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if when a man cannot see the light you say he cannot see at all ; and when he is in the light you say he cannot see the (what is called) darkness, then this term of 'not seeing' is unfixed, it has two marks by which it may be known ; if, then, these two conditions of ' not seeing' should become mutually intermixed, then your sight-nature must disappear and become suddenly a nonentity. Know, therefore, that the word 'seeing' is rightly applied, whether it be dark or light. What, then, is the meaning of the expression 'not seeing' ? 05. " Therefore, Ananda ! you ought to know that when you see the light, the seeing does not depend on the light ; when you see the darkness, the seeing does not depend on the dark- ness ; when you see space, the seeing is not concerned with the idea of space ; and so also with the limitations of space. 66. " These four deductions being settled, then we pi'oceed to say that when we exercise the power of sight through the medium of this very sight power, that, even then, seeing does not depend on this sight-power; nay, whilst 'seeing,' we may be still at a distance from ' true sight,' — nor by the exercise of sight do we necessai'ily exercise the power of ' true sight,' — how much less, then, can we speak of connected causes, or self-causation, or agreement of the object and subject, as constituting true sight.^ 67. " You Sravakas, having only a limited perception, cannot attain to (through the false mediums around you) the idea of a true and perfectly tranquil condition of being. I, therefore, now lead you, and on your part there should be a virtuous resolution to reflect narrowly on what I say, lest you should mis- take the true way to Supreme Knowledge. 68. "Ananda addressed Buddha, saying: World-honoured one ! ^ This argument is worded epigrammatically, and is therefore diffi- cult to translate. It seems to imply that "sensuous vision" and the true power of sight, or the exercise of the true "sight-power" or "sight- niiture," arc distinct questions. We must observe that the three theories which this part of the book is designed to overthrow are these, that the exercise of sight depends — (1) on connection of cause and effect ; (2) it is self-caused ; (3) it is the result of harniouious combination. SCRIPTURES TROM THE CHINESE. 327 when Buddha for our sakes, who were but half-enh'ghtened, exhi- bited the system of ' connected causes,' and the principle of 'self- causation,' and the conditions of ' agreement and non-agreement (of relations),' our minds could only partially receive the truth ; and now, in addition to all this, we hear the doctrine ' that seeing is independent of sight.' Oh ! would that your peculiar compas- sion for the ignorant would move you to bestow on us the eye of wisdom, and open out for us these difliculties, so that we might all obtain perfect understanding ! Having thus spoken, his tears falling in great abundance, he prostrated himself before Buddha awaiting the Sacred will. 68. " At this time the world-honoured one, compassionating the case of Ananda and the great congregation, conceived the desire to exhibit for their benefit the great Dharani, the all- important mode of preparing the way to all the Samadhis ; he, therefore, spoke to Ananda, and said : Although of such vigorous mind, you are as yet only a hearer,^ and your heart but little versed in the exceedingly mysterious and minute exercises of Samadhi — you should, therefore, attentively listen whilst I open out and distinguish for your sake the true road to this, and en- able you and other imperfectly instructed disciples to obtain the fruit of Bodhi. 69. " Ananda ! all sentient creatures are involved in the net of transmigration from two principal errors (inversions) ; these errors lead to false distinctions of sight, which give rise to birth, and generate the causes of the circle of repeated existencies. Say, then, what are the two views — first, all creatures having become entangled in different destinies, look at things through a mistaken medium ; second, all creatures using the distinctions of sight, already adopted, are equally involved in these false apprehensions of things. 70. " Say, then, what description is this, ' of being entangled in different destinies,' and thus taking wrong views of things ? Ananda ! it is like a man whose eye is afflicted with a cataract : at night, when the light of the lamp shines before him, he thinks he sees a round shadow encircling the flame, composed of the five colours interlacing one another. 71. " What think you with regard to the perception of this round effulgence encircling the flame of the night lamp — is the 1 u Parccque tu es encore Sckha." Lotus. 296. 328 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST beautiful colour in the lamp, or is it in the eye ? Ananda ! if it is in the lamp, then why does not a man whose sight is healthy see it? if it is in the sight of the person, then, as it is the resub of an act of vision, what name shall we give to the power that produces these colours ? 72. "Again, in continuation, Ananda! if this circular halo has a distinct existence independent of the lamp, then, if it should happen that the person so described should approach the hang- ing screen and look at it, there ought to be the same circular halo on that also ; but if this appearance has a distinct existence independent of sight, then it ought to appear without using the eyes, but then how can we say that it is a person with cataract who sees the halo ? 73. " We conclude, therefore, that the object^ looked at, i. e., the flame, is dependent on the lamp, that the circle is the result of imperfect vision, that all such vision is connected with dis- ease, but that to see the cause of disease (the cataract) is cura- tive of the disease itself." So that, Avhen the disease is once known, we cannot say justly that this lamp (circle) is (a disease of) sight ; still less can we say that in the midst of all this there is neither lamp nor sight. 74. " So in the case of seeing a second moon in the water, we know that this partakes neither of the substance of the true moon, nor is there any circle of water. What then ? the effort which completes the full apprehension of this second moon, in the case of those who have supreme wisdom, cannot be called an efibrt of their essential knowledge, which involves the question, *Is this the true moon or not F' or, ' If I put my power of sight on one side, is there no such thing as seeing ?' — so also, in the previous question about the cataract on the eye — causing the appearance of a halo round the lamp — it is no part of the wise man to inquire, ' Is this the lamp's fault, or the sight's ftiult ?' Much less is it right to divide the question further into, ' What 1 The symbol " sih" has two meanings, either " colour" or " matter." 2 That is, when once the disease is known as a disease, then no ill ctlc'ct can follow ; as, for instance, if a person with diseased sight knows that the fanciful colours, etc., which he sees are merely the result of his imperfect organs of vision, then he is, so far, restored to perfect vision, or at any rate he is freed from self-delusion. SCRIPTURES FROM THE CHINESE. o29 would be the consequence of the lamp being taken away, or the sight being taken away ?' [I oniitj from this poiutj sections that appear redundant.] 77. "So, then, just what you and other creatures see now, viz., mountains, rivers, countries, and lands ; all this, I say, is the result of an original fault of sight — mistaking sight for the asso- ciation of sight — the cataract, as it were, on the true and ever- glorious power of sight which I possess. 78. " If, then, this imaginaiy power of sight be, as it were, a cataract on the eye of my true sight, then it follows, as a matter of course, that the pure and bright mind of my True science in seeing all these unreal associations is not afflicted with this im- perfection : that which understands error is not itself in error ; so that, having laid hold of this true idea of sight, there will be no further meaning in such expressions as hearing by the ears, or knowing by the sight. 79.