BUDDHACARITA 5.83: Decisively, In Movement

⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−    Puṣpitāgrā

pitaram-abhimukhaṁ sutaṁ ca bālaṁ janam-anuraktam-anuttamāṁ ca lakṣmīm |

⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−

kta-matir-apahāya nir-vyapekṣaḥ pit-nagarāt sa tato vinirjagāma || 5.83

5.83

The father who doted on him, a son who was still young,

The people who loved him, and an incomparable fortune –

With his mind made up and without a care, 

he had left them all behind,

And so, on that basis, from the city of his fathers, 

away he went.

COMMENT:

In a list of four elements the ironic punch line is ever liable to be contained in the fourth and final element, and so it is in today's verse as I read it, where ambiguity can be read into the description of lakṣmīm (fortune, wealth, riches) as an-uttamām. An-uttamām ostensibly means “unsurpassed” or “incomparably the best,” but it has two sub-meanings, the first of which I suppose that Aśvaghoṣa may have had in mind.

The first sub-meaning of an-uttama – which Aśvaghoṣa likely saw as a vein to be tapped for ironic plays on words – is “not the best.” Taking an-uttamām like that, the suggestion is that his father's kingdom was a lesser fortune than the inheritance that awaited the prince under the bodhi tree. In an effort to include this meaning I have traslated an-uttamām as “incomparable” utilizing the two meanings given in the dictionary for “incomparable” viz: 1. eminent beyond comparison, matchless; 2. not suitable for comparison.

The second sub-meaning of an-uttama, which is probably not so relevant to today's verse but which I shall mention anyway, just in case, is as a term used in Sanskrit grammar to mean “not used in the uttama, the first person.” In describing in SN Canto 17 how Nanda cuts the five upper fetters, Aśvaghoṣa repeats the phrase uttama-bandhanāni, and this repetition led EHJ to think that the text might be suspect. Aśvaghoṣa may in fact have been playing with the various meanings of uttama, including its use in grammar to mean the first person. Hence:

Then he cut the five upper fetters: with the sword of intuitive wisdom which is raised aloft by cultivation of the mind, / He completely severed the five aspirational fetters, which are bound up with superiority (uttama-bandhanāni), and tied to the first person (uttama-bandhanāni). // SN17.57 //

The gist of today's verse, in any event, is contained in its second half, which describes the prince's decisive attitude, expressed again (as in yesterday's verse) in movement. Extra emphasis is lent to the sense of going or moving by the prefixes vi- and nir- in vi-nir-√gam – not just going, but going away, or getting the hell out. Also, by placing vinir-jagāma (“he went away”) at the end of the verse, Aśvaghoṣa further emphasized the sense of the prince now being in movement.

Apropos of which, and apropos also of nir-vyapekṣaḥ (being without a care), I shall finish by quoting again the Alexander teaching of Marjory Barlow:

When you think you are wrong, 

say No, 

give your directions, 

and go into movement, without a care in the world....

Right now I don't think I am wrong. I know I am wrong. Last night I read this article by Russell Brand, and it disturbed me more deeply than did the event on which it is commentating. Why? Because, it seems to me, Brand is in lazy denial of the real problem. And the mirror principle never fails.

Whether we like it or not, we are all participants in a war on terror. In that situation "appealing for calm" is what a Buddhist might be expected to do. But on the evidence of Aśvaghoṣa's epic tale of Beautiful Joy, what the Buddha actually did was encourage his brother to fight the fight – in the battlefield of his own mind. 

After posting this I shall, with all the decisiveness I can muster, go and empty the compost bin.

VOCABULARY

pitaram = acc. sg. pitṛ: m. father

abhimukham (acc. sg. m.): mfn. with the face directed towards , turned towards , facing ; ind. towards (often used in a hostile manner Kir. vi , 14 , &c ), in the direction of , in front or presence of , near to (acc. gen. ; or ifc.)

sutam (acc. sg.): m. son

ca: and

bālam (acc. sg. m.): mfn. young

janam (acc. sg.): m. people

anuraktam (acc. sg. m.): mfn. fond of , attached , pleased ; beloved

anuttamām (acc. sg. f.): mfn. unsurpassed , incomparably the best or chief , excellent ; excessive ; not the best ; (in Gr.) not used in the uttama , or first person.

uttama: uppermost , highest , chief ; most elevated , principal ; best , excellent ;

ca: and

lakṣmīm (acc. sg. ): f. a mark , sign , token; (with or without pāpī́) a bad sign , impending misfortune ; (but in the older language more usually with púṇyā) a good sign , good fortune , prosperity , success , happiness ; wealth, riches ; beauty , loveliness , grace , charm , splendour , lustre ; N. of the goddess of fortune and beauty

kṛta-matiḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. one who has taken a resolution , who has resolved upon anything

apahāya = abs. apa- √ hā: 1. to run away from (abl.) or off ; 2. to remain behind , fall short , not reach the desired end

nir-vyapekṣaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. disregarding , indifferent to (loc. or comp.)

