⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−− Puṣpitāgrā
api
ca niyata eṣa tasya bhāvaḥ smara vacanaṁ tad-ṣeḥ
purāsitasya |
⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−¦¦⏑⏑⏑⏑−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−−
na
hi sa divi na cakra-varti-rājye kṣaṇam-api vāsayituṁ sukhena
śakyaḥ || 8.84
8.84
Moreover,
this orientation of mind was predestined in him –
Remember
those words long ago of the seer Asita,
'the Not White One.'
'the Not White One.'
For
neither in heaven nor in the domain of a wheel-rolling king
Could
he, even for a moment, be made happily to dwell.
COMMENT:
What
the combined voice of knowledge and experience is saying in the 1st pāda of today's
verse is something about the pre-set orientation of the prince's mind – which, since the prince was a normal human being, is the pre-set orientation
of everybody's mind.
Read
like that the progression from yesterday's verse, which contained the
injunction to come back to constancy, is perfectly logical. It is the logic of all living beings being without the buddha-nature.
In the 2nd pāda, as in BC Canto 1, Asita being called “the Not White One”
seems to me to have meaning. Asita long ago was also speaking from chequered experience, not as the voice of immaculate innocence.
In the second half of today's verse, as I read it, the key words are hi
(“for”), which points us towards the logical progression mentioned
above; and the causative vāsayitum, to be made to dwell.
The
suggestion is that to seek happiness, or to seek the truth – to
seek nirvāṇa, let's say – is in accordance, as it were, with our
factory settings. That being so, it is not a question of parking our
backsides on a round black cushion for the purpose of writing some
new software to make something happen. It is more a question of truly not doing anything, and
thereby allowing to assert itself an orientation of the mind, or a
direction, that is hard-wired, or preordained.
Nearly
30 years ago during a conversation over a cup of green tea during a
sitting retreat (call it a “mondo” session, if you like,
you arsehole), my teacher Gudo Nishijima said to me emphatically “We
are not monks. We are not lay people. We are something ineffable.”
That
was one of his better moments. This was in the days before he became
authorized within the Soto Sect hierarchy to wear a big hat and
conduct “ordination” ceremonies to make people into celibate or
non-celibate “monks.”
Later
in his life, Gudo seemed to discriminate between two kinds of people
who he called “Ven.” and “Mr.” – both titles ostensibly
being terms of respect, but the latter, as I sensed it, really being
used in a particular context as a term of disrespect, a slight. The
criterion seemed to be whether a student or correspondent accepted
Gudo's “True Buddhism” as the ultimate truth or not. This
pettiness may have been a symptom of creeping dementia. At the same
time, it was, as I saw it, a later manifestation of something subtly present in Gudo (a homeopathic dose?) that stimulated very strong anger in me from about 1986
onwards – via, inevitably, the mirror principle. Something was
evidently not quite true, not 100% pure, not totally white, in a little space in
the universe, at least, in which I wanted to see absolute perfection.
Nowadays
if you ask me whether or not I am ordained, I am liable to tell
you to fuck off – certainly in my heart, if not in so many words.
But a gentler answer, suggested by today's verse, might be that I am
pre-ordained, as is everybody else on this planet.
VOCABULARY
api
ca: (at beginning of sentence) moreover
niyataḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. fastened ; fixed , established , settled , sure ,
regular , invariable , positive , definite
eṣa
(nom. sg. m.): this
tasya
(gen. sg. m.): his
bhāvaḥ
(nom. sg.): m. becoming , being ; state , condition , rank; any state
of mind or body , way of thinking or feeling , sentiment , opinion ,
disposition , intention ; the seat of the feelings or affections ,
heart , soul , mind
smara
= 2nd pers. sg. imp. smṛ: to remember, be mindful of
vacanam
(acc. sg.): n. the act of speaking , utterance ; sentence, word
tat
(acc. sg. n.): that
ṛṣeḥ
(gen. sg.): m. seer
purā:
ind. before , formerly , of old
asitasya
(gen. sg.): m. 'the non-white one'; Asita
na:
not
hi:
for
sa
(nom. sg. m.): he
divi
(loc. sg.): f. in later Skr. heaven , the sky
na:
not
cakra-varti-rājye
(loc. sg.):
cakra-vartin:
mfn. rolling everywhere without obstruction ; m. a ruler the wheels
of whose chariot roll everywhere without obstruction , emperor ,
sovereign of the world , ruler of a cakra (or country described as
extending from sea to sea ; 12 princes beginning with bharata are
esp. considered as cakravartins)
rājya:
n. royalty , kingship , sovereignty , empire ; kingdom, realm
kṣaṇam:
ind (acc.): for a moment
api:
even
vāsayitum
= inf. causative vas: to dwell
sukhena:
ind. (inst.) easily , comfortably , pleasantly , joyfully , willingly
śakyaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): mfn. capable of being (with inf. in pass. sense )
子今行學道 何足苦憂悲
當憶阿私記 理數自應然
當憶阿私記 理數自應然
天樂轉輪聖 蕭然不累清
豈曰世界王 能移金王心
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