BUDDHACARITA 4.7: Being Held Spellbound

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evaṁ tā dṛṣṭi-mātreṇa nāryo dadṛśur-eva tam |

−−−−¦⏑⏑⏑−¦¦⏑−−−¦⏑−⏑− navipulā

na vyājahrur-na jahasuḥ prabhāveṇāsya yantritāḥ || 4.7

4.7

Thus, with the full extent of their mind's eyes,

The women did nothing but behold him:

They did not speak and did not laugh,

Held spellbound by his power.

COMMENT:

In the present series of verses, as is becoming more apparent verse by verse, a prince's entrancing influence on a group of enchanted young women is a metaphor for the captivating influence of the Buddha's teaching on people who -- if only for a moment -- are receptive to that teaching.

That being so, every pāda of today's verse, as I read it, alludes to the practice of just sitting still in silence.

In the 1^st pāda dṛṣṭi-mātreṇa, though it ostensibly means “simply by looking,” might also carry many other possible meanings, due to the multiplicity of meanings of dṛṣṭi, which in its plural form was translated in yesterday's verse as “glances,” but which also means seeing, mind's eye, view, theory, and eye. Even as an expression of the mental aspect of sitting, dṛṣṭi-mātreṇa might be translated in a number of ways, but “using the full measure of the mind's eye” seems to me to be as good as any alternative.

The 2^nd pāda can be read as antithetical to the first, in its implicit negation of the activity of anything so subjective as “a mind's eye” or “a view.” When fish are swimming like fish, and birds and flying like birds, “a mind's eye” or “a view” does not get a look in. Again, when women are sitting like women, and buddha is sitting like buddha, the point might be that every woman is doing nothing but meeting buddha.

The 3^rd pāda, as I read it, describes the action of just sitting in terms of actions that it is not. “What is just sitting?” is a question that nobody can answer in words. But “Is it to speak?” and “Is it to laugh?” are questions that can be answered with a word. And the word is no.

The 4^th pāda is very reminiscent of two phrases that Dogen used in two versions of his rules of sitting-zen for everybody.

In his first draft of these rules (Fukan-zazengi Shinpitsu-bon), he wrote of being 
被自礙 (Jap: JI NI SAERARU), “obstructed/restricted/caught by the self.” 

In his revised edition Dogen wrote:

“In general, in this world and in other worlds, in India and in China, all equally maintained the Buddha-seal, and solely indulged in the fundamental custom: they simply devoted themselves to sitting, and were 被礙兀地 (Jap: GOCCHI NI SAERARU), obstructed/restricted/caught/held spellbound by the still state.”

In the lineage of the buddha-ancestors, evidently, what is valued most highly is not the ability to talk a good talk. Because Aśvaghoṣa belongs to this lineage, when he describes himself as mahā-vādinaḥ, a talker of the great talk, or a great talker, I think we should understand that a deal of ironic self-deprecation was at play. 

VOCABULARY

evam: ind. thus , in this way , in such a manner

tāḥ (nom. pl. f.): they, those

dṛṣṭi-mātreṇa (inst. sg.): simply by seeing ; with the whole of the mind's eye ; using the totality of theory

dṛṣṭi: f. seeing , viewing , beholding (also with the mental eye); sight , the faculty of seeing; the mind's eye , wisdom , intelligence ; view , notion ; theory , doctrine , system; eye , look , glance

mātra: n. the full or simple measure of anything , the whole or totality , the one thing and no more , often = nothing but , entirely , only

nāryaḥ (nom. pl.): f. woman

dadṛśur = 3^rd pers. pl. perf. dṛś: to see , behold , look at , regard , consider

eva: (emphatic)

tam (acc. sg. m.): him

na: not

vyājahrur = 3^rd pers. pl. perf. vy-ā- √ hṛ: to utter or pronounce a sound , speak ; to utter inarticulate sounds , cry

na: not

jahasuḥ = 3^rd pers. pl. perf. has: to laugh , smile

prabhāveṇa (inst. sg.): m. might , power , majesty , dignity , strength , efficacy

asya (gen. sg.): his

yantritāḥ (nom. pl. f.): mfn. restrained , curbed , bound , fettered , confined (lit. and fig.); subject to , compelled by , depending on (instr. abl. , or comp.); bandaged , placed in splints