vy-apa- √īkṣ: to look about , look for , regard , mind , pay regard or attention to (acc.)

pitṛ-nagarāt (abl. sg.): his father's city ; the city of his fathers

nagara: n. a town , city

sa (nom. sg. m.): he

tataḥ: ind. then, on that basis

vinirjagāma = 3^rd pers. sg. perf. vi-nir- √ gam : to go out or away , depart or escape from (abl.) ; to be beside one's self

敬重無過父 愛深莫踰子
内外諸眷屬 恩愛亦纒綿
遣情無遺念 飄然超出城 

BUDDHACARITA 5.82: A Miracle of Spontaneous Opening (Got in Movement)

⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−    Puṣpitāgrā

guru-parigha-kapāṭa-saṁvtā yā na sukham-api dvi-radair-apāvriyante |

⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−

vrajati npa-sute gata-svanās-tāḥ svayam-abhavan vivtāḥ puraḥ pratolyaḥ || 5.82

5.82

Primary pathways were blocked by gates with heavy bars

[or by gates whose bars were gurus],

– Gates not easily opened, even by elephants –

But as the prince went into movement,

Those major arteries, noiselessly and spontaneously, became open.

COMMENT:

The challenge in a verse like today's verse, as I read it, is to see the real, practical meaning that Aśvaghoṣa hid beneath words which seem at first glance to describe a miracle of the kind which defies the laws of nature.

Thus, the ostensible meaning of today's verse is to describe something as miraculous as those so-called miracles that can't be explained except by divine interference with the ordinary working of cause and effect – miracles like Jesus walking on water, or turning water into wine, or rising from the dead, or showing his face in people's cheese on toast. What today's verse ostensibly describes is a religious miracle of that ilk – heavy iron bars lifting themselves up and out of their mighty latches and then floating noiselessly onto the ground.

If that were the only meaning that Aśvaghoṣa intended to convey in today's verse, however, that would render every single word that he wrote – at least for the purposes of a post-post-modernist follower of the Buddha who understands the Buddha's teaching to be the abandonment of religious views – a total waste of time. If that was what Aśvaghoṣa really meant, we might just as well revert to Christianity, or some other God-fearing religion, pray to God “Thy will be done,” and be done with it. 

No. The real miracle behind today's verse might be the miracle of non-doing, the miracle of the right thing doing itself, or in other words, the miracle of spontaneous flow.

That is where the 2nd law of thermodynamics comes in, shedding real (not spiritual) light on the meaning of the words svayam in the 4th pāda, which means "by themselves" or "naturally" or "automatically" or "spontaneously." Long after God and all his miracles have been consigned to the dustbin of human history, I dare to think, the 2nd law of thermodynamics and all its miracles will still be going strong. 

Miracles of spontaneous opening, unlike religious miracles like ash turning into firewood or a dead person coming back to life, invariably proceed in the direction of time's arrow. They do not go against the 2^nd law of thermodynamics. On the contrary, they provide conspicuous manifestations of the 2^nd law in action.

When today's verse is read in this light, gates that block roads might be a metaphor for what blocks spontaneous flow of human energy – as a damn temporarily prevents water from flowing; or as what chemists call “activation energy barriers” temporarily prevents the carbon in wood from combining with oxygen; or as a person's relationship with his father or other guru can constitute a psychological barrier to the spontaneous flow of his vital energy.

Insofar as such blocks are physical, their removal is liable to involve a certain amount of noise – the sound of ice cracking, for example, or of weights being lifted and dropped, or of feet pounding a running track. But insofar as those blocks are mental, their evaporation tends to happen noiselessly – just at the moment, for example, when a practitioner goes mindfully into movement.

The dictionary gives pratolī as “a broad way, a principal road through a town or village,” but EHJ, endeavoring to clarify the ostensible meaning, adds in a footnote that the Tibetan translation renders pratolī 'gatehouse,' obviously right here and adequately authenticated. In the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya the word is used of constructions along the wall between towers for providing access from inside to the wall. Hence EHJ translates puraḥ pratolyaḥ as “the city gatehouses.”

If we give primacy to the hidden meaning, however, pratolī is better understood not as a gatehouse but as per the dictionary as a broad way, or principal route; and pur can be understood as meaning the body (considered to be the stronghold of the puruṣa, the personal and animating principle in men), in which case the hidden meaning of puraḥ pratolyaḥ is “the principle pathways (meridians?) of the body.”

