आगमे विश्वासटिप्पन्यः

Original

अभावस्य च वस्तुत्वे पूर्वमङ्गीकृते सति ।
नीरूपता पुनस्तस्य किमर्थमुपवर्ण्यते ॥ १६७८ ॥

abhāvasya ca vastutve pūrvamaṅgīkṛte sati |
nīrūpatā punastasya kimarthamupavarṇyate || 1678 ||

The idea of ‘negation’ being an entity having been previously accepted, why is it described to be featureless?—(1678)

Kamalaśīla

The following text points out defects in the third definition of ‘Negation’ put forward—that it consists merely in the absence of Means of Cognition:—[see verse 1678 above]

‘Previously accepted’—in the assertion that ‘Negation consists in the non-modification of the Soul or in the cognition of something else’ (Text 1649).

‘Featureless’,—It has been asserted (by Kumārila, see under Text 1657) that—“Just as the cognisable Object is negative, so should the Means of cognition also be understood to be”; from which it is clear that the Means or Form of Cognition consists in the apprehension of the Object; hence it cannot be right to attribute the character of ‘Means or Form of Cognition’ to what is entirely featureless; this is what is meant; and this same idea is going to be put forward again (in the following Text).—(1678)

This same idea is further explained—[see verse 1679 next]