Foundations of Dharmakirti's Philosophy

by Dunne, John D.

• ISBN13: 9780861711840
• ISBN10: 086171184X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-06-15
• Publisher: Wisdom Publications

Summary

Throughout the history of Buddhism, few philosophers have attained the stature of Dharmakirti, the "Lord of Reason" who has influenced virtually every systematic Buddhist thinker since his time.

Dharmakirti's renowned works, written in India during the philosophically rich seventh century, argue that the true test of knowledge is its efficacy, and likewise that only the efficacious is knowable and real. Around this central theme is woven an intricate web of interrelated theories concerning perception, reason, language, and the justification of knowledge. Masterfully unpacking these foundations of Dharmakirti's system, John Dunne presents the first major study of the most vexing issues in Dharmakirti's thought within its Indian philosophical context. Lucid and carefully argued, Dunne's work serves both as an introduction to Dharmakirti for students of Buddhism and a groundbreaking resource for scholars of Buddhist thought.

Author Biography

John D. Dunne is Assistant Professor of Languages and Cultures of Asia at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his teaching and research focus on the interpretation of Buddhist thought.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Abbreviations	xv
A Note on the Sanskrit and Tibetan Translations	xix
Introduction	1	(2)
A Question of Method: A Point of Departure	3	(9)
Some Suggestions for the Reader	12	(3)
Pramana Theory: Dharmakirti's Conceptual Context	15	(38)
The Process of Knowing and Its Instrument	15	(20)
Two Ubiquitous Instruments: Perception and Inference	22	(1)
Shared Notions Concerning Perceptual Awareness	23	(2)
Shared Notions Concerning Inference	25	(1)
The Basic Structure of Inference	26	(2)
The Evidence-Predicate Relation and Its Exemplification	28	(5)
The Evidence-Subject Relation	33	(1)
A Restatement	33	(2)
Prameya: The ``Real''	35	(10)
The Simplicity of the Real and a Fundamental Difference	37	(8)
Purpose as Context	45	(4)
Points of Divergence: The Action and Agent	49	(2)
Summary	51	(2)
Dharmakirti's Method and Ontology	53	(92)
The Scale of Analysis: Dharmakirti's Method	53	(26)
External Realism as a Level of Analysis	65	(4)
Divergent Interpretations of External Realism	69	(10)
Dharmakirti's Ontology	79	(5)
The Two Prameyas---The Two Realities	79	(5)
More on Particulars	84	(29)
The Perceptible as Ultimately Real	84	(7)
The Ultimately Real as Inexpressible and Momentary	91	(7)
Do Particulars Have Spatial Extension?	98	(15)
Universals	113	(32)
Summary of Dharmakirti's Apoha-Theory	116	(3)
Concerning Sameness of Effect	119	(7)
Are Universals Permanent?	126	(5)
Three Ways of Construing Apoha	131	(14)
Svabhavapratibandha: The Basis of Inference	145	(78)
Relation through Svabhava: Beyond ``Co-Presence''	148	(26)
The Two Senses of Svabhava	153	(2)
Svabhava as ``Property''	155	(3)
Svabhava as ``Nature''	158	(3)
Nature-svabhava and the Causal Complex	161	(8)
The Subject (dharmin) and Svabhava as ``Nature''	169	(5)
The Production-mode of the Svabhavapratibandha	174	(19)
Some Issues in the Application of the Production-mode	177	(5)
Concerning Necessity	182	(9)
The Determination of the Production-mode	191	(2)
On the Relationship between Property and Nature	193	(10)
Some Heuristic Terms	196	(2)
The Subordination of Property to Nature	198	(5)
Svabhava-evidence and the Identity-mode	203	(20)
A Few Problems	218	(5)
Instrumentality: Justifying the Sources of Knowledge	223	(96)
Pramanya as ``Instrumentality''	223	(29)
Purpose and Instrumentality	229	(2)
The Role of Scripture	231	(2)
A Seeming Circularity	233	(6)
Scriptural Inference and Dharmakirti's Rejection of Credibility	239	(6)
Axiological Concerns: Mutual Restraint of Path and Goal	245	(7)
Dharmakirti on Instrumentality: The Earliest Commentarial Account	252	(67)
Some Basic Definitions	253	(3)
``Telic Function'' (arthakriya)	256	(4)
Instrumentality (pramanya) in Terms of Two Effects	260	(2)
Instrumentality in Terms of the Mediated Effect	262	(6)
Instrumentality in Terms of the Unmediated Effect	268	(4)
The Two Effects and the Two Senses of Arthakriya	272	(6)
The Primacy of Purusartha	278	(2)
Instrumentality in Terms of Human Aims: Some Problems and Solutions	280	(1)
A Disparity in Time	281	(4)
Obstructed Action	285	(2)
Perception and Confirmation	287	(11)
Perception as Motivator (pravartaka): The Question of Novelty	298	(12)
Inference, Error, and Trustworthiness	310	(4)
Ultimate and Conventional Pramana	314	(5)
Conclusion	319	(12)
Nature, Perception, and Refinement	320	(11)
Appendix of Translations	331	(108)
A Note on the Translations	331	(4)
PVSV ad PVI.34--37	335	(4)
PVSV ad PVI.68--75	339	(14)
PVSV ad PVI.137--142	353	(8)
PVSV ad PVI.214--223	361	(13)
PV2.1--6 with Selections from PVP and PVT	374	(17)
PV3.1--10 with Selections from PVP and PVT	391	(5)
PV3.194--224 with Selections from PVP and PVT	396	(16)
Instrumentality in the Hetubindu (HB: 2*.13--3*.16)	412	(5)
Bibliography	417	(22)
Index	439