________________ 12 Introduction is a result of karma (vipakaja), whlch does not admit any prolongation by samadhi. This controversy arises from the well known legend of the Buddha's declaration that he could, on account of his mastery over the four paths to riddhi live in the same birth for a kalpa or a kalpavasesha. The Kosakara fully deals with this controversy while dealing with a topic : kati indriyani vipakah. There the Kosakara maintains, contrary to the accepted Vaibhashika theory, that in the case of such prolongation of life by the Buddha (or any other arhat), the yogic powers supersede the karma and produce a new life. It is, therefore, a life which is, samadhija (born of samadhi) and not vipakaja (a result of karma). This view of the Kosakara is censured by the Vritti as uninformed, contrary to the words of the Buddha and unworthy of any criticism. The accusation is even made that the Kosakara had accepted the Vaitulika-sastra and had so entered the protals of Mahayana. . . The Vittti next deals with the four samskaras known as the samkrita-lakshanas or the phenomenalising characteristics of all phenomena. They are : jati (origin), sthiti (subsistence) jara (decay) and nasa (extinction). The Vaibhashikas, on the basis of sutra, conceive that every phenomenal element in its each momentary existence is simultaneously affected by all these four samskaras. The Sautrantikas hold that as these four sanskaras have natures opposed to each other, they cannot simultaneously function on a momentary thing. They point out that these four lakshanas have no reality as they were spoken of by the Buddha only with reference to the series of moment (pravaha) and not to the kshana (moment). The Kosakara openly favours Sautrantika view in the Bhashya. The Vritti criticises this nastika-paksha adopted by
