25.14
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā / 25. Nirvāṇa (निर्वाण) / 25.14
भवेदभावो भावश् च निर्वाण उभयं कथम् तयोरभावो ह्येकत्र प्रकाशतमसोरिव
bhaved abhāvo bhāvaś ca nirvāṇa ubhayaṃ katham tayor abhāvo hy ekatra prakāśatamasor iva
The line
How would nirvāṇa (निर्वाण) be both an existent and a nonexistent? For the absence of those two in one place is like that of light and darkness.
नेपालीमा
निर्वाण भएको र नभएको दुवै कसरी होस्? ती दुई एकै ठाउँमा नहुनु उज्यालो र अँध्यारो एकै ठाउँमा नभए जस्तै हो।
Where it sits
25.11 to 25.14 close 'both.' 25.15 takes the remaining formula, 'neither,' and says that formula only works if bhāva (भाव) and abhāva (अभाव) are already established.
Split: bhavet (भवेत्) + abhāvaḥ (अभावः) + bhāvaḥ (भावः) + ca (च) + nirvāṇe (निर्वाणे) + ubhayam (उभयम्) + katham (कथम्) + tayoḥ (तयोः) + abhāvaḥ (अभावः) + hi (हि) + ekatra (एकत्र) + prakāśa-tamasoḥ (प्रकाश-तमसोः) + iva (इव)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| bhavet (भवेत्) | optative, third person singular | it would be. |
| abhāvaḥ (अभावः) | nominative singular, masculine | a nonexistent. |
| bhāvaḥ (भावः) | nominative singular, masculine | an existent. |
| ca (च) | indeclinable | and. |
| nirvāṇe (निर्वाणे) | locative singular, neuter | in nirvāṇa (निर्वाण). Final e (ए) before the vowel of ubhayam (उभयम्) is written a (अ), so the file has nirvāṇa ubhayaṃ (निर्वाण उभयं). The question is how the both would stand there. |
| ubhayam (उभयम्) | nominative singular, neuter | both. |
| katham (कथम्) | indeclinable | how. |
| tayoḥ (तयोः) | genitive dual | of those two. |
| abhāvaḥ (अभावः) | nominative singular, masculine | the absence, the mutual exclusion. |
| hi (हि) | indeclinable | for. |
| ekatra (एकत्र) | indeclinable | in one place. |
| prakāśa-tamasoḥ (प्रकाश-तमसोः) | genitive dual, masculine | of light and darkness. |
| iva (इव) | indeclinable | like. |
The phrases
Light and dark do not occupy one place. bhāva (भाव) and abhāva (अभाव) are the same kind of pair. Their abhāva (अभाव), the fact of each excluding the other, is ekatra (एकत्र). So they are not jointly nirvāṇa (निर्वाण).
The file writes nirvāṇa ubhayaṃ (निर्वाण उभयं). The question is katham (कथम्), how would it be both.
Sanskrit in this line
iva (इव) makes light and darkness the picture. ekatra (एकत्र) is the one place they cannot share.
Say it back
Why can the two not sit together in nirvāṇa (निर्वाण)?