BUDDHACARITA 4.68: Out of the Mouths of Babes

−⏑−−¦⏑−−−¦¦−−⏑⏑¦⏑−⏑−

saṁnatiś-cānuvttiś-ca strīṇāṁ hdaya-bandhanam |

−−⏑⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦−⏑−−¦⏑−⏑−

snehasya hi guṇā yonir-māna-kāmāś-ca yoṣitaḥ || 4.68

4.68

Humility and submissive behaviour are,

For women, what captures the heart  –

Because excellent acts engender tender feelings,

And women are lovers of honour.

COMMENT:

Once again, Udāyin is ostensibly expressing a shallow and immature view which brings back to mind the old Fast Show character Swiss Toni. 

And once again a contrary reading is that Udāyin, unbeknowns to himself, might be speaking profound truth.

In the former reading, the way for a man to win a woman's heart is by pandering to her every whim, with chocolates, flowers, opening of doors for her to pass through, laying of cloaks over puddles for her to walk on, and so on and so forth. By such excellent acts of chivalry is won the affection of women, who love men to show them respect.

What is being expressed in the contrary reading, out of the mouth of a babe, might be the fundamental principle of how a woman, or how a man, truly gains control over her or his own mind – not by direct means but by the indirect means of calm, submissive behaviour, aka donkey work. In support of this reading, whereas the first two pādas seem to mean “Humility and submissive behaviour are the way [for a man] to capture a woman's heart," the literal meaning is “Humility and submissive behaviour are, for/of/in women, heart-binding/uniting.” 

In that case, the 3rd pāda might be suggesting the truth that if a woman (or a man) wishes to feel good about herself (or himself), the wisest course might be to manifest good qualities in her (or his) everyday life – by doing a good job of, say, doing a prostration, or making a fire, or milking a cow, or translating a verse of epic poetry. 

And in the 4th pāda māna-kāma, “desiring honour,” which ostensibly describes a vain woman's desire to be honoured, might really indicate an aspiration which has nothing to do with vanity, and which need not always be bound up with trying to be right;  namely, an aspiration not to do what is dishonourable but to allow what is honourable – in accordance with the universal precept of the seven ancient buddhas. 

VOCABULARY

saṁnatiḥ (nom. sg.): f. bending down , depression , lowness ; inclination , leaning towards , favour , complaisance towards (gen.) ; subjection or submission to , humility towards (loc.)

ca: and

anuvṛttiḥ (nom. sg.): f. following , acting suitably to , having regard or respect to , complying with

anu- √ vṛt: to go after ; to follow , pursue ; to attend ; to obey , respect , imitate ;

ca: and

strīṇām (gen. pl.): f. women

hṛdaya-bandhanam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. captivating or winning the heart

hṛdaya: n. the heart

bandhana: mfn. binding; captivating (with gen. or ifc. cf. bhāva-bandhana [fettering or joining hearts (as love)]); n. the act of binding , tying , fastening , fettering ; n. a bond , tie (also fig.) , rope , cord , tether

bandh: to bind , tie , fix , fasten , chain , fetter; to catch , take or hold captive , met. = to attach to world or to sin ; to fix , direct , fasten , rivet (eyes , ears or mind) on (loc. or inf.); to arrest , hold back , restrain , suppress , stop , shut , close ; to join , unite , put together or produce anything in this way , e.g. fold (the hands) , clench (the fist) , knit or bend (the eyebrows) , arrange , assume (a posture) , set up (a limit) , construct (a dam or a bridge) , span , bridge over (a river) , conceive or contract (friendship or enmity) , compose , construct (a poem or verse)

snehasya (gen. sg.): m. blandness , tenderness , love , attachment to , fondness or affection

hi: for

guṇāḥ (nom. pl.): m. good quality , virtue , merit , excellence

yoniḥ (nom. sg.): m. place of birth , source , origin , spring , fountain

māna-kāmāḥ (nom. pl. f.): being desirous of esteem

māna: m. ( √ man) opinion ; self-conceit , arrogance , pride ; consideration , regard , respect , honour ; a wounded sense of honour , anger or indignation excited by jealousy (esp. in women) , caprice , sulking

kāma: n. (ifc.) desirous of , desiring , having a desire or intention

ca: and

yoṣitaḥ (nom. pl.): f. women

愛欲増憍慢 無過於女人

[Relation to Sanskrit tenuous]

BUDDHACARITA 4.67: All Is Fair in Love & War?

