⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑− Vaṁśastha
ihāsti
nāstīti ya eṣa saṁśayaḥ parasya vākyair-na mamātra
niścayaḥ |
⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−¦¦⏑−⏑−¦−⏑⏑¦−⏑−⏑−
avetya
tattvaṁ tapasā śamena
vā svayaṁ grahīṣyāmi yad-atra niścitam || 9.73
9.73
“As to the doubt you
raise,
about existence in this
world and non-existence,
I shall arrive at
conviction in this matter
not by way of another's
words.
Seeing the truth by the
heat of asceticism,
or else by the coolness
of quietism,
I will grasp for myself
what, in this matter, is to be ascertained.
COMMENT:
The asti (there is, it
exists) and nāsti (there is not, it does not exist) of the 1st
pāda of today's verse, and the doubt (saṁśayaḥ), seem to refer
to what the counsellor said about rebirth in BC9.55:
Some say, moreover, that there is rebirth (punar-bhavo' sti) ; others assert with conviction that there is not (nāsti). / While this matter remains thus open to doubt (saṁśayitaḥ), it is only natural to enjoy whatever royal rank has come our way.//BC9.55//
The point to reflect on
then, in relation to a controversy like whether or not Buddhists
believe in reincarnation, is that if we really followed the Buddha we
would refuse to believe one thing or the other on the basis of what
anybody (including the Buddha himself) said.
I am reminded of the
teaching of Marjory Barlow who would tell a new pupil in a first
Alexander lesson, “I don't want you to believe a single word I say.
You be the judge of whether or not I am talking out of my hat!”
Of course it is
possible, for those of us of a religious inclination, to think that
this story is about one special bodhisattva named Prince
Sarvartha-siddha, who became the enlightened Buddha, whose words it
behoves us to believe. But I for one don't necessarily read Buddha-carita like
that. Before it specifically means Gautama Buddha, buddha means that which is awake in anybody. So I think the point is for every buddha-to-be, not only this one most celebrated Bodhisattva, to stand firm in his
or her resolve, and for every buddha-to-be to make up his or her own
mind, on the basis of practice and experience.
In the 3rd pāda I read
tapasā śamena as roughly equivalent to the English phrase “by
hook or by crook.” The bodhisattva is expressing his determination,
one way or another, to realize whatever truth there is to be
realized.
At the same time, and
following on from the discussion in yesterday's comment about
practice at the interface between fear paralysis and panic, tapas and
śama can be taken as representing opposite approaches to the truth,
each of which lacks something which the other has.
In other words, tapas
can be taken as standing for what the Moro reflex orchestrates –
the motivating heat of red panic. While śama can be taken as representing what
fear paralysis evokes – the pallid dampening of excitement.
In fact, looking ahead
to BC Canto 12, arāḍa-darśanaḥ, “Meeting with Arāḍa,”
the bodhisattva does pursue these two alternative approaches of tapas and śama, trying
first the more cool and contemplative approaches of Arāḍa and
Uḍraka (śama), and then rejecting their teachings in favour of fierce
asceticism (tapas).
Arāḍa's approach to
mokṣa (release/freedom) is somewhat philosophical and meditative,
rather than rigorously practical or ascetic; and Uḍraka, as
Aśvaghoṣa sums him up in SN3.3, is inclined towards quietness
(upaśama-matim):
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
served, his heart set on truth, and he left.
He who intuited the
path intuited: "This also is not it."
sa vicārayan jagati
kiṁ nu paramam-iti taṁ tam-āgamaṁ /
Of the different
traditions in the world, he asked himself,
which one was the
best?
niścayam-anadhigataḥ
parataḥ paramaṁ cacāra tapa eva duṣ-karaṁ // SN3.4 //
Not obtaining certainty
elsewhere,
he entered after all into ascetic practice that was
most severe.
EHJ
changed the vā at the end of the 3rd pāda to ca,
translating “I will arrive at the truth for myself by asceticism
and quietude...” But I think Aśvaghoṣa's suggestion, with
vā (or else) is that the bodhisattva was already aware of two mutually exclusive approaches, each of which he would test out, one at a
time, before abandoning both and coming back to just sitting.