My translation of today's verse, I must admit, thus owes a lot to the discoveries of FM Alexander who used to say of it – whatever it is (spontaneous energy flow?) – that “We get it in movement.”

I have quoted on this blog many times the good advice that FM's niece Marjory Barlow gave to me, which was: 

When you think you are wrong, say No [primarily to the idea of doing anything with a view to being right]; give your directions; and go into movement, without a care in the world. Let it come out in the wash!

Experience shows that I am quite capable of ostensibly saying No while, below the surface, not really meaning it.

This, I think, is primarily why Marjory cautioned further “It has to be real.”

My conclusion, then, might be to remind myself, as per yesterday's conclusion:

“Try again, with meaning.”

In other words, keep working to principle – then eventually it will all open out, naturally, like a great big cabbage.

VOCABULARY

guru-parigha-kapāṭa-saṁvṛtāḥ (nom. pl. f.): closed by doors with heavy iron bars ; blocked by those doors in which a guru is the obstacle

guru: mfn. heavy ; m. any venerable or respectable person (father , mother , or any relative older than one's self) ; m. a spiritual parent or preceptor

parigha: m. ( √ han) an iron bar or beam used for locking or shutting a gate ; (fig.) a bar , obstacle , hindrance ; (once n.) an iron bludgeon or club studded with iron ; the gate of a palace , any gate

kapāṭa: mn. a door , the leaf or panel of a door

saṁvṛta: mfn. covered , shut up , enclosed or enveloped in (loc.) , surrounded or accompanied or protected by (instr. with or without saha , or comp.) , well furnished or provided or occupied or filled with , full of (instr. or comp.)

yā (nom. pl. f.): [those] which

na: not

sukham: ind. easily

api: even

dvi-radaiḥ (inst. pl.): m. 'two-tusked'; an elephant

apāvriyante = 3^rd pers. pl. passive apā- √ vṛ: to open, uncover, reveal

vrajati = loc. sg. m. pres. part. vraj: to go , walk , proceed , travel , wander , move

nṛpa-sute (loc. sg. m.): the son of a protector of men; the prince

gata-svanāḥ (nom. pl. f.): without noise

gata: mfn. gone, being absent

svana: m. sound , noise

tāḥ (nom. pl. f.): they

svayam: ind. by themselves, spontaneously

abhavan = 3^rd pers. pl. imperfect bhū: to be, become

vivṛtāḥ (nom. pl. f.): mfn. uncovered , unconcealed , exposed , naked , bare ; unclosed, open

puraḥ = gen. sg. pur: f. a rampart , wall , stronghold , fortress , castle , city , town; the body (considered as the stronghold of the puruṣa q.v.); the intellect (= mahat)

puruṣa: the primaeval man as the soul and original source of the universe (described in the puruṣa-sūkta q.v.) ; the personal and animating principle in men and other beings , the soul or spirit

pratolyaḥ = nom. pl. pratolī: f. a broad way , principal road through a town or village ; a kind of bandage applied to the neck or to the penis

重門固關鑰 天神令自開 

BUDDHACARITA 5.81: Like Trotting Lightly Over Lotuses

⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−    Puṣpitāgrā

kanaka-valaya-bhūṣita-prakoṣṭhaiḥ kamala-nibhaiḥ kamalān-iva pravidhya |

⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−

avanata-tanavas-tato 'sya yakṣāś-cakita-gatair-dadhire khurān karāgraiḥ || 5.81

5.81

Bowing yakṣas, their wrists adorned with golden bands,

Their lotus-like hands seeming to emit sprays of lotus flowers,

Their lotus-petal fingertips coyly trembling,

Then bore up that horse's hooves.

COMMENT:

From where I sit there are two kinds of verses in this epic story of Awakened Action (buddha-carita): the first kind is verses whose genesis can be traced back to the traditional practice of non-doing as transmitted in activities like slow walking, bowing, and just sitting; and the second kind is verses whose hidden meaning I have not yet understood.

Today's verse seems to me clearly to belong in the former category – which is not to deny that it might belong in the second category.

Either way, today's verse conjured up in my imagination a couple of strong images. 

First up I pictured western Zen practitioners of various shapes and sizes, but most of them with paunches that render the exercise relatively difficult, kneeling down and knocking their foreheads on the floor and then lifting their upraised palms up, with a certain delicacy of movement, above their ears. 

Secondly the image came into my mind of a portly piano player (George Melly? Fats Domino? Les Dawson?) whose trembling fat fingers are very rapidly and delicately tinkling the ivories. 

