Tattvasangraha 01

Author(s): Embar Krishnamacharya
Publisher: Central Library

Page 48

FOREWORD
XLV
Paraluka or after world. It is nothing but a stage of Vijñana. The first Vijñåna of a child does not result from the body but it is a continuation of the Vijñāna (of death ) in the last body which died. In other words, the last Vijñána of death produces in the next moment the first consciousness in the child. The chain of momentary consciousness, according to S'ântarakṣita, is eternal and is without a beginning or an end. This chain changes bodies and is going on eternally through a succession of births and rebirths. It may pass into body of a God if actions done were good, or into the bodies of animals, ghosts and demons if the actions were bad. In the Bahirarthapariksd, S'ântarakṣita replies to some of the most grave objections that are brought against the Vijõânavadin theory that there is no objective world except the Vijñana. He says even without the presence of an object we see Vijñana arising with the form of that object. When once it is possible why not in all cases ? Owing to different tendencies of the mind many Vijñânas are rising one after another with the forms of objects, just as a man with a troubled eye perceives two moons or one with a jaundiced eyes sees the white conch as yellow. Are there really two moons or is the conch yellow! These Vijñanas have no corresponding objects, but they are Vijñanas all the same. So what is the necessity of admitting the existence of an objective world ? By perception the outward world cannot be proved. The Vijñâna of perception must have, for instance, a black form because otherwise black objects cannot be reflected in it. If the form of Vijñâna is black and there is something else as a black object then there will be two cognitions of black which is absurd. In the two subsequent examinations he denies or disproves the authority of the Vedas and the doctrine of self-evidence.
For understanding the Buddhistic views as held by the Vijñânavåding the last examination or the Sarvajñapariksd is of more than a passing interest, and this examination is replete with information on a number of important doctrines held by different schools in Buddhism. This chapter, if separately
तदत्र परलोकोऽयं नान्यः कश्चन विद्यते । उपादानतदादेयभूतज्ञानादिसन्ततेः ॥ १८७२ ॥ काचिनियतमर्यादाऽवस्थैव परिकीर्त्यते । तस्याश्चानायनन्तायाः परः पूर्व इहेति च ॥ १८०३ ॥
p. 523.