BUDDHACARITA 4.14: Snobbery Totally Inverted

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idaṁ nava-vadhūnāṁ vo hrī-nikuñcita-cakṣuṣām |

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sadśaṁ ceṣṭitaṁ hi syād-api vā gopa-yoṣitām || 4.14

4.14

For women who have recently taken their vows

And who modestly turn the light of their eyes within,

This behaviour of yours might be fitting –

As also for the wives of cowherds!

COMMENT:

Disclosing the hidden meaning of today's verse truly feels to me like suddenly finding a nugget of pure gold. Because, once the hidden meaning is glimpsed, the grubby statement of a young snob is instantly transformed into the golden teaching of one who was totally beyond snobbery.

The intention of the young brahmin snob Udāyin is brought out clearly enough in the following translations:

“This timid action of yours would be fit for new brides, their eyes closed through shame, — or it might be a blandishment worthy even of the wives of the cowherds.” (EBC)

“Conduct such as this of yours would be more proper in brides who narrow their eyes in shame, or even in the wives of cowherds.” (EHJ)

“For the way you conduct yourself is only proper for new brides, Who blushingly avert their eyes, or else for the wives of cowherds!” (PO)

In the 1^st pāda, however, I am sure that Aśvaghoṣa intended nava-vadhūnām to carry a double meaning. Nava-vadhū is given in the dictionary as “a newly married woman,” but as a noun nava means a young monk, a novice, and so a second,  hidden meaning of nava-vadhūnām is “young female novices.”

That being so, in the 2^nd pāda hrī-nikuñcita-cakṣuṣām might describe not only new brides who are blushingly averting their eyes, but also novice sitting-meditators who are learning the backward step of turning their light and letting it shine.

The behaviour referred to in the 3^rd pāda, according to Udāyin's intention, is shyness or timidity. For new brides, Udāyin is suggesting (as also for wives of working class milkmen) shyness or timidity might be fitting, but timidity is hardly fitting for sexy courtesans on a mission of seduction.

The behaviour that the 3^rd pāda is really referring to, if we follow the hidden meaning of today's verse, is the behaviour described in BC4.7 – 4.8 as doing nothing but look, as if spellbound, and as being disinclined to do. 

Such behaviour, i.e. the practice of conscious inhibition, or non-doing, is just that practice which is fitting for people who study the backward step.

The innocent are liable to think that the Buddha's teaching is all about doing the right thing, and not doing wrong. But as innocence fades, it becomes more apparent why the original teaching of the Buddha is the other way round: it is primarily all about not doing wrong. As mistakes accumulate on top of mistakes, in other words, a person who studies the backward step tends to become less inclined to try to do what he thinks he should do, and more inclined to practise not doing what he knows not to do.

Finally, the real jewel in today's verse is contained in the 4^th pāda whose snobbish ostensible meaning might be paraphrased thus: “I could understand it if a crowd of ugly low-class peasants were shy about displaying their love for the prince, but you high-class courtesans have nothing to be shy about! 1-2-3, go for it! Hurry up!”

Aśvaghoṣa's brilliance is to hide behind this ostensible meaning his real intention which is totally subversive to, and totally different from, Udāyin's snobbish view; instead, it is totally the same as Dogen's intention in writing his Fu-kan-zazen-gi, The Rule of Sitting-Dhyāna Recommended for Everybody and Anybody – the operative word being 普 (Jap: FU), which means "universally" or "far and wide" i.e., for everybody and anybody, absolutely including wives of milkmen.

VOCABULARY

idam (nom. sg. n.): this

nava-vadhūnām = gen. pl. f. nava-vadhū (or nava-vadhu): a newly married woman ; a daughter-in-law

nava: mfn. new , fresh , recent , young , modern ; m. a young monk , a novice

vadhū: f. a bride or newly-married woman , young wife spouse any wife or woman ; a daughter-in-law ; any younger female relation ; the female of any animal , (esp.) a cow or mare

vadhu: f. a young wife or woman ; daughter-in-law

vaḥ (gen. pl. f.): of you

hrī-nikuñcita-cakṣuṣām (gen. pl. f.): eyes drawn in through modesty

hrī: f. shame , modesty , shyness , timidity

nikuñcita: mfn. contracted

kuñc: to make crooked ; to bend or curve , move crookedly

ni- √ kuñc : Caus. -kuñcayati , to draw in , contract (opp. to " stretch out ")

