Dignaga on the Interpretation of Signs

Dignaga on the Interpretation of Signs PDF Author: R.P. Hayes
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400928998
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
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.

Dignaga on the Interpretation of Signs

Dignaga on the Interpretation of Signs PDF Author: R.P. Hayes
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400928998
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
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.

A Comparative History of World Philosophy

A Comparative History of World Philosophy PDF Author: Ben-Ami Scharfstein
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791436837
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 710

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Book Description
Breaks through the cultural barriers between Western, Indian, and Chinese philosophy and demonstrates that despite considerable differences between these three great philosophical traditions, there are fundamental resemblances in their abstract principles.

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Index

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Index PDF Author: Edward Craig
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780415073103
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 914

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Book Description
Contains a full index of all the topics covered in the first nine volumes of the set.

Philosophy in Classical India

Philosophy in Classical India PDF Author: Jonardon Ganeri
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134551630
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
This original work focuses on the rational principles of Indian philosophical theory, rather than the mysticism more usually associated with it. Ganeri explores the philosophical projects of a number of major Indian philosophers and looks into the methods of rational inquiry deployed within these projects. In so doing, he illuminates a network of mutual reference, criticism, influence and response, in which reason is used to call itself into question. This fresh perspective on classical Indian thought unravels new philosophical paradigms, and points towards new applications for the concept of reason.

Dignaga's Investigation of the Percept

Dignaga's Investigation of the Percept PDF Author: Douglas Duckworth
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190623721
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
While a short work of only eight verses and a three-page autocommentary, the Investigation of the Percept has inspired epistemologists for centuries and has had a wide-ranging impact in India, Tibet, and China. Dignaga, one of the major figures in Buddhist epistemology, explores issues such as the relation between the mind and its percepts, the problems of idealism and realism, and the nature of intentionality in this brief but profound text. This volume provides a comprehensive history of the text in India and Tibet from 5th century India to the present day. This team of philologists, historians of religion and philosophers who specialize in Tibetan, Sanskrit and Chinese philosophical literature has produced the first study of the text and its entire commentarial tradition. Their approach makes it possible to employ the methods of critical philology and cross-cultural philosophy to provide readers with a rich collection of studies and translations, along with detailed philosophical analyses that open up the intriguing implications of Dign=aga's thought and demonstrate the diversity of commentarial approaches to his text. The comprehensive nature of the work reveals the richness of commentary in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism and shows surprising parallels between the modern West and traditional Buddhist philosophy.

Rediscovering God with Transcendental Argument

Rediscovering God with Transcendental Argument PDF Author: David Peter Lawrence
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791440582
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Provides a comparative philosophical study of the thought of the two principle theorists of monistic Kashmiri Shaivism, Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta, and also formulates a conception of the nature of philosophy as a means of intercultural and interreligious dialogue.

Indian Buddhist Philosophy

Indian Buddhist Philosophy PDF Author: Amber Carpenter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317547764
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
Organised in broadly chronological terms, this book presents the philosophical arguments of the great Indian Buddhist philosophers of the fifth century BCE to the eighth century CE. Each chapter examines their core ethical, metaphysical and epistemological views as well as the distinctive area of Buddhist ethics that we call today moral psychology. Throughout, this book follows three key themes that both tie the tradition together and are the focus for most critical dialogue: the idea of anatman or no-self, the appearance/reality distinction and the moral aim, or ideal. Indian Buddhist philosophy is shown to be a remarkably rich tradition that deserves much wider engagement from European philosophy. Carpenter shows that while we should recognise the differences and distances between Indian and European philosophy, its driving questions and key conceptions, we must resist the temptation to find in Indian Buddhist philosophy, some Other, something foreign, self-contained and quite detached from anything familiar. Indian Buddhism is shown to be a way of looking at the world that shares many of the features of European philosophy and considers themes central to philosophy understood in the European tradition.

Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief

Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief PDF Author: Dan Arnold
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231507798
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
In Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief, Dan Arnold examines how the Brahmanical tradition of Purva Mimamsa and the writings of the seventh-century Buddhist Madhyamika philosopher Candrakirti challenged dominant Indian Buddhist views of epistemology. Arnold retrieves these two very different but equally important voices of philosophical dissent, showing them to have developed highly sophisticated and cogent critiques of influential Buddhist epistemologists such as Dignaga and Dharmakirti. His analysis—developed in conversation with modern Western philosophers like William Alston and J. L. Austin—offers an innovative reinterpretation of the Indian philosophical tradition, while suggesting that pre-modern Indian thinkers have much to contribute to contemporary philosophical debates. In logically distinct ways, Purva Mimamsa and Candrakirti's Madhyamaka opposed the influential Buddhist school of thought that emphasized the foundational character of perception. Arnold argues that Mimamsaka arguments concerning the "intrinsic validity" of the earliest Vedic scriptures are best understood as a critique of the tradition of Buddhist philosophy stemming from Dignaga. Though often dismissed as antithetical to "real philosophy," Mimamsaka thought has affinities with the reformed epistemology that has recently influenced contemporary philosophy of religion. Candrakirti's arguments, in contrast, amount to a principled refusal of epistemology. Arnold contends that Candrakirti marshals against Buddhist foundationalism an approach that resembles twentieth-century ordinary language philosophy—and does so by employing what are finally best understood as transcendental arguments. The conclusion that Candrakirti's arguments thus support a metaphysical claim represents a bold new understanding of Madhyamaka.

Wisdom, Compassion, and the Search for Understanding

Wisdom, Compassion, and the Search for Understanding PDF Author: Gajin Nagao
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824820862
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 502

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Book Description
The field of Buddhist studies is an international and interdisciplinary one. By its nature, the study of Buddhism must take into account phenomena that cross national and cultural boundaries, as well as the more artificial boundaries of modern academic fields. This volume presents 18 studies, the subjects of which range over India, China, Tibet and Japan, and deal with an ever broader range of subjects. It includes many essays on Buddhist philosophy, a number of which deal with the Madhyamaka tradition of Nagarjuna and his successors, while others examine the Yogacara tradition of Asanga, Vasubandhu, and their successors. These essays investigate areas of doctrinal interest such as the so-called Two-Truth theory, and the doctrine of the equivalence of nirvana and samsara, as well as such topics as the nature and practice of compassion, and Indian Buddhist cosmology. Still other studies examine topics such as the meditation practices of the Japanese Pure Land founder Honen, some of the earliest Chinese Buddhist art objects yet known and their importance for the transmission of Buddhism to China, later Indian logic, epistemology and the theory of meaning, what we know about the ear

Buddhist Philosophy of Language in India

Buddhist Philosophy of Language in India PDF Author: Lawrence J. McCrea
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231150946
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
Jnanasrimitra (975-1025) was regarded by both Buddhists and non-Buddhists as the most important Indian philosopher of his generation. His theory of exclusion combined a philosophy of language with a theory of conceptual content to explore the nature of words and thought. Jnanasrimitra's theory informed much of the work accomplished at Vikramasila, a monastic and educational complex instrumental to the growth of Buddhism. His ideas were also passionately debated among successive Hindu and Jain philosophers. This volume marks the first English translation of Jnanasrimitra's Monograph on Exclusion, a careful, critical investigation into language, perception, and conceptual awareness. Featuring the rival arguments of Buddhist and Hindu intellectuals, among other thinkers, the Monograph reflects more than half a millennium of competing claims while providing an invaluable introduction to a crucial philosopher. Lawrence J. McCrea and Parimal G. Patil familiarize the reader with the author, themes, and topics of the text and situate Jnanasrimitra's findings within his larger intellectual milieu. Their clear, accessible, and accurate translation proves the influence of Jnanasrimitra on the foundations of Buddhist and Indian philosophy.