BUDDHACARITA 8.47: Letting Action Be Grasped (Again)

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−   Vaṁśastha

yad-apramatto 'pi narendra-śāsanād-ghe pure caiva sahasraśo janaḥ |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−

tadā sa nābudhyata nidrayā htas-tato 'pi daivo vidhir-eṣa ghyatām || 8.47

8.47

In accordance with the instruction of the best of men,

People in their thousands, in house and town,

were leaving nothing unattended;

In that moment all were seized by repose

and not roused to wakefulness –

Hence, again, let this be grasped as action in the zone of the gods.

COMMENT:

In the 1^st pāda of today's verse, once again, narendra-śāsana (like the rāja-śāsana of BC8.44) ostensibly means the decree of King Śuddhodana. But below the surface narendra-śāsana means the teaching of the Buddha.

In another parallel with BC8.44 (where jānann api = “knowing full-well”), the api of the 1^st pāda ostensibly means “though” (“observant though they were of the king's command” [EHJ]) but below the surface api is emphatic (leaving [absolutely] nothing unattended).

Ostensibly, then, the people in question, apramattaḥ janaḥ, are guards whose job it is to be observant, attentive, mindful, diligent, anything but careless (“diligent guards had been placed by thousands” [EBC]). 

Below the surface, what are we to make of apramattaḥ janaḥ? On one level it might mean people who, in accordance with the Buddha's teaching, are observant, attentive, mindful, diligent, anything but careless and inattentive. On one level, in other words, apramattaḥ might describe all-knowing buddhas and mindful bodhisattvas. At a deeper level of irony, being mindful that a-pramattaḥ is a compound beginning with a negative prefix, we might take a-pramattaḥ as a more deeply ironic description of people who, in the area of nothingness or being without (a-) are negligent, intoxicated, heedless, and careless (pramatta). At a deeper level of irony, in other words, a-pramattaḥ might be read as describing non-buddhas who have forgotten all about themselves, their minds not being concentrated on anything. Going further, there may be deeper and deeper depths of apramattaḥ janaḥ that so far I have neither fathomed nor plumbed.

Ostensibly in the 3^rd pāda tadā (then, at that moment) expresses a moment at which something changed – the guards were being vigilant, and then, tadā, at that particular moment, they fell asleep. But below the surface I read tadā as pointing to that moment, described in all three pādas, in which action takes place. This is the moment that Dogen frequently refers to as SHOTO-INMO-JI, “that very moment.” Being seized by sleep / slumber / quiesence / repose and not being roused to self-conscious "wakefulness," then, can be read as an ironic description of people who are a-pramattaḥ, leaving nothing unattended, as they carelessly drop off body and mind. Below the surface, in other words, leaving nothing unattended and having dropped off are two ironic descriptions of one moment in the same ineffable state of action.

It is a difficult point to grasp, and so I shall labour it.

On the surface, the api of the 1^st pāda indicates an opposition between (a) a-pramattaḥ, being vigilant / observant / attentive / mindful, and (b) nidrayā hṛtaḥ, being seized by sleep. But below the surface there is no such opposition: (a) a-pramattaḥ, being truly mindful, or being careless in the matter of nothing, and (b) nidrayā hṛtaḥ, being carried away by slumber / repose, are ironic descriptions of the same ineffable state of action.

A final reflection on today's verse, born of lying in bed this frosty morning waiting to generate sufficient will to get up, is that here I am lying here lazily, reflecting on the train-wreck of my life, thinking about who I am and how and why I have continued to get everything wrong, while at the same time thinking how best to express and explain the forgetting of myself in the balanced state of action.

This was a little slice of irony before breakfast in a cosmos whose very substance seems to be irony. 

Who is to blame for all this bloody irony? One top candidate, from ancient times through to modern times, has been the gods. So the reference to the gods which is repeated in the 4^th pāda of yesterday's, today's and tomorrow's verses,  can be read on one level as suggesting action in the zone, action in that bubble of conscious control wherein the gods seem to be with us. But on maybe a deeper level, when Aśvaghoṣa refers to the gods he might have had in mind that ironic sense of humour which Marjory Barlow detected lurking in the background to all our human folly.