If I trust my intuition, then (though experience has often demonstrated this to be a flawed strategy) a yakṣa might be a stocky, powerfully-built being but a benevolent one – like Frank our local English bulldog. Frank has the rippling musculature of a fighting dog, but he would not hurt a fly. This juxtaposition of powerful stocky build and gentle (if stubborn) nature tends to evoke laughter among those who have the pleasure of meeting Frank first hand. No picture of Frank is available at time of writing, but here is the photo of a pretty-boy lookalike copied from the internet: 

The yakṣas, their Wikipedia entry speculates, may have originally been the tutelary gods of forests and villages, and were later viewed as the steward deities of the earth [cue another  NASA photo of the blue planet?] and the wealth buried beneath. In Indian art, male yakṣas are portrayed either as fearsome warriors or as portly, stout and dwarf-like. 

The images that sprang into my mind, then, were based on the latter conception of yakṣas as not so fearsome, but more portly, stout, and dwarf-like. 

Among the following  selection of yakṣa images, the top one is gleaned from the webpage of the National Museum, New Delhi which describes this yakṣa thus:

Friendly, benign and eager to share his mirth with all, his devotees and others, the figure of the Yaksha has been conceived with large bulbous eyes, chubby face, wide open mouth with rows of teeth well revealed as when laughing and in jubilation, expressing delight. 

The whole of today's verse, as I read it, is a kind of ode to non-doing, culminating with Kanthaka being born lightly along on the lotus-like tips of yakṣa fingers. The golden bands around the forearms symbolize, as before, the non-doing wrists of a non-doing practitioner. The sprays of lotus flowers emanating from the hands suggests that flow of directed energy which nobody can do. The coyly trembling fingertips bearing up Kanthaka's hooves might suggest the power of an appreciative mind as opposed to the lesser power of stiff muscular effort – think Bruce Lee's iconic "Not That" scene in Enter the Dragon … 

“Try again, with meaning.” Indeed. 

VOCABULARY

kanaka-valaya-bhūṣita-prakoṣṭhaiḥ (inst. pl. n.): with fore-arms adorned with bands of gold

kanaka: gold

valaya: a bracelet , armlet , ring (worn by men and women on the wrist)

bhūṣita: mfn. adorned

prakoṣṭha: m. the fore-arm

koṣṭha: m. any one of the viscera of the body (particularly the stomach , abdomen)

kamala-nibhaiḥ (inst. pl. n.): lotus-like

kamala: mfn. pale-red , rose-coloured ; mn. a lotus , lotus-flower

nibha: mfn. ( √ bhā) resembling , like , similar (ifc.) ; (sometimes pleonast. after adj. e.g. cāru-nibhānana , " handsome-faced " , or comp. with a synonym e.g. naga-nibhopama , " mountain-like " ; padma-pattrābha-nibha , " like a lotus-leaf "); m. or n. appearance , pretext (only ifc.)

kamalān (acc. pl. m.): mn. a lotus , lotus-flower

iva: like, as if

pravidhya = abs. pra- √ vyadh: to hurl , cast , throw away or down ; to hurl missiles

avanata-tanavaḥ (nom. pl. m.): their bodies bowed

avanata: mfn. bowed , bent down

tanu: f. the body , person , self

tataḥ: ind. then

asya (gen. sg. m.): of him, the horse's

yakṣāḥ (nom. pl. m.): m. N. of a class of semi-divine beings (attendants of kubera , exceptionally also of viṣṇu ; described as sons of pulastya , of pulaha , of kaśyapa , of khasā or krodhā ; also as produced from the feet of brahmā ; though generally regarded as beings of a benevolent and inoffensive disposition , like the yakṣa in kālidāsa's megha-dūta , they are occasionally classed with piśācas and other malignant spirits , and sometimes said to cause demoniacal possession ; as to their position in the Buddhist system » MWB. 206 , 218)

cakita-gateḥ [original Nepalese manuscript] (gen. sg. m.): going tremblingly

cakita: mfn. trembling , timid , frightened ; n. trembling , timidity , alarm

gati: f. going , moving , gait , deportment , motion in general ; manner or power of going

cakita-gataiḥ [EHJ] (inst. pl. n.): trembling

cakita: mfn. trembling , timid , frightened ; n. trembling , timidity , alarm

gata: mfn. gone to, entered into a state of

dadhire = 3^rd pers. pl. perf. dhā: to put, place ; to seize , take hold of , hold , bear , support , wear , put on (clothes)

khurān (acc. pl.): m. a hoof , horse's hoof

karāgraiḥ (inst. pl.) with the tips of their fingers

kara: m. hand

agra: n. tip

四神來捧足 潜密寂無聲

BUDDHACARITA 5.80: Sounds of Enlightened Hoof-steps (Not Making People Wake Up)

⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−    Puṣpitāgrā

atha sa pariharan-niśītha-caṇḍaṁ parijana-bodha-karaṁ dhvaniṁ sad-aśvaḥ |

⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−

vigata-hanu-ravaḥ praśānta-heṣaś-cakita-vimukta-pada-kramo jagāma || 5.80

5.80

And so, avoiding the noise that stridently attacks slumber,

Avoiding the noise that makes people all around wake up,

Being through with sputtering, 

the fires of his neighing all extinguished,

That good horse, with footsteps liberated from timidity, set off.

