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1 - Mahajana.net

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INTRODUCTION 37§ 10. THE WOEKS OF DHAEMAKIBTI.Dharmakirti has written 7 logical works, the celebrated«Seven treatises" which have become the fundamental works(mula) for the study of logic by the Buddhists in Tibet and have supersededthe work of Dignaga, although they originally were devised asa detailed commentary on the latter. Among the seven works one, theP r a m a n a - v a r t i k a, is the chief one, containing the body of thesystem; the remaining six are subsidiary, its «six feet". 1 The numberseven is suggestive, because the abhidharma of the Sarvastivadinsalso consisted of seven works, a principal one and its «sixfeet». Evidently Dharmakirti thought that the study of logic andepistemology has to replace the ancient philosophy of early Buddhism.The Pramana-vartika consists of four chapters dealing with inference,validity of knowledge, sense-perception and syllogism respectively.It is written in mnemonic verse and contains about 2000 stanzas.The next work Pramana-viniScaya is an abridgment of thefirst. It is written in stanzas and prose. More than the half of thestanzas are borrowed from the principal work. The Nyaya-binduis a further abridgment of the same subject. Both last works are inthree chapters devoted to sense-perception, inference and syllogismrespectively. The remaining four works are devoted to special problems.Hetubindu is a short classification of logical reasons,Sambandha-panksa — an examination of the problem of relations—ashort tract in stanzas with the author's own comment, Cod a-na-prakarana — a treatise on the art of carrying on disputationsand Santanantara-siddhi — a treatise on the reality of otherminds, directed against Solipsism. With the exception of the Nyayabinduall other works are not yet recovered in their Sanscrit original,but they are available in Tibetan translations, embodied in theTanjur. The Tibetan collection contains some other works ascribed toDharmakrrti, viz. a collection of verse, comments on S u r a's J a t a k a-mala and on the V i nay a -slit r a, but whether they really belongto him is not sure. 21 According to another interpretation the three first works are the body, theremaining four the feet, cp. Bust on, History.2 He is also reported by Taranatha to have written a work on tantrik ritualand the tantrists of Java reckoned him as a teacher of their school. But probablythis was only their belief sprung up from the desire to have a celebrated nameamong their own school. The work is found in the Tanjur.

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