As Marjory put it so eloquently back in 1965:

The Alexander technique will work wherever it is applied. It is not magic, but does its job at the point of application. How deeply it is applied depends on the aims and wishes of the person concerned. If the aim is to get rid of a pain in the back it will do so effectively by bringing into consciousness the 'wrong doing' which is producing the pain. If the aim is greater awareness of habitual reactions in other departments of the self, it will work there too, and by the same process. We are all bound in the prison of habit. We have habits of thought -- unexamined fixed opinions and prejudices which determine our behaviour without our realising it. We are also the victims of emotional reaction. These are very powerful driving forces. A young pupil of my husband's, when she first realised the importance of these things, burst out, "Oh, I see, Dr. Barlow, this is a life-sentence." Alexander's favourite way of describing his work was as "a means of controlling human reaction." Under this basic umbrella can be included every form of blind, unconscious reaction, and here we come to the whole question of Self-Knowledge. The muscular bad habits of misuse harm only oneself -- unconscious habits of thought and emotion harm oneself and other people, because they determine our reactions to everyone else. It could be said that we use other people to practise our unconscious bad habits on. The greatest misery and misunderstanding we experience is often in this field of personal relationships. Of course, these inner emotional states are mirrored in the way we use ourselves -- states of rage, anxiety, and fear -- to take only the most obvious examples -- are there for all the world to see by the unmistakeable bodily attitudes. This is also true of more subtle inner conditions such as depression, worry and hopelessness. In some way the constant and deep reaction-patterns are more obvious to other people than to ourselves. I sometimes think that there is a wry sense of humour lurking somewhere in the background of the Universe permitting this tragi-comic state of affairs, where certain characteristics of a person are known and clearly seen by everyone, except the person himself.

VOCABULARY 

yad: = " so that " , " in order that " , " wherefore " , " whence " , " as " , " in as much as " , " since " , " because " [the correlative being tad , " therefore "] , " when " , " if "

yadā [EBC]: when

apramattaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. not careless , careful , attentive , vigilant ; [forgetful of nothing ; heedless in nothing]

pramatta: mfn. excited , wanton , lascivious , rutting ; drunken , intoxicated ; inattentive , careless , heedless , negligent , forgetful of (abl. or comp.)

pra- √mad: to enjoy one's self , be joyous , sport , play ; to be careless or negligent , to be indifferent to or heedless about (abl. or loc.)

api: and , also , moreover , besides , assuredly , surely

narendra-śāsanāt (abl. sg): by the king's instruction [see BC8.44]

śāsana: n. punishment , chastisement , correction ; n. government ; n. an order , command , edict , enactment , decree , direction

gṛhe (loc. sg.): m. a house , habitation , home ; m. the inhabitants of a house , family ; domestic or family life ; n. a name , appellation

pure (loc. sg.): n. a fortress , castle , city , town ; the female apartments , gynaeceum ; the body (cf. 3. pur, the body considered as the stronghold of the puruṣa )

ca: and

eva: emphatic

sahasraśaḥ: ind. by thousands

janaḥ (nom. sg.): m. people

tadā: ind. then, at that time

sa (nom. sg. m.): it [the group of people]

na: not

abudhyata = 3^rd pers. sg. imperfect [or imperfect passive] budh: to wake , wake up , be awake ; [passive] to be awakened or restored to consciousness ;

nidrayā = inst. sg. f. sleep , slumber , sleepiness , sloth

hṛtaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. taken, carried away, seized ; ravished , charmed , fascinated

tataḥ: ind. from that, hence, consequently

api: also

daivaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. belonging to or coming from the gods , divine , celestial ; depending on fate , fatal

vidhih (nom. sg.): m. a rule , formula , injunction , ordinance , statute , precept , law , direction ; method , manner or way of acting , mode of life , conduct , behaviour ; any act or action , performance , accomplishment , contrivance , work , business

eṣa (nom. sg. m.): this, this here

gṛhyatām = 3^rd pers. sg. passive imperative grah: to grasp

斯皆天神力 

[same characters summarize next verse as well] 

BUDDHACARITA 8.46: Finding the Way Out Open and the Light Shining (When the Gods Are With Us)

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−   Vaṁśastha

yadā bahir-gacchati pārthivātmaje-tadābhavad-dvāram-apāvtaṁ svayam |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−

tamaś-ca naiśaṁ raviṇeva pāṭitaṁ tato 'pi daivo vidhir-eṣa ghyatām || 8.46

8.46

The moment that the prince moved outwards

The way out spontaneously became open

And the darkness of night was broken as if by the sun –

Hence, again, let this be grasped as action in the presence of the gods.

COMMENT:

Sometimes I get on my own nerves, constantly repeating the formula ostensibly today's verse means that but as I read it it means this; so the three professors translated it like that, but I translate it like this.