更互相顧視 抱愧寂無言

BUDDHACARITA 4.6: If Looks Could Kill

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tasya tā vapuṣākṣiptā nigṛhītaṁ jajṛmbhire |

−−−−¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑−⏑⏑¦⏑−⏑−

anyonyaṁ dṛṣṭibhir-hatvā śanaiś-ca viniśaśvasuḥ || 4.6

4.6

Entranced by his form,

They inwardly opened out

And, killing each other with glances,

Exhaled deeply and quietly.

COMMENT:

The 1^st pāda ostensibly describes the effect of a good-looking man on swooning female admirers, but its hidden meaning might be to suggest the usefulness in sitting-meditation of having a role model who demonstrates what a good form in sitting really is – namely a form  that is totally liberated from any limiting, rigidity-producing conception of good form.

This irony is suggested by the 2nd pāda, as I read it, in its paradoxical juxtaposition of nigṛhītam, which suggests restriction, stopping, or restraint (hence, EHJ: suppressedly; PO: trying to hold back) and jajṛmbhire, which means they gaped or opened out. On the surface, I think nigṛhītaṁ jajṛmbhire is intended to mean something like “being seized [by emotion], they gaped.” But the real point, at least as I take it, is that the kind of opening out a follower of the Buddha wants is not the kind of imitation of a drawn bow that is pursued in modern-day yoga of the bendy bunny variety. What we want is what FM Alexander called “lengthening and widening of the whole stature,” and that is primarily a function not of movements of bones and muscles but rather of activity (or cessation of activity) within the brain and nervous system, so that the opening out can be going on inwardly without anything on the outside perceptibly changing.

The 3^rd pāda ostensibly describes women smiting each other with jealous looks. The hidden meaning might be to suggest the kind of subtle, indirect interaction that can go on when individuals come together to practise sitting-meditation, whereby each person's sincerity contributes to a general dearth of nervous excitement.

The irony continues into the 4^th pāda, which ostensibly describes an unconscious emotional response (hence EBC/EHJ/PO “softly sighed”), but which might really be intended to suggest the deep exhalation which, according to Dogen's rules of sitting-zen for everybody, one should practice at the beginning of sitting. In that case, śanaiś-ca viniśaśvasuḥ expresses not an unconscious emotional reaction ("they softly sighed"), but on the contrary a consciously controlled balancing act ("they deeply and forcefully breathed out, softly and quietly").  

VOCABULARY

tasya (gen. sg.): his

tāḥ (nom. pl. f.): they

vapuṣā (inst. sg.): n. form , figure , (esp.) a beautiful form or figure , wonderful appearance , beauty

ākṣiptāḥ (nom. pl. f.): mfn. cast , thrown down ; caught , seized , overcome (as the mind , citta , cetas or -hridaya) by beauty , curiosity , &c , charmed , transported

nigṛhītam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. held down or back , seized , caught , checked ; harassed , assailed , attacked

ni- √ grah: to hold down , lower , depress ; to keep or hold back , draw near , attract ; to seize , catch , hold , hold fast , stop , restrain , suppress , curb , tame , punish ; to contract , close (as the eyes)

jajṛmbhire = 3^rd pers. pl. perf. jṛmbh: to open the mouth , yawn; to gape open , open (as a flower) ; to fly back or recoil (as a bow when unstrung) ; to unfold , spread (as a flood &c ) , expand , occupy a larger circuit ; to spread (as sound) ; to feel at ease

anyonyam (acc. sg. n.): each other, mutually

dṛṣṭibhiḥ (inst. pl.): f. seeing; eye , look , glance

hatvā = abs. han; to strike, to smite , slay , hit , kill , mar , destroy ; to put to death , cause to be executed

śanaiḥ: ind. (inst. pl.) quietly , softly , gently , gradually , alternately

ca: and

viniśaśvasur = 3^rd pers. pl. perf. vi-ni- √ śvas: to breathe hard , snort , hiss ; to sigh deeply

種種設方便 不動菩薩心

[Bears no relation to the Sanskrit] 

BUDDHACARITA 4.5: Inwardly Turned Moonlight

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saumyatvāc-caiva dhairyāc-ca kāś-cid-enaṁ prajajñire |

⏑⏑−−¦⏑−−−¦¦−−−−¦⏑−⏑−

avatīrṇo mahīṁ sākṣād gūdhāṁśuś-candramā iti || 4.5

4.5

Because of his soma-steeped mildness,

and his constant gravity,

Some women intuited him to be,

Alighting on the earth in person,

A moon whose beam is contained within.