COMMENT:

What Aśvaghoṣa is doing in today's verse, as I read it (through rose-tinted glasses, admittedly, as an Aśvaghoṣa fan), is describing his own state of quietly and harmoniously preaching the Buddha-dharma, allowing anybody and everybody to wake up who is ready to wake up, without preaching at anybody, without trying to enforce change on anybody.

If I ever attain a similarly quiet state, without stridency or fear, even it is only for one day, or one hour, you may discern it on this blog.

You won't hear me whimper another angry word about what I have had to put up with, these past 30 years, and every tap of the keyboard will resound with the iron confidence of Zen.

On present trend, my estimated time of arrival is 2073, some time before my 113^th birthday.

Speaking of making people wake up, a couple of reflections spring to mind.

The first is that Dogen's teaching, when he came back to Japan from China in his twenties, was, in Gudo's words “very strong.” “Very strong” meant, in other words, strident. Moreover, cause and effect being what it is, this stridency was very probably a factor in the decision of Buddhist monks whose feathers Dogen had ruffled, to burn his temple down. Later in his career, Gudo felt, Dogen's words became more balanced and harmonized, as is reflected in the later chapters of Shobogenzo.

The second reflection is that the strident tone that is symptomatic of a desire to make others wake up – an end-gaining desire, that is, which I am sure my own vocal chords have betrayed on many an occasion – is conspicuous in some Alexander teachers I know and have known, by its total absence. Ron Colyer, for example, whose training school I sometimes visit, uses the metaphor of preparing and laying out a buffet for the student-teachers he is training. I sometimes reflect on this metaphor as an antidote to a wrong habitual tendency in me to want to lead horses to water and force them to drink.

Ultimately there is no physical means of emulating the kind of mature state of non-stridency that I admire in one or two others. Self-consciousness of foot placement only serves to send one crashing loudly into dustbins and miscellaneous empty bottles. Preventing oneself from making strident noises might ultimately not even be a matter of the brain and nervous system. If it were, there might be some practical point in gathering knowledge about reflexes, neurology, brain anatomy and the rest of it. No, the challenge is deeper than that. The challenge might be, in FM Alexander's words, "the most mental thing there is." 

I browsed a Zen book once whose title I think was “Being No-one, Going Nowhere,” but I did not believe a word of it. Really understanding what those words meant, who would seek to draw attention to themselves by writing a book with that title? That title might be about as authentic as giving one's translation blog the title of “Nothing But the Lifeblood” and then proceeding to fill the blog with all manner of personal stuff.

What is this deep tendency in me to want to make my mark, to leave my legacy, to cause a Mike Cross statue to be erected for pigeons to crap upon?

Meditating on a NASA blue planet maṇḍala, I ask myself: how would I like to leave planet earth looking, after I have made my own momentous mark, if not like this:

?

VOCABULARY

atha: ind. then, and so

sa (nom. sg. m.): he

pariharan = nom. sg. m. pres. part. pari- √ hṛ: to move or carry or take round ; to shun , avoid , leave out , omit ; to take away , remove , beware of or abstain from (acc.)

niśītha-caṇḍam (acc. sg. m.): being fierce in the middle of the night ; being fierce towards slumber

niśītha: m. rarely n. ( √ śī) midnight , night

√ śī: to lie down, lie down to sleep

caṇḍa: mfn. (probably fr. candrá , " glowing " with passion) fierce , violent , cruel , impetuous , hot , ardent with passion , passionate , angry

parijana-bodha-karam (acc. sg. m.): wakening / rousing the household

pari-jana: m. a surrounding company of people , entourage , attendants , servants , followers , suite , train , retinue (esp. of females) ; a single servant

bodha: m. waking , becoming or being awake , consciousness

kara: mfn. making, causing

dhvanim (acc. sg.): m. sound , echo , noise , voice , tone , tune , thunder

sad-aśvaḥ (nom. sg. m.): the good horse

vigata-hanu-ravaḥ (nom. sg. m.): noise from what injures / his jaw being absent

vigata: mfn. gone away , departed , disappeared , ceased , gone (often ibc.)

