Those who believe that mind originates from the elements1
think, ‘Causes are evident and cannot be denied, because we do see them, and because of the faults you have mentioned. The causal relationships between things is a fact commonly accepted in the world. There are only four things that are real: earth, water, fire and wind, and these form the basis for the endless variety within the world. Not only is it the case that a particular synthesis of these leads to the varieties of lotus, pomegranate and so forth, and species such as peacock and crane, that we can observe; sentience and the ability to distinguish between the various types of things also originate with them. Just as when particular elements combine and develop, producing the intoxicating capacity of alcohol that causes beings to experience intoxication and stupefaction, so it is that certain combinations of the major elements developing from the embryonic stage oblong (kalana) give rise to consciousness and eventually the ability to distinguish between all manner of things. All the things that make up the environment and the living beings therefore develop from within this world, and there is nothing that is now the outcome of karmic acts, nor will the actions of this life have an effect in future lives after one dies.’
My dear, let us enjoy ourselves and eat.
What is past will not haunt you, my beauty.
This body is but a gathering of things,
O timid girl, what is gone will not return.2
Desiring to have sex with his daughter he spoke thus to convince her that there are no future lives.
To address this: How can you be so certain that there are no other lives? If they say, ‘Because they can’t be directly perceived,’ is the fact that you don’t have direct perception of other lives something you directly perceive, or not? ‘I directly perceive it.’ Well, if you directly perceive that there is no direct perception of other lives, that would mean that non-existent things can also be directly perceived. And then, non-existent things would be existent for you because they are directly perceived in exactly the same way as existent things. In that case there would be nothing that could be labeled non-existent. And without their opposite, existent things likewise cannot exist. And when there are neither existent things nor non-existent things, that undermines the existence of elements and non-existence of future lives.
If they say, ‘It is not directly perceived;’ something that is not directly perceived cannot be apprehended precisely because it is not directly perceived. And how could failing to apprehend be a valid way to infer the non-existence of future lives?
They then suggest, ‘It is apprehended through inference.’ But in regard to using inference as a valid way of proving things, you have made the claim:
There is nothing more to man
Than what our senses reveal.
What the learned say, dear girl,
Is nothing but a wolf’s trail.3
Therefore, if you keep on denying everything, I can use the same approach used when rejecting that mind comes from the elements to entirely reject this too.
Furthermore, someone with a visual impairment who thinks that there are such things as two moons when in fact there are not, will also mistakenly see other things that aren’t really there, such as hair strands, bees and so forth. Similarly, when thinking that future lives and the like do not exist, because you have a perverted understanding, you will likewise be mistaken about other things that you see. To express this it was said:
If it’s the nature of the elements that make
Your mental image though its nature it does lack,
How could someone so densely dimmed towards this life
Be trusted to have knowledge of the lives beyond? (6.101)
How can these four that you talk of, that are of the nature of earth and so forth, become objects of your mind without sharing its nature? Having such a flawed way of seeing this world, how could you possibly have any understanding of that which is beyond this world, a sphere of knowledge requiring exceptionally subtle divine vision?
Title
Chapter 1: Pramuditā
