The value of this canto, as I read it, is to help the reader be clear in regard to what makes the shramaNa, the striver, strive. When I go on a cycle ride to the other side of the River Thame and back again, which involves pedalling my increasingly flabby middle-aged body up two big hills, cycling up the two big hills is hard work but it doesn't necessarily involve any striving -- as I understand the word. Rather, cycling up the hill, as a process to be enjoyed, might be a good opportunity to experience a moment of what Ashvaghosha calls a-punar-bhava, "the end of becoming" [2.65]. When I run across some minor computer glitch, however, while doing some job I don't particularly want to do anyway, like trying to sort out my wife's email account for her, then the striving mind is prone to go into overdrive. In the mind of the striver, there is something about me, who am the judge, which is important; and there is something about you, and others, with which I am not satisfied. That being so, I think a key to unlock the character of the striver is contained, ironically, in the striver's own words in 8.6: "For minds have many ways of working, and many secrets, whose concealment is complicated by conceit." (gatayo vividhaa hi cetasaaM bahu-guhyaani mad"-aakulaani ca). And the key word within the key sentence, as I read it, might be madaa, conceit or vanity. At the root of the striver's striving is a fault which is sharply reflected in the looking-glass of this canto, and the fault is conceit, or vanity.
8.1
Then,
while the unsteady-eyed Nanda was looking forward,
With the eagerest of eager expectations, to going home,
A certain striver with a benevolent air
Approached him and said, in a friendly way:
8.2
"Why this tear-clouded face
That reveals a darkness in your heart?
Come back to constancy, restrain your emotion,
For tears and tranquillity do not go well together.
8.3
Pain invariably arises in two ways:
In the mind and in the body.
And for those two kinds of pain,
There are healers skilled in education and in medicine.
8.4
So if this pain is physical
Be quick to tell a doctor all about it,
For when a sick man hides his illness
It turns before long into something serious.
8.5
But if this suffering is mental tell me,
And I will tell you the cure for it;
Because, for a mind shrouded in gloom and darkness,
The healer is a seeker who knows himself.
8.6
Tell me the whole truth, my friend,
If you think it fit to be told;
For minds have many ways of working
And many secrets,
whose concealment is complicated by conceit."
8.7
Thus impelled by the other,
While wanting to explain his own decision,
Nanda hung onto him, his hand in his hand,
And went into another corner of the forest.
8.9
Then,
in between the deep sighs
that intermittently gripped him,
He told the beggar who was adept at hearing and talking
What he intended to do --
An intention that,
for an intelligent man who has gone forth,
is difficult to express.
8.8
And so there the two of them sat
In a bright bower of flower-spewing creepers
Whose soft young shoots, stirring in a soft breeze,
Seemed to be hiding them away.
8.10
"It is surely fitting for a dharma practitioner
Who is forever friendly-minded towards living beings,
That this benevolence
inherent in your compassionate good self
Might be shown to me in my inconstancy!
8.11
And so I am particularly keen to speak to you
Who preach propriety;
For what I am feeling now I would not tell
to a man out of balance in himself
Who, though a good talker, was not a true person.
8.12
Hear me then when I say, in short,
That without my beloved I do not enjoy
the practice of dharma;
I am like a kimnara without his lover
Roaming about, his semen ready, over mountain peaks.
8.13
Averse to the happiness of the forest life,
I just want to go home;
For without her I obtain no comfort,
Like a king without sovereignty."
8.14
When he heard those words of Nanda
Who, mind turned towards his beloved wife,
was burning with pain,
The striver while letting his head shake,
Softly, said to himself:
8.15
"What a pity!
In its longing for the herd, a rushing stag
Having escaped the mortal danger of the hunter's arrow
Is about to enter the hunter's trap,
Deceived by a call the hunter sang.
8.16
Truly, a bird that was caught in a net
And set free by a benevolent person,
Desires,
as it flits about the fruiting and blossoming forest,
To fly of its own free will into a cage.
8.17
A baby elephant, truly,
after a big elephant has pulled it up
Out of the deep mud of a dangerous riverbed,
Wishes, in its thirst for water,
To re-enter that crocodile-infested creek.
8.18
Truly, in a shelter where slithers a snake,
A sleeping boy, woken by an elder who is awake,
Has become agitated
And is about to grab the horrible reptile himself.
8.19
Truly, having flown up and away
From a forest tree blazing in a great fire,
A chick in its longing for the nest
Wishes to fly back there, its former alarm forgotten.
8.20
Truly, a pheasant separated from its mate
through fear of a hawk,
And so stupefied by desire as to be helpless,
Lacks resolve and lacks reserve:
The poor blighter is living a pitiful life.
8.21
Greedy and untrained,
Devoid of decency and intelligence,
Truly, a wretched dog wishes to eat again
Food that he himself has vomited."
8.22
So saying, the striver contemplated Nanda for a while,
Beholding him torn up by the sorrows of love,
And, striving to be of benefit,
The striver spoke fine words,
which were unpleasant to hear.
8.23
"For you
who draws no distinction between good and bad,
Whose mind is settled on objects of the senses,
And who has no eye of attainment,
Naturally, there could be no delight in the better way.
8.24
For joy in dharma is not allotted
To one who easily changes his mind,
to one whose thinking
-- In hearing, grasping, retaining
and understanding the supreme truth,
and in mental peace --
Is not firmly fixed.
8.25
But the joy is not unknown to one
who sees the faults in objects of the senses,
Who is contented, pure, and unassuming,
Whose mind is versed in religious acts leading to peace
And whose understanding of those acts is formed.
8.26
A covetous man delights in opulence;
A fool delights in sensual pleasure;
A true person delights in tranquillity
Having transcended sensual enjoyments
by virtue of his knowledge.
8.27
What is more, when a man of repute,
An intelligent man of good family,
bears the honoured insignia
His consciousness no more inclines homeward
Than a mountain bends in the wind.
8.28
Only a man who aspires to dependence on another,
Spurning autonomy and self-reliance,
Would yearn, while on the auspicious path to peace,
For life at home with all its faults.
8.29
Just as a man released from prison might,
when stricken by some calamity,
Betake himself back to prison,
So might one who has retired to the forest
Seek out again that bondage called home.
8.30
The man who would leave strife behind
Wishing only to return again to strife:
He is the fool who would leave behind and then return,
With the power of his senses unconquered,
to the strife that is a wife.
8.31
Like poisonous clinging creepers,
Like swept caves still harbouring snakes,
Like unsheathed blades held in the hand,
Women are calamitous in the end.
8.32
Sexy women arouse lust;
Unsexy women are fearsome.
Since they bring a fault or bring fear
How are they worth bothering about?
8.33
So that kinsman breaks with kinsman
And friend breaks with friend,
Women, who are good at seeing faults in others,
Behave deceitfully and ignobly.
8.34
When men of good families fall on hard times,
When they rashly do unfitting deeds,
When they recklessly enter the vanguard of an army,
Women in those instances are the cause.
8.35
They beguile with lovely voices,
And strike with sharp minds:
There is honey in women's speech,
And lethal venom in their hearts.
8.36
A burning fire can be held,
The bodiless wind can be caught,
An angry snake can be captured,
But the mind of women cannot be grasped.
8.37
Without pausing to consider looks or wealth,
Or intelligence or breeding or valour,
Women attack no matter what,
Like a ragbag of crocodiles in a river.
8.38
No sweet words, no caresses,
And no affection do women ever remember.
The female, even when cajoled, is flighty:
So rely on one no more than you would
your enemies in this world.
8.39
Women flirt with men who give them nothing,
And grow restless with generous men;
They show disdain towards the humble,
But simpering contentment towards the arrogant.
8.40
They lord it over men who have merit,
And submit like children to men without merit.
They act rapaciously towards men who have money;
Men without money they treat with contempt.
8.41
Just as a cow,
having gone from one pasture to another,
Keeps right on grazing, however she is restrained,
So a woman,
without regard for any affection she felt before,
Moves on and takes her pleasure elsewhere.
8.42
For though women ascend their husbands' funeral pyre,
Though they follow at the cost of their own lives,
Though they bear all kinds of pain,
They never truly show affection.
8.43
Women who in some small way please their husband,
Treating him like a god, sometimes,
A thousand times more, in their fickle-mindedness,
Please their own heart.
8.44
The daughter of Sena-jit the Conqueror, so they say,
coupled with a dog cooker;
Kumud-vati, 'Lilly Pool,'
paired up with Mina-ripu, 'Foe of Fishes';
And 'Burly Heroine' Brhad-ratha loved a lion:
There is nothing women will not do.
8.45
Scions of the Kurus, Haihayas and Vrishnis,
Along with Shambara whose armour was much magic,
And the sage Ugra-tapas -- 'Grim Austerities' -- Gautama,
All incurred the dust of passion which a woman raises.
8.46
Ungrateful, ignoble, unsteady:
Such is the mind of women.
What man of wisdom could fasten his heart
Onto such fickle creatures?
8.47
So you do not see that their little lightweight hearts
Are pernicious in their intense duplicity?
Do you not at least see that women's bodies
Are impure, oozing houses of foulness?
8.48
The ugliness which day after day is prettified,
By means of ablutions, garments, and jewels,
You with eyes veiled by ignorance do not truly see:
You see it as beauty.
8.49
Or else you see that their bodies are foul
But intelligence is lacking in you:
For the fragrant task you are engaged in
Is extinction of the impurity that originates in them.
