BUDDHACARITA 3.60: Back to Square One

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−   Upajāti (Kīrti)

tataḥ sa dhīro 'pi narendra-sūnuḥ śrutvaiva mṛtyuṁ viṣasāda sadyaḥ |

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aṁsena saṁśliṣya ca kūbarāgraṁ provāca nihrādavatā svareṇa || 3.60

3.60

Then, mild-mannered though he was, as the son of the best of men,

On learning of dying, he sank back and down, instantly deflated,

And, bringing his shoulder into contact

with the tip of the pole of the yoke of the chariot,

He asserted in a sonorous voice:

COMMENT:

On first reading, today's verse might seem to parallel BC3.45, in which the prince is described, upon hearing the truth, as mentally dejected, and wearied by emotional agitation: 

Mentally dejected to listen to this truth, he trembled like the moon reflected in ripples of water; / And, emoting with compassion, he uttered these words, in a somewhat feeble voice: //BC3.45//

If we read today's verse as following a similar tack, then sa dhīro 'pi might be translated “resolute though he was,” contrasting with viṣasāda “he sank down despondently.” In that case aṁsena saṁśliṣya ca kūbarāgram “and he leaned with his shoulder on the edge of the chariot's yoke-frame,” emphasizes the despondency of the weakly slumping prince who lacks the energy to keep himself upright without external support, and nihrādavatā svareṇa might mean a voice that is full of emotional noise – a rasping voice, for example.

On the last point, EBC translated nihrādavatā svareṇa as “with a loud voice,” and EHJ countered by noting that “the exact sense of nihrāda or nirhrāda seems to be uncertain, but I doubt it ever means 'loud'.”

In the end EHJ opted to translate nihrādavatā svareṇa as “in a melodious voice,” hence:

“Then, steadfast-minded though he was, the king's son suddenly became faint on hearing of death, and, leaning with his shoulder against the top of the chariot rail, he said in a melodious voice:”

In EHJ's reading, then, steadfast-mindedness is contrasted with becoming faint and leaning/slumping, so that the main content of today's verse mirrors BC3.45, except that the 4^th pāda of today's verse, in describing the prince's voice as melodious, is anomalous.

Dhīra, however, means not only “steadfast-minded, resolute, brave,” but also, somewhat paradoxically, “gentle, well-bred, calm, mild-mannered.” Further, nihrādavatā svareṇa, lit. “in a voice with a humming/sounding sound,” can be read as indicating the sonorousness or resonance of a resolute voice. An alternative reading, then, is to take the ambiguous word dhīra to mean “mild-mannered,” and to understand that the contrast implied by api is the contrast between on the one hand, the mildness of the prince's manner and, on the other hand, his assertive speaking in his own original voice which, like anybody's original voice, is resonant and sonorous.

Going with this latter reading, I take vi-√sad, which the dictionary gives as “to be exhausted or dejected” (but which, by the way, contains the root √sad, to sit) to express that sense of deflation that we sometimes experience on the receipt of some disappointing news, or upon the abandonment of some ambitious idea, just before getting our backsides into gear for some renewed effort. Viṣasāda in the 2nd pāda, then, can be understood as not so much a sinking down into despondency as a coming back to oneself, or coming back to basics, or coming back to reality; not so much depression as deflation; not so much hopelessness as abandonment of a fancy expectation, and resignation. Viṣasāda can thus be read as signalling a change of direction – a turning back from the incremental excitement of nervous agitation that is liable to precede a decision, a turning back that is accompanied by that release of agitation which occurs when a decision is made, or when a decision makes itself. The reading of the 3rd pāda that naturally follows is that the prince, far from slumping irresolutely against the chariot rail, is being described at the very beginning of starting to get his backside into gear and harness his energy in pursuit of the certainty of utter loss. Hence the sonorousness of his voice described in the 4^th pāda.

Understood like this, today's verse is not pointing to a single grand event (like The Establishment of The Will to the Truth) before a person receives the bodhisattva precepts and then proceeds to experience Buddhist life as one continuous bed of roses. Coming back and down to earth and getting one's backside in gear is not the starting point, but a starting point (like an awakening of a will to the truth). A starting point is where one starts from again and again, having sank back and down. Don't ask me how many times a day – on a bad day maybe less than four times, on a good day many more than four times.

That being so, a corresponding verse from Saundara-nanda that springs to mind is the one in Canto 13 where Seeing, then, that by boosting Nanda he had made a receptacle, / The best of speakers, the knower of processes, spoke of better ways as a process: // SN13.9 // "Starting afresh from here (ataḥ prabhṛti bhūyas), my friend, with the power of confidence leading you forward, / In order to get to the nectar of deathlessness you should watch the manner of your action...." // 13.10 //

In today's verse, as I read it, "starting from here" (ataḥ prabhṛti), is expressed as bringing one's shoulder into contact with the tip of a pole of a yoke of a chariot.

