hey spring up from a natural
non-existence (_svabhavabhavotpatti_); (3) that they are of an unknown
type of non-existence (_apracaritas'unyata_), since all the skandhas
vanish in the nirvana; (4) that they appear phenomenally as connected
though non-existent (_pracaritas'unyata_), for their skandhas
have no reality in themselves nor are they related to others, but
yet they appear to be somehow causally connected; (5) that none
of the things can be described as having any definite nature,
they are all undemonstrable by language (_nirabhilapyas'unyata_);
(6) that there cannot be any knowledge about them except that
which is brought about by the long-standing defects of desires
which pollute all our vision; (7) that things are also non-existent
in the sense that we affirm them to be in a particular place and
time in which they are not (_itaretaras'unyata_).

There is thus only non-existence, which again is neither eternal
nor destructible, and the world is but a dream and a maya; the
two kinds of negation (_nirodha_) are akas'a (space) and nirvana;
things which are neither existent nor non-existent are only
imagined to be existent by fools.

This view apparently comes into conflict with the doctrine of
this school, that the reality is called the tathagatagarbha (the
womb of all that is merged in thatness) and all the phenomenal
appearances of the clusters (_skandhas_), elements (_dhatus_), and
fields of sense operation (_ayatanas_) only serve to veil it with
impurities, and this would bring it nearer to the assumption of a
universal soul as the reality. But the _La@nkavatara_ attempts to
explain away this conflict by suggesting that the reference to
the tathagatagarbha as the reality is only a sort of
false bait to attract those who are afraid of listening
to the nairatmya (non-soul doctrine) [Footnote ref 1].

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[Footnote 1: _La@nkavatarasutra_, p. 80.

150

The Bodhisattvas may attain their highest by the fourfold
knowledge of (1) _svacittad@rs'hyabhavana_, (2)
_utpadasthitibha@ngavivarjjanata_,
(3) _bahyabhavabhavopalak@sa@nata_ and
(4) _svapratyaryyajnanadhigamabhinnalak@sa@nata_. The first means
that all things are but creations of the imagination of one's mind.
The second means that as things have no essence there is no origination,
existence or destruction. The third means that one should
know the distinctive sense in which all external t