Verse 3147

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

स्वग्रन्थेष्वनिबद्धोऽपि स्वज्ञातोऽर्थो यदीष्यते ।
सर्वज्ञाः कवयः सर्वे स्युः स्वकाव्यनिबन्धनात् ॥ ३१४७ ॥

svagrantheṣvanibaddho'pi svajñāto'rtho yadīṣyate |
sarvajñāḥ kavayaḥ sarve syuḥ svakāvyanibandhanāt || 3147 ||

“If it be held that things not spoken of in their treatises were known to the teachers,—then all poets, by the composing of their poems, might be regarded as omniscient.”—(3147)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

It might be argued that—when it is found that the Teachings of Buddha deal with a few things, it is inferred that He knows those things also which have not been taught by him, from the perceived fact that He is possessed of the requisite capacity; hence the said objection (annulment by Inference) against the Mīmāṃsakas proposition still remains.

This is anticipated and answered in the following:—[see verse 3147 above]

If it be held, on the strength of Inference, that—“even when a certain thing is not mentioned in the works composed by the Teachers, it must have been known to them”,—then those poets also who have composed works relating to stories created by their own imagination, could be assumed to be omniscient, on the ground of their powers of perception; there being no difference between the two cases.

Thus the Reason (of the Buddhist) becomes ‘Inconclusive’,—(3147)