12. There is, however, one doctrine of the Sánkhyas, which neatly and clearly distinguishes them from the Buddhists -a belief in the eternity of matter, as well as in the immortality of the soul. The Sankhyas asserted that nothing can be produced which does not already exist; and that effects are educts and not products.* This is the old classical dogma of ex nihilo nil fit, "from nothing, nothing can come." The stately tree sprang from a seed; the costly jar was formed from the potter's clay. There might be infinities of form and ever-varying combinations of substance; but the materials existed before, and the difference consisted only in the shape and mixture, and not in the matter. 13. The orthodox Buddhists, on the contrary, believed that every thing was the creation of the self-existent Adi Buddha, who willed it, and it was. 14. The Sankhya teachers, whose doctrines correspond with those of the primitive Buddhists, are Kapila and Patanjali. The first held that all things owed their origin to Mula-Prakriti, or Radical Nature, in which Purusha, or Soul, was inherent, and from which Budhi, or Intelligence (in a female and inferior form), was brought forth. His system • Colebrooke, Trans. Roy. As. Society, vol. i. p. 38-On the Philosophy of the Hindus. + This is the doctrine of Lucretius, de Rerum Natura-Nil fieri ex nihilo, in nihilum nil posse reverti. "From nonentity nothing can be produced; and entity cannot be reduced to nothing." was called Niriswara Sánkhya,* or "atheistical Sánkhya," because he denied the existence of an all-ruling Providence. Kápila also prohibited sacrifice, as its practice was attended with the taking away of life. 15. The followers of Patanjali were called Seswara Sankhyas,† or "theistical Sankhyas," because they recognised a Supreme Being who was the ruler of the world, infinite and eternal. 16. The Brahmanical Niriswara system agrees very nearly with that of the Buddhistical Swabháva, in which Dharma is made the first person of the Triad, as Mahá-Prajna,‡ or supreme nature," which is Swabhava (or self-existent), the sole entity, from which all things proceeded in this order §: 17. From the mystic root of the letter Y air * Nir, without, and Iswara, God- that is, Godless or Atheistical. + Sa, with; Iswara, God. Hodgson, p. 77. § Hodgson, p. 109. These are the Sanskrit radicals,—ya, ra, va, la, which signify air, fire, water, and earth. From Mount Sumeru proceeded all trees and vegetables, and from the earth proceeded the Dhátwátmika, or bases of all the metals. sented as a female, with Buddha on the right hand, and Sangha on the left. 18. The Seswará school of the Bráhmans agrees very closely with that of the Aiswárika Buddhists. Both take their names from the recognition of a Supreme Being (Iswara), whom the Buddhist considers as the first Intellectual Essence, the AdiBuddha, by whom all things were created. In the Aiswárika Triad, Buddha holds the first place, and Dharma, who is represented as a female, the second place on his right hand, while Sangha occupies the left hand. 19. All these schools, both Bráhmanical and Buddhistical, whether they deify intellectual spirit or material nature, agree in considering that man is the united production of both-a compound of mind and matter, ur soul and body. According to the Aiswárikas, the human body, as well as the material universe, was compounded of the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether.* The soul, which animates it, was an emanation from the self-existent God. Man was, therefore, emphatically the "Union" (Sangha) of "material essence" (Dharma) with a portion of the "divine intelligence” (Buddha).† 20. But these metaphysical speculations were imparted only to the initiated, or highest class of Bhikshus, who had attained the rank of Arahat, or Bodhisatwa. For Sákya had divided his doctrines Hodgson, p. 112. * + Hodgson, p. 127. |