8.50
Cosmetic paste and powder, garlands,
Gems, pearls, gold, fine fabric:
If these are good, what have they to do with women?
Let us examine what in women is originally pure.
8.51
Dirty and unclothed,
With nails, teeth and body-hair in their natural state:
If your 'Beautiful Woman' Sundari were like that now,
She surely would not be to you such a beautiful woman.
8.52
What man capable of disgust would touch a woman,
Leaking and unclean like an old bucket,
If she were not scantily clad
In skin as thin as a flying insect's wing?
8.53
If you see women's bodies to be bony skeletons
Wrapped around with skin
And yet you are forcibly drawn by passion,
Then, truly,
Love is immune to disgust and lacking in restraint.
8.54
You are inventing beauty
In nails, teeth, skin, and hair long and short,
which are not beautiful.
Dullard! Do you not see
What women originally are made of
and what they originally are?
8.55
So reckon women, in mind and in body,
To be singularly implicated with faults;
And hold back, using this arithmetic,
Your impulsively homeward-straining mind.
8.56
You are educated, intelligent, and well-bred --
A fitting vessel for supreme tranquillity;
As such, you ought not in any way to break
The contract into which you have entered.
8.57
For the spirited man of noble birth,
For the man who cherishes honour
and strives to earn great respect,
For the man of grit --
Better death for him than life as a backslider.
8.58
For just as he is blameworthy who,
having girded on armour and taken up a bow,
Flees in his war-chariot away from a battle;
So too is he blameworthy who,
having taken on the insignia and taken up begging,
Allows the stallion of his senses
to be carted away by desire.
8.59
And just as he is laughable who wears
the finest ornaments, clothes and garlands,
And, with head full of passing fancies,
goes begging holding a bow,
So too is he laughable
who has taken to shapelessness
and who eats food offered by others,
While thirstily veering towards the comforts of home.
8.60
Just as a hog,
though fed with good food and lain on the finest bedding,
Would run, when set free, back to his familiar filth;
So, having tasted the excellent pleasure of cessation
while learning a better way,
Would a man of thirsting libido
abandon the tranquil forest and long for home.
8.61
Just as a flaming torch, when fanned by the wind,
burns the hand that holds it,
Just as a snake, swift to anger,
bites the foot that steps on it,
Just as a tiger, though caught as a cub,
mauls the one who took it in,
So too does association with women, in many ways,
make for disaster.
8.62
So know these faults to be tied,
mentally and physically, to women;
Understand how sensual pleasure,
as it flows away like river water,
makes for affliction and for sorrow;
See the world, in Death's shadow,
to be fragile as an unbaked pot;
And make the peerless decision that leads to release
-- instead of stiffening up your neck through yearning."
The 8th canto in the epic poem Handsome Nanda,
titled "A Tirade against Women."
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 8.62: No Buttered Parsnips
tad vijNaaya manaH-shariira-niyataan naariiShu doShaan imaan
matvaa kaama-sukhaM nadii-jala-calaM kleshaaya shokaaya ca
dRShTvaa durbalam aama-paatra-sadRshaM mRty'-uupasRShTaM jagan
nirmokShaaya kuruShva buddhim atulaam utkaNThituM n' aarhasi
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - =
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - -
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - =
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - -
saundaranande mahaa-kaavye strii-vighaato naam'-aaShTamaH sargaH
= - - = = - = = = = - = = = = - = = =
8.62
So know these faults to be tied,
mentally and physically, to women;
Understand how sensual pleasure,
as it flows away like river water,
makes for affliction and for sorrow;
See the world, in Death's shadow,
to be fragile as an unbaked pot;
And make the peerless decision that leads to release
-- instead of stiffening up your neck through yearning."
The 8th canto in the epic poem Handsome Nanda,
titled "A Tirade against Women."
COMMENT:
The striver's words in "tasting the excellent pleasure of cessation while learning a better way" [8.60] are truly excellent words, but not as excellent as "make the peerless decision that leads to release -- instead of stiffening up your neck through yearning."
Even if the striver himself didn't understand the excellence of his own words, the words with he concludes this Canto are -- at least in my book -- very excellent words.
Sadly, fine words butter no parsnips.
"That's for damn sure," a Zen master chimed in.
(Reacher said nothing.)
EH Johnston:
Recognising then these faults to be inherent in the minds and bodies of women, understanding the pleasures of love to pass away as the water of a river and to lead to sin and grief, and seeing the world to be devoid of strength like an unbaked pot and delivering over to death, form an unequalled determination for the attainment of salvation and desist from yearning.'
Linda Covill:
So be cognizant of these defects that pertain to women's minds and bodies; understand that pleasure from passion flows away like the waters of a river and makes for defilement and sadness; observe that the world, flimsy as an unfired pot, is in the grip of death -- make the peerless decision for freedom, and yearn no more!"
The End of Canto 8: The Attack on Women
VOCABULARY:
tad: ind. therefore, so
vijNaaya = abs. vi- √ jNaa: to distinguish , discern , observe , investigate , recognize , ascertain , know , understand
manaH-shariira-niyataan
manas: mind
shariira: body
niyata: mfn. tied to ; connected with , dependent on (loc.)
ni- √ yam: to hold back; to fasten , tie to (loc.)
naariiShu (loc. pl.): f. women
doShaan (acc. pl.): m. fault
imaan (acc. pl. m.): these
matvaa = abs. man: to think ; to perceive , observe , learn , know , understand , comprehend
kaama-sukham (acc. sg.): sensual pleasure
kaama: m. desire, love, sensuality
sukha: n. ease, comfort, pleasure, happiness
nadii-jala-calam (acc. sg.): passing like river water
nadii: river
jala: water
cala: mfn. moving, passing, transient
kleshaaya (dat. sg.): m. pain , affliction , distress , pain from disease , anguish
shokaaya (dat. sg.): m. sorrow , affliction , anguish , pain , trouble , grief
ca: and
dRShTvaa = abs. dRsh: to see , behold , look at , regard , consider ; examine
durbalam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. of little strength , weak , feeble; scanty , small , little
aama-paatra-sadRsham (acc. sg. n.): like an unbaked pot
aama: mfn. raw , uncooked
paatra: n. a drinking-vessel , goblet , bowl , cup , dish , pot , plate , utensil &c , any vessel or receptacle
sadRsha: mfn. like , resembling , similar to
mRty'-uupasRShTam (acc. sg. n.): eclipsed by death ; Death-plagued
mRtyu: m. death, dying ; Death personified , the god of disease (sometimes identified with yama or with viShNu
upasRShTa: mfn. let loose towards; furnished with ; visited , afflicted , burdened with , plagued ; obscured (by raahu , as the sun) , eclipsed ; possessed (by a god or demon)
upa- √ sRj: to let loose upon or towards ; to let stream upon , pour on , shed forth ; to visit , afflict , plague , trouble
jagat (acc. sg.): n. that which moves or is alive ; n. the world , esp. this world , earth
nirmokShaaya (dat. sg.): m. liberation , deliverance
nir- √ muc: to loosen , free from (abl.) , liberate
kuruShva = 2nd pers. sg. imperative kR: to do, make
buddhim (acc. sg.): f. the power of forming and retaining conceptions and general notions , intelligence , reason , intellect , mind , discernment , judgement
buddhim- √kR: to make up one's mind , resolve , decide (with loc. dat.)
atulaam (acc. sg. f.): mfn. unequalled
utkaNThitum = infinitive ut-kaNTha: to raise the neck; to long for , regret , sorrow for
ud: up, upwards
kaNTha: m. ( √kaN, to sound, cry) the throat , the neck
na: not
arhasi = 2nd pers. sg. arh: to deserve, ought
saundara-nande mahaa-kaavye (loc.): in the epic poem Handsome Nanda
strii-vighaataH (nom. sg. m.): striking a blow against women
strii: a woman, female, wife
vighaata: m. a stroke ; breaking off or in pieces ; driving back , warding off; removal , prohibition , prevention , interruption , impediment , obstacle
naama: ind. by name
aaShTamaH sargaH (nom. sg. m.): 8th canto
matvaa kaama-sukhaM nadii-jala-calaM kleshaaya shokaaya ca
dRShTvaa durbalam aama-paatra-sadRshaM mRty'-uupasRShTaM jagan
nirmokShaaya kuruShva buddhim atulaam utkaNThituM n' aarhasi
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - =
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - -
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - =
= = = - - = - = - - - = = = - = = - -
saundaranande mahaa-kaavye strii-vighaato naam'-aaShTamaH sargaH
= - - = = - = = = = - = = = = - = = =
8.62
So know these faults to be tied,
mentally and physically, to women;
Understand how sensual pleasure,
as it flows away like river water,
makes for affliction and for sorrow;
See the world, in Death's shadow,
to be fragile as an unbaked pot;
And make the peerless decision that leads to release
-- instead of stiffening up your neck through yearning."
The 8th canto in the epic poem Handsome Nanda,
titled "A Tirade against Women."
COMMENT:
The striver's words in "tasting the excellent pleasure of cessation while learning a better way" [8.60] are truly excellent words, but not as excellent as "make the peerless decision that leads to release -- instead of stiffening up your neck through yearning."
Even if the striver himself didn't understand the excellence of his own words, the words with he concludes this Canto are -- at least in my book -- very excellent words.
Sadly, fine words butter no parsnips.
