"Saantideva's "Sik.saasamuccaya

[Harunaga Isaacson]

The passage to which Richard Mahoney drew attention and on which Martin
Delhey offered very usefull comments is an interesting one. Some further
progress should be possible with its translation. To mention two points
(others could I think be added):

>  || tadeva.mvidha.m samaagamamaasaadya sa.mv.rtiparamaarthata.h
>   suviditasa.msaaradu.skhasyopa"samanasukhaabhilaa.si.no
>   buddhagotraanubhaavaattu yasya mahaasatvasyaiva.m
>   pratyavek.sotpadyate ||
>
>  yadaa mama pare.saa.m ca bhaya.m du.skha.m ca na priya.m |
>   tadaatmana.h ko vi"se.so yatta.m rak.saami netaram | iti
>
>  tenaatmana.h satvadhaato"sca ||
>
>  du.skhaanta.m kartukaamena sukhaanta.m gantumicchataa |
>   "sraddhaamuula.m d.r.dhiik.rtya bodhau kaaryaa matird.r.dhaa ||
>
> The following is my attempt at making sense of it. It goes without
> saying that I am wholly responsible for all inaccuracies and
> stupidities. There are still a number of things about which I'm
> unsure, especially the `two-truths' bit and the `buddhagotra' section.
>
> \begin{quotation}
>   \noindent
>   Having attained birth under favourable conditions, understanding
>   well, conventionally and ultimately, the suffering associated with
>   cyclic existence, desiring the pleasure of cessation, now, when this
>   Mahasattva holds the opinion of the family of the Buddhas,
>   accordingly, he enquires\,:\\

'Holds the opinion of the family of the Buddhas' is rather far from the
Sanskrit. The position of the tu is not very comfortable (to me, but I
have read little of the "Sik.saasamuccaya and am not really familiar with
"Saantideva's prose style). buddhagotraanubhaavaat is of course an
ablative, not another in the string of genitives (as the translation would
seem to suggest). It is because the person belongs to the buddhagotra
(rather than the "sraavakagotra or pratyekabuddhagotra) that he reflects
thus and then should set his mind firmly on (complete) awakening.

>   \noindent
>   \flqq\,~When fear and suffering are liked neither by myself nor
>   others, what is so special about this my self, that I should
>   preserve it rather than others\,?~\,\frqq\,\\
>
>   \noindent
>   [then it is said] by him, for himself and for the world of sentient
>   beings\,:\\
>
>   \noindent
>   \flqq\,~He who wishes to destroy suffering, he who strives to reach
>   the limits of pleasure, should strengthen the source of faith, and
>   firmly set his mind upon
>   enlightenment.~\,\frqq\,
>   \footnote{\cite[p.~2 lns.~8--14.]{bendall:ciksaasamuccaya}}\\
> \end{quotation}

The addition of '[then it is said]' is not justified, I should say. The
second verse is not just something 'in quotation marks' but is genuinely
part of the sentence, the main structure of which is tena bodhau kaaryaa
mati.h.

Happy New Year.

Harunaga Isaacson

Asien-Afrika-Institut
Abteilung für Kultur und Geschichte Indiens und Tibets
Universität Hamburg