Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c36.45

v2.c36.45

The Vā. next raise the question, if pudgala does not exist, who it is that transmigrates from one existence to another. If the elements only exist, how do you explain when Buddha says "I was at that time the master Sunetro and in that statement why 'I' of the past is identified with 'I' of the present; does it indicate that the elements of the past are the elements of the present?" V. refuted it by saying that just as fire passes from one wood to another, the fire never remaining the same, so the elements pass from one existence to another, nothing remaining identical. If, according to the Vā., Buddhas admit the existence of pudgala they would be subject to the wrong belief of *satkāyadṛṣṭi*.