"That's for damn sure," a Zen master chimed in.
(Reacher said nothing.)
EH Johnston:
Recognising then these faults to be inherent in the minds and bodies of women, understanding the pleasures of love to pass away as the water of a river and to lead to sin and grief, and seeing the world to be devoid of strength like an unbaked pot and delivering over to death, form an unequalled determination for the attainment of salvation and desist from yearning.'
Linda Covill:
So be cognizant of these defects that pertain to women's minds and bodies; understand that pleasure from passion flows away like the waters of a river and makes for defilement and sadness; observe that the world, flimsy as an unfired pot, is in the grip of death -- make the peerless decision for freedom, and yearn no more!"
The End of Canto 8: The Attack on Women
VOCABULARY:
tad: ind. therefore, so
vijNaaya = abs. vi- √ jNaa: to distinguish , discern , observe , investigate , recognize , ascertain , know , understand
manaH-shariira-niyataan
manas: mind
shariira: body
niyata: mfn. tied to ; connected with , dependent on (loc.)
ni- √ yam: to hold back; to fasten , tie to (loc.)
naariiShu (loc. pl.): f. women
doShaan (acc. pl.): m. fault
imaan (acc. pl. m.): these
matvaa = abs. man: to think ; to perceive , observe , learn , know , understand , comprehend
kaama-sukham (acc. sg.): sensual pleasure
kaama: m. desire, love, sensuality
sukha: n. ease, comfort, pleasure, happiness
nadii-jala-calam (acc. sg.): passing like river water
nadii: river
jala: water
cala: mfn. moving, passing, transient
kleshaaya (dat. sg.): m. pain , affliction , distress , pain from disease , anguish
shokaaya (dat. sg.): m. sorrow , affliction , anguish , pain , trouble , grief
ca: and
dRShTvaa = abs. dRsh: to see , behold , look at , regard , consider ; examine
durbalam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. of little strength , weak , feeble; scanty , small , little
aama-paatra-sadRsham (acc. sg. n.): like an unbaked pot
aama: mfn. raw , uncooked
paatra: n. a drinking-vessel , goblet , bowl , cup , dish , pot , plate , utensil &c , any vessel or receptacle
sadRsha: mfn. like , resembling , similar to
mRty'-uupasRShTam (acc. sg. n.): eclipsed by death ; Death-plagued
mRtyu: m. death, dying ; Death personified , the god of disease (sometimes identified with yama or with viShNu
upasRShTa: mfn. let loose towards; furnished with ; visited , afflicted , burdened with , plagued ; obscured (by raahu , as the sun) , eclipsed ; possessed (by a god or demon)
upa- √ sRj: to let loose upon or towards ; to let stream upon , pour on , shed forth ; to visit , afflict , plague , trouble
jagat (acc. sg.): n. that which moves or is alive ; n. the world , esp. this world , earth
nirmokShaaya (dat. sg.): m. liberation , deliverance
nir- √ muc: to loosen , free from (abl.) , liberate
kuruShva = 2nd pers. sg. imperative kR: to do, make
buddhim (acc. sg.): f. the power of forming and retaining conceptions and general notions , intelligence , reason , intellect , mind , discernment , judgement
buddhim- √kR: to make up one's mind , resolve , decide (with loc. dat.)
atulaam (acc. sg. f.): mfn. unequalled
utkaNThitum = infinitive ut-kaNTha: to raise the neck; to long for , regret , sorrow for
ud: up, upwards
kaNTha: m. ( √kaN, to sound, cry) the throat , the neck
na: not
arhasi = 2nd pers. sg. arh: to deserve, ought
saundara-nande mahaa-kaavye (loc.): in the epic poem Handsome Nanda
strii-vighaataH (nom. sg. m.): striking a blow against women
strii: a woman, female, wife
vighaata: m. a stroke ; breaking off or in pieces ; driving back , warding off; removal , prohibition , prevention , interruption , impediment , obstacle
naama: ind. by name
aaShTamaH sargaH (nom. sg. m.): 8th canto
Monday, March 28, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 8.61: Excellent Words
yath" olkaa hasta-sthaa dahati pavana-prerita-shikhaa
yathaa paad'-aakraanto dashati bhujagaH krodha-rabhasaH
yathaa hanti vyaaghraH shishur api gRhiito grha-gataH
tathaa strii-saMsargo bahu-vidham anarthaaya bhavati
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - =
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - =
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - =
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - -
8.61
Just as a flaming torch, when fanned by the wind,
burns the hand that holds it,
Just as a snake, swift to anger,
bites the foot that steps on it,
Just as a tiger, though caught as a cub,
mauls the one who took it in,
So too does association with women, in many ways,
make for disaster.
COMMENT:
These words sound good, but is the striver himself any good? Or is the striver, perchance, full of it?
At the beginning of this Canto, which seems a long time ago, I suggested that when in 8.22 Ashvaghosha appears to praise the striver for his excellent words (guNavad vaakyam), Ashvaghosha's real intention might be ironic -- excellent words, a pity about the tainted views; nice words, shame about the deficit of wisdom.
I took a view early on that Ashvaghosha was being ironic in his praise of the striver, and since then, verse by verse -- guess what -- I have managed to find corroboration for my view. In general strivers strive to feel right in their striving; and it takes one to know one. This has been my take on Ashvagosha's striver, and I have stuck to it.
If instead of seeking corroboration for my view, I looked for falsification of it, an anti-thesis to my thesis might be: "The beggar is innocent. You are the guilty one, who in blaming the beggar has used him as a mirror for the grimly self-righteous tendency in yourself!"
In fact, however, like damn fools and bad scientists everywhere, I'm not interested any more in falsification of my view of the striver -- rightly or wrongly, I already decided.
The striver represents a tendency that in the long run is no bloody good to anybody, namely, striving, straining for a result, end-gaining -- as opposed to adopting the means-whereby principle, a better way.
My two sons are aged 19 and 17 now; in a few months their secondary education will be complete and for as long as they can remember both their father and mother have been sitting-zen practitioners and teachers of the FM Alexander Technique. As such, what kind of parents have we been? Shining examples of constant application of the means-whereby principle and freedom from anxious end-gaining? Paragons of freedom from becoming and living without stress? I am afraid not. Far from it.
So beware the striver with his excellent words about tasting the excellent pleasure of cessation while learning a better way... He may be full of it.
Really working on oneself -- for instance, gaining an end like the moving a leg with greater freedom, primarily by giving up all idea of gaining that end -- is one thing. Excellent words directed towards others about such practice, are a different thing altogether.
Only a fool puts the cart before the horse. But that is what I am doing right now.
EH Johnston:
As the torch, held in the hand, burns it when its flames are fanned by the wind, as the snake, swift to wrath, bites when trodden on, as the tiger, though caught young and kept in the house, is still given to killing, so too association with women leads to disaster in many ways.
Linda Covill:
Just as a firebrand with wind-fanned flames burns the hand that beats it, just as a snake in a rush of fury bites the foot that steps on it, just as a tiger attacks, though captured as a cub and reared in your house, just so does cohabiting with a woman cause all manner of ill.
VOCABULARY:
yathaa: ind. just as
ulkaa (nom. sg.): f. a fiery phenomenon in the sky , a meteor , fire falling from heaven; a firebrand , dry grass &c set on fire , a torch
hasta-sthaa (nom. sg. f.): in the hand
dahati = 3rd pers. sg. dah: to burn , consume by fire , scorch , roast
pavana-prerita-shikhaa (nom. sg. f.): its flame fanned by the wind
pavana: m. " purifier " , wind or the god of wind , breeze , air
prerita: mfn. urged , impelled , dispatched , sent ; incited to speak
shikhaa: f. a crest ; a pointed flame , any flame
yathaa: ind. just as
paad'-aakraantaH (nom. sg. m.): trodden on
paada: foot
aakraanta: on which anything lies heavily , pressed by (instr. or in comp.)
dashati = 3rd pers. sg. daMsh: to bite
bhujagaH (nom. sg.): m. (fr. bhuja + ga) " going in curves " , a snake
krodha-rabhasaH (nom. sg. m.): impetuous in its anger
krodha: m. anger
rabhasa: mfn. impetuous , violent , rapid , fierce , wild
yathaa: ind. just as
hanti = 3rd pers. sg. han: to strike; to smite , slay , hit , kill
vyaaghraH (nom. sg.): m. a tiger
shishuH (nom. sg. m.): a child , infant , the young of any animal
api: though
gRhiitaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. caught
grha-gataH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. kept in the house
tathaa: ind. so too, likewise
strii-saMsargaH (nom. sg. m.): association with women
saMsarga: m. mixture or union together , commixture , blending , conjunction , connection , contact , association , society , sexual union , intercourse with
bahu-vidham: ind. diversely , in several directions , up and down
anarthaaya (dat. sg.): m. non-value , a worthless or useless object ; disappointing occurrence , reverse , evil
bhavati = 3rd pers. sg. bhuu: to be, become
yathaa paad'-aakraanto dashati bhujagaH krodha-rabhasaH
yathaa hanti vyaaghraH shishur api gRhiito grha-gataH
tathaa strii-saMsargo bahu-vidham anarthaaya bhavati
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - =
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - =
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - =
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - -
8.61
Just as a flaming torch, when fanned by the wind,
burns the hand that holds it,
Just as a snake, swift to anger,
bites the foot that steps on it,
Just as a tiger, though caught as a cub,
mauls the one who took it in,
So too does association with women, in many ways,
make for disaster.