VOCABULARY

tataḥ: ind. then

sa (nom. sg. m.): he

dhīraḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. steady , constant , firm , resolute , brave , energetic , courageous , self-possessed , composed , calm , grave ; deep , low , dull (as sound) ; gentle , soft ; well-conducted , well-bred

api: though

narendra-sūnuḥ (nom. sg. m.): the king's son

nara: man

indra: ifc. best , excellent , the first , the chief (of any class of objects)

sunu: m. a son , child , offspring

śrutva = abs. śru: to hear, learn of

eva: (emphatic)

mṛtyum (acc. sg.): m. death , dying

viṣasāda = 3^rd pers. sg. perf. vi-√sad: to be exhausted or dejected , despond , despair ; to sink down , be immersed in (loc.)

√sad: to sit down (esp. at a sacrifice); to sink down , sink into despondency or distress , become faint or wearied or dejected or low-spirited , despond , despair , pine or waste away , perish

sadyaḥ: ind. immediately

aṁsena (inst. sg.): shoulder

saṁśliṣya = abs. saṁ- √ śliṣ: to stick or attach one's self to (acc.) ; to clasp , embrace; to bring into close contact or immediate connection with (instr.)

√ śliṣ: to adhere , attach , cling to ; to unite , join (trans. or intrans.) ; (A1.) to result , be the consequence of anything

ca: and

kūbarāgram (acc. sg.): the end of the pole to which the yoke of the chariot was fixed

kūbara: mn. the pole of a carriage or the wooden frame to which the yoke is fixed

agra: n. foremost point or part

provāca = 3^rd pers. sg. perf. pra- √ vac: to proclaim , announce ; to speak , say , tell

nihrādavatā = inst. sg. m. nihrāda-vat: having a humming / murmuring / rasping / wheezing sound

ni-hrāda: m. sound , noise

ni- √ hrād: to sound

nir-hrāda: m. sound , noise , humming , murmuring , roaring &c

nir- √ hrād: to sound

svareṇa (inst. sg.): m. sound, noise, voice

太子心驚怛 身垂車軾前

息殆絶而嘆 

BUDDHACARITA 3.59: Ultimate Certainty

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−   Upajāti (Kīrti)

tataḥ praṇetā vadati sma tasmai sarva-prajānām-idam-anta-karma |

−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−

hīnasya madhyasya mahātmano vā sarvasya loke niyato vināśaḥ || 3.59

3.59

Then the guide said to him:

“This is the ultimate karma of all creatures:

For everybody in this world, whether low, middling, or mighty,

Utter loss is certain.”

COMMENT:

The old Nepalese manuscript has idam-anta-karmaḥ, which is gramatically not possible and which EHJ therefore amended to idam-anta-karma (“This is the last act...”); EBC has ayam-aṁta-karmā (“This is the final end...”).

I guess that, whether read as idam-anta-karma or as ayam-anta-karmā, Aśvaghoṣa's original phrase was intended to be ambiguous, so that it ostensibly means death, but really points to the experience of totally forgetting oneself that Dogen called “losing body and life.”

The 4^th pāda raises the question of what in this world is truly certain?

If we look for an answer in proverbial wisdom, the answer might be found in the expression “As sure as eggs is eggs,” which is thought to derive from the mathematical certainty that x = x.

This is the kind of arithmetic that Dogen liked, as evidence in the many places in Shobogenzo where he compares a stone lantern in the garden, for example, to a stone lantern in the garden; or where he states his ultimate conclusion about the state in sitting by describing fishes as swimming like fishes and birds as flying like birds.

Understood like this, then, vināśaḥ, “utter loss,” does not necessarily mean death, at least not as conventionally understood. It might rather mean the complete removal from x of plus or minus anything.

In the 16th canto of his epic story of Beautiful Joy, Aśvaghoṣa quotes the Buddha as telling Nanda:

Comprehend, therefore, that suffering is doing; witness the faults impelling it forward; / Realise its stopping as non-doing; and know the path as a turning back. // SN16.42 //Though your head and clothes be on fire direct your mind so as to be awake to the truths. /For in failing to see the purport of the truths, the world has burned, it is burning now, and it will burn. // 16.43 //When a man sees a separate bodily form as decrepit, that insight of his is accurate; /In seeing accurately he is disenchanted, and from the ending of exuberance ends the red taint of passion. // 16.44 //By the ending of the duality which is exuberance and gloom, I submit, his mind is fully set free. /And when his mind is fully liberated from that duality, there is nothing further for him to do. // SN16.45 //

In eggs-is-eggs terms, exuberance = (x + 1), and gloom = (x – 1). Turning back, to the certainty of utter loss, might be to come back to x = x.

