aaryair balaiH paNcabhir eva paNca
cetaH-khilaany a-pratimair babhaNja
mithy"-aaNga-naagaaMsh ca tath"-aaNga-naagair
vinirdudhaav' aaSHhTabhir eva so 'ShTau
= = - = = - - = - = -
= = - = = - - = - = -
= = - = = - - = - = =
- = - = = - - = - = =
17.26
With the five incomparable noble powers,
He broke five uncultivated areas of mental ground;
And with the eight true elephants
which are the branches of the path,
He drove away eight elephants of fakery.
COMMENT:
In Shobogenzo chap. 73, Zen Master Dogen lists and comments on the five powers as elements no. 18 - 22 of the 37 elements of bodhi.
In Sanskrit the five powers (paNca-balaani) are:
(1) shraddhaa: confidence
(2) viirya: directed energy
(3) smRti: mindfulness
(4) samaadhi: balance
(5) prajNaa: intuitive wisdom
Lines 3 and 4 again refer to the eightfold noble path, listed by Dogen as elements no. 31 - 37 of the thirty-seven elements of bodhi, in the following order:
(1) right insight (samyag-dRShTi)
(2) right thinking (samyag-saMkalpa)
(3) right speech (samyag-vaac)
(4) right bodily action (samyak-karmaanta)
(5) right livelihood (samyag-aajiva)
(6) right exertion (samyag-vyaayaama)
(7) right mindfulness (samyak-smRti)
(8) right balance (samyak-samaadhi)
In verses 16.31 - 16.33 of the previous Canto the eight branches of the eightfold noble path are enumerated by the Buddha in a three-way classification based on integrity (shiila), wisdom (prajNaa), and tranquillity (shama), in the following order:
-- Integrity (shiila) --
(1) using the voice well (samyag-vaac)
(2) using the body well (samyak-karmaanta)
(3) making a clean living in a suitable manner (samyag-aajiva)
-- Wisdom (prajNaa)--
(4) insight into the noble truths (samyag-dRShTi)
(5) thinking straight (samyag-saMkalpa)
(6) initiative (samyag-vyaayaama)
-- Tranquillity (shama) --
(7) mindfulness (samyak-smRti)
(8) balance (samyak-samaadhi)
The word that the Buddha uses for exertion/initiative in Canto 16 is not vyaayaama (m. struggle , exertion , manly effort) but paraakrama (m. bold advance , attack , heroism , courage , power , strength , energy , exertion , enterprise).
So much for information that can be gleaned from a Buddhist dictionary. But what is Asvhaghosha really saying in today's verse?
This verse speaks to me of inhibition and direction, and of going into movement.
That is to say, lines 1 and 2, as I read them, are about the nobility of transcending instinctive or unconscious behaviour, and the only means I know for doing this is to stop oneself doing one's old unconscious thing (= "inhibition") while consciously directing a new use of the self (= "direction") in, say, sitting upright.
And lines 3 and 4, as I read them, relate to FM Alexander's aphorism "We get it in movement." Inhibition and direction is the noblest of practices, but lying down all day saying NO to the idea of moving a leg while thinking "Neck free, head out, back to lengthen and widen, knees up to the ceiling, et cetera".... will not by itself change a damn thing. There has to be not only the giving up of the idea of moving a leg but also a real intention to move the leg, as manifested, sooner or later, in an actual movement of the leg. So, just as the proof of a pudding lies in the eating, the proof of Ashvaghosha's elephant might lie in the moving.
In sitting on a zafu and joining hands and bowing, for example, how do you manifest yourself? As a true dragon, or as a fake elephant?
The phrase mithy"-aaNga-naagaan ("false-branch-elephants"), suggests to me what Dogen indicates in Fukan-zazengi by the phrase "fake elephant" (MO-ZO).
The world of Alexander work, like the world of Zen, is full of fake elephants -- people who think they see the truth and proffer their own imitation of it. Such tossers sometimes (insofar as my fear remains unconscious) make me angry when I see them, because I fear I might be one of them. At the root of the problem, it seems to me, in a hundred cases out of a hundred, is an uninhibited Mara reflex.
Fearing our own wrongness, we try to be right. That is the essence of fake elephantery.
Contrasting "fake elephant" (MO-ZO) with "true dragon" (SHIN-RYU), Dogen writes:
HISASHIKU MO-ZO NI NARATTE SHIN-RYU O AYASHIMU KOTO NAKARE
"Do not, having spent ages imitating a fake elephant, doubt the true dragon!"
EH Johnston:
With the five unequalled noble powers he burst asunder the five obstructions of the mind and he put to flight the eight elephants of the constituents of the false path with the eight elephants of the constituents of the true Path.
Linda Covill:
With his five incomparable noble powers he broke up the five barren places of the mind, and with his eight elephants which were the constituents of the right path he drove off the eight elephants which were the constituents of the wrong path.
VOCABULARY:
aaryair = inst. pl. aarya: mfn. noble
balaiH = inst. pl. bala: n. power
paNcabhir (inst.): five
eva: (emphatic)
paNca (nom/acc.): five
cetaH: consciousness, heart, mind
khilaani (acc. pl. khila): m. a piece of waste or uncultivated land situated between cultivated fields , desert , bare soil; n. " a space not filled up , gap " ; n. pl. remainder ; n. obduracy
a-pratimaiH = inst. pl. a-pratima: mfn. unequalled, incomparable , without a match
babhaNja = 3rd pers. perf. bhaNj: to break , shatter , split ; to break into , make a breach in (a fortress , with acc.) ; to rout , put to flight , defeat (an army)
mithyaa: ind. invertedly; ibc. often = false , untrue , sham
aNga: n. limb, branch, sub-division
naagaan = acc. pl. naaga: m. snake; a naaga or serpent-demon; an elephant
ca: and
tathaa: ind. thus; true [opposed to mithyaa]
aNga: n. limb, branch, sub-division
naagaiH = inst. plt. naaga: m. snake; a naaga or serpent-demon; an elephant
vinirdudhaava = 3rd pers. sg. perfect: vi-nir-√dhuu: to shake off , drive or blow away , scatter
aSHhTabhiH (inst.): eight
eva: (emphatic)
saH (nom. sg. m.): he
aShTau (acc.): eight
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
SAUNDARANANDA 17.25: Four Arrows for Four Enemies, whose Substance is Getting Things Back-to-Front, Inside-Out and Upside-Down
sa smRty-upasthaana-mayaiH pRShatkaiH
shatruun viparyaasa-mayaan kShaNena
duHkhasya hetuuMsh caturash caturbhiH
svaiH svaiH pracaar'-aayatanair dadaara
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = -
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = -
17.25
With arrows made from application of mindfulness,
Instantly he shot those enemies
whose substance is upside-down-ness:
He split apart four enemies, four causes of suffering,
With four arrows, each having its own range.
COMMENT:
In Shobogenzo chap. 73, Sanjushichi-bon-bodai-bunbo, Thirty-seven Elements of Bodhi, Zen Master Dogen lists and comments on "the four abodes of mindfulness" (SHI-NEN-JU) as the first four of the thirty-seven elements.
The Sanskrit term translated as "abode of mindfulness" is smRty-upasthaana. "Abode" is a literal translation of upasthaana, and it corresponds to both of the Chinese characters (JU and JO) which were chosen to represent upasthaana. Ashvaghosha's usage here, however, seems to suggest a more active and dynamic meaning of upasthaana, in line with the first definition in the Sanskrit-English dictionary: "the act of placing one's self near to." So "four applications of mindfulness" might be nearer Ashvaghosha's mark.
In Sanskrit, the four are:
(1) kaaya-smRty-upasthaana:
application of mindfulness to the body,
(2) vedanaa-smRty-upasthaana:
application of mindfulness to feeling,
(3) citta-smRty-upasthaana:
application of mindfulness to the mind,
(4) dharma-smRty-upasthaana:
application of mindfulness to real things,
Anybody who has, for their sins, followed my blogging consistently over any length of time (are you still there, Jordan?) will have heard me ramble on about four vestibular reflexes, which I see as the bases of Alexander's four directions, viz:
(1) to let the neck be free,
(2) to let the head go forward and up,
(3) to let the back lengthen and widen, while
(4) allowing legs out from the pelvis.
With a view to clarifying this connection for self and others, in May 2007 I wrote this article, titled About Four Reflexes, in which I also suggested a further connection to the four abodes of mindfulness.
With that connection in the back of my mind, and as part of an effort to get ear, voice, eyes, memory, et cetera in gear for a renewed effort at translation work, in August 2008 I re-translated for this blog the relevant section of Shobogenzo chap.73. If anybody is interested, here is the post, titled The Four Abodes of Mindfulness.
So it is admittedly not with an open mind that I have come to the translation of today's verse. My prejudice is that the real meaning of mindfulness must have to do with the prevention or circumvention of the faulty sensory appreciation which arises from imperfect integration of four vestibular reflexes.
Maybe it is only my prejudice that makes me see it so, but Ashvaghosha's choice of the word viparyaasa in line 2 fits very well with my vestibular "take" on things. According to the first definition given in the dictionary, viparyaasa literally means "overturning." What this word "overturnig" suggests to my prejudiced mind is the vestibular dysfunction which causes so-called 'dyslexic' and 'dyspraxic' children (aka "the upside down kids") not only to get words and letters the wrong way round, but also to get things in their life arse over tit. (It was on this very subject of getting things arse over tit, incidentally, that in the first half of 2008, I kept a confessional blog whose title was ERRATA -- WHO TURNED FREEDOM INTO ITS OPPOSITE.)
So I submit on the basis of my own long back catalogue of errors that in order to know those four enemies whose substance is upside-down-ness (as well as inside-out-ness and back-to-front-ness, and getting-left-confused-with-right-ness), it might pay to be aware of four vestibular reflexes, which neuro-physiologists call:
(1) the Moro Reflex,
(2) the Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex,
(3) the Asymmetrical and
(4) the Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflexes.
