Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 6.7.7

6.7.7

Some hold that all is composed of the four elements and out of nothing; yet they give not the least explanation concerning commingling and transmutation. And as to 'nothing,' which is nearly tantamount to our privation, they admit I know not how many sorts, which I imagine the Pendets neither comprehend themselves, nor can make intelligible to others. Some maintain that light and darkness are the first principles, and in support of this opinion they make a thousand foolish and confused observations; alleging reasons disowned by true philosophy, and delivering long discourses which would suit the ear only of the vulgar and illiterate. There are others again who admit privation as a principle, or rather the privations which they distinguish from nothing, and of which they make a long enumeration, so useless and unphilosophical that I can scarcely believe their authors would employ the pen about such trifling opinions, and that consequently it cannot be contained in their books. Many, in fine, pretend that everything is the result of fortuitous circumstances, and of these they also have a long, strange, and tedious catalogue, worthy only of an ignorant and low babbler. In regard to all these principles, it is agreed by the Pendets that they are eternal. The production from nothing does not seem to have occurred to their mind, any more than to the mind of many of the ancient philosophers. There is one of the sages, however, who, they pretend, has said something on the subject.