CHAPTER VI.

ATMAN THE ETERNAL EXISTENCE.

Sixth Stanza of the Hymn.

To the Atman who, going to sushupti on the withdrawal of sense-organs, becomes the One Existence, enshrouded by Maya like unto the sun or moon in eclipse, and whose then existence is recognised on waking in the consciousness "I have slept till now;" to Him who is incarnate in the Teacher, to Him in the Effulgent Form Facing the South, to Him (Siva) be this bow!

Buddhistic Nihilism (sunyavada).

In the preceding chapter, it has been shown that the whole universe we perceive in the jagrat state is only an illusion set up by Maya on the basis of Atman, the Paramesvara, and that Atman, subject to this illusion, is eternal, one, and immutable. As against this view the Buddhist asks:

1. If, as in svapna, the whole universe exists within even in jagrat, (then tell me), does anything appear to any one in sushupti? Who persists there as a conscious entity?

The Nihilist means that there is no conscious entity present in sushupti; that there is no entity whatever conscious of anything in sushupti. Therefore, no eternal Atman exists, such as the one spoken of by Vedantins. The Buddhistic Nihilist states his doctrine as follows:

2. Everything is momentary and void; and everything self-defined.

Everything in the universe including the Atman, exists only for one instant; and it did not exist before, and will not exist after, that instant.

Everything is self-defined, is cognised by itself; there can be no cogniser distinct from the object cognised.

Now, there is a school of Buddhists which maintains that the external world exists as well as the internal world: that the objective existence is as real as the subjective. They hold that the subjective existence is made up of five skandhas or "forms of mundane ." Their doctrine is stated as follows:

Earth, water, fire, and air are mere aggregates of paramanus or atoms.

They are mere groups of the four kinds of atoms. They have no attributes of their own distinct from those of the atoms of which they are made; whereas the Vaiseshikas maintain that they have. Nor are they,--as the Sankhyas, the Parinamavadins say--different forms evolved from a previously existing cause, coming into manifestation one after another, though in substance one and the same with the cause. Such is the nature of the external world comprising elements of matter and material objects. As to the inner world:

3. Human and other bodies are mere aggregates of the five skandhas or bundles of conscious states; and these skandhas are Rupa, Vijnana, Samjna, Samskara, and Vedana.

4. The Rupas comprise sense-objects and sense-organs, in so far as they are represented (in the mind).