The Tattvasangraha [with commentary]
by Ganganatha Jha | 1937 | 699,812 words | ISBN-10: 8120800583 | ISBN-13: 9788120800588
This page contains verse 485 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 485.
Verse 485
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:
नाशोत्पादसमत्वेऽपि नैवापेक्षा परस्परम् ।
न कार्यकारणत्वे स्तस्तद्व्यापाराननुग्रहात् ॥ ४८५ ॥nāśotpādasamatve'pi naivāpekṣā parasparam |
na kāryakāraṇatve stastadvyāpārānanugrahāt || 485 ||“Even if the destruction and production were simultaneous, there would not be mutual dependence; so that there could not be the relation of ‘cause and effect’, as there would be no help rendered by it.”—(485)
Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):
The following argument might be urged (by the Buddhist):—Just as the rising and falling of the weighing scales come about simultaneously, so also would be the destruction of the Present Moment and the appearance of its effect; so that what is meant is that the subsequent Moment is brought about by the preceding Moment before the latter has been destroyed; and that the appearance of the later moment would not fail to have its cause.
The following Text supplies the answer to this argument:—[see verse 485 above]
Even if the Destruction (of the first Moment) and the Production (of the second Moment) be assumed to be simultaneous, there would not be the relation of ‘Cause and Effect’ between the said Destruction and Production, or between the Moments undergoing the said Destruction and Production;—because the two would be independent of one another.—“How would they be independent of one another?”—Because there would be no help rendered by it; that is, the Destruction, being featureless, would have no action; and as for the entity that is regarded as the Cause, it is not present at the time that the Effect comes into existence so that it could not have any action bearing upon the latter.—(485)