COMMENT:

In the 4^th pāda, candramā means the moon or the moon-god, and gūdhāṁśuḥ means with its/his moonbeams veiled/concealed/disguised/kept secret. Hence EHJ: “the moon with his rays veiled”; and PO: “Moon himself with his beams concealed.” So the ostensible meaning is to suggest the prince's devastating attractiveness to women by comparing him to the moon, or the god thereof, in disguise.

But in translating today's verse the first question I have asked myself is: Is it possible to read the 4^th pāda as an expression of sitting-practice?

If the answer is yes, then the real point of gūdhāṁśuś-candramā (“a moon whose beam is contained within”) might be to allude to the principle that in sitting-meditation the light of attention is primarily turned in, or turned back (nivṛttam).

In that case, gūdha is pointing not so much to any intention to veil or conceal one's light from others; it is rather pointing to the fact that sitting-meditation as the Buddha practised and taught it is something exceptionally self-contained, whose standard is the samādhi of accepting and using the self.

The 1^st pāda, then, can be read not only as presaging the metaphor of the moon in the 4^th pāda but also as pointing to just this samādhi in which something gentle, mild, placid, and yielding (corresponding to acceptance of the self) coexists with something firm and constant, filled with gravitas and strong direction (corresponding to use of the self).

This leads me to think that today's verse, while ostensibly the portrait of one particular individual who was especially attractive to women, is really all about that treasure that Dogen said was available to everybody, to accept and use as we like. Today's verse, in other words, is really a celebration of samādhi.

That being so, in the 1^st pāda the samādhi of accepting and using the self is a kind of verbal explanation or a theoretical construct. In the 2^nd pāda, in contrast, such balance is nothing so abstract or intellectual; it is rather a state of being that some know, or perceive, intuitively. In the 3^rd pāda, in practice, the samādhi in question is a function of the relation between an individual human being and mother earth. And the 4^th pāda indirectly suggests the reality of just sitting, using (and accepting) the metaphor of the moon.

VOCABULARY

saumya-tvāt (abl. sg.): n. gentleness , mildness

saumya: mfn. relating or belonging to soma (the juice or the sacrifice or the moon-god) , connected or dealing with soma , having his nature or qualities &c ; cool and moist ; " resembling the moon " , placid , gentle , mild

soma: n. juice, extract, (esp.) the juice of the soma plant ; the moon or moon-god

ca: and

eva (emphatic)

dhairyāt (abl. sg.): n. firmness , constancy , calmness , patience , gravity , fortitude , courage

ca: and

kāś-cid (nom. pl. f.): some

enam (acc. sg. m.): that, this

prajajñire = 3^rd pers. pl. perf. pra- √ jñā : to know , understand (esp. a way or mode of action) , discern , distinguish , know about , be acquainted with (acc.); to find out , discover , perceive , learn

avatīrṇaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. alighted , descended

mahīm (acc. sg.): f. " the great world " , the earth

sākṣāt: ind. (abl. of sākṣa, 'having eyes') with the eyes , with one's own eyes ; before one's eyes , evidently , clearly , openly , manifestly ; in person , in bodily form , personally , visibly , really , actually

gūdhāṁśuḥ (nom. sg. m.): with beams concealed/kept secret

gūdha: mfn covered, concealed , invisible , secret , private ; disguised ; n. a secret place or mystery

guh: to cover , conceal , hide , keep secret

aṁśu: m. a filament (especially of the soma plant) ; a ray , sunbeam

candramāḥ (nom. sg.): m. the moon , deity of the moon

iti: “....,” thus

一切皆瞻仰 謂月天子來

BUDDHACARITA 4.4: Brilliant Attributes

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taṁ hi tā menire nāryaḥ kāmo vigrahavān-iti |

−⏑−−¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑⏑−−¦⏑−⏑−

śobhitaṁ lakṣaṇair-dīptaiḥ saha-jair-bhūṣaṇair-iva || 4.4

4.4

For those women esteemed him

As a god of love in physical form,

Made beautiful by brilliant attributes

Like the adornments one is born with.

