Friday, March 20, 2015

BUDDHACARITA 14.34: How a Fool Thinks "This Is To Be Done"



[No Sanskrit text] 

Tibetan:
| bya ba ’di daṅ bya ba ’di | | źes ni gaṅ du lhag par la |
| sred daṅ yoṅs ldan byis rnams kyis | | rgyun chad med par rjes su myoṅ | 

bya: activity; object; deed; do; action [future of byed, to do]
lhag: exceeding, more, beyond
sred: desire, thirst (= tṛṣṇā, no. 8 in the 12 links)
ldan: associated with, together with, possessed of,
rgyun: continuation; continuum; mental continuum; life continuum; stream;

EHJ's translation from the Tibetan:
34. And in this state the fools, obsessed with desire, are borne along in the ever-flowing stream, thinking all the more, 'this is to be done and this is to be done.'

Chinese:
勤苦而求生 得生長受苦 

… labour, and sorrow, yet seeking birth again, and being born again, enduring pain. (SB) 
Suffering hardship, they sought rebirth; and being reborn, they experienced suffering for a long time. (CW)


COMMENT:
The ten Chinese characters presented here, in view of the repetition of  , suffering, which mirrors the repetition of sdug discussed yesterday, are maybe better regarded as part of a Chinese translation that conflates BC14.33 and 14.34. 

Judging from EHJ's translation, today's verse again seems to lay the ground preparatory to the bodhisattva's imminent realization concerning ignorance (avidyā) and doings (saṁskārāḥ). 

In accordance with long-cultivated habit, first thing in the morning I do my sitting practice, then do some translation work, then -- if I have time and energy -- I lie down and do my Alexander directions before doing my second session of sitting, and so on and so on...

The doings which are the root of saṁsāra thus does the one veiled in ignorance do. 






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