“But it is to be understood that this latter consciousness (that of the
new existence is meant) did not come to the present existence from the
previous one, and also that it is only to causes contained in the old
existence that its present appearance is due.”[8]
Only when one understands that _Viññāṇa_ (consciousness) is Kamma
itself, does a “consciousness” that passes over from existence to
existence become divested of its seeming senselessness.
When, for example, I say, “The American heat-wave has passed over to
Europe,” this does not mean that an absolutely definite something
called “heat-wave” has set out on a journey. It only means that certain
pulses of energy which manifest themselves to sense under the form of a
wave of heat are making their presence known in a new locality. In just
the same way, when I say, “Consciousness passes over from one existence
to another,” this does not mean that an absolutely definite something
called “consciousness” goes forth upon its travels, but that the pulse
of energy of the _I_-process which, wherever it is present at all _as
such_ manifests itself as consciousness, makes its presence known in a
new location. Should any one insist upon conceiving of the heat-wave
as a something travelling, he would rightly become the butt of
ridicule. In similar wise, the scholars of the west with their profound
researches into this “consciousness” that passes over from existence to
existence, make fair marks for jest and laughter. Here, of course, they
are only working further along in the tracks of physiology and biology,
both of which so long as they seek for a “seat” of consciousness,
labour under a like tragi-comic misconception.
No good purpose is to be served by instancing here in detail all the
crass misconceptions of which our western scholars are guilty in the
interpretation of this point. That would only be to burden this book on
its way with quite unnecessary ballast. Wherever the reader meets with
such misconceptions, he can correct them for himself on the lines of
the foregoing explanations. In passing, however, it may be mentioned
that he will meet with such misconceptions in pretty nearly every book
about Buddhism.