For an adult who retains these infantile reflexes in immature form, the quest for the nectar of immortality is bound to be a particularly difficult undertaking in which every step on the way is liable to be hindered by the awesome foursome. Quad Erat Demonstrandum.
Finally, to convolute matters further in the way of connecting this to that, in the Chinese source upon which Master Dogen relied, the four abodes of mindfulness are listed as follows:
(1) "reflection of the body, as impure";
(2) "reflection of feeling, as suffering";
(3) "reflection of the mind, as impermanent"; and
(4) "reflection of the real, as free of self."
Today's verse then, would seem to be intimately connected not only with the inner world of vestibular reflexes but also with the four characteristics of the objective world which Nanda has been investigating in verses 17.16 to 17.21 -- namely, the four characteristics of impurity/emptiness, suffering, impermanence, and non-self.
So svaiH svaiH pracaar'-aayatanaiH in line 4 ("each having its own range") might suggest that mindfulness of the body has impurity in its firing line, mindfulness of feeling has suffering, mindfulness of mind has impermanence, and mindfulness of real things has non-self.
This explanation is necessarily convoluted, rooted as it is in four applications of mindfulness, each one of which must be contained in every other one. For how can there be mindfulness of anything, if there is not first mindfulness of the body? And how can a practitioner be mindful of the body, without first establishing mindfulness itself? And how can a practitioner establish mindfulness itself in isolation from the other four powers, the other six limbs and the other seven branches in the thirty-seven elements of bodhi?
As with four applications of mindfulness, so with four vestibular reflexes, which might be why Charles Sherrington, the grandfather of neuro-physiology, wrote of "the fiction of the simple reflex."
Again, this might be why Zen Master Dogen said that the thirty-seven elements are 1,369 (= 37 x 37) realizations of the real law of the Universe.
And this is surely why Dogen said:
ZA-DAN SUBESHI!
"Cut them out by sitting!"
EH Johnston:
With the four arrows of the application of attention working each along its own line of activity, he destroyed in a moment his foes, the four perversions of knowledge, the causes of suffering.
Linda Covill:
With the arrows of the four foundations of mindfulness, each with its own range of application, in an instant he burst apart the four enemies which consist of distorted views, the causes of suffering.
VOCABULARY:
sa (nom. sg. m.): he
smRty-upasthaana n. earnest thought
smRti: f. remembrance, mindfulness, attention
upasthaana: n. (verbal noun from upasthaa) the act of placing one's self near to , going near , approach , access ; coming into the presence of , going near to (in order to worship) , worshipping , waiting on , attendance ; standing near , presence , proximity , nearness; staying upon or at , abiding , a place of abiding , abode ; any object approached with respect , a sanctuary , abode (of a god)
upa-√sthaa: to stand or place one's self near , be present
mayaiH = inst. pl. maya: an affix used to indicate 'made of', 'consisting or composed of', 'full of'
pRShatkaiH = inst. pl. pRShatka: m. a round spot ; an arrow (as being variegated or as being as swift as an antelope)
shatruun (acc. pl.): m. enemies
viparyaasa: m. overturning; perverseness ; error , mistake , delusion , imagining what is unreal or false to be real or true
paryaasa: m. edging , trimming ; rotation , resolution ; end , conclusion (N. of partic. concluding strophes in certain hymns) ; inverted order or position
mayaan = acc. pl. m. maya: (ifc.) made of, etc.
kShaNena (inst. kShaNa): ind. in a moment, instantly
duHkhasya = gen. sg. duHkha: n. suffering
hetuun = acc. pl. hetu: cause
caturaH (acc. pl. m.): to the four [enemies]
caturbhiH (inst. pl. m): with the four [arrows]
svaiH = inst. pl. m. sva: each
pracaara: m. roaming , wandering; coming forth , showing one's self , manifestation , appearance , occurrence , existence ; application , employment , use ; a playground , place of exercise
aayatanaiH = inst. pl. m. aayatana: n. resting-place , support , seat , place , home , house , abode ; a plot of ground
dadaara = 3rd pers. perfect dRR: to burst , break asunder , split open ; to cause to burst , tear , rend , divide
shatruun viparyaasa-mayaan kShaNena
duHkhasya hetuuMsh caturash caturbhiH
svaiH svaiH pracaar'-aayatanair dadaara
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = -
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = -
17.25
With arrows made from application of mindfulness,
Instantly he shot those enemies
whose substance is upside-down-ness:
He split apart four enemies, four causes of suffering,
With four arrows, each having its own range.
COMMENT:
In Shobogenzo chap. 73, Sanjushichi-bon-bodai-bunbo, Thirty-seven Elements of Bodhi, Zen Master Dogen lists and comments on "the four abodes of mindfulness" (SHI-NEN-JU) as the first four of the thirty-seven elements.
The Sanskrit term translated as "abode of mindfulness" is smRty-upasthaana. "Abode" is a literal translation of upasthaana, and it corresponds to both of the Chinese characters (JU and JO) which were chosen to represent upasthaana. Ashvaghosha's usage here, however, seems to suggest a more active and dynamic meaning of upasthaana, in line with the first definition in the Sanskrit-English dictionary: "the act of placing one's self near to." So "four applications of mindfulness" might be nearer Ashvaghosha's mark.
In Sanskrit, the four are:
(1) kaaya-smRty-upasthaana:
application of mindfulness to the body,
(2) vedanaa-smRty-upasthaana:
application of mindfulness to feeling,
(3) citta-smRty-upasthaana:
application of mindfulness to the mind,
(4) dharma-smRty-upasthaana:
application of mindfulness to real things,
Anybody who has, for their sins, followed my blogging consistently over any length of time (are you still there, Jordan?) will have heard me ramble on about four vestibular reflexes, which I see as the bases of Alexander's four directions, viz:
(1) to let the neck be free,
(2) to let the head go forward and up,
(3) to let the back lengthen and widen, while
(4) allowing legs out from the pelvis.
With a view to clarifying this connection for self and others, in May 2007 I wrote this article, titled About Four Reflexes, in which I also suggested a further connection to the four abodes of mindfulness.
With that connection in the back of my mind, and as part of an effort to get ear, voice, eyes, memory, et cetera in gear for a renewed effort at translation work, in August 2008 I re-translated for this blog the relevant section of Shobogenzo chap.73. If anybody is interested, here is the post, titled The Four Abodes of Mindfulness.
So it is admittedly not with an open mind that I have come to the translation of today's verse. My prejudice is that the real meaning of mindfulness must have to do with the prevention or circumvention of the faulty sensory appreciation which arises from imperfect integration of four vestibular reflexes.
Maybe it is only my prejudice that makes me see it so, but Ashvaghosha's choice of the word viparyaasa in line 2 fits very well with my vestibular "take" on things. According to the first definition given in the dictionary, viparyaasa literally means "overturning." What this word "overturnig" suggests to my prejudiced mind is the vestibular dysfunction which causes so-called 'dyslexic' and 'dyspraxic' children (aka "the upside down kids") not only to get words and letters the wrong way round, but also to get things in their life arse over tit. (It was on this very subject of getting things arse over tit, incidentally, that in the first half of 2008, I kept a confessional blog whose title was ERRATA -- WHO TURNED FREEDOM INTO ITS OPPOSITE.)
So I submit on the basis of my own long back catalogue of errors that in order to know those four enemies whose substance is upside-down-ness (as well as inside-out-ness and back-to-front-ness, and getting-left-confused-with-right-ness), it might pay to be aware of four vestibular reflexes, which neuro-physiologists call:
(1) the Moro Reflex,
(2) the Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex,
(3) the Asymmetrical and
(4) the Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflexes.
For an adult who retains these infantile reflexes in immature form, the quest for the nectar of immortality is bound to be a particularly difficult undertaking in which every step on the way is liable to be hindered by the awesome foursome. Quad Erat Demonstrandum.
Finally, to convolute matters further in the way of connecting this to that, in the Chinese source upon which Master Dogen relied, the four abodes of mindfulness are listed as follows:
(1) "reflection of the body, as impure";
(2) "reflection of feeling, as suffering";
(3) "reflection of the mind, as impermanent"; and
(4) "reflection of the real, as free of self."
Today's verse then, would seem to be intimately connected not only with the inner world of vestibular reflexes but also with the four characteristics of the objective world which Nanda has been investigating in verses 17.16 to 17.21 -- namely, the four characteristics of impurity/emptiness, suffering, impermanence, and non-self.
So svaiH svaiH pracaar'-aayatanaiH in line 4 ("each having its own range") might suggest that mindfulness of the body has impurity in its firing line, mindfulness of feeling has suffering, mindfulness of mind has impermanence, and mindfulness of real things has non-self.
This explanation is necessarily convoluted, rooted as it is in four applications of mindfulness, each one of which must be contained in every other one. For how can there be mindfulness of anything, if there is not first mindfulness of the body? And how can a practitioner be mindful of the body, without first establishing mindfulness itself? And how can a practitioner establish mindfulness itself in isolation from the other four powers, the other six limbs and the other seven branches in the thirty-seven elements of bodhi?
As with four applications of mindfulness, so with four vestibular reflexes, which might be why Charles Sherrington, the grandfather of neuro-physiology, wrote of "the fiction of the simple reflex."
Again, this might be why Zen Master Dogen said that the thirty-seven elements are 1,369 (= 37 x 37) realizations of the real law of the Universe.
And this is surely why Dogen said:
ZA-DAN SUBESHI!
"Cut them out by sitting!"
EH Johnston:
With the four arrows of the application of attention working each along its own line of activity, he destroyed in a moment his foes, the four perversions of knowledge, the causes of suffering.
Linda Covill:
With the arrows of the four foundations of mindfulness, each with its own range of application, in an instant he burst apart the four enemies which consist of distorted views, the causes of suffering.
