만다나 미슈라의 스포따론

Abstract

This article gives light on the Sphoṭasiddhi of Maṇḍana Miśra. Maṇḍana Miśra deals mainly with the question whether the word which conveys the meaning is an entity over and above the sounds or the phonemes. He demonstrates the existence of the inner word, as distinct from its sounds, in terms of logical necessity and consistency. He states, in his own words, the main arguments of Kumārila Bhaṭṭa against the Sphoṭa doctrine and those of Bhartṛhari, as the counter-arguments, with quotations from the Vākyapadīya. The subjects for discussion include the essence of śabda, the expression and cognition of the sphoṭa, and the substantiality of the sphoṭa. The sphoṭa is defined as the essence of śabda. The latter lies primarily in the capacity to cause the birth of the knowledge of an object. Kumārila Bhaṭṭa argues that the phonemes themselves are the cause of the understanding of the meaning and that, when grouped according to units of meaning which are understood, they are called words. According to him, the last phoneme of the word, accompanied by the residual impressions(saṃskāras) left by the previous phonemes, is expressive of the meaning. He defines the impressions not as a memory trace, but rather as something else which is similar to the effect called apūrva(residual force). Maṇḍana refutes the above argument on the logical basis and identifies śabda with sphoṭa. According to Maṇḍana, each sound individually reveals the whole sphoṭa. All the previous sounds bring about in the listener cognitions in which the word figures vaguely and which sow seeds in the form of residual impressions capable of producing a later clear cognition of the word, and the last sound produces a clear cognition in which figures clearly the image of the sphoṭa. Another aspect of the sphoṭa explanation is that the final clear perception of the sphoṭa is achieved through a series of errors. As the sphoṭa is revealed through the cognitions of each of the phonemes, it at first appears in the form of the phoneme. Thus the phonemes which are the cause of the manifestation of the sphoṭa are also the cause of the error in which the sphoṭa appears as the phonemes. It is the sounds that resemble one another which are the cause of the error. Sounds are wrongly identified because of the resemblance in the contacts and separations of the vocal organs. Being wrongly identified, their powers are confused. Because of this confusion, one thinks that the sphoṭas in the form of the sentence or the word have parts whereas they have none. One peculiarity of this error is that it takes place inevitably in the case of everybody. Its main cause is due to the limitation or avidyā ‘ignorance’ of the individual self. Ordinary people have no other means of cognizing the sphoṭa except the phonemes. The sphoṭa is cognized through direct perception. That is why the sphoṭa is revealed gradually, at first vaguely and then clearly. And only after all the phonemes are uttered, a clear cognition of the sphoṭa takes place and the meaning is conveyed. Individual phonemes does not reveal the parts of the sphoṭa, but they do vaguely, because it is an indivisible entity. The sphoṭa as a single unit has independent existence even if it appears to be mixed up with the cognition of the phonemes. As to Mīmāṃsaka’s argument that because it is after the knowledge of the phonemes that the understanding of the meaning takes place, it is the phonemes which constitute the word, Maṇḍana refutes it by saying that the understanding of the meaning is possible only after the understanding of the word and that word is the sphoṭa. The sphoṭa the existence of which is determined by the fact of the understanding of the meaning, can only be eternal.