No More Learning

[GENERAL REFUTATION OF TRUE EXISTENCE ]
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By cleansing the mind stream with the flowing water of means by which to understand suchness, the previous chapters have made it a vessel fit for the nectar of suchness. The remaining chapters will explain how products which arise and disintegrate do not have even the slightest essence of inherent existence.
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(i. e. They are like figures seen in clouds, like swirls at the surface of the ocean. All merely imputed by the mind, but not from the mind only. Not existent, not non-existent, not both, not neither. All equal and pure in emptiness; non-dual: not two, not one. )
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L1: [Section II - A : Extensively explaining ultimate truth]
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-- Chapter 9 - Refuting Permanent Functional Phenomena - Everything is both cause and effect, whole and part, merely imputed by the mind - the Middle Way in causality: no absolute causality / path, no absence of causality - P. 203
-- Chapter 10 - Refuting Misconceptions of the Self - There is nothing permanent that is having rebirths, or is being Liberated - P. 215
-- Chapter 11 - Refuting Truly Existent Time - There is no truly existing absolute time, duration or impermanence - P. 227
-- Chapter 12 - Refuting Wrong Views - We need a gradual path combining virtuous methods and wisdom. There is no final view to arrive to - P. 239
-- Chapter 13 - Refuting Truly Existent Sense Organs and Objects - Refuting direct objective perception of an external reality independent of the mind and karma. Everyting is like an illusion - P. 251
-- Chapter 14 - Refuting Extreme Conceptions [of inherent existence and complete non-existence . . . ] - The perfection of wisdom: non-duality of dependent origination and emptiness - P. 265
-- Chapter 15 - Refuting Truly Existent Characteristics [of products] - Production / origination, duration, cessation - P. 277
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L2: [Chapter 9 - Refuting Permanent Functional Phenomena -
Everything is both cause and effect, whole and part, merely imputed by the mind -
the Middle Way in causality: no absolute causality / path, no absence of causality - P. 203]
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(i. e. General refutation of true existence by refuting permanent functional phenomena. .
ASSUMPTION: some things are both functional and permanent, really existing:
-- like permanent without being a cause and an effect: ex. from space to mind
-- or permanent and causal without being an effect: ex. particles.
ANSWER: Everything is both cause and effect, nothing is permanent. )
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-- ALL PHENOMENA ARE FUNCTIONAL, produces an effect; EVERYTHING IS A CAUSE,
-- without a function it is as non-existent
-- without a function it is not perceptible directly or indirectly
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-- A CAUSE NECESSARILY IS ALSO AN EFFECT, because all cause are dependent on other conditions.
-- It cannot be a permanently active cause, it needs other conditions to activate it . . .
-- It changes from being non-active, active, then no more active
-- It must have parts, directional and functional; the whole and the parts are not one, not separate
-- It is interdependent with its characteristics; the characterized and the characteristics are not one, not separate -- It is merely imputed by the mind; it is not one with the mind, not separate; concepts are inter-dependent
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-- EVERYTHING IS BOTH A CAUSE AND AN EFFECT. There is not limits to this in both direction. -- Because all functional things are in interdependence, everything is impermanent.
-- Cause and effect cannot exist simultaneously; one stops, one starts
-- Cause and effect cannot exist separately
-- Because everything is cause & effect, everything is impermanent
-- Nothing last even a moment, everything is continually changing, a continuous flow of interdependence.
-- So everything is just an illusion, everything is empty of inherent existence.
-- BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS DEPENDENTLY ARISING, EVERYTHING IS EMPTY OF INHERENT EXISTENCE -- It is the mind that puts names on the flow, and then thinks things really exist on their own.
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-- About liberation & a liberated self
-- Liberation is, like space, a negation, not a functional thing. Otherwise as an effect, it would also be a cause, and there would be no end.
-- No self imputed on the aggregates is liberated, thus no real functional liberation; it is just a concept.
