Verse 1312

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

केशोण्ड्रकादिविज्ञाननिवृत्त्यर्तमिदं कृतम् ।
अभ्रान्तग्रहणं तद्धि भ्रान्तत्वान्नेष्यते प्रमा ॥ १३१२ ॥

keśoṇḍrakādivijñānanivṛttyartamidaṃ kṛtam |
abhrāntagrahaṇaṃ taddhi bhrāntatvānneṣyate pramā || 1312 ||

The epithet ‘not-erroneous’ has been added for the purpose of excluding such illusions as those of the ‘keśoṇḍraka’^[1] (hair-tuft) and the like; as these are not regarded as ‘valid cognition’ on the ground of their being ‘erroneous’.—(1312)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

Having thus proved the fact of Sense-perception being ‘free from Conceptual Content’, the Author next proceeds to explain the use of the other qualification, ‘not erroneous’ (in the definition of Sense-perception propounded by himself under Text 1214):—[see verse 1312 above]

The term ‘not-erroneous’ should be understood as ‘not incongruent’—and not as ‘having for its basis a form as it really exists’.—If this latter were meant, then, as under the view of the Yogācāra (the extreme Idealist) there can be no real basis, the definition, thus interpreted, would not be applicable to Sense-perception as accepted by both theorists (the Realist Sautrāntika and the Idealist Yogācāra).—As regards ‘being non-incon-gruent’, what it means is ‘the presence of the capacity to envisage a thing which is capable of the intended fruitful activity’,—not actually envisaging it; as obstacles are likely to appear in the actual envisaging.

Question “If that is so, then let there be only the qualification ‘not erroneous’; what is the use of mentioning the ‘freedom from conceptual content’?”

Answer:—That cannot be right; as in that case the inferential concept also would have to be regarded as Sense-perception.—(1312)

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

‘Keśoṇḍraka’, ‘Hair-Tuft’.—It is not clear what is meant by this. It is supposed to stand for the idea one has on closing the eyes of tufts of hair floating in the regions of the eye; which idea is ‘erroneous’, as there is no real Hair-Tuft there.