COMMENT:
These words sound good, but is the striver himself any good? Or is the striver, perchance, full of it?
At the beginning of this Canto, which seems a long time ago, I suggested that when in 8.22 Ashvaghosha appears to praise the striver for his excellent words (guNavad vaakyam), Ashvaghosha's real intention might be ironic -- excellent words, a pity about the tainted views; nice words, shame about the deficit of wisdom.
I took a view early on that Ashvaghosha was being ironic in his praise of the striver, and since then, verse by verse -- guess what -- I have managed to find corroboration for my view. In general strivers strive to feel right in their striving; and it takes one to know one. This has been my take on Ashvagosha's striver, and I have stuck to it.
If instead of seeking corroboration for my view, I looked for falsification of it, an anti-thesis to my thesis might be: "The beggar is innocent. You are the guilty one, who in blaming the beggar has used him as a mirror for the grimly self-righteous tendency in yourself!"
In fact, however, like damn fools and bad scientists everywhere, I'm not interested any more in falsification of my view of the striver -- rightly or wrongly, I already decided.
The striver represents a tendency that in the long run is no bloody good to anybody, namely, striving, straining for a result, end-gaining -- as opposed to adopting the means-whereby principle, a better way.
My two sons are aged 19 and 17 now; in a few months their secondary education will be complete and for as long as they can remember both their father and mother have been sitting-zen practitioners and teachers of the FM Alexander Technique. As such, what kind of parents have we been? Shining examples of constant application of the means-whereby principle and freedom from anxious end-gaining? Paragons of freedom from becoming and living without stress? I am afraid not. Far from it.
So beware the striver with his excellent words about tasting the excellent pleasure of cessation while learning a better way... He may be full of it.
Really working on oneself -- for instance, gaining an end like the moving a leg with greater freedom, primarily by giving up all idea of gaining that end -- is one thing. Excellent words directed towards others about such practice, are a different thing altogether.
Only a fool puts the cart before the horse. But that is what I am doing right now.
EH Johnston:
As the torch, held in the hand, burns it when its flames are fanned by the wind, as the snake, swift to wrath, bites when trodden on, as the tiger, though caught young and kept in the house, is still given to killing, so too association with women leads to disaster in many ways.
Linda Covill:
Just as a firebrand with wind-fanned flames burns the hand that beats it, just as a snake in a rush of fury bites the foot that steps on it, just as a tiger attacks, though captured as a cub and reared in your house, just so does cohabiting with a woman cause all manner of ill.
VOCABULARY:
yathaa: ind. just as
ulkaa (nom. sg.): f. a fiery phenomenon in the sky , a meteor , fire falling from heaven; a firebrand , dry grass &c set on fire , a torch
hasta-sthaa (nom. sg. f.): in the hand
dahati = 3rd pers. sg. dah: to burn , consume by fire , scorch , roast
pavana-prerita-shikhaa (nom. sg. f.): its flame fanned by the wind
pavana: m. " purifier " , wind or the god of wind , breeze , air
prerita: mfn. urged , impelled , dispatched , sent ; incited to speak
shikhaa: f. a crest ; a pointed flame , any flame
yathaa: ind. just as
paad'-aakraantaH (nom. sg. m.): trodden on
paada: foot
aakraanta: on which anything lies heavily , pressed by (instr. or in comp.)
dashati = 3rd pers. sg. daMsh: to bite
bhujagaH (nom. sg.): m. (fr. bhuja + ga) " going in curves " , a snake
krodha-rabhasaH (nom. sg. m.): impetuous in its anger
krodha: m. anger
rabhasa: mfn. impetuous , violent , rapid , fierce , wild
yathaa: ind. just as
hanti = 3rd pers. sg. han: to strike; to smite , slay , hit , kill
vyaaghraH (nom. sg.): m. a tiger
shishuH (nom. sg. m.): a child , infant , the young of any animal
api: though
gRhiitaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. caught
grha-gataH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. kept in the house
tathaa: ind. so too, likewise
strii-saMsargaH (nom. sg. m.): association with women
saMsarga: m. mixture or union together , commixture , blending , conjunction , connection , contact , association , society , sexual union , intercourse with
bahu-vidham: ind. diversely , in several directions , up and down
anarthaaya (dat. sg.): m. non-value , a worthless or useless object ; disappointing occurrence , reverse , evil
bhavati = 3rd pers. sg. bhuu: to be, become
Sunday, March 27, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 8.60: Going Back to Original Sin
yathaa sv-annaM bhuktvaa parama-shayaniiye 'pi shayito
varaaho nirmuktaH punar ashuchi dhaavet paricitaM
tathaa shreyaH shRNvan prashama-sukham aasvaadya guNavad
vanaM shaantaM hitvaa grham abhilaShet kaama-tRShitaH
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - =
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - =
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - =
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - =
8.60
Just as a hog,
though fed with good food and lain on the finest bedding,
Would run, when set free, back to his familiar filth,
So, having tasted the excellent pleasure of cessation
while learning a better way,
Would a man of thirsting libido
abandon the tranquil forest and long for home.
COMMENT:
Translating shreyaH as "a better way" fits well in this verse, in which shreyaH is the object of the present participle of shru, to hear or listen or to learn. "While learning a better way" rings truer than "while hearing of a higher good."
In this verse the striver seems to suggest that there is something inherently impure about family life. Is it because the sexual act is originally impure? Or is "original sin" a tainted view that is liable to infect strivers of all denominations?
In what sense is family life comparable to the impurity in which pigs instinctively swill?
The Buddha in Canto 5 speaks of the faults or drawbacks in family life (gRheShu doShaan; 5.39), but he does not suggest, as I hear him, that family life is inherently impure. On the contrary in Canto 3 Ashvaghosha paints a picture of the householders of Kapilavastu under the influence of the Buddha being spotlessly free of views (parama-parishuddha-dRShTayaH; 3.39):
By this tenfold means, by the most skillful and powerful means which is one's own conduct, / Although virtue was lax in a declining age, the people there, with the sage's help, fared well. // But nobody there, because of his virtues, expected happiness in a resulting birth; / Having learned that all becoming is pernicious, people worked to eradicate becoming, not to become something. // Even householders were free from endless doubting, their views washed spotlessly away: / For many had entered the stream, and then reduced passion to a trickle. // [3.37- 3.39]
So the striver, in seeing family life as something filthy -- something analogous in the translations of EHJ and LC to a midden or a dunghill -- might not be telling us anything true about the inherent purity or impurity of family life. But he might be saying something about the inherent impurity of the striving mind.
I am finding fault like this in everything the striver says because Ashvaghosha's intention, as I understand it, is that I should do so -- and in so doing, should find fault in that of the striver in me. Why? Because, like the striver, I am prone to have views and opinions which are different from real, intuitive wisdom. These views and opinions are tainted, and to enter the first stage of sitting-meditation is to drop them off (17.42). In Canto 17 Ashvaghosha describes subsequent progress through four stages of sitting-meditation as a process of finding one fault after another in one's practice (17.44 - 17.55). Ashvaghosha then suggests further that even in the condition of full awareness and indifference that is the fourth stage, upper fetters that are bound up with superiority and tied up with I and me and mine, may still remain to be broken (17.57). Even then dormant tendencies of the mind may be slumbering on (17.58). And so the effort -- but do not call it striving -- to free the mind of faults continues until the hard-to-cross flood of suffering is finally crossed (17.60).
Grumpy strivers are liable to have a pessimistic view that sounds like some variation on the Christian theme of original sin. And self-proclaimed Mahayana Buddhists with their heels off the ground are liable to have an optimistic theory about Buddha-nature. But the practice of purifying one's own mind, to which Ashvaghosha is pointing, is practice of a totally different order.
EH Johnston:
Just as a boar, if fed on the best of food and provided with even the best of bedding, would hasten on release to his familiar midden, so the man who is dominated by the thirst of passion, would leave the tranquil forest and long for his home, though, while hearing of the highest good, he had tasted the excellent pleasure of religious peace.
Linda Covill:
Just as a boar would return to his dunghill when set free, though he had been fed with good food and had slept on the finest bedding, so would a man thirsty for passion yearn to abandon the peaceful forest and go home, though he had learned of Excellence and had sipped the bliss of peace.