COMMENT:

What today's verse is ostensibly about is putting an ancient Indian holy man called Gautama on a pedestal, and honouring His miraculous, supernatural splendour.

Hence EHJ: "For the glory of the brilliant signs on his person, as of ornaments born on him, made the women deem him to be the god of love in bodily form." 

The ostensible meaning of saha-jair-bhūṣaṇaiḥ, then, is as indicated by EHJ's translation “ornaments born on him,” together with his footnote to the effect that There are many Buddhist tales of people being born with ornaments on them.

But if the original teaching of the Buddha was like that, why in the early days, I wonder, was it forbidden to build beautiful Gautama statues?

If Aśvaghoṣa's only intention was to compare beautiful distinguishing marks on the prince's body to shiny baubles that ancient Indians imagined to be born miraculously on babies with special religious significance, then there would be little here to interest an irreligious bloke who sits.

I think Aśvaghoṣa's real intention was that the brilliant adornments with which a baby is born are, for example, effortless movements of the floating ribs. A truly brilliant adornment, in other words, is the kind of naturally beautiful coordination that babies tend to manifest, in the ease with which they breathe.

And the brilliant attributes of a buddha might be similar to, but they are not the same as, these brilliant adornments with which a baby is born.

The difference might be the difference indicated by FM Alexander when he said, as quoted in the comment to 4.2:

"When an investigation comes to be made it will be found that every single thing we do in the work is exactly what is done in Nature, where the conditions are right, the difference being that we are learning to do it consciously."

What Alexander meant by “learning to do it,” paradoxically, is primarily a matter of learning what not to do. In other words, natural breathing as the brilliant attribute of an adult is an action not so much of doing as allowing.

If the 3^rd pāda of today's verse is understood like this, then the verse once again exhibits a four-phased progression in which

(1) subjects assign value to an object;

(2) something related to mind is expressed in physical form;

(3) beauty exists in acts of allowing; and

(4) a punch-line points to the point of sitting practice itself.

In conclusion, when sitting is practised as an exploration of utter loss in an hour of pain, how is the breathing? Is it like the breathing of an expert on breathing, such as a yoga teacher, or a top martial artist, or a voice coach, or a teacher of the FM Alexander Technique, or an ever-so-mindful Buddhist monk? Is it the same as a baby's breathing? Is it like a baby's breathing?

A Japanese great-grandson of Aśvaghoṣa, many times removed, instructed that there should be thousands and tens of thousands of questions like these – the answer to all of which might be “No!”

VOCABULARY

tam (acc. sg. m.): him

hi: for

tāḥ (nom. pl. f.): they

menire = 3^rd pers. pl. perf. man: to think, to regard or consider any one or anything (acc.) as (acc.) ; to perceive , observe , learn , know , understand , comprehend (acc.)

nāryaḥ (nom. pl.): f. woman

kāmaḥ (nom. sg.): m. Kāma, name of the god of love

vigraha-vān (nom. sg. m.): mfn. having form or figure , embodied , incarnate

vigraha: m. separate (i.e. individual) form or shape , form , figure , the body

iti: “...,” thus

śobhitam (acc. sg. m.): mfn. splendid , beautiful , adorned or embellished by

lakṣaṇaiḥ (inst. pl.): n. a mark , sign , symbol , token , characteristic , attribute , quality

dīptaiḥ (inst. pl. n.): mfn. blazing , flaming , hot , shining , bright , brilliant , splendid

saha-jaiḥ (inst. pl. n.): mfn. congenital , innate , hereditary , original , natural

bhūṣaṇaiḥ (inst. pl.): n. embellishment , ornament , decoration

iva: like

衆女見太子 光顏状天身
不假諸飾好 素體踰莊嚴 

BUDDHACARITA 4.3: Stillness Without Fixity

−−⏑⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦−⏑−−¦⏑−⏑−

tasthuś-ca parivāryainaṁ manmathākṣipta-cetasaḥ |

−⏑−−¦⏑⏑⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑⏑¦⏑−⏑−   navipulā

niścalaiḥ prīti-vikacaiḥ pibantya iva locanaiḥ || 4.3

4.3

And keeping him in their midst they stationed themselves,

Their minds caught fast by ardour;

