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). (xlviii + 142 S.)
Dhamakīrti’s second fundamental treatise, the Pramāṇaviniścaya, contains a mature and comprehensive explanation of his epistemology and logic. The work of this influential Indian philosopher, active in the first half of the 7th century CE, consists of three chapters that are devoted, respectively, to the sources of knowledge and perception, to inference, and to proof. The first two chapters are presented here. An edition of the third chapter has been published by Pascale Hugon and Toru Tomabechi.
Until recently this work was known only through its Tibetan translation. The present edition of the original Sanskrit text is based on two complete codices, three larger and one smaller fragment in the collection of photocopies of the Chinese Tibetology Research Center, Beijing, as well as a single folio from the National Archives, Kathmandu. For the first two chapters there are actually three complete codices available.
In addition to these codices, numerous citations and reports are adduced as secondary testimonies. The introduction not only describes the codices used for the present edition and the fragments relevant for the third chapter, but also introduces the secondary testimonies and explains their treatment. Preliminary conclusions about the stemma as based on the present text and explanations of the apparatus and editorial conventions conclude the introduction. In addition, the publication includes a bibliography, two appendices and indices.