The Central Conception of Buddhism and the Meaning of the Word "Dharma" c19.s2.22

c19.s2.22

*Sautrāntika.*—(No!) He meant that a force to produce retribution is driven by a past deed into the run (of combined elements which constitute an individual). Were it existent in reality, it would not be past. This is the only way in which this passage needs be understood, because on another occasion, in the sermon about “Non-substantiality as the Ultimate Truth”,¹ the Sublime Lord has spoken thus: “when the organ of vision appears into life, there is absolutely nothing from which it proceeds, and when it vanishes, nought there is to which it retires. Therefore, O Brethren, this organ of vision has no former existence. Then it appears, and after having been existent it vanishes again.” If a future organ of vision were existent, Buddha would never have declared that it appeared out of non-existence (out of nothing).