a buddhist debate

Jacques Coulardeau SARI 2015 1

A Buddhist Debate in the Sigiri Graffiti

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Synopsis Paie, Nicehttps://synopsispaie.academia.edu/JacquesCoulardeau

https://synopsispaie.academia.edu/JacquesCoulardeau


Historical Heritage

• King Kasyapa I (477-495)

• Dhatusena frees his country from foreign domination

• Dhatusena has his sister killed who was the wife of the chief of his army, Migara.

• Migara manipulates Kasyapa

• Migara has Dhatusena buried alive in the wall of his prison after his defeat.


SIGIRIYA

The Apsaras


Dr Senarath Paranavitana

• 1896-1972, archaeologist and epigraphist• Sigiri Graffiti, Oxford University Press,

London, 1956 • Dr Benille Priyanka, his successor on the

site• Meanings of the Sigiriya Paintings, Based

on Recent Archaeological Evidence, Godage International Publishers (PVT) Ltd, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2005


‘mana’, ‘sita’ and ‘la’

• The sigiri Graffiti in old Sinhala (Sinhalese)• 9th – 13th centuries • ‘mana’ and ‘sita’ translated by either ‘mind’ or

‘heart’ by Dr Paranavitana.• ‘la’ is definitely the organ.• ‘mana’, ‘sita’ fundamental concepts of

Buddhism.• In Pali, ‘māna’, ‘citta’, the ‘mind’, plus ‘cetasika’,

‘mental states’.


Buddhism a mental heritageJānāti knowsVijānāti knows with discriminationSanjānāti recognizes [as in « I recognize this

person » that could be seen as equivalent to “I know this person” when I meet someone I seem to recognize]

Pajānāti knows with wisdomParijānāti knows comprehensivelyAbhijānāti knows with extra-sensory perception

(note the prefix abhi- that we find in Abhidhamma, the main reference for Buddhist philosophy, in which ‘dhamma’ meanings ‘the teaching’ of the Buddha: this gives you an inkling of the supreme knowledge Buddhism is aiming at : a knowledge that is beyond the simple sensations and perceptions we can get from the six sense-doors, thus including the mind itself in ‘sensory perceptions’.)

Ajānāti learns or graspPatijānāti admits or approves


Poem n° 536 Pi[ya].paha[sa me] digäsa sandehi lat vemi suvapatSaga-van [beyand] ā kala [va]nnemi balay [sita to]s

Translation given by Dr Paranavitana:“When the loving embrace of this long-eyed one is obtained by me, I shall become happy. (And), when I am come to this mountainside, which is like unto heaven, I shall become rejoiced in the mind, having looked at (it).”

My translation:“Happy will I be having youEyes so long you embrace my heart

This mountainside climbs to HeavenMy joyful mind saw her radiance”


Poem n° 539

Gata varajekni ek jäyek boho[yen ga]ta ta[ma]Isi-tadahu adderesaya tabā [me]ļe-y [me] pa[ve] gä[hänun]

Translation given by Dr Paranavitana:“It has been wrongly taken when one thing has been taken excessively by one. He who was strong in his jealousy caused his women to remain at the edge of his rock and died, leaving them (there)”

My translation:“Wrong you are if you act extremeJealous King who has forced his wives

To stay on th’ Rock edge foreverYou died and left them so dangling”


Poem n° 540 (1)Mese siti pahasak se vī muļa ruvahi eta risiYeta [muļa] eļe se pū nuba siribarni pin-sabar janma

Translation given by Dr Paranavitana:“Having become infatuated in form, when desire comes into being, (this damsel) has been considered (by you) in this manner, as an (object worthy of) embrace. When (desire) passes away, the infatuation will itself fall ; as does what is cast up into the sky. By the abundance of (their) splendour, we know the store of their merit.”

My translation:“You’re possessed by the shape of fleshYou’re embracing this damsel thereObject worthy of your love an’ care

Desire will fall stone thrown skywardPossession’ll drop dust cast windwardTheir merit r’vealed perfect splendour”


Poem n° 540 (2)Lust or ‘tanhā’, the very danger we may run if we let dukkha

arise freely. Dhammapada,Verse 125 (Chapter 9: Evil, verse 10):

“Whoever harms a harmless person, one pure and guiltless, upon that very fool the evil recoils like fine dust thrown against the wind.”