VOCABULARY:
sa (nom. sg. m.): he
smRty-upasthaana n. earnest thought
smRti: f. remembrance, mindfulness, attention
upasthaana: n. (verbal noun from upasthaa) the act of placing one's self near to , going near , approach , access ; coming into the presence of , going near to (in order to worship) , worshipping , waiting on , attendance ; standing near , presence , proximity , nearness; staying upon or at , abiding , a place of abiding , abode ; any object approached with respect , a sanctuary , abode (of a god)
upa-√sthaa: to stand or place one's self near , be present
mayaiH = inst. pl. maya: an affix used to indicate 'made of', 'consisting or composed of', 'full of'
pRShatkaiH = inst. pl. pRShatka: m. a round spot ; an arrow (as being variegated or as being as swift as an antelope)
shatruun (acc. pl.): m. enemies
viparyaasa: m. overturning; perverseness ; error , mistake , delusion , imagining what is unreal or false to be real or true
paryaasa: m. edging , trimming ; rotation , resolution ; end , conclusion (N. of partic. concluding strophes in certain hymns) ; inverted order or position
mayaan = acc. pl. m. maya: (ifc.) made of, etc.
kShaNena (inst. kShaNa): ind. in a moment, instantly
duHkhasya = gen. sg. duHkha: n. suffering
hetuun = acc. pl. hetu: cause
caturaH (acc. pl. m.): to the four [enemies]
caturbhiH (inst. pl. m): with the four [arrows]
svaiH = inst. pl. m. sva: each
pracaara: m. roaming , wandering; coming forth , showing one's self , manifestation , appearance , occurrence , existence ; application , employment , use ; a playground , place of exercise
aayatanaiH = inst. pl. m. aayatana: n. resting-place , support , seat , place , home , house , abode ; a plot of ground
dadaara = 3rd pers. perfect dRR: to burst , break asunder , split open ; to cause to burst , tear , rend , divide
Friday, February 5, 2010
SAUNDARANANDA 17.24: Seven Sword-Sharpening Limbs, One Supreme Chariot, Eight Elephants
tataH sa bodhy-aNga-shit'-aatta-shastras
samyak-pradhaan'-ottama-vaahana-sthaH
maarg'-aaNga-maataNga-vataa balena
shanaiH shanaiH klesha-camuuM jagaahe
- = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = -
- = - = = - - = - = =
17.24
Then, unsheathing a sword
that the limbs of awakening had honed,
Standing in the supreme chariot of true motivation,
With an army
containing the elephants of the branches of the path,
He gradually penetrated the ranks of the afflictions.
COMMENT:
In Shobogenzo chap. 73, Sanjushichi-bon-bodai-bunbo, Zen Master Dogen comments one by one on a traditional list of thirty-seven elements of the Buddha's enlightenment or awakening (bodhi).
Those thirty seven elements are listed in seven categories, with much duplication. Mindfulness and balance (smRti and samaadhi), for example, are included in each of the last four categories -- as Forces, Powers, Limbs of Awakening, and Branches of the Noble Path.
The seven categories in the order that Dogen lists them are as follows:
Four Abodes of Mindfulness (see 17.25)
Four True Abandonments
Four Bases of Mystical Power
Five Forces
Five Powers (17.26)
Seven Limbs of Awakening (17.24 ; 17.58)
Eight Branches of the Noble Path (17.24; 17.26 ; 17.60)
So the elements alluded to in this verse are those in the final two categories -- the seven limbs of awakening and the eight branches of the noble path.
In Sanskrit the seven limbs are:
(1) dharma-pravicaya: investigation of dharmas/things
(2) viirya: manliness, directed energy
(3) priiti: joy
(4) prashrabdhi: confidence
(5) upekShaa: detachment
(6) samaadhi: balance
(7) smRti: mindfulness
The eight branches of the path are the eight that the Buddha has just enumerated in the previous Canto (see verses 16.30 to 16.37).
Listing the seven limbs causes me to reflect that many a boy's education at a 20th century British secondary school covered very well nos. (1) through (3) -- i.e. scientific investigation of the world, manly effort, and enjoyment. But on confidence, detachment, balance and mindfulness, many of us remain in need of a lot of further work.
EH Johnston:
Then taking the sharp weapon of the constituents of enlightenment and standing on the excellent chariot of right efforts, with an army containing the elephants of the constituents of the Path, gradually he pierced the battle-line of the vices.
Linda Covill:
Holding the sharp weapon of the constituents of enlightenment, and standing on the excellent chariot of well-directed effort, with his army which consisted of the elephants of the constituents of the path, he gradually penetrated the ranks of the defilements.
VOCABULARY:
tataH: ind. thence, from that
sa (nom. sg. m.): he
bodhyaNga: n. a requisite for attaining perfect knowledge (7 in number)
bodhi: m. perfect knowledge or wisdom (by which a man becomes a buddha); the illuminated or enlightened intellect (of a Buddha): m. " wakener " , a cock
aNga: n. ( √ am ), a limb of the body ; a subordinate division or department , especially of a science
√ am: to go to or towards
shita: mfn. whetted , sharp,
atta: mfn. taken , obtained ; taken away or off , withdrawn from ; seized , grasped
shastraH (nom. sg.): m. a sword
samyak: mfn. going along with or together , turned together or in one direction , combined , united ; lying in one direction , forming one line (as foot steps) ; correct , accurate , proper , true , right
pradhaana: n. a chief thing or person , the most important or essential part of anything; " the Originator " , primary germ , original source of the visible or material universe ; the first companion or attendant of a king ; an elephant-driver
uttama: highest, uppermost, best, excellent
vaahana: chariot
sthaH (nom. sg. m.): standing in
maarga: track, path
aNga: limb
maataMga: m. (fr. mataM-ga) an elephant
vataa = inst. vant (possessive suffix): with, containing
balena = inst. bala: n. strength, force; military force , troops , an army
shanaiH: ind. (originally inst. pl. shana) quietly , softly , gently , gradually
shana: quiet , calm , soft
klesha: affliction
camuum (acc. sg.): f. an army or division of an army (129 elephants , as many cars , 2187 horse , and 3645 foot)
jagaahe = 3rd pers. perfect gaah: to dive into , bathe in , plunge into (acc.) , penetrate , enter deeply into (acc.)
samyak-pradhaan'-ottama-vaahana-sthaH
maarg'-aaNga-maataNga-vataa balena
shanaiH shanaiH klesha-camuuM jagaahe
- = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = -
- = - = = - - = - = =
17.24
Then, unsheathing a sword
that the limbs of awakening had honed,
Standing in the supreme chariot of true motivation,
With an army
containing the elephants of the branches of the path,
He gradually penetrated the ranks of the afflictions.
COMMENT:
In Shobogenzo chap. 73, Sanjushichi-bon-bodai-bunbo, Zen Master Dogen comments one by one on a traditional list of thirty-seven elements of the Buddha's enlightenment or awakening (bodhi).
Those thirty seven elements are listed in seven categories, with much duplication. Mindfulness and balance (smRti and samaadhi), for example, are included in each of the last four categories -- as Forces, Powers, Limbs of Awakening, and Branches of the Noble Path.
The seven categories in the order that Dogen lists them are as follows:
Four Abodes of Mindfulness (see 17.25)
Four True Abandonments
Four Bases of Mystical Power
Five Forces
Five Powers (17.26)
Seven Limbs of Awakening (17.24 ; 17.58)
Eight Branches of the Noble Path (17.24; 17.26 ; 17.60)
So the elements alluded to in this verse are those in the final two categories -- the seven limbs of awakening and the eight branches of the noble path.
In Sanskrit the seven limbs are:
(1) dharma-pravicaya: investigation of dharmas/things
(2) viirya: manliness, directed energy
(3) priiti: joy
(4) prashrabdhi: confidence
(5) upekShaa: detachment
(6) samaadhi: balance
(7) smRti: mindfulness
The eight branches of the path are the eight that the Buddha has just enumerated in the previous Canto (see verses 16.30 to 16.37).
Listing the seven limbs causes me to reflect that many a boy's education at a 20th century British secondary school covered very well nos. (1) through (3) -- i.e. scientific investigation of the world, manly effort, and enjoyment. But on confidence, detachment, balance and mindfulness, many of us remain in need of a lot of further work.
EH Johnston:
Then taking the sharp weapon of the constituents of enlightenment and standing on the excellent chariot of right efforts, with an army containing the elephants of the constituents of the Path, gradually he pierced the battle-line of the vices.
Linda Covill:
Holding the sharp weapon of the constituents of enlightenment, and standing on the excellent chariot of well-directed effort, with his army which consisted of the elephants of the constituents of the path, he gradually penetrated the ranks of the defilements.
VOCABULARY:
tataH: ind. thence, from that
sa (nom. sg. m.): he
bodhyaNga: n. a requisite for attaining perfect knowledge (7 in number)
bodhi: m. perfect knowledge or wisdom (by which a man becomes a buddha); the illuminated or enlightened intellect (of a Buddha): m. " wakener " , a cock
aNga: n. ( √ am ), a limb of the body ; a subordinate division or department , especially of a science
√ am: to go to or towards
shita: mfn. whetted , sharp,
atta: mfn. taken , obtained ; taken away or off , withdrawn from ; seized , grasped
shastraH (nom. sg.): m. a sword
samyak: mfn. going along with or together , turned together or in one direction , combined , united ; lying in one direction , forming one line (as foot steps) ; correct , accurate , proper , true , right
pradhaana: n. a chief thing or person , the most important or essential part of anything; " the Originator " , primary germ , original source of the visible or material universe ; the first companion or attendant of a king ; an elephant-driver
uttama: highest, uppermost, best, excellent
vaahana: chariot
sthaH (nom. sg. m.): standing in
maarga: track, path
aNga: limb
maataMga: m. (fr. mataM-ga) an elephant
vataa = inst. vant (possessive suffix): with, containing
balena = inst. bala: n. strength, force; military force , troops , an army
shanaiH: ind. (originally inst. pl. shana) quietly , softly , gently , gradually
shana: quiet , calm , soft
klesha: affliction
camuum (acc. sg.): f. an army or division of an army (129 elephants , as many cars , 2187 horse , and 3645 foot)
jagaahe = 3rd pers. perfect gaah: to dive into , bathe in , plunge into (acc.) , penetrate , enter deeply into (acc.)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
SAUNDARANANDA 17.23: Standing Up In Sitting
saj-jNaana-caapaH smRti-varma baddhvaa
vishuddha-shiila-vrata-vaahana-sthaH
klesh'-aaribhish citta-raN'-aajira-sthaiH
saardhaM yuyutsur vijayaaya tasthau
= = - = = - - = - = =
- = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
17.23
As a bow of true knowledge,
clad in the armour of mindfulness,
Standing up in a chariot of pure practice of integrity,
While his enemies, the afflictions,
stood up in the battlefield of the mind,
He took his stance for victory,
ready to engage them in battle.