This kind of arithmetic, it should be emphasized, is traditionally and necessarily computed by a person under whose backside -- whether the backside in question is low, middling, or eminent --  a round black cushion is doing its best not to be squashed into oblivion.

VOCABULARY

tataḥ: ind. then

praṇetā (nom. sg.): m. leader, guide; charioteer

vadati = 3^rd pers. sg. to speak , say , utter , tell , report

sma: (joined with a pres. tense or pres. participle to give them a past sense)

tasmai (dat. sg.): to him

sarva-prajānām (gen. pl. f.): all creatures; all living beings

idam (nom. sg. n.): this, this here

ayam (nom. sg. m.): this, this here

anta-karma = nom. sg. n. anta-karman = anta-kara: mfn. causing death , mortal , destructive

anta-karmā = nom. sg. m. anta-karman

anta: m. end , limit , boundary , term ; end of life , death , destruction ; pause , settlement , definite ascertainment , certainty

karman: n. action ; former act as leading to inevitable results , fate (as the certain consequence of acts in a previous life)

hīnasya (gen. sg.): mfn. left , abandoned , forsaken ; left behind , excluded or shut out from , lower or weaker than , inferior to (abl.); left out , wanting , omitted ; deficient , defective , faulty , insufficient , short , incomplete , poor , little , low , vile , bad , base , mean ; brought low , broken down in circumstances

madhyasya (gen. sg.): mfn. middle ; middlemost , intermediate , central

mahātmanaḥ (gen. sg.): mfn. “high-souled" , magnanimous , having a great or noble nature , high-minded , noble ; eminent , mighty , powerful , distinguished

vā: or

sarvasya (gen. sg.): all

loke (loc. sg.): m. the world, this world

niyataḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. held back or in , fastened ; constant , steady ; fixed , established , settled , sure , regular , invariable , positive , definite

ni- √ yam: to stop (trans.) , hold back; to hold in , keep down , restrain; to fix upon , settle , determine , establish

vināśaḥ (nom. sg.): m. utter loss , annihilation , perdition , destruction , decay , death , removal

對曰普皆爾 夫始必有終
長幼及中年 有身莫不壞 

BUDDHACARITA 3.58: The End?

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−   Upajāti (Kīrti)

iti praṇetuḥ sa niśamya vākyaṁ saṁcukṣubhe kiṁ-cid-uvāca cainam |

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kiṁ kevalo' syaiva janasya dharmaḥ sarva-prajānām-ayam-īdṛśo 'ntaḥ || 3.58

3.58

On hearing the words of a guide

He was somewhat agitated, and said to him:

“Is this a condition unique to this person here?

Is such the end for all creatures?”

COMMENT:

Today's verse can be read as describing in a nutshell what happens when a person establishes the bodhi-mind – i.e. the will to gain the end of Buddhist enlightenment. One hears or reads some words, gets unduly excited, and starts asking questions about oneself and about the meaning of life.

In the 1^st pāda the prince is thus described as hearing the words of a guide or leader, who in this case is the charioteer. Such words are liable to be words like “Zen master” or “enlightenment,” which cause the innocent mind and body to be inspired, or excited, or agitated. An example from ancient China is the woodcutter who heard the Diamond Sutra being recited in a marketplace and went to work as a labourer in a temple run by the 5^th patriarch in China (Jap: Daiman Konin).

The agitation or excitement described in the 2^nd pāda, on the face of it, expresses the kind of undue excitation of the fear reflexes that we would all be better off not experiencing. But Aśvaghoṣa's real intention in the present canto, as reflected the canto title saṁvegotpattiḥ, “Nervous Excitement,” may be to remind us that arising of the bodhi-mind even for the Buddha was no bed of roses.

In the 3^rd pāda the prince is ostensibly referring, with the words dharmaḥ (dharma, condition) to the law of being, or condition, which was the death manifested by a dead man, a corpse. That being so, asyaiva janasya, “this person here,” refers to the corpse. Hence EBC: “Is this an accident peculiar to him alone?”; EHJ: “Is this law of being peculiar to this man?”; PO: “Is this dharma peculiar to this man?”

The alternative reading is to understand the dharma in question to be the somewhat agitated or excited condition of the prince himself. In that case, asyaiva janasya, “this person here,” mirrors asyaiva “the one here” in BC3.43, where the prince asks, “[Is] this fault arisen specifically in the one here [?]. [Is] fear of breaking down common to all creatures [?].” Again, the ambiguity of the prince's questions in today's verse mirrors the ambiguity of the question he asks the charioteer in BC3.32, “Will I also have this fault in the future?”

