BUDDHACARITA 12.21: Being Awake vs Not Being Awake

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sa-śiṣyaḥ kapilaś-ceha pratibuddhir iti smtaḥ |

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sa-putro '-pratibuddhas-tu prajāpatir-ihocyate || 12.21

12.21

Kapila, the one studied by students,

Is known here as Pratibuddhi, the Awake;

Whereas Prajāpati, the one endowed with progeny, 

Is called here Apratibuddha, the Not Awake.

COMMENT:

Kapila is considered to be the founder of Sāṁkhya philosophy, whereas Prajāpati is creator of the material universe having as his sons the five elements of ether, air, fire, water, and earth.

The opposition between Kapila and Prajāpati, then, as suggested by Arāda's description of the former as sa-śisyaḥ (with student/s) and the latter as sa-putraḥ (with sons  [=the elements]), is simply the opposition between the immaterial (i.e. the intellectual or spiritual or philosophical) and the material. 

Still, EHJ describes today's verse as enigmatic, and provides a long footnote on it.

EBC read the 3^rd pāda as sa-putra pratibuddhaś ca, and translated pratibuddhaḥ as “the illuminated”; hence:

“and he, as the illuminated, with his son is now called here Prajāpati.”

As EHJ points out, this fails to bring out the opposition between pratibuddhiḥ and a-pratibuddhaḥ. And Arāḍa's gist would seem to hinge on this opposition.

EHJ notes that If we read pratibuddha with EBC, then probably smrtiḥ should be corrected to smrtaḥ.

Even before reading EHJ's note I had thought that smṛtaḥ would make better sense, and so I have decided to go ahead and make the amendment to smṛtaḥ -- even though EHJ himself (reading a-pratibuddhaḥ) did not go so far as to make that correction. 

In today's verse as I read it iha is important, echoing svasya śastrasya ("his own teaching") in BC12.15. EBC translated iha as “now... here,” EHJ as “in this world,” and PO as “in this system.” I read iha (literally “in this place”) as Arāḍa emphasizing that what he is teaching is his own teaching -- as opposed in particular to the Sāmkhya philosophy of which Kapila is considered to be the founder.  For brevity and accuracy I have translated iha as "here," but a translation that brought out the real meaning more clearly would be "in this my teaching." 

So on the surface Arāḍa may seem to be requiring us to know something of the Sāṁkhya philosphy of Kapila, but in reality Arāḍa's intention might be opposite to that. He might be saying something analogous to a modern-day Zen teacher telling a student this:

You needn't study the dialetic of Hegel; Hegel in this my teaching is one moment of the will to the truth. Equally, you needn't study the dialectic materialism of Marx; Marx in this my teaching is a lump of coal or a pound of rice. 

In terms of this analogy, just as all we need know about Hegel is that he was a philosopher whose basis was spirit, all we need to know about Kapila is that, in the words of PO, Kapila is considered the founder of the Sankhya system. Here he and his pupils are identified with the spiritual principle of the cosmos.

Equally, just as all we need to know about Marx is that he was a philosopher whose basis was matter, all we need to know about Prajāpati is that, again in PO's words, he is the old creator god, viewed as the personification of the material universe.

EHJ's footnote confirms that The sons of Prajāpati are the five elements, an idea that can be traced back to the Brāhmanas.

To sum up, then, Arāḍa as I hear him in today's verse is not necessarily advocating intellectual study of the teachings of Kapila; he might rather be suggesting that we should transcend such study. He might rather be expressing his interest in the more real and practical problem of knowing what it is to be awake vs not being awake.

So when EHJ writes of Arāḍa in the present Canto setting out the Sāṁkhya, what EHJ writes might not be true. EHJ himself was clearly very interested in the Sāṁkhya, but that interest might have blinded EHJ to the fact that what Arāḍa sets out in BC Canto 12 is his own teaching (svasya śastrasya; BC12.15), and not anybody else's Sāṁkhya philosophy. 

Arāḍa is thus emerging as an interesting individual in his own right. His own man teaching his own teaching. A Zen master steeped in the four dhyānas. Not a buddha. Not counted by the Buddha Śākyamuni as one of the Seven Ancient Buddhas. But acknowledged by the Buddha to have been his teacher. 