Making such comments every day makes me sound and feel wiser than I am. This morning I woke up early and got up early with a bit of a headache. As I sat in the darkness before dawn, I didn't feel so wise, and I didn't feel that the gods were with me. If sitting in full lotus is always the king of samādhis, and samādhi is a state like the sea, then this morning the sea, at least on the surface, seemed cold and grey.

But having made a cup of strong tea and dragged myself upstairs to this office, and re-directed my attention to today's verse, I find myself wanting to translate the word bahir in the 1^st pāda as “outwards,” in such a way as to emphasize the sense of movement in the right direction.

Then I can't help but ask myself how the three professors understood it. EBC: “when the prince went out”; EHJ: “when the king's son went forth”; PO: “as the king's son departed.”

So ostensibly it means when the prince went out/forth. But the real meaning of gacchati bahir, as I read it, is not so much “going out” as “moving to go outwards.”

What's the difference? It has to do with the principle that I cannot do the right thing directly, because the right thing does itself. But it is possible to learn how to get oneself going in the right direction.

Thus Marjory Barlow never intimated for a moment that I might be right. She always emphasized the opposite – that there was no future in being right, but everything to be gained by being happy to be wrong. But what she did sometimes say by way of encouragement at the end of a lesson, as I was leaving her in peace, was “You are going well.”

“You are going well” meant, in other words, “You are wrong as hell, but, thanks to my uncle's work, just now you are going in the right direction.”

Marjory's uncle, for anybody who is reading this blog for the first time, was FM Alexander, founder of the technique which bears his name, who famously said: “There is no such thing as a right position, but there is such a thing as a right direction.”

And “a right direction,” in the 1^st pāda of today's verse, as I read it, is expressed as bahir, outwards.

In the 2^nd pāda, ostensibly, the phrase abhavad-dvāram-apāvṛtaṁ svayam is describing the kind of miracle that nobody has ever yet witnessed – an event like a gate opening itself in defiance of the 2^nd law of thermodynamics. But below the surface the intention might be to describe the kind of everyday miracle which is described by the 2^nd law of thermodynamics – an event like muscles giving up undue tension as body and mind spontaneously drop off.

Ostensibly, then, abhavad-dvāram-apāvṛtaṁ svayam means “the gate opened by itself” – hence: “the gate was thrown open of its own accord” (EBC); “The gate was thrown open of itself” (EHJ); or “the gate opened on its own” (PO).

More literally, however, abhavad-dvāram-apāvṛtaṁ svayam means “the entrance / exit spontaneously became open.” Dvāram (singular) is more exactly understood not as one gate but as an entrance / exit, i.e. as a means of passage, with two gates or two doors. The reason I say this is that in BC5.70 two gates or two doors (kapāṭe, dual) are described as being spontaneously opened (vivṛte svayam): 

As the women, abandoning all shame and submission, relaxed in front of me; / And as the doors opened, spontaneously (vivṛte ca yathā svayaṁ kapāṭe), it is doubtless time to depart, in pursuit of wellness.”//BC5.70/

This distinction, between two doors and one way out, is worth making because, understood as “a way out,” dvāram can be taken as an expression of sitting-meditation itself, akin to Dogen's 出身活路 (SHUSSHIN NO KATSURO), lit. “vigorous road of getting the body out." This is precisely the allusion that Aśvaghoṣa himself already made in BC5.66:

When he had seen this deficiency in the other, the desire sprang up in him to escape in the night; / Whereupon, under the influence of gods, who were steeped in this mind, the entrance of the palace was found to be wide open. [Or the way to freedom from existence was seen to be wide open.] (bhavana-dvāram-apāvṛtaṁ babhūva) //BC5.66//

In the 3^rd pāda, as I read it, the darkness of night is a metaphor for the darkness of ignorance – not only the kind of darkness that I sat in this morning before dawn, but also the kind of darkest ignorance I sat in for 12 of the 13 years I spent in Japan, thinking and feeling that the way to be upright was to pull my chin in so as to keep the neck bones straight vertically.

The 4^th pāda is ostensibly Chandaka's renewed plea to Yaśodharā to believe that the gods ate his homework. Hence, for example, EHJ: “this therefore too must be understood to have been of divine ordering.” But in the original Sanskrit the past tense is not specified, and in translation I have gone out of my way to avoid the past tense, so that we can also read the 4^th pāda, below the surface, as an exhortation to grasp, here and now, what action really is, on a good day, in the zone, abiding on what FM Alexander called “the plane of constructive conscious control,” when the gods seem to be on our side.