cakṣus: n. light , clearness; n. the act of seeing ; n. faculty of seeing , sight ; n. a look ; n. the eye

sadṛśam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. conformable , suitable , fit , proper , right , worthy

ceṣṭitam (nom. sg.): n. moving any limb , gesture ; n. doing , action , behaviour , manner of life

hi: for

syād = 3^rd pers. sg. optative as: to be

api: also, even

vā: ind. or (excluded from the first place in a sentence , and generally immediately following the word to which it refers; vā is frequently combined with other particles , esp. with atha , atho, uta , kim , yad , yadi [e.g. atha vā , " or else "] ; it is also sometimes used as an expletive)

gopa-yoṣitām (gen. pl. f.): the wives of a cowherd

gopa: m. a cowherd , herdsman , milkman (considered as a man of mixed caste); a protector , guardian

yoṣit = yoṣaṇā: f. a girl , maiden , young woman , wife

[No corresponding Chinese text] 

BUDDHACARITA 4.13: Ironic Praise of the Ineffable Individual

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tāsām-evaṁ-vidhānāṁ vo viyuktānāṁ sva-gocare |

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          iyam-evaṁ-vidhā ceṣṭā na tuṣṭo 'smy-ārjavena vaḥ || 4.13

4.13

You being as you are, like this,

Each set apart in her own sphere of activity,

This action of yours is like this –

In you, I am not satisfied with innocence.

COMMENT:

“Here I am” or “It is so” mean different things according to whether a child of four is reading the words aloud, having just become able to read, or whether a person who has grown old is saying the words as profound expressions of the truth he has struggled to live by.

Similarly, the unwise Udāyin in today's verse is complaining about the women's disinclination to do anything cunning and manipulative, but in so complaining he is using the very words by which a person who has truly grown old might praise – in four phases – the ineffable action of ineffable individuals.

In the first two pādas, according to Udāyin's intention, tāsām-evaṁ-vidhānāṁ vo viyuktānāṁ sva-gocare refers to each woman having her own particular talent, whether it be understanding male psychology, or flirting, or having a beautiful face or figure, or being deft of touch with lips or hands, and so on. Whereas in the hidden meaning the talent under discussion is only the ability to be oneself, as the individual that one is. Being oneself belongs to the first of four phases, as something that sounds subjective and abstract. To be set apart in one's own sphere of activity, at the second phase, is more individual and concrete.

In the 3^rd pāda, according to Udāyin's intention, again, iyam-evaṁ-vidhā ceṣṭā is a complaint – “Yet you conduct yourselves like this!” (PO). Whereas in the hidden meaning the point of iyam-evaṁ-vidhā ceṣṭā, at the fourth phase, might be to assert, as Daikan Eno asserted, “This is something coming like this!” or, in other words, “Here it is, coming like this!” or “This is something ineffable in the ineffable state of action.” (See Shobogenzo chap. 29, Inmo, It.)

In the 4^th pāda, when Udāyin says that he is not satisfied with the women's innocence, he is complaining about what he perceives to be the women's artlessness or lack of initiative in setting about the task of seduction that the king has assigned to them. Whereas the hidden meaning of the 4^th pāda might relate to the fact that those who successfully transmit the Buddha's teaching are generally not so innocent but on the contrary are crafty about it, using indirect means or skillful expedients. 

When Aśvaghoṣa signs himself off at the end of Saundara-nanda, he describes himself, at least as I hear him, with self-deprecatory humour, as a mahā-kavi, or a “crafty crafter of epic poetry.” The dictionary defines mahā-kavi as “a great or classical poet,” but kavi is defined as “gifted with insight, intelligent, knowing, enlightened, wise , sensible, prudent, skilful, cunning.” In the context of today's verse, “skilful” and “cunning,” as opposed to square and innocent, might be the operative words.

If we ask ourselves why Aśvaghoṣa's writing is so suffused with irony, the answer might be hidden in the 4^th pāda of today's verse, namely, because of not being satisfied with innocence.

Speaking of innocence, “Where am I?” and “How am I?” might be innocent questions. Or they might not.

