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Ethical Causality and Rebirth in the Pātañjalayogaśāstra and Abhidharmakośabhās A3B2 tvs=1mm h-1.7 . h0.7 A3B2 tvs ya: A Mirrored Argument Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-09-17 Karen O’Brien-Kop
This paper focuses on Sāṃkhya-Yoga and Buddhist Abhidharma ontologies and their engagement. A close reading of two hitherto uncompared passages from Pātañjalayogaśāstra 2.13 and Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośabhāṣya 4.94 suggests that they are intertextual or interdiscursive. A mirrored argument form in the texts explains ethical causality (karma) in relation to rebirth (punarjanman). The arguments in
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Divine Favour and Human Gratitude: A Study of Vedānta Deśikaṉ’s Upakārasaṅgraham Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-09-13 Suganya Anandakichenin
Among the many works that Vedānta Deśikaṉ—(traditional dates: 1268-1369), a most eminent theologian of all times—composed in his lifetime, his minor works—thirty in number and collectively known as the Cillaṟai rahasyam (‘miscellaneous esoterica’)—stand out like guides meant to help those eager Śrīvaiṣṇavas who lack time to deepen their knowledge of Viśiṣṭādvaita by the study of longer and deeper texts
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Māyājāla-sūtra: A Canonical Proto-Yogācāra Sūtra? Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-08-16 Gleb Sharygin
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Dialogues About Death in Milindapañha and Carakasaṃhitā Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-08-12 Yukio Yamanaka, Tsutomu Yamashita
This paper deals with the debates over kālamṛtyu (“timely death” or human death at the end of the life span) and akālamṛtyu (“untimely death” or premature death that occurs when the life span still remains). In cultural areas like ancient India, where the karman doctrine or the law of karman is firmly rooted, such “timely death” and “untimely death” have seemed to be the catalysts for the philosophical
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In Some Ways: Syādvāda as the Synthesis of Anekāntavāda and Nayavāda in Akalaṅka’s Philosophical Treatises Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-07-31 Shree Nahata
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Should a Yogi Be Healthy? Health Concepts in Early Haṭhayoga Texts Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-07-31 Hagar Shalev
Haṭhayoga texts, influential in the development of modern posture-based yoga, offer a conceptual framework intertwining physical cultivation, health, and soteriological aims. This article explores two interconnected inquiries regarding early Haṭhayoga texts: How do they conceptualize health, and how do they perceive the relationship between health and soteriology? These investigations illuminate the
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Two Uses of Anekāntavāda Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-07-27 Johannes Bronkhorst
The thesis I will present is that, whatever its exact origins, the anekāntavāda was primarily (though not exclusively) used for two purposes: (1) to solve the “paradox of causality”, and (2) to classify non-Jaina systems of thought. The earliest texts in which the doctrine occurs present it as a solution to the paradox of causality. Only later do we find its use to classify non-Jaina philosophies.
