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INTRODUCTION 33just as he dissented with his first teacher on the problem of a realpersonality. 1To the time of his apprenticeship probably belong two early works,two manuals for the use of students. One of them is a condensedsummary of the capital work of his teacher under the title ofAbhidharmakosa-marma-pradlpa. 2 The other contains abreef summary (jpinddrtha) in mnemonic verse of all the topics containedin the Asta-sahasrika-prajna-paramita-sutra. 3 The firstis a manual for the class of early Buddhist philosophy (ahhidharma),the second a manual for the class of monistic philosophy (paramita). Theremaining works of Dignaga are all devoted to logic. 4 He at firstexposed his ideas in a series of short tracts some of which arepreserved in Tibetan and Chinese translations 5 and then condensedthem in a great oeuvre d'ensemble, the Pramana-samuccaya, in6 chapters of mnemonic verse with the author's own commentary. Thecommentary however is very laconic and evidently intended as a guidefor the teacher. Without the very detailed, thorough-going and clearcommentary ofJinendrabuddhi 6 it hardly could be understood.All the previous short tracts on logic were brought to unity in thisgreat work.The life of Dignaga after he had finished his studies was spentin the usual way, just as the life of every celebrated teacher at thattime in India. He won his fame of a powerful logician in a famousdebate with a brahmin surnamed Sudurjaya at the Nalanda monastery.After that he travelled from monastery to monastery, occasionally1 His remark on Vasubandbu's definition of sense-perception, referred toabove, is perhaps a polite way of expressing the fact that he disagreed with histeacher.2 Tanjur, Mdo, v. LXX.3 Tanjur, Mdo, v. XIV.4 These are Alambana-parikga, Trikala-pariksa, Hetu-cakrasamarthana(Hetu-cakra-hamaru?), Nyayamukha (=Nyaya-dvara) andPramana-samuccaya with vrtti.5 It is remarkable that his chief work, Pramana-samuccaya, has remainedunknown in China aod Japan. It has been replaced by Nyaya-pravesa, a workby Sankara-svamin, on whose authorship cp. M. Tubianski, On the authorshipof Nyaya-pravesa andTucci, op. cit.; M-r Boris Vassiliev in his paper mentionedabove establishes that the Chinese logicians knew about Pramana-samuccaya onlyfrom hear-say.6 Called Visalamalavati, cp. Tanjur, Mdo, v. 115. A specimen of it is translatedin Appendix IV.Stckerbatsky, I 3

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