“Who am I?” is less likely to be an innocent question.

“What have I done?” might be the innocent question of a child. 

Less likely to be so is “What the hell have I gone and done now?”

At the fourth phase, despite the best of intentions, human life is liable to be one mistake after another.

VOCABULARY

tāsām = gen. pl. f. tad: this, that (sometimes , for the sake of emphasis , connected with the 1st and 2nd personal pronouns , with other demonstratives and with relatives e.g. so 'ham , " I that very person , I myself " ; tāv imau , " those very two " ; tad etad ākhyānam , " that very tale ")

evaṁ-vidhānām (gen. pl. f.): mfn. of such a kind , in such a form or manner , such

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

vidhā: f. division , part , portion ; form , manner , kind , sort (yayā kayā-cid vidhayā , in whatsoever way , anyhow ; often ifc. ; cf. asmad- evaṁ- , nānā-vidha &c ); fodder

vaḥ (gen. pl. f.): of/in you

viyuktānām (gen. pl. f.): mfn. disjoined , detached , separated or delivered from , deprived or destitute of (instr. or comp.)

niyuktānām (gen. pl. f.): mfn. bound on , bound , chained , fettered ; tied or fastened or attached or directed to , put or placed or fixed on (loc.) ; appointed , directed , ordered , commissioned , charged , intrusted (loc.) ; used or employed for (loc.)

sva-gocare (loc. sg.): m. one's own sphere or range

go-cara: m. pasture ground for cattle ; range , field for action; the range of the organs of sense , object of sense , anything perceptible by the senses , esp. the range of the eye

iyam (nom. sg. f.): this , this here , referring to something near the speaker

evaṁ-vidhā (nom. sg. f.): mfn. of such a kind , in such a form or manner , such

ceṣṭā (nom. sg.): f. moving any limb , gesture ; action , activity , effort , endeavour , exertion ; behaving , manner of life

na: not

tuṣṭaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. satisfied , pleased

asmi = 1^st pers. sg. as: to be

āryavena (inst. sg.): n. honourable behaviour , honesty

ārjavena (inst. sg.): n. straightness , straight direction ; rectitude , propriety of act or observance; honesty , frankness , sincerity

vaḥ (gen. pl. f.): of you

神仙爲之傾

[Relation to Sanskrit tenuous – may refer back to ṛṣīn in 4.11]

BUDDHACARITA 4.12: Women's Power to Influence Passion

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bhāva-jñānena hāvena rūpa-cāturya-saṁpadā |

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strīṇām-eva ca śaktāḥ stha saṁrāge kiṁ punar-nṛṇām || 4.12

4.12
Again, through knowing the emotions, 
through challenging invitations, 

Through possession of beautiful form and dexterity, 

You are powerful agents in respect of passion in women, 

To say nothing of passion in men. 



COMMENT:
In today's verse bhāva-jñānena and rūpa-cāturya-saṁpadā mirror similar expressions in BC4.9, namely, bhāva-grahaṇa-paṇḍitāḥ (“being expert in understanding the emotions”) and rūpa-cāturya-saṁpannāḥ (“being possessed of beautiful form and dexterity”). Is it Aśvaghoṣa's intention to give the reader or listener a second chance to consider not only the ostensible meaning of these expressions, but also any hidden meaning which might lie buried in them?

The new element in the first half of today's verse is hāvena, from the root √hve, which the dictionary gives as "to call upon, summon, challenge." As the collective noun for “ten coquettish gestures of women,” however, hāva is most often used to mean so-called blandishments. Hence the ostensible meaning of hāvena in the 1st pāda is “by your coquetry” (EBC), or “by your blandishments” (EHJ), or “with your flirtatious dalliance” (PO). I think the hidden meaning that Aśvaghoṣa had in mind might have been nothing flirtatious but rather the kind of challenge that the Buddha issues to Nanda at the end of the 16th canto of Saundara-nanda, culminating in the following verse:

"After ploughing and protecting the soil with great pains, a farmer gains a bounteous crop of corn; After striving to plumb the ocean's waters, a diver revels in a bounty of coral and pearls; / After seeing off with arrows the endeavour of rival kings, a king enjoys royal dominion. So direct your energy in pursuit of peace, for in directed energy, undoubtedly, lies all growth." // SN16.98 //

Udāyin's intention is to describe the courtesans as being so emotionally intelligent, flirtatious, beautiful and deft as to be capable of inflaming passion even in other women, let alone in men.

