Verse 959

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

तत्रासतोऽपि भावत्वमिति क्लेशो महान्भवेत् ।
तदसिद्धौ न सत्ताऽस्ति न चासत्ता प्रसिद्ध्यति ॥ ९५९ ॥

tatrāsato'pi bhāvatvamiti kleśo mahānbhavet |
tadasiddhau na sattāऽsti na cāsattā prasiddhyati || 959 ||

“In that case, even the non-existent (non-being) would have a positive character; which would be a great calamity.—And when there is no negation, there would be no existence (positive) at all; and (as a consequence) non-existence also would be impossible.”—[Ślokavārtika-Apoha 99]—(959)

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

As shown before (under 956, above) ‘Negations would abandon their negative character’,—hence if there were exclusion of the non-existent, it would be a positive entity; and as this would involve the idea of the nonexistent also being a positive entity, which would be contrary to the Apohist’s doctrine,—this would be a great calamity for him.

It might be said—‘The Negation may be an entity, what then?’

The answer is—‘When there is no Negation, etc. etc.’—When there would be no Negation, there would be no ‘existence’ of anything at all; because, according to your view, existence is only the exclusion or negation of non-existence; so that, when Negation is ‘excluded’, it becomes an Entity, and loses its character; hence there can be no non-existence either; as that also is only the exclusion or negation of existence, and existence does not exist, as shown above.—(959)