Verse 638

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

अतद्रूपपरावृत्तगजादिव्यतिरेकिणी ।
न सङ्ख्या भासते ज्ञाने दृश्येष्टा नैव सास्ति तत् ॥ ६३८ ॥

atadrūpaparāvṛttagajādivyatirekiṇī |
na saṅkhyā bhāsate jñāne dṛśyeṣṭā naiva sāsti tat || 638 ||

‘Number’, which is held to be perceptible, does not appear in cognition as anything distinct from such names as ‘the elephant’, etc. which connote ‘negation op the contrary’ hence it must be nonexistent.—(638)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

“As regards the Quality of ‘Number’, it has been defined as ‘the basis of the notions of one and so forth Number subsists in one substance and also in several substances; the Number ‘one’ subsists in one substance; and the numbers beginning with ‘Two’ subsist in several substances.—Of the Number subsisting in one substance, the eternality and the appearances should be understood to be like those of the Colour and other qualities subsisting in the atoms of Water, etc.; while of Number subsisting in several substances, the appearance is due to the unities associated with the cognition of several things; and its destruction (disappearance) follows from the disappearance of the unitary conception; and in some cases, the disappearance is also due to the destruction of the substratum.—Number of both these kinds is vouched for by Perception. Others have held it to be established by Inference also, on the ground that all specific cognitions are dependent upon diverse causes.”

The denial of this Number is set forth in the following—[see verse 638 above]

Such names as ‘elephant’ are applied to the animals as being the negation of what is not-elephant,—such things as the Aggregate and the like;—apart from such names, there is no such thing as ‘Number’ which is perceptible; hence it must be non-existent, like the ‘Hare’s Horns’, And yet it has been held (by the other party) to be perceptible; as declared in the following Sutra—“Number, Dimension, Separateness, Conjunction, Disjunction, Priority, Posteriority,—as subsisting in coloured things,—are perceptible by the Eye”,—(638)