Pramāṇa III

pramāṇa; (Sanskrit). The Indian science concerned with epistemology as well as logic and the methods of debate. As Buddhist scholars encountered and entered into polemical discussions with other Indian religious groups, it became necessary for them to standardize the rules and methods of debate. From this developed a formal system of logic based on syllogisms which was acceptable to all parties in order to decide the outcome of such debates.

The earliest sources within Buddhism for such rules seem to be found in portions of Asaṇga's Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra and a work extant only in Chinese attributed to Vasubandhu. These early works were followed by the epoch-making Pramāṇa-samuccaya of Dignāga and the Pramāṇa-vārttika of Dharmakīrti. According to Buddhist pramāṇa tenets, there are only two valid and authoritative means of veridical cognition: direct perception (pratyakṣa) based on the senses; and inference (anumāṇa) based on rationality and logic. These two topics form the major concerns of Buddhist pramāṇa literature. Buddhist pramāṇa made a major impact on all other Indian schools of religious philosophy and its influence continued to be felt even after the demise of Buddhism in India in the early medieval period. Though introduced into China, it did not achieve any great popularity there whereas it has continued to be studied with considerable fervour among Tibetan Buddhist circles, especially by the Gelukpas.