BUDDHACARITA 12.37: Is That a Hairline Fracture?

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anayāvidyayā bālaḥ saṁyuktaḥ paṇca-parvayā |

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saṁsāre duḥkha-bhūyiṣṭhe janmasv-abhiniṣicyate || 12.37

12.37

The immature person who is possessed

Of this fivefold ignorance

Is swept into samsāra, where suffering prevails –

In birth after birth, he is swept.

COMMENT:

It would be instructive to compare what Arāḍa says about saṁsāra in the present canto with what the Buddha realizes about samsāra as described in the part of BC Canto 14 for which we do not have the Sanskrit.

What we do have, fortunately, is the version of Aśvaghoṣa's Dharma-grandson Nāgārjuna as follows:

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.

Did Aśvaghoṣa intend us to see, as is apparent on the surface, that Arāḍa's analysis is a nice mirror for what the bodhisattva, as the fully awakened Sambuddha, is going to confirm in BC Canto 14?

Maybe Aśvaghoṣa did intend that. 

At the same time, was Aśvaghoṣa inviting us to sharpen our critical faculties and pinpoint the flaw in Arāḍa's mirror?

Again, I think maybe he was inviting that also.

In the latter case, the slightest of cracks may be visible in Arāḍa's use of the passive abhiniṣicyate, “he is swept” (lit. “he is poured out;” or “he is effused” [EBC]).

A slight difference might be, in other words, that in Nāgārjuna's version the ignorant one is the doer, whereas in Arāḍa's version the ignorant one is the one who is done to.

The difference is subtle but telling. It might be the difference between making postural adjustments and allowing the whole self to lengthen and widen.

The point to be clear about, in conclusion, might be whether saṁsāra is truly compared to a body of moving water like a rising tide or a rushing torrent, waiting to sweep us away. Or is there in fact no saṁsāra except for the samṣāra that we, in our ignorance, create by our own doing?

aṁsāra-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.

I have published over 2,000 posts on this blog, but I think that if I am on the right track with this comment, today's post may be by far and away the one which means the most. It does to me at least. 

VOCABULARY

anayā (ins. sg. f.): this

avidyayā (inst. sg.): f. ignorance

bālaḥ (nom. sg.): m. a child , boy (esp. one under 5 years) ; a fool, simpleton

saṁyuktaḥ (nom. sg.): mfn. conjoined ; accompanied or attended by , endowed or furnished with , full of (instr. or comp.

paṇca-parvayā (inst. sg. f.): fivefold

saṁsāre (loc. sg.): m. saṁṣāra

duḥkha-bhūyiṣṭhe

bhūyiṣṭha: mfn. most numerous or abundant or great or important , chief, principal; (ifc. = having anything as chief part or ingredient , chiefly filled with or characterised by , nearly all , almost ;

janmasu (loc. pl.): n. birth

abhiniṣicyate = 3^rd pers. sg. passive abhi-ni-√sic: to pour out, effuse

生死大苦本 輪轉五道生 

[Relation with Sanskrit tenuous]