Verse 336 (the doctrine of ‘Soul’ according to Vātsīputrīyas)

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

केचित्तु सौगतम्मन्या अप्यात्मानं प्रचक्षते ।
पुद्गलव्यपदेशेन तत्त्वान्यत्वादिवर्जितम् ॥ ३३६ ॥

kecittu saugatammanyā apyātmānaṃ pracakṣate |
pudgalavyapadeśena tattvānyatvādivarjitam || 336 ||

Some people who regard themselves as ‘Bauddhas’ describe the soul by the name of ‘pudgala’, and declare it to be neither the same as, nor different from—(the skandhas, thought-phases).—(336)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

The Author proceeds to refute the doctrine of ‘Pudgala’ (Soul) set up by the Vātsīputrīyas.[see verse 336 above]

‘Some people’,—the Vātsīputrīyas.—Though these people regard themselves as ‘Saugatas’,—sons of Sugata, Buddha,—yet, under the pretended name of ‘Pudgala’, they postulate the ‘Soul’, which cannot be said to be either the ‘same as’, or ‘different from’, the ‘thought-phases The question arising as to how persons, who admit their being ‘Sons’ of the Blessed Buddha who has taught the doctirne of ‘No-Soul’, have wedded themselves to a false view of ‘Soul’,—the Author answers it in a joking spirit, by the term ‘who regard themselves as Bauddhas’.

The character of the ‘Soul Vis held to be as follows:—(a) He who is the doer of the diverse good and bad deeds, (b) the enjoyer of the agreeable and disagreeable fruits of his deeds, and (c) who moves from the point of the abandonment of the preceding Thought-phase to the point of the assuming of another Thought-phase, and is also the Experience,—is the Soul.—All this is held to be true (by the Vātsīputrīyas) of their ‘Pudgala’ also; the only difference is in regard to the name.—(336)