That action makes us balanced was absolutely the central teaching of my Zen teacher Gudo Nishijima, and the teaching is demonstrably true. You don't have to be a Buddhist to affirm this truth. In Gudo's book, to affirm this truth was to be a follower of the Buddha, whatever you called yourself. My teacher knew full well what today's verse is all about, at least in principle.

Thus Gudo taught us, his students, action makes us balanced. The moment we go into action, we are already in balance, like somebody getting going on a bicycle. 

Against this kind of background, I find episodes of the Dog Whisperer on youtube to be compelling viewing. Cesar Millan says that he trains people and rehabilitates dogs. In rehabilitating dogs Cesar applies the universal principle that action makes us balanced. What it means in practice is, if you want your dog to be balanced, take it for a walk.

But here is the thing. Even people who have watched episodes of the Dog Whisperer and read Cesar's books, so that they know very well the truth that the way to make a dog balanced is to take it for a walk, don't actually know how to take a dog for a walk. For a start they need to be taught, in Cesar's words, “to master the walk.”

A parallel can be drawn between these dog owners in training and we Zen practitioners who are totally committed to Dogen's teachings, now that we have read it translated into English, and yet who in our everyday life repeatedly find the way out closed and ourselves surrounded in the all-encompassing darkness of ignorance.

The reason I came back to England at the end of 1994 with a view to training as a teacher of the FM Alexander Technique was that I knew damn well that under Gudo I was like a dog whose owner had never understood how to walk a dog – much less establish a balanced pack.

Gudo's genius was in the area of clarity of intellectual thinking. In the practical area, and particularly in the matter of how to sit well, he was literally worse than useless. 

I sense that Cesar Millan might have had a field day with my teacher: “You might be a Zen master, but you don't know how to walk a dog.”

Would my teacher mind me describing him like this? He once warned me not to spit upwards. But, unless I am deluding myself, I don't feel like I am spitting upwards. I feel more like I am endeavouring (1) to tell the truth; (2) to see and to paint all things as part of one big picture; and (3) to clarify in Aśvaghoṣa's writing the very truth that my teacher endeavored to clarify in Dogen's writing. The truth in question, again, is that action makes us balanced, and it is the gist of today's verse as I read it.

VOCABULARY

yadā (correlative of tadā in b or tataḥ in d): when , at what time , whenever (generally followed by the correlatives tadā , tataḥ)

yataḥ [EHJ] (correlative of tataḥ in d): ind. from which or what , whence , whereof , wherefrom ; wherefore , for which reason ; since

bahiḥ: ind. out , forth , outwards , outside (a house , village , city , kingdom &c ) with √ gam , or yā , to go out

gacchati = loc. sg. m. pres. part. gam: to go , move , go away , set out , come

pārthivātmajaḥ (nom. sg. m.): the prince

pārthivātmaje [EHJ] (loc. sg. m.): the prince ; the self-begotten of a lord of the earth

pārthiva: mfn. earthen , earthy , earthly , being in or relating to or coming from the earth , terrestrial ; fit for kings or princes , royal , princely ; m. an inhabitant of the earth ; m. a lord of the earth , king , prince , warrior ; m. an earthen vessel

ātmaja: m. born from or begotten by one's self " , a son

tadā: ind. at that time , then , in that case

abhavat = 3^rd pers. sg. imperf. bhū: to be, become

dvāram (nom. sg.): n. door , gate , passage , entrance ; a way , means , medium

apāvtam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. open , laid open ; unrestrained , self willed

svayam: ind. self , one's self (applicable to all persons e.g. myself , thyself , himself &c ) , of or by one's self spontaneously , voluntarily , of one's own accord

tamaḥ (nom. sg.): n. darkness , gloom ; mental darkness , ignorance , illusion , error

ca: and

naiśam (nom. sg. n.): relating to night , happening at night , nightly , nocturnal ; walking or studying at night

raviṇā (inst. sg.): m. the sun or sun-god

iva: like, as if

pāṭitam (nom. sg. n.): mfn. split , torn , broken , divided

paṭ: to split , open , burst asunder ; causative: to split , burst (trans.) , cleave , tear , pierce , break , pluck out , remove

tataḥ: ind. from that, hence, consequently

api: also

daivaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. belonging to or coming from the gods , divine , celestial ; depending on fate , fatal

vidhih (nom. sg.): m. a rule , formula , injunction , ordinance , statute , precept , law , direction ; method , manner or way of acting , mode of life , conduct , behaviour ; any act or action , performance , accomplishment , contrivance , work , business