⏑⏑−−¦⏑−−−¦¦−−⏑⏑¦⏑−⏑−

antenāpi nārīṇāṁ yuktaṁ samanuvartanam |

−−−⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦−⏑−−¦⏑−⏑−

tad-vrīḍā-parihārārtham-ātma-raty-artham-eva ca || 4.67

4.67

For women, even if the means are insincere,

Indulging their minds is appropriate,

To sweep away their diffidence,

And purely for the purpose of enjoying oneself!

COMMENT:

All is fair, so the saying goes, in love and war.

That being so, in a sexual relationship, if a woman asks a man for a reassuring answer, the end of not offending her might sometimes justify the means of a less-than-totally-honest answer. In English we would call such an answer “a white lie.” In Japanese the equivalent phrase is 方便 (Jap: HOBEN), “An Expedient Means,” as in the title of the 2nd chapter 方便 品 (Jap: HOBEN-BON), “Skillful Means.”

Understood in this context, what Udāyin is saying does not sound too shocking; his argument sounds reasonable enough.

Udāyin's words stand up to scrutiny less well if we examine them more analytically as a philosophical proposition along the lines of “A sexual end justifies deceitful means.”

A man's natural end (puruṣārtha; 4.65), as Udāyin sees it, is to enjoy sex with a woman, and that end justifies falsehood, lying or cheating – doing or saying what is not true.

If we want to know what the Buddha's teaching is, there is no more reliable source, in my book, than the words that Aśvaghoṣa quotes the Buddha as speaking to Nanda in Saundara-nanda. For example:

One set on abandoning the afflictions, then, should attend to timing and method; / For even practice itself, done at the wrong time and relying on wrong means, makes for disappointment and not for the desired end. // SN16.49 // If a cow is milked before her calf is born, milking at the wrong time will yield no milk. / Or even at the right time no milk will be got if, through ignorance, a cow is milked by the horn. // SN16.50 // Again, one who wants fire from damp wood, try as he might, will not get fire. / And even if he lays down dry wood, he won't get fire from that, with bad bushcraft. // 16.51 //

I think what Aśvaghoṣa is giving us in a verse like today's verse, in contrast, is an example of what the Buddha's teaching is not.

At least the above is one way of reading today's verse – as a contrasting example of what the Buddha's teaching is not. This way, on reflection, is a rather sanctimonious way, tied up with trying to be right and trying to sound right. Fuck that for a game of cards.

Another, contrary way is to read today's verse as a true statement of the Buddha's teaching, albeit a statement that Udāyin does not know that he is making as such.

Pompously attaching to the former view while preparing this comment yesterday, I had translated today's verse as follows:

Even if it means being untrue,

What is appropriate for women is to woo them,

To rid them of their bashfulness,

Not to mention for one's own pleasure!

But when I sat this morning, for a good many minutes I was not enjoying my sitting as heartily as I sometimes do, and so I asked myself what was getting in the way. And what was getting in the way, it turned out, was the kind of worrying and holding that arises from the end-gaining mind – as if I could not have guessed.

The first stage of sitting-meditation as Aśvaghoṣa describes it is a state of joyful pondering – nothing so stern as people are prone to think Zen meditation ought to be. The joy in this stage of joyful pondering comes from being free from desires that are tainted by the attitude of end-gaining. The pondering is a kind of fault, or a lack of sincerity. The joyful pondering is both a means which is true (in the sense that it is free from end-gaining) and at the same time a means which is anṛta, false, insincere, or not true (in the sense that it is a state in which the original sincerity of stillness is being disturbed by pondering).

For women who sit, then, the Buddha's teaching is, in the first instance, to use insincerity as a means, or as a stage to be passed through on the way to sincerity.

In this contrary reading, samanuvartanam does not express the action of a man who indulges or woos or panders women; it might rather express the attitude of a woman in the first stage of sitting-meditation who is enjoying thinking whatever the hell she likes.

In that case, the aim expressed as tad-vrīḍā-parihārārtham might be the aim of every bodhisattva, to free living beings from the suffering associated with being oppressed by one's own fear reflexes. And the enjoyment expressed as ātma-rati might be the enjoyment described by Ānanda in Saundara-nanda Canto 11:

A fire is not satisfied by dry brushwood, nor the salty ocean by water, / Nor a man of thirst by his desires. Desires, therefore, do not make for satisfaction. //SN11.32 // Without satisfaction, whence peace? Without peace, whence ease? / Without ease, whence joy? Without joy, whence enjoyment? // 11.33 // Therefore if you want enjoyment, let your mind be directed within. / Tranquil and impeccable is enjoyment of the inner self and there is no enjoyment to equal it. // 11.34 // In it, you have no need of musical instruments, or women, or ornaments; / On your own, wherever you are, you can indulge in that enjoyment. // SN11.35 //

Under Gudo Nishijima I saw my aim as to help him transmit to English-speaking people the true Buddhist view which he had gleaned by studying Shobogenzo and practising Zazen. That is how I saw my role, and that is basically how Gudo also saw my role. I didn't know any better and neither did he. What I began to understand with input from Alexander teachers is that this "true view" ethic was associated with an unconscious effort to hold myself in "the right posture."  As the evolution of today's comment may serve to demonstrate, the abandonment of the "true view" modus operandi [or modus figerandi (?), method of fixing], is a work in progress. 

