Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 9.1.9, English translation, including commentaries such as the Upaskara of Shankara Mishra, the Vivriti of Jayanarayana-Tarkapanchanana and the Bhashya of Chandrakanta. The Vaisheshika Sutras teaches the science freedom (moksha-shastra) and the various aspects of the soul (eg., it's nature, suffering and rebirth under the law of karma). This is sutra 9 (‘perception of absolute non-existence, how produced’) contained in Chapter 1—Of Ordinary Perception of Non-Existence and of Transcendental Perception—of Book IX (of ordinary and transcendental cognition...).
Sūtra 9.1.9 (Perception of absolute non-existence, how produced)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 9.1.9:
अभूतं नास्तीत्यनर्थान्तरम् ॥ ९.१.९ ॥
abhūtaṃ nāstītyanarthāntaram || 9.1.9 ||
a-bhūtaṃ—not produced; na—not; asti—exists; iti—this; an-artha-antaraṃ—not different objects.
9. That which has not been produced, does not exist;—this is an identical proposition.
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
Now in this aphorism he says that absolute non-existence is an object of perception:
[Read sūtra 9.1.9 above]
That which was produced, at present does not exist—such cognition rests upon annihilation, and is not conversant about, or does not bring out, the having been produced; whereas perceptual, cognition which embraces simply this that it does not exist, reposes upon absolute non-existence. ‘A-bhūtaṃ,’ (that which has not been produced), denotes non-cognizance of production and destruction. The being ‘an-artha-antaraṃ,’ not different objects, also has the same purport only. For example, Earth-ness does not exist in Water, and Water-ness does not exist in Earth. For, were there Earth-ness in watery wholes, it would be perceived, but it is not perceived, therefore it does not exist;—a reference to such argument is to be observed in this case also. We must, in like manner, hold that there is absolute non-existence of a thing where such a thing will never be, nor even has been, produced. The cognition, on the other hand, in the form that it does not exist, of the non-existence in their substratum, of that which has been, and that which will be, depends upon consequent non-existence and antecedent non-existence. Hence it is that this (absolute non-existence) is designated as absolute or illimitable and as of trinal time or eternal.—9.
Commentary: The Vivṛti of Jayanārāyaṇa:
(English extracts of Jayanārāyaṇa Tarkapañcānana’s Vivṛti or ‘gloss’ called the Kaṇādasūtravivṛti from the 17th century)
‘Na asti iti,’ perception in the form that something does not exist, which is ‘abhūtaṃ,’ not conversant about the past, ‘an-artha-antaraṃ,’ that is, has for its object nothing but absolute non-existence, such as consequent non-existence etc. * * * *. The word ‘bhūta’ or past includes the future also.