The four likenesses
Four causes and four pictures for the rise: the potter's wheel that keeps turning after the hand, the gourd that comes up through the water once its clay is washed off, the castor seed that springs from its pod, and the flame.
The sūtra names the causes - the impulse already given, the absence of anything clinging, the cutting of the bond, and the soul's own nature, which is to go up - and the bhāṣya pairs each with a likeness: the potter's wheel for pūrva-prayoga, the gourd freed of its clay for asaṅga, the castor seed from its pod for bandha-cheda, the flame for tathā-gati-pariṇāma. None of them is a mechanism; they are what the going is like.
The stopping has one cause only. The soul goes up as far as the loka and no further, because motion needs the medium of motion, dharmāstikāya, and at the loka's edge there is none.
Measurements and counts
| the potter's wheel | pūrva-prayoga - the impulse already given keeps it turning |
|---|---|
| the gourd freed of its clay | asaṅga - nothing clings, so it comes up through the water |
| the castor seed from its pod | bandha-cheda - the bond cut, it springs |
| the flame | tathā-gati-pariṇāma - its nature is to go up |