VOCABULARY

anṛtena (inst. sg.): n. falsehood , lying , cheating ; not true , false

api: even

nārīṇām (gen. pl.): f. women

yuktam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. fit , suitable , appropriate , proper , right , established , proved , just , due , becoming to or suitable for (gen. loc. or comp. , e.g. āyati-yukta , suitable for the future ; yuktam with yad or an inf. = it is fit or suitable that or to ; na yuktam bhavatā , it is not seemly for you)

sam-anu-vartanam (nom. sg.): n. obliging; wooing [EBC]; gratification [EHJ]; pandering [PO]

anu-vartana: n. obliging , serving or gratifying another ; compliance , obedience ; following, attending

sam-anu-√vṛt: to follow after , obey , conform to (acc.)

sam-anu-vartin: mfn. obedient , willing , devoted to

tad-vrīḍā-parihārārtham (acc. sg. n.): in order to take away their bashfulness

tad: them

vrīḍā: f. shame , modesty , bashfulness

parihāra: m. avoiding ; taking away , removing , (esp.) removing by arguments , confutation

pari-√hṛ: to move or carry or take round ; to put aside ; to take away , remove

artha: n. aim, purpose

ātma-raty-artham (acc. sg. n.): for one's own pleasure ; for fun

ātman: m. the self ; one's own

rati: f. pleasure , enjoyment , delight

eva: (emphatic)

ca: and

正使無實心 宜應方便納

當生軟下心 隨順取其意

BUDDHACARITA 4.66: Presumption

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tad-bravīmi suhd-bhūtvā taruṇasya vapuṣmataḥ |

⏑−−⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦−⏑−−¦⏑−⏑−

idaṁ na pratirūpaṁ te strīṣv-adākṣiṇyam-īdśam || 4.66

4.66

Speaking, therefore, as a friend,

I must say that for a handsome young man

It does not become you

To be so unchivalrous towards women.

COMMENT:

In today's verse Udāyin, speaking as the prince's friend, is telling the prince straight about what Udāyin perceives to be the prince's discourteous behaviour towards others.

But who decided that Udāyin was the prince's friend?

I think Udāyin by his own rude presumption is nicely manifesting the mirror principle.

What Udāyin is thus failing to manifest is the quality which in the work of an Alexander teacher is called “staying back in your own back” – i.e. not getting your knickers in a knot about other people's problems. To stay “back in one's own back” is not to suffer from a deficit of compassion; on the contrary, it is about needing to look after oneself in order to be of any use to anybody else. If “staying back in your own back” were expressed in Sanskrit, the word might be sva-stha, “remaining at ease in oneself”; hence:

Thus spoke the Worthy One, the instructor whose compassion was of the highest order, Whose words and equally whose feet Nanda had accepted, using his head; / Then, at ease in himself (sva-sthaḥ), his heart at peace, his task ended, He left the Sage's side like an elephant free of rut. // SN18.61 // When the occasion arose he entered the town for begging and attracted the citizens' gaze; Being impartial towards gain, loss, comfort, discomfort, and the like and with his senses composed, he was free of longing; / And being there, in the moment, he talked of liberation to people so inclined  – never putting down others on a wrong path or raising himself up. // SN18.62 //

Thinking on further what it means to be presumptuous, and not to be presumptuous, in the 4th canto of Saundara-nanda Aśvaghoṣa gives us the Buddha's own shining example...

While Nanda, inside the palace, in what almost amounted to a dishonour, was thus enjoying himself, / The Tathāgata, the One Thus Come, come begging time, had entered the palace, for the purpose of begging. // SN4.24 // With face turned down, he stood, in his brother's house as in any other house, not expecting anything; / And then, since due to the servants' oversight, he received no alms, he went again on his way. // 4.25 // For one woman was grinding fragrant body oils; another was perfuming clothes; / Another, likewise, was preparing a bath; while other women strung together sweet-smelling garlands. // 4.26 // The girls in that house were thus so busy doing work to promote their master's romantic play / That none of them had seen the Buddha -- or so the Buddha inevitably concluded. // 4.27 // One woman there, however, on glancing through a round side-window on the upper storey of the palace, / Had seen the Sugata, the One Gone Well, going away -- like the blazing sun emerging from a cloud. // 4.28 //

Yes, one can assert, the Buddha later intervened to get Nanda to shave his head almost against Nanda's own will. But the operative word in this assertion is almost. The Buddha did not come knocking on Nanda's door like a Jehova's Witness, and the Buddha did not go running after Nanda in the street like some despicable chugger; it was Nanda who came running after the Buddha.