VOCABULARY

sa-śiṣyaḥ (nom. sg. m.): with his pupil

kapilaḥ (nom. sg.): m. Kapila m. N. of an ancient sage (identified by some with viṣṇu and considered as the founder of the sāṁkhya system of philosophy) ; mfn. " monkey-coloured " , brown

ca: and

iha: here, in this my teaching

pratibuddhiḥ (nom. sg.): f. awakening; EBC: the illuminated ; EHJ: intellection; PO: the Conscious

prati- √ budh: to awaken (intr.) , awake , wake ; to perceive , observe , learn ; to awaken (trans.)

iti: “...,” thus

smṛtiḥ (nom. sg.): f. calling to mind ; the whole body of sacred tradition or what is remembered by human teachers (in contradistinction to śruti or what is directly heard or revealed to the ṛṣis)

smṛtaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. remembered , recollected , called to mind , thought of ; handed down , taught , prescribed , (esp.) enjoined by smṛti or traditional law , declared or propounded in the law-books ; declared as , passing for (nom. loc. , or dat.); termed , styled , named (nom. with or without iti)

sa-putraḥ (nom. sg. m.): with his sons

apratibuddhaḥ (nom. sg. m.): not awake, unenlightened ; EHJ: that which is without intellect; PO: the Unconscious

pratibuddhaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. awakened , awake (also said of the Dawn); one who has attained to perfect knowledge ; illuminated, enlightened ; EBC: the illuminated

tu: but

prajāpatiḥ (nom. sg.): m. " lord of creatures " , N. of savitṛ , soma , agni , indra &c

iha: here, in this my teaching

bhūtātman: m. " soul of all beings " , N. of brahmā ; m. " the self consisting of the elements " , the body

ucyate = 3^rd pers. sg. passive vac: to be called

迦毘羅仙人 及弟子眷屬
於此我要義 修學得解脱
彼迦毘羅者 今波闍波提

BUDDHACARITA 12.20: Making Sense of It All – Contemplating the Whole Self

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asya kṣetrasya vijñānāt kṣetra-jña iti saṁjñi ca |

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kṣetra-jña iti cātmānaṁ kathayanty ātma-cintakāḥ || 12.20

12.20
Because it makes sense of this field,

The conscious is called Kṣetra-jña, “Knower of the Field.”

At the same time, those who contemplate the Ātman, the Self,

Speak of the Self as “Knower of the Field.”

COMMENT:

In the 2^nd pāda of today's verse, saṁjñi could mean “having a name” or could mean “having consciousness.”

EBC goes with the former reading; hence:

There is also a something which bears the name kṣetrajña, from its knowledge of this "field.”

EHJ notes that EBC's reading is corroborated by the Tibetan translation, but EHJ nevertheless prefers the latter reading, hence:

And that which is conscious is called the knower of the field, because it knows this field.

This, EHJ asserts, gives the standard doctrine better, cp. Mahā-bhārata xii 6921:

atmā ksetrajña ity uktaḥ samyuktaḥ prākṛtair guṇaih |

tair eva tu vinirmuktaḥ paramātmety udāhṛtaḥ ||

In the Chinese translation, ksetrajña is rendered 知因者 “knower of the cause.” This would be the correct translation into Chinese of another Sanskrit term that appears in the Mahā-bhārata, hetujña (EHJ cites as a reference MBh xii. 7667).

One way of reading today's verse, in a positive light, is as a suggestion of the truth that what makes sense of “this field” (this unified field combining sense objects, physical organs and the mind) is not only what is conscious, but is the whole self in action.

Read like that, today's verse, which is the fourth of four verses presenting the introductory outline of Arāḍa's system (BC12.17 – 20), rightly belongs to the fourth phase.

