⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑− Vaṁśastha
itīha
devyāḥ paridevitāśrayaṁ
niśamya bāṣpa-grathitākṣaraṁ
vacaḥ |
⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−
adho-mukhaḥ
sāśru-kalaḥ ktāñjaliḥ śanair-idaṁ chandaka uttaraṁ
jagau || 8.42
8.42
When
thus he had heard, here in this world,
the
lament-laden words of the queen,
Whose
every syllable had been punctuated with a tear,
Chandaka,
face turned down,
tongue-tied
by his own tearfulness,
and
hands held like a beggar's,
Softly
voiced the following response:
COMMENT:
Here
in this world (iha) is the place where weeping abandoned wife meets
tearful bearer of bad news and she, in her lament-laded words,
demonstratively expresses the truth and the reality of suffering.
Here
also is the place where pearl necklaces dance upon the upturned
sandal-scented breasts of beautiful women.
And
here in this epic poetry Aśvaghoṣa never seems to tire of
describing breasts and tears, tears and breasts, manifestations of
the most negative of emotions and stimulators or reminders of the
most positive of emotions.
In Shobogenzo chap. 79, Ango, The Summer Retreat, Dogen goes
into excruciating detail about the performance of preparations for a
90-day sitting retreat. He quotes the injunction in Zen-en-shingi
that practitioners should arrive half a month in advance of the
retreat -- “It is important that the service of tea, and
personal salutations, should not be rushed.”
There then follow more than ten pages in translation in which Dogen
proves how seriously he takes this injunction not to be in a hurry, but to attend patiently to niceties, before he finally writes:
“Having thus inaugurated the summer retreat, we make effort in
pursuit of the truth” – i.e.
we finally begin the main task at hand, which is just to sit.
Today's
verse, with its repeated talk of tears, puts me in mind of how I felt
slogging through the translation of Ango, with all its boring
descriptions of three prostrations here and nine prostrations there,
and writing cards of congratulation, and serving tea.
Tears and tits and tea are all very well, up to a point, but so much talk
on these topics seems designed to cause us to ask: what else is
there?
For a bloke who sits, what else might there be, below the surface, to dig
for?
In
today's verse, I must admit, I haven't been able to find anything.
There are no words with negative prefixes obliquely hinting at the
buddha-nature as a bit of nothing. There is no talk of golden seats
which might be intended to symbolize enlightened sitting. There is
only repeated talk of tears, and of words laden with laments.
lament: (intrans.)
to mourn aloud ; (trans.) to express sorrow, mourning, or regret
for, often demonstratively.
lament: (noun) an
expression of sorrow; especially : a song or poem that
expresses sorrow for someone who has died or something that is gone ;
a crying out in grief.
In the introduction to
his translation of Buddha-carita, EH Johnston stated his view
(contrary to what had been the prevailing view) that Aśvaghoṣa
wrote Buddha-carita before he wrote Saundara-nanda.
Reflecting as
above on today's verse caused my own conviction to strengthen that
EHJ was most probably correct about this.
EHJ wrote that “the
handling of the Saundarananda is altogether more mature and assured
than that of the Buddhacarita, whose effect is often marred by
repetitions of the same words or phrases, or even of a whole pāda,
in a way that the kavis of the classical age sedulously avoided, and
the poet's technique reaches its high-water mark in passages such as
SN4.1-11, or SN10.8-13, while the latter's [SN's] metrical system
is more elaborate and includes faultless manipulation of such
difficult schemes as Upasthita-pracupita and Udgatā.”
Though
I am not able to judge the finer points of poetic technique to which
EHJ refers, I do see a certain evolution or development in
Aśvaghoṣa's handling of his content. Also, it does seem to make
logical sense that Aśvaghoṣa would have wanted to tell the
Buddha's story first, before taking a second bite of the cherry with
his epic tale of Handsome Nanda.
As
I have already documented, the present Canto shifts back and forth
between lamenting subjects – Chandaka, Kanthaka, the people of the
city, the common folk, the women, the King, the Queen, and Yaśodharā
– in a way that is not so easy to follow. That is why, for my own benefit, I felt the urge to map out the various subjects of the present Canto:
1-2 horseman Chandaka
3-4
horse Kanthaka
5
horseman & horse together
6
city of Kapilavastu (almost emptiness itself)
7
horseman & horse together
8
people of the city
9
common folks
10
horseman
Chandaka
11-13 common folks
14 women
15 King Śuddhodhana
16 horseman Chandaka,
17 horse Kanthaka,
18 birds and horses
19 common folks
20-23 women
24 Queen Gautamī
25-30 women (including
anyāḥ, different ones)
31-41 Yaśodhara
42-49 horseman Chandaka
50 women
51-58 Queen Gautamī
59 women
60-70 Yaśodhara
71 women
72-81 King Śuddhodhana
82-85 counsellor and
family priest
86-87 King Śuddhodhana
This varied treatment in the present Canto of antaḥ-pura-vilāpaḥ, “Lamenting
Within the Battlements,” can be contrasted with SN Canto 6,
bhāryā-vilāpaḥ, “A Wife's Lament,” and SN Canto 7,
nanda-vilāpaḥ, “Nanda's Lament.”