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The Status of the Householder in the Dharmasūtras Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-07-25 Christopher G. Framarin
Vasiṣṭha claims both that all four āśramas are equal and that the householder is the best of the four āśramas. This apparent contradiction would be resolved if either of these claims could be dismissed. Vasiṣṭha's claim that the four āśramas are equal seems entailed, however, by his endorsement of the original formulation of the āśrama system. His claim that the householder is superior, in turn, seems
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On Hearing a Yogi’s Talk: Āgamapramāṇa, Language, and Mind in the Pātañjalayoga Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-07-25 Rocco Cestola
The current study aims to clarify the meaning, the epistemic construction, and the pragmatics of the term āgama occurring in Pātañjalayogaśāstra I.7 and its commentaries. Since āgama is a linguistic construction, this paper is also a contribution to the inquiry into the philosophy of language of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra. The inclusion of linguistic-philosophical arguments corroborates the Pātañjalayoga
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Smoke and Fire. Sign Inference in Greek and in Indian Epistemology Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-07-15 A. K. Aklan
“Wherever there is smoke there must be fire.” In 1957, Aram M. Frenkian noticed that both ancient Greek and Indian philosophy makes use of the smoke-fire analogy as a model for inferential reasoning. He postulated that Greek use of the example reflected Indian influence on Greek philosophy which was mediated through the works of Pyrrho, the founder of Sceptisicm, who had accompanied Alexander the Great
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On the Notion of anabhihite in the Cāndra Grammar Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-06-13 Chōjun Yazaki
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From Anekānta-vāda to Sarva-tantra-sva-tantra: Pluralism About Views and Philosophical Systems Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-06-12 Dimitry Shevchenko
This article discusses the unique practice of many philosophers in classical India to write on several philosophical and religious systems, each time adopting a sympathetic point of view for a different tradition. The article describes the development of this phenomenon in the context of interreligious debates between Buddhists, Jains, and Brahmins in the course of three distinct historical periods
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On Validity of Causal Statements Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-06-12 Nirmalya Guha
The Old Nyāya believes that a cause has a causal power of some kind, and it is possible to have valid cognition of a causal event. But Nāgārjuna (2nd century) challenged the very idea of causality. Also, he attacked the concept of epistemic instruments (pramāṇa). Śrīharṣa (12th century) too found counterexamples to the Nyāya definition of valid cognition. These attacks raised fundamental questions
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Not Even Absent: Dependent Origination, Emptiness, and the Two Truths in the Thought of Nāgārjuna Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-06-12 Jackson Cole Macor
As one of the most pivotal thinkers in the history Mahāyāna Buddhism, the writings of Nāgārjuna have long attracted the attention of scholars aiming to interpret in declarative terms the meaning of the arguments contained therein. However, the very aim of such an endeavor that seeks to ascribe to Nāgārjuna a philosophical position is fundamentally at odds with the unwaveringly critical nature of his
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The Grammatical Philosophy on Vijñāna and Vijñapti in Yogācāra Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-06-12 Yan Cao
The traditional Buddhist Sanskrit term vijñāna cannot be given the meaning “consciousness” in accordance with the grammatical rules of Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī. In Vedic texts the traditional Sanskrit terms citta and manas refer to the eternal cognitive entities, which were also popular in some Indian Prakrit languages at the time of Buddha. It seems possible that Buddha himself created the new Prakrit
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Theseus’ Ship: A Possible Response from an Indian Realist Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-06-12 Nirmalya Guha, Bhaskaranand Jha
This article will critically examine the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika theory of substance (dravya). The Buddhists are reductionists, who believe that there is no substance over and above its attributes (guṇa) or parts (avayava). Thus, a pot is a set of a certain shape, size, color, texture, etc. But the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika philosopher thinks that a pot is a substance that houses all of its attributes and actions (karman)
