Pramāṇa-samuccaya
Pramāṇa-samuccaya
The seminal work on Buddhist logic and epistemology (pramāṇa) composed in verse by Dignāga. It comprises six chapters: (1) Direct Perception (pratyakṣa); (2) Inference for One's Own Benefit (svārtha-anumāṇa); (3) Inference for Another's Benefit (parārtha-anumāṇa); (4) Examination of Examples (dṛṣṭānta-parīkṣa); (5) Examination of Exclusion of the Other (anya-apoha-parīkṣā); (6) Examination of Universals (jāti-parīkṣā). This work was extremely influential throughout India, both within the Buddhist world and beyond, and its contents set the agenda for philosophical debate for many centuries after it was written. Unfortunately, only a few fragments survive of the original Sanskrit although a complete translation is available in Tibetan. The text was widely studied in Tibet until the translation of Dharmakīrti's Pramāṇa-vārttika superseded it in influence, except perhaps among the Nyingma school.
