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JII. VII]
an apt illustration of these three. Suppose one creates an elephant by dint of one's spell. Now the elephant appears, but that is only a phantom of the elephant, and in no way the elephant itself. Here the elephant is parikalpita (imaginary), the form of the elephant is paratantra (dependent), and the absence of the elephant is parinişpanna (real). An object, according to the Madhyamikas and the Yogācāras, is sūnya i.e. devoid of any intrinsic reality, yet we know it as a particular object. This appearance of it as a particular object is an imagined one (parikalpita). Vasubandhu says: 'Whatever thing is imagined by whatever imagination, all that is only parikalpita. That is not the true nature (svabhava) of the real." An imaginary (parikalpita) object, although, in essence, it is non-existent, yet exists for practical purpose, and as such is said to have a characteristic (svabhava) by way of concession to the practice of the common people who are ignorant of the truth. A dependent (paratantra) characteristic is so called because it originates depending upon its cause and conditions.4 The parinispanna (real) characteristic consists in the true nature of a thing, completely free from all imagined characteristics, and is comprehended by avikalpa-jñāna (non-constructive intuition).5 Let us now come to the Vijñānavādin's conception of avidya.
The Vijñānavādins denounce the duality of perceiver and perceived as false. The Lankavatāra says: 'All this is only consciousness (citta). The consciousness functions in two ways as perceived and perceiver. There is neither the subject nor what belongs to the subject." In another place, it says: "There is consciousness alone, there is no external object (dṛśya). The consciousness itself is seen twofold as perceived and perceiver, and is bereft of eternality and annihilation." The creation of the external world is due to the influence of vasanā
1 mäyäkṛtam mantravasat khyāti hastyätmana yathā akaramātram tatra 'sti hasti na 'sti tu sarvathā.
svabhavaḥ kalpito hastī paratantras tadākṛtiḥ
AVIDYA IN THE BUDDHIST SCHOOL
2
yas tatra hastyabhāvo 'sau parinişpanna iṣyate.-TSN, 27, 28.
yena yena vikalpena yad yad vastu vikalpyate
parikalpita eva 'sau svabhavo na sa vidyate.-Tk, 39.
Also cf. LA, pp. 163-4: na Mahamate yatha bälapṛthag-janair bhāvasvabhavo vikalpyate tatha bhavati. parikalpita eva 'sau Mahamate na bhavasvabhava-lakṣaṇāvadhāraṇam.
3 Cf. parikalpita ity ucyate. sa punar dravyato 'sann api vyavahārato 'sti 'ti svabhava ucyate-MVSBhT, p. 19.
4 Cf. paratantraḥ paravaso hetupratyaya-pratibaddha-janmakatvāt-Ibid.
5 kalpitena svabhāvena tasya ya 'tyantaśūnyatā svabhavaḥ parini (spanno 'vikalpa-jñanagocaraḥ).
-Quoted in MVSBhT, p. 19.
6 cittamātram idam sarvam dvidha cittam pravartate grahyagrahakabhāvena ātmātmiyam na vidyate.-LA, III. 121. 7 cittamātram na dṛśyo 'sti dvidha cittam hi dṛśyate grähyagrahakabhāvena śāśvatoccheda varjitam.-LA, III. 65.
JP-17
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