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69
XXV]
Important Madhva Works is in reality also a refutation of the monists, who are in reality nothing but crypto-Buddhists or Buddhists in disguise! The šūnyavādi Buddhists hold that truth is of two kinds, that which is samurta, or of limited or practical importance only, and that which is paramārtha, or ultimately real. If one truly discusses the nature of things, there is no reality, and what is perceived as real is only an appearance. What is called the pāramārthika reality means only the cessation of all appearance. There is no difference between the qualityless Brahman and the śünya of the Buddhists. The qualityless Brahman is self-luminous and eternal; the sūnya of the Buddhists is unknowable by mind or speech, and is also differenceless, self-luminous, and eternal. It is opposed to materiality, to practicality, to pain and suffering, and to cessation and the defects of bondage3. It is not actually a real-positive entity, though it supports all positive appearance; and, though in itself it is eternal, from the practical point of view it appears in manifold characters. It is neither existent nor non-existent, neither good, nor bad—it is not a thing which one should either leave aside or take, for it is the eternal sūnya 4. It may be observed in this connection that the monists also do not believe in the reality of the characters of being and non-being, because the Brahman is devoid of all characters and qualities. Like sūnya of the Buddhists, it is unspeakable, though it is referred to by all words, and it is unknowable, though all knowledge refers to it. Neither the Sankarites nor the Šūnyavādins believe in the category of being or positivity as characters. The
na ca nir-višeşa-brahma-vādinaḥ śūnyāt kaś cid višeşah; tasya nirviseşam svayambhūtam nirlepam ajarämaram sünyam tattvam vijñeyam manovācām agocaram.
Tattvoddyota, p. 243(a). 2 satyam ca dvividham proktam samurtam paramarthikam
samurtam vyavahāryam syān nirustam pāramārthikam vicāryamānena satyañ căpi pratiyate yasya tat samurtam jñānam vyavahārapadañ ca yat.
Ibid. p. 243(a). nir-višeşam svayam bhūtam nirlepam ajarämaram Śünyam tattvam avijñeyam manovācām agocaram jādya-samurti-duḥkhānta-pūrva-dosa-virodhi yat
mitya-bharamaxã bhắtam tad bhāoam yoginăm nayet bhāvārtha-pratiyogitvam bhāvatvam vă na tattvata viśvākārañca samurtya yasya tat padam akşayam.
Ibid. p. 243(a). näsya sattvam asattvam vā na doso guņa eva vā heyopädeya-rahitam tac chunyam padam akşayam.
Ibid. p. 243.
