⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti
(ddhi)
tad-ehi
dharma-priya mat-priyārthaṁ dharmārtham-eva tyaja buddhim-etām |
⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
ayaṁ
hi mā śoka-rayaḥ pravddho nadī-rayaḥ kūlam-ivābhihanti ||
9.15
9.15
So come back, you who
holds dharma dear,
because of what is
dear to me.
For no reason but dharma itself, abandon this idea of yours.
For this swollen stream
of sorrow eats away at me
As the flow of a river
eats away its bank.
COMMENT:
The
Judeo-Christian-Muslim God is a jealous god who loves His chosen people, and I
would not give Him the steam off of my piss.
My Zen teacher Gudo
Nishijima used to say, “Dharma is Dharma. God is God. But we can
say that Dharma is God, and God is Dharma. And by this compromise we
can save all human beings in the world.”
My teacher was talking
through his arse. He was not expressing the truth but was only
expressing his own grandiose delusions about his (and his students')
place in world history. These delusions, in turn, stemmed from his
experience as a member of Japan's post-war ruling elite. He saw
humankind as like the Japanese society of his era, as being amenable
to top-down arrangement by the hand of an enlightened arranger.
(In the mid-1980s when
we had this “God is Dharma” conversation, Japan had enjoyed 40
years of rapid post-war growth and was just beginning to enter the
bubble that popped in 1990-91, since when the “Japan as Number One”
arguments have tended to subside.)
The dharma as the
Buddha taught is, is a totally different conception from God, and a
totally different reality, whose direction is towards the abandonment of all ideas and all views, but particularly the sectarian belief that "we are right."
In Japan I learned the recitation
NAMU-KIE-HO,
“Namas! I take refuge in the Law.”
But
something here is lost – or rather added – in translation.
The original Pali,
dharmam saranam gacchāmi,
or the original Sanskrit
dharmaṁ śaranaṁ
gacchāmi,
is to my ears less religious and more practical, better
fitted to what George Soros calls “harsh reality.”
In
dharmaṁ
śaranaṁ gacchāmi,
the operative word is gacchāmi, “I go”
the operative word is gacchāmi, “I go”
–
I go to dharma as a place of refuge.
When I go to dharma as
a place of refuge, dharma quite literally could not care two hoots.
Dharma does not embrace me like the proverbial prodigal son returning. Dharma
is not interested in me at all. That's why I go to dharma as a place
of refuge. Dharma is free of all emotional entanglement with me.
And so I go to dharma.
Literally, when my cold relents and I am able to get out of bed, I
go. I walk. I go downstairs and sit, and I come back upstairs and
work on this blog.
Now I need to try and explain
how the above thoughts were stimulated by today's verse.
On the surface, King
Śuddhodana is expressing a conception of dharma akin to the kind of
conceptions that Jewish settlers have of their God, or bigoted
Catholics have of their God, or Shi-ite and Sunni holy warriors have
of their God. Such a God cares what a person is prepared to do, what
sacrifices a person is prepared to make, for His Sake.
That being so,
dharmārtham eva in the 1st and 2nd pādas of
today's verse seems on the surface to mean “for the sake of Dharma”
as if Dharma might somehow stand to benefit. King Śuddhodana
seems to be discussing the kind of dharma that loves to be served.
This sense is brought out more in the translations of EHJ and PO,
than in the translation of EBC (who translated dharma as "duty"),
hence:
Come,
thou who lovest duty, for the sake of what is my heart's desire, —
abandon this purpose for the sake of duty. (EBC)
Therefore
come, lover of dharma, to do me a favour, and give up this purpose
for the very sake of dharma. (EHJ)
So,
for the love of me, come back, lover of dharma, for the sake of
dharma itself, give up this plan. (PO)
On the surface, King
Śuddhodana is making everything personal, all about me and a personal Dharma. But below
the surface, aided by the ambiguity of artham and priya, a king of
dharma is subverting that very personality view.
Thus, as as an
expression of King Śuddhodana's personality view:
- dharma-priya means “O you who is dharma's beloved!” – as if dharma had favourite sons.
- mat-priyārtham means (as per EHJ) “to do me a favour” or (as per PO) “for the love of me.”
- dharmārtham eva means (as per EHJ) “for the very sake of dharma” or (as per PO) “for the sake of dharma itself.”
But as a king of
dharma's ironic subversion of the personality view:
- dharma-priya means (as per EHJ/PO) “lover of dharma” or “you who is devoted to dharma” or “you who holds dharma dear.”
- mat-priyārtham means “on account of what is dear to me”; in which case, “what is dear to me” means nothing personal. On the contrary, the dharma which is dear to me I go to as a place of refuge for the very reason that it is nothing personal.
- dharmārtham eva means “on account of nothing other than dharma itself" or "for no reason but dharma itself," in which case, dharmārtham eva is expressing the fundamental principle known in Chinese and Japanese as 祗管打坐 (SHIKAN-TAZA), “just sitting.”
Once
the totally ironic sub-text of the first half of today's verse has
been understood like this, the equally ironic sub-text of the second
half of today's verse is readily apparent. Which is to say that on
the surface King Śuddhodana, like a drama queen, is continuing to give voice to his personal suffering. But below the surface a king
of dharma is describing how the stream which begins with the noble
truth of suffering, when it is fully developed (pravṛddha),
gradually (or momentarily?) brings about the
abandonment of the personality view
– or, in the traditional terminology of Chinese and Japanese Zen,
the dropping off of body
and mind.
VOCABULARY
tad:
ind. then, therefore
ehi
= 2nd pers. sg. imperative ā- √i: to come near or
towards ; (with and without punar) to come back
dharma-priya
(voc. sg.): O dharma's beloved! O lover of dharma! O one who holds
dharma dear!
mat-priyārtham:
for the sake of your love for me; for the love of me ; on account of
what is dear to me ;
priya:
mfn. beloved , dear to (gen. loc. dat. or comp.); fond of attached or
devoted to (loc.; id. in comp. , either ibc. e.g. priya-devana , "
fond of playing " , or ifc. e.g. akṣa-priya , " fond of
dice ")
dharmārtham
(acc. sg. n.): for dharma's sake ; on account of dharma
eva
(emphatic)
tyaja
= 2nd pers. sg. imperative tyaj: to abandon, quit, give up
buddhim
(acc. sg.): f. mind ; idea; intention , purpose , design
etām
(acc. sg. f.): this, this here
ayam
(nom. sg. m.): I
hi:
for
mā
(acc. sg.): me
śoka-rayaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): a current of sorrow
raya:
m. ( √ rī) the stream of a river , current; impetuosity ,
vehemence , ardour , zeal
pravṛddhaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. grown up , fully developed , increased ,
augmented , intense , vehement , great , numerous ; swollen, heaving
nadī-rayaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): the current of a river
kūlam
(acc. sg.): n. a shore, bank
iva:
like
abhihanti
= 3rd pers. sg. abhi- √ han: to thump at , strike , kill
汝若念法者 應當哀愍我
望寛遠遊情 以慰我懸心
勿令憂悲水 崩壞我心岸
望寛遠遊情 以慰我懸心
勿令憂悲水 崩壞我心岸
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