VOCABULARY:
yathaa: ind. just as
sv-annam (acc. sg.): n. good food
bhuktvaa = abs. bhuj: to enjoy , use , possess , (esp.) enjoy a meal , eat
parama-shayaniiye (loc. sg.): on the finest bed
parama: mfn. the best, the finest
shayaniiya: mfn. to be slept or lain on ; n. a bed
api: though
shayitaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. reposed , lying , sleeping , asleep
varaahaH (nom. sg.): m. a boar , hog , pig , wild boar
nirmuktaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. loosed , separated , sundered , liberated or saved or escaped or free
punar: ind. again, back
ashuchi (acc. sg.): n. that which is unclean, impure, foul
dhaavet = 3rd pers. sg. optative dhaav to run , flow , stream , move , glide , swim ; to run away, flee
paricitam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. known , familiar
tathaa: ind. so too, likewise
shreyaH (acc. sg.): n. the better state ; higher good
shRNvan = nom. sg. m. pres. part. shru: to hear, listen ; to hear (from a teacher) , study , learn
prashama-sukham (acc. sg. n.): the ease of cessation
prashama: m. calmness , tranquillity (esp. of mind) , quiet , rest , cessation , extinction , abatement
sukha: n. ease , easiness , comfort , prosperity , pleasure , happiness
aasvaadya = abs. aa- √ svad: to eat, taste
guNavat (acc sg. n.): mfn. endowed with good qualities or virtues or merits or excellences , excellent , perfect
vanam (acc. sg.): n. forest
shaantam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. appeased , pacified , tranquil , calm , free from passions , undisturbed
hitvaa = abs. haa: to leave , abandon , desert , quit , forsake , relinquish
grham (acc. sg.): m. house, home
abhilaShet = 3rd pers. sg. optative abhi- √ laSh: to desire or wish for (acc.) , covet , crave
kaama-tRShitaH (nom. sg. m.) a man thirsting with sexual desire
kaama: m. desire ; love , especially sexual love or sensuality
tRShita: mfn. thirsty , thirsting , desirous
varaaho nirmuktaH punar ashuchi dhaavet paricitaM
tathaa shreyaH shRNvan prashama-sukham aasvaadya guNavad
vanaM shaantaM hitvaa grham abhilaShet kaama-tRShitaH
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - =
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - =
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - =
- = = = = = - - - - - = = - - - =
8.60
Just as a hog,
though fed with good food and lain on the finest bedding,
Would run, when set free, back to his familiar filth,
So, having tasted the excellent pleasure of cessation
while learning a better way,
Would a man of thirsting libido
abandon the tranquil forest and long for home.
COMMENT:
Translating shreyaH as "a better way" fits well in this verse, in which shreyaH is the object of the present participle of shru, to hear or listen or to learn. "While learning a better way" rings truer than "while hearing of a higher good."
In this verse the striver seems to suggest that there is something inherently impure about family life. Is it because the sexual act is originally impure? Or is "original sin" a tainted view that is liable to infect strivers of all denominations?
In what sense is family life comparable to the impurity in which pigs instinctively swill?
The Buddha in Canto 5 speaks of the faults or drawbacks in family life (gRheShu doShaan; 5.39), but he does not suggest, as I hear him, that family life is inherently impure. On the contrary in Canto 3 Ashvaghosha paints a picture of the householders of Kapilavastu under the influence of the Buddha being spotlessly free of views (parama-parishuddha-dRShTayaH; 3.39):
By this tenfold means, by the most skillful and powerful means which is one's own conduct, / Although virtue was lax in a declining age, the people there, with the sage's help, fared well. // But nobody there, because of his virtues, expected happiness in a resulting birth; / Having learned that all becoming is pernicious, people worked to eradicate becoming, not to become something. // Even householders were free from endless doubting, their views washed spotlessly away: / For many had entered the stream, and then reduced passion to a trickle. // [3.37- 3.39]
So the striver, in seeing family life as something filthy -- something analogous in the translations of EHJ and LC to a midden or a dunghill -- might not be telling us anything true about the inherent purity or impurity of family life. But he might be saying something about the inherent impurity of the striving mind.
I am finding fault like this in everything the striver says because Ashvaghosha's intention, as I understand it, is that I should do so -- and in so doing, should find fault in that of the striver in me. Why? Because, like the striver, I am prone to have views and opinions which are different from real, intuitive wisdom. These views and opinions are tainted, and to enter the first stage of sitting-meditation is to drop them off (17.42). In Canto 17 Ashvaghosha describes subsequent progress through four stages of sitting-meditation as a process of finding one fault after another in one's practice (17.44 - 17.55). Ashvaghosha then suggests further that even in the condition of full awareness and indifference that is the fourth stage, upper fetters that are bound up with superiority and tied up with I and me and mine, may still remain to be broken (17.57). Even then dormant tendencies of the mind may be slumbering on (17.58). And so the effort -- but do not call it striving -- to free the mind of faults continues until the hard-to-cross flood of suffering is finally crossed (17.60).
Grumpy strivers are liable to have a pessimistic view that sounds like some variation on the Christian theme of original sin. And self-proclaimed Mahayana Buddhists with their heels off the ground are liable to have an optimistic theory about Buddha-nature. But the practice of purifying one's own mind, to which Ashvaghosha is pointing, is practice of a totally different order.
EH Johnston:
Just as a boar, if fed on the best of food and provided with even the best of bedding, would hasten on release to his familiar midden, so the man who is dominated by the thirst of passion, would leave the tranquil forest and long for his home, though, while hearing of the highest good, he had tasted the excellent pleasure of religious peace.
Linda Covill:
Just as a boar would return to his dunghill when set free, though he had been fed with good food and had slept on the finest bedding, so would a man thirsty for passion yearn to abandon the peaceful forest and go home, though he had learned of Excellence and had sipped the bliss of peace.
VOCABULARY:
yathaa: ind. just as
sv-annam (acc. sg.): n. good food
bhuktvaa = abs. bhuj: to enjoy , use , possess , (esp.) enjoy a meal , eat
parama-shayaniiye (loc. sg.): on the finest bed
parama: mfn. the best, the finest
shayaniiya: mfn. to be slept or lain on ; n. a bed
api: though
shayitaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. reposed , lying , sleeping , asleep
varaahaH (nom. sg.): m. a boar , hog , pig , wild boar
nirmuktaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. loosed , separated , sundered , liberated or saved or escaped or free
punar: ind. again, back
ashuchi (acc. sg.): n. that which is unclean, impure, foul
dhaavet = 3rd pers. sg. optative dhaav to run , flow , stream , move , glide , swim ; to run away, flee
paricitam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. known , familiar
tathaa: ind. so too, likewise
shreyaH (acc. sg.): n. the better state ; higher good
shRNvan = nom. sg. m. pres. part. shru: to hear, listen ; to hear (from a teacher) , study , learn
prashama-sukham (acc. sg. n.): the ease of cessation
prashama: m. calmness , tranquillity (esp. of mind) , quiet , rest , cessation , extinction , abatement
sukha: n. ease , easiness , comfort , prosperity , pleasure , happiness
aasvaadya = abs. aa- √ svad: to eat, taste
guNavat (acc sg. n.): mfn. endowed with good qualities or virtues or merits or excellences , excellent , perfect
vanam (acc. sg.): n. forest
shaantam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. appeased , pacified , tranquil , calm , free from passions , undisturbed
hitvaa = abs. haa: to leave , abandon , desert , quit , forsake , relinquish
grham (acc. sg.): m. house, home
abhilaShet = 3rd pers. sg. optative abhi- √ laSh: to desire or wish for (acc.) , covet , crave
kaama-tRShitaH (nom. sg. m.) a man thirsting with sexual desire
kaama: m. desire ; love , especially sexual love or sensuality
tRShita: mfn. thirsty , thirsting , desirous
Saturday, March 26, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 8.59: Isn't It Ironic?
haasyo yathaa ca param'-aabharaN'-aambara-srag
bhaikShaM caran dhRta-dhanush cala-citta-mauliH
vairuupyam abhyupagataH para-piNDa-bhojii
haasyas tathaa gRha-sukh'-aabhimukhaH sa-tRShNaH
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
8.59
And just as he is laughable who wears
the finest ornaments, clothes and garlands,
And, with head full of passing fancies,
goes begging holding a bow,
So too is he laughable
who has taken to shapelessness
and who eats food offered by others,
While thirstily veering towards the comforts of home.
COMMENT:
Today's verse reminds me of that song by Alanis Morissette in which she asks, "Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?" and then launches into the refrain "It's like rain on your wedding day! A free ride when you've already paid!" Your sort of know what she is getting at, but a free ride when you've already paid isn't really ironic; it is more annoying.
In a similar way, there is something not quite right about what the striver understands here to be laughable.
The behaviour the striver describes in the first half of the verse does not strike me as laughable; it is more bizarre. The picture he paints of somebody going begging in totally inappropriate attire is like a joke that doesn't quite come off, but elicits polite laughter that is muted or embarrassed. (I have told one or two of those in my time as a striver, and I doubtless will do so again.)
Unlike the striver's description of Nanda in the second half of today's verse, when Ashvaghosha describes Nanda at the end of Canto 5, he does so in a way that elicits not laughter but empathy and sadness:
As his hair was thus being banished, his tearful downcast face / Resembled a rain-sodden lotus in a pond with its stalk sagging at the top. // Thence, in drab garb with the dull yellow-red colour of tree bark, and despondent as a newly-captured elephant, / Nanda resembled a waning full moon at night's end, sprinkled by the powdery rays of the early morning sun. // [5.52 - 5.53]
I imagine that Ashvaghosha in his time saw plenty of young men who, having had their heads shaved and donned the shapeless robe, were as despondent as newly-captured elephants, grieving for the homes and families they had left behind. So his picture of Nanda would have been drawn from real life. Similarly, I imagine that Ashvaghosha was familiar with plenty of characters like the striver, and familiar also with a tendency to strive in himself, and so today's verse might also be drawn from real life.
In our unreal thoughts, a comedian is always a person who makes others laugh. But the real situation that comedians fear is a performance which causes nobody to laugh. For comedians, this experience is very real -- so real they call it dying.
In a similar way that we assume a comedian, knowing what is laughable, should be able to make others laugh, we tend to assume that an Alexander teacher should be one who understands how to sit well, how to breathe naturally, how to walk economically, and so on. And we tend to assume that a buddha should be one who knows what enlightenment is. Those assumptions are all false. But the making of those assumptions is very real -- as real as a joke that doesn't come off, and as imperfect and quirky as a character in a story drawn from real life.