VOCABULARY

asya (gen. sg. n.): this

kṣetrasya (gen. sg.): n. a field

vijñānāt (abl. sg.): n. the act of distinguishing or discerning , understanding , comprehending , recognizing , intelligence , knowledge

kṣetra-jñaḥ (nom. sg. m.): knower of the field

iti: “...,” thus

saṁjñi = nom. sg. m. saṁjñin: mfn. having consciousness , conscious of (comp.) ; having a name , named

ca: and

kṣetra-jñaḥ (nom. sg. m.): knower of the field

iti: “...,” thus

ca: and

ātmānam (acc. sg.): m. the soul , principle of life and sensation; the individual soul , self , abstract individual

kathayanti = 3^rd pers. pl. kath: to tell , relate , narrate , report , inform , speak about , declare , explain , describe (with acc. of the thing or person spoken about)

ātma-cintakāḥ (nom. pl. m.): those who contemplate the ātman

cintaka: mfn. ifc. one who thinks or reflects upon , familiar with

意根兼二義 亦業亦名覺
性轉變爲因 知因者爲我

[Relation with Sanskrit tenuous] 

BUDDHACARITA 12.19: Vikāra – Physical Organs; Equally, the Mind

[Saturday, August 23^rd]

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vikāra iti budhyasva viṣayān indriyāṇi ca |

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pāṇi-pādaṁ ca vādaṁ ca pāyūpasthaṁ tathā manaḥ || 12.19

12.19

See as Vikāra, Transformation,

The sense-objects and the senses,

The hands and feet, the [organ of] speech,

The anus and reproductive organs – equally the mind.

COMMENT:

In the section on Aśvaghoṣa “the Scholar” in his Introduction to Aśvaghoṣa, EHJ touches on

• Indian literature;
• sciences including secular law, politics, the points of a horse, worldly conduct (etiquette, gallantry etc.), medicine;
• art;
• music;
• religion;
• philosophy;
• poetry and prosody;
• grammar and syntax.

EHJ ends the sub-section on Indian philosophy by stating: “I have kept to the last the most important case, the Sāṁkhya as set out by Arāḍa in canto 12 of the Buddhacarita.”

PO echoes EHJ with his note on the present series of four verses (12.17-20): “We are dealing here with a very ancient form of Sankhya philosophy.”

But who said that Arāḍa was setting out the Sāṁkhya? Arāḍa himself never said so. Neither did Aśvaghoṣa.

This causes me to reflect on how Buddhist scholars – employed in the pseudo-scientific field of Buddhist studies – have tended to approach the writings of the ancients, like 19^th century botanists going into far-flung corners of the British empire and attaching names to species that were hitherto unknown to Western science. Those plants may have been very well known to local populations who were long accustomed to putting said plants in their pipes and smoking them, but until such time as a Western scientist appeared with a label, those plants were called undiscovered species.

It seems to me that we are dealing here with the teaching of Arāḍa, the teacher of the buddha-to-be who Aśvaghoṣa praised as the truest of sages. Of course, the Buddha ultimately found Arāḍa's teaching to be wanting, and so he left Arāḍa in pursuit of the ultimate truth. Still, we shouldn't be too quick to dismiss what Arāḍa is saying as “not it.”

That being so, I wonder what relation between body and mind is indicated in today's verse by the word tathā in the 4^th pāda. EBC and EHJ both translated tathā as “and also the mind”; PO translated as “and the mind.”

Is Arāḍa suggesting that people are prone to see the physical and the material as subject to the 2^nd law of thermodynamics, and to see mental phenomena as occupying a realm which is less energetic and therefore less ephemeral and transient? Is Arāḍa emphasizing that in reality all things which have energy, including mental phenomena, are subject to the 2^nd law? If so, there might be more to study in Arāḍa's words than correspondence with what, many centuries later, was classed as “early Sāṁkhya philosophy.”

VOCABULARY

vikāraḥ (nom. sg.): m. transformation

iti: “...,” thus

budhyasva = 2^nd pers. sg. imperative budh: to be awake ; to perceive , notice , learn , understand , become or be aware of or acquainted with; to know to be , recognize as (with two acc.)

viṣayān (acc. pl.): m. objects, objects of the senses

indriyāṇi (acc. pl.): n. the senses

ca: and

pāṇi-pādam (acc. sg.): n. the hands and feet

ca: and

vādam (acc. sg.): m. speech , discourse , talk , utterance , statement ; cry, song, note [of a bird]; EBC/EHJ: the voice; PO: the mouth

ca: and

pāyūpastham (acc. sg.): n. the anus and the organs of generation

pāyu: m. the anus

upastha: m. " the part which is under " , lap , middle or inner part of anything , a well-surrounded or sheltered place , secure place ; mn. the generative organs (esp. of a woman)

tathā: ind. likewise

manaḥ (acc. sg.): n. mind

色聲香味觸 是等名境界
手足語二道 是五名業根

眼耳鼻舌身 是名爲覺根 

BUDDHACARITA 12.18: Prakṛti, and Knowing a Concrete Path as Primary

[Friday, August 22^nd]

