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Viṃśatikā / All 22 verses / 1
विज्ञप्तिमात्रमेवैतदसदर्थावभासनात् यथा तैमिरिकस्य असत् केशचन्द्रादि दर्शनम्
vijñaptimātram evaitad asad arthāvabhāsanāt yathā taimirikasya asat keśacandrādi darśanam
The line
This, just this, is cognition only, because a non-existent object appears, as when a diseased eye sees hair, a moon, and the like.
नेपालीमा
यो नै केवल विज्ञान हो, किनकि नभएको वस्तु देखा पर्छ, जसरी रोग लागेको आँखाले केश, चन्द्र आदि देख्छ।
Where it sits
The whole book is this claim, and the objections to it. Verse 2 states the objection. Verses 3 and 4 answer with dream, hungry ghosts, and hell. This is a nāstika (नास्तिक) book: the Veda is not the pramāṇa (प्रमाण). The other Buddhist book in these pages, Nāgārjuna (नागार्जुन)'s, does not make this further claim.
Split: vijñapti-mātram (विज्ञप्ति-मात्रम्) + eva (एव) + etad (एतद्) + asat-artha-avabhāsanāt (असत्-अर्थ-अवभासनात्) + yathā (यथा) + taimirikasya (तैमिरिकस्य) + asat-keśa-candra-ādi-darśanam (असत्-केश-चन्द्र-आदि-दर्शनम्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| vijñapti-mātram (विज्ञप्ति-मात्रम्) | nominative singular, neuter | vijñapti (विज्ञप्ति) is a making-known, a cognition appearing as something. mātra (मात्र) is 'only.' |
| eva (एव) | indeclinable | indeed, just. It pins the claim to mātra (मात्र). |
| etad (एतद्) | nominative singular, neuter | this. What is appearing, the world in front of you. |
| asat-artha-avabhāsanāt (असत्-अर्थ-अवभासनात्) | ablative singular, neuter | because of the appearing of an artha (अर्थ), an object, that is asat (असत्), not there. The ablative -āt (-आत्) is 'because.' |
| yathā (यथा) | indeclinable | as, in the way that. |
| taimirikasya (तैमिरिकस्य) | genitive singular, masculine | of a person with timira (तिमिर), an eye disease. |
| asat-keśa-candra-ādi-darśanam (असत्-केश-चन्द्र-आदि-दर्शनम्) | nominative singular, neuter | a seeing of hair, a moon, and the rest, which are not there. ādi (आदि) means 'and the rest.' |
The phrases
vijñaptimātram (विज्ञप्तिमात्रम्) is what etad (एतद्) is. The because-clause is the ablative asadarthāvabhāsanāt (असदर्थावभासनात्). The second line is the example, introduced by yathā (यथा).
The file writes the first line without spaces, vijñaptimātramevaitadasadarthāvabhāsanāt (विज्ञप्तिमात्रमेवैतदसदर्थावभासनात्), and joins taimirikasyāsatkeśacandrādidarśanam (तैमिरिकस्यासत्केशचन्द्रादिदर्शनम्). The words are the ones in the split. Lévi's edition, which prints Vasubandhu's prose around the verse, reads keśoṇḍuka (केशोण्डुक) here, a hair-net, where this kārikā (कारिका) reads keśacandra (केशचन्द्र), hair and moon.
Sanskrit in this line
mātra (मात्र) is the word doing the work. Without it, the line would only say 'this is a cognition,' which nobody denies. The ablative is the reason, the same job as -tvāt (-त्वात्) in the sūtra (सूत्र) books.
Say it back
Say what mātra (मात्र) excludes, and say the example.