Re: [INDOLOGY] Matty Weingast's Therīgāthā

Jan E.M. Houben jemhouben at gmail.com
Tue Jan 26 04:50:23 UTC 2021


Dear All,
In continuation of Tim's detailed and valuable discussion and his reference
to Patrick Olivelle's note on yoga-kṣema, it may be useful to explain in
addition (1) that in this compound yoga, whether from a Vedic or Buddhist
point of view, has nothing to do with buddhist or Patanjali's meditation or
with difficult seating positions, but it refers, at least originally, to
the yoking of bulls to the chariots (probably bulls rather than what we
call oxen because castration was rare in ancient India -- as Basham
observed, I believe correctly, somewhere in The Wonder That Was India) --
next, from the yoking of the bulls it refers, indeed, to the trek of a
family, group or clan; (2) that kṣema as derived from √kṣi 'to reside
(safely and undisturbed)' had similarly a very concrete meaning referring
to the concrete conditions of a temporary settlement; (3) that yoga-kṣema
is thus one of several words/expressions in the language, whether Vedic or
Buddhist, that points to a transition from a semi-sedentary mode of life to
a more, or to a completely, sedentary mode of life, together with words
such as graama 'caravan / village', mahaanasa 'great chariot / kitchen'
(the word occurs both in Asoka's inscriptions and in the Paippalaada
samhitaa), perhaps also g.rhapati/gehapati 'ritual chief or family chief /
farmer'.
See further:
“Ecology of Ritual Innovation in Ancient India: Textual and Contextual
Evidence.” In: Self, Sacrifice, and Cosmos: Vedic Thought, Ritual, and
Philosophy. Essays in Honor of Professor Ganesh Umakant Thite’s
Contribution to Vedic Studies, ed. by Lauren M. Bausch, pp. 182-210 (The
section “References” of this article is integrated in id., “Bibliography,”
pp. 223-238.) Delhi: Primus Books, 2019.
where, inter alia, I refer to and critically comment on (only the first
part of)
Gadgil, Madhav and Ramachandra Guha
1992 This Fissured Land : An Ecological History of India. Delhi : Oxford
University Press. (Reprint as Oxford Perennial with different pagination,
2013).
Best, Jan
-- 

*Jan E.M. Houben*

Directeur d'Études, Professor of South Asian History and Philology

*Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite*

École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris Sciences et Lettres)

*Sciences historiques et philologiques *

*johannes.houben [at] ephe.psl.eu <johannes.houben at ephe.psl.eu>*
*https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben
<https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben>*