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Relational Realism and Practical Reason in Utpaladeva’s Sambandhasiddhi Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-06-12 Jesse A. Berger
One debate that occupied Pratyabhijñā philosophers and their Buddhist interlocutors was the question of the reality of sambandha, or relation. A central treaty on the topic is Utpaladeva’s (∼10th c.) Sambandhasiddhi [SS] (‘Proof of Relation’), a response to Dharmakīrti’s (∼7th c.) Sambandhaparīkṣā [SP] (‘Analysis of Relation’). As the contrasting titles suggest, Dharmakīrti held that relations are
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A Buddhist Critique of Desire: The Notion of Kāma in Aśvaghoṣa’s Saundarananda Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-04-20 Nir Feinberg
The critical analysis of desire is a staple of classical Buddhist thought; however, modern scholarship has focused primarily on doctrinal and scholastic texts that explain the Buddhist understanding of desire. As a result, the contribution of kāvya (poetry) to the classical Buddhist philosophy of desire has not received much scholarly attention. To address this dearth, I explore in this article the
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Is Reflection Real According to Abhinavagupta? Dynamic Realism Versus Naïve Realism Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-04-05 Mrinal Kaul
This essay is one more attempt of understanding the non-dual philosophical position of Abhinavagupta viz-a-viz the problem of reflection. Since when my first essay on ‘Abhinavagupta on Reflection’ appeared in JIP, I have once again focused on the non-dual Śaiva theory of reflection (pratibimbavāda) (3.1-65) as discussed by Abhinavagupta (fl.c. 975-1025 CE) in the Tantrāloka and his commentator Jayaratha
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Candrakīrti on lokaprasiddhi: A Bad Hand, or an Ace in the Hole? Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-26 John Newman
The Indian Buddhist Mādhyamika master Candrakīrti (ca. 7th century CE) grounds his philosophy in lokaprasiddhi / -prasiddha, “that which is common knowledge / generally accepted among people in the world.” This raises the question of whether Candrakīrti accepts everything that is “common knowledge” or instead distinguishes and privileges certain justifiable beliefs within common knowledge. Tom J.F
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‘Play’ of Meanings: Avivakṣitavācyadhvani, Vivakṣitavācyadhvani and Différance: Concordance or Conflict? Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-03-21 Ashima Shrawan
The paper attempts to answer a very obstinate fundamental problem—is literary meaning determinable at all? Would it be determinable if it were constructed by the language of the text? Or is this meaning open-ended, constantly deferred or shifted as a result of the very nature of signification? In this paper, I argue that the levels of dhvani-ṣ Avivakṣitavācya dhvani and Vivakṣitavācya dhvani and their
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Vedānta: A Survey of Recent Scholarship (II) Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-01-18 Michael S. Allen
This article surveys recent work on Vedānta, focusing on English-language secondary scholarship since the year 2000. The article consists of two parts. The first part (published previously) identified trends within recent scholarship, highlighting several promising areas of new research: the social history of Vedānta, Vedānta in the early modern period, vernacular Vedānta, Persian Vedānta, colonial
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Contradiction, Negation, and the Catuṣkoṭi: Just Several Passages from Dharmapāla’s Commentary on Āryadeva’s Catuḥśataka Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2024-01-02 Chih-chiang Hu
Using logic-laden terms to translate and interpret what the ancient Indian Buddhist thinkers said when we are not sure what they spoke about when they spoke about ‘contradictions’, etc. in natural languages can sometimes make things frustrating. Keeping in mind Wittgenstein’s exhortation, “don’t think, but look!”, I approach the issues of contradiction, negation, and the catuṣkoṭi via case-by-case
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Discerning Philosophy in the Uttarāmnāya Liturgies of the Newars Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-12-25 Pongsit Pangsrivongse
Although the Kaula literature of the Newars did not give rise to a systematic philosophical school like that of their Kashmiri counterparts, I will argue in this article that philosophical thinking can be detected in Newar ritual texts. I do this by translating and analysing the unpublished Kālīsūtra, an important hymn found in Newar Uttarāmnāya liturgies whose transmission and composition will also
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Vedānta: A Survey of Recent Scholarship (I) Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-10-12 Michael S. Allen