-- There would be no need for consciousness at liberation; and there is no person without consciousness
-- at liberation there is no more seed of consciousness either
-- There no need to speculate about anything after liberation, after the cessation of those illusions
-- There is no other self outside of the aggregates that could be liberated
-- So thinking about liberating a self is a mistake
-- To maintain morality, the belief in a self may be necessary for beginners).
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L3: [I. Refuting permanent functional phenomena in general ] L4: [A. Actual meaning]
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\ ###
\ 201.
\ ALL ARE PRODUCED FOR THEIR EFFECT,
\ THUS NONE ARE PERMANENT.
\ There are no Tathagatas other than
\ Subduers [who know] things as they are.
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(i. e. Everything is a cause and an effect, thus impermanent. First, without being a cause of something / functional, anything would be as if non-existent - not even perceptible by the six senses; and there were be no need to talk about it. So everything produced is a cause / functional.
-- Second, since their causing-action is necessarily triggered and modulated by their own causes and conditions, all causes are also an effect.
-- Beside being dependent on other causes and conditions, and having a triggered beginning for its casing function, there is necessary an end to this causing-action, thus they are all impermanent. )
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(i. e. All is functional phenomena = causing an effect, and being dependent on other causes & conditions, thus nothing is permanent -- this apply to space, time, mind, self, particles . . . Functional things are by definition the causes of some effects, their functions, and are themselves the results of causes and conditions, because there is no absolute cause producing an absolute result 100% of the time whatever happen. There are always mitigating conditions. Thus functional phenomena are both cause and effect. And they are not permanent, because as effect they cannot be there before the production, and as cause they have to go away after the production otherwise there would be continuous production.
-- This means that the division of the categories of existent phenomena into permanent and functional / impermanent is artificial.
-- Everything is functional / impermanent.
-- There is absolutely nothing permanent.
-- The four types of permanent phenomena (see bellow) are thus not valid: space, analytical cessation, non-analytical cessation, and even suchness.
-- And all functional phenomena -- form, sense organs, objects, consciousness, mind, mental factors, self, karma, concepts . . . -- are all both cause and effect, impermanent, not independent, not self
-- Everything is in dependence, everything is empty of inherent existence
-- So "permanent" and "functional" are contradictory terms. )
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-- In the world it is accepted that when a laborer work hard for his wage, it is for the result and not because it is his nature to do so. Similarly all external and internal functional phenomena do not arise of their own accord. Since they are produced solely through a multifarious aggregation of factors consisting of interrelated causes and effects, functional things are produced for their effects. They therefore are not permanent, inherently produced or truly existent. They do not have an essence able to sustain analysis, nor do they exist as things in and of themselves.
Only Subduers, because they have the abilities of perfected body, speech and mind, directly know impermanence, emptiness and all things without exception as they are. Since no one else does, there are no other Tathagatas. Moreover the Teacher said, "Whatever is produced inevitably ceases, for aging and death are conditioned by birth. " Thus, since production is for the sake of disintegration, nothing endures by way of its own entity.
Some refute permanence and true existence by virtue of autonomous reasons. The unfeasibility of this is explained in Candrakirti's commentary. There is no commonly appearing subject, such as a sprout, posited by tenets, in relation to which a direct valid cognition perceiving it is valid, since all except Prasangikas assert that it is valid in relation to a sprout existing by way of its own character. Prasangikas assert this is impossible.
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L4: [B. Refuting the rejoinder]
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\ ###
\ 202.
\ There is not anywhere anything
\ That ever exists without depending.
\ Thus never is there anywhere
\ Anything that is permanent.
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(i. e. There is no exception. All functional things are dependent, an effect, thus impermanent -- dependent on other causes and conditions, on parts, on their characteristics, on the mind conceptualizing them. Thus, all causes are also effects. This applies to all dharmas without any exception at all, including: self, space, cessations, time, particles, liberation . . . even if some are presented as permanent in other adapted skillful teachings. )
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(-- Some people argues that there are certain phenomena which are both functional and permanent and are neither produced by other factors nor give rise to effects, while others are causes but no effects. It is impossible for anything to be permanent and also a functional thing as is claimed, for whatever arises in dependence upon other factors, i. e. causes and conditions, is not permanent.