While, with motionless eyes that sparkled with relish,

They seemed almost to be indulging in a feast.

COMMENT:

A shorter and in some sense more natural translation of today's verse would be:

And stood surrounding him,

Minds seized by love,

Almost drinking him in,

With motionless eyes that shone with desire.

The reason I have translated today's verse as I have is that, having asked myself what hidden meaning today's verse might contain, and having asked myself in particular what today's verse might have to do with sitting-meditation, I concluded, in the manner of some lazy person who finds that, if he stares long enough at clouds he begins to see human faces in them, or animal shapes, that today's verse can be read as a description of individual followers of the Buddha's teaching very sincerely enjoying together the practice of just sitting in stillness.

One virtue of reading the verse in this way is that it brings out an underlying four-phased progression, in which

(1) keeping the Buddha in one's midst, or at one's centre, or in one's heart, is the subjective or idealistic or religious attitude of a group of followers of the Buddha's teaching (such followers commonly being referred to, though not by me, if I can help it, as “Buddhists”);

(2) sincerity is a function of balance of something quite irreligious, for example, the autonomic nervous system (and somewhere on a distant death-bed – or in a distant grave, for all I know – somebody born just over 93 years ago feels glad);

(3) keeping still is a vivacious action; and

(4) real enjoyment of sitting-meditation totally smashes shoddy views about religious asceticism.

This reading may strike others as off-beat, but for several hours yesterday, before I saw this reading, today's verse meant nothing to me, whereas after seeing this reading, I love today's verse. It seems to turn a favourite principle of Marjory Barlow's, “stillness without fixity,” almost into an instruction for use of the eyes during sitting-meditation, the point being that the eyes should not move, but should nevertheless, as an indirect result of enjoying the process, be lively. The eyes, in other words, while remaining still, should not be held fixed in the lifeless, glazed-over 10,000-yard stare of the self-denying ascetic.

VOCABULARY

tasthuḥ = 3^rd pers. pl. perf. sthā: to stand , stand firmly , station one's self , stand upon , get upon , take up a position on ; to stay, remain

ca: and

parivārya = abs. causative pari- √ vṛ : to cover , surround , conceal , keep back , hem in ; (causative) to cover , surround , encompass , embrace

enam (acc. sg. m.): this one, that one, him (grammarians assert that the substitution of enam &c for imam or etam &c takes place when something is referred to which has already been mentioned in a previous part of the sentence)

manmathākṣipta-cetasaḥ (nom. pl. f.): hearts seized by love ; mind struck dumb by desire

manmatha: love or the god of love , amorous passion or desire

ākṣipta: mfn. cast , thrown down; caught , seized , overcome (as the mind , citta , cetas or -hridaya) by beauty , curiosity , &c , charmed , transported

ā- √ kṣip: to throw down upon ; to strike with a bolt ; to convulse , cause to tremble

cetas: n. consciousness , intelligence , thinking soul , heart , mind

niścalaiḥ (inst. pl. n.): mfn. motionless , immovable , fixed , steady , invariable , unchangeable

prīti-vikacaiḥ (inst. pl. n.): shining with partiality, bright with gladness

prīti: f. any pleasurable sensation , pleasure , joy , gladness , satisfaction; friendly disposition , kindness , favour , grace , amity (with samam or ifc.) , affection , sexual desire

vikaca: hairless , bald ; opened , blown ; shining , resplendent , brilliant , radiant with (comp.)

