Dhyana

“ It may be explained thus:—The term Dhyāna (Jhāna) is a general expression for the four gradations of mystic meditation which have ethereal spaces or worlds corresponding to them (p. 209) , and a Dhyāni-Buddha is a Buddha who is supposed to exist as a kind of spiritual essence in these higher regions of abstract thought.
That is to say, every Buddha who appears on earth in a temporary human body—with the object of teaching men how to gain Nirvāṇa—exists also in an ideal counterpart, or ethereal representation of himself, in the formless worlds of meditation (p. 213) . ”

“ A peculiarity of some of the Dhyâna texts,—this being a good example,—is that they are not explanatory. [84] They only suggest. Questions are put; but the student must think out the answers for himself. He must think them out, but not write them. You know that Dhyâna represents human effort to reach, through meditation, zones of thought beyond the range of verbal expression; and any thought once narrowed into utterance loses all Dhyâna quality.... Well, this story is supposed to be true; but it is used only for a Dhyâna question. There are three different Chinese versions of it ”

“ And Dhaniya seeing the Holy One, drew near in his peasant’s pride and addressed him:
“I have boiled my rice, I have milked my cows,” so said the herdsman Dhaniya. “I dwell near the banks of the Mahi, my house is roofed, my fire kindled. Therefore, if thou wilt, rain, O sky!”
For believing his riches a strong shield he feared nothing.
“I am free from anger, free from stubbornness,” said the Blessed One, “For one night I abide by the Mahi river. My house is unroofed, the fire of passion is extinguished. Therefore, if thou wilt, rain, O sky!” And he smiled. ”

“ No more shall Gothic blood flow from wounds made by Gothic weapons. Wait patiently here. Thou, Hildebad, open the gate for me. None shall follow me. I alone go to the rebels. Thou, Earl Teja, control the troops until I return. But thou, Hildebrand," he cried, raising his voice, "ride to the gates of Ravenna, and loudly bid them open. Their desire is fulfilled, and, before evening, we will enter: King Witichis and Queen Mataswintha." ”

“ The origin of the name is unknown, for no root ḍim, to wound, is found in the language, though Dhanika asserts its existence.
The Vyāyoga141 is, as its name suggests, a military spectacle. Its subject must be legendary, its hero a god or royal sage, but Dhanaṁjaya allows a man. It is in one act, the action not extending over a day, and it is filled with strife and battle, the intervention of women as the cause of battle being excluded. The first two and last junctures alone are permitted, the erotic and comic sentiments are barred, and the graceful manner. ”

“ Concerning Dhanaṃjaya [21] himself nothing is known save his authorship of the Daśarūpa and his relations with King Muñja, aside from the fact that a stanza attributed to him is included in Śrīdharadāsa’s anthology, the Saduktikarṇāmṛta. [22] Some idea of the literary atmosphere in which he lived, however, can be obtained from a consideration of the other writers that flourished in Mālava at this time. Foremost to command our attention is Dhanika, son of Viṣṇu, who not only wrote poetry in Sanskrit and in Prākrit, but also prepared the current commentary on the Daśarūpa. ”

“ The Goths cannot--even to die--fight without a King. Athalaric, Witichis, Totila--one only can be the fourth; only one is worthy to succeed these three; thou, Teja, our last, our greatest hero!"
"Yes," said Teja; "I will be your King. Under me you shall not live joyfully; you shall only die greatly. Be still! No cry of joy, no clang of arms must greet me. Whoever will have me for his King, let him do as I do."
And he broke a small branch from the tree under which he stood, and twisted it round his helmet. All silently followed his example.
Adalgoth, who stood next him, whispered:
"O King Teja! ”

“ A tear rose in the slave's dark eye.
"Reward?" she said. "Aspa was stolen by wild men with long red locks. Aspa is a slave. Every one has scolded and beaten her. Thou boughtest me as a flower is bought. But thou strokest my cheek and my hair. Thou art as beautiful as the Goddess of the Sun, and thou speakest of reward?"
And she nestled her head upon the bosom of her mistress.
"Thou art my gazelle!" said Mataswintha; "thou hast a heart of gold. Thou shalt know all; thou shalt hear what is known to none but myself. Listen; my childhood was without love, without joy ”

