Mike Cross: Aśvaghoṣa's Gold

Buddhacarita - 197
saṁtoṣaṁ param āsthāya yena tena yatas tataḥ /
viviktaṁ sevate vāsaṁ nir-dvandvaḥ śāstra-vit kṛtī // 12.47 //
Staying close to the deepest contentment, with whatever, from wherever, / He abides in
seclusion, free from dichotomies: a knower of the teaching, a man of action. 607 //12.47//
tato rāgād bhayaṁ dṛṣṭvā vairāgyāc ca paraṁ śivam /
nigṛhṇann indriya-grāmaṁ yatate manasaḥ śame // 12.48 //
He sees, on these grounds, how horror arises out of redness, but the highest happiness out of its
absence, / And he mobilizes himself – curbing the senses – in the direction of quieting of the
mind. //12.48//
atho viviktaṁ kāmebhyo vyāpādādibhya eva ca /
viveka-jam avāpnoti pūrva-dhyānaṁ vitarkavat // 12.49 //
Then he arrives at a stage secluded from desires, and also from things like malice; / He reaches
the stage born of seclusion – the first dhyāna, in which there is thinking. 608 //12.49//
tac ca dhyāna-sukhaṁ prāpya tat tad eva vitarkayan /
apūrva-sukha-lābhena hriyate bāliśo janaḥ // 12.50 //
Experiencing this state of meditative ease, while thinking various things – this but also that – /
The immature person is carried away by enjoyment of the new-found happiness. //12.50//
śamenaivaṁ vidhenāyaṁ kāma-dveṣa-vigarhiṇā /
brahma-lokam avāpnoti paritoṣeṇa vaṇcitaḥ // 12.51 //
Via tranquillity of this order, which is the renouncing of loves and of hates, / At a brahmaworld
609 this [youngster] arrives – if, by feeling fully satisfied, he is taken in. //12.51//
607
The real meaning of this line was totally lost on those in China who spoke of “a separate transmission
outside of the teaching.” For them, Zen was all about being a man of action, while thinking light of verbal
teaching.
608
Arāḍa's description of the four dhyānas tallies very well with the description in SN Canto 17 of Nanda's
practice and experience, viz: Distanced from desires and tainted things, containing ideas and containing thoughts
/ Born of solitude and possessed of joy and ease, is the first stage of meditation, which he then entered. // SN17.42 //
609
A spiritual state.