-- Vaisesika assertion: Although things that are produced for their effect are not permanent, functional things --
-- from space to the mind, which lack both the feature of being produced and that of being producers;
-- and the smallest particles which, though they are producers, are not produced are permanent and truly existent.
-- Answer: Never, at any time or in any place, is there any chance of finding a functional thing that does not depend on relatedness. Thus never is there anywhere a permanent functional phenomenon. Since whatever exists only exists dependently, it does not have even the slightest existence by way of its own entity. )
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L3: [II. Refuting them individually (Self, space, cessations, time, particles, liberation. )] L4: [A. Refuting a personal self (a permanent cause without being an effect)]
L5: [1. Actual meaning]
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\ ###
\ 203.
\ THERE IS NO FUNCTIONAL THING WITHOUT A CAUSE,
\ NOR ANYTHING PERMANENT WHICH HAS A CAUSE.
\ THUS THE ONE WHO KNOWS SUCHNESS SAID WHAT HAS
\ COME ABOUT CAUSELESSLY DOES NOT EXIST.
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(i. e. The case of the permanent self: There is no absolute cause, primary cause. Nothing is without its own causes and conditions. All cause must be triggered, and do not last, thus have their own causes and conditions, and are impermanent. This applies to the self; the self is not a primary permanent cause of decisions without being an effect, without dependence. There is no absolute free will - nor is it total determinism with no possibility of Liberation. The self is a cause, but also an effect, thus impermanent. All choices and actions issued from the self have their own causes and conditions, but there is a way to transcend it all. )
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(-- A functional thing always has a cause, while that which is permanent never has. It is impossible for a functional thing to be neither cause nor effect, nor for it to be only a cause but not itself an effect as is claimed, since both are contrary to the normal operation of cause and effect. Anything that undergoes a transformation to produce an effect cannot be permanent, nor can a cause and an effect have totally disparate natures such that the one is permanent and the other impermanent.
-- Assertion: Dependently arising phenomena like pleasure and so forth exist, and the self is the cause that attracts them. Thus the self exists and, moreover, is permanent.
-- Answer: There is no personal self since that which has no producing cause is not a functional thing, nor is there anything permanent which has a cause. [Buddha], the one who knows suchness, said phenomena that come into being causelessly do not exist:
~ Phenomena with causes and conditions are known.
~ Phenomena without causes and conditions do not exist. ) .
L5: [2. Refuting the rejoinder]
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\ ###
\ 204.
\ If the unproduced is permanent
\ Because impermanent [things] are seen to be products,
\ Seeing that the produced exists
\ Would make the permanent non-existent.
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(i. e. Refuting a proof bases on word association that makes no sense. )
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(Showing that the following particular method of reasoning gives absurdity when applied to something else:
-- If produced --> impermanent
means that an unproduced self --> is permanent;
-- Then if produced --> exist
would that mean that a permanent / non-produced self --> is non-existent. That is absurd. Thus this proof is invalid.
-- If on seeing that a pot and pleasure are impermanent and produced, one asserts that the self and so forth are by implication permanent, it would follow that because of seeing that a pot and so forth are produced and exist, whatever is permanent like the self should be non-existent like a sky flower. )
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L4: [B. Refuting three substantial existent uncompounded phenomena
(i. e. three permanent existent phenomena types: space, analytical cessations, non-analytical cessations)] L5: [1. General refutation]
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\ ###
\ 205.
\ That space and so forth are permanent
\ Is a conception of common beings.
\ For the wise they are not objects perceived
\ Even by conventional [valid cognition].