eṣa (nom. sg. m.): this, this here

gṛhyatām = 3^rd pers. sg. passive imperative grah: to grasp

城門自然開 虚空自然明

BUDDHACARITA 8.45: Allowing Space for Separate Dangling of Extremities

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−   Vaṁśastha

vrajann-ayaṁ vāji-varo 'pi nāspśan-mahīṁ khurāgrair-vidhtair-ivāntarā |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−

tathaiva daivād-iva saṁyatānano hanu-svanaṁ nākta nāpy-aheṣata || 8.45

8.45

This royal war-horse, also, as he went, did not touch the ground,

The tips of his hooves seeming to dangle separately in midair.

His mouth was sealed as if, again, by a divine force;

He neither neighed nor made a sound with his jaws

[neither neighed nor sounded the warning of death and disease].

COMMENT:

Ostensibly, again, Chandaka sounds like a schoolboy making his lame excuses – “It wasn't me miss, honestly. It was the gods what done it.”

But the real or hidden point of Chandaka's words is to describe the kind of action that sportsmen and women and actors and other kinds of performers experience when they are in the zone, or when the gods are with them.

And the particular action that the Horse-Whisperer Aśvaghoṣa might have in mind, using the  princely war-horse Kanthaka as a symbol for the Śākya prince (and maybe also, autobiographically, for the Horse-Whisperer himself), is the action of sitting upright, being as if suspended midway (antarā) between heaven and earth.

Was Bodhidharma a Zen patriarch who just sat, facing the wall, silently suspended in space, lips constantly sealed, so that he never sounded any verbal warning of death and disease?

Was Aśvaghoṣa, in contrast, a great Sanskrit poet who devoted every waking moment to words, so that the Buddha's warning of death and disease might be sounded through the reciting out loud of kāvya poetry?

In the popular imagination, the answers might be yes and yes. But the true answers might be no and no. The truth is that Bodhidharma did open his mouth, if only to say "You have got my marrow."  The truth is, equally, that Aśvaghoṣa was a Zen patriarch, whose practice of just sitting Bodhidharma transmitted into China. 

This being so, I think today's verse might be intended below the surface to have an autobiographical element, so that ostensibly Aśvaghoṣa was relating an ancient legend that appealed to superstitious types who believed in gods, but really he was writing out of his own experience.

The experience under investigation is the experience of, when walking, the feet never touching the ground, and, when sitting, the extremities seeming to dangle separately as if in midair. It may be that out of such separation is born enjoyment of the first dhyāna, the first stage of sitting-meditation.

The great challenge in life, it seems to me, is continuing to want that kind of separation before one wants anything else.

In Alexander work it is investigated and recognized that separate dangling of extremities (aka head going forward and up, back lengthening and widening, knees going forwards and away, widening across the upper part of the arms, wrists and ankles being free, et cetera) is not difficult to allow, if a pupil wishes it or simply thinks it, in preparation for going into movment. The difficulty is that none of us has evolved to wish like that or to think like that. We have evolved not to wish for balance, and not to think in a way that conduces to balance; we have evolved rather to go directly into movement. We have evolved to go directly for any end we happen to desire. Enjoyment of action in the balanced state may be our birthright as human beings, but we haven't evolved to want it. So some of us, probably most of us in developed countries, stand to benefit from learning to want it and learning (or being trained) how to allow it. 

This kind of recognition, incidentally, was behind the idea I had five years ago to approach this translation one verse at a time, one day at a time, leaving plenty of space between the lines for separate dangling of extremities. 

VOCABULARY

vrajan = nom. sg. m. pres. part. vraj: to go , walk , proceed , travel , wander , move

ayam (nom. sg. m.): this

vāji-varaḥ (nom. sg. m.): best of war-horses ; princely war-horse

vājin: m. warrior, hero ; m. the steed of a war-chariot ; m. a horse, stallion

vara: mfn. choicest, valuable , precious , best , most excellent or eminent among (comp); (ifc.) royal , princely

api: also, even

na: not

aspṛśan = 3^rd pers. sg. imperfect spṛś: to touch

mahīm (acc. sg.): f. " the great world " , the earth (in later language also = ground , soil , land , country)

khurāgraiḥ (inst. pl.): n. the tip of a hoof, Bcar

khura: hoof

agra: tip

vidhṛtaiḥ (inst. pl. n.): mfn. kept asunder , divided , separated; kept off ; held, borne