In
other words, Aśvaghoṣa was already clear in his mind by the time
he came to write Buddha-carita that tears of lament (along with
breasts of beautiful women) were a subject upon which he wished to
dwell. In elucidating the first noble truth, the truth of suffering,
via descriptions of events taking place here in this world (iha),
Aśvaghoṣa chose not to focus on, say, the kind of pain we feel if
we sprain an ankle, or if we sit cross-legged for longer than we are
used to.Neither did he focus on say, the pain of being cold, or the suffering of hunger. He chose to focus on the emotional suffering that is
manifested by tears of sorrow and by lament-laden words. And this focus on emotional suffering, I
venture to opine, seems to be even more clearly developed in
Saundara-nanda than it is in Buddha-carita.
Thus,
in Buddha-carita we have one canto devoted to the lamenting of two or
three groups and various individuals, along with a somewhat idealized
picture of the buddha-to-be who never sheds a tear at all (anything else might have caused offence
to those who were already well-versed in the legend of how the heroic Prince
Siddhārtha became the enlightened Buddha). Whereas in Saundara-nanda
we have two cantos devoted to a detailed investigation of not only
the lamenting of the abandoned wife Sundarī but also the lamenting of the
abandoning buddha-to-be Nanda.
What
I have thus tried to do in the above comment is (a) to clarify why
Aśvaghoṣa so often and repeatedly described his protagonists' tears, in a manner
that is liable to try the patience of a Zen practitioner who is in a
hurry; and (b) to put Aśvaghoṣa's focus on lamenting into the
picture of (i) his wider scheme, and (ii) the evolution and probable
chronology of his writing.
VOCABULARY
iti:
thus
iha:
ind. in this place , here ; in this world; in this book; in this
case; now
devyāḥ
(gen. sg.): f. the queen
paridevitāśrayam
(acc. sg. n.) replete with lamentation
paridevita:
n. wailing , lamentation
pari-
√ div: to wail , lament , cry , bemoan
āśraya:
mfn. ifc. depending on , resting on , endowed or furnished with
niśamya
= abs. ni- √ śam: to observe, perceive, hear, learn
bāṣpa-grathitākṣaram
(acc. sg. n.): syllables strung with tears
bāṣpa:
m. tears
grath:
to fasten , tie or string together , arrange , connect in a regular
series ; to string words together , compose (a literary work)
grathita:
mfn. strung , tied , bound , connected , tied together or in order ,
wound , arranged , classed ; set with , strewn with ; artificially
composed or put together (the plot of a play) ; closely connected
with each other , difficult to be distinguished from each other ;
coagulated , thickened , hardened ;
akṣaram
(acc. sg.); n. a syllable ; n. a sound ; mfn. imperishable ;
unalterable ; m. a sword
vacaḥ
(acc. sg.): n. speech, words
adho-mukhaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. having the face downwards ; headlong
sāśru-kalaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. inarticulate through tears
sāśru:
mfn. accompanied by tears , tearful , shedding tears
bāṣpa-kala:
mfn. inarticulate through tears (EBC: his voice low with tears ; EHJ:
hardly intelligible through his tears; PO: choking with tears)
kala:
mfn. indistinct , dumb; (ifc. , bāṣpa , or aśru preceding)
indistinct or inarticulate (on account of tears) ; m. a low or soft
and inarticulate tone (as humming , buzzing &c ) ; m. (in
poetry) time equal to four mātras or instants
kala-kala:
m. any confused noise (as a tinkling or rattling sound , the
murmuring of a crowd &c )
kṛtāñjaliḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. one who joins the hollowed palms in reverence or
to solicit a favour (holding the hollowed palms together as if to
receive alms or an offering) , standing in a reverent or respectful
posture
śanaiḥ:
ind. quietly , softly , gently , gradually , alternately
idam
(acc. sg.): n. this
chandakaḥ
(nom. sg.): m. Chandaka
uttaram
(acc. sg.): n. answer , reply ; n. (in law) a defence , rejoinder , a
defensive measure ; n. contradiction
jagau
= 3rd pers. sg. perf. gai: to sing , speak or recite in a
singing manner ; relate in metrical language
車匿聞苦言 飮氣而息結
收涙合掌答 願聽我自陳
收涙合掌答 願聽我自陳
No comments:
Post a Comment