pibantyaḥ = nom. pl. f. pres. part. pā: to drink , quaff , suck , sip , swallow ; (met.) to imbibe , draw in , appropriate , enjoy , feast upon (with the eyes , ears &c )

iva: like, as if

locanaiḥ (inst. pl.): n. " organ of sight " , the eye

或復對言笑 或現憂慼容
規以悦太子 令生愛樂心

BUDDHACARITA 4.2: Non-Doing Doers

⏑⏑−⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦−⏑−−¦⏑−⏑−

abhigamya ca tās-tasmai vismayotphulla-locanāḥ |

−⏑−⏑¦⏑ −−−¦¦−⏑−⏑¦⏑−⏑−

cakrire samudācāraṁ padma-kośa-nibhaiḥ karaiḥ || 4.2

4.2

And having approached him,

Their peepers opened wide in wonderment,

They made their salutations

With hands like lotus buds,

COMMENT:

Today's verse can again be read as progressing through four phases concerned with (1) direction, (2) physical manifestation of mind, (3) action, and (4) suggestion of a beautiful reality through the use of metaphor.

Otherwise, if hidden meaning is to be found in today's verse, it might be contained in the hands which Aśvaghoṣa expresses at the end of the verse with the word karaiḥ. Kara literally means “doer,” and hence the human organ of doing, the hand.

The irony that Aśvaghoṣa may intend, then, is that when wide-eyed women hold their hands together in the shape of lotus buds, in welcoming salutation, such hands might be conspicuously beautiful expressions of non-doing.

I read a quote on Facebook to the effect that the world doesn't need any more successful people but we need more lovers, healers, et cetera.

The world certainly doesn't need more end-gainers who blindly pursue success by harmful means. But neither does it need the kind of end-gainer who manifests himself as a healer.

People praised FM Alexander as a healer, but he wasn't having any of it. As far as he was concerned, he taught people an indirect means of getting out of the way, and healing was nature's job. “There are many miracles in nature,” was FM's reply when people accused him of being a miracle-worker.

To take a view that the Buddha's teaching is anti-success, or anti-beauty, or anti anything real, would be to take a wrong view.

The world needs everybody to be more and more successful, and everybody to be more and more beautiful, because of consciously following a means-whereby.

The women in today's verse are manifesting beautiful non-doing hands not because of consciously following a means-whereby principle, but rather because of being enthralled in unconscious open-mouthed and open-eyed admiration for the prince.

What has this got to do with sitting-meditation? And what has it got to do with the FM Alexander Technique?

As Alexander said:

"When an investigation comes to be made it will be found that every single thing we do in the work is exactly what is done in Nature, where the conditions are right, the difference being that we are learning to do it consciously."

In the Lotus Sutra, the lotus is a symbol of the Buddha's true dharma. At the same time the lotus is a universal symbol of beauty. The Buddha's teaching, in my book, is never anti-beauty. The Buddha's teaching rather points to the pursuit of beauty by a conscious means. And if I am clear in my understanding on this point, the clarity comes via the Alexander teachers who have taught me a conscious means whereby the befouling faults associated with end-gaining may be eradicated (not that I am always sufficiently diligent or thorough in applying what I have been taught). 

VOCABULARY

abhigamya = abs. abhi- √ gam: to go near to, approach

ca: and

tāḥ (nom. pl. f.): they

tasmai (dat. sg. m.): him

vismayotphulla-locanāḥ (nom. pl. f.):

vismaya: m. wonder , surprise , amazement

utphulla: mfn. blown (as a flower); wide open (as the eyes)

locana: n. " organ of sight " , the eye

cakrire = 3^rd pers. pl. perf. kṛ: to do, make

sam-udācāram (acc. sg.): m. preset station , offering , entertainment (of a guest &c ); proper or right practice or usage or conduct or behaviour ; salutation

padma-kośa-nibhaiḥ (inst. pl. m.)

padma: a lotus

kośa: m. a cask; a bud , flower-cup , seed-vessel

nibha: mfn. resembling , like , similar (ifc.)

karaiḥ (inst. pl.): m. " the doer " , the hand

各盡伎姿態 供侍隨所宜
或有執手足 或遍摩其身

BUDDHACARITA 4.1: Gorgeous Women WLTM Majestic Suitor

⏑−−−¦⏑−−−¦¦−−⏑⏑¦⏑−⏑−    pathyā Śloka 

tatas-tasmāt purodyānāt kautūhala-calekṣaṇāḥ |

−−−−¦⏑⏑⏑−¦¦−−⏑⏑¦⏑−⏑−   navipulā

pratyujjagmur-nṛpa-sutaṁ prāptaṁ varam-iva striyaḥ || 4.1

4.1

Then, out of that royal plot,

Their interested eyes darting,

The women advanced to meet the son of the king

As if he were an arriving suitor.