Has this business of being or not being presumptuous got any relation with the one great matter which is sitting in lotus?

The answer as I see it is  – you guessed it  – yes. Because sitting in lotus as the one great matter is non-doing, and non-doing has to be a very modest practice. Non-doing is an inherently modest practice because it involves the allowing of an undoing which I cannot do but which rather does itself, in accordance with the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

Doing is presumptuous, and being presumptuous is a kind of doing. For us who sit on a round black cushion investigating the truth of non-doing, therefore, there is something to be recognized and clearly understood in Udāyin's presumption.

VOCABULARY

tad: ind. therefore

bravīmi = 1^st pers. sg. brū: to speak

suhṛt (nom. sg.): m. " good-hearted " , " kindhearted " , " well-disposed " , a friend , ally

bhūtvā = abs. bhū: to be

taruṇasya (gen. sg. m.): mfn. " progressive " , young , tender , juvenile ; m. a youth

vapuṣmataḥ (gen. sg. m.): mfn. having a body ; having a beautiful form , handsome

idam (nom. sg. n.): this

na: not

prati-rūpam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. like , similar , corresponding , suitable , proper , fit

te (gen. sg.): of you

strīṣu (loc. pl.): f. women

adākṣiṇyam (nom. sg.): n. incivility

dākṣiṇya: mfn. belonging to or worthy of a sacrificial fee ; n. dexterity , skill , officiousness , gallantry , kindness , consideration , piety

īdṛśam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. endowed with such qualities , such

今故説眞言 以表我丹誠 

年在於盛時 容色得充備
不重於女人 斯非勝人體

BUDDHACARITA 4.65: Personally Promising Friendship

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so 'haṁ maitrīṁ pratijñāya puruṣārthāt-parāṅmukham |

⏑−−⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑⏑−−¦⏑−⏑−

yadi tvā samupekṣeya na bhaven-mitratā mayi || 4.65

4.65

Now that I personally have promised my friendship to you,

Who is turning his back on an aim of human life,

If I then were to abandon you,

There would be no friendship in me.

COMMENT:

I think Aśvaghoṣa's intention is that we should work out for ourselves the flaw in Udāyin's thinking. In that case, a key word in signalling Aśvaghoṣa's intention in today's verse might be the opening word saḥ, used emphatically with aham to mean I myself, or me personally.

If two people promise the same thing, but one simply says “I promise” whereas the other gives his words extra emphasis with “I personally promise,” whose words are more likely to be reliable? Is it wise to trust the one who only makes one kind of promise, or the one who makes two kinds of promises, one promise of the unbreakable variety which he makes personally, cross-his-heart-and-hope-to-die, and one promise of the more flexible variety?

EHJ amended the 2nd pāda to puruṣārthāt-parāṅmukhaḥ, on the basis that the Chinese translation “seems quite clearly to have read parāṅmukhaḥ, and [the Tibetan translation] probably did so.” Consequently EHJ translated “If, after having promised friendship, I should resile from the duty of a man...”

PO thought that it made better sense to ascribe the adjective parāṅmukha to the prince rather than to Udāyin, and so reverted to the original parāṅmukhaṁ.

PO is clearly correct on this point. I don't know what possessed EHJ to amend the original Sanskrit primarily on the basis of a Chinese translation which, even at the best of times, only paraphrases the original and which, more often, goes off at its own tangents.

Having reverted to the original reading PO translated puruṣārthāt-parāṅmukhaṁ “who have turned your back on the goals of man.”

I think this translation also is a mistake insofar as puruṣārthāt is originally singular, and what Udāyin has in mind is only the first of the four objects which had long been regarded, in the brahmanical tradition to which Udāyin belonged, as the proper aims of human existence, viz. (1) kāma, the gratification of desire; (2) artha, acquisition of wealth; (3) dharma, doing one's duty; and (4) mokṣa, attaining final emancipation through ascetic striving.

Thus the best translation of parāṅmukhaṁ so far might be the first one, i.e. EBC's “when thou turnest away from the great end of man” -- in which case, by “the great end of man” or “a natural/proper aim of human life,” what Udāyin has in mind is the gratification of sexual desire.