“ They will not be driven away."
"They shall not be driven away," said Mataswintha, drawing near.
"Bread, Queen! Bread, daughter of the Amelungs!" cried many voices.
"Give them gold, Aspa. All that thou hast with thee; and fetch----"
"Bread, bread. Queen--not gold! No more bread is to be had for money in all the city."
"It is dispensed freely outside the King's magazines. I have just come thence. Why were you not there?"
"Queen! we could not get through the crowd," said a haggard woman. "I am aged, and my daughter here is sick, and that old man is blind. The strong and young push us away. ”

“ I care not if I have to incur sin by disregarding the king. I care not if I have to go to the woods and die there. Virtue is superior to the body and lasteth after the body hath perished!" Dhananjaya, arriving at this resolution, entered the chamber and talked with Yudhishthira. Coming out with the bow, he cheerfully told the Brahmana, "Proceed, O Brahmana, with haste, so that those wretched robbers may not go much ahead of us. I shall accompany thee and restore unto thee thy wealth that hath fallen into the hands of the thieves." ”

“ Accordingly, a few days afterwards, he went to the king, to whom he was previously known, and having asked for a private audience, said: "A very wonderful thing has happened to me, of which it seems right that your majesty should be informed. You have known me as Dhanamittra, the son of a very rich man. During my prosperity, I was engaged to the daughter of a wealthy merchant; but when I was reduced to poverty, he refused his consent to our marriage, and is now about to give her to another. ”

“ Every blood-drop in their lips, every cloud in the sky, every leaf in the world changed a little, while they brushed back their hair and kissed. All things change save only the fear of change. And yet for his hour Dhoya was happy and as full of dreams as an old man or an infant—for dreams wander nearest to the grave and the cradle. ”

“ This statement, together with the fact that the work contains (at 2. 65) a quotation from Padmagupta’s Navasāhasāṅkacarita (a poem published after 995 A. D., in the reign of Sindhurāja) , enables us to assign Dhanika’s commentary approximately to the end of the tenth century. [54] It is consequently not at all impossible (though I do not regard it as probable) that our commentator is the same person as the Dhanika Paṇḍita to whose son Vasantācārya a tract of land was granted in 974 A. D. by King Vākpati (=Muñja) . ”

“ This Indian is Djalma.
His features are at once very noble and very beautiful. His hair of a blue black, parted upon his forehead, falls waving, but not curled over his shoulders; whilst his eyebrows, boldly and yet delicately defined, are of as deep a jet as the long eyelashes, that cast their shadow upon his beardless cheek. His bright, red lips are slightly apart, and he breathes uneasily; his sleep is heavy and troubled, for the heat becomes every moment more and more suffocating.
Without, the silence is profound. Not a breath of air is stirring. ”

“ The Dandi should live in the forest, and only come once a day to beg at a Brāhman’s house for a part of such food as the family may have cooked. He should not ask for food if any one else, even a dog, is waiting for it. He must not accept money, or touch fire or any metal. As a matter of fact these rules are disregarded, and the Dandi frequents towns and is accompanied by companions who will accept all kinds of alms on his behalf.7 Dandis and Sanniāsis do not worship idols, as they are themselves considered to have become part of the deity. ”

“ He can be none else than Dhananjaya. As Indra is among the celestials, so Dhananjaya is among men. Who else in this world than Dhananjaya, would alone come against us? Virata left a single son of his in the empty city. He hath come out from childishness and not from true heroism. It is Uttara who must have come out of the city, having, without doubt, made as a charioteer Arjuna, the son of Pritha, now living in disguise. ”

“ Djalma made no reply. Plunged in ecstatic contemplation of this sudden apparition, which surpassed his wildest and most dazzling visions, he felt a sort of intoxication, which, paralyzing the power of thought, concentrated all his faculties in the one sense of sight; and just as we sometimes seek in vain to satisfy unquenchable thirst, the burning look of the Indian sought, as it were, with devouring avidity, to take in all the rare perfections of the young lady. Verily, never had two more divine types of beauty met face to face. ”