What strikes me on
perusing BC Canto 12 is that
(a) Arāḍa comes
across as a Zen master, who speaks from experience of the four stages
of sitting-meditation;
(b) the bodhisattva is
described even while in the thick of ascetic practice as sparkling
like the sea –
kṣīṇo
'py-akṣīṇa-gāmbhīryaḥ samudra iva sa vyabhāt //BC12.99//
Wasted away, and yet
undiminished in the depths of his dignity and composure,
he caught the eye like
the sparkling sea.”
One irony of today's
verse, then, might be that the bodhisattva in the end will realize
the truth neither by asceticism nor by quietism, but rather by
abandoning both of those -isms.
But a deeper irony, that we may revisit in BC Canto 12, might reside in a hundredth or a thousandth of a gap in
the mind of a Zen practitioner who is proud of what he thinks he
understands, wherein heaven and earth are very far removed from each
other. I mean, it is easy for me, sitting on an easy chair, to dismiss Arāḍa as a believer in an -ism, and easy for me to dismiss asceticism as another time-wasting -ism... but where has that got me?
One irony, again, might
be that the bodhisattva now expects to grasp something, whereas as
the enlightened Buddha he will point in the direction of letting go
of everything. Now the bodhisattva looks forward to certainty. Later he will teach that,
aside from death and taxes, there is no such thing as certainty, no
nailed-down truth, no right position – but there is a right
direction.
But a deeper irony,
again, in conclusion, that sitting-zen makes me aware of, even as I
write here about a right direction, is that what I feel to be the
right direction turns out to be the wrong direction. What I feel to
be up turns out to be down.
Fundamentally, this is a vestibular problem. Blessed with a congenitally dodgy vestibular system, I have come to understand it in myself as a vestibular problem. But it turns out that it is a vestibular problem for everybody. At the most fundamental level, our sense of the right direction is influenced, or distorted, by a primitive panic reflex. And below that there is fear paralysis.
Fundamentally, this is a vestibular problem. Blessed with a congenitally dodgy vestibular system, I have come to understand it in myself as a vestibular problem. But it turns out that it is a vestibular problem for everybody. At the most fundamental level, our sense of the right direction is influenced, or distorted, by a primitive panic reflex. And below that there is fear paralysis.
Still, even though I cannot reliably feel where it is, there is such a thing as a right direction. Or else how would the tree in the garden grow?
Because there is such a thing as a right direction, it seems to me, even in the absence of certainties that can be grasped, and even though life hitherto has been a littany of errors, there is still worthwhile effort to be made.
Because there is such a thing as a right direction, it seems to me, even in the absence of certainties that can be grasped, and even though life hitherto has been a littany of errors, there is still worthwhile effort to be made.
VOCABULARY
iha:
ind. in this world
asti:
there is
na:
not
asti:
there is
iti:
“...” thus
yaḥ
(nom. sg. m.): [that] which
eṣa
(nom. sg. m.): this
saṁśayaḥ
(nom. sg.): m. uncertainty , irresolution , hesitation , doubt
parasya
(gen. sg.): another's
vākyaiḥ
(inst. pl.): n. speech, saying, words
na:
not
mama
(gen. sg.): my
atra:
ind. in this matter
niścayaḥ
(nom. sg.): m. inquiry , ascertainment , fixed opinion , conviction ,
certainty , positiveness ; resolve, resolution
avetya
= abs. ava-√i to look upon , consider ; to perceive , conceive ,
understand , learn , know
tattvam
(acc. sg.): n. that-ness, the truth, the reality
tapasā
(inst. sg.): n. warmth , heat ; pain, suffering ; ascetic practice
śamena
(inst. sg.): m. tranquillity , calmness , rest , equanimity ,
quietude or quietism , absence of passion , abstraction from eternal
objects through intense meditation ; tranquillization , pacification
, allayment , alleviation , cessation , extinction ; indifference,
apathy
vā:
or
ca
[EHJ]: and
svayam:
ind. by myself
grahīṣyāmi
= 1st
pers. sg. future grah: to grasp
yat
(acc. sg. n.): [that] which
atra:
ind. in this matter
niścitam
(acc. sg. n.): mfn.
ascertained , determined , settled , decided ; n. certainty ,
decision , resolution , design
niś- √ ci : to
ascertain , investigate , decide , settle , fix upon , determine ,
resolve
有無等猶豫 二心疑惑増
而作有無説 我不決定取
淨智修苦行 決定我自知
而作有無説 我不決定取
淨智修苦行 決定我自知
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