—  839  — 
«A  sentient  being  does  exist,  you  think,  о  Mara? 
You  are  misled  by  false  conception. 
This  bundle  of  elements  is  void  of  Self, 
In  it  there  is  no  sentient  being, 
Just  as  a  set  of  wooden  parts 
Receives  the  name  of  carriage, 
So  do  we  give  to  elements 
The  name  of  fancied  being»21. 
Further,  we  find  in  the  «Scriptural  Chips»22  Buddha  adressing  the  98. ъ. 5. 
Brahmin  В  ä  dar  а  у  an  a  in  the  following  terms:  «Listen  thou,  oBädarayana! 
I  shall  explain  to  you  all  bonds  of  life  which  are  the  vanishing  elements.  On  con- 
sciousness (they  do  depend,  with  it)  are  they  defiled,  with  it  they  become  puri- 
fied 23.  But  a  Self  in  the  sense  of  the  real  Self  does  not  exist.  By  false  (imputation 
the  element  of  consciousness)  is  fancied  (to  represent  a  Self).  There  is  here 
neither  a  Self  nor  a  sentient  Being.  There  are  elements  which  depend  (upon 
other  elements  acting  as)  causes.  Life  revolves  in  twelve  successive  stages,  (but 
it  contains  nothing  else  except  the  elements,  differently  classified  as)  the  five 
aggregates  (the  substrates  of  an  individual  life),  or  the  twelve  bases  of  cogni- 
tion, or  the  eighteen  component  parts  of  existence.  If  we  carefully  examine 
them,  we  do  not  find  among  all  of  them  any  Individual.  Behold  the  elements 
of  inward  life!  they  are  void  (of  a  Self)  Behold  those  lying  to  the  outward! 
they-  also  are  void24.  And  even  he  who  is  plunged  in  deep  meditation  about 
this  (twofold)  voidness,  whosoever  he  may  be,  he  is  not  found  (among  the  ele- 
ments of  real  existence)!))  And  it  is  likewise  declared  (in  the  same  collection):  98.  b.  s. 
«There  are  five  draw-backs25  in  this  idea  of  a  Soul:  1)  a  false  dogma 
of  a  Soul,  of  an  intelligent  being,  or  a  living  creature 26,  2)  a  coincidence 
whith  heretics,  3)  a  wrong  path  to  Salvation,  4)  a  disinclination  towards 
the  idea  of  (Self-)  voidness,  a  disbelief,  a  want  of  steadiness,  want  of  de- 
votion to  it37,  5)  the  elements  of  saintliness  do  not  appear  in  their  (genuine) 
purity  ». 
Vatsiputrlya.  For  the  (Vatsiputrlyas)  these  texts  are  of  no  authority! 
Vasubandhu.  Why  ? 
Vatsiputrtya  Because  they  maintain  thet  in  their  Collection  of  Ser- 
mons they  are  not  to  be  found. 
Vasubandhu.  But  are  their  Collections  the  only  authority  (they  bow  to), 
or  is  the  word  of  Buddha  their  authority?  If  their  Collections  are  the  only 
authority,  then  Buddha  is  not  their  Teacher  and  they  are  not  the  sons  of  the 
Игвѣотія  Г.  4.H.  1019.  56 
