Chandogya Upanishad 6.2.2

As has been stated already, the idea of something coming out of nothing is absurd. Yet some Buddhist scholars, who believe that existence comes from non-existence, argue that unless a seed is destroyed, a tree cannot grow from it. So according to them something comes out of nothing. Śaṅkara argues that it is only the form of the seed that is destroyed. The material that makes up the seed goes on to produce the tree. There is no example anywhere of something coming from nothing.

A potter makes pots out of clay. Can he make a pot out of nothing? No. But then the Buddhists argue, can a pot produce another pot? Vedānta says, no, but a pot can change its form. It can become potsherds or it can go back to the form of clay.

Vedānta says, the world always existed, but it did not always exist in the form we see it now. A snake is always a snake, whether it is lying like a long rope or it is coiled up. The world is Sat (Existence), and it is nameless and formless. But how it does come to have names and forms? The answer is that Existence is the only reality, but if it seems to have different names and forms, they are merely superimpositions and are not real.