⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑− Vaṁśastha
tato
muhūrtaṁ suta-śoka-mohito janena
tulyābhijanena dhāritaḥ |
⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−
nirīkṣya
dṣṭyā jala-pūrṇayā hayaṁ mahī-tala-stho vilalāpa
pārthivaḥ || 8.74
8.74
And
so, momentarily stupefied in filial grief,
Buttressed
by people of like ancestry,
A
lord of the earth, with a view that was full to overflowing,
eyeballed
a horse,
Whereupon,
standing on the surface of the earth,
the earth-lord lamented:
the earth-lord lamented:
COMMENT:
The content of today's
verse as I read it, below the surface, is at least partly
autobiographical.
Thus in the 1st
pāda muhūrtam mohita, “momentarily stupefied” can be read as an
ironic expression of enlightenment as a condition of forgetfulness –
that condition being not a once-and-for-all realization but rather an
experience to be repeatedly refreshed
That being so, the
ostensible meaning of muhūrtam is “for a moment” (EBC/EHJ), as
per definition 1 of momentary in Webster's dictionary; but the real
meaning of muhūrtam, below the surface, might be 2. operative or
recurring at every moment.
momentary
1 :
continuing only a moment : fleeting
2 : operative or
recurring at every moment
In the 1st
pāda, again, suta-śoka ostensibly means “grief for his
son,” but it could equally mean “the grief of a son.”
What might be the grief
of an enlightened son?
Could it be the sorrow
of having already fallen down seven times when facing the prospect of
getting up for the eighth time?
I heard on the radio a
few days ago a quote to the effect that a successful politician is
one who is able to go from failure to failure with undiminished
enthusiasm. In the background, I think Aśvaghoṣa's words might be
rooted in that kind of ironic recognition.
A safer bet still might be to understand suta-śoka as the kind
of grief that Dogen inherited as the son of his master in China (Jap:
Tendo Nyojo), and which he frequently expressed in Shobogenzo prefaced by
the exclamation KANASHIMU-BESHI, “It is lamentable.” For example,
it is lamentable that Zen monks seem mainly interested in their own
fame and profit. It is lamentable that people like to discuss the
existence of this and that sect of so-called Zen Buddhism. It is lamentable that Zen practitioners of like ancestry revile each other with foul and abusive language, or do each other down by even crueller and more insidious means because of their personal political or emotional agenda. And so on
and so forth.
If we are prone to
think that enlightenment might be a once-and-for-all realization, Aśvaghoṣa in the 1st pāda is falsifying that view by pointing with
muhūrtam to a momentary state. Similarly in the 2nd
pāda, if we are prone to think that an enlightened person is capable
of doing everything all by himself, Aśvaghoṣa as I read him is
negating that view, or that foolish expectation.
Ostensibly, of course,
Aśvaghoṣa is describing the king being held up physically, in
EBC's words, “by his attendants all of the same race.”
Then the king,
distracted by his grief for his son, being held up for a moment by
his attendants all of the same race, gazed on the horse with his eyes
filled with tears, and then falling on the ground wailed aloud:
(EBC)
EHJ translates “held
up by persons of birth equal to his own,” and adds a footnote: It
would have been improper for any one of lower birth to raise the king
up.
Shuffling at least one
small step in the right direction, PO goes with “held up by men
of equal rank.”
With regard to the
efforts of EBC and EHJ, I am guessing, Aśvaghoṣa might have
expressed his own sorrow, and Dogen might have echoed him with a
KANASHIMUBEHI.
The greatest obstacle
to doing a true translation might be an agenda that, without
realizing it, one imposes on the translation.
Apropos of which I was
discussing yesterday with my son, as I drove him to the train
station, how sometimes one unexpectedly gets a good result when one
has successfully freed oneself from an agenda – for example, by truly
inhibiting one's desire to gain an end, in the way that one
consciously practices in Alexander work.
“Yes, Dad,” my son
said, with the kind of practical insight that he must have
inherited from his mother, “But
it's difficult not to have an agenda when you've got one.”
The
3rd pāda as I read it is an ironic expression of
sitting-zen practice, in which the principle is that in the
integration of mind (eyeball) and body (horse), all views are
abandoned.
