A study on the Buddhist theory of perception based on DharmakTrti's Pramanavarttika, chapter III: A critical edition, translation and study of Pramanavarttika III 1-122 and 281-300
Final Report Abstract
One of the most intriguing points in Dignāg’s Pramāṇasamuccaya, the foundational text of the Buddhist epistemological tradition, is the apparent contradiction between two basic tenets. On the one hand, Dignāga professes that there are two means of knowledge, perception and inference, and perception has the particular for its object whereas inference the universal. On the other hand, Dignāga maintains that the universals are unreal conceptual constructions. Thus, the question arises, how could an unreal thing be the object of knowledge? Dignāga himself does not address this question, but Dharmakīrti deals with it in Pramāṇavārttika 3.1-63, and these sixty three verses, together with various commentaries thereon, form the focus of our project. The following are the main results of the project: A new edition of the Sanskrit text, which gives a precise collation of the two available Sanskrit manuscripts, presents evidence in support of the preferred readings from related materials, and improves Tosaki’s edition at several places. A new edition of two Tibetan translations on the basis of the Peking and Derge recensions. The second of these translations is embedded in Ravigupta’s commentary and has not been used so far by modern scholars. An English translation, the first in any European language, which improves significantly upon the only existing Japanese translation by Tosaki. A detailed discussion of the interpretation of the verses by all four direct commentaries (Devendrabuddhi, Prajñākaragupta, Ravigupta and Manorathanandin). Two new analyses of the text, both which differ significantly from Tosaki’s (one by Notake, the other by Franco). A presentation of Dharmakīrti theory of the duality of objects on the basis of Prajñākaragupta’s commentary.
Publications
- How to Distinguish between Non-existing Entities? Oriental Studies – Past and Present. International Conference of Oriental Studies, Warsaw 2010
Eli Franco
- “Dharmakīrti ni yoru huhen jitsuzairon hihan.” [Dharmakīrti's criticism of the view that universals are existent]. Annual conference of the Japanese Associsation of Indian and Buddhist Studies, Rissyo University, Tokyo. September 10th, 2010
Miyako Notake
- Perception of Yogis - Some Epistemological and Metaphysical Considerations. In: H. Krasser et al. (eds.), Religion and Logic in buddhist Philosophical Analysis. Proceedings of the 4th International Dharmakīrti Conference, Vienna 2011: 81-98
Eli Franco
- “Dharmakīrti’s Argument over the Universal in the Third Chapter of the Pramāṇavārttika, vv. 11-50.” Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies. 2011: 171-176
Miyako Notake
- “sansyu no huhen: Pramāṇavārttika III 51cd no kaisyaku ni tsuite.” [Three kinds of universals: on the interpretation of PV III 51cd.] 28th Wasedadaigaku Toyotetsugakukai, Waseda University, Tokyo. June, 11th, 2011
Miyako Notake