In the end, today's verse might cause us to ask, what is the proper aim of human life? And what is friendship?

For a start, not what hurry-ups like Udāyin think.

For a hurry-up like Udāyin, friendship is something that I personally promise and then I demonstrate. Friendship, then, is all about me.

Similarly, if the Buddha's most fundamental teaching causes us to ask: Where does suffering start? And how does sitting stop it?... The answer might be, for a start, not what the likes of Udāyin think.

How to sit as a means of stopping suffering is the question. Views like those of Udāyin may seem irrelevant to that question, but in truth they might be as relevant as clouds are relevant to a person standing on the earth who wishes to observe the moon.

VOCABULARY

saḥ (nom. sg. m.): that (sometimes , for the sake of emphasis , connected with the 1st and 2nd personal pronouns , with other demonstratives and with relatives e.g. so 'ham , " I that very person , I myself ")

aham (nom. sg. m.): I

maitrīm (acc. sg.): f. friendship , friendliness , benevolence , good will

pratijñāya = abs. prati- √ jñā: to admit , own , acknowledge , acquiesce in , consent to , approve ; to promise

puruṣārthāt (abl. sg.): m. any object of human pursuit; any one of the four objects or aims of existence (viz. kāma , the gratification of desire ; artha , acquirement of wealth ; dharma , discharge of duty ; mokṣa , final emancipation)

puruṣa: m. a man , male , human being (pl. people , mankind) ; a person

artha: mn. aim, purpose ; cause , motive , reason ;

parāṅmukham (acc. sg. m.): mfn. having the face turned away or averted , turning the back upon ; averse from , hostile to , regardless of , shunning , avoiding

yadi: ind. if

tvā (acc. sg. m.): you

samupekṣeya = 1^st pers. sg. optative sam-upa-√īkṣ: to look completely over or beyond , take no notice of , disregard , neglect , abandon

na: not

bhavet = 3rd pers. sg. optative bhū: to be

mitra-tā (nom. sg.): f. friendship

mayi (loc. sg.): me

我既名善友 棄捨丈夫義
言不盡所懷 何名爲三益

BUDDHACARITA 4.64: Targeting Friendship

⏑⏑−⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑−−−¦⏑−⏑−

ahitāt pratiṣedhaś-ca hite cānupravartanam |

⏑⏑−−¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑⏑−−¦⏑−⏑−

vyasane cāparityāgas-trividhaṁ mitra-lakṣaṇam || 4.64

4.64

Keeping one out of harm's way,

Urging one on in the good,

And not deserting one in adversity

Are the three marks of a friend.

COMMENT:

In Saundara-nanda Canto 16 the Buddha tells Nanda, in connection with the four truths of suffering, its cause, its inhibition, and a way of inhibition:

For he who knows suffering as it really is, who knows its starting and its stopping: / It is he who reaches peace by the noble path -- going along with friends in the good (kalyāṇa-mitraiḥ saha vartamānaḥ). // SN16.39 // He who fully appreciates his illness, as the illness it is, who sees the cause of the illness and its remedy: / It is he who wins, before long, freedom from disease -- attended by friends in the know (mitrair-abhijñair-upacaryamāṇaḥ). // SN16.40 // So with regard to the truth of suffering, see suffering as an illness; with regard to the faults, see the faults as the cause of the illness; / With regard to the truth of stopping, see stopping as freedom from disease; and with regard to the truth of a path, see a path as a remedy. // SN16.41 // Comprehend, therefore, that suffering is doing; witness the faults impelling it forward; / Realise its stopping as non-doing; and know the path as a turning back. // SN16.42 //

Udāyin's words in today's verse are somehow reminiscent of the Buddha's teaching. So what exactly are the similarities, and what are the differences?

The main similarity I see is that Udāyin's words seem to follow the order inherent in the universal precept of the seven ancient buddhas, the first thing being prevention of the wrong thing, followed by promotion of the good.

The main difference is the difference between where Udāyin is coming from and where the Buddha is coming from.

Udāyin has got an agenda, by appointment to the King, in consequence of which he is targeting friendship. In Udāyin's approach, friendship is an end which, following a particular methodology – borne of knowing the Fundamental Techniques for Handing People – he is hoping to gain.

When the Buddha speaks of friendship, in contrast, the goal he is working towards is cessation of suffering. On that way, the Buddha seems to indicate, one is naturally accompanied and attended by friends.