COMMENT:
In line 1 as I read it, Nanda is likened to a bow, or a bowman; and mindfulness, not for the first time, is likened to armour.
In line 2 the pure practice of integrity is likened to a chariot.
In line 3, Nanda's enemies are identified as the afflictions, and where they are is in his own mind. His enemies, the afflictions, are nowhere out there in the world, but only in him.
And so the battle lines are drawn up, and Nanda's quest for the nectar of immortality is about to begin in earnest.
That this quest is to be depicted as a battle on a battlefield befits an epic poem. Ashvaghosha uses the same device in describing the Buddha's own conquest over Mara in Buddhacarita Canto 13, Defeat of Mara.
This verse, then, depicts Nanda standing up on one side of a battlefield, and his enemies the afflictions standing up on the other side, so that the two sides stand ready to engage. But the real truth, which is not a metaphor, is that Nanda was not standing up in any battlefield: rather, by a quiet stream, in full lotus, directing his whole body up, he was sitting.
This, in fact, is where the real battle with Mara takes place -- not literally on a battlefield, but sitting at a quiet place like by a forest stream, and allowing the neck to be free, to allow the head to go forward and up, to allow the back to lengthen and widen, while allowing the legs out of the pelvis, so that not the slightest trace of Mara remains.
Now if I proclaim that, with all my true knowledge of the teaching of Zen Master Dogen, and the teaching of FM Alexander, and all my unique and original insights into the connection between four vestibular reflexes (beginning with the Moro reflex) and four Alexander directions, I have defeated Mara so that no trace of Mara remains... that had better be true. Because, if I announce myself like that and even the slightest trace of Mara does remain, then nothing is more sure than the fact that Mara has defeated me.
It seems to me that if a fake elephant convinces himself that he has defeated Mara when in fact Mara has just defeated him, that situation is very unfavourable. It is the essence of self-delusion, and not a true basis for anything. If I claimed never to have made that mistake, such a claim might not be true.
Conversely, when true Buddha having truly defeated Mara, truly announces "I am Buddha, the perfectly enlightened one," that might be the most favourable situation imaginable for human beings in the world at that time.
And in the middle way between these two situations, and this is what I was getting at yesterday, is a situation in which, even though we haven't defeated Mara yet, we are honestly struggling, as works in progress, towards what is truly valuable.
Because of his honest struggle towards true value, I revered my Zen teacher and I served him. I experienced what it is like to work as a work in progress, with a work in progress, on a work in progress. But because my teacher turned out in his old age to be just a fake elephant with a non-Buddhist agenda of his own, who settled for convincing himself that he was enlightened when he wasn't, I have continued to despise ... who? Primarily myself, for being the innocent sap whom the little end-gaining bookworm duped most thoroughly with all his bull-shit about a "philosophy of action" and "meeting the real dragon."
So, in this situation, true mindfulness is called for, as is self-acceptance. Because when a practitioner hates another and despises himself, the only one who gains is Mara.
EH Johnston:
Holding the bow of holy knowledge, girding on the armour of attentiveness and taking up his post on the chariot of the vows of pure discipline, he prepared for victory, ready to join battle with the foes of the vices arrayed on the battlefield of the thoughts.
Linda Covill:
With his bow of true knowledge, binding on his armor of mindfulness,
standing in his chariot of pure vows of moral self-restraint, he stood determined to fight for victory against his enemy, the defilements, which were ranged in the battlefield of his mind.
VOCABULARY:
saj-jNaana-caapaH (nom. sg. m.): bow of true knowledge
sat: mfn. real , actual , as any one or anything ought to be , true , good
jNaana: n. knowing , becoming acquainted with , knowledge , (esp.) the higher knowledge
caapa: m. a bow
smRti-varma (nom./acc. sg.): armour of mindfulness
smRti: mindfulness, attention
varman: n. armour
baddhvaa = abs. bandh: to bind round , put on; to fix , direct , fasten
vishuddha: mfn. completely cleansed or purified (also in a ritual sense) , clean , clear , pure (lit.and fig.)
shiila: n. integrity, moral conduct, discipline
vrata: n. will; a religious vow or practice , any pious observance , meritorious act of devotion or austerity , solemn vow , rule , holy practice (as fasting , continence; any vow or firm purpose , resolve to (dat. loc. , or comp.)
vaahana: n. the act of making effort , endeavouring , exertion; n. the act of drawing , bearing , carrying , conveying; n. any vehicle or conveyance or draught-animal , carriage , chariot , waggon , horse , elephant
sthaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. standing, being situated in; occupied with , engaged in , devoted to performing , practising
klesha: affliction
aaribhiH = inst. pl. ari: m. an enemy
citta: n. the heart, mind
raNaajira: n. area or arena for fighting , battle-field
raNa: n. battle (as an object of delight) , war , combat , fight , conflict
ajira: n. place to run or fight in , area , court
sthaiH = inst. pl. stha: mfn. standing in
saardham: ind. jointly , together , along with , with (instr.)
yuyutsuH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. (from desiderative yudh) wishing to fight, eager for battle , pugnacious
yudh: to fight , wage war , oppose in battle
vijayaaya = dative vijaya: m. contest for victory , victory , conquest , triumph , superiority
tasthau = 3rd pers. perfect sthaa: to stand , stand firmly , station one's self
vishuddha-shiila-vrata-vaahana-sthaH
klesh'-aaribhish citta-raN'-aajira-sthaiH
saardhaM yuyutsur vijayaaya tasthau
= = - = = - - = - = =
- = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
17.23
As a bow of true knowledge,
clad in the armour of mindfulness,
Standing up in a chariot of pure practice of integrity,
While his enemies, the afflictions,
stood up in the battlefield of the mind,
He took his stance for victory,
ready to engage them in battle.
COMMENT:
In line 1 as I read it, Nanda is likened to a bow, or a bowman; and mindfulness, not for the first time, is likened to armour.
In line 2 the pure practice of integrity is likened to a chariot.
In line 3, Nanda's enemies are identified as the afflictions, and where they are is in his own mind. His enemies, the afflictions, are nowhere out there in the world, but only in him.
And so the battle lines are drawn up, and Nanda's quest for the nectar of immortality is about to begin in earnest.
That this quest is to be depicted as a battle on a battlefield befits an epic poem. Ashvaghosha uses the same device in describing the Buddha's own conquest over Mara in Buddhacarita Canto 13, Defeat of Mara.
This verse, then, depicts Nanda standing up on one side of a battlefield, and his enemies the afflictions standing up on the other side, so that the two sides stand ready to engage. But the real truth, which is not a metaphor, is that Nanda was not standing up in any battlefield: rather, by a quiet stream, in full lotus, directing his whole body up, he was sitting.
This, in fact, is where the real battle with Mara takes place -- not literally on a battlefield, but sitting at a quiet place like by a forest stream, and allowing the neck to be free, to allow the head to go forward and up, to allow the back to lengthen and widen, while allowing the legs out of the pelvis, so that not the slightest trace of Mara remains.
Now if I proclaim that, with all my true knowledge of the teaching of Zen Master Dogen, and the teaching of FM Alexander, and all my unique and original insights into the connection between four vestibular reflexes (beginning with the Moro reflex) and four Alexander directions, I have defeated Mara so that no trace of Mara remains... that had better be true. Because, if I announce myself like that and even the slightest trace of Mara does remain, then nothing is more sure than the fact that Mara has defeated me.
It seems to me that if a fake elephant convinces himself that he has defeated Mara when in fact Mara has just defeated him, that situation is very unfavourable. It is the essence of self-delusion, and not a true basis for anything. If I claimed never to have made that mistake, such a claim might not be true.
Conversely, when true Buddha having truly defeated Mara, truly announces "I am Buddha, the perfectly enlightened one," that might be the most favourable situation imaginable for human beings in the world at that time.
And in the middle way between these two situations, and this is what I was getting at yesterday, is a situation in which, even though we haven't defeated Mara yet, we are honestly struggling, as works in progress, towards what is truly valuable.
Because of his honest struggle towards true value, I revered my Zen teacher and I served him. I experienced what it is like to work as a work in progress, with a work in progress, on a work in progress. But because my teacher turned out in his old age to be just a fake elephant with a non-Buddhist agenda of his own, who settled for convincing himself that he was enlightened when he wasn't, I have continued to despise ... who? Primarily myself, for being the innocent sap whom the little end-gaining bookworm duped most thoroughly with all his bull-shit about a "philosophy of action" and "meeting the real dragon."
So, in this situation, true mindfulness is called for, as is self-acceptance. Because when a practitioner hates another and despises himself, the only one who gains is Mara.
EH Johnston:
Holding the bow of holy knowledge, girding on the armour of attentiveness and taking up his post on the chariot of the vows of pure discipline, he prepared for victory, ready to join battle with the foes of the vices arrayed on the battlefield of the thoughts.