vi- √ dhṛ : to hold , bear , carry

iva: like, as if

antarā: ind. in the middle ; midway ; in midair

tathaiva: ind. exactly so; in like manner

daivāt (abl. sg. n.): mfn. belonging to or coming from the gods , divine , celestial ; depending on fate , fatal ; n. a deity ; n. divine power or will , destiny , fate , chance (daivāt ind. by chance , accidentally)

iva: like, as if

saṁyatānanaḥ (nom. sg. m.): his mouth bound up ; his breathing held in

saṁyata: mfn. held together , held in , held fast &c ; self-contained , self-controlled with regard to (loc. instr. , or comp.) ; tied together , bound up , fettered , confined , imprisoned , captive ; closed ; kept in order ; m. " one who controls himself " , N. of śiva

saṁ- √ yat: to unite (in trans.) , meet together , encounter (rarely " as friends " , generally " as enemies ") , contend , engage in contest or strife , quarrel ; to unite , join together (trans.)

ānana: n. the mouth ; the face

anana: n. breathing , living

hanu-svanam (acc. sg.): m. sound made with the jaws Bcar. [but see BC8.41]

na: not

akṛta = 3^rd pers. sg. aorist kṛ: to do, make

na: not

api: even

aheṣata = 3^rd pers. sg. aorist heṣ: to neight, whinny

倶去疾如飛
厭氣令無聲 足亦不觸地

BUDDHACARITA 8.44: Effortless Following, On the Road Again

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−   Vaṁśastha

ahaṁ hi jānann-api rāja-śāsanaṁ balāt-ktaḥ kair-api daivatair-iva |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−

upānayaṁ tūrṇam-imaṁ turaṅgamaṁ tathānvagacchaṁ vigata-śramo 'dhvani || 8.44

8.44

For, knowing full-well the instruction of the king,

As though I were compelled by gods of some description,

I swiftly brought this swift horse

And in that effortless manner followed, on the road.

COMMENT:

Ostensibly Chandaka is offering an excuse along the lines of “The dog ate my homework.”

But below the surface, the hidden meaning of today's verse, as I read it, carries on where the hidden meaning of yesterday's verse left off.

Understood like that, the king's instruction (rāja-śāsanam) means the teaching of the Dharma-king. And the central teaching of the Dharma-king, in my book for one, is the instruction 自成一片, “naturally/spontaneously become all of one piece.”

In that light, again,

being compelled by gods of some kind or other (balāt-kṛtaḥ kair-api daivataiḥ),

being swift (tūrṇam),

going swiftly or moving readily (turaṁgamam), and

being effortless (vigata-śramaḥ)

are all likewise (tathā) expressions of naturalness or spontaneity
 – i.e. the自of

自

成

一

片

So if we follow the ostensible meaning, the api of the 1^st pāda means “even though [I knew the king's instruction, something made me go against it].”

But if we follow the real or hidden meaning, the api is emphatic “[knowing] full well [the instruction of the Dharma-king, I acted naturally, spontaneously, effortlessly].”

In the real or hidden meaning, then, the horse-master did not act as he did in spite of knowing the king's instruction. He acted as he did because of knowing the king's instruction.

The two readings are each perfectly valid, but the intent of each is diametrically opposed to the other.

The three professors, never having listened with their own ears to the fundamental instruction of a king of the Buddha-dharma, could only suppose that the king in question was King Śuddhodana. Thinking Aśvaghoṣa to be some kind of humourless Buddhist missionary hell-bent on converting others to his religion, they missed his underlying irony and translated api as “though” (EBC), “although” (EHJ), and “even though” (PO).

Not only in today's verse, but in general, because Buddhist academics have failed to realize how subversive the Buddha's teaching really is to the kind of views and opinions in which Buddhist academics deal, Buddhist academics have failed to appreciate the very thing – Aśvaghoṣa's brilliant and pervasive use of irony – that might cause a modern audience to think afresh about what the Buddha's teaching originally was.

People think and say that all religions – including “Buddhism” – come down in their essence to the same thing, which is namely love and compassion.

But the Buddha's teaching, in my book, is much closer to the teaching of Cesar Millan than it is to teaching of religions which preach the primacy of love of some god or other.

Why? Because Cesar, taking the dharma of mother nature as his teacher, has understood that in nature, balance through what he calls “exercise and discipline” comes first, followed by the soppy stuff – affection, love, compassion et cetera – always in that order.

What the Horse-Whisperer Aśvaghośa, through the horse-master Chandaka, is describing in today's verse, and what he will continue to describe in the next few verses, is action in the balanced state of body and mind, that action having a quality of spontaneity, natural flow, effortlessness.