In the 4^th pāda, similarly, antaḥ "the end" seems to mean “death,” but what antaḥ might really point to is the enlightenment of a sitting-buddha who is being deliberately left alone, by self and by others.

FM Alexander took pains to clarify that when he spoke of conscious control, he meant primarily “a plane to be reached,” i.e. an end to be gained – as opposed to a method of reaching it. This emphasis, it seems to me, was reflected in Marjory Barlow's teaching of how to work on the self, which always began with the stimulus of an end to be gained, e.g. to move a leg.

The important thing, in the final analysis, is working on the self. But for such work on the self to be real work, it is vital that some end has to be gained.

When I heard an Alexander teacher who used to live near me woffle on about conscious control, I had the sense that he did not know what he was talking about, a suspicion that tended to be confirmed when he ended his life by jumping in front of a train. I think that a person who had truly reached the plane of conscious control might have had more consideration for the train driver. Deciding that he wished to end his own life, a person who had reached the plane of conscious control might have found a less violent way of going about it. The examples that Dogen celebrated in his rules of sitting-zen for everybody were the masters of the past who let go of everything while sitting or standing up – which is by no means the end for all creatures. I very much doubt whether this creature here will be one of the few that is able to die like that. Regardless, having that end in view makes my work on the self more real, which I think is why Dogen pointed us toward that end in his instructions for how to sit.

The stimulus of an end to be gained is the very thing that puts us wrong, exciting our fear reflexes. But just because the stimulus puts us wrong does not mean that it is our enemy. It is the very thing that introduces us to our best friend, which is being wrong. This, as I am gradually coming to understand it, is the teaching of FM Alexander's niece Marjory Barlow. It is a teaching that seems to me to be mirrored in today's verse.

VOCABULARY

iti: thus

praṇetuḥ = gen. sg. pranetṛ: m. a leader , guide; charioteer

sa (nom. sg. m.): he

niśamya = abs. ni- √ śam: to observe , perceive , hear , learn

vākyam: n. speech , saying , assertion , statement , command , words

saṁcukṣubhe = 3^rd pers. sg. perf. saṁ- √ kṣubh: (Caus. -kṣobhayati) to shake about violently , agitate , toss , excite

sam: (used as a preposition or prefix to verbs and verbal derivatives, expressing " conjunction " , " union " , " thoroughness " , " intensity " , " completeness ")

√ kṣubh: to shake , tremble , be agitated or disturbed , be unsteady , stumble (literally and metaphorically)

saṁ-kṣubdha: mfn. tossed together , violently shaken or agitated

saṁ-kṣobha:m. a violent shock or jolt , jerk , overturning , upsetting ; commotion , disturbance , agitation , excitement

kiṁ-cid: ind. somewhat

uvāca = 3^rd pers. sg. perf. vac: to speak, say

ca: and

enam (acc. sg. m.): him

kim: (interrogative particle)

kevalah (nom. sg. m.): mfn. exclusively one's own (not common to others); alone , only , mere , sole , one , excluding others

asya = gen. sg. m. ayam: this , this here , referring to something near the speaker

eva: (emphatic)

janasya (gen. sg.): m. man, person

dharmaḥ (nom. sg.): m. dharma; thing; nature , character , peculiar condition or essential quality , property , mark , peculiarity

sarva-prajānām (gen. pl. f.): all creatures, all living beings

ayam (nom. sg.): m. this

īdṛśaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. endowed with such qualities , such

antaḥ (nom. sg.): m. end , limit , boundary , term ; end, conclusion ; end of life , death , destruction ; pause , settlement , definite ascertainment , certainty ; condition , nature

太子聞死聲 悲痛心交結
問唯此人死 天下亦倶然 

BUDDHACARITA 3.57: Knowing Who

−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−   Upajāti (Bālā)

buddhīndriya-prāṇa-guṇair-viyuktaḥ supto visaṁjñas-tṛṇa-kāṣṭha-bhūtaḥ |

−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−

saṁvardhya saṁrakṣya ca yatnavadbhiḥ priya-priyais-tyajyata eṣa ko 'pi || 3.57

3.57

“Dissevered from the strings of sense power and breathing,

Inactive and insensible, akin to straw and wood,

Having been nurtured and cherished,

he is deliberately left alone by his dearest friends –

This, again, is Who.”

COMMENT:

FM Alexander was overheard telling a pupil: “You are doing what you call leaving yourself alone.”

The 1^st pāda of today's verse is ostensibly describing a corpse, but the real intention is to describe a sitting practitioner who is truly leaving himself alone – i.e who is truly allowing the right thing to do itself, rather than trying to arrange a good impression of the right thing doing itself.