The words that Aśvaghoṣa puts in Udāyin's mouth, however, are such that he might also be describing a group of female buddhas who are so emotionally intelligent, challenging, possessed of that form which is free of “form,” and skillful, that each of them is able to exert an indirect but powerful influence both on other women and on other men, in the matter of devoting oneself to passion or, conversely, to dispassion.

VOCABULARY

bhāva-jñānena (inst. sg.): by knowing the heart ; through the higher knowledge (derived from meditation) of being

bhāva-jñā: mfn. knowing the heart

bhāva: m. becoming, being ; any state of mind or body , way of thinking or feeling , sentiment , opinion , disposition , intention ; purport , meaning , sense ; love , affection , attachment ; the seat of the feelings or affections , heart , soul , mind

jñāna: n. knowing , becoming acquainted with , knowledge , (esp.) the higher knowledge (derived from meditation on the one Universal Spirit)

hāvena (inst. sg.): m. (from √ hve) calling , alluring , dalliance , blandishment (collective N. of ten coquettish gestures of women)

√ hve: to call , call upon , summon , challenge , invoke (with nāmnā , " to call by name " ; with yuddhe , " to challenge to fight ")

rūpa-cāturya-saṁpadā (inst. sg.): by possession of beautiful form and dexterity

rūpa: n. any outward appearance or phenomenon or colour (often pl.) , form , shape , figure ; handsome form, beauty

cāturya: n. dexterity; amiableness

sampad: f. success , accomplishment , completion , fulfilment , perfection ; attainment , acquisition , possession , enjoyment ; being , existence (ifc.= " possessed of ")

strīṇām (gen. pl.): f. women

eva: (emphatic)

ca: and

śaktāḥ (nom. pl. f.): mfn able , competent for , equal to , capable of (instr. gen. dat. loc. acc. of person with prati inf. , or comp.) [Apte: 1. able; 2. strong; 3. rich; 4. significant; 5. clever; 6. speaking kindly]

śak: to be strong or powerful , be able to or capable of or competent for (with acc. dat. or loc.)

stha = 2^nd pers. pl. as: to be

saṁrāge (loc. sg.): m. redness ; passion, vehemence

kiṁ punar: ind. how much more? how much less?

nṛṇām (gen. pl.): m. men

天見捨妃后

[Relation to Sanskrit tenuous] 

BUDDHACARITA 4.11: Insulting Women Who Are Expert in Movement & Stillness

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śaktāś-cālayituṁ yūyaṁ vīta-rāgān-ṛṣīn-api |

−⏑−−¦⏑⏑⏑−¦¦⏑−−⏑¦⏑−⏑−   navipulā

apsarobhiś-ca kalitān grahītuṁ vibudhān-api || 4.11

4.11

You are able to spur into movement

Even dispassionate seers; 

And even gods enticed by heavenly nymphs

You are able to hold transfixed.

COMMENT:

Udāyin in today's verse is cleverly discussing movement and stillness. He has observed how women can instigate in men both hyper-active panic and paralysis. He knows that arrestingly beautiful women are able to stir men sexually even as, paradoxically, they stop men in their tracks.

A particular truth of which Hurry-Up Udāyin is strikingly unaware is that women, by means which are neither sexual nor direct but which are rather softly-softly-catchee-monkey, can point men into that world of action where pure movement and stillness abide.

Women, in other words, are perfectly capable of transmitting the Buddha's teaching.

And Udāyin, although he is strikingly unaware of this truth, is once more expressing it in words which he does not understand.

The title of the present canto, incidentally, is strī-vighātanaḥ (EHJ: “The Women Rejected;” PO: “Rebuffing the Women”), which ostensibly describes the prince's effort to ward women away. However, vighātana is also given in the dictionary as “impeding, interrupting, disturbing,” and its root is √han, whose meanings include “to ward off,” but which originally means to strike or – worse -- to slay, kill, mar, destroy. I suspect that in the canto title Aśvaghoṣa intended to suggest not only the action of the prince but also the view of Udāyin, in which case strī-vighātanaḥ might include the sense of “Doing a Disservice to Women.” Strī-vighātanaḥ might be intended to mean, in other words, not only “Warding Women Away” but also “Getting in Women's Way.”

