⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑−−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−− Aupacchandasaka
iti
vākyam-idaṁ niśamya rājñaḥ kalaviṅka-svara uttaraṁ
babhāṣe |
⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑−−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−
yadi
me pratibhūś-caturṣu rājan bhavasi tvaṁ na tapo-vanaṁ
śrayiṣye || 5.34
5.34
Having heard these
words of the king,
He with the voice of a
kalaviṇka bird spoke his reply:
“If in four things, O
king, you will be my guarantor,
I will not go to the
ascetic grove –
COMMENT:
If, as I have argued,
enlightened preaching of the Buddha-dharma may be read concealed in
the king's words – albeit unknown to the king himself – then the
prince is so far not able to discern such hidden meaning. Rather, his
mind is still set on going to the ascetic grove, where he will duly
practise asceticism.
Mitigating this foolish
fixity of purpose, however, is the reasonable manner of the prince's reply. He
neither throws his toys out of the pram nor spits out his dummy;
since the king in the first instance has tried to dissuade the prince
with reason, the prince is going to reciprocate with reasoned
argument. Staying in touch with his reason, the prince does not
descend into heated debate. He of battle-cry like roaring
thunder-cloud (mahābhra-ghoṣaḥ; BC5.25), though he naturally has
a voice like thunder, opts not to use this voice in responding to the
king's argument. Rather he speaks with the voice of a bird – the
kalaviṇka – which was celebrated for its supremely melodious
tones.
As a rule, birds with
the most beautiful voices tend not to be too showy in their plumages. The blackcap springs to mind among small birds, and the blackbird
among bigger ones. So having googled the kalaviṇka, the images that struck me as least ridiculous were fairly drab depictions on two
Korean roof tiles and a Japanese postage stamp (I am not convinced by the human heads and arms, though):
Tapo-vana, “the
ascetic grove,” is a concept in Brahmanism, in the repudiation of
which Aśvaghoṣa was circumspect, preferring poetry to polemics.
Because Aśvaghoṣa was circumspect in repudiating Brahmanism, using
irony and other indirect means, professors of Sanskrit, who tend to
be apologists for Indian culture in general, are liable not to see
anything in Aśvaghoṣa's writing that falsifies the notion that
Brahmanism and the Buddha's teaching are basically variations on the
same theme. Professor Richard Gombrich, a brahmin of Balliol College
Oxford (using brahmin in the English sense of the word as a true
gentleman – brahmin [Websters]: “a person of high social
standing and cultivated intellect and taste”), has been a champion
of this notion. His friend and fellow professor Patrick Olivelle
expressed it explicitly in the introduction to his translation of
Buddha-carita like this: “Aśvaghoṣa sought to present Buddhism
as an integral part of Brahmanism.”
These professors of
Sanskrit and Indian religion might be the equivalent in the field of
Buddhist studies to the big beasts in the world of classical
economics whose bright ideas, based on assumptions like perfect
knowledge, have brought so many national economies to what George
Soros calls “very far from equilibrium."
If we take the example
of tapo-vana, “the ascetic grove,” it is undeniable that the
prince who would be Buddha is portrayed in Aśvaghoṣa's writing as
revering that conception. But how is the Buddha portrayed after his
enlightenment? Does the Buddha recommend Nanda, for example, to go to
a tapo-vanam?
One who eats anything at any place (kva-cid), and wears any clothes, who dwells in enjoyment of his own being and loves to be anywhere without people (kva-cana vijane): / He is to be known as a success, a knower of the taste of peace and ease, whose mind is made up -- he avoids involvement with others like a thorn. // SN14.50 //
VOCABULARY
iti:
thus
vākyam
(acc. sg.): n. speech , saying , assertion , statement , command ,
words ; (in logic) an argument
idam
(acc. sg. n.): this
niśamya
= abs. ni-śam: to hear
rājñaḥ
(gen. sg.): m. the king
kalaviṇka-svaraḥ
(nom. sg. m.): with the voice of a kalaviṇka bird
svara:
m. sound , noise ; voice
uttaram
(acc. sg.): n. answer , reply
babhāṣe
= 3rd pers. sg. perf. bhāṣ: to speak , talk , say ,
tell
yadi:
if
me
(gen. sg.): of/for me
pratibhūḥ
(nom. sg.): m. a surety , security , bail
caturṣu
(loc. pl.): four, four things
rājan
(voc. sg.): O king!
bhavasi
= 2nd pers. sg. bhū: to be, become
tvam
(acc. sg.): you
na:
not
tapo-vanam
(acc. sg. n.): the ascetic grove
śrayiṣye
= 1st pers. sg. future śri: to go to , approach , resort
or have recourse to (for help or refuge) , tend towards (acc.) ; to
go into , enter
太子恭遜辭 復啓於父王
惟爲保四事 當息出家心
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