−⏑−−¦⏑⏑⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑⏑¦⏑−⏑− navipulā
yā
hi kāś-cid-yuvatayo
haranti sadśaṁ
janam |
⏑−−−¦⏑−−−¦¦−−−⏑¦⏑−⏑−
nikṣṭotkṣṭayor-bhāvaṁ
yā ghṇanti tu tāḥ striyaḥ || 4.23
4.23
For any
old girls
Entrance
those on their level,
But those
who stop the heart of low and high:
They are
true women."
COMMENT:
The two verbs used in
today's verse are hṛ and grah, as in 4.19. Each of these verbs has
a wide range of meanings, several of which overlap – both verbs can
mean, for example, to entrance and to eclipse. Bhāva also has a very
wide range of meanings, from “real state,” through “heart,”
down to “emotion” and “rank.”
Because of this
ambiguity, the phrases haranti
sadṛśaṁ
janam and nikṛṣṭotkṛṣṭayor-bhāvaṁ
gṛhṇanti can mean completely different things depending on who is
saying them.
The
brahmin Udāyin is thinking about class, so that sadṛśaṁ
janam means “lovers of the same class as themselves” [EHJ] and
haranti means captivate sexually -- any old girl can captivate a man of her own class.
But
I think what Aśvaghoṣa has in mind in the first half of the verse is the principles of
entrainment and sympathetic resonance, so that haranti expresses
mutual entrancement by people who are sitting together. Sadṛśam in that case does not mean "of the same social class" but means "on the same wavelength" -- any old meditator can enter into mutual entrancement with other meditators who are already on the same wavelength.
In
Hurry-Up Udāyin's definition of a true woman, again, true women are
those who are sufficiently sexy and wily to be able to capture the
hearts of lowly peasants and lofty aristocrats alike. A true woman, then, in
Udāyin's definition, is a heart-stopper in the sense of being universally exciting, thrilling, intoxicating, breathtaking -- to heterosexual chavs and poshos alike.
The
hidden meaning which I think Aśvaghoṣa intends is that a true
woman is one who goes to the heart of such relative conceptions of
low and high, and stops off those conceptions at source.
How
in practice does a woman or a man go to the heart of low and high,
and arrest the pernicious relative thoughts emanating from that centre?
(JOCHI
KAGU RON SEZU).
不
FU, ([se]zu) not/beyond
論
RON
discussing
上
JO
high
智
CHI
intelligence
下
KA
low
愚
GU
stupidity
These
six characters can be taken as an expression of sitting in lotus
itself, which Dogen praised as supreme beyond the supremacy of the
Buddha's supremacy, but at the same time as beyond
discussion of high and low.
Today's
verse, then, is another verse that is ostensibly concerned with
things that people like to turn into “issues” for discussion –
things like gender, and race, and class.
But
a true woman, Aśvaghoṣa is suggesting, is one who nips all such
discussion in the bud by her sheer practicality, which is rooted not in intellectual activity but in paying attention to a process.
Hence
the link with yesterday's verse expressed by hi (“for/because”) –
a true woman nips intellectual discussion in the bud because
the light of the lineage of the buddha-ancestors is sheer attention to practice.
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VOCABULARY
yāḥ … kāś-cid (nom. pl. f.): any [girls] whatsoever (ka is only made
indefinite when connected with the particles ca, caná, cid, vā ,and
ápi , in which case ka may sometimes be preceded by the relative ya
– e.g. ye ke ca , any persons whatsoever)
hi:
for
yuvatayaḥ
(nom. pl.): f. girl, young woman
haranti
= 3rd pers. pl. hṛ: to take , bear , carry ; to take
away , carry off ; A1. (older and more correct than P.) to take to
one's self , appropriate (in a legitimate way) , come into possession
of (acc.) ; to master , overpower , subdue , conquer , win , win over
(also by bribing) ; to outdo , eclipse , surpass ; to enrapture ,
charm , fascinate
sadṛśam
(acc. sg. m.): mfn. like , resembling , similar to ; conformable ,
suitable , fit , proper , right , worthy
janam
(acc. sg.): m. creature , living being , man , person ; m. a common
person , one of the people ; people , subjects (the sg. used
collectively)
nikṛṣṭotkṛṣṭayoḥ
(gen. dual): of both the low and the high
nikṛṣṭa:
mfn. debased , vile , low , despised , outcast
utkṛṣṭa:
mfn. (opposed to apa-kṛṣṭa and ava-kṛṣṭa) drawn up or out
; taking a high position ; excellent , eminent
kṛṣ:
to draw , draw to one's self , drag , pull
bhāvam
(acc. sg.): m. ( √ bhū) becoming , being , existing , occurring ,
appearance ; state , condition , rank ; state of being anything ;
true condition or state , truth , reality ; manner of being , nature
, temperament , character ; manner of acting , conduct , behaviour ;
any state of mind or body , way of thinking or feeling , sentiment ,
opinion , disposition , intention; purport , meaning , sense ; (in
rhet.) passion , emotion; love , affection , attachment ; the seat
of the feelings or affections , heart , soul , mind
yāḥ (nom. pl. f.): who
gṛhṇanti
= 3rd pers. pl. grah: to seize, take ; to arrest , stop ;
to catch , take captive , take prisoner , capture , imprison ; to
take possession of , gain over , captivate ; to seize , overpower
(esp. said of diseases and demons and the punishments of varuṇa) ;
to eclipse ; to abstract , take away (by robbery) ; to perceive (with
the organs of sense or with mánas) , observe , recognise ; to
receive into the mind , apprehend , understand , learn ; to accept ,
admit , approve
tu:
but
tāḥ (nom. pl. f.): they
striyaḥ
(nom. pl.): f. women
女人性雖賤 尊榮隨勝天
何不盡其術 令彼生染心
何不盡其術 令彼生染心
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