EH Johnston:
It would be laughable for a man to go begging who wears beautiful ornaments, clothes and garlands, holds a bow and flaunts a gorgeous nodding headdress ; so too is it laughable for one, who has abandoned all outward ornament and lives on others' alms, to be filled again with desire and to long to return to the pleasures of his home life.
Linda Covill:
And just as it is ridiculous to practice mendicancy decked in the finest ornaments, clothes and garlands, holding a bow and with one's head full of frivolities, likewise it is ridiculous to consent to the drab robes and to eat the almsfood of others while thirstily longing for domestic pleasures.
VOCABULARY:
haasyaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. to be laughed at , laughable , ridiculous , funny , comical
yathaa: ind. just as
ca: and
param'-aabharaN'-aambara-srak (nom. sg. m.): with the finest ornaments, clothes, and garlands
parama: mfn. the best
aabharaNa: n. ornament , decoration (as jewels &c )
ambara: n. clothes , apparel , garment
sraj: f. (nom. srak) a wreath of flowers , garland , chaplet worn on the head , any wreath or garland
bhaikSham (acc. sg.): n. asking alms , begging
caran = nom. sg. m. pres. part. car: to go
dhRta-dhanuH (nom. sg. m.): holding a bow
dhRta: mfn. held
dhanu: m. a bow
cala-citta-mauliH (nom. sg. m.): head full of fickle thoughts
cala-citta: mfn. fickle-minded ; n. fickleness of mind
mauli: m. the head , the top of anything
vairuupyam (acc. sg.): n. multiplicity of form , diversity , difference ; deformity , ugliness
ruupya: mfn. well-shaped , beautiful
abhyupagataH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. agreed, assented to
abhy-upa- √ gam: to go near to , approach , arrive at (acc.) ; to obtain ; to assent , agree to
para-piNDa-bhojii (nom. sg. m.): eating food offered by others
para: m. another, others'
piNDa: m. any round or roundish mass ; a roundish lump of food , a bite , morsel , mouthful ; (esp.) a ball of rice or flour &c offered to the pitRs or deceased ancestors , a shraaddha oblation ; food , daily bread , livelihood , subsistence
bhojin: mfn. (ifc.) enjoying , eating
haasyaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. to be laughed at , laughable , ridiculous , funny , comical
tathaa: ind. so too, likewise
gRha-sukh'-aabhimukhaH (nom. sg. m.): inclined towards the comforts of home
gRha-sukha: the comforts of home ; ease of domestic life
abhimukha: mfn. with the face directed towards , turned towards , facing; (ifc.) going near , approaching ; (ifc.) disposed to , intending to , ready for
sa-tRShNaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. having thirst, thirsty, desirous
bhaikShaM caran dhRta-dhanush cala-citta-mauliH
vairuupyam abhyupagataH para-piNDa-bhojii
haasyas tathaa gRha-sukh'-aabhimukhaH sa-tRShNaH
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
8.59
And just as he is laughable who wears
the finest ornaments, clothes and garlands,
And, with head full of passing fancies,
goes begging holding a bow,
So too is he laughable
who has taken to shapelessness
and who eats food offered by others,
While thirstily veering towards the comforts of home.
COMMENT:
Today's verse reminds me of that song by Alanis Morissette in which she asks, "Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?" and then launches into the refrain "It's like rain on your wedding day! A free ride when you've already paid!" Your sort of know what she is getting at, but a free ride when you've already paid isn't really ironic; it is more annoying.
In a similar way, there is something not quite right about what the striver understands here to be laughable.
The behaviour the striver describes in the first half of the verse does not strike me as laughable; it is more bizarre. The picture he paints of somebody going begging in totally inappropriate attire is like a joke that doesn't quite come off, but elicits polite laughter that is muted or embarrassed. (I have told one or two of those in my time as a striver, and I doubtless will do so again.)
Unlike the striver's description of Nanda in the second half of today's verse, when Ashvaghosha describes Nanda at the end of Canto 5, he does so in a way that elicits not laughter but empathy and sadness:
As his hair was thus being banished, his tearful downcast face / Resembled a rain-sodden lotus in a pond with its stalk sagging at the top. // Thence, in drab garb with the dull yellow-red colour of tree bark, and despondent as a newly-captured elephant, / Nanda resembled a waning full moon at night's end, sprinkled by the powdery rays of the early morning sun. // [5.52 - 5.53]
I imagine that Ashvaghosha in his time saw plenty of young men who, having had their heads shaved and donned the shapeless robe, were as despondent as newly-captured elephants, grieving for the homes and families they had left behind. So his picture of Nanda would have been drawn from real life. Similarly, I imagine that Ashvaghosha was familiar with plenty of characters like the striver, and familiar also with a tendency to strive in himself, and so today's verse might also be drawn from real life.
In our unreal thoughts, a comedian is always a person who makes others laugh. But the real situation that comedians fear is a performance which causes nobody to laugh. For comedians, this experience is very real -- so real they call it dying.
In a similar way that we assume a comedian, knowing what is laughable, should be able to make others laugh, we tend to assume that an Alexander teacher should be one who understands how to sit well, how to breathe naturally, how to walk economically, and so on. And we tend to assume that a buddha should be one who knows what enlightenment is. Those assumptions are all false. But the making of those assumptions is very real -- as real as a joke that doesn't come off, and as imperfect and quirky as a character in a story drawn from real life.
EH Johnston:
It would be laughable for a man to go begging who wears beautiful ornaments, clothes and garlands, holds a bow and flaunts a gorgeous nodding headdress ; so too is it laughable for one, who has abandoned all outward ornament and lives on others' alms, to be filled again with desire and to long to return to the pleasures of his home life.
Linda Covill:
And just as it is ridiculous to practice mendicancy decked in the finest ornaments, clothes and garlands, holding a bow and with one's head full of frivolities, likewise it is ridiculous to consent to the drab robes and to eat the almsfood of others while thirstily longing for domestic pleasures.
VOCABULARY:
haasyaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. to be laughed at , laughable , ridiculous , funny , comical
yathaa: ind. just as
ca: and
param'-aabharaN'-aambara-srak (nom. sg. m.): with the finest ornaments, clothes, and garlands
parama: mfn. the best
aabharaNa: n. ornament , decoration (as jewels &c )
ambara: n. clothes , apparel , garment
sraj: f. (nom. srak) a wreath of flowers , garland , chaplet worn on the head , any wreath or garland
bhaikSham (acc. sg.): n. asking alms , begging
caran = nom. sg. m. pres. part. car: to go
dhRta-dhanuH (nom. sg. m.): holding a bow
dhRta: mfn. held
dhanu: m. a bow
cala-citta-mauliH (nom. sg. m.): head full of fickle thoughts
cala-citta: mfn. fickle-minded ; n. fickleness of mind
mauli: m. the head , the top of anything
vairuupyam (acc. sg.): n. multiplicity of form , diversity , difference ; deformity , ugliness
ruupya: mfn. well-shaped , beautiful
abhyupagataH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. agreed, assented to
abhy-upa- √ gam: to go near to , approach , arrive at (acc.) ; to obtain ; to assent , agree to
para-piNDa-bhojii (nom. sg. m.): eating food offered by others
para: m. another, others'
piNDa: m. any round or roundish mass ; a roundish lump of food , a bite , morsel , mouthful ; (esp.) a ball of rice or flour &c offered to the pitRs or deceased ancestors , a shraaddha oblation ; food , daily bread , livelihood , subsistence
bhojin: mfn. (ifc.) enjoying , eating
haasyaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. to be laughed at , laughable , ridiculous , funny , comical
tathaa: ind. so too, likewise
gRha-sukh'-aabhimukhaH (nom. sg. m.): inclined towards the comforts of home
gRha-sukha: the comforts of home ; ease of domestic life
abhimukha: mfn. with the face directed towards , turned towards , facing; (ifc.) going near , approaching ; (ifc.) disposed to , intending to , ready for
sa-tRShNaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. having thirst, thirsty, desirous
Friday, March 25, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 8.58: Blame & Shame
baddhvaa yathaa hi kavacaM pragRhiita-caapo
nindyo bhavaty apasRtaH samaraad ratha-sthaH
bhaikShaakam abhyupagataH parigRhya liNgaM
nindyas tathaa bhavati kaama-hRt'-endriy-aashvaH
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
8.58
For just as he is blameworthy who,
having girded on armour and taken up a bow,
Flees in his war-chariot away from a battle;
So too is he blameworthy who,
having taken on the insignia and taken up begging,
Allows the stallion of his senses
to be carted away by desire.
COMMENT:
These might be the words of the Buddha himself -- if not for two dead giveaways.
Twice in this verse the striver uses the word, nindya, blameworthy, from the root √nind, to blame.
EHJ in his somewhat grey and pedantic way just translates nindya literally, as blameworthy. LC, who surely has a more gifted way with words than us more workmanlike translators, appears to recoil from the idea that a Buddhist monk might call a person blameworthy, and so she puts what seems to be a compassionate spin on the striver's words. In LC's translation the striver doesn't apportion blame; he rather describes a certain kind of behaviour as shameful. This, of course, is in accordance with the precepts.
A follower of the Buddha's teaching should, in theory, definitely not blame others. And if he did blame others, that would be a shameful act, but the blamer himself would not deserve to be blamed. At least not in theory.
