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RELATION BETWEEN ACTIONS AND THEIR RESULTS.
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perceived, one who abandons these thought-phases and takes up others; nothing apart from the Law of Things; this Law of Things being that where such and such a thing appears when such and such another thing is present the former is said to be produced from the production of the latter." Such relations as between Actions and their Reactions';-this is meant to include Remembrance and the rest;-the relation meant is that of 'Cause and Effect (Producer and Product').-(503)
Objection "If that is so, then how is it that among people and in the scriptures it is said in reference to the Soul-When the action has been done by him, who else will experience its Reaction ? ""
Answer:
TEXT (504).
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THE NOTION OF THE DOER' AND THE REST IS IN REFERENCE TO THE UNITY OF THE CHAIN; AND THAT TOO IS HELD TO BE ONLY A FIGMENT OF THE IMAGINATION; IT IS NOT A PART OF THE REAL STATE OF THINGS.-(504)
COMMENTARY.
People have the light of their wisdom bedimmed by a mass of deep ignorance; hence they ignore all considerations regarding their being this or that, being existent or non-existent, and so forth,-and come to regard the chain of impressions in the shape of particular causes and effects as one', and thus come to make use of such expressions as The same I am doing this act', and proceed to make attempts to bring about their Liberation. It is in view of this (popular) egotisma that the Blessed Enlightened Ones, desirous of saving their disciples from the pitfalls of Nihilism, propound the theory of the Unity of the Chain' and thereby explain the notions of the Doer' and the like.
Says the Opponent-"The said Explanation is enough to establish the reality of the matter under dispute ".
Answer:-"It is not a part of the real state of things;-as a matter of fact, the real state of things cannot be determined on the basis of the notions entertained by childish persons enmeshed in illusion and averse to the investigation of truth; specially as the said notion is negatived by the evidences of Soullessness' and 'Perpetual Flux of Things.-(504)
The Author anticipates the Opponent's objection to the effect that "the absence of the continuous Soul in the case of Seed and such things not being admitted (by all parties), the Corroborative Instance (cited by the Buddhist, under Text 502) is one that is not admitted (and hence inadmissible as Corroborative Instance)"