On Mon, 25 Jan 2021 at 19:20, Lubin, Tim via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
>
>
> Outside of Pali contexts, it is normally treated as a dvandva, and indeed
> *kṣema* is understood as safe-guarding or securing (*parirakṣaṇam*, *
> paripālanam*).  Standard commentarial glosses are of the type:
>
> *alabdhalābho yogaḥ, labdhaparirakṣaṇaṃ kṣemaḥ* (Madhusūdana on *BhG*
> 2.45)
>
> *yogakṣemau = alabdhalābha-labdhaparipālane*  (*Anargharāghavapañcikā*
> 2.40)
>
> *yogo.alabdhalābhaḥ … kṣemaṃ labdhaparirakṣaṇaṃ* (
> *Īśvarapratyabhijñāvivṛtivimarśinī*, p. 240)
>
>
>
> Kauṭilya 6.2.1 provides a definition:
>
> *KAŚ06.2.01/ śamavyāyāmau yogakṣemayor yoniḥ //*
>
> *KAŚ06.2.02/ karmārambhāṇāṃ yogārādhano vyāyāmaḥ //*
>
> *KAŚ06.2.03/ karmaphalopabhogānāṃ kṣemārādhanaḥ śamaḥ //*
>
> *KAŚ06.2.04/ śamavyāyāmayor yoniḥ ṣāḍguṇyam //*
>
> *KAŚ06.2.05/ kṣayaḥ sthānaṃ vṛddhir ity udayās tasya //*
>
>
>
> 1. Rest and exertion form the basis of enterprise and security.*
>
> 2. Exertion consists of the enterprise that one furnishes to activities
> that are being undertaken.
>
> 3. Rest consists of the security that one furnishes to the enjoyment of
> the fruits of one’s activities.
>
> 4. The basis of rest and exertion is the sixfold strategy (> 7.1.2).
>
> 5. Its outcomes are decline, stability, and prosperity.  (tr. Olivelle
> 2013)
>
>
>
> Olivelle’s note thereon:
>
> “*Rest . . . security* : The translation of the compound *yogakṣema*
> poses several problems. As a single concept, it often refers to security or
> security measures. Thus, at *MDh* 9.219, *yogakṣema* is one of the items
> that cannot be divided during the partitioning of an inheritance, and there
> it clearly refers to security measures, such as fences for fields and
> houses. In the Vedic usage, *yoga* referred to the trek, when the people
> were on the move in search of wealth, while *kṣema* referred to a time of
> encampment and rest in a defensive position. I think this dual meaning of
> the compound is prominent in the *AŚ*. In this passage, rest (*śama*) is
> connected to *kṣema*, and exertion (*vyāyāma*) to *yoga*. I have
> regularly translated the compound as a dual, unless the context dictates
> otherwise (e.g., 1.13.7, 8; 3.11.3).”
>
>
>
> And 1.4.3 suggests that the compound provides the basis (the first half)
> of *daṇḍanīti*:
>
> *ānvīkṣikītrayīvārttānāṃ yogakṣemasādhano daṇḍaḥ, tasya nītir daṇḍanītiḥ,
> alabdhalābhārthā labdhaparirakṣaṇī rakṣitavivardhanī vṛddhasya tīrthe
> pratipādanī ca //*
>
>
>
> 3. What provides *enterprise and security* (6.2.1 n.) to critical
> inquiry, the Triple [i.e., Veda], and economics is punishment (*daṇḍa*);
> its administration (*nīti*) is government (*daṇḍa-nīti*). Government
> seeks *to acquire what has not been acquired, to safeguard what has been
> acquired*, to augment what has been safeguarded, and to bestow what has
> been augmented on worthy recipients
>
>
>
> It is thus the king’s duty is to provide an environment in which those
> complementary goals can be pursued:
>
> Hence *yogakṣemaśabdena yogakṣemakāriṇo rājamantripurohitādaya ucyante
> iti kecit*… (Mit. ad YājñDh 2.119)
>
>
>
> But the deity may also be appealed to for success:
>
>
>
> *YājñavalkyaDh* 1.100ab (99ab in Olivelle’s edition):
>
> *upeyād īśvaraṃ caiva yogakṣemārthasiddhaye |*
>
> “He may, furthermore, approach the lord for success in the aims of
> acquiring and safeguarding.”
>
>
>
> *Mitākṣarā* thereon: *alabdhalābho yogaḥ, labdhaparipālanaṃ kṣema,
> tadartham upeyād upāsīta |*
>
>
>
> Nārāyaṇa on the *Nīlarudra Up.* 1.3, speaking of Rudra’s activities:
>
> *anena kṣemakāritvam uktam | alabdhalābho yogas … so ’pi te
> tavāpūrvalābhakaro ’py etv āgacchatu yogakṣemakaro ’bhiṣekajale saṃnihito
> bhavatv ity arthah.*
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Tim
>
>
>
>
>
> Timothy Lubin
> Jessie Ball duPont Professor of Religion and Adjunct Professor of Law
> 204 Tucker Hall
> Washington and Lee University
> Lexington, Virginia 24450
>
> American Council of Learned Societies fellow, 2020–21
> National Endowment for the Humanities fellow, 2020–21
>
> https://lubin.academic.wlu.edu/
> <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flubin.academic.wlu.edu%2F&data=04%7C01%7CLubinT%40wlu.edu%7C118620c8eb3b4049237308d886c1df18%7Cd1a80622a99943e58eb67873905e939e%7C1%7C0%7C637407514521888642%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=KGZJIHllkEOJZN9s48rB6YkrExmYG1owecyuPn%2FuR%2Bg%3D&reserved=0>
>
> http://wlu.academia.edu/TimothyLubin
> <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwlu.academia.edu%2FTimothyLubin&data=04%7C01%7CLubinT%40wlu.edu%7C118620c8eb3b4049237308d886c1df18%7Cd1a80622a99943e58eb67873905e939e%7C1%7C0%7C637407514521888642%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=etrMzh0RHx8819v5PH6KeTgeHQpeNVqeSUP62IDVn9c%3D&reserved=0>
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> https://ssrn.com/author=930949
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> https://dharma.hypotheses.org/people/lubin-timothy
