The Tattvasangraha [with commentary]
by Ganganatha Jha | 1937 | 699,812 words | ISBN-10: 8120800583 | ISBN-13: 9788120800588
This page contains verse 153-154 of the 8th-century Tattvasangraha (English translation) by Shantarakshita, including the commentary (Panjika) by Kamalashila: dealing with Indian philosophy from a Buddhist and non-Buddhist perspective. The Tattvasangraha (Tattvasamgraha) consists of 3646 Sanskrit verses; this is verse 153-154.
Verse 153-154
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
अन्ये त्वीशसधर्माणं पुरुषं लोककारणम् ।
कल्पयन्ति दुराख्यातसिद्धान्तानुगबुद्धयः ॥ १५३ ॥
समस्तवस्तुप्रलयेऽप्यलुप्तज्ञानशक्तिमान् ।
ऊर्णनाभ इवांशूनां स हेतुः किल जन्मिनाम् ॥ १५४ ॥anye tvīśasadharmāṇaṃ puruṣaṃ lokakāraṇam |
kalpayanti durākhyātasiddhāntānugabuddhayaḥ || 153 ||
samastavastupralaye'pyaluptajñānaśaktimān |
ūrṇanābha ivāṃśūnāṃ sa hetuḥ kila janminām || 154 ||Others, however, postulate the ‘puruṣa’ (spirit),—similar in character to ‘god’—as the cause of the world,—their mind being swayed by an ill-conceived doctrine. thus ‘spirit’ has his powers such as do not cease even in regard to the dissolution of all things; he is the cause of all born things, just as the spider is of the cobwebs.—(154)
Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):
With the following Text, the Author introduces the doctrine of the ‘Vedavādin’ (Follower of the Veda):—[see verses 153-154 above]
These people state their doctrine as follows:—“The Puruṣa, Spirit, alone is the Cause of the creation, sustenance and dissolution of the whole world; his powers do not cease even in regard to Dissolution. This has been thus declared—‘As the Spider is the cause of the cobwebs, the Lunar Gem of water, and the Banyan Tree of its offshoots,—so is the Spirit the Cause of all born things’;—and again ‘The Spirit alone is all this, the past, and also the future’,”
Similar in character to God;—i.e. He has qualities equal to those of God; inasmuch as both are the ‘efficient cause’ of the creation, sustenance and dissolution of the universe; the only difference between these two (Spirit and God) is that those who regard God as the Cause of the World postulate other things also like the Soul and such things, as the ‘constituent’ and other kinds of Cause (God being only the ‘efficient’ cause),—while those who regard ‘Spirit’ as the Cause of the world, posit the Spirit alone as the sole cause (efficient as well as constituent); but the character of being the efficient cause of creation, sustenance and dissolution is common to both doctrines.—They have their mind swayed by an ill-conceived doctrine; i.e. their mind is under the influence of a doctrine which is wrongly conceived.
The term ‘Ūrṇanābha’ stands for the Spider.—(153-154)