0666 Verse 919

Original

निषेधमात्ररूपश्च शब्दार्थो यदि कल्प्यते ।
अभावशब्द(वाच्या स्याच्छून्यताऽन्यप्रकारिका) ॥ ९१९ ॥

niṣedhamātrarūpaśca śabdārtho yadi kalpyate |
abhāvaśabda(vācyā syācchūnyatā’nyaprakārikā) || 919 ||

“If the import of words be assumed to be of the nature of mere negation, then it would only be another kind of ‘void’ spoken of by means of the negative word.”—(919)

Kamalaśīla

The following Text takes up the second alternative (mentioned under Text 915)—that the ‘Apoha’ is of the nature of the ‘negation of what is possible’:—[see verse 919 above]

‘Spoken of by means of the negative word’;—the ‘Negative Word’ is the word expressive of the negation in the form of the ‘negation of the noncow’; and what would be denoted by this word would only be the ‘Void’, the absence of the external world; since the form of the ‘entity’ would be denied.

‘Another kind’; this ‘Void’ you (Buddhist) had postulated, and we had rejected under the chapter on Idealism (Vijñānavāda of the Ślokavartika); and on the present occasion of examining the nature of the Import of Words, the same ‘Void’ is again put forward under the garb of ‘Apoha’; which denies the object whose existence is vouched for by experience.—(919)

“Where is the harm if that is so?”

Answer:—[see verse 920 next]