hanu: 1. " anything which destroys or injures life " , a weapon; 2. f. a jaw

rava: m. ( √ru, to roar) a roar , yell , cry , howl ; clamour, outcry ; any noise or sound (e.g. the whizz of a bow , the ringing of a bell &c )

praśānta-heṣaḥ (nom. sg. m.): his neighing inhibited ; his fire extinguished

praśānta: mfn. tranquillized , calm , quiet , composed , indifferent ; extinguished , ceased , allayed , removed , destroyed , dead

pra- √śam: to become calm or tranquil , be pacified or soothed

heṣā: f. neighing , whinnying

heṣas: n. quickness , vigour , fire

√heṣ: 1. to neigh , whinny ; (prob. connected with √1. hi, to impel) , to be quick or strong or fiery

cakita-vimukta-pada-kramaḥ (nom. sg. m.): with footsteps liberated from timidity

cakita: n. trembling , timidity , alarm

vimukta: mfn. unloosed ; set free , liberated (esp. from mundane existence) , freed or delivered or escaped from (abl. instr. , or ifc.)

pada-krama: m. a series of steps , pace , walking

jagāma = 3^rd pers. sg. perf. gam: to go

束身不奮迅 屏氣不噴鳴

BUDDHACARITA 5.79: "It" - More Vital than Sacred

⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−   Puṣpitāgrā

iti suhdam-ivānuśiṣya ktye turaga-varaṁ n-varo vanaṁ yiyāsuḥ |

⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−

sitam-asita-gati-dyutir-vapuṣmān ravir-iva śāradam-abhram-āruroha || 5.79

5.79

Having thus exhorted the best of horses,

as if exhorting a friend to his duty,

And desiring to ride into the forest,

The best of men with his handsome form, bright as fire,

climbed aboard the white horse,

Like the sun aboard an autumn cloud, up above.

COMMENT:

“You've got to talk to it nicely,” said FM Alexander, and what FM meant by “it” is something akin to a horse – something which is vital and powerful and which seems to have a mind of its own.

In Alexander work one talks to it nicely, with words like “let the head go forward and up,” in order to persuade it to take one up.

Both those elements of talking to it nicely and going up, are present in today's verse with the words suhṛdam ivānuśiṣya (exhorting like a friend) and āruroha (he went up, he climbed aboard).

The change of metre in today's verse is a signal that the end of Canto is approaching, and the sense of poetry is also to the fore with the beautiful metaphor of the 4^th pāda, and with the play on sitam and sita (white and black) which are juxtaposed at the beginning of the 3^rd pāda.

At the beginning of the present Canto the prince climbed up onto his white horse Kanthaka but then turned his horse around and climbed down again (BC5.22). In the middle of the Canto (BC5.41 – BC5.45), when the prince ascends the heights of the palace, Aśvaghoṣa's descriptions are replete with words conveying a sense of upward direction. But then in BC5.67 the prince is described as descending, coming back down. Finally in today's verse, the prince's direction again is up – as emphasized by the final word of the verse āruroha, “he went up” – bringing to mind once again Tendo Nyojo's poem on real form which memorably ends with the Chinese character 上 , which means upwards, to go up (see also comment to BC5.44).

There are calves on Tendo mountain tonight,

And golden-faced Gautama is manifesting real form.

If we wanted to buy it, how could we afford the impossible price?

The cry of a cuckoo above a lonely cloud.

Yesterday while I was memorizing today's verse, and allowing my sitting to be informed by today's verse (while also hoping that my translation of today's verse might be informed by sitting), Aśvaghoṣa's words caused me to want to investigate what it means to be totally down on the ground. And what does it mean to get back up on one's feet again and carry on going up?

Better than a thousand words might be a single act, more vital than sacred, of lying flat out on the ground, so that forehead, nose, palms of hands, thumb and fingers, lower arms, elbows, sternum, pubic bone, knees, thighs, front of feet, et cetera, are in contact with the earth. The idea is there, to be inhibited as long as one wishes, to get back up again onto one's feet, join hands and bow. How? Starting where? Does the head move first? Do the arms move first? Who decides? Sooner or later follows the action of standing up. 

Standing. 

Up.

I would like to describe it as nothing sacred but nonetheless a deep mystery. And having expressed in such mystical terms a simple everyday action that even a one-year old baby can perform, I will now go and sit in pseuds corner. Hopefully, in just sitting there, without moving anywhere, and without intending to have any nature better than my original one, I might go up.

“You've got to talk to it nicely,” FM said. 

Still working on that one, against the habit of a lifetime.