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tatra tu praktir nāma viddhi prakti-kovida |

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pañca bhūtāny ahaṁ-kāraṁ buddhim avyaktam eva ca || 12.18

12.18

But what therein is called Prakṛti, Primal Stuff,

Know, O knower of what is primary!

As the five elements, the ego-maker,

The intellect, and Avyaktam, the Unseen Power.

COMMENT:

In the present series of four verses (BC12.17 – 20), Arāḍa outlines the main elements of his own teaching.

In the first phase he exhorts the bodhisattva to comprehend all of it – the Being which embraces both Primal Stuff and its Transformation.

In the second phase he discusses Primal Stuff, and suggests what concretely is primary.

In the third phase he discusses Transformation, including both the physical and the mental.

And in the fourth phase he suggests real contemplation of the whole self (not only what is conscious).

The fourth phase in this way combines, as the fourth phase is supposed to combine, all the elements of the previous three phases.

In reading today's verse as thus belonging to the 2nd phase, I see the vocative phrase prakṛti-kovida, “O knower of what is primary!” as having particular significance (just as I read the vocative phrase sthira-sattva, “O one whose being is steadfast!” as having particular significance below the surface of yesterday's verse).

EHJ points out with reference to this vocative phrase prakṛti-kovida, that Nanda in the final verse of SN Canto 17 refers to the Buddha as prakṛti-guṇa-jñam, “knower of types” or, more literally, “knower of primary qualities.”

Speaking of what is primary, what Zen Master Dogen saw as primary, as my teacher Gudo Nishijima used to see it, was the will to the truth.

The bodhisattva will demonstrate just what this will to the truth is, ironically, by leaving Arāḍa – regardless of the fact that Arāḍa was muni-sattamaḥ, the best of sages, the truest of sages.

Hence:

atha mokṣa-vādinam-arāḍam-upaśama-matiṁ tathoḍrakaṁ /

Then Ārāḍa, who spoke of freedom, and likewise Uḍraka,

who inclined towards quietness,

tattva-kṛta-matir-upāsya jahāv-ayam-apy-amārga iti mārga-kovidhaḥ // SN3.3 //

He sat alongside, his heart set on truth, and he left.

He who intuited the path intuited: "This also is not it."

Arāda in today's verse thus calls Gautama prakṛti-kovida “O one who knows/intuits what is primary!”, whereas Aśvaghoṣa in SN3.3 calls him mārga-kovidaḥ “He who knew/intuited the path.” 

The suggestion might be that what Aśvaghoṣa regarded as primary was a concrete path itself – the means-whereby, coming before any aim, however high.

Apropos of that, what FM Alexander regarded as primary, in the way of a means-whereby, was what he called “the correct employment of the primary control of the use of the self.”

My sitting this morning was somewhat lacking in lustre, at least for the first fifty or so minutes. Then I got round, stimulated by today's verse, to thinking what really was primary, and so I ordered my head, in the strongest possible terms to go forward and up – and in response to this order I maintained an iron resolve not to do anything in the way of arranging the head. 

Still I did definitely want my head to move, not as an arrangement into a right position, but as an undoing, as a movement in the direction of release. 

And out of this paradoxical situation in which I am strongly wishing for something to happen while maintaining a decision not to move a muscle to help it along, my breathing opened up a lot. To put it another way, my back released in a lengthening and widening direction.

Such experiences, repeated again and again over the years, gradually strengthen one's conviction that old FM Alexander really did know what he was talking about. It is a shame that, for one reason or another, I couldn't do a better job of causing my Zen teacher to see that. 