Friendship, in the latter understanding, is not something to be targeted – and neither is friendliness a thing to be targeted. Rather, in following a way, friends on that way naturally come and go. And if, while going on that way, malice arises – for example, towards a person enjoying himself in an old aircraft flying low overhead – then friendliness might be a thing to be cultivated, as an antidote to malice.

The Buddha's teaching, as I see it, is not a religion of kindness, or compassion, or friendliness, though it often seems to be thought of as such. It is rather just to sit in lotus, not so much as a standard for doing stuff as a way of inhibition, upon which way it is only natural to be friendly, and along which way friends naturally come and go – without being targeted as such, and not necessarily relying on a theory about what friendship is. 

VOCABULARY

ahitāt (abl. sg. n.): mfn. unfit , improper ; unadvantageous ; noxious , hostile ; n. damage , disadvantage , evil

pratiṣedhaḥ (nom. sg.): m. keeping back , warding off , prevention , repulsion (of a disease) ; prohibition , refusal , denial

prati-ṣidh: (√sidh) to drive away ; to keep back , ward off , prevent , restrain from (abl.) ; to forbid , prohibit , disallow

ca: and

hite (loc. sg. n.): mfn. beneficial , advantageous , salutary , wholesome , suitable , agreeing with; n. (sg. or pl.) anything useful or salutary or suitable or proper , benefit , advantage , profit , service , good , welfare , good advice &c

ca: and

anupravartanam (nom. sg.): n. urging to (loc.)

anu-pra- √ vṛt : to proceed along or after

vartana: n. the act of turning or rolling or rolling on or moving forward or about (trans. and intrans.)

vyasane (loc. sg.): n. moving to and fro , wagging (of a tail) ; evil predicament or plight , disaster , accident , evil result , calamity , misfortune (vyasanāni pl. misfortunes) , ill-luck , distress , destruction , defeat , fall , ruin

ca: and

a-: (negative prefix)

parityāgaḥ (nom. sg.): m. the act of leaving , abandoning , deserting , quitting , giving up , neglecting , renouncing

pari- √ tyaj : to leave , quit , abandon , give up , reject , disregard , not heed

trividham (nom. sg. n.): mfn. of 3 kinds , triple , threefold

mitra-lakṣaṇam (nom. sg. n.): the mark of a friend

mitra: m. a friend , companion , associate

lakṣaṇa: mfn. indicating , expressing indirectly ; n. a mark , sign , symbol , token , characteristic , attribute , quality (ifc. = " marked or characterized by " , " possessed of ")

朋友有三種 能除不饒益
成人饒益事 遭難不遺棄

BUDDHACARITA 4.63: The Big Aham

⏑−⏑⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑−−−¦⏑−⏑−

ahaṁ n-patinā dattaḥ sakhā tubhyaṁ kṣamaḥ kila |

−−⏑⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑−⏑⏑¦⏑−⏑−

yasmāt-tvayi vivakṣā me tayā praṇaya-vat-tayā || 4.63

4.63

“I am, by appointment to the King,

Fit, so he thinks, to be a friend to you;

On which grounds I am going to speak to you

As frankly as this.

COMMENT:

In a series of twenty verses from here to 4.82 Udāyin addresses the prince as part of a pattern we examined in connection with the striver who speaks to Nanda at length in Saundara-nanda cantos 8 and 9. The pattern is essentially that a man with an agenda announces himself as having no agenda and proceeds to talk eloquent rubbish, supported by plentiful references to what modern-day scientists of a similar ilk call “the literature.”

Up is down, and back is forward. [FN: See B. Liar and C.C. del Toro; American Journal of Buddho-psychology, Jan.1995]

Udāyin is going to speak to the prince about friendship, not on the grounds of friendship, but on the grounds of wishing to please the King.

What Udāyin should speak frankly about, if we were to speak frankly about anything, would be what it is like to have an egotistical agenda which makes it difficult, or impossible, to speak to another person as a friend.

But instead of that, lying to self and others, Hurry-Up Udāyin announces himself like one of those people who preface their lies with phrases like “To be perfectly honest with you...”

I think that Aśvaghoṣa, being familiar with the ways of royal courts, might have based his portrayal of Udāyin on people like Udāyin who he had observed in action.

In the country where I live there are a couple of blokes named William and Harry who, similarly, must have met plenty of people like Udāyin – people with the agenda of befriending a prince.

In this and the coming series of verses, then, I think Aśvaghoṣa's sense of irony is again at play. He is well aware, primarily as a result of many years of practice of non-doing, how an agenda to get somewhere is liable to become the very thing that prevents us from getting anywhere. An agenda to go in the right direction, indeed, is liable to be the very thing that causes us actually to go in the wrong direction – forward when we want to stay back, and down when we want to go up.

