The Tattvapaplavasimha is a philosophical text unique of its kind it is the only text of the Carvaka Lokayata school which has survived and the only Sanskrit work in which full-fledged scepticism is propounded. Notwithstanding that it has been hitherto almost completely ignored. The present book consists of an introduction detailed analysis edition translation with extensive notes of the first half of the text. In the introduction Jayarasi`s affiliation to the Lokayata school is reassessed and his place in the historical (...) development of Indian Philosophy evaluated. New evidence for the dating of Jayarasi is examined and a new dating is suggested. (shrink)

Dreyfus examines the central ideas of Dharmakīrti, one of the most important Indian Buddhist philosophers, and their reception among Tibetan thinkers. During the golden age of ancient Indian civilization, Dharmakīrti articulated and defended Buddhist philosophical principles. He did so more systematically than anyone before his time (the seventh century CE) and was followed by a rich tradition of profound thinkers in India and Tibet. This work presents a detailed picture of this Buddhist tradition and its relevance to the history of (...) human ideas. Its perspective is mostly philosophical, but it also uses historical considerations as they relate to the evolution of ideas. (shrink)

Buddhist philosophy in India in the early sixth century C. E. took an important tum away from the traditional methods of explaining and systematizing the teachings in Siitra literature that were attributed to the Buddha. The new direction in which several Indian Buddhist philosophers began to move was that of following reasoning to its natural conclusions, regardless whether the conclusions conflicted with traditional teachings. The central figure in this new movement was DiIinaga, a native of South India who found his (...) way to the centre of Buddhist education at Nalanda, studied the treatises that were learned by the Buddhist intellectuals of his day, and eventually wrote works of his own that formed the core of a distinctly new school of Buddhist thought. Inasmuch as virtually every Indian philosopher after the sixth century had either to reject Dirinaga's methods or build upon the foundations provided by his investigations into logic, epistemology and language, his influence on the evolution of Indian philosophy was considerable, and indeed some familiarity with Dirinaga's arguments and conclusions is indispensable for anyone who wishes to understand the historical development of Indian thought. Moreover, since the approach to Buddhism that grew out of Dirinaga's meditations on language and the limits of knowledge dominated the minds of many of the scholars who took Buddhism to Tibet, some familiarity with Dirinaga is also essential to those who wish to understand the intellectual infrastructure of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and practice. (shrink)

The work of 6th century Indian logician Dharmakirti is explored in detail in series of twelve articles analyzing deviant logic, subject failure, andther important aspects of the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist logical tradition.riginal.

In Part Three I offer my own interpretation of the svalaksana--that it is an aggregate of paramanus. I defend this interpretation with an analysis of textual passages taken mostly from Dharmakirti's Pramanavarttika that have not been adequately explored in the secondary literature. My analysis shows that Dharmakirti's "atoms" are quality particulars such as bits of color, which have spatial and temporal location although they are immeasurably small both spatially and temporally. Because the svalaksana is an aggregate of "atoms" of this (...) sort, it is neither a propertyless Kantian noumenon nor a single paramanu. The svalaksana is replicated in sensation though imperfectly in that the sensory images does not capture the plurality of the atoms. ;Part Two is a discussion of the two interpretations of the svalaksana as a Kantian noumenon and as a single paramanu or "atom." Both interpretations owe their origins to the publication in 1930-32 of Theodor Stcherbatsky's two volume work, Buddhist Logic. I sketch each theory and show the inadequacies in the reasoning in support of each. ;The first of the three parts of the dissertation reconstructs Dharmakirti's Sautrantika theory of perception. It provides the background for Parts Two and Three and in addition corrects a shortcoming in the standard interpretations of Dharmakirti's perceptual theory. These interpretations do not appreciate that Dharmakirti uses the term "pratyaksa" to mean both "sensing" and "perceiving" . The reconstruction in Part One emphasizes the fact that "pratyaksa" has these two senses. It also shows that Dharmakirti holds a resemblance theory of universals and not, as is sometimes thought, a naive nominalism. ;Dharmakirti's philosophy is a synthesis of two schools of Indian Buddhism, the Sautrantika and the Yogacara. To the extent that Dharmakirti was a Sautrantika and the Yogacara. To the extent that Dharmakirti was a Sautrantika, he believed in the existence of objective or nonmental entities, which he called svalaksanas. As a Sautrantika, Dharmakirti also believed in the existence of a type of atom, which he called a paramanu. In this dissertation I present an interpretation of the svalaksana that differs substantively from two important interpretations in the secondary literature, these two being that the svalaksana is a Kantian noumenon, a propertyless, unknowable cause behind our sensations, and that it is a single "atom" or paramanu. (shrink)

Introduction By the late fifth century BCE Panini had composed the Astadhyayi, consisting of nearly 4000 rules giving a precise and fairly complete ...

The work is divided into two parts arranged into 26 chapters.

Despite its importance, the work is rather secondary in the sense that it relies, for the most part, on the Buddhist logical legacy. The first extant commentary is the Nyayavatara-vivrti of Siddharsigani.

The Ks&dotbelow;an&dotbelow;abhan˙gasiddhi-Anvayatmika is an authoritative work on Buddhist logic and ontology written in the eleventh century by Ratnakirti who belonged to the University of Vikramasila in Bengal. This work continues the Buddhist Praman&dotbelow;a tradition founded by Dignaga and elaborated by Dharmakirti . The KSA deals with many of the central topics of Indian philosophical discourse in the course of defending the Buddhist doctrine of momentariness against the rival Naiy¯yikas. The highlight is its penetrating analysis of the nature of existence and (...) causality. Ratnakirti had detailed knowledge of the earlier writers belonging to both his and his opponents' traditions. As a work written at a pivotal time in the history of Indian philosophy, the KSA reflects the culmination of a style of debate, and shows all facets of classical scholarship on logic. ;This dissertation comprises three major sections. The first section is a brief review of the author and the work. The second section summarizes the notion of existence and the causal theory. It compares the Ks&dotbelow;an&dotbelow;abhan˙gavadins' positions as represented by Ratnakirti to the Naiyayikas' views. The third section consists of the text and a translation with critical study. This section improves upon the previous editions of H. Sarti and A. Thakur by incorporating material from two manuscripts and quotations from the original sources of Ratnakirti's predecessors and their opponents. Extensive discussion is given to each argument in the notes together with identifying its background and explicating certain key philosophical terms. (shrink)