In the 2^nd pāda, the ostensible significance of tṛṇa-kāṣṭha-bhūtaḥ, “akin to straw and wood,” is that straw, wood, and a corpse are three flammable things that will all burn alike on a funeral pyre. The hidden significance is that straw and wood are organic materials which are not liable to emotional mood swings.

In the 3^rd pāda yatna-vadbhiḥ is from yatna-vat, which the dictionary gives as “possessing energy,” and which would seem to make most sense if it were describing people as having expended energy or taken care in the process of nurturing and cherishing the man who is no longer breathing.

Hence EBC: “he is abandoned alike by friends and enemies after they have carefully swathed and guarded him.” EHJ: “He was brought up and cherished most lovingly with every care.” PO: “This is someone his dearest ones discard though they nurtured and guarded him with care.”

These readings take yatna-vadbhiḥ to be equivalent to yatnaiḥ (which the dictionary gives as "with effort, carefully, eagerly, strenuously"), and so EBC, EHJ, and PO all understood yatna-vadbhiḥ as an adverbial phrase describing the careful manner in which the corpse has previously been nurtured/swathed and cherished/guarded. But yatna-vadbhiḥ, as I read it, modifies the instrumental agent priya-priyaiḥ, “his dearest friends.” In that case, yatna-vadbhiḥ is not necessarily describing the nurturing and cherishing that was done in the past; it might rather be describing the attitude of the friends right now, that attitude being energetic, diligent, deliberate, studious, assiduous.

For the 4^th pāda, the Old Nepalese manuscript has priyas-tyajyate eṣa ko 'pi; it is thus two syllables short of the 11-syllable upajāti metre; it also disobeys the rule of sandhi by which tyajyate + eṣa goes to tyajyata eṣa.

EBC's reading is priyāpriyais-tyajyata (“abandoned alike by friends and enemies”). EHJ took the original reading to have been priya doubled to express intensity of feeling; hence he amended to priya-priyais-tyajyata.

Accepting EHJ's reading of priya-priyaiḥ, it still remains to decide whether priya-priyaiḥ is an adverbial compound meaning “most lovingly” (as per EHJ, taking priya as a repeated neuter noun meaning “love”), or whether priya-priyaiḥ means “by his dearest friends” (as per PO, taking the first priya as the adjective “dearest” and the second priya as the masculine noun “friend.”).

I follow PO in taking priya-priyaiḥ (inst. pl. m.) to mean “by his dearest friends,” in which case yatna-vadbhiḥ (inst. pl. m.) describes those friends as possessing energy, or being diligent, studious, deliberate, assiduous.

Why might Aśvaghoṣa be describing the friends as such, not necessarily in their past nurturing but rather in their present abandoning? 

Because, while the prince in today's verse is ostensibly talking about a corpse, what he is really describing is a person who is leaving himself alone in sitting-meditation, at which time it is very natural for his friends in the good to take pains also to leave him alone -- as studiously, diligently, or assiduously as ever they can.

VOCABULARY

buddhīndriya-prāṇa-guṇaiḥ (inst. pl.): the twines of sense power and breathing

buddhīndriya: n. an organ of sense or perception (5 in number , viz , eye , ear , nose , tongue , and skin , opp. to , karmendriyāṇi)

buddhi: f. perception (of which 5 kinds are enumerated , or with manas 6)

indriya: n. power , force , the quality which belongs especially to the mighty indra ; n. bodily power , power of the senses ; n. faculty of sense , sense , organ of sense

karmendriya: n. an organ of action (five in number like the five organs of sense , viz. hand , foot , larynx , organ of generation , and excretion)

prāṇa: m. the breath of life , breath , respiration, spirit, vitality ; pl. life ; breath (as a sign of strength), vigour , energy , power

guṇa: m. a single thread or strand of a cord or twine, string or thread , rope ; a quality , peculiarity , virtue, merit

viyuktaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. disjoined , detached , separated or delivered from , deprived or destitute of. deserted by (instr. or comp.)

suptaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. fallen asleep , slept , sleeping , asleep ; lain down to sleep (but not fallen asleep) ; paralysed , numbed , insensible ; resting , inactive , dull , latent

visaṁjñaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. unconscious ; bereft of sense , lifeless

tṛṇa-kāṣṭha-bhūtaḥ (nom. sg. m.): like/mixed with straw and wood

tṛṇa: n. grass , herb , any gramineous plant , blade of grass , straw (often symbol of minuteness and worthlessness)

kāṣṭha: n. a piece of wood or timber , stick ; wood or timber in general

bhūta: (ifc.) being or being like anything , consisting of , mixed or joined with

saṁvardhya = abs. causative saṁ- √ vṛdh: to cause to grow , rear , bring up , foster , cherish , augment , enlarge , strengthen , beautify , make prosperous or happy

saṁrakṣya = abs. saṁ- √ rakṣ: to protect , guard , watch over , defend , preserve ; to keep

ca: and

yatnavadbhiḥ (inst. pl. m.): mfn. possessing energy

yatna: m. activity of will , volition , aspiring after ; effort , exertion , energy , zeal , trouble , pains , care

yatna-vat-tva: n. making effort , taking pains about (loc.) , strenuous , diligent

priya-priyaiḥ (inst. pl. n.) with every love and kindness

priya: n. love , kindness , favour

priya-priyaih (inst. pl. m.): by dear friends

priya: mfn. beloved , dear to;

priya: m. a friend

priyāpriyaiḥ (inst. p.) by friends and enemies alike

priya: m. a friend

apriya: m. a foe , an enemy

tyajyate = 3^rd pers. sg. passive tyaj: to leave, abandon ; to let go ; to part from ; to give away , distribute , offer (as a sacrifice or oblation to a deity; to set aside , leave unnoticed , disregard

eṣaḥ (nom. sg.): m. this one

kaḥ (nom. sg.): m. who? (interrogative pronoun)

api: even, also (emphatic)

諸根壞命斷 心散念識離
神逝形乾燥 挺直如枯木

親戚諸朋友 恩愛素纒綿
今悉不喜見 遠棄空塜間 

BUDDHACARITA 3.56: Meaning It

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−   Upajāti (Haṁsī)

tataḥ sa śuddhātmabhir-eva devaiḥ śuddhādhivāsair-abhibhūta-cetāḥ |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−

avācyam-apy-artham-imaṁ niyantā pravyājahārārthavad-īśvarāya || 3.56

3.56

Then, while his mind was overpowered

by the gods whose essence is purity itself,

By the gods who sit upon pure perches,

He, in a voice full of meaning, as the tamer of the horses,

Conveyed to the prince the unspeakable meaning in question.

COMMENT:

“I wish to allow the neck to release, to allow the head to go FORWARD and UP, to allow the spine to lengthen and the back to widen, while allowing the legs out of the pelvis.”

When one pays for an Alexander lesson, one is paying primarily for an Alexander teacher to put meaning into those words. This is what FM Alexander's niece Marjory Barlow told me: The teacher's job in every Alexander lesson is “to put meaning into those words.”

“Those words” means some variation of I wish to allow the neck to release, to allow the head to go FORWARD and UP, to allow the spine to lengthen and the back to widen, while sending the knees forwards and away.

Before meaning has been put into those words, those words do not have any meaning. So words are not necessarily full of meaning. Effort has to be made to put meaning into the words.

I was very fortunate to witness on many occasions Marjory Barlow in her 80s, when she did not have a lot of energy to spare, directing her effort to put meaning into those words for my benefit: “Let the neck be free, to let the head to go FORWARD and UP, to let the spine lengthen and the back to widen, while sending the knees [up to the ceiling (when lying on one's back with knees bent)].”

There would be a stimulus to move (i.e. “move your leg”), to which I was to say “No.” So this was the first word into which meaning had to be put – “No.” I gradually learned, and have continued gradually learning since Marjory died in 2006, what I must say “No” to, which is whatever thought or idea or decision or desire triggers the wrong inner patterns (aka the doing) which I wish to stop.

Into the gap thus vacated by saying “No,” those words would repeatedly be poured: “Let the neck be free, to let the head go FORWARD and UP, to let the spine lengthen and the back widen, while sending the knees up to the ceiling,” while Marjory used her hands (wherein, she used to say, after more than 60 years of consciously using them, her brain resided) to put meaning into those words.

And then, at some point, I would go ahead and move my leg, thus eventually giving consent to respond to the original stimulus “Move your leg.” Without this act of moving, the whole procedure would not have been meaningful. So not only the word “No” and the verbal directions, but also the movement, the ultimate gaining of the end in view, was also a part of the procedure that was full of meaning. And, although “move your leg,” is three words, it is fairly readily apparent, with regular practice, that the actual movement of one's leg is not the thinking of words. Moving the leg is an action, a meaningful action, and at the same time, an unspeakable action.

Thus, while in the 3^rd pāda of today's verse avācyam artham ostensibly means “the thing he was not supposed to say” (i.e. the fact that all human beings, after growing old and/or getting ill, ultimately die), I think the real meaning of  avācyam artham is to point to the kind of “unspeakable meaning” towards which the Alexander teacher Marjory Barlow endeavoured so consciously and so skilfully to direct my attention.