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(i. e. The case of space, and the two types of cessations: Space is not a permanent functional thing, it is not a real thing, it is a negation. There is no such things as permanent functional things as proved above. Cessations are also mere negations, the stopping of illusions based on ignorance, not something existing that would be permanent. - Nirvana is the removal of ignorance, or obstructions, like space; it is not a permanent really existing thing. )
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(-- Assertion: The treatises of knowledge say space, individual analytical cessations, and non-analytical cessations are permanent and substantially existent. Any refutation of this is invalidated by your own assertions.
-- Answer: That is not so. Not understanding the significance of applying the term "space" to a mere absence of obstructive contact and so forth, common people think that uncompounded space and so on are permanent [functional phenomena]. Those who are wise concerning the suchness of functional phenomena, far from thinking they exist ultimately, do not regard permanent functional phenomena even as objects perceived by conventional valid cognition. Only that which does not change is termed permanent. What sutra says is not primarily stated to establish [substantial existence, but to refute the existence of permanent functional things]. )
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L5: [2. Specifically refuting permanent omnipresent space (a permanent thing without being a cause or an effect)]
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\ ###
\ 206.
\ A single direction is not present
\ Wherever there is that which has direction.
\ That with directions therefore clearly
\ Also has other directional parts.
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(i. e. Space is not absolute, permanent, since in depends on directional parts: Some think that space is a real permanent functional thing, not an effect - inherently existing. But a real permanent thing existing on its own would not be dependent on its parts. Since space obviously can be decomposed into parts and directions, and cannot be defined without talking about objects, movement, directions, . . . it is not an independently existing thing - inherently existing. There is no absolute referential; it is always relative. Space is an effect dependent on the mind conceiving it. Space and objects, like Nirvana and samsara, are co-dependently arisen concepts, forming an apparent duality that needs to be transcended . . . seen through. )
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(-- Assertion: Space is permanent because it is omnipresent. Whatever is impermanent like a pot is not omnipresent.
-- Answer: The following (the four lines) refutes permanence by refuting omnipresence. It is contradictory to assert that space is omnipresent but partless.
-- The part of space contiguous to an eastern pot is not present wherever there is space which has directions, such as where there is a western pot. It is were, the western pot would be in the east and the eastern pot in the west. If to guard against such a fallacy one asserts that the part of space which is in the east is not in the west, directional space very clearly must have other parts. Therefore one should not accept permanent functional things. Sutra says, "Kasuapa, permanence is one extreme, so-called impermanence is the other extreme. " The belief that ultimate truths are permanent functional phenomena is foreign to this teaching. )
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L4: [C. Refuting permanent time (a primary cause, without being an effect)]
L5: [1. If permanent time is accepted as a cause, it should also be accepted as an effect]
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\ ###
\ 207.
\ Since time exists, functional things
\ Are seen to start and stop.
\ It is governed by other factors;
\ Thus it is also an effect.
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(i. e. The case of time: Some think that time is a real permanent functional thing, a primary cause, not an effect - an inherently existing cause. But, no cause is without its own causes and conditions, and time is a cause -- see next verse. All cause, even time, must be triggered and stopped otherwise its effect would be continuous, thus as a causal factor, time has its own causes and conditions, and is impermanent. Time is not absolute, it is also dependent, an effect, thus impermanent. - Also, like space, time obviously can be decomposed into part, and cannot be defined without talking about phenomenon, beginning, ending, measurements, observations, . . . it is not an independently existing thing - inherently existing. And, as we will see later, a real origination, duration or cessation cannot be observed, so there is no objective basis for time measurement. There is no absolute time referential, in relativity time is dependent on space, speed, gravity . . . Time and things, like Nirvana and samsara, are co-dependently arisen concepts, forming a conceptual system, a theory, that needs to be transcended . . . seen through. They are not absolute, but still not useless obviously. )
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(-- Assertion of Vaidantokas and others ab: Since permanent time exists the beginning and growth of things like a sprout are seen, while in winter and so forth, although other conditions are present, this is seen to stop. One can thereby infer the existence of time which, moreover, is permanent because of not depending on a cause.