{Siri}-{barni} + {pin}-{sabar} + {janma} = {Goddess of beauty}-{from ‘bar-’ meaning ‘heavy object’ & Instrumental declension} + {merit}-{abundance} + {First person plural present of ‘jan-‘, ‘to know’ & ‘birth’}

‘janma’ means ‘we know’. But ‘janma’ also means ‘birth’.


Poem n° 541 (1)

Äti sabā maha-sit da sittamin siţuvayÄsin balay raval lamu nana sit-vind=äd siţuvay

Translation given by Dr Paranavitana:“He (i.e. the painter), by (the art of) painting, fixes even the real nature of the very source of consciousness. Having seen with his eyes, a long (strand of) hair, he paints and fixes diverse feelings of the mind.”

My translation:“Painter fix with your painting artConsciousness and its very source

His eye some hair saw and paintedThe feeling sense door of our mind”


Poem n° 541 (2)

The two lines end with the same word ‘siţuvay’, third person singular present of causative of ‘siţi’ (‘stand’) producing the meaning of ‘fixes’, more explicitly ‘gives to us in order for us to see’, ‘provides to our contemplation’

The parallelism of the two words preceding these two: on one hand ‘sittamin’, on the other ‘sit-vind=äd’

The first one: instrumental case of the word meaning ‘painting’, the activity of the artist.

The second: ‘sit’, the stem of ‘sita’, ‘the mind’ + ‘vind’ preterit or preterit participle of the verb ‘vindi’ (‘to feel’, ‘to suffer’, ‘to experience’) + the absolutive of the verb ‘ada’ (or ‘aja’) that means ‘paint’


Poem n° 541 (3)

‘maha-sit’, first instance of the three uses of ‘sit’ in the poem, amplified by the two close ‘siţ’ of ‘siţuvay’

Sanskrit ‘mahat’

Pāli phrase ‘mahaggatam cittam’, the source of consciousness, the very core of Buddhist philosophy

The (fifth out of eight) conscious state of the sensuous-ethereal [rupavacara] plane of existence and of the purely ethereal [arupavacara] plane of existence, a dialectical joining of opposites to step further on the road to consciousness.


Poem n° 545

Saļa-magini ena dana sava kaļa da saļa sitaManā mana ättan ā ka[ļa u]n ganū kadahayi

Translation given by Dr Paranavitana:“Of people who come by the path of perfidiousness, the perfidiousness is in (their) minds even when an asseveration is made (by them). When those who are possessed of good hearts are come, trust and accept them.”

My translation:“Ladies, shamelessly, hypocritesHave the mind of their shamelessness

They can deny trust them not pleaseThe good of heart trust and welcome”


Poem n° 549

Jeren mirikeyi yovun peļeyi ka[ya] viyayin neka[Ve]jivi ni[yatin] hī yane me hindi-y-ev e-nättayun

Translation given by Dr Paranavitana:“Youth gets itself crushed by old age ; the body becomes afflicted by numerous maladies ; life necessarily spends itself and departs. Here stand, as it were, beings having none of these (conditions).”

My translation:“Youth is crushed by senilityBody taken by sick disease

Your life is spent lost and scatteredThese maidens here fear their fate not”


Poem n° 552

Piyov kereyi me-[se]y topa menehi nivasannaţaMiyi [du]-duţ mal-hū veri du-duţ molat’hi sarbada men

Translation given by Dr Paranavitana:“In this wise, he makes devices to reside in your mind. Ill-seen, honey is but the flowing-out from the flower ; a precious treasure, ill-seen, is comparable to what has been dropped in a cess-pit.

My Translation:“Hard of heart their long eyes tell liesHard of mind they will tie us tight

So we the Rock saw and climbed upBut them the long eyes ignored out”


Conclusion

• Thanks to the Centre for Eco-Cultural Studies, working in Sigiriya, particularly Sujeewa Jasinghe, their main field manager.

• Thanks to Venerable Doctor Daniyagama Ananda Thera, High Priest of the Pidurangala Temple.

• Thanks to the Site of Sigiriya, their personnel and particularly Dr Benille Priyanka.

• Thanks to the monks of the Temple of Pidurangala, my students.

• And thanks to you for listening.

a buddhist debate

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