0994 Verse 1400

Original

चक्षुषो धर्मिरूपस्य सत्ता तावदनिश्चिता ।
तस्याश्च साधनं युक्तं नासिद्ध्यादिप्रसङ्गतः ॥ १४०० ॥

cakṣuṣo dharmirūpasya sattā tāvadaniścitā |
tasyāśca sādhanaṃ yuktaṃ nāsiddhyādiprasaṅgataḥ || 1400 ||

As a matter of fact, the very existence of the eye,—which is the subject—is still uncertain; and the proving of this (existence) cannot be right,—as it would be open to the defects of ‘inadmissibility’ and the rest.—(1400)

Kamalaśīla

The following Text supplies the answer to the argument stated (by Pātrasvāmin, in Text 1374) regarding “the Eyes having the peculiar potency for bringing about the effect in the shape of Col our-perception.”—[see verse 1340 above]

There is a stop after ‘na’ (in the second line).

‘Inadmissibility and the rest—The term ‘and the rest’ includes ‘falsity’ and ‘contradiction’.

What is meant is that if Existence is to be proved, then the Probans put forward is open to all the three defects of the Probans. For instance, if the character cited as the Probans is something positive, then it is ‘inadmissible’;—if it is both (positive and negative), then it is ‘Inconclusive’;—if it is negative, then it is ‘contradictory—This has been thus declared—‘The positive property is not admitted; both positive and negative would be Inconclusive; and the negative one would be contradictory; how then can Existence be proved?’

If what is sought to be proved is the potency in the Eye, the Subject, to bring about visual perception,—even so, inasmuch as ‘potency’, ‘existence’, etc. are synonymous, the proving of Potency would involve the proving of Existence.—On the negative aspect also, inasmuch as the Potency, being beyond the reach of the senses, would not be well-known, the Probans would become fallacious, as having no well-known substratum.

Similarly, the Probans, in the form ‘because of the perception of Colour’, would be something not present in the Subject, and hence it should be understood to be Inadmissible.—(1400)

Question:—“How then can you also prove the existence of the Eyes and the other sense-organs?”

Answer:—[see verse 1401 next]