Linda Covill:
With his bow of true knowledge, binding on his armor of mindfulness,
standing in his chariot of pure vows of moral self-restraint, he stood determined to fight for victory against his enemy, the defilements, which were ranged in the battlefield of his mind.
VOCABULARY:
saj-jNaana-caapaH (nom. sg. m.): bow of true knowledge
sat: mfn. real , actual , as any one or anything ought to be , true , good
jNaana: n. knowing , becoming acquainted with , knowledge , (esp.) the higher knowledge
caapa: m. a bow
smRti-varma (nom./acc. sg.): armour of mindfulness
smRti: mindfulness, attention
varman: n. armour
baddhvaa = abs. bandh: to bind round , put on; to fix , direct , fasten
vishuddha: mfn. completely cleansed or purified (also in a ritual sense) , clean , clear , pure (lit.and fig.)
shiila: n. integrity, moral conduct, discipline
vrata: n. will; a religious vow or practice , any pious observance , meritorious act of devotion or austerity , solemn vow , rule , holy practice (as fasting , continence; any vow or firm purpose , resolve to (dat. loc. , or comp.)
vaahana: n. the act of making effort , endeavouring , exertion; n. the act of drawing , bearing , carrying , conveying; n. any vehicle or conveyance or draught-animal , carriage , chariot , waggon , horse , elephant
sthaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. standing, being situated in; occupied with , engaged in , devoted to performing , practising
klesha: affliction
aaribhiH = inst. pl. ari: m. an enemy
citta: n. the heart, mind
raNaajira: n. area or arena for fighting , battle-field
raNa: n. battle (as an object of delight) , war , combat , fight , conflict
ajira: n. place to run or fight in , area , court
sthaiH = inst. pl. stha: mfn. standing in
saardham: ind. jointly , together , along with , with (instr.)
yuyutsuH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. (from desiderative yudh) wishing to fight, eager for battle , pugnacious
yudh: to fight , wage war , oppose in battle
vijayaaya = dative vijaya: m. contest for victory , victory , conquest , triumph , superiority
tasthau = 3rd pers. perfect sthaa: to stand , stand firmly , station one's self
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
SAUNDARANANDA 17.22: Keeping On Keeping On
tataH sa vaataM vyajanaad iv' oShNe
kaaShTh'-aashritaM nirmathanaad iv' aagniM
antaH-kShiti-sthaM khananaad iv'aambho
lok'-ottaraM vartma dur-aapam aapa
- = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = -
17.22
Then, like air in the hot season, got from fanning,
Like fire latent in wood, got from rubbing,
Like water under the ground, got from digging,
That world-beating path which is hard to get, he got:
COMMENT:
Verses 17.1 to 17.27 follow Nanda through to his attainment of the first of the four fruits of the Dharma.
Verses 17.1 to 17.14 can be seen as the first part of this series, describing how Nanda, sitting in lotus in a quiet place, collected his MIND into himself.
Verses 17.15 to 17.21 can be seen as a second part, in which Nanda causes the tree of affliction to shake by investigating the BODY, and other THINGS, as impure/empty, as suffering, as impermanent, and as devoid of self.
From this verse, as Nanda in his battle against the afflictions goes into ACTION, the mood turns more dynamic; hence the emphasis on action nouns: vyajana, fanning; nirmathana, rubbing; khanana, digging...
And the particular emphasis in this verse is on activities requiring persistence in order to gain an end. So it is keeping on, but not only for the sake of keeping on. It is keeping on not for the sake of mindless repetition (in the manner of those robotic Japanese piano students notorious in London music schools for endless mindless practice of the same musical score), but in order to get what is to be got.
In 1987 when I was aged 27 and busting a gut to serve my Zen teacher Gudo Nishijima while living in the Zen dojo/dormitory that he had just established, he offered to transmit the Dharma to me. Knowing that I was not the finished article, but very much a work in progress, I refused to accept the Dharma. I felt it was too big a deal, that I was not worthy. After that my teacher began transmitting his Dharma to people like Jeremy Pearson, who had met me in England at the end of a decade I had already devoted to studying under and serving Gudo Nishijima. When Jeremy arrived in Japan in 1990, I had taken Jeremy to meet Gudo at his office. So a few years later when Gudo began transmitting the Dharma to Jeremy and others, who I felt were junior to me, I suppose I felt somehow left behind and I wished to follow suit. Maybe receiving the Dharma was not such a big deal after all, I must have reasoned.
But if I had been a better man, I would have stuck to my guns and not received the Dharma, being certain in the knowledge that I was and am still only a work in progress, and being equally certain in the knowledge that Gudo Nishijima never got what, in his self-delusion, he claimed to have got. As a work in progress, as a polisher of a tile, Gudo Nishijima was truly a world-beater, a great teacher-by-example and a great translation partner. But in arrogantly thinking himself to be an enlightened master, and acting as if he were, in closing his ears on that basis to my criticism of his direct ("end-gaining") approach to postural correction, and in breaking our 50:50 translation partnership on that basis, Gudo Nishijima had showed himself to be, in my eyes, the pits of the world -- not an enlightened master at all, but just a mirror of end-gaining self-delusion.
Still, in 1998, even after he had manifested himself to me as such, I went ahead and received the Dharma from Gudo. Why? I don't know why I went ahead and received the Dharma from Gudo Nishijima, even after he had seemed to me to betray a very fundamental lack of integrity. The psychological phenomenon of denial might have had a lot to do with it. But I think my receiving the Dharma from Gudo was a mistake. And even though it may have been a mistake, and even when I made that mistake I made it very indecisively, I did make it.
I made that mistake in the spirit of "See what happens." Well, having seen what has happened, I now judge that it was a mistake.
A work in progress, it seems to me now, such as I am, should keep on keeping on -- not only for the sake of keeping on itself, but until such time as he truly gets what is to be got.
I think that is what Ashvaghosha is saying in this verse, in this canto, and in the whole of this work. Because only after Nanda has truly got what is to be got -- the nectar of immortality -- is he then able to teach what is to be taught, as Buddha.
Before a work in progress gets what is to be got, a work in progress working as a work in progress is happiness itself and integrity itself. But if a work in progress acts as if he has got what he should get before he has got it, it seems to me, that might be a recipe for great unhappiness. If there is even the tiniest bit of such a gap, it seems to me, then top and bottom are liable to be greatly disconnected.
EH Johnston:
Then he reached the inaccessible supermundane Path, as one might obtain a breeze in the hot weather by fanning or the fire which abides in the wood by friction or the water in the ground by digging.
Linda Covill:
Then, like feeling a cool breeze from fanning oneself during the hot season, or like getting fire that is latent in wood by rubbing sticks together, or like finding underground water by digging for it, he reached the hard-to-reach supramundane path.
VOCABULARY:
tataH: ind. thence, from that, then, in consequence of that
sa (nom. sg. m.): he
vaatam (acc. sg.) m. wind , air
vyajanaat = abl. vyajana: n. fanning ; a palm-leaf or other article used for fanning , fan
iva: like
uShNe = loc. uShNa: mn. heat , warmth , the hot season (June , July)
kaaShTh'-aashritam (acc. sg. m): abiding in a piece of wood
kaaShTha: n. a piece of wood or timber , stick
aashrita: mfn. belonging to ; inhabiting , dwelling in
nirmathanaad = abl. nirmathana: n. rubbing , lighting a fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together
iva: like
aagnim (acc. sg.): m. fire
antaH-kShiti-stham (acc. sg. n.): being in the earth's interior
antaH = antar: ind. within, interior, in
kShiti: f. the earth , soil of the earth
stha: mfn. being situated in
khananaad = abl. khanana: n. digging; the act of digging
iva: like
ambhaH = acc. sg. ambhas: n. water
lok'-ottaram (acc. sg. n.): mfn. excelling or surpassing the world , beyond what is common or general , unusual , extraordinary
loka: m. world ; ordinary life , worldly affairs , common practice or usage
uttara: mfn. upper , higher , superior; chief , excellent , dominant , predominant , more powerful
vartma = acc. sg. vartman: n. the track or rut of a wheel , path , road , way , course (lit. and fig.)
dur-aapam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. difficult to be attained or approached , inaccessible
aapa (3rd pers. sg. perfect): he reached, obtained, gained, entered
kaaShTh'-aashritaM nirmathanaad iv' aagniM
antaH-kShiti-sthaM khananaad iv'aambho
lok'-ottaraM vartma dur-aapam aapa
- = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = -
17.22
Then, like air in the hot season, got from fanning,
Like fire latent in wood, got from rubbing,
Like water under the ground, got from digging,
That world-beating path which is hard to get, he got:
COMMENT:
Verses 17.1 to 17.27 follow Nanda through to his attainment of the first of the four fruits of the Dharma.
Verses 17.1 to 17.14 can be seen as the first part of this series, describing how Nanda, sitting in lotus in a quiet place, collected his MIND into himself.
Verses 17.15 to 17.21 can be seen as a second part, in which Nanda causes the tree of affliction to shake by investigating the BODY, and other THINGS, as impure/empty, as suffering, as impermanent, and as devoid of self.
From this verse, as Nanda in his battle against the afflictions goes into ACTION, the mood turns more dynamic; hence the emphasis on action nouns: vyajana, fanning; nirmathana, rubbing; khanana, digging...
And the particular emphasis in this verse is on activities requiring persistence in order to gain an end. So it is keeping on, but not only for the sake of keeping on. It is keeping on not for the sake of mindless repetition (in the manner of those robotic Japanese piano students notorious in London music schools for endless mindless practice of the same musical score), but in order to get what is to be got.