> <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdharma.hypotheses.org%2Fpeople%2Flubin-timothy&data=04%7C01%7CLubinT%40wlu.edu%7C118620c8eb3b4049237308d886c1df18%7Cd1a80622a99943e58eb67873905e939e%7C1%7C0%7C637407514521898628%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=sncUovdIh9wA0ezo8n2xpYpllaMKMetH86tMA6Jtg9A%3D&reserved=0>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From: *INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of
> INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
> *Reply-To: *Rolf Heinrich Koch <rolfheiner.koch at gmail.com>
> *Date: *Monday, January 25, 2021 at 8:49 AM
> *To: *INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
> *Subject: *Re: [INDOLOGY] Matty Weingast's Therīgāthā
>
>
>
> Dear Matthew,
>
>
>
> For several excerpts from the Pali Kanon which are compared with Sanskrit
> sources (on *yogakkhema/yogakṣema*) see also:
>
> Shozen Kumoi, The Concept of Yoga in the Nikāyas. Studies in Honour of
> Heinz Bechert on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, Indica et Tibetica,
> vol. 30, p. 407-420.
>
>
>
> Best
>
> Heiner
>
>
>
>
>
> Am 25.01.2021 um 12:50 schrieb Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY:
>
> Yes, thank you, Patricia, - it has been widely.
>
>
>
> To the list more generally -
>
>
>
> There is one question it raises for me, not about Weingast's fantasies,
> but about K. R. Norman's
>
> translation cited herein. In the first verse quoted, he renders yogakkhema
> (= Skt. yogakṣema) as "rest-from-exertion". Charles Hallisey, in his
> recent translation of the same work
> https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674427730
> <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hup.harvard.edu%2Fcatalog.php%3Fisbn%3D9780674427730&data=04%7C01%7CLubinT%40wlu.edu%7C8413065617cc4b25135208d8c137ffb2%7Cd1a80622a99943e58eb67873905e939e%7C1%7C0%7C637471793559071993%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=SxSsMpQQNpV05xHWK5qISt36yulRfuS%2FqsXrK4QNMQ8%3D&reserved=0>
>
> gives "safety," which seems more plausible to me in light of the Sanskrit
> usage.
>
>
>
> I would be grateful for any insights you might have into Norman's
> treatment of the term and, more generally, into the semantic range of the
> curious expression yogakṣema. Tibetan lexicographers, by the way, treated
> it as having the meanings "accomplished" (grub-pa = siddha) and
> "comfort/ease/happiness" (bde-ba = sukha).
>
>
>
> best to all,
>
> Matthew
>
>
>
>
> *Matthew Kapstein *Directeur d'études, émérite
> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris
>
> Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
> The University of Chicago
> ------------------------------
>
> *From:* INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info>
> <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of Valerie J Roebuck via
> INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> <indology at list.indology.info>
> *Sent:* Monday, January 25, 2021 5:20 AM
> *To:* Patricia Sauthoff <sauthoff at ualberta.ca> <sauthoff at ualberta.ca>
> *Cc:* Indology List <indology at list.indology.info>
> <indology at list.indology.info>; +++RISA ACADEMIC DISCUSSION LIST+++
> <RISA-L at lists.sandiego.edu> <RISA-L at lists.sandiego.edu>
> *Subject:* Re: [INDOLOGY] Matty Weingast's Therīgāthā
>
>
>
> Thank you very much for this.
>
>
>
> Valerie J Roebuck
>
> Manchester, UK
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
>
>
> On 24 Jan 2021, at 00:31, Patricia Sauthoff via INDOLOGY
> <indology at list.indology.info> <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
>
>
> I thought you might find this article on the myriad issues with a recent
> publication of the Therīgāthā of interest.
>
>
>
>
> https://lokanta.github.io/2021/01/21/curious-case/?fbclid=IwAR3A-mrXnNT-1f5ZYLr4OWYe9_i1nZyGko1RdEkeR2Zxao9Bh8Gf8FALeLI
> <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flokanta.github.io%2F2021%2F01%2F21%2Fcurious-case%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3A-mrXnNT-1f5ZYLr4OWYe9_i1nZyGko1RdEkeR2Zxao9Bh8Gf8FALeLI&data=04%7C01%7CLubinT%40wlu.edu%7C8413065617cc4b25135208d8c137ffb2%7Cd1a80622a99943e58eb67873905e939e%7C1%7C0%7C637471793559081991%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=g%2Be9xfNrMr%2BdK9njnp3yax4pp5mu4eX1ixeMhAiVGAU%3D&reserved=0>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Dr. Patricia Sauthoff, PhD
>
> Postdoctoral Fellow
> AyurYog.org
> <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fayuryog.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7CLubinT%40wlu.edu%7C8413065617cc4b25135208d8c137ffb2%7Cd1a80622a99943e58eb67873905e939e%7C1%7C0%7C637471793559091983%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=UQGBCR5ViTmmYu2Y%2BlEY4JATYJ7eHBs5mrRfb1Rcp%2FY%3D&reserved=0>
> Department of History, Classics, and Religious Studies
> University of Alberta
> Edmonton, Canada
>
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> --
>
> Dr. Rolf Heinrich Koch
>
> www.rolfheinrichkoch.wordpress.com <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rolfheinrichkoch.wordpress.com%2F&data=04%7C01%7CLubinT%40wlu.edu%7C8413065617cc4b25135208d8c137ffb2%7Cd1a80622a99943e58eb67873905e939e%7C1%7C0%7C637471793559101981%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=JCzygrcS1MK7pAUWLyuPIsY%2FB%2BYjNLFAazqptxS5VME%3D&reserved=0>
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