The Buddha-Dharma, as Nāgārjuna famously asserted, is
for the abandonment of all views (sarva-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇāya [dative singular]). If that was Nāgārjuna's thesis, I witnessed the
antithesis too many more times than I care to remember, listening to
my Zen teacher forcibly and enthusiastically express his own opinion on
anything and everything.
The
dṛṣṭi in the 3rd pāda of today's verse, however,
ostensibly means not “view” but “sight” or “eye,” so that
dṛṣṭyā jala-pūrṇayā ostensibly means “with his eyes
filled with tears” (EBC) or “with tearful gaze” (EHJ) or “with
tearful eyes” (PO).
Finally
the 4th pāda, as I read it, is Aśvaghoṣa's expression
of what it was for him to give voice to the truth, standing on the
earth, having realized the whole earth just by the act of sitting.
A
verse like today's verse, then, on the surface doesn't seem to be
saying much – or even seems to be saying something distasteful, if
it is translated as badly as EBC and EHJ translated it, back in the
day when the British Empire was organized on the lines of race. But
below the surface, though I may be guilty of reading too much into it
based on my own agenda, I think today's verse is saying a lot.
VOCABULARY
tataḥ:
ind. then
muhūrtam
(acc. sg.): m. n. a moment , instant , any short space of time
suta-śoka-mohitaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): stupefied by grief for his son ; rendered insensible
by the grief of a son
mohita:
mfn. stupefied , bewildered , infatuated , deluded (often in comp.
e.g. kāma-m° , infatuated by love)
janena
(inst. sg.): m. creature , living being , man , person , race ; mfn.
generating
tulyābhijanena
(inst. sg.) by
tulya:
mfn. equal to , of the same kind or class or number or value ,
similar , comparable , like (with instr.)
abhijana:
m. family , race; descendants ; ancestors ; noble descent ; native
country ; fame
dhāritaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. borne (also in the womb) , held , supported &c
nirīkṣya
= abs. nir- √ īkṣ : to look at or towards , behold , regard ,
observe (also the stars) , perceive
nis:
ind. out , forth , away &c (rarely used as an independent word
[e.g. AV. vi , 18 , 3 ; vii , 115 , 3 ; xvi , 2 , 1], but mostly as
a prefix to verbs and their derivatives [cf. niḥ- √ kṣi &c
below] , or to nouns not immediately connected with verbs , in which
case it has the sense , " out of " , " away from "
[cf. nirvana , niṣ-kauśāmbi &c ] or that of a privative or
negative adverb = a3 , " without " , " destitute of "
, " free from " , " un- " [cf. nir-artha ,
nir-mala &c ] , or that of a strengthening particle "
thoroughly " , " entirely " , " very " [cf.
nih-śūnya , niṣ-kevala , nir-muṇḍa] ; it is liable to be
changed to niḥ , nir , niś , niṣ , and nī ; cf. above and
below).
√ īkṣ
: to see , look , view , behold , look at , gaze at ; to watch over
(with acc. )
dṛṣṭyā
(inst. sg.): f. seeing , viewing , beholding (also with the mental
eye); sight , the faculty of seeing ; view, notion ; (with
Buddhists) a wrong view; eye, look, glance
jala-pūrṇayā
(inst. sg. f.): mfn. " full to overflowing " , with yoga
m. irresistible impulse ; filled with tears, Bcar. viii, 74
jala:
n. (also pl.) water , any fluid
pūrṇa:
mfn. filled , full , filled with or full of (instr. or gen. or comp.)
hayam
(acc. sg.): m. a horse
mahī-tala-sthaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): standing on the surface of the earth
mahī-tala:
n. the surface of the earth , ground , soil
stha:
mfn. (only ifc.) standing , staying , abiding , being situated in ,
existing or being in or on or among
vilalāpa
= 3rd pers. sg. perf. vi- √ lap : to utter moaning
sounds , wail , lament , bewail ; to speak variously , talk , chatter
pārthivaḥ
(nom. sg.): m. an inhabitant of the earth; m. a lord of the earth ,
king , prince , warrior
諸臣徐扶起 以法勸令安
久而心小醒 而告白馬言
久而心小醒 而告白馬言
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