-- Answer: Then it follows that sprouts and so forth are constantly produced and there is never a time when they are not produced, because of being produced by a permanent cause.
-- Assertion: Their production depends on other factors.
-- Answer cd: Then it follows that time, too, is an effect, for the intermittent production of sprouts is governed by other factors, being dependent on conditions like heat and moisture. We do not assert that time is non-existent, for it says:
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~ The actions of the embodied do not
~ Go to waste even in a hundred aeons.
~ When conditions assemble and the time is ripe
~ Their fruit will mature. ) .
L5: [2. Reason for this]
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\ ###
\ 208.
\ Any cause without an effect
\ Has no existence as a cause.
\ Therefore it follows that
\ CAUSES MUST BE EFFECTS.
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(i. e. All functional things are cause, and effect, thus impermanent: Time cannot be a permanent thing that is not a cause and has no effect, because a permanent non-functional thing would be as not existent and there would be no need to talk about it. So time is necessarily a functional thing, both a cause and an effect, thus impermanent. )
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(-- If proponents of time as a cause accept it as such, they should also accept it as an effect.
-- Without the effect it produced, a cause lacks that which establishes it as a cause, for the establishment of a cause depends on its effects. Thus since it follows that all causes must be effects, one should not accept causes that lack effects. Anything accepted as a cause should be accepted as facilitating an effect. )
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L5: [3. Contradictoriness of that which undergoes change being permanent]
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\ ###
\ 209.
\ When a cause undergoes change
\ It becomes the cause of something else.
\ Anything that undergoes change
\ Should not be called permanent.
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(i. e. All causes are modulated, thus are dependent and impermanent: There is no absolute primary cause, inherently existing cause that are not also dependent, not also an effect. All so called causes are always modulated by various other conditions; the effect is never exactly the same. And even the fact that they need to be triggered (activated) to start producing their effect, and never last eternally (they stop causing), mean that they are themselves subject to other causes and conditions. The simple fact that they are cause means that they are also effect, thus dependent, thus impermanent. )
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(-- A cause such as a seed acts as the cause of something else such as a sprout, through a change from before in its potency. Any functional thing which changes so that its former and later moments are unalike should not be called permanent. Thus one should not accept permanent time and so forth as causes. )
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L5: [4. Contradictoriness of that which has come into existence of its own accord depending on causes]
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\ ###
\ 210.
\ A thing with a permanent cause is produced
\ By that which has not come into being.
\ Whatever happens by itself
\ Cannot have a cause.
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(i. e. A permanent cause would not produce anything: A so called permanent cause would not change in time, would not be triggered, and thus would not be able to produce an effect at one point and not at another. So the effect would be without a cause. That would be absurd; nothing is without cause and conditions. So, there cannot be a permanent functional thing, a cause that is not an effect itself, that is not itself dependent, and thus impermanent. All causes are effects, and impermanent. )
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(-- If one does not accept that time, too, changes, it follows that a functional thing, such as a sprout whose cause is unchanging permanent time, has come about of its own accord because of being produced by a cause that has not come into being. Whatever happens by itself cannot have a producing cause, since its dependence on a cause is inadmissible. ) .
L5: [5. Contradictoriness of that which has arisen from something permanent being impermanent]
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\ ###
\ 211.
\ How can that which is produced
\ By a permanent thing be impermanent?
\ Never are the two, cause and effect,
\ Seen to have incongruent characteristics.
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(i. e. An impermanent effect can be produced only by an impermanent cause. All causes must change in time, they must be triggered to start the causing-effect, and stopped otherwise the effect will continue forever. So time, as a supposed cause of the maturation or degradation of things must be itself modulated. Otherwise it is not a cause and that is refuted in verse 208. )
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(-- How can functional things such as sprouts be impermanent? It follows that they are not, because of being produced by that which is permanent. This entailment follows because cause and effect are never seen to have incongruent characteristics in that one is permanent and the other impermanent. )
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L4: [D. Refuting permanent particles (primary causes, without being effects, or composed of parts)] L5: [1. Refuting permanent particles]
L6: [a. Unsuitability of that which has parts as a permanent functional thing]
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\ ###
\ 212.
