It is no secret that the previous class proved to be rather
difficult to grasp. At some point during
the lecture, we discussed the doctrine of satkāryavāda and the concept of
change and causality.
On page 89 it reads, “Effect must in some way already exist
in the cause because, if it were totally non-existent, it would even lack those
distinctive features correlating it to a particular cause, and thus everything
could be born from anything.” (Torella
2011) From my understanding, in the notion of cause and effect, the effect is not nonexistent that came into
existence. Instead, it is already in the
cause but in the state of potentiality,
which provides the link between the two.
An example to help clarity this phenomenon is that “a sprout
does not come into existence as a new entity; rather, it existed in a subtle,
unmanifest form in the seed.” (PowerPoint)
This comparison was able to clear up my initial confusion. However, as I thought about it afterwards, I
find myself questioning the doctrine.
If I extend the lifeline of the seed, it sprouts into a bud, that
blossoms into a flower, then it transforms into... what exactly? I would
imagine that the flower would wither and die eventually, but does that follow
the satkāryavāda? It is said “nothing
ever comes into or out of existence. All
change is transformation.” (PowerPoint) So
what latent effect is in the flower now?
What will be manifested from this potential?
Ideas?
The basic idea is that the withered flower then breaks down into its constituents, which are then rearranged based on their circumstances. So, say a seed turned into a flower in my garden, and the flower got attached by a fungus and died. Part of the flower would go into feeding the fungus, and part would decay into the ground, and these would continue to form other causal streams, and so on into infinity. In the really big picture, everything is contained in potential form in unmanifest prakṛti, and the causal stories that we see playing out in our world are just little pieces of this reality.
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