“ Dhoya, I have left my world far off. My people—on the floor of the lake they are dancing and singing, and on the islands of the lake; always happy, always young, always without change. I have left them for thee, Dhoya, for they cannot love. Only the changing, and moody, and angry, and weary can love. I am beautiful; love me, Dhoya. ”

“ Teja was about to leave the tent.
Hildebrand stopped him.
"Remain," he said; "we dare not hide it from him any longer. King! the Goths murmur. To-day they would not obey thee; the attack is impossible."
"Stand things so?" said Witichis bitterly. "The attack is impossible? Then only one thing remains: the course which I should have taken yesterday--then those three thousand would have been still living. Go, Hildebad, take that crown and sceptre! Go to the rebels' camp; lay them at the feet of young Arahad; tell him that he may woo Mataswintha; I and my army will greet him as our King." ”

“ The Daśarūpa was early commented upon by Dhanika, possibly the author's own brother, their father's name being the same (Vishṇu) . Dhanika quotes Rājaśekhara, who is supposed to have flourished about A.D. 1000, [214] but may after all have to be put somewhat earlier. The Sarasvatī-kanṭhābharaṇa, “the neck-ornament of Sarasvatī (the goddess of eloquence) ,” a treatise, in five chapters, on poetics generally, remarkable for its wealth of quotations, is ascribed to King Bhoja himself (11th century) , probably as a compliment by some writer patronized by him. ”

“ The woman pointed at Aspa.
"She is silent and faithful."
"She is a woman."
At a sign from the Queen, the slave reluctantly left the room.
"Daughter of the Amelungs, I know that nothing but the strait in which the kingdom stood, and not love, led thee to Witichis.-- (How lovely she is, although pale as death!) --Yet thou art the Queen of the Goths--his Queen--and even if thou dost not love him, his kingdom, his triumph, must be all in all to thee."
Mataswintha grasped the gilded arm of her couch.
"So thinks every beggar in the nation!" she sighed. ”

“ Take it back; let who will be King, and woo Mataswintha."
But Hildebrand shook his head.
"Thou knowest that that would lead to certain destruction. We are already split into three parties. Many thousands would never acknowledge Arahad. Thou alone canst still uphold the kingdom. Wert thou gone, we should be dissolved. We shall become a bundle of separate sticks, which Belisarius will break as if in sport. Wouldst thou have that?"
"Mistress Rauthgundis, canst thou make no sacrifice for thy people?" asked Teja, drawing nearer. ”

“ Even we have become rangers of the wilderness. Even to see Dhananjaya, exhausted and distressed as we are, we have to bear each other, and pass through impassable places. This burneth me even as fire doth a heap of cotton. O hero, I do not see Dhananjaya at my side. I reside in the wood with my younger brothers, anxious for beholding him. This thought, as also the memory of that grave insult offered to Yajanaseni, consumes me. O Vrikodara, I do not see the invincible Partha of strong bow and incomparable energy, and who is the immediate elder to Nakula. ”

“ Underneath them the feet of Dhoya beat up the ground, but the feet of the other as he rushed hither and thither, matching his agility with the mortal’s mighty strength, made neither shadow nor footstep on the sands. Dhoya was wounded, and growing weary a little, when the other leaped away, and, crouching down by the water, began—“You have carried away by some spell unknown the most beautiful of our bands—you who have neither laughter nor singing. ”

“ But the Andes themselves would have offered no insurmountable obstacles to Dandy, who bounded from precipice to precipice; and the lovers and the headman could once more clearly distinguish each other by the first beams of the rising sun. The headman roared, and threatened, and brandished a monstrous sabre; Dandy tore up the ground as he ran, neighed louder than thunder, and gained upon the fugitives every moment. Despair left the princess no choice, and she violently dashed her phial upon the ground. ”

“ The King laid his left hand on the head of his grandchild, and said proudly to the messengers:
"Now go, and tell at home what you have seen."
He turned away; the outer doors were closed, and shut out the amazed Avarians.
"Give me a cup of wine. It may possibly be the last! No, unmixed! In Germanic fashion--" he repulsed the Grecian physician. "Thanks, old Hildebrand, for this draught, so faithfully given. I drink prosperity to the Goths!"
He slowly emptied the goblet; and with a hand yet firm and strong he replaced it on the marble table. ”