\ That of which some sides are causes
\ While other sides are not is thereby
\ Multifarious. How can that
\ Which is multifarious be permanent?
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(i. e. The case of elementary components: even elementary components are dependent on directional & functional parts, on their characteristics, and on the mind conceptualizing them, thus impermanent. )
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(-- To demonstrate that particles are not truly existent partless phenomena as asserted, it is shown that they have sides and do not therefore interpenetrate completely when they come together to form a composite. Moreover, informing such a composite, particles could not move unless they had parts, such as fore and rear. Since they undergo change during the formation of the composite, how can they be permanent? The causal particles no longer exist once the effect has been produced.
-- Vaisesika assertion: Permanent particles of the four elements activated by the force of karma form the substantial entity of a composite, producing the environmental world and so forth.
-- Answer: That is incorrect, for it follows that when particles coalesce and form a composite, an increase in size is impossible if there is total interpenetration. If some parts coalesce, those that do are causes while those that do not are not causes.
-- It therefore follows that the smallest particle has parts, because some of its sides are causes while others are not. Being multifarious, it follows that it cannot be a permanent functional thing because of having diverse parts. )
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L6: [b. Unfeasibility of an accretion which is a separate substantial entity forming through the coalescence of homogeneous particles]
L7: [(1) Actual meaning]
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\ ###
\ 213.
\ The cause which is spherical
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\ Is not present in the effect.
\ Thus complete interpenetration
\ Of particles is not feasible.
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(i. e. Refuting a conceptual proof that makes no sense. -- And it is not possible that there would be no directional & functional parts, that everything would mix without rearrangement depending on directional and functional parts of elementary components. The individuality of parts is not completely annihilated in forming a new result. The result is still dependent on its parts or causes, and those parts have directional and functional parts themselves. - It is in fact more reasonable to think that the whole is merely a name, and that the real dynamic is still operating at the basic level. But there is no such basic level. Everything is both whole and part, and the whole and its parts are not two, not one. Everything is merely imputed by the mind. )
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(-- Assertion: Although particles interpenetrate completely because they are partless, a separate accretion of coalesced particles forms, which produces the composite.
-- Answer: It follows that it is not feasible for particles to interpenetrate completely when composites form. If they merge completely there will be no gradual increase in size from the first to the second composite and so forth.
-- Also the causative sphere with the characteristic of appearing to the mind as partless and spherical is not present in the resultant substantial entity, the composite. )
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L7: [(2) Contradictoriness of asserting that particles do not interpenetrate completely]
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\ ###
\ 214.
\ One particle's position is not
\ Asserted as also that of another.
\ Thus it is not asserted that
\ Cause and effect are the same size.
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(i. e. So there is no complete assimilation of the individuality of parts into a new whole, and the elementary components still use their directional and functional parts, they are thus not elementary functional things. They are also whole, or effect. Everything is both whole and part, cause and effect. )
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(-- Where complete interpenetration does not occur, one particle's position will not be asserted as also that of another. Thus since the causal particles and resultant composite are not asserted to be equal in size, the absurd consequence that the composite is not an object of the senses is avoided. Nevertheless since particles have parts, their consequent unfeasibility as permanent functional things remains. )
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L6: [c. Refuting that particles are partless prior to the formation of a composite] L7: [(1) Actual meaning]
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\ ###
\ 215.
\ Whatever has eastern side
\ Also has an eastern part.
\ Those whose particles have sides admit
\ That they are not [partless] particles.
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(i. e. Even before being involved into a function or composite, they have sides, and thus they have parts.