Nyayasutra 361.4

361.4

upamardaprādurbhāvayoḥ paurvāparyaniyamaḥ kramaḥ, sa khalv abhāvād bhāvotpatter hetur nirdiśyate; sa ca na pratiṣidhyate iti/ vyāhatavyūhānām avayavānāṃ pūrvavyūhanivṛttau vyūhāntarād dravyaniṣpattir nābhāvāt/ bījāvayavāḥ kutaścin nimittāt prādurbhūtakriyāḥ pūrvavyūhaṃ jahati vyūhāntaraṃ cāpadyante vyūhāntarād aṅkura utpadyate/ dṛśyante khalu avayavās tatsaṃyogāś cāṅkurotpattihetavaḥ/ na cānivṛtte pūrvavyūhe bījāvayavānāṃ śakyaṃ vyūhāntareṇa bhavitum ity upamardaprādurbhāvayoḥ paurvāparyaniyamaḥ kramaḥ,

Sequence is the invariant rule of temporal priority and posteriority between destruction and appearance; that indeed is indicated as the reason for the origination of the existent from the non-existent, and that is not refuted. [Answer:] The origination of a substance occurs from a different arrangement when the prior arrangement ceases among parts whose arrangement has been disrupted, not from non-existence. The parts of the seed, whose motion is triggered by some cause, abandon their prior arrangement and enter into a different arrangement; from that different arrangement, the sprout arises. Indeed, the parts and their conjunctions are seen to be the causes of the sprout’s origination. And as long as the prior arrangement has not ceased, a different arrangement cannot occur for the parts of the seed; thus there is an invariant rule of temporal priority and posteriority between destruction and appearance.