Pramāṇabhūta, *pramāṇa(bhūta)-puruṣa, pratyakṣadharmanandsākṣātkṛtadharmanas epithets of theṛṣi, ācāryaandtathāgatain grammatical, epistemological and Madhyamaka texts

Bibliographic Data

ID2779600
AuthorsD Seyfort Ruegg (corresponding author)
Year1994
Volume57
Issue2
Pages303-320
Publication date1994-06-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0041-977X • E-ISSN: 1474-0699
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0041977x00024873
OpenAlexW2156140951
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited9

The expression pramāṇabhūta is attested in a number of Indian grammaticaland philosophical texts, Buddhist and non-Buddhist, its existence in texts no longer accessible inSanskrit being inferable from their translations in Tibetan where we find its standard equivalenttshad mar gyur pa. But the grammatical correctness and the interpretation of the term have given rise to a good deal of discussion and exegesis. Some commentators have taken up the grammatical question as to why we have the formpramāṇabhūtarather than the at first sight perhaps more normal formpramāṇībhūta. And in the Buddhist Pramāṇa-school a problem arises as to the precise meaning of the expressionpramāṇabhūtaemployed as an epithet of a person. For by Dignāga and Dharmakirtipramāṇahas been exhaustively divided intopratyakṣa'(direct) perceptual knowledge' andanumāna'inferential knowledge', so that in the usage of their school at least a person (puruṣa, pudgala)-as opposed to knowledge or a cognition (jñāna=šespa, ordhi/buddhi=blo)- would not strictly speaking be considered in the first instance as apramāṇa

Art · Buddhism · Epistemology · Epithet · Exegesis · Expression (computer science) · Linguistics · Literature · Meaning (existential) · Theology · Chinese history and philosophy · Computer Science · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Indian History and Philosophy · Philosophy

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