VOCABULARY

tatra: ind. therein, in that [group]

tu: but

prakṛtiḥ (nom. sg.): f. Primary Matter; Primal Nature

nāma: ind. by name i.e. named , called ; indeed , certainly , really , of course

viddhi = 2^nd pers. sg. imperative vid: to know

prakṛti-kovida (voc. sg. m.): knower of primary matters

kovida: mfn. experienced , skilled , learned in (loc. gen. , or ifc. e.g. aśveṣu , or aśvānām or aśva-kovida , " skilled in horses ")

pañca: five

bhūtānī (acc. pl.): n. an element , one of the 5 elements (esp. a gross element = mahā-bh° q.v. ; but also a subtle element = tan-mātra q.v. ; with Buddhists there are only 4 element)

ahaṁ-kāram (acc. sg.): m. conception of one's individuality , self-consciousness ; the making of self , thinking of self , egotism ; pride , haughtiness ; (in sāṁkhya phil.) the third of the eight producers or sources of creation , viz. the conceit or conception of individuality , individualization

buddhim (acc. sg.): f. the power of forming and retaining conceptions and general notions , intelligence , reason , intellect , mind , discernment , judgement ; (in sāṁkhya phil.) Intellect (= adhy-avasāya , the intellectual faculty or faculty of mental perception , the second of the 25 tattvas)

avyaktam (acc. sg.): mfn. undeveloped , not manifest , unapparent , indistinct , invisible , imperceptible ; n. (in sāṁkhya phil.) " the unevolved (Evolver of all things) " , the primary germ of nature , primordial element or productive principle whence all the phenomena of the material world are developed

eva: (emphatic)

ca: and

性者爲純淨 轉變者五大
我覺及與見 隨境根名變

BUDDHACARITA 12.17: Primal Stuff, and Praising Steadfast Being

[Thursday, August 21^st]

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praktiś ca vikāraś ca janma mtyur jaraiva ca |

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tat tāvat sattvam ity-uktaṁ sthira-sattva parehi tat || 12.17

12.17

Prakṛti, Primal Stuff, and Vikāra, its Transformation,

Birth, death, and old age:

All that is called Sattva, Being.

May you, O one whose being is steadfast, comprehend it!

COMMENT:

On a point of vocabulary, EHJ notes that this use of parā with √i is not recorded outside this poem, where, in the first person singular, paraimi appears in four other verses, viz: BC4.99, 7.31, 9.14, and 11.4:

BC4.99

When a man knows the certainty of death

And yet the taint of red delight arises in his heart,

I venture (paraimi) that his consciousness must be made of steel,

Who does not weep but delights in the great terror.”

BC7.31

For whatever water has been touched by people steeped in good –

That is sacred bathing water, if such on earth is sought.

Therefore, virtues, yes, I do see (paraimi) as a sacred ford.

But water, without doubt, is water.”

BC9.14

I know your resolve with regard to dharma.

I realize (paraimi) that this will be your goal.

But at your going to the forest at the wrong time,

I am consumed with a fire of sorrow that burns like a fire.

11.4

Those in the world who, for the good-hearted in hard times

Are there as human beings, helping with work to be done –

Those friends I esteem (paraimi), advisedly, as friends indeed.

For who would not be present around one going well

in a period of vigorous prosperity?

The notes in EHJ's translation proceed from here to provide an exposition of the Saṁkhya doctrines, further elaborating on the discussion of Saṁkhya in the Introduction to Aśvaghoṣa which EHJ published along with Buddhacarita. This discussion of Saṁkhya appears in the 3^rd part of the Introduction in which EHJ discusses Aśvaghoṣa the Scholar. 

In his footnote to today's verse, EHJ references sattva, Being (as opposed to kṣetra-jña, the Field-Knower) to early expositions of the Saṁkhya philosophy in the Mahā-bhārata.

On the surface, it is true, what Arāda is outlining in his present monologue, extending from 27 verses from BC12.16 through to BC12.42, is the elements of a philosophical system which formed the basis for an approach to liberation from the cycle of saṁsāra, that basis including religious belief in a god brahma. 

That the approach was thus Brahmanist is clear from BC12.42 itself, in which the word brahma, in the singular (=brahma or brahman) appears twice; and the word brāhman, in the nominative and accusative plural (= brahmins or brahmans) also appears twice.

