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TEN PRAMEYAS BODY ETC.
Of the twelve topics covered under the second Nyāya padārtha prameya the first called 'soul' has been dealt with in Āhnika VII, the last called 'mokşa’ will be dealt with in Āhnika IX, and both discussions are somehow important. But the remaining ten topics have been all dealt with in the present chapter (Ahnika VIII) and the discussion connected with them is of a routine type, except for the detailed refutation of Sānkhya metaphysics undertaken while considering the topic buddhi (= cognition). So, it will do if we just note as to what questions Jayanta raises in connection with these ten topics and then give thought to his refutation of Sāňkhya metaphysics. We take up these topics one by one.
(1) Body The aphorist says that body is the locus of activity, senseorgans, thing-cognised.' Jayanta explains that by 'activity' is to be understood not any and every activity but that which is undertaken exclusively under the supervision of a soul's endeavour; really, the explanation amounts to saying that by 'activity' is to be understood the activity undertaken by a living body. Then it is explained that a sense-organ is in fact independent of the body in which it resides but that this body is said to be the locus of this sense-organ because a harm done to this body harms this sense-organ, a favour done to this body favours this sense-organ;} really, it is a curious Nyāya position that a bodily part ordinarily supposed to constitute a senseorgan is not this sense-organ itself but just the locus of this senseorgan which by itself is something invisible. Lastly, it is explained that by 'thing-cognised' are to be understood the five sensory qualities colour, taste, etc. whose locus a body is because these qualities as belonging to this object or that are enjoyed by a soul only when associated with a body, a curious explanation indeed. To these explanations is added the submission that a human body is made up of just one element earth even if the other four elements water etc. play a role in its construction, just as a jar is made up
