⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−− 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
113th 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
= 3rd
pers. sg. perf. gam: to go
束身不奮迅 屏氣不噴鳴
束身不奮迅 屏氣不噴鳴
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