a house is being consumed by fire, it is not right to stop a man who seeks a way out. //5.37 //

But even those ultimate instruments, on a par with heavenly harps, gave him no pleasure nor any joy. / His desire, as a sincere man going straight for his goal, was to get out, in pursuit of the happiness of ultimate riches; and therefore he was not in the mood for play. //5.46//

When he had seen this deficiency in the other, the desire sprang up in him to escape in the night; / Whereupon, under the influence of gods, who were steeped in this mind, the entrance of the palace was found to be wide open [the way to freedom from existence was seen to be wide open.] //5.66 //

He woke that ready runner of the fleet of foot, the stableman Chandaka, and addressed him as follows: / “Bring me in haste the horse Kanthaka! I wish today to flee from here, in order to obtain the nectar of immortality. //5.68 //

[Buddha-to-be]

"Often indeed has a lord of the earth expelled enemies while riding in battle on you! / So that I too might realise the deathless step, O best of horses, act! //5.75// 

Readily indeed are companions found when the battle is joined, or in the happiness at the gaining of the end, when the booty is acquired; / But companions are hard for a man to find when he is getting into trouble  – or when he is turning to dharma. //5.76//

Fully appreciate, then, this act of mine, yoked to dharma, of getting out, proceeding from here, for the welfare of the world; / And exert yourself, O best of horses,  with quick and bold steps, for your own good and the good of the world.” //5.78 // 

[Aśvaghoṣa]

Having thus exhorted the best of horses, as if exhorting a friend to his duty, and desiring to ride into the forest, / The best of men with his handsome form, bright as fire, climbed aboard the white horse, Like the sun aboard an autumn cloud, up above. //5.79//

Then he with the lengthened eyes of a lotus – one born of mud, not of water – surveyed the city and roared a lion's roar: / “Until I have seen the far shore of birth and death, I shall never again enter the city named after Kapila.” //BC5.84//

The above might seem like a lot of sand-counting, or nit-picking, but the difference between the will to do and the desire to be free is a big one and a profound one. Just how big and just how profound the difference is might be a secret known only to those who have struggled with it.

If we take as a starting point Dogen's assertion that the Buddha-dharma is to sit, and to sit is the Buddha-dharma, the nub of the matter is how to sit. After more than thirty years investigating the nub of the matter, studying the words of ancient Zen patriarchs and sitting in lotus four times a day, I do not know how to sit any more than I know how to breathe. But I have picked up along the way – largely thanks to the teaching of FM Alexander – some clues about how NOT to sit. 

Thirty years ago my mind was much more oriented towards learning what to do. Nowadays I am more focused on knowing what NOT to do, in the practical context of not doing it. On that basis, I see the expression in yesterday's verse about wishing to do dharma as a kind of red flag. And just in case we missed that red flag yesterday, here the same expression is again, in almost the same form, in today's verse too.

VOCABULARY 

śṛṇoti = 3^rd pers. sg. śru: to hear, listen ; to hear (from a teacher) , study , learn

nūnam: ind. (esp. in later lang.) certainly , assuredly , indeed (also in questions e.g. kadā n° , when indeed?

sa (nom. sg. m.): he

na: not

pūrva-pārthivān (acc. pl. m.):

pūrva: mfn. former , prior , preceding , previous; ancient, old ; m. an ancestor , forefather (pl. the ancients , ancestors)

pārthiva: m. an inhabitant of the earth ; m. a lord of the earth , king , prince , warrior

mahāsudarśa-prabhṛtīn: Mahā-sudarśa and other [kings]

mahā-sudarśa: m. N. of a king Bcar.

su-darśa: mfn. easily seen , conspicuous ; beautiful to see , lovely

prabhṛti: beginning , commencement (ifc. = " commencing with " or " et caetera " )

pitā-mahān (acc. pl.): m. a paternal grandfather ; pl. the Pitris or ancestors

vanāni (acc. pl.): n. the woods

patnī-sahitān (acc. pl. m.): accompanied by their wives

patnī: a female possessor , mistress ; a wife

sahita: mfn. accompanied or attended by

upeyuṣaḥ = acc. pl. m. past perfect participle upa- √i: to go or come or step near , approach , betake one's self to , arrive at , meet with , turn towards

tathā: ind. thus, in such a manner

tataḥ [Gawronski]: ind. thence, from that, consquently

sa [Gawronski]: he

hi [EHJ]: for

dharmam (acc. sg.): m. dharma

mad-ṛte: without me

ṛte: ind. under pain of , with the exclusion of , excepting , besides , without

cikīrṣati = 3^rd pers. sg. desid. kṛ: to do, perform

古昔諸先勝 大快見王等
斯皆夫妻倶 學道遊林野
而今捨於我 爲求何等法