In 1987 when I was aged 27 and busting a gut to serve my Zen teacher Gudo Nishijima while living in the Zen dojo/dormitory that he had just established, he offered to transmit the Dharma to me. Knowing that I was not the finished article, but very much a work in progress, I refused to accept the Dharma. I felt it was too big a deal, that I was not worthy. After that my teacher began transmitting his Dharma to people like Jeremy Pearson, who had met me in England at the end of a decade I had already devoted to studying under and serving Gudo Nishijima. When Jeremy arrived in Japan in 1990, I had taken Jeremy to meet Gudo at his office. So a few years later when Gudo began transmitting the Dharma to Jeremy and others, who I felt were junior to me, I suppose I felt somehow left behind and I wished to follow suit. Maybe receiving the Dharma was not such a big deal after all, I must have reasoned.
But if I had been a better man, I would have stuck to my guns and not received the Dharma, being certain in the knowledge that I was and am still only a work in progress, and being equally certain in the knowledge that Gudo Nishijima never got what, in his self-delusion, he claimed to have got. As a work in progress, as a polisher of a tile, Gudo Nishijima was truly a world-beater, a great teacher-by-example and a great translation partner. But in arrogantly thinking himself to be an enlightened master, and acting as if he were, in closing his ears on that basis to my criticism of his direct ("end-gaining") approach to postural correction, and in breaking our 50:50 translation partnership on that basis, Gudo Nishijima had showed himself to be, in my eyes, the pits of the world -- not an enlightened master at all, but just a mirror of end-gaining self-delusion.
Still, in 1998, even after he had manifested himself to me as such, I went ahead and received the Dharma from Gudo. Why? I don't know why I went ahead and received the Dharma from Gudo Nishijima, even after he had seemed to me to betray a very fundamental lack of integrity. The psychological phenomenon of denial might have had a lot to do with it. But I think my receiving the Dharma from Gudo was a mistake. And even though it may have been a mistake, and even when I made that mistake I made it very indecisively, I did make it.
I made that mistake in the spirit of "See what happens." Well, having seen what has happened, I now judge that it was a mistake.
A work in progress, it seems to me now, such as I am, should keep on keeping on -- not only for the sake of keeping on itself, but until such time as he truly gets what is to be got.
I think that is what Ashvaghosha is saying in this verse, in this canto, and in the whole of this work. Because only after Nanda has truly got what is to be got -- the nectar of immortality -- is he then able to teach what is to be taught, as Buddha.
Before a work in progress gets what is to be got, a work in progress working as a work in progress is happiness itself and integrity itself. But if a work in progress acts as if he has got what he should get before he has got it, it seems to me, that might be a recipe for great unhappiness. If there is even the tiniest bit of such a gap, it seems to me, then top and bottom are liable to be greatly disconnected.
EH Johnston:
Then he reached the inaccessible supermundane Path, as one might obtain a breeze in the hot weather by fanning or the fire which abides in the wood by friction or the water in the ground by digging.
Linda Covill:
Then, like feeling a cool breeze from fanning oneself during the hot season, or like getting fire that is latent in wood by rubbing sticks together, or like finding underground water by digging for it, he reached the hard-to-reach supramundane path.
VOCABULARY:
tataH: ind. thence, from that, then, in consequence of that
sa (nom. sg. m.): he
vaatam (acc. sg.) m. wind , air
vyajanaat = abl. vyajana: n. fanning ; a palm-leaf or other article used for fanning , fan
iva: like
uShNe = loc. uShNa: mn. heat , warmth , the hot season (June , July)
kaaShTh'-aashritam (acc. sg. m): abiding in a piece of wood
kaaShTha: n. a piece of wood or timber , stick
aashrita: mfn. belonging to ; inhabiting , dwelling in
nirmathanaad = abl. nirmathana: n. rubbing , lighting a fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together
iva: like
aagnim (acc. sg.): m. fire
antaH-kShiti-stham (acc. sg. n.): being in the earth's interior
antaH = antar: ind. within, interior, in
kShiti: f. the earth , soil of the earth
stha: mfn. being situated in
khananaad = abl. khanana: n. digging; the act of digging
iva: like
ambhaH = acc. sg. ambhas: n. water
lok'-ottaram (acc. sg. n.): mfn. excelling or surpassing the world , beyond what is common or general , unusual , extraordinary
loka: m. world ; ordinary life , worldly affairs , common practice or usage
uttara: mfn. upper , higher , superior; chief , excellent , dominant , predominant , more powerful
vartma = acc. sg. vartman: n. the track or rut of a wheel , path , road , way , course (lit. and fig.)
dur-aapam (acc. sg. n.): mfn. difficult to be attained or approached , inaccessible
aapa (3rd pers. sg. perfect): he reached, obtained, gained, entered
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
SAUNDARANANDA 17.21: 'Dependent Origination' & No Self
yasmaan niriihaM jagad a-svatantraM
n'aishvaryam ekaH kurute kriyaasu
tat tat pratiitya prabhavanti bhaavaa
nir-aatmakaM tena viveda lokaM
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = -
= = - = = - - = - = =
- = - = = - - = - = =
17.21
Since the throng of humanity is passive,
not autonomous,
And no one exercises direct control
over the workings of the body,
But states of being arise dependent on this and that,
He found, in that sense, that the world is devoid of self.
COMMENT:
When one observes an individual human being, listening and talking to him or her in detail, it generally transpires (for example as Valentine's Day approaches) that she or he hopes to be seen as a very special soul, by at least one other person, and maybe by millions more people too, depending on his or her degree of self-delusion.
Line 1, as I read it, expresses in contrast the fact that self and others, observed objectively as a teeming mass, are like sheep. Dominated by the herd instinct as we are, we are easily rounded up and fleeced by the likes of ad-men and politicians.
In line 2 aishvarya is given in the dictionary as "the state of being a mighty lord, supremacy, dominion, superhuman power." So what Ashvaghosha is expressing in line 2 as I hear him is the impossibility of exercising DIRECT CONTROL over one's bodily actions and bodily functions -- because true control of the workings of one's body is not direct, but indirect. If there is such a thing as true control, it might be an indirect control that is exercised via the agency that FM Alexander called the primary control of the use of the self. Alexander defined this so-called 'primary control' not as a thing but rather as a relationship or orientation or alignment of a person's head, neck and back.
If I had direct control of my body, I would command my body to sleep through till dawn, and my body would snoringly obey. But since I don't have direct control over my body, and I wake up wide-eyed at 2.30 am for no apparent reason, the best I can do is to get up in the middle of the night, sit in lotus, and ask myself what it means to allow the neck to be free, to let the head go forward and up, to let the back lengthen and widen, while directing the knees forwards and away.
In line 3 of this verse, as also in line 3 of 17.31, Ashvaghosha expresses using very plain language the teaching that is customarily expressed by the Buddhist buzz-word pratiitya-samutpaada ("dependent origination").
Line 3 of 17.31 sums up realization of this teaching like this:
pratiitya tat tat samavaiti tat tat
"he appreciates everything depending on everything"
or
"he appreciates this and that depending on this and that"
Somewhere on the internet, Wikipedia I think, I read a dogmatic assertion that this realization of "dependent origination" is just what the Buddha realized under the bodhi tree -- that appreciation of everything depending on everything, in other words, is just the Buddha's full enlightenment.
Here, however, Ashvaghosha is describing Nanda's discovery as merely one of a series of realisations that causes the tree of afflictions to shake, leading Nanda in 17.27 to attain the first fruit of the Dharma. The further realisation expressed in 17.31 that everything depends on everything is part of Nanda's process in attaining the second fruit of the Dharma. So realization of the teaching of pratiitya-samutpaada ("dependent origination"), as Ashvaghosha is describing it, is far from synonymous with obtaining the fourth fruit of the Dharma, that is, the Buddhahood that the Buddha realised under the bodhi tree.
In line 4, the little word tena ("in that sense") might be a word not to overlook. In the sense that everything depends on everything, the world is devoid of self. But in another sense, the whole Universe might be totally dependent on how I accept and use myself.
The point I am getting at is this piece of advice to self and others: Beware the dogmatic assertions of Buddhist philosophers who give themselves the air of knowing. Before we ourselves have not only shaken but also destroyed the tree of afflictions, what do we really know of the what the Buddha realised under the bodhi tree? We know jack shit.
Because I truly know jack shit, because I am not a knower of the Buddha's truth but only a digger out of crap that surrounds the Buddha's truth, I call this a work in progress.
EH Johnston:
Since the world has no motive force of its own and is not self-dependent, and since there is no one being who exercises paramountcy over actions, and since states of being arise from dependence on other states, he understood the world to be without soul.
Linda Covill:
Since the world is not self-dependent and has no power to set things in motion, and no one exercises sovereignty in actions, and since states of existence arise in dependence on all sorts of things, he understood that the world was without self.
VOCABULARY:
yasmaat: ind. from which , from which cause , since , as , because
niriiham (nom. sg. n.): mfn. motionless, inactive, desireless, indifferent, unanxious
iiha: m. attempt
iihaa: f. effort, exertion; desire
jagat (nom. sg.): n. n. that which moves or is alive , men and animals ; n. the world , esp. this world , earth ; n. people , mankind
a-sva-tantram (nom. sg. n.): mfn. not self-willed, dependent, subject
a: not
sva-tantara: mf(A)n. self-dependent , self-willed , independent , free
sva: it's own
tantra: n. loom, framework (ifc. "depending on")
na: not
aishvaryam (acc. sg.): n. the state of being a mighty lord ; supremacy, dominion ; superhuman power
ekaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. one (with na preceding or following , no one , nobody)
kurute = 3rd per. sg. kR: to do, make
kriyaasu = loc. pl. kriyaa: f. doing , performing , performance , business , act , action , undertaking , activity , work , labour; bodily action
tat tat (acc.): this and that , everything
pratiitya: ind. dependent ; n. confirmation , experiment
prati- √i : to go towards or against , go to meet (as friend or foe) ; to come back , return ; to resort to, be certain of
pratiiti: f. going towards , approaching ; the following from anything (as a necessary result) , being clear or intelligible by itself ; clear apprehension or insight into anything , complete understanding or ascertainment , conviction
prabhavanti = 3rd pers. plural pra-√bhuu: to come forth , spring up , arise or originate from (abl.) , appear , become visible , happen , occur
bhaavaaH = nom. pl. bhaava: m. state of being
nir-aatmakam (acc. sg. m.): mfn. having no separate soul or no individual existence
tena: ind. on that account , for that reason , therefore (correl. to yena, yasmaat)
viveda = 3rd pers. sg. perfect vid: to find , discover ; to feel, experience
lokam (acc. sg.): m. the world ; the inhabitants of the world , mankind , folk , people
n'aishvaryam ekaH kurute kriyaasu
tat tat pratiitya prabhavanti bhaavaa
nir-aatmakaM tena viveda lokaM
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = -
= = - = = - - = - = =
- = - = = - - = - = =
17.21
Since the throng of humanity is passive,
not autonomous,
And no one exercises direct control
over the workings of the body,
But states of being arise dependent on this and that,
He found, in that sense, that the world is devoid of self.