If I seem harsh in my criticism of poor old Hurry-Up Udāyin, it is only because of using him as a mirror in which to see my inauthentic self, who has spent too much of his life rushing around with self-important consciousness of a right royal agenda. 

VOCABULARY

aham (nom. sg. m.): I

nṛ-patinā (inst. sg.): m. " lord of men " , king

dattaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. ( √ de) protected, honoured ; mfn. ( √dā) given , granted , presented ; placed , extended

sakhā = nom. sg. sakhi: m. a friend , assistant , companion

tubhyam (dat. sg. m.): for you

kṣamaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. fit , appropriate , becoming , suitable , proper for (gen. dat.)

kila: ind. (a particle of asseveration or emphasis) indeed , verily , assuredly; " so said " " so reported " , pretendedly ; (kila is preceded by the word on which it lays stress ; according to native lexicographers kila may be used in communicating intelligence , and may imply " probably " , " possibly " , " agreement " , " dislike " , " falsehood " , " inaccuracy " , and " reason. ")

yasmāt: ind. from which, wherefore

tvayi (loc. sg. m.): to you

vivakṣā (nom. sg.): f. (fr. Desid. of √ vac) the wish or desire to speak or declare or teach or express

me (gen. sg.): of/in me

tayā (inst. sg. f.): that, this

praṇaya-vat-tayā (inst. sg. f.) with frankness, with love

praṇaya-vat: mfn. possessing candour , unceremonious , frank , open , confident ; attached or devoted to , loving

pra-ṇaya: m. a leader ; guidance , conduct ; manifestation , display ; affection , confidence in (loc.) , love , attachment , friendship , favour

-tā: (feminine abstract noun suffix)

大王先見勅
爲子作良友 今當奉誠言

BUDDHACARITA 4.62: How To Win Friends & Influence People

⏑−−⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑⏑−−¦⏑−⏑−

iti dhyāna-paraṁ dṣṭvā viṣayebhyo gata-spham |

⏑−−−¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑⏑−⏑¦⏑−⏑−

udāyī nīti-śāstra-jñas-tam-uvāca suhttayā || 4.62

4.62

Seeing the prince thus absorbed in thinking

And without desire for objects,

Udāyin, knowing the rules of how to handle people,

Said to him, in a spirit of friendship:

COMMENT:

In the 1st pāda dhyāna is from the root √dhyā or √dhyai, which means to think, visualize, contemplate, meditate; or to be thoughtful, meditative, reflective.

So on the surface dhyāna means thinking of the kind that the prince has been engrossed in for the past six verses – the kind of thinking, that is, that might be called intellectual or philosophical thinking.

But dhyāna also means meditation, Zen meditation; in other words “thinking in activity” – the kind of thinking that is more in evidence in the sporting arena or the Alexander teaching room than it is in the classroom or lecture hall.

The first stage of this latter kind of thinking, as Aśvaghoṣa describes it, is characterized by freedom from the taint of desire for objects, and is characterized at the same time by the presence of ideas and thoughts. Hence:

Distanced from desires and tainted things, containing ideas and containing thoughts, / Born of solitude and possessed of joy and ease, is the first stage of meditation, which he then entered. // SN17.42 // Released from the burning of the bonfire of desires, he derived great gladness from ease in the act of meditating -- / Ease like a heat-exhausted man diving into water. Or like a pauper coming into great wealth. // SN17.43 //

So we could understand that dhyāna expresses two kinds of thinking, both of which are present in the first stage of sitting-meditation, but only one of which is a factor in latter stages of sitting-meditation.

Or we could understand, more simply, that dhyāna means thinking, an activity centred in a person's top two inches (or frontal cortex?), absorption in which tends to be associated with absence of desires for objects.

In the end what is sitting-meditation? Is it thinking? Is it not thinking anything? Is it doing? Is it not doing anything?

The intention behind a verse like today's might be to encourage us to ask such questions, but not to try and come up with an answer in the form of a view or a theory.

It might seem like I have a strong view on this subject of thinking but what I am expressing – at least on a good day – is not a view. I am expressing strong antipathy to the espousing of views and theories as if they were the Buddha's teaching.

A view on how to sit, as a follower of the Buddha's teaching, is a priori false. Understanding of how NOT to sit, however, might be a different matter.

So yes, when it comes to how to sit, I know nothing. But when it comes to knowing how NOT to sit, I've paid my dues and I know what I know. So if you want to step into the ring with me armed only with your Zen views and opinions, you, my friend, are going down.