Again in the 3^rd pāda, avācyam artham imam ostensibly means “this thing he was not supposed to say,” so that imam simply means “this,” or “the following.” But the real meaning that Aśvaghoṣa had in mind with imam (“this here”) in the phrase artham-imam, “this here meaning” or “the meaning in question,” might be the meaning expressed by 即 (Jap: SOKU), “here and now,” in the famous phrase in Chinese Zen 即身是仏 (Jap: SOKU-SHIN-ZE-BUTSU), “the mind here and now is buddha.”

In the 4th pāda, artha-vat means “meaningfully” or “with a purpose.” I have translated artha-vat a bit loosely as “in a voice full of meaning.” Again the phrase brings to my mind a teaching of Marjorry Barlow's, which was that when as an Alexander teacher one speaks directions like "head FORWARD and UP," one should never garble those directions, and Marjory indeed never did. Even though she had been saying them constantly for nearly 70 years, it always sounded like Marjory, as she spoke the directions out loud, was discovering them herself for the first time. Never “head-forward-and-up,” but “head FORWARD, and UP!” Because Marjory had spent her lifetime thinking like that, her voice itself conveyed meaning. She used both her hands and her voice to put meaning into the words. At the same time, because of the way she accepted and used herself, her voice conveyed unspeakable meaning.

I think that Aśvaghoṣa had in mind this kind of transmission of meaning when in the 4^th pāda he used the word pravyājahāra, from pra-vy-ā-√hṛ, which primarily means “to speak,” but which has a secondary meaning of “to utter inarticulate sounds.” The point is that when a buddha uses her voice to convey unspeakable meaning, it is by no means only the words that are doing the conveying. What is doing the conveying is rather the consciously-controlled use of her voice, her hands, and the whole of herself – while the fickle horses of her senses remain in a calm, submissive state.

VOCABULARY

tataḥ: ind. then

sa (nom. sg. m.): he

śuddhātmabhiḥ (inst. pl. m.): mfn. pure-minded

eva: (emphatic)

devaiḥ (inst. pl.): m. gods

śuddhādhivāsaiḥ (inst. pl. m.): mfn. inhabiting pure abodes

adhi- √ vas: to inhabit; to settle or perch on

abhibhūta-cetāḥ (nom. sg. m.): his mind overpowered

abhibhūta: mfn. surpassed , defeated , subdued , humbled; overcome

cetas: n. mind

avācyam (acc. sg. m.): not to be spoken ; improper to be uttered

api: though

artham (acc. sg.): m. purpose; thing; affair, matter; sense , meaning , notion

imam (acc. sg. m.): this , this here , referring to something near the speaker

niyantā (nom. sg. m.): m. a restrainer , governor , tamer (esp. of horses) , charioteer

pravyājahāra = 3^rd pers. sg. perf. pra-vy-ā- √ hṛ: to utter forth , speak ; to utter inarticulate sounds , howl , yell , roar

ā- √ hṛ: to fetch, deliver

vy-ā- √ hṛ: to utter or pronounce a sound , speak

arthavat (acc. sg. n.): mfn. full of sense , significant; full of reality, real ; ind. according to a purpose

īśvarāya (dat. sg.): m. master , lord , prince , king , mistress , queen

天神教御者 對曰爲死人 

BUDDHACARITA 3.55: Tears for Tears

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−   Upajāti (Mālā)

athābravīd-rāja-sutaḥ sa sūtaṁ naraiś-caturbhir-hriyate ka eṣaḥ |

−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−

dīnair-manuṣyair-anugamyamāno yo bhūṣito 'śvāsy-avarudyate ca || 3.55

3.55

Then the child of the king said to the charioteer:

“This is Who, who is being carried by four people,

Who is being followed by afflicted human beings,

Who is beautifully adorned,

and yet, as one who does not breathe, inspires tears.”

COMMENT:

I have argued before that Aśvaghoṣa’s epic story of Beautiful Joy (Saundara-nanda), far from being a story of religious conversion, is more aptly described as a story of individual transformation. In so arguing, I pointed out that Aśvaghoṣa nowhere uses the term saṁgha as it is conventionally understood in Buddhist circles, to mean a religious congregation. That said, Saundara-nanda is not the story of Nanda going it alone as one individual in isolation. There are also the Buddha, the striver, Ānanda, and the monk who practises sitting-meditation by the waterfall. Each of these four supports or carries Nanda in some way, by teaching him or urging him on and/or inspiring him.

I remember Gudo Nishijima telling me somewhere along the way that the minimum number of members in a saṁgha, traditionally, is five.

A google search finds confirmation of this rule in the teaching of Thich Nhat Hanh:

“In the Buddhist tradition the minimum number of individuals that can make up a Sangha is four; it is the strict minimum.  Five is a comfortable number.  So if you want to build a Sangha, begin with five.  If it is less than five it is not a Sangha.”