This article surveys recent work on Vedānta, focusing on English-language secondary scholarship since the year 2000. The article consists of two parts. The first part (published here) identifies trends within recent scholarship, highlighting several promising areas of new research: the social history of Vedānta, Vedānta in the early modern period, vernacular Vedānta, Persian Vedānta, colonial and post-colonial
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The Problem of Yogācāra Idealism Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-09-27 Fabien Muller
Is Yogācāra a system of idealist metaphysics or a theory of experience without metaphysical commitments? An increasing amount of literature has argued, since the 1980s, in favor of the second answer. In this paper, I propose to review the background to the question. In fact, most of the attempts to answer the question have been made with reference to Buddhist texts and concepts. However, labels such
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Yāska’s Theory of Meaning: An Overlooked Episode in the History of Semantics in India Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-09-25 Paolo Visigalli
This paper aims to recover the ideas about semantics that are contained in Yāska’s Nirukta (c. 6–3 century BCE), the seminal work of the Indian tradition of nirvacana or etymology. It argues that, within the framework of his etymological project, Yāska developed consistent and sophisticated ideas relating to semantics—what I call his theory of meaning. It shows that this theory assumes the form of
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Who Identifies with the Aggregates? Philosophical Implications of the Selected Khandha Passages in the Nikāyas Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-09-09 Grzegorz Polak
In this paper, I discuss some philosophical problems connected with the notion of regarding the aggregates (khandha) as self in the Nikāyas. In particular, I focus on the attitude represented by the formula “I am this” (esohamasmi) which may be labeled as that of identifying with the aggregates. In the first part of the paper, I point out and analyze certain similes contained in the Nikāyas which may
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The Conundrum of Kundakunda’s Status in the Digambara Tradition Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-09-02 Jayandra Soni
Kundakunda’s handling of several basic ideas cannot be omitted when one deals with the following concepts in Jaina philosophy: 1. Syāt/siya, syādvāda or saptabhaṅgī. 2. Nayas, vyavahāra and niścaya nayas and nayavāda. 3. Sapta and Nava tattvas/padārtha and 4. Anekāntavāda. No doubt his dates are a major conundrum; recent research regards him to have lived around the fourth or fifth centuries (Brill’s
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Dharmakīrtian Inference Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-07-20 Szymon Bogacz, Koji Tanaka
Dharmakīrti argues that there is no pramāṇa (valid means of cognition or source of knowledge) for a thesis that is a self-contradiction (svavacanavirodha). That is, self-contradictions such as ‘everything said is false’ and ‘my mother is barren’ cannot be known to be true or false. The contemporary scholar Tillemans challenges Dharmakīrti by arguing that we can know that self-contradictions are false
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Defining a Me th=11pt ṇḍ th aka Question in the Questions of Milinda and Its Commentarial Texts Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-07-11 Eng Jin Ooi, Andrew Schumann, Natchapol Sirisawad
The word meṇḍaka, a derivative of meṇḍa (“ram”), is generally translated as “made of the ram” or “about the ram” or “horned.” However, in the Pāli Milindapañha (Questions of Milinda), the word meṇḍakapañha, literally, a question about the ram, is also rendered as a logical conclusion that refutes an imaginary dilemma. Hence, in this treatise, the word meṇḍaka is a special logical term which means an
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What are the “Purposes” of Buddhist Sūtras? From Vasubandhu’s Logic of Exegesis (Vyākhyāyukti) Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-06-24 Toshio Horiuchi
As its name implies, Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti (VyY) explains the logic or methodology (yukti) of exegesis or sūtra interpretation (vyākhyā) and only survives in a Tibetan translation. In recent years, research on this treatise has been gradually accumulating. However, due to the difficulty of the Tibetan translation, some of the arguments therein have been misunderstood. In this article, after reviewing
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Silence and Contradiction in the Jaina Saptabha th=11pt ṅ th gī Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-06-23 Chris Rahlwes
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Candrakīrti on the Use and Misuse of the Chariot Argument Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-06-15 Dhivan Thomas Jones