COMMENT:
When one observes an individual human being, listening and talking to him or her in detail, it generally transpires (for example as Valentine's Day approaches) that she or he hopes to be seen as a very special soul, by at least one other person, and maybe by millions more people too, depending on his or her degree of self-delusion.
Line 1, as I read it, expresses in contrast the fact that self and others, observed objectively as a teeming mass, are like sheep. Dominated by the herd instinct as we are, we are easily rounded up and fleeced by the likes of ad-men and politicians.
In line 2 aishvarya is given in the dictionary as "the state of being a mighty lord, supremacy, dominion, superhuman power." So what Ashvaghosha is expressing in line 2 as I hear him is the impossibility of exercising DIRECT CONTROL over one's bodily actions and bodily functions -- because true control of the workings of one's body is not direct, but indirect. If there is such a thing as true control, it might be an indirect control that is exercised via the agency that FM Alexander called the primary control of the use of the self. Alexander defined this so-called 'primary control' not as a thing but rather as a relationship or orientation or alignment of a person's head, neck and back.
If I had direct control of my body, I would command my body to sleep through till dawn, and my body would snoringly obey. But since I don't have direct control over my body, and I wake up wide-eyed at 2.30 am for no apparent reason, the best I can do is to get up in the middle of the night, sit in lotus, and ask myself what it means to allow the neck to be free, to let the head go forward and up, to let the back lengthen and widen, while directing the knees forwards and away.
In line 3 of this verse, as also in line 3 of 17.31, Ashvaghosha expresses using very plain language the teaching that is customarily expressed by the Buddhist buzz-word pratiitya-samutpaada ("dependent origination").
Line 3 of 17.31 sums up realization of this teaching like this:
pratiitya tat tat samavaiti tat tat
"he appreciates everything depending on everything"
or
"he appreciates this and that depending on this and that"
Somewhere on the internet, Wikipedia I think, I read a dogmatic assertion that this realization of "dependent origination" is just what the Buddha realized under the bodhi tree -- that appreciation of everything depending on everything, in other words, is just the Buddha's full enlightenment.
Here, however, Ashvaghosha is describing Nanda's discovery as merely one of a series of realisations that causes the tree of afflictions to shake, leading Nanda in 17.27 to attain the first fruit of the Dharma. The further realisation expressed in 17.31 that everything depends on everything is part of Nanda's process in attaining the second fruit of the Dharma. So realization of the teaching of pratiitya-samutpaada ("dependent origination"), as Ashvaghosha is describing it, is far from synonymous with obtaining the fourth fruit of the Dharma, that is, the Buddhahood that the Buddha realised under the bodhi tree.
In line 4, the little word tena ("in that sense") might be a word not to overlook. In the sense that everything depends on everything, the world is devoid of self. But in another sense, the whole Universe might be totally dependent on how I accept and use myself.
The point I am getting at is this piece of advice to self and others: Beware the dogmatic assertions of Buddhist philosophers who give themselves the air of knowing. Before we ourselves have not only shaken but also destroyed the tree of afflictions, what do we really know of the what the Buddha realised under the bodhi tree? We know jack shit.
Because I truly know jack shit, because I am not a knower of the Buddha's truth but only a digger out of crap that surrounds the Buddha's truth, I call this a work in progress.
EH Johnston:
Since the world has no motive force of its own and is not self-dependent, and since there is no one being who exercises paramountcy over actions, and since states of being arise from dependence on other states, he understood the world to be without soul.
Linda Covill:
Since the world is not self-dependent and has no power to set things in motion, and no one exercises sovereignty in actions, and since states of existence arise in dependence on all sorts of things, he understood that the world was without self.
VOCABULARY:
yasmaat: ind. from which , from which cause , since , as , because
niriiham (nom. sg. n.): mfn. motionless, inactive, desireless, indifferent, unanxious
iiha: m. attempt
iihaa: f. effort, exertion; desire
jagat (nom. sg.): n. n. that which moves or is alive , men and animals ; n. the world , esp. this world , earth ; n. people , mankind
a-sva-tantram (nom. sg. n.): mfn. not self-willed, dependent, subject
a: not
sva-tantara: mf(A)n. self-dependent , self-willed , independent , free
sva: it's own
tantra: n. loom, framework (ifc. "depending on")
na: not
aishvaryam (acc. sg.): n. the state of being a mighty lord ; supremacy, dominion ; superhuman power
ekaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. one (with na preceding or following , no one , nobody)
kurute = 3rd per. sg. kR: to do, make
kriyaasu = loc. pl. kriyaa: f. doing , performing , performance , business , act , action , undertaking , activity , work , labour; bodily action
tat tat (acc.): this and that , everything
pratiitya: ind. dependent ; n. confirmation , experiment
prati- √i : to go towards or against , go to meet (as friend or foe) ; to come back , return ; to resort to, be certain of
pratiiti: f. going towards , approaching ; the following from anything (as a necessary result) , being clear or intelligible by itself ; clear apprehension or insight into anything , complete understanding or ascertainment , conviction
prabhavanti = 3rd pers. plural pra-√bhuu: to come forth , spring up , arise or originate from (abl.) , appear , become visible , happen , occur
bhaavaaH = nom. pl. bhaava: m. state of being
nir-aatmakam (acc. sg. m.): mfn. having no separate soul or no individual existence
tena: ind. on that account , for that reason , therefore (correl. to yena, yasmaat)
viveda = 3rd pers. sg. perfect vid: to find , discover ; to feel, experience
lokam (acc. sg.): m. the world ; the inhabitants of the world , mankind , folk , people
Monday, February 1, 2010
SAUNDARANANDA 17.20: The Real Basis of Emptiness
yatash ca saMskaara-gataM viviktaM
na kaarakaH kash cana vedako vaa
saamagryataH sambhavati pravRttiH
shuunyaM tato lokam imaM dadarsha
- = - = = - - = - = =
- = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = -
17.20
And since separateness is a construct,
There being no-one who creates or who is made known,
But doing arises out of a whole caboodle of gubbins,
He realised, on that basis, that this world is empty.
COMMENT:
In line 1 saMskaara means something made up, a fiction, a construct. As one of the five skandhas (aggregates of being), saMskaara was rendered into Chinese/Japanese with a character (GYO) meaning "conduct" or "action" -- presumably to convey the sense of "impression on the mind of acts done in a former state of existence" [MW; see below].
That Gudo Nishijima and I translated GYO, as one of the five skandhas, as "enaction," then, was not entirely our own fault. It seems that whoever turned to the Chinese character for conduct (GYO) as a representation of saMskaara, either did not understand what Ashvaghosha is saying here, or even if he did understand, there was no other Chinese character that was better suited to convey the original meaning of saMskaara as fiction, or mental construct.
Using Chinese pictographs to convey Sanskrit words, it seems to me, has been very problematic over many centuries in an age of the Imitative Dharma. For conveying the meaning of the Buddha's teaching exactly in writing, it is difficult for me to believe that any writer of Chinese and Japanese might have been able to improve on the writing of Ashvaghosha, who is saying here, clearly, that separateness (viviktam) is encased in a construct (saMskaara-gatam).
Separateness, though only a construct, is a very fundamental and necessary one, without which artefacts like marriage, parenthood, translation partnership, and home ownership might founder. Sometimes it takes an earthquake to bring the edifice tumbling down. But here Nanda, just sitting in lotus and directing his whole body up, having collected his mind into himself, realises that this world is empty not by recourse to a dramatic event like an earthquake, but rather by carrying out an empirical investigation into things as they are.
In a letter to his brother about his painting of cypress trees, Vincent van Gogh wrote, "It astonishes me that no one has yet done them as I see them." Van Gogh's sentence struck me when I read it. Something in me rejoices at and wants to celebrate his individuality and quest for originality. But truly how great a creative genius was Vincent van Gogh? Ashvaghosha's answer here is: No, nothing -- MU. Vincent van Gogh is a construct. What line 2 is saying, as I read it, is that nobody created the painting of the cypress trees that we attribute to van Gogh; there was no Vincent van Gogh to be made known.
Doing (pravRtti) in line 3 is a key word in Canto 16, viz:
16.10
The many and various disappointments of men, like old age,
Occur as long as their DOING goes on.
16.17
And this, the suffering of DOING, in the world,
Has its cause in clusters of faults which start with thirsting
16.18
Again, you must understand how, due to this cause,
Because of men's faults, THE CYCLE OF DOING GOES ON,
16.42
Then comprehend that suffering is DOING,
And witness the faults moving it forward.
Realise its stopping as non-doing,
And know the path as a turning back.
In order to understand how pravRtti (doing) arises out of saamagrya (a whole caboodle of gubbins), then, it might be necessary first to experience inhibition of the whole gubbins in nivRtti (non-doing).
Otherwise philosophical discussion of shuunyataa ("emptiness") might be a futile exercise.