Ostensibly, then, in the 2^nd pāda the prince is asking who or what this corpse is, that is being carried by four men doing the job of pallbearers. But the hidden meaning is not so much a question as the affirmation that “This is Who,” i.e. this is somebody ineffable, who is supported by a group of (at least) four other ineffable individuals.

The 3^rd pāda ostensibly describes mourners trailing miserably along in a funeral procession, but the real intention may be to point to us followers of the Buddha who are happily afflicted by those faults (aka "our best friend") which are rooted in faulty sensory appreciation and end-gaining. 

I have been in two minds about how to read the 4^th pāda, for which the Old Nepalese manuscript has yo bhūṣitoś cāpy avarudyate ca. EHJ amended bhūṣitoś to bhūṣitaś and expressed a doubt about yo, leaving the first syllable of his text blank, hence: * bhūṣitaś cāpy avarudyate ca.  In CSL EHJ's text is amended to [vi]bhūṣitaś cāpy avarudyate ca.

EBC's text, based on Amṛtananda's copies of the old Nepalese manuscript, has for the 4th pāda yo bhūṣito 'śvāsyavarudyate ca, with a note in which EBC says he would read aśvāsy avarudyate; hence “who is bewailed, adorned but no longer breathing.”

Following the old Nepalese manuscript with bhūṣitoś amended to bhūṣitaś makes good enough sense: yo bhūṣitaś-capy-avarudyate ca could literally and reasonably be translated as “And who is adorned, and yet wept over.”

At the same time, there is certainly a nice double-meaning in EBC's reading of aśvāsī, which means “a non-breather,” or “one who does not hiss.”

In conclusion, then, I have opted to follow EBC's reading yo bhūṣito 'śvāsy-avarudyate ca, and to translate as “Who is beautifully adorned, and yet, as one who does not breathe, inspires tears.”

Whichever reading is taken, avarudyate in the 4^th pāda ostensibly describes tears that are shed during a funeral procession, but really points to the ability of a great teacher or leader to move deeply the people with whom he or she comes into contact.

One only needs to think of recent great leaders and dear leaders of that magnificent land of the free, North Korea, whose teaching was so beautiful, powerful and true that they could inspire mass spontaenous weeping even during their lifetimes. Closer to home, we Brits naturally think of our own dear leader, David Cameron, who, it is said, brought tears to the eyes, not once but twice, of an erstwhile editor of the Sun newspaper, with the uplifting power of his speech to a Conservative Party Conference.

VOCABULARY

atha: ind. then, and so

abravīt = 3^rd pers. sg. imperfect brū: to speak

rāja-sutaḥ (nom. sg. m.): the son/child of the king

sa (nom. sg. m.): he

sūtam (acc. sg.): m. the charioteer

naraiḥ (inst. pl.): m. (cf. nṛ) a man , a male , a person (pl. men , people)

caturbhiḥ (inst. pl. m.): four

hriyate = 3^rd pers. sg. passive hṛ: to take , bear , carry in or on (with instr.) , carry , convey , fetch , bring ; to take , bear , carry in or on (with instr.) , carry , convey , fetch , bring ; to take away , carry off , seize , deprive of , steal , rob ; A1. (older and more correct than P.) , to take to one's self , appropriate (in a legitimate way) , come into possession of (acc.) , receive (as an heir) ; to master , overpower , subdue , conquer , win , win over (also by bribing) ; to outdo , eclipse , surpass

kaḥ (nom. pl. n.): who?

eṣaḥ (nom. sg. m.): this

dīnaiḥ (inst. pl. m.): mfn.scarce , scanty; depressed , afflicted , timid , sad; miserable, wretched

manuṣyaiḥ (inst. pl.): m. man, human being, person

anugamyamānaḥ = nom. sg. m. pres. part. passive anu- √ gam: to go after, follow ; to practise , observe , obey , imitate ;

yaḥ (nom. sg. m.): [relative pronoun] who

bhūṣitaḥ (nom. sg. m.): striven after; adorned

bhūṣ: to strive after ; to adorn

ca: and

api: also

a-śvāsī (nom. sg. m.): a non-breather

śvāsin: mfn. hissing , breathing

ava-: (prefix) down

rudyate = 3^rd pers. sg. passive rud: to weep , cry , howl , roar , lament , wail

ava-rudita: mfn. that upon which tears have fallen

ca: and

時彼淨居天 復化爲死人
四人共持輿 現於菩薩前
餘人悉不覺 菩薩御者見 

[Conflated with previous verse]

問此何等輿 幡花雜莊嚴
從者悉憂慼 散髮號哭隨