hare’s horn is ‘what does not exist.’ That consciousness is associated With mind is ‘a true statement about what exists.’ That the mind comes into existence like a flash of lightning is ‘an untrue statement about what exists.’ To speak of something as an effect without knowing the cause is a ‘true statement about what does not exist.’ To say that a hare’s horn is not seen because it does not exist, is ‘a truth about what does not exist.’
“There are four excellent faculties of the mind which perceive (i) Agreement (ii) Non-agreement, (iii) Non-action, and (iv) Action. To understand the connection of cause and effect in objects is to perceive agreement. To distinguish objects individually is to perceive non-agreement. To say that the mind cannot understand the primary cause which leads to effect in eternal and temporary objects is to perceive non-action. To say that the germ of rice springs out of the rice seed is perception of action.
“The four benefits are the knowledge that (i) the world is nothing but a concretion of objects, (ii) that attachment to them is not good, (iii) that there is no connection with a creator, (iv) that an effect springs from its immediate cause.
“Questions may be answered in four ways. (1) By a decided answer. (2) By answers in parts. (3) By a further question. (4) By silence.
“If it is asked ‘whether an object which comes into existence will disappear or not’; the decided answer would be that ‘it will disappear.’ If it is asked ‘whether a dead man will be born again,’ it should be answered ‘as he got rid of all attachment or not (implying thereby that he will not be born again if he has no attachment and that he will be re-born if he has any attachment). If it is asked ‘which is earlier, an egg or a palmyra palm?’ it should be asked in reply ‘which egg to which palm?’ if it is asked whether an aerial flower (an imaginary thing) is old or new, no answer need be given.[1]
“There is no one competent to explain the first cause of Attachment and Release. (As far as we see) the immediate cause of all the objects above-mentioned is lust, anger and mental
- ↑ “When Malunka asked the Buddha whether the existence of the world is eternal or not eternal, he made him no reply; but the reason of this was, that it was considered by the teacher as an inquiry that tended to o profit.” Malunka Sukka in Hardy’s Manual of Buddhism, p. 375.