A woman who transmitted something (or a bit of nothing) to me used to teach, with unmatched clarity, a method for working on oneself, so as to cultivate what she liked to call (being a fan of TS Elliot) “stillness without fixity.”

The method began with giving oneself a stimulus to go into movement, and then “Say No, give your directions, and go into movement without a care in the world.”

The saying No is not saying No to the movement, and not saying No to the habitual reaction which is triggered by the idea of going into movement – because my habitual reactions do not have ears to listen to the word No. The saying No is not even saying No to the stimulus – whch is also liable to be deaf. The saying No is saying No to whoever has the bright idea of doing anything, or achieving anything, or being anything. The saying No, in short, corresponds to what the Buddha/Aśvaghoṣa call vitarka-prahāṇaḥ, “abandoning ideas.”

Going into movement means going into movement. That is the end in view, without the gaining of which the whole procedure is neither real nor complete. The spur to movement is a spur to movement. 

But in giving up the idea of going into movement, or of doing or achieving or being anything, depending on how real the abandonment is, a stillness is liable to be discovered which is quite different from trying to keep still.

I would say, in conclusion, that I was taught by a woman a method for holding myself transfixed which has nothing to do with fixity nor anything to do with sexuality – but a bloke like Udāyin, clever though he is, has never heard of the method even in a dream. He is strikingly unaware of it. But if I criticized Hurry Up Udāyin too harshly, that would only be the result of using him as a mirror for my own stupidly hasty and end-gaining self. 

VOCABULARY

śaktāḥ (nom. pl. f.): mfn. able

cālayitum = inf. causative cal: to cause to move , shake , jog , push , agitate; to drive , drive away ; to disturb , make confused or disordered ; to cherish , foster

yūyam (nom. pl.): you

vīta-rāgān (acc. pl. m.): mfn. free from passions or affections , dispassionate , desireless , calm , tranquil; colourless , bleached ; m. a sage with subdued passions (esp. applied to a Buddhist or jaina saint)

ṛṣīn (acc. pl.): m. seer

api: even

apsarobhiḥ (inst. pl.): f. an apasaras, celestial nymph

ca: and

kalitān (acc. pl. m.): mfn. impelled , driven &c ; furnished or provided with

√ kal: to impel , incite , urge on

grahītum = inf. grah: to seize, take ; grasp , lay hold of ; to arrest , stop ; to catch , take captive , take prisoner , capture , imprison ; to take possession of , gain over , captivate ; to eclipse

vibudhān (acc. pl.): m. 'very wise or learned,' a wise or learned man , teacher , Pandit ; a god ; the moon

api: even

容色世希有 状如王女形

[Relation to Sanskrit tenuous] 

BUDDHACARITA 4.10: Inverting Snobbery

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śobhayeta guṇair-ebhir-api tān-uttarān kurūn |

⏑−−−¦⏑−−−¦¦−−⏑⏑¦⏑−⏑−

kuberasyāpi cākrīḍaṁ prāg-eva vasu-dhām-imām || 4.10

4.10

By the means of these graces you could cause to shine

Even that superior kingdom of the Northern Kurus,

And even the pleasure-grove of Kubera –

All the more, then, this earthly acreage.

COMMENT:

Implicit in Udāyin's words in today's verse is the idea that the Āryan homeland above the Himālayas, and Kubera's mythical kingdom of riches and treasure, are a cut above this lowly place where productive industry goes on.

The phrase, vasu-dhām-imām, “this [earth] where stuff is produced,” seems to express a certain brahmin condescension towards industry and trade which evidently existed in India even before white colonial rulers arrived there from Britain.

A particular truth of which Udāyin in today's verse is strikingly unaware, then, is that snobbery is suffering, whereas happiness lies in totally abandoning an idea that triggers those wrong inner patterns which constitute suffering.

And a further irony in today's verse -- verbal irony on top of dramatic irony -- is that there is more wisdom than the stupid Udāyin knows in his implication that the Northern Kurus and Kubera's pleasure-garden should be difficult places to beautify whereas it might be easier to beautify this lowly acreage where diggers work in trenches. The truth that Hurry-Up Udāyin is expressing in today's verse, unbeknowns to him, is that whether in this world or in other worlds, whether in the eastern lands or in the western heavens, there has never been any better place to learn the backward step of turning one's light, and letting it shine, than a desolate patch of common or garden ground where gravity is operating with a force of 1g.

