If Colors Perish, Do Atoms Remain?

Abstract

In the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, Vasubandhu considers the substance （dravya） of the Vaiśeṣika school as a superimposed being and denies its universal factor （sāmānya）.

The Vaiśeṣika distinguishes color, which is one of the qualities （guṇa）, from the substances that are its inherential causes （samavāyikāraṇa）. According to it, a new substance is a product derived from other substances; for instance, a cloth is produced from joined threads. Vasubandhu argues that the cloth is not a different substance from the aggregation of threads, which is called a cloth. He states that gathered colors （varṇa） are perceived by the eyes, but that a substance is not.

Against the Vaiśeṣika’s view that an atom is eternal, Vasubandhu objects that its name is established in reference to color. When colors perish, we cannot say that atoms exist.

In accordance with his intention, taking the conditioning forces （saṃskāra） as a sentient being by grasping an individual （piṇḍa）, neither accepting Vaiśeṣika’s substance nor causing the awareness of recurrence by its same universal which exists in abundance, it is said that “this is a sentient being.”