Translation of Pramāṇavārttika (II.257–267)

Note: This page contains the Sanskrit text and English translation of the Pramāṇasiddhi chapter of Dharmakīrti’s Pramāṇavārttika, verses 257–267.

The Sanskrit text and footnotes presented in this appendix are not a critical edition of the Pramāṇavārttika kārikās, but only a provisional presentation of them, as they are transmitted in the available witnesses in Sanskrit, i.e., Pramāṇavārttika (kārikās) of Dharmakīrti, the manuscript bearing the Pramāṇavārttikakārikās; Manuscript copy of the Alaṅkāra, the manuscript bearing Prajñākaragupta’s commentary on the Pramāṇavārttik, which includes the kārikās; and Pramāṇavārttika kārikās, which indicates the kārikās as reflected in Manorathanandin’s commentary on the Pramāṇavārttik. The text in Sāṅkṛtyāyana’s printed edition of the latter does not deviate from the text in the manuscript. It is to be noted that the Pramāṇavārttika kārikās in the Pramāṇavārttikavṛtti of Manorathanandin result from Sāṅkṛtyāyana’s reconstruction of the Pramāṇavārttika.^[1]

(257) āgamasya tathābhāvanibandhanam apaśyatām /
muktim āgamamātreṇa vadan^[2] na paritoṣakṛt //

One who, based on the Scripture alone, proclaims liberation, does not satisfy those who do not see the reason why the Scripture is of that kind [i.e., reliable with regard to its content].

(258) nālaṃ bījādisaṃsiddho vidhiḥ puṃsām ajanmane /
tailābhyaṅgāgnidāhāder api muktiprasaṅgataḥ //

The rite [of initiation] validated by the example of a seed et cetera is not sufficient for the absence of rebirth of embodied souls, because there would be the undesired consequence of liberation even due to an oil massage, scorching [oneself] with fire, and the like.

(259) prāg guror lāghavāt paścān na pāpaharaṇaṃ kṛtam /
mā bhūd gauravam evāsya na pāpaṃ gurv amūrtitaḥ^[3] //

That a man who weighed heavier before becomes lighter after [initiation] does not mean that his sin is removed. Let it [even] be the case that he has no weight at all; [but] sin is not heavy because it is not embodied.

(260) mithyājñānatadudbhūtatarṣasaṃcetanāvaśāt /
hīnasthānagatir janma tena^[4] tacchin na jāyate //

It is due to intentional mental acts associated with false cognition and the craving arising from it that there is rebirth, which is going to an inferior place [such as a womb]. Therefore, one who cuts them is not reborn.

(261) tayor eva hi sāmarthyaṃ jātau tanmātrabhāvataḥ /
te cetane svayaṃ karmety^[5] akhaṇḍaṃ janmakāraṇam //

Indeed, these two alone are capable of causing rebirth, because the latter occurs only due to them. Those two [types of] intentional mental acts are by themselves karma. Therefore, the cause of rebirth is not fragmentary (i.e., defective, in our description).

(262) gatipratītyoḥ karaṇāny^[6] āśrayas tāny adṛṣṭataḥ /
adṛṣṭanāśād agatis^[7] tat saṃskāro na cetanā //

[Ob.:] The sense faculties are the basis of [instances of] cognition and motion; they are due to the unseen force. Because the unseen force is destroyed, there is no motion. This [force] is the karmic impulse, not an intentional mental act.

(263) sāmarthyaṃ karaṇotpatter bhāvābhāvānuvṛttitaḥ /
dṛṣṭaṃ buddher na cānyasya santi tāni na yanti kim^[8] //

[Re.:] The capacity of arising that belongs to [the activity of] the sense faculties is observed in connection with the presence or absence of the mind, and nothing else. When these [faculties] exist, why should they not continue [to be operative]?

(264) dhāraṇapreraṇakṣobhanirodhāś cetanāvaśāḥ /
na syus teṣām asāmarthye tasya dīkṣādyanantaram //

Concentrating, moving, being agitated or withdrawing are due to intentional mental acts. These [actions] would not occur if those [faculties] were not possessed of any capacity immediately after one’s initiation et cetera.

(265) atha buddhes tadā’bhāvān na syuḥ sandhīyate malaiḥ /
buddhis^[9] teṣām asāmarthye jīvato’pi syur akṣamāḥ //

[Ob.:] If [actions] were due to the mind, they would not occur, because then (i.e. after initiation) [the mind] would not be there. [Re.:] Because of impurities the mind is linked [to other births]. If [impurities] were not possessed of any capacity [to impel action after initiation], even in the case of an [initiated] living being they would be unable [to produce any effect].

(266) nirhrāsātiśayāt puṣṭau pratipakṣasvapakṣayoḥ /
doṣāḥ svabījasantānā dīkṣite’py anivāritāḥ //

Since they decrease or increase according to the degree of prosperity of what hinders or favours them, mental faults, whose series arise from their own seeds, are unimpeded even in one who is initiated.

(267) nityasya nirapekṣatvāt kramotpattir virudhyate /
kriyāyām akriyāyāṃ ca kriyayoḥ^[10] sadṛśātmanaḥ //

The successive arising of something permanent is contradictory because of the independence of the latter—[something permanent which is] of the same nature in the case of action and non-action [of the faculties etc.] in both times (e.g., before death and after death).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

vadan KH V: bruvan ASa.

[2]:

vadan KH V: bruvan ASa.

[3]:

amūrtitaḥ Asa V: amūrttataḥ KH.

[4]:

tena KH ASa: tatas V.

[5]:

karmety KH V ASa (post correctionem): karmmāty ASa (ante correctionem).

[6]:

The reading karaṇāny is attested in KH Asa V, but the printed edition of Prajñākaragupta’s commentary has kāraṇāny.

[7]:

agatis KH V: na gatis ASa.

[8]:

santi tāni na yanti kim KH V: tāni santi na santi kim ASa.

[9]:

buddhis KH V (see PVV 101.3): buddhes ASa (and Sāṅkṛtyāyana’s reconstruction of the pāda in his edition of the PVV).

[10]:

kriyayoḥ KH V: kriyā ca ASa.