The publication in 2015 (ed. Li) of Chap. 6 of the rediscovered Sanskrit text of Candrakīrti’s Madhyamakāvatāra (MA) allows us to witness more directly Candrakīrti’s careful and deliberate critique of the ‘chariot argument’ for the merely conventional existence of the self in Indian Abhidharmic thought. I argue that in MA 6.140–141, Candrakīrti alludes to the use of the chariot argument in the Milindapañha
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Insight and Ascertainment: The Meditation of Vipaśyanā in Kamalaśīla’s Philosophy of Mind Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-05-27 Karl Schmid
In a triad of practice manuals collectively titled The Process of Meditation (Bhāvanākrama I, II, III), the eight century Indian Buddhist philosopher Kamalaśīla singles out vipaśyanā (insight meditation) to be of particular importance on the early stages of the Buddhist path. This paper provides a reconstruction of vipaśyanā based on how it is depicted in that work. I make two primary claims. First
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A Critical Examination of Nāgārjuna’s Argument on Motion Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-05-23 Mainak Pal
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Six Verses from Nāgārjuna’s Lost Treatise Establishing the Transactional Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-05-20 Sara McClintock
The Madhyamaka Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna (2nd c. CE) is best known for his works on emptiness in which he advances a program for the relinquishing of all philosophical views (dṛṣṭi) in light of the impossibility of establishing the true existence of any kind of entity. At the same time, he is famous also for his theory of two truths, according to which conventional or transactional language is
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Sām.ṃkhya’s Challenge to the Buddhist Claim of the Identity of a Pramān.ṇa and Its Result Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-05-20 Ołena Łucyszyna
Sāṃkhya, in its commentary Yuktidīpikā, responds to the Buddhist claim that a means of valid cognition (pramāṇa) and a valid cognition (pramā), its result (phala), are identical. The response of Sāṃkhya was pioneering: it is one of the two earliest responses to the Buddhists in the lively polemic on the relationship between a pramāṇa and its result. (The other of these two earliest responses is in
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The Meaning of Identity Between Nirvān.ṇa and Samṁsāra in Nāgārjuna Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-05-18 Taesoo Kim
This research attempts to evaluate the hermeneutic characteristics of catuṣkoṭi (tetralemma) in the ‘Nirvāṇa’ Chapter of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (Ch. 25), focusing on the identity thesis between nirvāṇa and saṃsāra. Regarding the structure of the tetralemma posited by Nāgārjuna (ca. 150-ca. 250), this study criticizes the dialectical interpretation of Robinson and Kajiyama from the perspective of
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Abhiniveśa Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-05-11 Frederick M. Smith
Abhiniveśa appears in Yogasūtras (YS) 2.9 as the designation of the last of the five kleśas or afflictions listed in YS 2.3. This paper will examine four questions: What is the deep history of the word abhiniveśa? What were the historical sources of Patañjali’s term? Does it have a meaning in the YS distinct from the explanation given by Vyāsa in his commentary on this sūtra, which is followed with
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Reevaluating Dignāga’s Apoha Theory: As Revealed by Bhāviveka’s Critique Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-05-08 Long Yin Sin
Pramāṇavādins are antirealists on the problem of universals by virtue of the fact that they deny the existence of real universals. Dignāga, therefore, offered apoha theory to explain how the denotation of objects is possible without postulating real universals. According to Apohavāda, a word, for instance “cow”, denotes a cow not by referring to a real universal “cowness,” but by excluding it from
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Confronting the Truth: Epistemological Conflicts between Early Buddhists and Jains Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-04-29 J. Noel Hubler
The lay follower Citta’s debate with Mahāvīra in the Nigaṇṭha Sutta reflects not just simple polemic, but a fundamental epistemological division between Early Jains and Buddhists. A close reading of the Ācārāṅga Sūtra shows that the Jains see the truth as a property of the self-knowing purified soul that knows all things. For the Buddhists, consciousness is conditioned and dependent. If truth is a
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Jaina Narrative Refutations of Kumārila: Relative Chronology and the History of Jaina-Mīmām.sps h1.1sā Dialogues Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-03-18 Seema K. Chauhan
Assigning a date to Kumārila is notoriously difficult. Kumārila’s dates are usually assigned through a relative chronology of Brahmanical and Buddhist philosophers with whom Kumārila engages or is engaged. This is a precarious method because the dates of these interlocutors are equally unstable. But what if in considering systematic dialogues (śāstra) to be the primary medium for interreligious philosophical
