Verse 659-660

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

या चेयं सान्तरे बुद्धिर्नैरन्तर्यावसायिनी ।
निरन्तरेऽपि या चान्या मिथ्याबुद्धिरियं द्विधा ॥ ६५९ ॥
मिथ्याबुद्धिश्च सर्वैव प्रधानार्थानुकारिणी ।
प्रधानं चेह वक्तव्यं तदुक्तौ तौ च सिद्ध्यतः ॥ ६६० ॥

yā ceyaṃ sāntare buddhirnairantaryāvasāyinī |
nirantare'pi yā cānyā mithyābuddhiriyaṃ dvidhā || 659 ||
mithyābuddhiśca sarvaiva pradhānārthānukāriṇī |
pradhānaṃ ceha vaktavyaṃ taduktau tau ca siddhyataḥ || 660 ||

“It sometimes happens that even when one thing is really detached from another, it is perceived as attached to it,—and when the thing is really close to another, it is perceived as detached from it;—there are these two misconceptions. and a misconception has always some primary factor as its counterpart. this primary factor has to be pointed out in the two misconceptions cited. if such a primary factor is asserted, conjunction and disjunction become established.”—(659-660)

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

“Further, it so happens sometimes that, even the Dhava and Khadira trees are really detached from one another, and to a man standing at a distance, they appear to be close (attached) together; and in the case of the line of Cranes seated on the thin top of a tree, even though they are close together, yet they appear as if detached; both these cognitions—apprehending things as they are not,—are false, misconceptions. And as a matter of fact, no misconception is ever produced without the apprehension of a primary factor; for instance, unless a man has had the perception of the Cow, he cannot have the misconception, as ‘Cow’, of the Gavaya; so that there must be some primary factor pointed out as the basis of the said two misconceptions. When such a primary factor is pointed out, the existence of Conjunction and Disjunction would become established. Apart from these two, there can be no basis for the said notion.”—(659-660)