VOCABULARY

śobhayeta = causative optative 2^nd pers. pl śubh: to cause to shine, beautify , ornament , decorate

guṇaiḥ (inst. pl.): m. merits, virtues, graces

ebhiḥ (inst. pl. m.): these

api: even

tān (acc. pl. m.): those

uttarān (acc. pl. m.): mfn. upper , higher , superior ; northern (because the northern part of India is high)

kurūn (acc. pl.): m. pl. name of a people of India and of their country (situated near the country of the pañcālas ; hence often connected with pañcāla or pañcāla [see kuru-pañc° below]: the uttara-kuravaḥ , or uttarāḥ kuravaḥ are the northern kurus , the most northerly of the four mahā-dvīpas or principal divisions of the known world; it was probably a country beyond the most northern range of the himālaya , often described as a country of everlasting happiness, and considered by some to be the ancient home of the Aryan race)

kuberasya (gen. sg.): m. or in later Sanskrit kuvera (originally) N. of a chief of the evil beings or spirits or darkness having the N. vaiśravaṇa ; (afterwards) the god of riches and treasure (regent of the northern quarter which is hence called kubera-guptā diś)

api: even

ca: and

ākrīḍam: mn. a playing-place , pleasure-grove , garden

prāg: (with eva) , a short while ago , recently , just ; still more so , how much more (= kim-uta)

eva: (emphatic)

vasu-dhām (acc. sg.): mfn. producing wealth , liberal; f. the earth ; country, kingdom ; f. the ground , soil

vasu: n, wealth , goods , riches , property

dhā: m. placer , bestower , holder , supporter &c

imām (acc. sg.): f. this

兼解諸世間 隱祕隨欲方

[Relation to Sanskrit tenuous] 

BUDDHACARITA 4.9: When Women Show Their Original Features

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sarvāḥ sarva-kalā-jñāḥ stha bhāva-grahaṇa-paṇḍitāḥ |

−⏑−−¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑⏑−−¦⏑−⏑−

rūpa-cāturya-saṁpannāḥ sva-guṇair-mukhyatāṁ gatāḥ || 4.9

4.9
“Adept in all the subtle arts,

Expert in understanding the emotions,

Possessed of beautiful form and dexterity,

By graces that are proper to you,
you all have risen to pre-eminence.

COMMENT:
Every verse that Aśvaghoṣa writes seems to be suffused with irony. But some speakers, like Hurry-Up Udāyin, and like the striver in Saundara-nanda, are singularly unaware of the irony in their own words. 

So in a verse like today's verse, there may be dramatic irony in the speaker's lack of awareness of the verbal irony in his own words.

That being so, if a function of dramatic irony is “to highlight the importance of a particular truth by portraying a person who is strikingly unaware of it,” then a particular truth of which Udāyin is being portrayed as strikingly unaware, might be irony itself. 

Expression of the truth is so often ironic in Aśvaghoṣa's writing that one begins to get the impression that Aśvaghoṣa saw something very truthful about irony. This appreciation of irony is doubltess related with mindfulness of the gap that is liable to exist, when we purport to be something, between how we purport to be and how we actually are.


In today's verse what Udāyin intends his words to convey is a sexist and condescending view. But what Udāyin's words also convey, unbeknowns to Udāyin himself, is a description of one who has gone beyond all views.

In the former case, sarva-kalā-jñāḥ means, to paraphrase, knowing every womanly wile and exotic technique for giving men pleasure; bhāva-grahaṇa-paṇḍitāḥ means expert in seizing men's hearts; rūpa-cāturya-saṁpannāḥ means equipped with the kind of beautiful figure and deftness of touch, or manual dexterity, that are sufficient to satisfy a man; and sva-guṇair-mukhyatāṁ gatāḥ means risen as high in the social pecking order as any courtesan could hope to rise, relying on the particular seductive charms that are proper to a courtesan.