I think that Aśvaghoṣa also felt the aforementioned antipathy to peddlers of views and adherents of theories, which is why he provided us with the character he called Hurry-Up Udāyin, a kind of punch bag to be painlessly abused by the reader.

Thus when he describes Udāyin in today's verse as nīti-śāstra-jñaḥ, “knowing the rules of polity,” I think Aśvaghoṣa had in mind the kind of knowledge that today we might associate with a grinning salesman who was versed in books like Dale Carnegie's famous How to Win Friends & Influence People, with sections including Fundamental Techniques in Handling People, and Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking.

I note with wry amusement that way no. 2 in Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking is:

Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say "You're Wrong."

Rule number one in handling comments for this blog is never show any respect for anybody's view or opinion, but always remember that all views and opinions are a priori wrong.

The truth is that, if we follow the Buddha's teaching as transmitted by Aśvaghoṣa, we are all in the business of being gradually less wrong. In which case, the whole point might be that you are wrong and I am wrong. Moreover, until such time as we really begin to understand the 3^rd noble truth, it might be impossible for us not to make ourselves even wronger than we already are, by trying to be right.

"You stand accused of the sin of trying to be right. How do you plead?" 

"Guilty mi'lud. And in sentencing I would like 84,000 previous offences to be taken into consideration."

One way to win friends and influence people is to get hold, by hook or by crook, of a certificate of Dharma-transmission, set yourself up as a Zen master, conscientiously follow DC's rules, and encourage your new friends to try to sit still in the right posture. There might be no surer way to fuck up their lives.

My teacher Gudo Nishijima fucked up many people's lives. In 1997 Mike Luetchford staged a kind of coup against me, knocking me out of a translation partnership that had grown up over 15 years, and thereafter stepping into my shoes as Gudo's translation partner for the translation of Nāgārjuna's MMK – a project that ended in tears for both sides. Even now it is hard, or impossible, for me not to blame Mike Luetchford for what happened at that time. Equally it is hard not for me to blame myself. But ultimate blame lies with the teacher, or with the master – which is what Gudo was trying to be, a true Zen master. I venture that what Gudo should have done is learn first how NOT to sit. Then he might have been a true Zen master without having to try. As it was, with the best of intentions, and in a sincere spirit of friendship (suhṛttayā), peoples lives he did fuck up. 

Most of those people seem to keep quiet about it, in some cases maybe for fear of spitting upwards, in some cases maybe because that is what the abused generally tend to do. 

When I was young I was extremely ambitious. Nowadays I hope I am less so, though I wouldn't claim to be totally free of fish to fry – because my unconscious reactions often show me that I have fish to fry. With the Shobogenzo translation, I wanted to make my mark. Sadly it turned out to be a dirty mark. Maybe things would have turned out different if I had attended to Dale Carnegie's rules for how to win friends and influence people. In any event, spring is on the way and I will soon be off to France for a few weeks to live alone and influence nobody.

VOCABULARY

iti: thus

dhyāna-param (acc. sg. m.): mfn. engaged in meditation , thoughtful

dhyāna: n. meditation , thought , reflection

parā: f. any chief matter or paramount object (ifc. having as the chief object , given up to , occupied with , engrossed in , intent upon , resting on , consisting of , serving for , synonymous with &c)

dṛṣṭvā = abs. dṛś: to see

viṣayebhyaḥ (abl./dat. pl.): m. objects

gata-spṛham (acc. sg. m.): mfn. having no desire , not finding any pleasure in (loc. or gen.); disinterested

gata: mfn. gone, absent

spṛh: to be eager , desire eagerly , long for

udāyī (nom. sg.): m. 'Hastening Up,' Udāyin

nīti-śāstra-jñaḥ (nom. sg. m.): knowing the rules of management/diplomacy/political science

nīti: f. leading or bringing , guidance , management ; conduct , (esp.) right or wise or moral conduct or behaviour , prudence , policy (also personified) , political wisdom or science , moral philosophy or precept (also pl.)

nīti-jña: mfn. conversant with political science or policy; m. a statesman , politician

śāstra: n. an order , command , precept , rule ; teaching , instruction , direction , advice , good counsel ; any instrument of teaching , any manual or compendium of rules , any bock or treatise , (esp.) any religious or scientific treatise , any sacred book or composition of divine authority ; a body of teaching (in general) , scripture , science

śāstra-jña: mfn. acquainted with the śāstras , learned , a specialist ; a mere theorist

tam (acc. sg. m.): him

uvāca = 3^rd pers. sg. vac: to speak

suhṛttayā (inst. sg.): f. friendship , friendliness , affection

爾時優陀夷 來至太子所
見宴默禪思 心無五欲想

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