III. Vibhūti Pāda · Transformations (3.9–3.15)
3.14 · The Mango Stone
The substance underlies its qualities, whether past, present or yet to appear.
Word by word
- śānta
- subsided, past
- udita
- risen, present
- avyapadeśya
- not yet nameable, latent
- dharma
- qualities, forms
- anupātī
- following through, running under
- dharmī
- the substance; what bears the qualities
Where it fits
If things change in quality, time and condition (3.13), what carries the change? The substance that runs through its qualities: past, present and not yet nameable. Vyāsa adds that everything has the nature of everything (p. 225). 4.12–4.14 return to this, holding that past and future exist in their own form.
Reading
A substance carries its qualities through time: those that have subsided, those now active, and those not yet nameable. Vyāsa says the subsided have finished their work, the risen are working now, and of the latent he says only that everything has the nature of everything: any substance holds possibilities not yet shown. Behind this lies the Sāṃkhya view that nothing comes from nothing: future forms are already present as potential. Some Buddhist schools held instead that only passing moments are real.
Vyāsa
“A substance's qualities, as is well known, are of three kinds: those that have faded, those that have risen, and those that cannot yet be named. Of these, the faded are those that have done their work and come to rest. The risen are those at work. … And what are those that cannot yet be named? Everything has the nature of everything.”
Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 225.
Practice
Hold a seed: a mango stone, a bean, an apple pip. Name what it was (the fruit it came from), what it is now, and what it might become. Then do the same for one of your habits: past, present and latent.
A question to sit with
What is latent in you, not yet shown?