In the latter case, a four-phased philosophical progressison becomes apparent, in which 
(1)  sarva-kalā-jñāḥ means knowing what Dogen called 最上無為の妙術 (Jap: SAIJO-MUI NO MYO-JUTSU) the subtle technique which is supreme and free of doing;
(2) bhāva-grahaṇa-paṇḍitāḥ means expert in understanding those human emotions that are rooted, for example, in undue excitement of primitive survival reflexes, most notably that deep fear of death personified by Māra – the Māra reflex (aka Moro reflex); 
(3) rūpa-cāturya-saṁpannāḥ means possessed not of “right posture” but of that beautiful form in sitting which is liable to be manifested by a person who understands in practice what FM Alexander meant when he said “the conscious mind must be quickened”; and 
(4) sva-guṇair-mukhyatāṁ gatāḥ means truly risen to pre-eminence by sitting in lotus, allowing body and mind to drop off, naturally and spontaneously, and letting one's original human features emerge.

What Udāyin has in mind, then, when he speaks of sva-guṇaiḥ, “graces proper to you,” is the equipment of seduction. But what Aśvaghoṣa has in mind when he puts the word sva-guṇaiḥ into Udāyin's mouth might be the tendency of clouds naturally to float, of trees to grow, of the sun to shine, and of running water and birds to produce sounds rich in frequencies that nourish the human brain and nervous system. Sva-guṇaiḥ, in other words, means not only the seductive graces that are proper to female courtesans, but also the original state of grace that naturally belongs to everybody... though generally we are so busy hastening near to targets that we cannot find the time to re-discover our birthright.

VOCABULARY

sarvāḥ (nom. pl.): f. all

sarva-kalā-jñāḥ (nom. pl. f.): skilled in all the arts; knowing every [womanly] wile

kalā: f. a small part of anything , any single part or portion of a whole; an atom ; any practical art , any mechanical or fine art ; skill , ingenuity

kalā-jña: mfn. skilled in arts ; m. an artist

stha = 2^nd pers. pl. as: to be

bhāva-grahaṇa-paṇḍitāḥ (nom. pl. f.): expert in seizing hearts

bhāva: m. being ; true condition or state , truth , reality ; any state of mind or body , way of thinking or feeling , sentiment , opinion , disposition , intention ; (in rhet.) passion , emotion ; love , affection , attachment ; the seat of the feelings or affections , heart , soul , mind

grahaṇa: n. n. seizing , holding , taking; n. catching , seizure , taking captive ; n. gaining , obtaining , receiving , acceptance; n. assuming (a shape) ; n. undertaking , devoting one's self to (in comp.); mentioning , employing (a word or expression); n. perceiving , understanding , comprehension , receiving instruction , acquirement of any science

paṇḍita: mfn. learned , wise , shrewd , clever , skilful in , conversant with

rūpa-cāturya-saṁpannāḥ (nom. pl. f.): possessed of beauty and dexterity

rūpa: n. any outward appearance or phenomenon or colour (often pl.) , form , shape , figure; handsome form , loveliness , grace , beauty , splendour

cāturya: n. dexterity , cleverness

catura: mfn. swift , quick ; dexterous , clever , ingenious , shrewd ; charming , agreeable

√ cat: to hide oneself, to go

saṁpanna: mfn. fallen or turned out well , accomplished , effected , perfect , excellent (ifc. or with loc. = " perfectly acquainted or conversant with "); endowed or furnished with , possessed of

sva-guṇaiḥ (inst. pl.): m. one's own merits ; mfn. having one's own merits , appropriate

mukhyatām (acc. sg.): f. pre-eminence , superiority , highest rank or position

mukhya: mfn. being at the head or at the beginning , first , principal , chief , eminent

gatāḥ (nom. pl. f.): mfn. gone; gone to any state or condition

汝等悉端正

聰明多技術 色力亦不常

[Relation to Sanskrit tenuous] 

BUDDHACARITA 4.8 Udāyin Hastens Up

−⏑−⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦−−⏑⏑¦⏑−⏑−

tās-tathā tu nir-ārambhā dṛṣṭvā praṇaya-viklavāḥ |

⏑−⏑⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑−−−¦⏑−⏑−

purohita-suto dhīmān-udāyī vākyam-abravīt || 4.8

4.8

But seeing them so disinclined to do,

Thinking them timid about displaying love,

The clever son of a family priest,

'Hurry-Up' Udāyin, spoke his piece:

