⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑− Vaṁśastha
tataḥ
sa-bāṣpau saciva-dvijāv-ubhau niśamya tasya sthiram-eva niścayam
|
⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−
viṣaṇṇa-vaktrāv-anugamya
duḥkhitau śanair-agatyā puram-eva jagmatuḥ || 9.80
9.80
Then the counsellor and
the twice-born veteran,
both in tears,
Having perceived his
unshakeable resolve,
Tagged along, in the
grip of suffering, with despondent faces;
And then meekly, having
no other course,
the two of them went
back to the city in question.
COMMENT:
A buddha by definition
is one who has realized the truth, whereas the bodhisattva by his own
admission (a-dṛṣta-tattvasya; BC9.75) is one who has not realized
the truth yet.
If the implicit point
of yesterday's verse was to remind us of this difference between (a)
a buddha who has realized the truth and (b) a bodhisattva who has not
yet realized the truth, then how much greater still is the difference
between (b) a bodhisattva with unshakeable resolve to go in the
direction of the truth, and (c) common men who have neither realized
the truth, nor yet established an unshakeable resolve to go in that
direction?
In today's verse, as
two convenient examples of the latter class of person, (c), we have
the counsellor and the veteran priest – specialists, respectively,
in the areas of political science and religion... but what good, in
the end, has that done them?
In the end it is they,
not the bodhisattva, who are returning to the city. Though he the bodhisattva has not yet
accomplished his task, he is still very much oriented in that
direction. The two of them have singularly failed to accomplish the task with which the king charged them, and as such they are showing everywhere the
signs of sorrow – being sa-bāṣpau,
tearful; viṣaṇṇa-vaktrau, having despondent faces; and
duḥkhitau, being pained, sorrowful, gripped by suffering.
So
the morale of today's verse, as I read it, is that we need not fear
so much the hardships of practice as a bodhisattva; but we might be
wise to fear the suffering of one who has yet to establish, or who
backslides from, from a bodhisattva's vow of practice. We might be
wise to fear a life that is lived without any effort to seek out for
ourselves, and go in, the right direction.
Reflecting further,
particularly in light of the discoveries of FM Alexander, on the
meaning of agatyā in the 4th pāda (“being without
recourse” or “having no other course”), I think the reason the
bodhisattva had an alternative course open to him, whereas the king's
emissaries did not, exactly speaking, is that the bodhisattva really
knew the meaning of the word No.
FM Alexander was clear
in seeing that a person who has not learned to say No is at the mercy
of the wishes of others, and at the mercy of his own unconscious
impulses. But when a person has learned to say No, that person has a
choice.
This is not a
philosophical proposition. It was a practical discovery. Alexander
was born as a premature baby and so we can suppose he suffered a lot
in his youth under the influence of an immature primitive fear
reflex, and he badly wanted to be free of this influence. Thus he was
motivated to work out a practical means for acting freely, for being
able in practice to exercise a choice, to choose between alternative
courses of action.
To bring this
discussion back to sitting-meditation, Plan A is always simply just
to do one's best to sit upright, relying on one's feeling of where
the UP in upright is. This feeling is a large part of our
evolutionary inheritance as human beings. Unfortunately, Alexander
found, it is almost universally faulty and unreliable. That being so, Plan B begins
with saying No.
What I have learned to
say No to, mainly, in sitting upright, is the desire to sit upright.
In order to allow myself truly to be directed up, I have to give up
all idea of sitting upright.
Understanding this point is like getting a joke. And every time you remember it, it makes you want to smile.
Understanding this point is like getting a joke. And every time you remember it, it makes you want to smile.
This may sound sort of
Zen, but I didn't learn it while practising sitting-Zen in Japan. I learned it in England under
Alexander teachers, and in particular under FM Alexander's niece
Marjory Barlow – while lying on my back on her teaching table.
VOCABULARY
tataḥ:
ind. then
sa-bāṣpau
(nom. dual): mfn. tearful, weeping
saciva-dvijau
(nom. dual): the counsellor and the twice-born man
saciva:
m. an associate , companion , friend, esp. a king's friend or
attendant , counsellor , minister;
ubhau
(nom. dual): both
niśamya
= abs. ni- √ śam: to observe , perceive , hear , learn
tasya
(gen. sg.): his
sthiram
(acc. sg. m.): mfn. firm , hard , solid , compact , strong ; fixed ,
immovable , motionless , still , calm
eva:
(emphatic)
niścayam
(acc. sg.): m. conviction, certainty ; resolution , resolve, fixed
intention , design , purpose ,
viṣaṇṇa-vaktrau
(nom. dual): with despondent faces
vi-√sad:
to be exhausted or dejected , despond , despair ; to sink down
vaktra:
n. " organ of speech " , the mouth , face
anugamya
= abs. anu- √ gam: to go after , follow , seek , approach , visit ,
arrive ;
duḥkhitau
(nom. dual): mfn. pained , distressed, afflicted , unhappy
śanaiḥ:
ind. quietly , softly , gently , gradually , alternately
agatyā:
ind. unavoidably, indispensably
a-gati:
mfn. not going , halting , without resource , helpless; f. want of
resort or resource , unsuccessfulness
puram
(acc. sg.): n. the city
eva:
(emphatic)
jagmatur
= 3rd pers. dual perf. gam: to go
王師及大臣 言論莫能勝相謂計已盡 唯當辭退還
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