In the Pali Suttas, the Buddha often seems to speak of a brahman or a brahmin as being synonymous with “a gentleman.” But when in BC12.42 Arāḍa speaks of brahmins parama-brahma-vādinaḥ, “preaching the supreme brahman,” it is difficult to avoid the impression that he is talking of a Hindu god, the object of religious devotion.

That being so, even if the gist of Arāḍa's efforts – to get free from saṁsāra – was true; and even though the Buddha evidently regarded Arāḍa as having been his teacher, Arāḍa's philosophy in the end was evidently a religious philosophy. That may be why the bodhisattva, in the end, saw fit to walk away from it.

The Canto title arāḍa-darśanaḥ, I was thus caused to reflect this morning, if we translate it literally as “The Seeing of Arāḍa,” ostensibly describes the bodhisattva's meeting with Arāḍa; but it could also mean Arāḍa's insight, what Arāḍa saw, the main purport of which had to do with liberation from saṁsāra; and, going further, it could also point to what we are required to do, following the bodhisattva's example, and really see Arāḍa, i.e. to see through him, and on that basis to reject his religious philosophy along with all religious philosophies, because they are all rooted in ignorance.

BBC Radio 4 does not tend to invite stupid people to air their views. So in such slots as “Prayer for the Day” we get to listen to intelligent people stating their case articulately. But the conclusion is always Let us pray. Let us pray for this, that, or the other.

It strikes me, every time, as the manifestation by intelligent people of sheer superstitious ignorance. It is pig ignorance dressed up for BBC Radio 4 in the golden brocade of theological brilliance.

Praying for divine intervention to sort out suffering in places like Syria, Iraq and Palestine can never be part of the solution, if one accepts the inviolable rule of cause and effect. But it might be part of the problem.

Radio 4 listeners listen with horror to how ignorant people in West Africa react to the Ebola outbreak as if its cause lay in the malevolence of witches, and especially les blancs, the white ones. But then we are expected to tolerate some Reverend or other appearing on the airwaves and asking us to pray for people suffering in war-torn Syria or in Iraq or in some zone of natural disaster or famine or disease -- as if our praying to God for His divine intervention could possibly make a blind bit of difference in the real world. 

And yet, below the surface, if we are able to suspend for a moment our prejudice against Arāḍa as a religious believer in brahma, his praising the bodhisattva as sthira-sattva, “O one whose being is steadfast!” might be a manifestation of Arāḍa's own will to the truth. Below the surface, in other words, it might not always be necessary to hate the sin of a teacher like Arāḍa who in the end remained guilty of the ignorance of religious belief. Below the surface it might only be that a true teacher with the will to the truth was recognizing a student with the will to the truth.

VOCABULARY

prakṛtiḥ (nom. sg.): f. " making or placing before or at first " , the original or natural form or condition of anything , original or primary substance (opp. to vi-kṛti) ; (in the sāṁkhya phil.) the original producer of (or rather passive power of creating) the material world (consisting of 3 constituent essences or guṇas called sattva , rajas and tamas) , Nature (distinguished from puruṣa , Spirit as māyā is distinguished from brahman in the vedāntas

ca: and

vikāraḥ (nom. sg.): m. change of form or nature , alteration or deviation from any natural state , transformation , modification , change (esp. for the worse) of bodily or mental condition , disease , sickness , hurt , injury , (or) perturbation , emotion , agitation , passion ; m. (in sāṁkhya) a production or derivative from prakṛti (there are 7 vikāras , viz. buddhi , " intellect " , ahaṁ-kāra , " the sense of individuality " , and the 5 tan-mātras q.v. ; these are also producers , inasmuch as from them come the 16 vikāras which are only productions , viz. the 5 mahā-bhūtāni q.v. , and the 11 organs , viz. the 5 buddhī*ndriyāṇi or organs of sense , the 5 karme*ndriyāṇi or organs of action , and manas , " the mind ")

ca: and

janma (nom. sg.): n. birth

mṛtyuḥ (nom. sg.): m. death

jarā (nom. sg.): f. ageing, old age

eva: (emphatic)

ca: and

tat (nom. sg. n.): that

tāvat: ind. so much; just; truly; really (= eva)

sattvam (nom. sg.): n. being ; the quality of purity or goodness (regarded in the sāṁkhya phil. as the highest of the three guṇas [q.v.] or constituents of prakṛti because it renders a person true , honest , wise &c , and a thing pure , clean &c )

iti: “...,” thus

uktam (nom. sg. n.): called

sthira-sattva (voc. sg. m.): O one whose being is steadfast!

