Dharmakīrti's Early Logic

Research: Ernst Steinkellner

The system of Buddhist logic created by Dignāga (ca. 480–540 CE) gains its authoritative form for the later tradition in the interpretation by Dharmakīrti (mid-6th–mid-7th century). Since the latter's works are completely preserved in Sanskrit or Tibetan translation, it is possible to follow the development of the most important theorems, e.g. his doctrine of the logical nexus and its ascertainment, in their individual steps. The starting point is the Pramāṇavārttikasvavṛtti, a work of Dharmakīrti's youth, in which a wealth of new thoughts is presented in partly still imperfect systematics and torn apart by large excursuses. A context-oriented annotated translation of the logical sections, which remains free from later doxographic generalizations, is to offer for the first time a secure starting point for the analysis of further elaboration of particular problems.

  • Ernst Steinkellner, 2013
    Dharmakīrtis frühe Logik: Annotierte Übersetzung der Logischen Teile von Pramāṇavārttika 1 mit der Vṛtti. Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 2013 (I. Introduction, Translation, Analysis. II. Introduction, Notes, Appendices, etc. [Studia Philologica Buddhica. Monograph Series XXIXa,b]. I. pp. xliv + 142, II. pp. ix + 454 p.)

Dharmakīrti's Hetubindu: critical edition

Research: Helmut Krasser

Helmut Krasser tackled a critical edition of Dharmakīrti's work about the doctrine of the logical reason (hetu) on the basis of the CTRC copy of a Sanskrit manuscript, preserved in a complete codex unicus in Lhasa, and Steinkellner's critical edition of the Tibetan translation published in 1967 with a reconstruction of the Sanskrit text. Krasser could not finalize the edition due to serious illness; Ernst Steinkellner completed the project after Krasser's passing.

  • Ernst Steinkellner, 2016
    Dharmakīrti's Hetubindu: Critically edited by Ernst Steinkellner on the basis of preparatory work by Helmut Krasser with a translation of the Gilgit fragment by Klaus Wille. (STTAR 19.) Beijing, Vienna: China Tibetology Publishing House and Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2016 (order online).

Dharmakīrti's Pramāṇaviniścaya

Chapters 1 and 2

Research: Ernst Steinkellner

On the basis of CTRC copies of two complete and three incomplete codices of the Sanskrit original of Dharmakīrti's second major work (1st half 7th cent. CE) in Lhasa as well as the critical editions of the Tibetan translation of chapter 1 (VETTER 1966) and of chapter 2 (STEINKELLNER 1973) a critical edition has been prepared for publication in STTAR series.

Ernst Steinkellner (ed.), 2007
Dharmakīrti’s Pramāṇaviniścaya: Chapters 1 and 2, Critically edited. (STTAR 2.) Beijing, Vienna: China Tibetology Publishing House and Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2007 (order online).

Chapter 3

Research: Toru Tomabechi, Pascale Hugon

The critical edition of chapter 3 (dealing with the subject "proof") has been published in 2011 as vol. 8 in the STTAR series.

Pascale Hugon, Toru Tomabechi (eds.), 2011
Dharmakīrti's Pramāṇaviniścaya: Chapter 3 (parārthānumāna) critically edited. (STTAR 8.) Beijing, Vienna: China Tibetology Publishing House and Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2011 (order online).

Dharmakīrtis Pramāṇavārttika, chapter 2 (pramāṇasiddhi)

Research: Cristina Pecchia

The mārgasatya section (vv. 217-285) was studied, in consideration of later commentaries, in the FWF-funded project "Indian Buddhist Epistemology and the Path to Liberation". The section dealing with the four truths of Nobles is, again with the help of later commentaries, investigated in the FWF-funded project "The Nobles' Truths in Indian Buddhist Epistemology".

 

Related projects and materials