⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑− Vaṁśastha
imaṁ
tu dṣṭvāgamam-avyavasthitaṁ yad-uktam-āptais-tad-avehi
sādhv-iti |
⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−
prahīṇa-doṣa-tvam-avehi
cāptatāṁ prahīṇa-doṣo hy-antaṁ na vakṣyati
|| 9.76
9.76
Notice, pray!,
that this tradition you describe is not exactly determined,
that this tradition you describe is not exactly determined,
And know to be truly
unerring that which is spoken by true people.
Again, know the state
of a true person to be freedom from faults,
For one without faults
will never speak an untruth.
COMMENT:
What has mainly come across in our present seeking of a bodhisattva-prince, is the
firmness of the bodhisattva's resolve. The bodhisattva will re-affirm
that resolve in the next three verses (BC9.77-79) which conclude his present
speech. But in today's verse as in yesterday's verse,
as I read them, the bodhisattva is expressing something different
from (though rooted in) his iron resolve, and that is his
bodhisattva-wisdom. This bodhisattva-wisdom, the implication might
be, is what every bodhisattva most needs to know.
The bodhisattva, as
expressed in yesterday's verse as I read it, has expressed his
confidence in there being a right direction. And in today's verse as
I read it he is expressing his understanding of where the direction
must lead. The right direction must lead away from faults. Or, in
other words, towards freedom from faults.
Perhaps it is because a
bodhisattva needs above all to know that the right direction is away
from faults, and towards freedom from faults, that in SN Canto 16, in
encouraging Nanda to make the four noble truths into his own
possession, the Buddha refers to the faults no less than 26 times –
as searching for “fault” (or doṣ) in this text will readily
confirm.
Have I learned anything
in these last 20 years, since I came back to England to train as a
teacher of the FM Alexander Technique, about freedom from faults?
One of Alexander's
proteges named Patrick Macdonald wrote:
Remember, you are
slowly eliminating the wrong.
Finality, for most
of us, and that includes me, is not in sight.
This slow elimination
of the wrong, as I understand it (or as Marjory Barlow, for one, seemed to me to be at pains to teach it), does not involve inhibition of
faults directly, so much as it involves inhibition of the thirsting,
or the end-gaining desire, or the end-gaining idea, that triggers the
faulty doing.
And the truest form of inhibition, so they say, is direction.
And the truest form of inhibition, so they say, is direction.
True freedom from
faults, then, I venture to suggest, if I have ever experienced it at
all, I might have experienced in a moment of sitting when I was truly
and totally allowing myself to be directed up – as opposed to
trying to direct myself up and in the process, on the basis of faulty
sensory appreciation, pulling myself down.
Too much of my life, I
confess, I have spent engaged in the latter kind of activity, in the
grip of an infantile fear reflex, lying to self and others. And I
might not be the only one!
Having written the
above comment yesterday and slept on it, and with the thoughts
stimulated by the word pratyaya in BC9.74 sill resonating somewhere, I
reflected as I sat this morning on the four primitive vestibular
reflexes which I have come to regard as the four cornerstones of
living. To the extent that they are not well bedded in, these four reflexes are also
the four cornerstones of what FM Alexander called “faulty sensory
appreciation.”
I understand more about
this subject than I am able to express in words, partly because of
having been taught, mainly non-verbally, by some very excellent
teachers, generally boys aged between eight and eleven who exhibit
the symptoms of so-called dyslexia (difficulty with reading,
handwriting etc) and dyspraxia (difficulty with balance and
coordination).
When I sit in the
morning, more and more as time goes by, I am aware of wanting to go
in the direction of freedom from being in the unconscious grip of the
four primitive vestibular reflexes. That doesn't mean that I see the
four reflexes as my enemies. On the contrary, I see them as the four
cornerstones of working on the self, in the direction of what might be called a Springing Up Together (sam-ut-pāda). Certainly in my work with
children whose faulty sensory appreciation makes them markedly
insecure in their balance, the four reflexes are the four cornerstones.
If an ancient Zen
patriarch in India had intuitively grasped how fundamental in human
life these four cornerstones are, I think he might have talked in
Sanskrit of there being catvāraḥ pratyayāḥ, four cornerstones.
Since evolution has equipped us with four, and only four, nāsti pañcamaḥ, he might have added – there is no fifth.
VOCABULARY
imam
(nom. sg. m.): this
tu:
ind. pray! I beg , do , now , then ; but
dṛṣṭvā
= abs. dṛś: to see ; to see with the mind , learn , understand ;
notice
āgamam
(nom. sg.): m. a traditional doctrine or precept , collection of such
doctrines , sacred work , brāhmaṇa ; anything handed down and
fixed by tradition
avyavasthitam
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. not conformable to law or Practice ; not in due
order , unmethodical ; unsettled, uncertain, Bcar.
vy-avasthita:
mfn. placed in order , drawn up (in battle) ; placed , laid , put ,
stationed ; settled , established , fixed , exactly determined ;
constant
yad
(acc. sg. n.): [that] which
uktam
(acc. sg. n.): mfn. uttered , said , spoken
āptaiḥ
(inst. pl.): m. a fit person , a credible or authoritative person ,
warranter , guarantee ; mfn. reached , overtaken , met ; apt , fit ,
true , exact , clever , trusted , trustworthy , confidential
tad
(acc. sg. n.): that
avehi
= 2nd pers. sg. imperative ava-√i: to understand, know
sādhu
(nom. sg. n.): mfn. straight, right ; leading straight to a goal ,
hitting the mark ; good
iti:
“....” thus
prahīṇa-doṣa-tvam
(acc. sg. n.): faultlessness
prahīṇa-doṣa:
mfn. one whose sins have vanished , sinless
prahīṇa:
m. removal , loss , waste , destruction
tva:
neuter abstract noun suffix
avehi
= 2nd pers. sg. imperative ava-√i: to understand, know
ca:
and
āptatām
(acc. sg.): f. the quality of being a fit person ; true-ness ;
trustworthiness
āpta:
m. a fit person
-tā:
feminine abstract noun suffix
prahīṇa-doṣaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): one who is free of faults
hi:
for
anṛtam
(acc. sg.): n. falsehood , untruth
na:
not
vakṣyati
= 3rd pers. sg. future vac: to speak, say
觀彼相承説 無一決定相
眞言虚心受 永離諸過患
語過虚僞説 智者所不言
眞言虚心受 永離諸過患
語過虚僞説 智者所不言
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