For the first time in recent history, seventeen scholars from allover
the world (India, Japan, Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada and the
United States) collaborated here to produce a volume containing an
in-depth study of Buddhist log- ical theory in the background of
Buddhist epistemology. The Tibetan tradition identifies this important
chapter in the history of Buddhist philosophy as the prama a school. It
owes its origin to the writings of the great Buddhist master, Dih- naga
(circa A. D. 480-540), whose influence was to spread far beyond India,
as well as to his celebrated interpreter of sev- enth century A. D.,
Dharmakirti, whose texts presented the standard version of the school
for the later Buddhist and non- Buddhist authors for a long time. The
history of Buddhist and Indian logical and epistemo- logical theories
constitutes an interesting study not only for the Buddhist scholars but
also for philosophers as well as historians of philosophy in general.
Each author of this anthology combines historical and philological
scholarship with philosophical acumen and linguistic insight. Each of
them uses original textual (Tibetan or Sanskirt) material to resolve
logical issues and philosophical questions. Attention has been focused
upon two crucial philosophical concepts: trairupya (the "triple"
character of evidence) and apoha (meaning as "exclusion"). Broadly the
issues are concerned with the problems of inductive logic and the
problem of mean- ing and universals.