BUDDHACARITA 12.3: A Pointer to Sitting as Pure Action

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tāv-ubhau nyāyataḥ pṣṭvā dhātu-sāmyaṁ paras-param |

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dāravyor-medhyayor-vṣyoḥ śucau deśe niṣedatuḥ || 12.3

12.3

After each had asked, as was the rule,

After the other's good health,

On two spotless wooden seats,

At a clean place, the two of them sat.

COMMENT:

If we analyse today's verse in four phases, 

• the 1st pāda relates to a rule, norm or law (nyāya);
• the 2nd pāda relates to balance of humours, or health; 
• the 3rd pāda relates to co-existence of two factors, and to the spotlessness of concrete realities as they are; 
• and the 4th pāda touches on the immaculate action of sitting. 

At the same time, in the wider scheme of things, today's verse is the third of four verses which set the scene before a series of six verses (BC12.5 - BC12.10) in which Arāḍa will sing the praises of the bodhisattva. 

The opening verse of the Canto, BC12.1, comparing the bodhisattva to a shining moon, is somewhat poetic, romantic or idealistic in tone.

The second verse, BC12.2,  as I interpreted it yesterday, relates to more concrete matters like relative distance, and contiguity in time and space.

It thus makes sense that today's verse, BC12.3, as the third in a series of four, should relate to (a) human behaviour which connects subject and object, and (b) spotless cleanness and purity.

That each should make his or her own mind clean and pure (free from the polluting influence of greed, anger, and the rest) is the gist of the third line of the four-line precept known in Chinese/Japanese as 七仏通戒 (SHICHI-BUTSU-TSU-KAI), The Universal Precept of the Seven Buddhas.

Shobogenzo chapter 10, Sho-aku-maku-sa, takes its title from the first line of this precept, which in Chinese was rendered into four lines of four characters each:

諸悪莫作

SHO-AKU-MAKU-SA

Not doing any bad deeds

衆善奉行

SHU-ZEN-BU-GYO

Undertaking wholesome deeds

自浄其意

JI-JO-GO-I

Purifying one's mind - 

是諸仏教

ZE-SHO-BUTSU-KYO

This is the teaching of the buddhas.

When we go back to the teaching in Pali, as contained in the Dhammapada, happily, there is no discrepancy at all between the Chinese/Japanese and the four pādas of the original Pali:

Sabbapāpassa akaraṇaṁ, kusalassa upasampadā,

Not doing any bad deeds, undertaking wholesome deeds,

sacittapariyodapanaṁ - etaṁ Buddhāna' sāsanaṁ.

and purifying one's mind - this is the teaching of the Buddhas.

Thus we can go impeccably cleanly – without any noise having entered the system – from the Pali through the Chinese/Japanese to the English, and back again from the English to the Pali:

sabbapāpassa akaraṇaṁ

諸悪莫作

Jap: SHO-AKU-MAKU-SA

Not doing any bad deeds

sabbapāpassa akaraṇaṁ

kusalassa upasampadā

衆善奉行

SHU-ZEN-BU-GYO

Undertaking wholesome deeds

kusalassa upasampadā

sacittapariyodapanaṁ

自浄其意

JI-JO-GO-I

Purifying one's mind -

sacittapariyodapanaṁ

etaṁ buddhāna' sāsanaṁ

是諸仏教

ZE-SHO-BUTSU-KYO

This is the teaching of the buddhas.

etaṁ buddhāna' sāsanaṁ

So not the teaching of Mahāyāna Buddhism, not the teaching of Theravada Buddhism, not the teaching of Tibetan Buddhism, and not the teaching of Zen Buddhism. etaṁ buddhāna' sāsanaṁ -- even after being translated many hundreds of years ago into Chinese, then understood in Japanese, and more recently translated into English -- still just means:  "this is the teaching of the buddhas." 

VOCABULARY

tau (nom. dual m.): the two of them

ubhau (nom. dual m.): both

nyāyataḥ: ind. in a fitting manner , as is fit or proper , according to right or justice

pṛṣṭvā = abs. prach: to ask

dhātu-sāmyam (acc. sg.): n. equilibrium of the bodily humours , good health

paras-param: ind. each other

dāravyoḥ = loc. dual f. dārava: mfn. wooden , made of wood or coming from wood

medhyayoḥ = loc. dual f. medhya: mfn. (fr. medha) full of sap , vigorous , fresh , mighty , strong ; fit for a sacrifice or oblation , free from blemish (as a victim) , clean , pure , not defiling (by contact or by being eaten)

vṛṣyoḥ = loc. dual vṛṣī = bṛṣī: f. a roll of twisted grass , pad , cushion , (esp.) the seat of a religious student or of an ascetic

śucau (loc. sg. m.): mfn. shining , glowing , gleaming , radiant , bright ; clear , clean , pure (lit. and fig.) , holy , unsullied , undefiled , innocent , honest , virtuous ; pure (in a ceremonial sense)

deśe (loc. sg.): m. place, spot

niṣedatuḥ = 3^rd pers. pl. perf. ni-√sad: to sit down

合掌交恭敬 相問安吉不
相勞問畢已 庠序而就坐