Ashvaghosha, however, knew something in practice which is not amenable to be understood in theory: he knew how a striver's mind tends to work. I dare say he knew it from the inside. If not from the inside, how else could he truly know it?
Precept no. 7 of the ten precepts that Dogen transmitted from China into Japan is not to praise oneself or blame others. So we should want to keep that precept. As a general rule, however, when we strive to keep the precepts, we fail. It may be that what causes us to fail is striving itself. And this may be why, when we study the striving mind in detail, from the inside, in practice, it is full of blaming others.
Yesterday, after I had explained my understanding of today's verse to my wife and was feeling quite proud of myself (I might even have been comparing my understanding with that of EHJ and LC, with a hint of self-praise), my wife remarked, "You are SHAMON!"
SHAMON is the Japanese word that represents the Sanskrit shramaNa, which literally means striver. So what my wife was saying was "You are the striver!"
Yep, that is the shameful truth. I am the striver. I suppose I might as well make friends with the bastard, since I appear to be stuck with him.
Speaking of players of the blame game who should know better, I could easily name other names besides my own, but what would that prove? Suffice to say that praising self and blaming others is a shameful tendency. And when we dig down around its roots, we find that it is very much rooted in striving.
So Ashvaghosha's portrayal of striving, not in the abstract, but in the form of the striver who is one of the protagonists of Saundara-nanda, might be an incredibly useful resource in helping us to understand that not only gross ascetic striving but also the subtler form of Buddhist striving is just a tendency that the Buddha's teaching invites us to give up.
The point, in short, if only for a moment, is not to be the striver.
EH Johnston:
For as the warrior on his chariot is blameworthy, who after girding on his breastplate and taking his bow retires from the battlefield, so too is he blameworthy who, after accepting the badge and entering the mendicant life, allows the steeds of his senses to be carried away by passion.
Linda Covill:
When a man has donned armor, has his bow at the ready and stands in his chariot, it is shameful for him to retreat from the field of battle. Likewise it is shameful for a man who has adopted mendicancy and accepted the robes of a monk to allow the horses of his senses to run away with desire.
VOCABULARY:
baddhvaa = abs. bandh: to bind round , put on
yathaa: ind. just as
hi: for
kavacam (acc. sg.): m. armour , a coat of mail
pragRhiita-caapaH (nom. sg. m.): holding his bow
pragRhiita: mfn. held forth or out , taken , accepted &c
pra- √ grah: hold ; to seize , grasp , take hold of , take ; receive
caapa: m. a bow
nindyaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. blamable , reprehensible
nind: to blame , censure , revile , despise , ridicule
bhavati = 3rd pers. sg. bhuu: to be, become
apasRtaH (nom. sg. m.): retreated
apa- √ sR: to slip off from (abl.); to go away , retreat
samaraat (abl. sg.): m. coming together ; hostile encounter , conflict , struggle , war , battle
ratha-sthaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. being on a chariot
ratha: m. " goer " , a chariot , car , esp. a two-wheeled war-chariot
bhaikShaakam (acc. sg.): n. mendicancy
abhyupagataH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. gone near to , approached , arrived at; agreed , assented to
abhy-upa- √ gam: to go near to; to assent
parigRhya = abs. pari- √ grah: to take hold of on both sides , embrace ; to put on , wear (as a dress or ornament) ; to take or carry along with one ; to take possession of ; to accept
liNgam (acc. sg.): n. the insignia
nindyaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. blamable , reprehensible
nind: to blame , censure , revile , despise , ridicule
tathaa: ind. so, likewise
bhavati = 3rd pers. sg. bhuu: to be, become
kaama-hṛt'-endriy-aashvaH (nom. sg. m.): the horse/power of his senses carried off by desire
kaama: m. desire, love, sensuality
hRta: mfn. taken , taken away , seized
hR: to take away , carry off , seize , deprive of , steal , rob
indriya: n. power of the senses ; the senses
ashva: m. horse
nindyo bhavaty apasRtaH samaraad ratha-sthaH
bhaikShaakam abhyupagataH parigRhya liNgaM
nindyas tathaa bhavati kaama-hRt'-endriy-aashvaH
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
= = - = - - - = - - = - = =
8.58
For just as he is blameworthy who,
having girded on armour and taken up a bow,
Flees in his war-chariot away from a battle;
So too is he blameworthy who,
having taken on the insignia and taken up begging,
Allows the stallion of his senses
to be carted away by desire.
COMMENT:
These might be the words of the Buddha himself -- if not for two dead giveaways.
Twice in this verse the striver uses the word, nindya, blameworthy, from the root √nind, to blame.
EHJ in his somewhat grey and pedantic way just translates nindya literally, as blameworthy. LC, who surely has a more gifted way with words than us more workmanlike translators, appears to recoil from the idea that a Buddhist monk might call a person blameworthy, and so she puts what seems to be a compassionate spin on the striver's words. In LC's translation the striver doesn't apportion blame; he rather describes a certain kind of behaviour as shameful. This, of course, is in accordance with the precepts.
A follower of the Buddha's teaching should, in theory, definitely not blame others. And if he did blame others, that would be a shameful act, but the blamer himself would not deserve to be blamed. At least not in theory.
Ashvaghosha, however, knew something in practice which is not amenable to be understood in theory: he knew how a striver's mind tends to work. I dare say he knew it from the inside. If not from the inside, how else could he truly know it?
Precept no. 7 of the ten precepts that Dogen transmitted from China into Japan is not to praise oneself or blame others. So we should want to keep that precept. As a general rule, however, when we strive to keep the precepts, we fail. It may be that what causes us to fail is striving itself. And this may be why, when we study the striving mind in detail, from the inside, in practice, it is full of blaming others.
Yesterday, after I had explained my understanding of today's verse to my wife and was feeling quite proud of myself (I might even have been comparing my understanding with that of EHJ and LC, with a hint of self-praise), my wife remarked, "You are SHAMON!"
SHAMON is the Japanese word that represents the Sanskrit shramaNa, which literally means striver. So what my wife was saying was "You are the striver!"
Yep, that is the shameful truth. I am the striver. I suppose I might as well make friends with the bastard, since I appear to be stuck with him.
Speaking of players of the blame game who should know better, I could easily name other names besides my own, but what would that prove? Suffice to say that praising self and blaming others is a shameful tendency. And when we dig down around its roots, we find that it is very much rooted in striving.
So Ashvaghosha's portrayal of striving, not in the abstract, but in the form of the striver who is one of the protagonists of Saundara-nanda, might be an incredibly useful resource in helping us to understand that not only gross ascetic striving but also the subtler form of Buddhist striving is just a tendency that the Buddha's teaching invites us to give up.
The point, in short, if only for a moment, is not to be the striver.
EH Johnston:
For as the warrior on his chariot is blameworthy, who after girding on his breastplate and taking his bow retires from the battlefield, so too is he blameworthy who, after accepting the badge and entering the mendicant life, allows the steeds of his senses to be carried away by passion.
Linda Covill:
When a man has donned armor, has his bow at the ready and stands in his chariot, it is shameful for him to retreat from the field of battle. Likewise it is shameful for a man who has adopted mendicancy and accepted the robes of a monk to allow the horses of his senses to run away with desire.
VOCABULARY:
baddhvaa = abs. bandh: to bind round , put on
yathaa: ind. just as
hi: for
kavacam (acc. sg.): m. armour , a coat of mail
pragRhiita-caapaH (nom. sg. m.): holding his bow
pragRhiita: mfn. held forth or out , taken , accepted &c
pra- √ grah: hold ; to seize , grasp , take hold of , take ; receive
caapa: m. a bow
nindyaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. blamable , reprehensible
nind: to blame , censure , revile , despise , ridicule
bhavati = 3rd pers. sg. bhuu: to be, become
apasRtaH (nom. sg. m.): retreated
apa- √ sR: to slip off from (abl.); to go away , retreat
samaraat (abl. sg.): m. coming together ; hostile encounter , conflict , struggle , war , battle
ratha-sthaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. being on a chariot
ratha: m. " goer " , a chariot , car , esp. a two-wheeled war-chariot
bhaikShaakam (acc. sg.): n. mendicancy
abhyupagataH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. gone near to , approached , arrived at; agreed , assented to
abhy-upa- √ gam: to go near to; to assent
parigRhya = abs. pari- √ grah: to take hold of on both sides , embrace ; to put on , wear (as a dress or ornament) ; to take or carry along with one ; to take possession of ; to accept
liNgam (acc. sg.): n. the insignia
nindyaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. blamable , reprehensible
nind: to blame , censure , revile , despise , ridicule
tathaa: ind. so, likewise
bhavati = 3rd pers. sg. bhuu: to be, become
kaama-hṛt'-endriy-aashvaH (nom. sg. m.): the horse/power of his senses carried off by desire
kaama: m. desire, love, sensuality
hRta: mfn. taken , taken away , seized
hR: to take away , carry off , seize , deprive of , steal , rob
indriya: n. power of the senses ; the senses
ashva: m. horse
Thursday, March 24, 2011
SAUNDARANANDA 8.57: Appeal to Snobbery (ctd.)
abhijana-mahato manasvinaH
priya-yashaso bahu-maanam icchataH
nidhanam api varaM sthir-aatmanash
cyuta-vinayasya na c'aiva jiivitaM
- - - - - - = - = - =
- - - - = - - = - = - =
- - - - - - = - = - =
- - - - = - - = - = - =
8.57
For the spirited man of noble birth,
For the man who cherishes honour
and strives to earn great respect,
For the man of grit --
Better death for him than life as a backslider.