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Why is Every Living Being a Tathāgatagarbha? A Translation of the Twenty-Seventh Verse of the First Chapter in the Ratnagotravibhāga Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-02-23 Jeson Woo
In modern Buddhist scholarship, J. Takasaki’s English and Japanese translations of the Ratnagotravibhāga in 1966 and 1989 have been read as an exemplary one until now without any meaningful revision. This paper critically reviews his translations of the twenty-seventh verse in the first chapter of the work, which explicates the key doctrine in the Tathāgatagarbha thought that every living being is
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Śālikanātha on Absence in the Pramān.ṇapārāyan.ṇa: An Introduction and Translation Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-02-18 Jack Beaulieu
This is a brief philosophical introduction to, and an annotated translation of, the section on absence from Śālikanātha’s Pramāṇapārāyaṇa (Study of the Instruments of Knowledge), a foundational work of Prābhākara epistemology. In this section, which focuses on the epistemology of absence, Śālikanātha argues against the Bhāṭṭa view that there is a sui generis instrument of knowledge (pramāṇa) by which
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The Search for Definitions in Early Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-01-13 Nilanjan Das
The search for definitions is ubiquitous in Sanskrit philosophy. In many texts across traditions, we find philosophers presenting their theories by laying down definitions of key theoretical categories, by testing those definitions, and by refuting competing definitions of the same theoretical categories. Call this the method of definitions. The aim of this essay is to explore a challenge that arises
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The jāti in the Mādhyamika – Different Approaches between Bhāviveka and Candrakīrti Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2023-01-10 Motoi Ono
Kajiyama has argued that the basis for the concept of jāti (false rejoinder) as described in the Nyāyasūtra is the concept xiang ying (相応) as found in the Fangbian xin lun (方便心論). Kajiyama has also shown that the sophistic arguments called xiang ying are very similar to the prasaṅga arguments of Nāgārjuna, the founder of the Madhyamaka school. It thus seems worthwhile to investigate how later Mādhyamika
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Notes on the satipat.t.hānas in the Vibhan.ga Mūlat.īkā Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2022-12-26 Giuliano Giustarini
The Vibhaṅga Mūlaṭīkā, attributed to Ānanda, is a sub-commentary of one of the seven books of the Pāli Abhidhamma-piṭaka, the Vibhaṅga, and the direct commentary of its commentary, Buddhaghosa’s Sammohavinodanī. In the section on the satipaṭṭhāna method, Ānanda proposes exegetical strategies to solve some seeming contradiction between Buddhaghosa’s interpretation of the Vibhaṅga and the Sutta’s framework
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A Grammarian’s View of Negation: Nāgeśa’s Paramalaghumañjūs.ā on Nañartha Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2022-11-22 John J. Lowe, James W. Benson
The theory of negation developed in the grammatical-philosophical system of later Vyākaraṇa remains almost entirely unstudied, despite its close links with the (widely studied) approaches to negation found in other philosophical schools such as Nyāya and Mīmāṃsā, and despite its consequent importance for a comprehensive understanding of the theory of negation in ancient India. In this paper we present
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Action, Intention, and Negligence: Manu and Medhātithi on Mental States and Blame Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2022-11-05 Emily Baron, Elisa Freschi
This paper aims to offer a preliminary explication of the role of and the relation between mental states, action, and blame in Medhātithi’s commentary on the most influential juridical text of the Sanskrit world – the jurisprudential text attributed to Manu. In defining what it means to act and what constitutes engaging in intentional and unintentional action, this paper makes three claims. First,
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Maheśa Chandra’s Exposition of the Navya-Nyāya Concept of “Cognition” (jñāna) from the Perspective of Inquisitive Logic Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2022-11-03 Eberhard Guhe
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Structure and Authorship of the KusumÀ·jali Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2022-10-30 Ferenc Ruzsa
This paper suggests that the classic of Indian theology, the Nyāya-kusumâñjali is in fact two texts: an earlier treatise in 65 ślokas, and Udayana’s (mostly prose) commentary on it. Internal evidence consists in: (a) the ślokas read as a continuous text; (b) there are extremely long prose passages without verses; (c) Udayana does not comment on his own verses, only on the ślokas; (d) the basic plan
