Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s7.t12.32

v1.c7.s7.t12.32

The Vaisheshika school once proved, “Non-preexistence of Effect in Cause” Theory, and they believed that there is a fundamental difference between cause and effect. According to literatures from other schools, the Vaisheshika school espoused the idea that “there is no effect in cause, and cause is different from effect” for the following seven reasons: firstly, cause and effect are easily perceived to be starkly distinct from each other: nobody would take the thread (the cause) to be the cloth (the effect), just as nobody would mistake the clay pot (the effect) for the clay (the cause). Secondly, cause and effect are named differently: nobody would call thread cloth, or call cloth thread. Thirdly, the same cause may give rise to different effects: thread can be used to make not just clothes, but other things too, like rope; fourthly, cause comes before effect at all times. Fifthly, cause and effect differ in form: clay (the cause) has a form of block while the clay pot (the effect) has a form of ampulla with a wide base. Sixthly, cause and effect differ in quantity: a single piece of cloth (the effect) is composed of many threads (the cause); and seventhly, if cause and effect are the same thing, then there shall be only one cause, ie there shall not be a lot of causes such as material constituting effect and maker manufacturing effect.