−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−− Upajāti
(Bālā)
śokāmbhasi
tvat-prabhave
hy-agādhe duḥkhārṇave majjati śākya-rājaḥ |
−−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−−
tasmāt-tam-uttāraya
nātha-hīnaṁ nir-āśrayaṁ magnam-ivārṇave
nauḥ || 9.24
9.24
For in the deep sea
whose water is sorrow
and which has its origin in you –
In the foaming sea of
suffering,
the Śākya king submerses himself;
On that basis you
should allow him,
who has no protector,
to cross to his destination,
As a boat allows one to
cross who,
with nothing to hold
onto, is submersed in a flood.
COMMENT:
In the old Nepalese
manuscript the last word of today's verse is gauḥ (nom. sg.; an
ox). In EBC's text this is amended (most probably by a Sanskrit
editor prior to EBC) to gām (acc. sg.; an ox).
Hence EBC's translation
is:
The king of the
Śākyas is drowned in a deep sea of sorrow, full of waves of
trouble, springing from thee; do thou therefore deliver him helpless
and protectorless like an ox drowning in the sea.
Interestingly,
one of the definitions the MW dictionary gives for nātha is a
rope passed through the nose of a draft ox, so
that if the last word of today's verse did indeed mean ox, then I
might suspect that nātha-hīnam
in the 3rd
pāda was intended as an ironic description of the state of buddha –
in which there is no rope passing through our nose by which others
might lead us, because we are OK making our own decisions, thank you
very much.
EHJ,
however, amended to the more plausible nauḥ (nom. sg.; a boat); and
this amendment is supported by the Chinese translation which has
爲船師
(as
a ship's captain).
Whichever
reading one takes, śākya-rājaḥ
once again ostensibly means King Śuddhodana but below the surface
might be intended to suggest that
Śākya who became the king of dharma, as well as all his descendants
who were also kings of dharma.
In
the latter case duḥkhārṇava,
“the foaming sea of suffering,” is not only a stock phrase in
epic poetry – it is, the 1st
pāda of today's verse emphasizes, the sea of suffering whose water
is your
sorrow, here and now, and whose source is nowhere but in you.
Understood
like this, the 2nd
pāda is suggesting how a king of dharma deals with pain, suffering,
sorrow. And that relation is expressed by the verb majjati, from the
root √majj, which, with the locative, means to sink into, to dive
into, to plunge or throw one's self into, to be submerged in, or to be
drowning in. Ostensibly, then, majjati seems to mean “[the king]
is drowning [in the foaming sea of suffering],” as per the
translations of EBC and EHJ, or “is sinking,” as per PO. But in
asking us, as always, to dig below the surface, Aśvaghoṣa is
encouraging us to think for ourselves how a king of dharma deals with
pain, using the rather tired metaphor, the old cliché, of
duḥkhārṇava, “the foaming sea of suffering.”
For
example, does a king of dharma totally transcend pain and suffering?
Does he place himself in a seven-story celestial chariot high above
the sea of suffering? Or does he rather submerse himself in it – up
to his knees, up to his waist, or up to his neck? Or does he plunge into
it headlong and free-dive into its deepest depths?
And
what about the water itself? My wife and brother who give Alexander
lessons in the water talk of “letting the water support you.” Is
there a parallel with pain? When a king of dharma gives himself to,
rather than fighting against, pain and suffering, does the pain and
suffering itself cause him to drown, or does he seem to derive support from pain itself?
In
the 3rd
pāda, then, tasmāt can be understood as meaning “therefore” or
as meaning “on those grounds,” i.e. “on the basis of the truth
that when you let go and give yourself to it, it will support you.”
And nātha-hinam, “without a protector,” which ostensibly
expresses an unfortunate state of vulnerability or weakness, might be
intended below the surface to describe a king of dharma who is in no
need of a protector, being quite capable of kicking Māra's ass all
by himself or herself.
The destination of such a king of dharma is to
cross all living beings over to the far shore. Therefore the only way
to allow such a king of dharma to get to his destination is to cause
self and others all to cross together to the far shore.
So
if anybody wants, for the sake of a Ph.D. thesis, to trace the
origins of Mahāyāna Buddhism back to Aśvaghoṣa, using today's
verse as a reference point, then please be my guest. But don't think
that in so doing you might be allowing a king of dharma to cross to
his destination. Because in the teaching of a true king of dharma,
there is no such thing as Mahāyāna Buddhism.
The
irony in the 4th
pāda, as I read it, is that we are liable to think that if our
ultimate aim is the kicking of Māra's ass, then some kind of prop or
support, like a big stick, might come in handy. But the truth might
be that Māra laughs and claps at sticks and stones and weapons of mass
destruction. Whereas what makes Māra tremble might be a bloke of
small desire sitting naturally empty-handed.
Understood
as above, today's verse can thus be read as antithetical to
yesterday's verse. Yesterday's verse, below the surface, is singing
the praises of tat-sneham, attaching to that. Today's verse suggests,
ironically, that a king of dharma stays afloat precisely because of
not holding on to anything.
VOCABULARY
śokāmbhasi
(loc. sg.): n. the water of sorrow
tvat-prabhave
(loc. sg. n.): springing from you
prabhava:
m. production , source , origin , cause of existence (as father or
mother , also " the Creator ") , birthplace (often ifc. ,
with f(ā). , springing or rising or derived from , belonging to)
hi:
for
agādhe
(loc. sg. n.): mfn. not shallow , deep , unfathomable
duḥkhārṇave
(loc. sg.): the foaming sea of suffering
majjati
= 3rd pers. sg. majj: to sink (into) , (acc. or loc.) ,
go down , go to hell , perish , become ruined ; to sink (in water) ,
dive , plunge or throw one's self into (loc.) , bathe , be submerged
or drowned
śākya-rājaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): the Śākya king
tasmāt:
ind. from that, therefore
tam
(acc. sg. m.): him
uttāraya
= 2nd pers. sg. causative imperative tṝ: to pass across
or over , cross over (a river) , sail across ; to float , swim ; to
get through , attain an end or aim , live through (a definite period)
, study to the end; (causative) to carry or lead over or across ; to
rescue , save , liberate from (abl.)
nātha-hīnam
(acc. sg. m.): not having a protector / possessor
nātha:
n. refuge , help ; m. a protector , patron , possessor , owner , lord
; m. a rope passed through the nose of a draft ox
hīna:
mfn. bereft or deprived of , free from , devoid or destitute of ,
without (comp.)
nir-āśrayam
(acc. sg. m.): mfn. shelterless ; supportless , having or offering
no prop or stay , destitute , alone
magnam
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. (fr. √majj) sunk , plunged , immersed in (loc.
or comp.)
iva:
like
arṇave
(loc. sg.): m. a wave , flood; m. the foaming sea
gauḥ
(nom. sg.): m. an ox
gām
[EBC] (acc. sg. m./f./): m. an ox, f. a cow
nauḥ
(nom. sg.): f. a ship, boat, vessel
父王因汝故 沒溺憂悲海
無救無所依 無由自開釋汝當爲船師 渡著安隱處
無救無所依 無由自開釋汝當爲船師 渡著安隱處
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