This quality of spontaneity, natural flow, effortlessness is more generally associated in the popular mind with “Zen” than with the Buddha's teaching. Whereas Aśvaghoṣa is generally thought of, thanks to the efforts of Oxbridge scholars like EBC and EHJ, as a champion of the Buddha's teachings and not of “Zen.”

The fact as I see it is that the 12^th Zen patriarch Aśvaghoṣa was indeed a true champion of the Buddha's teaching, but the Buddha's teaching – being totally steeped in all kinds of irony, from the verbal to the cosmic – is a million miles from what Buddhist scholars hitherto have thought.

VOCABULARY 

aham (nom. sg. m.): I

hi: for

jānan = nom. sg. m. pres. part. jñā: to know

api: and , also , moreover , besides , assuredly , surely ; api api or api-ca , as well as ; is often used to express emphasis , in the sense of even , also , very

rāja-śāsanam (acc. sg.): n. a royal edict or order

śāsana: n. punishment , chastisement , correction ; n. government ; n. an order , command , edict , enactment , decree , direction

balāt (abl. sg. bala): forcibly , against one's will , without being able to help it

kṛtaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. done, made

kaiḥ (inst. pl. n.): who? which?

api: even ; may be affixed to an interrogative to make it indefinite , e.g. ko 'pi , any one

daivataiḥ (inst. pl.): n. a god , a deity (often coll. " the deities "): mfn. relating to the gods or to a partic. deity , divine

iva: like, as if

upānayam = 1^st pers. sg. imperfect upa- √ nī: to lead near, to bring

tūrṇam: ind. quickly , speedily

tūrṇa (√ turv ; √ tvar) = tūrta: mfn. quick , expeditious ;

√ turv: (cf. √1. tur) to overpower , excel

√ tvar: to hurry , make haste , move with speed

imam (acc. sg. m.): this

turaṅgamam (nom. sg. m.): 'willing-mover'; 'fast-goer' ; horse

tura: mfn. quick , willing , prompt ; strong , powerful , excelling , rich , abundant

√ tur: to hurry , press forwards

tathā: ind. likewise, in that way

anvagaccham = 1^st pers. sg. imperfect anu- √ gam: to go after, follow

vigata-śramaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. effortlessly

vigata: mfn. gone away , departed , disappeared , ceased , gone (often ibc.)

śrama m. fatigue , weariness , exhaustion ; exertion , labour , toil , exercise , effort either bodily or mental , hard work of any kind

adhvani (loc. sg.): m. a road , way , orbit ; journey

我極畏王法 天神所驅逼
速牽馬與之 

BUDDHACARITA 8.43: Digging for Blamelessness

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−   Vaṁśastha

vigarhituṁ nārhasi devi kanthakaṁ na cāpi roṣaṁ mayi kartum-arhasi |

⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−

anāgasau svaḥ samavehi sarvaśo gato n-devaḥ sa hi devi devavat || 8.43

8.43

“Please do not blame Kanthaka, O godly queen,

Nor show anger towards me.

Know us both as blameless in every way,

For that god among men, O royal goddess, departed like a god.

COMMENT:

In yesterday's verse, on further reflection, the master of the horse and the emotional woman are in some sense resonating on the same frequency, in their shared tearfulness. So there may be something there, after all, for a bloke who sits to study.

In today's verse, the master of the horse is counselling the emotional woman not to blame the horse ( = instinct?) and not to show anger towards the master of the horse ( = what governs instinct?). Rather, he is telling her, samavehi (lit. “be united in”; EBC/EHJ/PO: “know”) that duality, or unity of two factors, which is anāgasau (sinless/blameless). 

For simplicity's sake, I also have translated the imperative samavehi as "know," but this fails to convey the hidding meaning of sam-ava-√i, which Aśvaghoṣa may have intended to convey, along the lines of "coming together" or "being united in." 

The duality in question may be assumed to be Kanthaka and Chandaka, the horse ( = instinct?) and the master of the horse ( = what governs instinct?). But the original word used in all the texts (old Nepalese manuscript, EBC, EHJ) is svaḥ, which is difficult to understand.

EHJ noted that samavehi demands an object, so that we must take svaḥ as equivalent to nau [acc. dual. aham], presumably to avoid the ugly combination anāgasau nau.

