Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon c17.s2.4

c17.s2.4

On the other hand the idea is rejected by the Mahāsāṅghikas, the Ekavyavahārikas, Lokottaravādins, and Kukkuṭikas, and the *Milindapañha*¹ clearly has no belief in any body to transport the consciousness from one destiny to another; the difficulties of the king are resolved by the reflection that one can as rapidly send one's thought to Kashmir as to Kalasi, 200 leagues as against twelve. We learn also from Caṅkara that the passage of the soul into a new life was conceived as taking place without any body by the Buddhists whose views he combats. If for soul we say series of consciousness, this may stand for the Sautrāntika view, but it is possible that, realists as they were, they were willing to accept some subtle matter as accompanying consciousness; the important fact, however, is that their doctrine of continuity enables them to meet adequately the difficulty of continued existence. In any case from their standpoint it is clear that the consciousness is the essential element which determines the new life; whether or not it takes a body with it, it is the seed of consciousness, which through the physiological apparatus of the union of the parents produces the shoot of name and form, the concrete individual.