−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti
(Sālā)
tad-bhuṅkṣva
tāvad-vasudhādhipatyaṁ kāle
vanaṁ yāsyasi śāstra-dṣṭe |
⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
an-iṣṭa-bandhau
kuru māpy-upekṣāṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu dayā hi dharmaḥ ||
9.17
9.17
So enjoy for the
present sovereignty over the earth.
You will return to the
forest at the right moment,
as per the śāstras,
or temporal sciences.
Never show disregard
for your less fortunate kin.
For dharma is
compassion directed towards all beings.
COMMENT:
For the 3rd
pāda, the Old Nepalese manuscript has:
an-iṣṭa-bandho kuru
mapy apye(?pyā?)kṣāṁ
EHJ amended this to:
an-iṣṭa-bandhau
kuru mayy-apekṣāṁ
“Have regard for me,
your unlucky father;” (EHJ)
EBC's text has:
an-iṣṭa-bandhau
kuru māpy-upekṣāṁ.
“do not show
disregard for thy unhappy kindred,” (EBC)
I have adopted EBC's
reading, based on understanding today's verse according to what my
late teacher, the bane of my life, used to call “the four phases”
or “three philosophies and one reality.”
On the surface, King
Śuddhodana is continuing his emotional appeal, asking that the
prince show compassion specifically to him and his fellow Śākyas
back in Kapilavastu. In that case, the compassion that the King asks
to be shown might be compassion which has yet to become, as discussed
yesterday, dry.
But when we read
today's verse on the basis of a progression through four phases,
- the 1st pāda might express the subjective feeling of a Zen master who, in his unfettered sitting, is spontaneously rising up from the earth as king of everything he surveys;
- the 2nd pāda, being antithetical to the 1st pāda in its objective or scientific aspect, might express the principle of coming back to nature, or coming back to the state of zero, or coming back to balance of the autonomic nervous system, as a natural process in time;
- the 3rd pāda contains a practical injunction NOT TO DO (hence I prefer EBC's reading);
- and the 4th pāda can be read as bringing the discussion right back again to the action of just sitting, whose object is no object in particular, i.e. nothing specific.
The importance of the
principle expressed in the 3rd pāda, as I and EBC have
read it, is indicated by the prominent position Aśvaghoṣa gives to
the expression of that principle at the end of the last verse but two in his epic tale
of Beautiful Happiness (Saundara-nanda):
When
the occasion arose he entered the town for begging and attracted the
citizens' gaze;
Being
impartial towards gain, loss, comfort, discomfort, and the like and
with his senses composed, he was free of longing; /
And
being there, in the moment, he talked of liberation to people so
inclined --
Never
putting down others on a wrong path or raising himself up. // 18.62
//
The 4th pāda
seems to pose a question about compassion. Do you have compassion or
not? Am I a compassionate person, or am I not? If I ask myself the
question like that, it is a stimulus for anxious soul searching.
Am I a compassionate
person? No, am I fuck.
I am a bloke who
sits four times a day – even during a week like this past one when
I have been puking and coughing and groaning in the grip of a heavy
cold. On that basis, I read the 4th pāda as not so much
posing a question about compassion as posing a challenge about
direction.
Read like this, then,
today's verse, below the surface, is the teaching in four phases of a
king of dharma, as truly and accurately transmitted by an old priest.
Thinking in four phases
can, with practice, help us solve non-linear problems – or, in the
worst-case scenario, can help us to accept the insolubility of a
problem, except maybe by the passage of time. Hence the title of this
post.
When I was at primary
school I was precocious at solving certain kinds of problems that
required a certain kind of linear reasoning which came easily to me.
But real problems in life, you don't need me to tell you, tend not to
be amenable to solution by linear reasoning – or via Buddhist
dialectic, either, if it comes to that.