The meaning of space/emptiness (KU) is key in chapters of Shobogenzo such as chap. 22, BUSSHO (The Buddha-nature); chap. 43, KUGE (Flowers in Space); and chap. 77 KOKU (Space), and so my Zen Master talked a lot about the meaning of emptiness in the process of elucidating his take on Shobogenzo. The real basis of emptiness, Gudo never tired of asserting, was balance of the autonomic nervous system.
Clear understanding of the principle of non-doing, however, was sadly lacking in me during my years in Japan. Rather, there was a tremendous amount of doing arising out of constructs like "me", constructs like "my Zen Master", and constructs like "the autonomic nervous system" -- doing, in fact, that arose out of a whole caboodle of gubbins.
I somehow knew there was something wrong with my approach, but nobody could tell me exactly where I was going wrong -- until I started having lessons in the FM Alexader Technique. Then it soon transpired that my pursuit of the truth of non-doing was totally arse over tit.
To realise, on that basis, that this world is empty, is not the realisation of the fourth fruit of the Dharma -- i.e. Buddhahood. It is not even the realisation of the first fruit, which still awaits Nanda in 17.27. It is only one of a series of realisations that causes the tree of afflictions to shake.
EH Johnston:
Since the individual is a mere creature of the saMskaaras and there is neither agent nor knower and active being originates from the complex (of the cause), he saw that this world is devoid (of individuality).
Linda Covill:
Since individuality is produced by conditions, and there is no maker or thinker, and individual activity arises from a network of causes, Nanda saw that this world is empty.
VOCABULARY:
yataH: whence, since
ca: and
saMskaara-gatam (nom. sg. n.): produced from making up
saMskaara: m. putting together , forming well , making perfect , accomplishment , embellishment, adornment , purification , cleansing , making ready , preparation ; forming the mind , training , education
the faculty of memory , mental impression or recollection , impression on the mind of acts done in a former state of existence; (pl. , with Buddhists) a mental conformation or creation of the mind (such as that of the external world , regarded by it as real , though actually non-existent , and forming the second link in the twelvefold chain of causation or the fourth of the 5 skandhas)
saM-s-√kR: to put together , form well , join together , compose
gata: come , come forth from (in comp.)
viviktam (nom. sg.): n. separation , solitude , a lonely place
na: not
kaarakaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. making , doing , acting , who or what does or produces or creates ; intending to act or do
kash cana: any
vedakaH (nom. sg. m.): making known , announcing , proclaiming; restoring to consciousness
vaa: or
saamagryataH: from a totality
saamagrya: f. (fr. sam-agra) totality , entirety , completeness , (esp.) a complete collection or assemblage of implements or materials , apparatus , baggage , goods and chattels , furniture , effects
sam-agra: mfn. whole
-taH: (ablative/adverbial suffix)
sambhavati = 3rd pers. sg. sambhuu: to be or come together , assemble , meet , be joined or united with ; to be born or produced from (abl.) , arise , spring up , develop ; to happen , occur , be , be found , exist
pravRttiH (nom. sg.): f. moving onwards , advance , progress ; active life (as opposed to ni-vRtti, non-doing)
shuunyam (acc. sg. m.): empty
tataH: thence, from that, on that basis
lokam (acc. sg.): m. the world
imam (acc. sg. m.): this
dadarsha (3rd pers. perfect drsh): he saw, realised
na kaarakaH kash cana vedako vaa
saamagryataH sambhavati pravRttiH
shuunyaM tato lokam imaM dadarsha
- = - = = - - = - = =
- = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = =
= = - = = - - = - = -
17.20
And since separateness is a construct,
There being no-one who creates or who is made known,
But doing arises out of a whole caboodle of gubbins,
He realised, on that basis, that this world is empty.
COMMENT:
In line 1 saMskaara means something made up, a fiction, a construct. As one of the five skandhas (aggregates of being), saMskaara was rendered into Chinese/Japanese with a character (GYO) meaning "conduct" or "action" -- presumably to convey the sense of "impression on the mind of acts done in a former state of existence" [MW; see below].
That Gudo Nishijima and I translated GYO, as one of the five skandhas, as "enaction," then, was not entirely our own fault. It seems that whoever turned to the Chinese character for conduct (GYO) as a representation of saMskaara, either did not understand what Ashvaghosha is saying here, or even if he did understand, there was no other Chinese character that was better suited to convey the original meaning of saMskaara as fiction, or mental construct.
Using Chinese pictographs to convey Sanskrit words, it seems to me, has been very problematic over many centuries in an age of the Imitative Dharma. For conveying the meaning of the Buddha's teaching exactly in writing, it is difficult for me to believe that any writer of Chinese and Japanese might have been able to improve on the writing of Ashvaghosha, who is saying here, clearly, that separateness (viviktam) is encased in a construct (saMskaara-gatam).
Separateness, though only a construct, is a very fundamental and necessary one, without which artefacts like marriage, parenthood, translation partnership, and home ownership might founder. Sometimes it takes an earthquake to bring the edifice tumbling down. But here Nanda, just sitting in lotus and directing his whole body up, having collected his mind into himself, realises that this world is empty not by recourse to a dramatic event like an earthquake, but rather by carrying out an empirical investigation into things as they are.
In a letter to his brother about his painting of cypress trees, Vincent van Gogh wrote, "It astonishes me that no one has yet done them as I see them." Van Gogh's sentence struck me when I read it. Something in me rejoices at and wants to celebrate his individuality and quest for originality. But truly how great a creative genius was Vincent van Gogh? Ashvaghosha's answer here is: No, nothing -- MU. Vincent van Gogh is a construct. What line 2 is saying, as I read it, is that nobody created the painting of the cypress trees that we attribute to van Gogh; there was no Vincent van Gogh to be made known.
Doing (pravRtti) in line 3 is a key word in Canto 16, viz:
16.10
The many and various disappointments of men, like old age,
Occur as long as their DOING goes on.
16.17
And this, the suffering of DOING, in the world,
Has its cause in clusters of faults which start with thirsting
16.18
Again, you must understand how, due to this cause,
Because of men's faults, THE CYCLE OF DOING GOES ON,
16.42
Then comprehend that suffering is DOING,
And witness the faults moving it forward.
Realise its stopping as non-doing,
And know the path as a turning back.
In order to understand how pravRtti (doing) arises out of saamagrya (a whole caboodle of gubbins), then, it might be necessary first to experience inhibition of the whole gubbins in nivRtti (non-doing).
Otherwise philosophical discussion of shuunyataa ("emptiness") might be a futile exercise.
The meaning of space/emptiness (KU) is key in chapters of Shobogenzo such as chap. 22, BUSSHO (The Buddha-nature); chap. 43, KUGE (Flowers in Space); and chap. 77 KOKU (Space), and so my Zen Master talked a lot about the meaning of emptiness in the process of elucidating his take on Shobogenzo. The real basis of emptiness, Gudo never tired of asserting, was balance of the autonomic nervous system.
Clear understanding of the principle of non-doing, however, was sadly lacking in me during my years in Japan. Rather, there was a tremendous amount of doing arising out of constructs like "me", constructs like "my Zen Master", and constructs like "the autonomic nervous system" -- doing, in fact, that arose out of a whole caboodle of gubbins.
I somehow knew there was something wrong with my approach, but nobody could tell me exactly where I was going wrong -- until I started having lessons in the FM Alexader Technique. Then it soon transpired that my pursuit of the truth of non-doing was totally arse over tit.
To realise, on that basis, that this world is empty, is not the realisation of the fourth fruit of the Dharma -- i.e. Buddhahood. It is not even the realisation of the first fruit, which still awaits Nanda in 17.27. It is only one of a series of realisations that causes the tree of afflictions to shake.
EH Johnston:
Since the individual is a mere creature of the saMskaaras and there is neither agent nor knower and active being originates from the complex (of the cause), he saw that this world is devoid (of individuality).
Linda Covill:
Since individuality is produced by conditions, and there is no maker or thinker, and individual activity arises from a network of causes, Nanda saw that this world is empty.
VOCABULARY:
yataH: whence, since
ca: and
saMskaara-gatam (nom. sg. n.): produced from making up
saMskaara: m. putting together , forming well , making perfect , accomplishment , embellishment, adornment , purification , cleansing , making ready , preparation ; forming the mind , training , education
the faculty of memory , mental impression or recollection , impression on the mind of acts done in a former state of existence; (pl. , with Buddhists) a mental conformation or creation of the mind (such as that of the external world , regarded by it as real , though actually non-existent , and forming the second link in the twelvefold chain of causation or the fourth of the 5 skandhas)
saM-s-√kR: to put together , form well , join together , compose
gata: come , come forth from (in comp.)
viviktam (nom. sg.): n. separation , solitude , a lonely place
na: not
kaarakaH (nom. sg. m.): mfn. making , doing , acting , who or what does or produces or creates ; intending to act or do
kash cana: any
vedakaH (nom. sg. m.): making known , announcing , proclaiming; restoring to consciousness
vaa: or
saamagryataH: from a totality
saamagrya: f. (fr. sam-agra) totality , entirety , completeness , (esp.) a complete collection or assemblage of implements or materials , apparatus , baggage , goods and chattels , furniture , effects
sam-agra: mfn. whole
-taH: (ablative/adverbial suffix)
sambhavati = 3rd pers. sg. sambhuu: to be or come together , assemble , meet , be joined or united with ; to be born or produced from (abl.) , arise , spring up , develop ; to happen , occur , be , be found , exist
pravRttiH (nom. sg.): f. moving onwards , advance , progress ; active life (as opposed to ni-vRtti, non-doing)
shuunyam (acc. sg. m.): empty
tataH: thence, from that, on that basis
lokam (acc. sg.): m. the world
imam (acc. sg. m.): this
dadarsha (3rd pers. perfect drsh): he saw, realised
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