−−−,⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑−⏑−−¦¦−−−
⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑−⏑−− Praharṣiṇī
tau
jñātuṁ parama-gater-gatiṁ tu tasya
pracchannāṁś-cara-puruṣāñ-chucīn vidhāya |
−−−,⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑−⏑−−¦¦−−−,⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑−⏑−⏑
rājānaṁ
priya-suta-lālasaṁ nu gatvā drakṣyāvaḥ katham-iti jagmatuḥ
kathaṁ-cit || 9.82
iti
buddha-carite mahā-kāvye kumārānveṣaṇo nāma navamaḥ sargaḥ
|| 9 ||
9.82
In order to monitor the
progress, however,
of him whose progress
was of the highest order,
Those two appointed
honest men to spy for them in secret.
“How on earth are we
to go and see the king,
who is so devoted to
his beloved son?”, they fretted,
As somehow, with
difficulty, the two of them progressed.
The 9th canto, titled
The Seeking of a Prince, in an epic tale of awakened action.
COMMENT:
In this the final verse
of the Canto, Aśvaghoṣa describes the bodhisattva as parama-gati,
in which compound parama means “chief” or “supreme” or
“highest” or “ultimate,” and gati could mean “refuge” or
“way” or “path” or “progress.”
Hence EBC translated
parama-gater-gatiṁ tasya as:
“the actions of
him who was the supreme refuge of all”;
EHJ: “the way
taken by him whose way was the highest”;
PO: “the path he
took who had taken to the highest path.”
In describing the
bodhisattva as “the supreme refuge of all,” though that
translation may be literal enough, EBC was jumping the gun, in the
sense that the bodhisattva had not yet become the supreme refuge of
all. If the bodhisattva had already become the supreme refuge of all,
he might have been a refuge for the two anxious emissaries of the
king who found themselves in such a pickle that they resorted to
corrupting honest men.
No, the bodhisattva was
not yet the supreme refuge of all. But he was resolutely going in
that direction. In that sense, I think Aśvaghoṣa wishes us to
understand, the way or the path or the progress of a bodhisattva is
supreme or ultimate. The bodhisattva's progress is of the highest
order not because the bodhisattva has realized the supreme ultimate
truth, but because the bodhisattva is going in the direction of the
supreme, ultimate truth. He is going in that direction resolutely
and at the same time, as exemplified by the description in BC Canto 5 of horse
Kanthaka's flying hooves, he is as if being pulled along in that
direction by a higher power.
The contrast, then, in
today's verse, is between the higher-order progress of the
bodhisattva and the faltering lower-order progress of the two
emissaries. Theirs is the hit-and-miss method of the end-gainer, one
who is conscious of an end in view, but who lacks a true
means-whereby of getting there. In the absence of a true
means-whereby, it is not certain whether the end-gainer will gain his
end or not. What is certain is that, if his body-mind is faulty, in his blind grasping for his
goal, he will cause harm to self and others, as a by-product or a
side-effect of his selfish striving. (Hence the allusion in the 2nd
pāda to causing honest men to do a dishonest job?)
To see this contrast between the bodhisattva and the two emissaries might be to see the main point of the present canto, whose title is kumārānveṣaṇaḥ, "Seeking a/the Prince." In seeking out the
prince, in other words, we have been investigating the sattva of every bodhisattva; we have been investigating the essence of one whose
essence is awakening.
That essence, we have
seen, has mainly to do with an unshakeable resolve, even though I have not
realized the supreme truth yet, to keep going in the direction of the
supreme.
Such resolve, one might
think, would tend to make a person's life more difficult. But today's
verse as I read it, on the contrary, suggests a contrast between (a)
the smooth, higher-order progress of one has established this clear
resolve, and (b) the faltering, lower-order progress of two who
haven't clearly established such a resolve yet.
VOCABULARY
tau
(nom. dual): the two of them
jñātum
= inf. jñā: to know, apprehend
parama-gateḥ
(gen. sg.): f. any chief resource or refuge (as a god or protector)
; final beatitude
parama:
mfn. most distant ; chief , highest , primary , most prominent or
conspicuous ; best , most excellent , worst (°meṇa cetasā ,
with all the heart ; °ma-kaṇṭhena , " with all the throat "
, roaring , speaking aloud) ; n. chief part or matter or object
gatim
(acc. sg.): f. going , moving , gait ; procession , march , passage ,
procedure , progress , movement (daiva-gati, the course of fate) ;
path, way, course ; place of issue , origin , reason ; possibility ,
expedient , means ; a means of success ; way or art , method of
acting , stratagem ; refuge , resource
tu:
but ; sometimes used as a mere expletive
tasya
(gen. sg.): him
pracchannān
(acc. pl. m.): mfn. hidden , concealed , unobserved , private ,
secret , disguised
cara-puruṣān
(acc. pl.): m. spy-people, spies
cara:
m. a spy , secret emissary or agent
puruṣa:
m. a man, person
śucīn
(acc. pl. m.): mfn. clear , clean , pure (lit. and fig.) , holy ,
unsullied , undefiled , innocent , honest , virtuous
vidhāya
= abs. vi- √ dhā: to put in order ; to appoint
rājānam
(acc. sg.): m. the king
priya-suta-lālasam
(acc. sg. m.): devoted to his beloved son
lālasa:
mfn. (fr. Intens. of √ las) eagerly longing for , ardently desirous
of , delighting or absorbed in , devoted or totally given up to (loc.
or comp.)
nu:
(katham is often found in connection with the particles iva , nāma ,
nu , svid , which appear to generalize the interrogation (how
possibly? how indeed? &c )
gatvā
= abs. gam: to go
drakṣyāvaḥ
= 1st person dual future dṛś: to see , to visit,
katham:
how?
iti:
“...,” thus
jagmatur
= 3rd pers. dual perf. gam: to go
kathaṁ-cit:
ind. some how or other , by some means or other , in any way , with
some difficulty , scarcely
iti:
thus
buddha-carite
mahā-kāvye (loc. sg.): in an epic tale of Awakened Action
kumārānveṣaṇaḥ
(nom. sg. n.): “The Seeking of a Prince” (see comment to BC9.2;
BC9.6; BC9.10)
kumāra:
m. a child , boy , youth; son ; a prince , heir-apparent associated
in the kingdom with the reigning monarch (especially in theatrical
language) ; n. pure gold
anveṣaṇa:
f(ā)n. seeking for , searching , investigating
anv-
√ iṣ: to desire , seek , seek after , search , aim , at
nāmā:
ind. by name
navamaḥ
sargaḥ (nom. sg. m.): the ninth canto
選擇黠慧人 審諦機悟士
隱身密伺候 然後捨而還
隱身密伺候 然後捨而還
佛所行讃推求太子品第九
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