COMMENT:

A four phased progression can be observed in today's verse, in which the 1^st pāda describes mental motivation, the 2^nd pāda describes physical signs, the 3^rd pāda describes actual action, and the 4^th pāda summarizes the whole by means of indirect suggestion, or metaphor.

Understood like this purodyānāt, which ostensibly means “out of the city's royal garden,” is a play on udyāna (from ud-√yā, to go out) which literally means “going out” but whose derivative meanings include “royal garden” and “motive.” If udyāna is taken to mean a park or royal garden, then pura is naturally understood to mean "of the city" or civic. But if udyāna is taken to mean motive, then pura might better be understood as meaning the female apartments of a royal palace, and as pointing particularly to the kind of courtly intrigue that is liable to go on within such royal battlements, as women compete for the attentions of the best of men.

Women competing for the attentions of the best of men are probably a factor in the sex scandals that seem to bedevil “Buddhist” groups in which a bloke regarded as “the best of men,” or monkey number one in the Buddhist troop, confounds peoples expectations that he is above the pursuit of women for his own sensual gratification.

In such situations, where does the fault lie? I think the fault lies in all concerned, but especially in those fake elephants in whom there is a gap between what they practise and what they preach.

When a man does not see a fault as a fault, who is able to restrain him from it? (SN16.75)

Equally, when a woman does not see a fault as a fault, who is able to restrain her from it?

The statement by a Sanskrit scholar quoted a couple of days ago that  “Aśvaghoṣa's poems, as Buddhist texts, are necessarily anti-beauty,” is so spectacularly wrong that I cannot get it out of my head.

Aśvaghoṣa's poems are necessarily anti-hedonism, but they are never anti-beauty.

Aśvaghoṣa's poems are necessarily anti-asceticism, but they are never anti-pain.

The striver in Saundara-nanda is both anti-beauty and anti-women, but the striver is being held up as a perfect example of a man who holds wrong views.

Aśvaghoṣa's poems, as I read them, are never anti-women. But they might be anti-feminism.

The distinction is not a fine or subtle one. There is no razor's edge on which to walk along, no pin-head on which to dance. A woman is a real individual person -- I think of the Alexander teacher Marjory Barlow, or my fellow Shobogenzo translator Gabriele Linnebach, as two outstanding examples. Feminism, in contrast, is an -ism. 

VOCABULARY

tataḥ: ind. then

tasmāt (abl. sg.): from that

purodyānāt (abl. sg.): n. " city garden " , a pleasure-garden belonging to a town , park ; a place of civic/palatial design

pura: n. a fortress , castle , city , town ; the female apartments , gynaeceum

udyāna: n. the act of going out ; walking out; a park , garden , royal garden ; purpose , motive

kautūhala-calekṣaṇāḥ (nom. pl. f.): their eyes moving out of curiosity

kautūhala: n. curiosity , interest in anything , vehement desire

cala: mfn. moving , trembling ; unsteady

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

pratyujjagmur = 3^rd pers. pl. perf. praty-ud- √ gam: to go out towards , advance to meet (a friend or an enemy)

nṛpa-sutam (acc. sg. m.): m. a king's son , prince

prāptam (acc. sg. m.): mfn. come to (acc.) , arrived , present ; accomplished , complete , mature , full-grown

varam (acc. sg.): m. " chooser " , one who solicits a girl in marriage , suitor , lover , bridegroom , husband

iva: like

striyaḥ (nom. pl.): f. woman

太子入園林 衆女來奉迎
並生希遇想 競媚進幽誠