VOCABULARY

iti: thus

suhṛdam (acc. sg.): m. " good-hearted " , " kindhearted " , " well-disposed " , a friend , ally

iva: like, as if

anuśiṣya = abs. anu- √ śās: to rule ; to order ; to teach , direct

√ śās: to teach , instruct , inform (with two acc. , or with acc. of pers. and dat. or loc. of thing)

kṛtye (loc. sg.): n. what ought to be done , what is proper or fit , duty , office ; n. purpose , end , object

turaga-varam (acc. sg.): m. the best of horses

tura-ga: m. " going quickly " , a horse

vara: mfn. " select " , choicest , valuable , precious , best , most excellent or eminent among (gen. loc. abl. , or comp.); (ifc.) royal , princely

nṛ-varaḥ (nom. sg.): m. best or chief of men , sovereign , king

vanam (acc. sg.): n. forest

yiyāsuḥ (nom. sg. m.) mfn. (desid. yā) wishing to go or move or ride or drive or fly &c ; intending to set off or depart , desirous of marching or taking the field (with dat. or acc.)

sitam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. white , pale , bright , light

asita-gati-dyutiḥ (nom. sg. m.): "shining like fire"

asita-gati: "having a black course", fire

asita: mfn. 1. unbound; 2. dark-coloured , black

gati: f. going , moving , gait , deportment , motion in general ; manner or power of going ; procession , march , passage , procedure , progress , movement; path, way , course

dyuti: f. splendour (as a goddess Hariv. 14035) , brightness , lustre , majesty , dignity.

vapuṣmān (nom. sg. m.): mfn. having a body , embodied , corporeal ; having a beautiful form , handsome

raviḥ (nom. sg.): m. the sun (in general) or the sun-god

iva: like

śāradam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. produced or growing in autumn , autumnal , mature

abhram (acc. sg.): n. (sometimes spelt abbhra , according to the derivation ab-bhra , " water-bearer ") cloud , thunder-cloud , rainy weather

āruroha = 3^rd pers. sg. perf. ā- √ ruh : to ascend, mount

勸已徐跨馬 理轡倏晨征
人状日殿流 馬如白雲浮 

BUDDHACARITA 5.78: Quickly & Boldly, Please (But Without Toxic Side-Effects)

⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑−−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−   Aupacchandasaka

tad-idaṁ parigamya dharma-yuktaṁ mama niryāṇam-ato jagadd-hitāya |

⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑−−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−

turagottama vega-vikramābhyāṁ prayatasv-ātma-hite jagadd-hite ca || 5.78

5.78

Fully appreciate, then, this act of mine, 

yoked to dharma, of getting out,

Proceeding from here, for the welfare of the world;

And exert yourself, O best of horses, 

with quick and bold steps,

For your own good and the good of the world.”

COMMENT:

I cannot get out of the nest of my habitual doing by doing this and that, however quickly and boldly I go about doing it. The real way out – not that I always, or often, take it – is practice of non-doing.

Thus, when we apply ourselves to fully appreciating today's verse, not only by using our top two inches but by proceeding from here, on what Dogen called 出身之活路 (SHUSSHIN NO KATSU-RO), "the vigorous road of getting the body out," there is much more to today's verse than initially meets the eye. 

There is more to today's verse than initially met my eye when I provisionally translated it in commenting on BC4.83. (So realize well that my departure from here is yoked to dharma for the welfare of the world / And exert yourself, O best of horses, with speed and prowess, for your own good and the good of the world //BC5.78//)

As I already observed yesterday, the closing words of today's verse, which are the closing words of encouragement that the prince says to his horse, represent a synthesis of the gist of BC5.76 (which suggests that turning to dharma is a solitary undertaking) and of BC5.77 (in which the prince reflects that we are all in the same boat).

This much is readily apparent. At the same time, since the prince is addressing a horse, and Aśvaghoṣa, whose name means “Horse Whisperer,” might see himself as a servant of the Buddha akin to a willing horse, the hidden sub-text of today's verse might be the author encouraging himself, along with any other horse-like servants of the Buddha who might be listening in, in the direction of 

(1) full appreciation of the act of getting out, starting from here; and 

(2) exerting oneself with quick and bold steps for the good of self and world – as opposed, for example, to reacting to one's own good intentions with impatient haste and blundering stupidity and thereby making a general mess (I know whereof I speak).

It has become the norm in England for the children of moneyed parents to take a gap year in in between school and university and do something for the good of the world (while possiblly enhancing their CV in the process), for example, by flying off to scrub the floors of some distant orphanage. But does any good ever really come of it? An old friend of mine spent some years working for Greenpeace, but he found the organization to be full of petty in-fighting. So what might it really mean to act for the benefit of the world? Signing up to some apparently worthy organization has never seemed to me to be the answer – ever since I studied “Organizational Effectiveness” at university. The organization, in my book, is not the basic unit of acting for the welfare of the world.

But neither does a robust individual necessarily have all the answers. 