COMMENT:

Today's verse marks the transition from one kind of irony to another. Hitherto in this canto Aśvaghoṣa has been using verbal irony, ostensibly painting women in an unfavourable light while really using them as paragons of how a devout meditator becomes spellbound by the Buddha's teaching. The verbal irony continues in today's verse with (a) the description of the women as nir-ārambhāḥ (“disinclined to do”), which ostensibly means lazy, listless or lacking in enterprise, but which really describes the attitude of a practitioner who has made the Buddha's four noble truths into his own possession; and (b) the description of Udāyin as dhīmān (“clever”), which ostensibly means “wise” (EBC/PO) or “sagacious” (EHJ), but which really describes the kind of intelligence manifested by the great classical economists and politicians of recent years – the kind of wisdom, sagacity, and insight into the management of a national economy that allowed Britain's erstwhile chancellor Gordon Brown to declare “the end of boom and bust.” In the case of Udāyin, to whom Aśvaghoṣa ascribes not even the status of a family's brahman priest, but only the status of a wet-behind-the-ears son of a such a priest, dhīmān does not mean wise at all. Dhīmān means full of bright ideas. Dhīmān means, to put it crudely, full of shit.

So now, as the preachy Udāyin hastens onto the scene, Aśvaghoṣa is about to treat us to some dramatic irony, as defined in Wikipedia as follows:

In dramatic irony, the author causes a character to speak or act erroneously, out of ignorance of some portion of the truth of which the audience is aware. In other words, the audience knows the character is making a mistake, even as the character is making it. This technique highlights the importance of a particular truth by portraying a person who is strikingly unaware of it.

The first clue to the real nature of Udāyin's cleverness might be contained in the 4^th pāda, in his name, which is made up of the prefix ud, which means “up” or “up to,” and āyin which means “hastening near,”  or in other words end-gaining. The particular truth that Aśvaghoṣa has in mind might be the principle of indirectness, the means-whereby principle, the truth of softly-softly catchee monkey. And in Hurry-Up Udāyin, Aśvaghoṣa might be portraying the very person who is strikingly unaware of it.

My commentary on Udāyin's purported wisdom, like my commentary on the preaching of the striver in Saundara-nanda, will arise from the murky depths of long-accumulated personal experience -- experience that has not stopped accumulating yet.

VOCABULARY

tāḥ (nom./acc. pl. f.): they

tathā: ind. thus

tu: but

nir-ārambhāḥ (nom./acc. pl. f.): mfn. not undertaking enterprises , abstaining from all work

ārambha: m. undertaking , beginning ; (in dram.) the commencement of the action which awakens an interest in the progress of the principal plot ; effort, exertion

dṛṣṭvā = abs. dṛś: to see , behold , look at , regard , consider ; to see by divine intuition , think or find out , compose , contrive (hymns , rites , &c )

praṇaya-viklavāḥ (acc. pl. f.): bewildered in their love [EBC]; embarassed by love [EHJ] ; timid in their displays of love [PO; see comment below] 

praṇaya: m. a leader ; affection , confidence in (loc.) , love , attachment , friendship , favour; desire , longing for

viklava: mfn. overcome with fear or agitation , confused , perplexed , bewildered , alarmed , distressed; timid, shy

vi- √ klav: to become agitated or confused

√ klav: to fear , be afraid

purohita-sutah (nom. sg. m.): the son of a family priest

purohita: mfn. placed foremost or in front , charged , commissioned , appointed ; m. one holding a charge or commission , an agent ; m. (esp.) a family priest , a domestic chaplain

dhī-mān (nom. sg. m.): mfn. intelligent , wise , learned , sensible

dhī: f. thought , (esp.) religious thought , reflection , meditation , devotion , prayer (pl. Holy Thoughts personified)

udāyī (nom. sg.): m. Udāyin; “hastening up”

ud-ā- √ yā: to go up to

āyin: mfn. coming or hastening near

vākyam (acc. sg.): n. speech , saying , assertion , statement , command , words

abravīt = 3^rd pers. sg. imperf. brū: to speak , say , tell ; proclaim

有婆羅門子 名曰優陀夷

謂諸婇女言