etad eva spaṣṭayati doṣābhāvo yadyabhāvākhyena prāmāṇyena niścito bhavet tadāsau lakṣaṇaṃ bhavet, aniścitasya lakṣaṇatvāyogāt, anyasya cābhāvaniścāyakasya pramāṇasyābhāvāt, tataśca parato 'bhāvākhyāt prāmāṇyaṃ sphuṭataramevoktaṃ syāt /
This very point is clarified [thus]: if the absence of defects were to be ascertained through the means of cognition called "non-apprehension", only then could it serve as a characteristic, because what is uncertain cannot serve as a characteristic, and because there is no other means of cognition that could ascertain [such] an absence; therefore it would be clearly stated that validity [comes] from an external [source], namely non-apprehension.