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Logic and language in Indian religions Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2022-10-21 Johannes Bronkhorst
This article concentrates on certain beliefs that many Indian thinkers implicitly accepted and that show up in an analysis of reasoned arguments they presented. These beliefs concerned the relationship between language and reality. For Brahmanical thinkers, who owed their privileged position in society in great part to their mastery of texts — the Veda — that were deemed to be directly connected to
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Evaluating the Reliability of an Authoritative Discourse in a Jain Epistemological Eulogy of the 6th c. Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2022-10-12 Marie-Hélène Gorisse
This paper explores the coexistence of more apologetic and of more systematic considerations in the Āpta-mīmāṁsā (ĀMī), Investigation on authority, of the Jain author Samantabhadra (530–590). First, this treatise offers a relevant case study to investigate the transition from a conception in which the reliability criterion of an authoritative discourse is the authoritative character of its utterer
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The Logics of Counterinference and the “Additional Condition” (upādhi) in Gaṅgeśa’s Defense of the Nyāya Theistic Inference from Effects Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2022-09-29 Stephen Phillips
This paper is taken from a long section of the Tattva-cintā-maṇi by Gaṅgeśa that is devoted to proving the existence of—to use an inadequate word—“God” in a somewhat minimalist sense. The īśvara, the “Lord,” is for Gaṅgeśa, following Nyāya predecessors, a divine agent, a self, responsible for much, not all, of the order in the world. Unseen Force, adṛṣṭa, which is in effect karman made by human action
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The Senses of Performance and the Performance of the Senses: The Case of the Dharmabhāṇaka’s Body Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2022-09-28 Natalie Gummer
In the “Chapter on the Benefits to the Performer of the Dharma” (dharmabhāṇakānuśaṁsāparivartaḥ) in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka (Lotus Sūtra), the Buddha proclaims the many remarkable transformations that will take place in the six sense faculties of the performer of the dharma (dharmabhāṇaka). An analysis of this chapter clarifies both the sūtra’s normative vision for the performance of the dharmabhāṇaka
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Some Remarks on the Apparent Absence of a priori Reasoning in Indian Philosophy Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2022-09-28 John Taber
This essays considers the hypothesis that Indian epistemology does not clearly recognize, let alone emphasize, an intellectual faculty that apprehends intelligible things, such as essences or “truths of reason,” or elevate knowledge of such things to a status higher than that of sense perception. Evidence for this hypothesis from various sources, including Sāṃkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, and Buddhist logic-epistemological
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Logic in the Religions of South Asia Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2022-09-14 Piotr Balcerowicz, Brendan Gillon
This special issue of Journal of Indian Philosophy results from a thematic session on “Logic in the Religions of South Asia”, a separate section of the 2nd World Congress on Logic and Religion (held at the University of Warsaw, Poland, June 18–22 June, 2017). The papers address questions, discussed in philosophical thought in classical India, such as how religious practice could shape philosophical
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Liquid Language: The Art of Bitextual Sermons in Middle Cambodia Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2022-09-09 Trent Walker
Theravada Buddhist sermons in palm-leaf manuscript collections in South and Southeast Asia are frequently bilingual, including portions in the classical language of Pali and a local vernacular, such as Burmese, Sinhala, or Thai. These bilingual sermons prove to be ideal subjects for exploring how Buddhist scriptures function as kinetic, interactive processes of performance and reception. This paper
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Thinking About the Study of Buddhist Texts: Ideas from Jerusalem, in More Ways Than One Journal of Indian Philosophy (IF 0.4) Pub Date : 2022-08-30 Jonathan A. Silk
Many issues are raised by thinking about “The Idea of Text in Buddhism.” This paper concentrates on scriptures of Indian Buddhism, and considers some of the questions raised or inspired by the papers presented at the 2019 Jerusalem conference on “The Idea of Text in Buddhism.” Consideration is given among other topics to multilingualism, in which context a comparison is offered with the traditions