Life
Dignaga was a Buddhist philosopher of the fifth and sixth centuries CE. Traditional accounts associate him with South India and the intellectual lineage of Vasubandhu, but the details of his movements and education are not securely documented in the manner of a modern biography. His historical importance is clearest in the response his arguments elicited from later thinkers.
Contribution
He distinguishes perception from conceptual construction and develops a rigorous account of inference. A reason must have the right relation to what it is meant to prove. His account of apoha, exclusion, explains conceptual meaning without accepting the real universals defended by some opponents.
Key works
- Pramāṇasamuccaya and its commentary
- A foundational synthesis of his account of valid cognition.
- Ālambanaparīkṣā
- A short inquiry into the object or support of cognition.
Legacy
Dharmakirti and later Buddhist epistemologists develop his legacy, while Nyaya, Mimamsa and Shaiva philosophers respond to the challenges it poses. Dignaga therefore belongs to the shared history of Indian reasoning, not only to an isolated Buddhist school. He presses readers to separate what is immediately presented from the categories used to describe it.
Does seeing something already include knowing what kind of thing it is?
Sources
- Reference
Yogācāra — Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (opens in a new tab)
plato.stanford.edu
- Reference
- Original textSanskrit transliteration
Gautama: Nyāyasūtra (opens in a new tab)
GRETIL · Göttingen State and University Library
How to read itSansknet transcription; the repository warns it is not proofread. Start at 1.1.1–10 and 1.1.32–39; check disputed readings against a print edition.
- TranslationEnglish with parallel Pali available
SN 22.59 — The characteristic of not-self (opens in a new tab)
SuttaCentral · nonprofit textual repository
How to read itTranslation by Bhikkhu Sujato. Select the root-text view to read Pali. A foundational early Buddhist argument about the five aggregates.