| 16. If the unreal
no being there is ; there is no non being of the real. Of both these is
the truth seen by the seers of the Essence.There is no bhavano being, no
existenceof the unreal (asat) such as heat and cold as well as their causes.
Heat cold etc. and the causes thereof, which are (no doubt) perceived through
the organs of perception, are not absolutely real (vastusat) ; for they
are effects or changes (vikara), and every change is temporary. For instance,
no objective form, such as an earthen pot, presented to consciousness by
the eye, proves to be real, because it is not perceived apart from clay.
Thus every effect is unreal, because it is not perceived as distinct from
its cause. Every effect, such as a pot, is unreal, also because it is not
perceived before its production and after its destruction. And likewise
the cause, such as clay, is unreal because it is not perceived apart from
its cause.(Objection):Then it comes to this: nothing at all exists.(Answer):No
(such objection applies here). For, every fact of experience involves twofold
consciousness (buddhi), the consciousness of the real (sat) and the consciousness
of the unreal (asat). Now that is (said to be) real, of which our consciousness
fails ; and that to be unreal, of which our consciousness fails. Thus the
distinction of reality and unreality depends on our consciousness. Now,
in all our experience, twofold consciousness arises with reference to one
and the same substratum (samanadhikarana), as a cloth existent, a pot existence,
an elephant existentnot as in the expression a blue lotus and so on everywhere.
Of the two, the consciousness of pot, etc is temporary as was already pointed
out, but not the consciousness of existence. |