parehi = 2^nd pers. sg. imperative parā- √i: to go or run away , go along , go towards (acc.) ; to reach , attain , partake of (acc.)

tat (acc. sg. n.): that

性變生老死 此五爲衆生

BUDDHACARITA 12.16: Our Ultimate Purpose (To Listen?)

[Wednesday, August 20^th]

−⏑−⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦−−−−¦⏑−⏑−

śrūyatām ayam-asmākaṁ siddhāntaḥ śṇvatāṁ vara |

⏑−⏑⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦⏑−−⏑¦⏑−⏑−

yathā bhavati saṁsāro yathā caiva nivartate || 12.16

12.16

“Let this be learned, O best of listeners,

As our ultimate purpose:

How saṁsāra comes into being,

And how it ceases to be.

COMMENT:

Today's verse as I read it is the fourth verse in the fourth series of four verses with which the present Canto opens. As such, at the fourth phase, it naturally points to the ultimate point of sitting-meditation. The point might be somehow to get oneself off the merry-go-round of saṁsāra.

For the 4^th pāda, the old Nepalese manuscript has yathā vai parivartate, but EHJ notes:

A's [the old Nepalese manuscript's] reading in d is faulty and vai is suspicious ; for the Saṁkhya use of parivartate cp MBh xii, 7667 (samparivartate) and Bhag Gīta, ix 10 (viparivartate). The corruption is easily explained paleographically.

If we accept EHJ's amendment, the irony might be that Arāḍa ultimately cannot tell, because he does not yet know, the means whereby the bodhisattva might accomplish as our ultimate purpose the ceasing of saṁsāra. And yet, if we also accept the teaching of the Zen ancestors that the ultimate purpose is just to sit, then below the surface Arāḍa might be pointing directly in today's verse to that ultimate purpose, with his exhortation that it should be learned by listening.

Just to sit, I venture to submit, is what Nāgārjuna meant by bringing-into-being the act of knowing. As such, just sitting is not an act of doing, but it might be an act of true listening.

saṁsāra-mūlaṁ saṁskārān avidvān saṁskaroty ataḥ |

avidvān kārakas tasmān na vidvāṁs tattva-darśanāt ||MMK26.10||

The doings which are the root of saṁsāra

Thus does the ignorant one do.

The ignorant one therefore is the doer;

The wise one is not, because of reality making itself known.

avidyāyāṁ niruddhāyāṁ saṁskārāṇām asaṁbhavaḥ |

avidyāyā nirodhas tu jñānasyāsyaiva bhāvanāt ||MMK26.11

In the ceasing of ignorance,

There is the non-coming-into-being of doings.

The cessation of ignorance, however,

Is because of the bringing-into-being of just this act of knowing.

Being too quick when it comes to doing, and not quick enough when it comes to listening, might be the essence of saṁsāra.

The Heart Sutra as recited in Japanese begin with the words KAN-JIZAI-BOSATSU..., which can literally be translated “Free in listening is the bodhisattva...”

Of massive assistance in my life, in that direction, has been the teaching of FM Alexander.

When I listen to the words “Let the neck be free,” the ignorant one, the doer, wants to do something to the neck. Similarly, listening to the words “Head forward and up,” the ignorant one wants to make a little arrangement of the head on the neck. Listening to the words “Back to lengthen and widen,” the doer worries about symmetry. And listening to the words “Knees forwards and away,” again, the ignorant one always wants to do something.

So freedom in listening develops in the understanding that, in each of these cases, No, the real thing – real freedom, and real listening – is not that.

