⏑−−−¦⏑−−−¦¦−−−⏑¦⏑−⏑−
śarīre khāni yāny
asya tāny ādau parikalpayan |
⏑−⏑⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦−−⏑⏑¦⏑−⏑−
ghaneṣv api tato
dravyeṣv ākāśam adhimucyate || 12.61
12.61
Of spaces which are openings in his
body,
First he forms a
picture;
Then in solid masses
also
He affirms empty space.
COMMENT:
With the ambiguity of
words, and consequently with the irony of words, Aśvaghoṣa seems
to wish to save us from the sin of certainty.
If the previous block
of four verses seem on the surface to be idealistic nonsense born of
what Patrick Olivelle calls “the Brahmanical religion,” but below
the surface can be read, ironically, as the profound teaching of the buddhas,
then this next set of four verses might be the other way round. Though they sound on the surface to resonate with Zen
Buddhist philosophy around emptiness, Aśvaghoṣa's intention may be
that we recognize the intention behind these verses as hollow, vacuous, devoid of real meaning --
culminating as they do in a religious conclusion about a liberation
of the Knower of the Field, this liberation being synonymous with a
Supreme Spiritual Being, namely, Brahma.
It is this conclusion
which the bodhisattva is able to recognize as not the ultimate truth
which he is seeking.
For that reason – not
because of the words themselves, but because of the wider context in
which today's verse appears – I think the irony switches in today's
verse so that on the surface, and taken alone, Arāḍa's words might sound valid; but
below the surface, in context, he is talking random nonsense.
The superficial
validity of Arāḍa's words is that it might sometimes be constructive to form
a picture, for example, of air passing through open nasal passages,
and to think of space, for example, in the hip joints. These are in
fact directions that I have often used in my own sitting practice.
But such directions do
not belong here. Which is to say that if Arāḍa was truly
describing practice beyond the fourth dhyāna, what he would be
discussing is not directions, or visualizations, like these –
which might more properly belong to the first dhyāna. He might rather be discussing how to make the four noble truths into one's own possession. He might rather be discussing, as key to the cessation of suffering, the teaching of pratītya-samutpāda, or springing up by going back.
The readings and
construction of the first half of today's verse, EHJ notes, are
uncertain. EHJ considers the
pros and cons of amending asya to asmin, but concludes: The
sense anyhow is clear, the object of the trance being to suppress all
sensation of matter with regard to the body and to substitute for it
the sensation of unoccupied space.
With
regard to the second half of today's verse EHJ notes further that
adhimucyate is a troublesome word, for which I would refer
to the employment of adhimukti and adhimokṣa in AK [Vasubandhu's
abdhidharma-koṣa], and to the discussions there. The general idea
is of an act of mental attention which leads a man to approve a
particular object or course of action, so that he makes up his mind
to attain or do it, as the case may be.
Perhaps Aśvaghoṣa chose such a troublesome word as adhimucyate because its very ambiguity suited his purpose.
VOCABULARY
śarīre
(loc. sg.): n. the body , bodily frame , solid parts of the body
khāni
(acc. pl.): n. a cavity , hollow , cave , cavern , aperture ; an
aperture of the human body (of which there are nine , viz. the mouth
, the two ears , the two eyes , the two nostrils , and the organs of
excretion and generation)
yāni
(acc. pl. n.): [those] which
asya
(gen. sg.): of this one, of him
asmin
[EHJ] (loc. sg. n.): this
tāni
(acc. pl. n.): those
ādau:
ind. in the beginning , at first
parikalpayan
= nom. sg. pres. part. pari- √ kḷp: to fix , settle , determine
, destine for (with acc.); to perform , execute , accomplish ,
contrive , arrange , make ; to suppose , presuppose Sarvad.
parikalpa:
m. illusion Buddh.
parikalpana:
n. fixing , settling , contriving , making , inventing , providing ,
dividing , distributing
parikalpanā:
f. making , forming , assuming
rūpa-parikalpanā:
f. the assuming of a shape (Rāmāyaṇa)
ghaneṣu
(loc. pl.): mfn. compact , solid , material , hard , firm , dense
api:
also
tataḥ:
ind. then, from that
dravyeṣu
(loc. pl.): n. a substance , thing , object ; the ingredients or
materials of anything ; (phil.) elementary substance
ākāśam
(acc. sg.): m. a free or open space , vacuity; the ether , sky or
atmosphere ; n. (in philos.) the subtle and ethereal fluid (supposed
to fill and pervade the universe and to be the peculiar vehicle of
life and of sound) ; n. brahma (as identical with ether)
adhimucyate
= 3rd pers. sg. passive adhi-√muc: EBC: he exerts his
will to experience a feeling of [void space]; EHJ: he obtains a clear
idea of [space]; PO: he focuses his mind on [the empty space]
adhi:
ind. , as a prefix to verbs and nouns , expresses above , over and
above , besides
√muc:
to loose , let loose , free , let go , slacken , release , liberate
adhimukta:
mfn. inclined ; confident ; also 'intent on'
adhimukti:
f. propensity ; confidence.
adhimokṣa:
(= adhimukti)
始自身諸竅 漸次修虚解
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