[Buddha-l] Pudgalavada #3

[Dan Lusthaus]

The Longer version (pt. 1):



四阿鋡暮抄解

 

Q: Why is it not said?

 

A: The not-said: [This refers to what is] not said in the heuristics for appropriation, metaphorical device, and cessation. (sūtra)

 

Those are the heuristics for appropriation, heuristics by metaphorical device (方便), and the heuristics for cessation. This means that whoever is stupid concerning these 'not saids' lacks insight.

 

The heuristics for appropriation [involves] using the name "a living-one" (In Sanskrit, the words for "living one" and "sentient being" sound the same)

[whether he is thinking of sattva or jīva, or both, is unclear, though what follows works better with jīva.]

 

[The idea] that the presently appropriated skandhas, dhātus, and āyatanas are appropriated by an inner living-one is a heuristic. This means that [when one talks about the] present appropriation of an inner living-one appropriating dharmas due to saṃskāras and the fetters (saṃyojana), these are heuristics for appropriation. The dharmas that the living-one heuristically appropriates are not the same as the living-one. It's not as if one seeks to get the jīva and the body to combine [into a single thing]. If they are the same, then [the jīva would be] impermanent and [prone to] suffering; if they are different, then [the jīva] would be permanent [and yet] deemed as [prone to] suffering [which is absurd, since "what is impermanent is suffering"]. 

If it is permanent, one wouldn't [need to] practice brahmacarya [a religious life]. If it is not permanent, one would be unsuited for the brahmacarya fruit. For that which is impermanent, receiving and giving would be ineffective (無義 vyartha). Ineffectiveness is tantamount to nihilism; in these two metaphorical devices (方便中二) [of permanence and annihilation] there is no dharma [conducive to either] suffering or the favorable. (In order to lead practioners [lit. masters], the Buddha metaphorically responds [to beings' needs] with different paths, so that both are attained.) The heuristic metaphorical device (方便) is naming.

 

[To speak of] "past, future and present" is to practice the heuristics for metaphorical device. This is the heuristics for metaphorical device by naming. [i.e., past, present and future are only nominally real.] This is the association of the three times (past, present and future). Such as: "In the past, I was King Kuśa" (The Sanskrit word quxia has ten names: sheep, eye, earth, sky, water, expression, space, diamond, light, and severed. These ten are figures of speech [比 bi]. And a person doesn't understand what it is that is in ten lives [that is continuous].) 

 

[The ten terms listed by Dao'an are not clear correlates of kuśa, though some work. MW lists these meanings for kuśa: m. grass; the sacred grass used at certain religious ceremonies (Poa cynosuroides , a grass with long pointed stalks); a rope (made of Kuśa grass) used for connecting the yoke of a plough with the pole; one of the great Dvīpas or divisions of the universe (surrounded by the sea of liquified butter); a small pin or piece of wood (used as a mark in recitation); a cord; a horse's bridle; a small pin (used as a mark in recitation and consisting of wood [MaitrS. iv] or of metal [TBr. i ŚBr. iii]; a ploughshare; a pod of cotton; n. water; wicked , depraved; mad , inebriate.  Among the overlaps: Dvīpa (天, 方, 地), water (水), metal (金剛), depraved (剪), pin used in recitation (說), plowshare (地, 剪), etc.] 

 

"In the future I will have the name Ajita." "At present I work at mastering an understanding (by means of mantric arts) of what's important[roles I] have not yet assumed or have already assumed, [such as] merchant (in the three times)." Such conventional roles are numerous, hence they are heuristically adopted [by assuming their] annihilation and permanence. If Kuśa has ceased, in what sense am I he? If he has not ceased, in what sense can one say he is I? It is by means of conventionalisms (vyavahāra) that one says so; it is a heuristic metaphorical device.

 

(to be continued)

Dan Lusthaus
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