My studies at Sheffield
University centred on the concept of Organizational Effectiveness,
which became for me a kind of Zen koan, especially if I conceived of
my karate-mad self as a kind of organization. There were essentially two approaches to OE, a goals approach, and a systems approach. So was effectiveness best
defined in terms of goals? Or in terms of systems? Was success to be
judged in terms of identification and achievement of stated goals? Or
in terms of harmonious long-term interaction with the environment?
I thought about this
problem all the time. My brain was like a computer asked to solve a
problem that it had not been programmed to solve, constantly
whirring. Then when I came to Japan and met Gudo Nishijima and his
dialectic system of “four philosophies” or “three philosophies
and one reality,” I was sure I had found the answer. But in that
conviction also, I turned out to be wrong.
To real problems in
life there is no right answer. I, in my innocence, was sort of
deceived by my education.
Thus blunderingly we arrive, again and
again, at the conclusion that there is no such thing as being right,
but there is such a thing as a right direction. Fortunately for us, that direction is inherent in Aśvaghoṣa's writing.
VOCABULARY
tad:
ind. then, therefore
bhuṅkṣva
= 2nd pers. sg. imperative bhuj: to enjoy , use , possess
, (esp.) enjoy a meal , eat , eat and drink
tāvad:
ind. so long, meanwhile, now
vasudhādhipatyam
(acc. sg.): n. kingdom , royalty
vasudhā:
f. 'producing wealth'; the earth
adhipati:
m. a ruler , commander , regent , king; (in med.) a particular part
of the head (where a wound proves instantly fatal)
kāle
(loc. sg.): m. time, the proper time
vanam
(acc. sg.): n. forest
yāsyasi
= 2nd pers. sg. future yā: to go , proceed , move , walk
, set out , march , advance , travel , journey ; to go away ,
withdraw , retire ; to go towards or against , go or come to , enter
, approach , arrive at , reach ; with prakṛtim , to return to one's
natural state
śāstra-dṛṣṭe
(loc. sg. m.): mfn. " seen in the śāstra " , mentioned or
prescribed in the śāstra , according to precept or rule ,
scientific
śāstra:
n. an order , command , precept , rule; teaching , instruction ,
direction , advice , good counsel ; any instrument of teaching , any
manual or compendium of rules , any bock or treatise , (esp.) any
religious or scientific treatise ; a body of teaching (in general) ,
scripture , science
dṛṣṭa:
mfn. seen , looked at , beheld , perceived , noticed ; visible ,
apparent ; appeared , manifested , occurring , existing , found ,
real ; experienced , learnt , known , understood ; seen in the mind ,
devised , imagined ; settled , decided , fixed , acknowledged , valid
an-iṣṭa-bandhau
(loc. sg. m.): towards your unhappy kindred ; towards [me] who is
wrong only in name
an-iṣṭa:
mfn. unwished , undesirable , disadvantageous , unfavourable; bad ,
wrong , evil , ominous
bandhu:
m. connection , relation , association (ifc. = belonging to ,
coming under the head of i.e. " being only in name "); a
kinsman (esp. on the mother's side) , relative , kindred
kuru
= 2nd pers. sg. imperative kṛ: to do, make
mayi
(loc. sg.): me
apekṣām
(acc. sg.): f. looking round or about , consideration of , reference
, regard to (in comp. ; rarely loc.)
māpy-upekṣām [EBC]:
“do not show disregard for”
mā: ind. a particle of
prohibition or negation
api: and, also
(emphatic)
upekṣām
(acc. sg.): f. overlooking , disregard , negligence , indifference ,
contempt , abandonment
sarveṣu
(loc. pl. n.): mfn. all
bhūteṣu
(loc. pl.): n. that which is or exists , any living being (divine ,
human , animal , and even vegetable)
dayā
(nom. sg.): f. sympathy , compassion , pity for (loc)
hi:
for
dharmaḥ
(nom. sg.): m. dharma
且還食土邑 時至更遊仙
不顧於親戚 父母亦棄捐此豈名慈悲 覆護一切耶
不顧於親戚 父母亦棄捐此豈名慈悲 覆護一切耶
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