COMMENT:
When we reflect on the Buddha's life story, as summarized by Ashvaghosha in Canto 3, what did the Buddha strive to earn?
Great respect? No.
He wished totally to terminate the terror of being born and dying. [2.64]
To that end the Buddha as a starting point devoted himself to ascetic striving.
Then, having ascertained that this was not the path, he abandoned that extreme asceticism too. / Understanding the sphere of meditation to be supreme, he ate good food in readiness to realise the deathless. // With his golden arms fully expanded and as if in a yoke, with lengthened eyes, and bull-like gait, / He came to a fig tree, growing up from the earth, with the will to awakening that belongs to the supreme method of investigation. // Sitting there, mind made up, as unmovingly stable as the king of mountains, / He overcame the grim army of Mara and awoke to the step which is happy, irremovable, and irreducible. // [3.5 - 3.7]
On the basis of this awakening, in what kind of direction did the Buddha point Nanda? Did the Buddha point Nanda in the kind of direction that has to be followed by every successful man of the world in order to become a successful man of the world -- whether he be a CEO, a brigadier, a top investigative journalist, a hospital consultant, or even a doctor of Buddhist studies -- namely, the direction of earning people's great respect? Or did the Buddha use skillful means to point Nanda in another direction altogether?
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: // "Aha! This gaining of a foothold is the harbinger in you of a better way, /As, when a firestick is rubbed, rising smoke is the harbinger of fire. // Long carried off course by the restless horses of the senses,/ You have now set foot on a path, with clarity of vision, happily, that will not dim. // Today your birth bears fruit; your gain today is great; /For though you know the taste of love, your mind is yearning for indifference. // 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..." // [12.18 - 12.22]
When I sit in the morning, having memorized today's verse the night before, the question invariably arises: what has today's verse got to do with the one great matter, which is sitting in lotus, learning the backward step of turning one's light and letting it shine.
As an answer to that question, it struck me this morning that the striver's words only become meaningful to me if I turn them totally around. Hence:
A real human being whose pedigree had become irrelevant:
A human being who didn't care for fame,
who didn't mind what others thought of him,
who had gone beyond striving,
And whose teaching was flexible and changeable:
He led Nanda to make the deathless his own
by means of a backward step.
The point of every word Ashvaghosha's striver says, as I hear him, is to help us be clear what the Buddha's teaching is not.
EH Johnston:
To the man of high family and spirit, who holds his reputation dear and desires respect, death with firmness of soul is preferable to life accompanied by lapse from the Rule.
Linda Covill:
Better death for a nobly-born man, firm in himself and sound of mind, holding his reputation dear and wishing to be respected, than life for one whose discipline has slipped.
VOCABULARY:
abhijana-mahataH (gen. sg. m.): of noble descent
abhijana: m. family , race ; ancestors ; noble descent
abhi- √ jan: to be born for or to
mahat: mfn. great ; m. a great or noble man
manas-vinaH (gen. sg. m.): mfn. full of mind or sense , intelligent , clever , wise ; in high spirits ; fixing the mind, attentive
priya-yashasaH (gen. sg. m.): valuing his honour
priya: mfn. dear to ; fond of, attached or devoted to (ibc. e.g. priya-devana , " fond of playing " )
yashas: n. beautiful appearance; honour , glory , fame , renown
bahu-maanam (acc. sg.): m. high esteem or estimation , great respect or regard
icchataH = gen. sg. m. pres. part. iSh: to endeavour to obtain , strive , seek for ; to endeavour to make favourable ; to desire , wish , long for
nidhanam (nom. sg.): n. conclusion , end , death
ni- √ dhaa: to put or lay down; to end, close
api: even
varam: ind. it is better than , rather than (in these senses varam is followed by na with nom. e.g. varaM mRshyur na c' aakiirtiH , " better death than [lit. " and not "] infamy ")
sthir-aatmanaH (gen. sg. m.): of firm character
sthira: mfn. firm , hard , solid , compact , strong
aatman: m. essence , nature , character (often ifc.)
cyuta-vinayasya (gen. sg. m.): of lapsed discipline
cyuta: mfn. moved , shaken; gone away from ; destitute of, free of (in comp.)
cyu: to move to and fro , shake about ; to fall down ; to fail
vinaya: m. leading , guidance , training (esp. moral training) , education , discipline , control ; m. (with Buddhists) the rules of discipline for monks
na: not
ca: and
eva: (emphatic)
jiivatam (nom. sg.): n. life
priya-yashaso bahu-maanam icchataH
nidhanam api varaM sthir-aatmanash
cyuta-vinayasya na c'aiva jiivitaM
- - - - - - = - = - =
- - - - = - - = - = - =
- - - - - - = - = - =
- - - - = - - = - = - =
8.57
For the spirited man of noble birth,
For the man who cherishes honour
and strives to earn great respect,
For the man of grit --
Better death for him than life as a backslider.
COMMENT:
When we reflect on the Buddha's life story, as summarized by Ashvaghosha in Canto 3, what did the Buddha strive to earn?
Great respect? No.
He wished totally to terminate the terror of being born and dying. [2.64]
To that end the Buddha as a starting point devoted himself to ascetic striving.
Then, having ascertained that this was not the path, he abandoned that extreme asceticism too. / Understanding the sphere of meditation to be supreme, he ate good food in readiness to realise the deathless. // With his golden arms fully expanded and as if in a yoke, with lengthened eyes, and bull-like gait, / He came to a fig tree, growing up from the earth, with the will to awakening that belongs to the supreme method of investigation. // Sitting there, mind made up, as unmovingly stable as the king of mountains, / He overcame the grim army of Mara and awoke to the step which is happy, irremovable, and irreducible. // [3.5 - 3.7]
On the basis of this awakening, in what kind of direction did the Buddha point Nanda? Did the Buddha point Nanda in the kind of direction that has to be followed by every successful man of the world in order to become a successful man of the world -- whether he be a CEO, a brigadier, a top investigative journalist, a hospital consultant, or even a doctor of Buddhist studies -- namely, the direction of earning people's great respect? Or did the Buddha use skillful means to point Nanda in another direction altogether?
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: // "Aha! This gaining of a foothold is the harbinger in you of a better way, /As, when a firestick is rubbed, rising smoke is the harbinger of fire. // Long carried off course by the restless horses of the senses,/ You have now set foot on a path, with clarity of vision, happily, that will not dim. // Today your birth bears fruit; your gain today is great; /For though you know the taste of love, your mind is yearning for indifference. // 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..." // [12.18 - 12.22]
When I sit in the morning, having memorized today's verse the night before, the question invariably arises: what has today's verse got to do with the one great matter, which is sitting in lotus, learning the backward step of turning one's light and letting it shine.
As an answer to that question, it struck me this morning that the striver's words only become meaningful to me if I turn them totally around. Hence:
A real human being whose pedigree had become irrelevant:
A human being who didn't care for fame,
who didn't mind what others thought of him,
who had gone beyond striving,
And whose teaching was flexible and changeable:
He led Nanda to make the deathless his own
by means of a backward step.
The point of every word Ashvaghosha's striver says, as I hear him, is to help us be clear what the Buddha's teaching is not.
EH Johnston:
To the man of high family and spirit, who holds his reputation dear and desires respect, death with firmness of soul is preferable to life accompanied by lapse from the Rule.
Linda Covill:
Better death for a nobly-born man, firm in himself and sound of mind, holding his reputation dear and wishing to be respected, than life for one whose discipline has slipped.
VOCABULARY:
abhijana-mahataH (gen. sg. m.): of noble descent
abhijana: m. family , race ; ancestors ; noble descent
abhi- √ jan: to be born for or to
mahat: mfn. great ; m. a great or noble man
manas-vinaH (gen. sg. m.): mfn. full of mind or sense , intelligent , clever , wise ; in high spirits ; fixing the mind, attentive
priya-yashasaH (gen. sg. m.): valuing his honour
priya: mfn. dear to ; fond of, attached or devoted to (ibc. e.g. priya-devana , " fond of playing " )
yashas: n. beautiful appearance; honour , glory , fame , renown
bahu-maanam (acc. sg.): m. high esteem or estimation , great respect or regard
icchataH = gen. sg. m. pres. part. iSh: to endeavour to obtain , strive , seek for ; to endeavour to make favourable ; to desire , wish , long for
nidhanam (nom. sg.): n. conclusion , end , death
ni- √ dhaa: to put or lay down; to end, close
api: even
varam: ind. it is better than , rather than (in these senses varam is followed by na with nom. e.g. varaM mRshyur na c' aakiirtiH , " better death than [lit. " and not "] infamy ")
sthir-aatmanaH (gen. sg. m.): of firm character
sthira: mfn. firm , hard , solid , compact , strong
aatman: m. essence , nature , character (often ifc.)
cyuta-vinayasya (gen. sg. m.): of lapsed discipline
cyuta: mfn. moved , shaken; gone away from ; destitute of, free of (in comp.)
cyu: to move to and fro , shake about ; to fall down ; to fail
vinaya: m. leading , guidance , training (esp. moral training) , education , discipline , control ; m. (with Buddhists) the rules of discipline for monks
na: not
ca: and
eva: (emphatic)
jiivatam (nom. sg.): n. life
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