The Tattvasangraha [with commentary]

by Ganganatha Jha | 1937 | 699,812 words | ISBN-10: 8120800583 | ISBN-13: 9788120800588

This page contains verse 1511-1512 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 1511-1512.

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

प्रायः संप्रत्ययो दृष्टो यद्वाक्यात्तस्य गृह्यते ।
परोक्षप्रतिपत्त्यर्थं वाक्यं प्रत्ययतः स चेत् ॥ १५११ ॥
नान्यत्र प्रत्ययाभावात्पूर्वमप्रत्ययोऽपि हि ।
एकत्रास्खलिते तत्र सर्वत्र नियमो न हि ॥ १५१२ ॥

prāyaḥ saṃpratyayo dṛṣṭo yadvākyāttasya gṛhyate |
parokṣapratipattyarthaṃ vākyaṃ pratyayataḥ sa cet || 1511 ||
nānyatra pratyayābhāvātpūrvamapratyayo'pi hi |
ekatrāskhalite tatra sarvatra niyamo na hi || 1512 ||

If it be urged that—“that person is regarded as trustworthy in regard to imperceptible things, whose assertions are found to be true in most cases”,—then (the answer is that) the mere fact of one’s assertion being not true in some individual case, cannot prove that his assertions are never true; nor can the fact of its being true in one case prove that all his assertions are true.—(1511-1512)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

The following might be urged—“Even though a man may not be entirely free from defects, yet if it has been found that in most cases his assertions are true, then such a person is regarded by us as ‘trustworthy’,—and not any person ‘free from defects’;—and it is the assertion of such a ‘trust-worthy’ person that is meant in the definition of Verbal Cognition (provided by us). Hence the definition is not open to the charge of being ‘Impossible’.”.

This cannot be right; because one assertion of the man has been found to be not incompatible with the real state of things, it does not necessarily follow that all his assertions are true; because it is always possible that some assertion may be untrue. If it were not so, then the definition would be false.—(1511-1512)

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