आगमे विश्वासटिप्पन्यः

Original

यस्मादेकोऽपि तन्मध्ये नैवातीन्द्रियदृग्मतः ।
अनादिः कल्पिताऽप्येषा तस्मादन्धपरम्परा ॥ २३७९ ॥
अन्धेनान्धः समाकृष्टः सम्यग्वर्त्म प्रपद्यते ।
ध्रुवं नैव तथाऽप्यस्या विफलाऽनादिकल्पना ॥ २३८० ॥

yasmādeko’pi tanmadhye naivātīndriyadṛgmataḥ |
anādiḥ kalpitā’pyeṣā tasmādandhaparamparā || 2379 ||
andhenāndhaḥ samākṛṣṭaḥ samyagvartma prapadyate |
dhruvaṃ naiva tathā’pyasyā viphalā’nādikalpanā || 2380 ||

Because not a single person among them is held to be capable of perceiving supersensuous things; hence, even though assumed, the traditional line of pupils and teachers can be only a line of blind persons.—(2379)

When a blind man is led by another blind man, he is not sure to get at the right path; hence the assumption of the beginninglessness of the line (of pupils and teachers) is entirely futile.—(2380)

Kamalaśīla

[verse 2379]:

Question:—“If it is a line of blind people,—what then?”

Answer:—[see verse 2380 above]

[verse 2380]:

This has been thus asserted in the Śabara-Bhāṣya (1.1. 2)—In regard to such things as are beyond the senses, the words of men cannot be a reliable source of knowledge; just as the words of persons born blind cannot be a reliable source of knowledge regarding shades of colour—(Translation, page 5).