Speaking from my lowly perch as a dirt-washing donkey, I have no idea why the combination anāgasau nau deserves to be avoided as ugly, but neither do I have any better explanation to offer for why Aśvaghoṣa might have preferred svaḥ to nau. I suppose his intention might have been to suggest the dual object as united in a single self. I am not sure how choosing the word svaḥ would have served this purpose, but I do strongly suspect that this was Aśvaghoṣa's purpose. 

So I think the master of the horse might be hinting, for the benefit of the emotional woman that, rather than blaming the horse and hating the master of the horse, she would be better off coming together or being united in (sam-ava-√i) the knowing of master-and-horse. 

In any event, it is not in doubt, with the dual reference to vigarhituṁ nārhasi (you should not blame) and an-āgasau ([both] being blameless), that today's verse is designed to cause us to reflect on the matter of blaming and blame.

Vigarhituṁ nārhasi strikes me as a simple injunction -- do not blame -- like do not kill, do not steal, do not lie, and so on; in short, like SHOAKU-MAKUSA taken as an imperative: do not do any evil.

But an-āgasu, as one of those enigmatic compounds prefixed by a negative (like SHOAKU-MAKUSA taken as a kind of realization:  the not-doing of wrongs), can be read as an invitation for further digging.

For example, in what sense are intelligence ( = master) and natural instinct (= horse) blameless, or without sin?

Is it that a human being, as a unity/duality of intelligence-and-instinct is originally blameless or without sin? Is that why Dogen describes the essence of sitting-meditation as body and mind naturally dropping away and our original features emerging?

Is it that a human being, through being mindful of his actions, can cause himself or herself to live blamelessly or without sin -- to live in such a way as not to attract blame, whether from without or from within? Is that why the Buddha tells Nanda: In order to get to the nectar of deathlessness you should watch the manner of your action (amṛtasyāptaye saumya vṛttaṃ rakṣitum-arhasi // SN13.10 //)? 

There again, whether people blame me is up to them, and not in my power to control. But what I can do, here and now, is to inhibit the tendency in myself, when something seems to have gone wrong, to seek to apportion blame. Is this the hidden meaning of an-āgasau, the two (my own body and my own mind)  being free of blame? Is this a hidden meaning of blamelessness which we are being encouraged, by the word sarvaśaḥ (in every way), to dig for?

And are we are being encouraged, by the word sarvaśaḥ (in every way), to know other ways too of truly being an-āgas (without sin, free of blame, not injuring [self or others]).

My tentative conclusion about today's verse, at least for my own benefit, is that when the Buddha spoke of bhāvanā (cultivating [the mind]; work [on the self]), the digging out of the pesky weeds of blame might be part of that effort.

For me, for one, it is effort primarily to be made while sitting on a round black cushion, naturally becoming, in Dogen's words, all of one piece.

自

成

一

片 

VOCABULARY 

vigarhitum = inf. vi- √ garh: to blame , abuse , revile , reproach , despise , contemn

na: not

arhasi (2^nd pers. sg. arh): you should

devi = voc. sg. devī: f. a female deity , goddess ; queen , princess lady (the consecrated wife or daughter of a king , but also any woman of high rank)

kanthakam (acc. sg.): m. Kanthaka

na: not

ca: and

api: aslo

roṣam (acc. sg.): m. anger , rage , wrath , passion , fury (roṣaṁ- √kṛ with prati , " to be angry with ") .

mayi (loc. sg.): to me

kartum = inf. kṛ: to do, make

arhasi (2^nd pers. sg. arh): you should

an-āgasau = acc. dual an-āgas: mfn. sinless , blameless ; not injuring

āgas: n. transgression , offence , injury , sin , fault

svaḥ according to EHJ's conjecture = nau (acc. dual aham): we two

svau = acc. dual sva: m. a man of one's own people or tribe , a kinsman , relative , relation , friend

nau (acc. dual aham): the two of us

ubhau (acc. dual ubha): both of us

samavehi = 2^nd pers. sg. imperative sam-ava-√i: to come or meet or mix or assemble together , be united in (acc.) ; to regard , consider (with iva , " to regard as ")

sarvaśaḥ: ind. wholly , completely , entirely , thoroughly , collectively , altogether , in general , universally ; in every way

gataḥ (nom. sg. m.): gone

nṛ-devaḥ (nom. sg. m.): god among men

sa (nom. sg. m.): he

hi: for

devi = voc. sg. devī: f. a female deity , goddess ; queen , princess lady (the consecrated wife or daughter of a king , but also any woman of high rank)

devavat: ind. like a god

莫嫌責白馬 亦莫恚於我
我等悉無過 天神之所爲