VOCABULARY

śrūyatām (3^rd pers. sg. passive śru): let it be listened to

ayam (nom. sg. m.): this

asmākam (nom. sg. m.): our

siddhāntaḥ (nom. sg.): m. established end , final end or aim or purpose ; any fixed or established or canonical text-book or received scientific treatise on any subject (esp. on astronomy and mathematics)

śṛṇvatām = gen. pl. m. pres. part śru: to listen

vara (voc. sg.): O best!

yathā: ind. in which manner, how

bhavati = 3^rd pers. sg. bhū: to become, come into being

saṁsāraḥ (nom. sg.): m. going or wandering through , undergoing transmigration

yathā: ind. in which manner, how

vai: ind. a particle of emphasis and affirmation , generally placed after a word and laying stress on it (it is usually translatable by " indeed " , " truly " , " certainly " , " verily " , " just "  &c  ; it is very rare in the  RV.  ; more frequent in the  AV.  , and very common in the brāhmaṇas and in works that imitate their style ; in the sūtras it is less frequent and almost restricted to the combination yady u vai )

parivartate = 3^rd pers. sg pari- √ vṛt:  to turn round , revolve , move in a circle or to and fro , roll or wheel or wander about , circumambulate ; (also with anyathā) to change , turn out different ; to abide , stay , remain ; to act , proceed , behave

caiva [EHJ]: and

nivartate [EHJ] = 3^rd pers. sg ni- √ vṛt: to turn back , stop (trans. and intrans.)

汝是機悟士 聰中之第一
今當聽我説 生死起滅義

BUDDHACARITA 12.15: Arāḍa Spurred into Action

[Tuesday, August 19^th]

−⏑−−¦⏑−−−¦¦−−−−¦⏑−⏑−

ity arāḍaḥ kumārasya māhātmyād eva coditaḥ |

−−−⏑¦⏑−−−¦¦−⏑−−¦⏑−⏑−

saṁkṣiptaṁ kathayāṁ cakre svasya śāstrasya niścayam || 12.15

12.15

Arāḍa, thus spurred

By the prince's very great sincerity,

Related in brief

The purport of his own teaching.

COMMENT:

Today's verse as I read it belongs to the 3^rd phase since it describes action spurred by great sincerity.

EBC translated the 4^th pāda, “the tenets of his doctrine”; EHJ “the conclusions of his doctrine”; PO “the conclusions of his system of thought.”

Those translations, to my ears, carry a pejorative connotation, since the tenets or conclusions of a doctrine suggest something that is fixed, not real.

But what Arāḍa was primarily concerned with, as he states in tomorrow's verse, was how saṁsāra comes into being. This purport of Arāḍa's teaching thus would also be the purport of the Buddha's teaching. And, though the bodhisattva ultimately found Arāda's teaching wanting, he continued to consider Arāḍa to have been his teacher.

For that reason I have translated niścayam as “purport” – reading niścayam, which is singular, not (as per the earlier definitions given in the MW dictionary) “fixed opinion” or “certainty” but rather (as per the later definitions) “purpose” or “aim.”

I have also seen fit to give svasya its original emphasis, translating not only as “his” but as “his own.” The point Aśvaghoṣa is emphasizing might be that, although Buddhist scholars like to see everybody's teaching as belonging to this or that sect or school, Arāḍa's teaching, as Aśvaghoṣa is about to outline it, was nothing but Arāḍa's teaching. (Neither Arāḍa nor Aśvaghoṣa mention anything about Sāṁkhya philosophy.) 

VOCABULARY

iti: “...,” thus

arāḍaḥ (nom. sg.): m. Arāḍa

kumārasya (gen. sg.): m. the prince

māhātmyāt (abl. sg.): n. (fr. mahātman) magnanimity , highmindedness ; exalted state or position , majesty , dignity

eva: (emphatic)

coditaḥ (nom. sg. m.): mfn. caused to move quickly ; driven , impelled , incited

saṁkṣiptam (acc. sg.): mfn. thrown or dashed or heaped together &c

kathayām cakre = 3^rd pers. sg. perf. kathayām kṛ: to tell , relate , narrate , report , inform , speak about , declare , explain , describe

svasya (gen. sg.): his own

śāstrasya (gen. sg.): n. teaching , instruction , direction

niścayam (acc. sg.): m. inquiry , ascertainment , fixed opinion , conviction , certainty , positiveness ; resolution , resolve, fixed intention , design , purpose , aim

爾時阿羅藍 聞太子所問
自以諸經論 略爲其解説