I remember an episode from about 25 years ago, when I had finished asking my Zen teacher Gudo Nishijima questions on Shobogenzo and was about to leave his office, at which point he said, in English, “Please take care of yourself.” The context was that I was at a low ebb energetically. Ever the awkward customer, I replied very directly to his innocent “Please take care of yourself” with a stern “What do you mean?” Gudo said, “In Japan, we usually say o-karada o daijin ni.” “Yes” I persisted, “but what does that really mean?”

My intention was: You are supposed to be a bloody Zen master. I am here struggling. You ought to be able to give me some practical guidance as to how to get myself going in the right direction.

A couple of days later I received a parcel in the post from Isetan department store, containing a fleece blanket and a box containing a selection of cheeses. The gift was appreciated, and there was wisdom in it, inasfar as sleeping well and eating well are always a help.

But what I was really crying out for, like a fish in a dwindling pond, was more practical instruction on how to sit well. And for all that was good and generous about Gudo, that was the one thing his teaching lacked – the most important thing.

That is why, five years later, when I finally encountered the teaching of FM Alexander, I embraced it (or maybe more accurately, I grabbed for it) with such great enthusiasm.

Sitting well, I venture to submit, on the basis of Alexander work, is a not so much a matter of learning what to do, but rather a matter of learning what NOT to do, and to that end what not to think, but what to allow. This requires a quickening of consciousness and the right kind of vikrama (whose meanings include boldness and initiative as well as capability, skill, prowess), in the absence of which I easily fall back into my habitual patterns of doing.

Sitting well, in short, is non-doing. Sitting badly, according to the lowly-evolved end-gaining principle, brings into play faulty sensory appreciation, so that even if the end is consistently gained (e.g. sitting in full lotus for five hours a day, or sitting in lotus for three hours a day and translating Shobogenzo for five hours a day), that effort of doing is liable over the long run to produce undesirable side effects – side effects that are detrimental to the welfare of the practitioner and detrimental to the welfare of the world.

Thus, what has been foremost in my mind for the past five years has been NOT to repeat the mistakes that I made, in my attitude to sitting and in my attitude to translating, during the Shobogenzo translation process. Those efforts were characterized not by quickness of consciousness (at least not on my part), but rather by impetuous haste, and (in spite of a fondness for Dogen's phrase 出身之活路) by very limited appreciation of what it really means to get the body out.

If, in my eagerness not to repeat the mistake of impetuous haste, I am failing to manifest sufficient quickness or boldness of step, is that not what human beings always do in our unenlightened unconsciousness – veering from one side of the great broad mid-way path to the other? 

If we take a wide overview of what it might mean to work for the good of the world, it is hard to think of any way in which this blue planet could be made to seem, to a spaceman, any more beautiful than it is. But it might be within our power as human beings to make planet earth seem less beautiful than it presently it, for example, by accidentally turning the earth – through the side-effects of our unconscious end-gaining – into another red planet.

VOCABULARY

tad: ind. therefore

idam (acc. sg. n.) this

parigamya = abs. pari- √ gam: to go round or about or through ; to come to any state or condition , get , attain (acc.)

dharma-yuktam (acc. sg. n.): connected with dharma

yukta: mfn. yoked to ; set to work , made use of , employed , occupied with , engaged in , intent upon (instr. loc. or comp.) ; furnished or endowed or filled or supplied or provided with , accompanied by , possessed of (instr. or comp.); (ifc.) connected with , concerning

mama (gen. sg.): my

niryāṇam (acc. sg.): n. going forth or out ; departure

ataḥ: ind. from this

jagadd-hitāya (dat. sg.): for the welfare of the world

hita: n. (sg. or pl.) anything useful or salutary or suitable or proper , benefit , advantage , profit , service , good , welfare , good advice

turagottama (voc. sg.): O best of horses

turaga: m. " going quickly " , a horse

uttama: mfn. uppermost, highest, best

vega-vikramābhyām (abl./inst. dual): with speed and prowess

vega: m. impetuosity , vehemence , haste , speed , rapidity , quickness , velocity

vikrama: m. a step , stride , pace ; going , proceeding , walking , motion , gait ; valour , courage , heroism , power , strength (vikramaṁ- √kṛ , to display prowess , use one's strength)

prayatasva = 2^nd pers. sg. imperative pra- √ yat: to be active or effective ; to strive , endeavour , exert one's self , devote or apply one's self to (loc.

ātma-hite (loc. sg.): for your own good/welfare

jagadd-hite (loc. sg.): for the welfare/good of the world

ca: and

吾今欲出遊 爲度苦衆生
汝今欲自利 兼濟諸群萌
宜當竭其力 長驅勿疲惓