Sarvadarshanasangraha 11.30

11.30

To explain: in the Mādhyamika view that liberation is the destruction of the self, so much at least is beyond dispute, that there is the eradication of pain. Now, you might think: 'Just like the body and the rest, the self also, because it is a cause of pain, is to be eradicated.' But that does not stand to reason, because the alternatives are untenable. Is the self intended to be the stream of consciousness, or something distinct from it? On the first alternative, there is no dispute. Who, indeed, performing what is favorable, would do what is unfavorable? On the second alternative, if it is eternal, its cessation is impossible to bring about at all; if it is non-eternal, purposeful activity is impossible. And the impossibility of worldly transaction is an additional flaw. Indeed, no discerning person strives for the total eradication of the self—which is dearest of all, in accordance with [the text], 'for the love of the self alone is everything dear.' For every living being, surely, speaks of one as 'liberated' only when the substrate exists.