A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t4.183

v2.c19.s6.t4.183

The whole of Chapter X is a long philosophical treatise in 884 verses.³ In this case, too, the doctrines put forth, are those of the Vijñānavāda. It is, however, expressly emphasized again and again, that all phenomena are unreal like a fata morgana, an illusion, a delusion. We are frequently reminded of the language of the Vedānta. As in the Gauḍapādīya-Kārikās, in which the Vedāntist doctrine of Māyā is first developed, this work (v. 443) also illustrates the non-reality of the world by the simile of the circle of fire, which originates when a burning stick is twirled round. Again and again we come across the instances of the "horn of a hare," the "ring-like apparitions before the shut eyes," and similar fictions and delusions of the senses, which are intended to show that everything is only illusion and that nothing is real, not even release (verse 623).¹ Sāṃkhyas, Vaiśeṣikas, naked sophists, and the theists, are mentioned as adherents of false doctrines (verse 723). The speaker in Chapter X is not Śākyamuni, but one of his predecessors, a Buddha of an earlier age, who says of himself: "I am descended from the family (gotra) of Kātyāyana, and have come from the Śuddhāvāsa heaven. I preach to the beings the doctrine which leads to the city of Nirvāṇa. I and those Tathāgatas have pointed to this very ancient path as leading to Nirvāṇa, in 3,000 Sūtras" (v. 772 f.). "And my mother is Vasumatī, my father is the Brahman Prajāpati, I am descended from the family of Kātyāyana, and my name is Jina the Pure (Viraja Jina). I was born in Campā, and so were my father and my grandfather also. The latter was called Somagupta, and was descended from the dynasty of the moon" (v. 798 f.).²