On the Sanskrit Reconstruction of the Verses in the Jāti Section of the Nyāyamukha and Some Related Problems

Abstract

For several years, I have been working on a project to edit chapter 6 of a Sanskrit manuscript of Jinendrabuddhiʼs Pramāṇasamuccayaṭīkā together with two colleagues, Dr. Yasutaka Muroya and Dr. Toshikazu Watanabe. As one result of this project, last year I presented a reconstruction of twenty-five verses from chapter 6 of Dignāgaʼs Pramāṇasamuccaya at the Beijing International Seminar on Tibetan Studies.

Regarding these kārikās of the Pramāṇasamuccaya, Prof. Tucci, Prof. Kitagawa and Prof. Katsura, after examining the Tibetan translations of the same, have already pointed out that several are very similar to verses found in the jāti section of the Nyāyamukha (因明正理門論). The Sanskrit reconstruction of the kārikās of the Pramāṇasamuccaya’s chapter 6 may thus contribute to a better understanding of the verses in the Nyāyamukha’s jāti section and, moreover, help in their Sanskrit reconstruction, the Nyāyamukha being so far accessible only in Chinese translation.

Based on this, I already discussed a few points at the seminar mentioned above, including the Sanskrit reconstruction of one verse (v. 25) of the Nyāyamukha. In this paper, I present my attempt to reconstruct the Sanskrit of all the verses in the Nyāyamukha’s jāti section (v. 19ab, 20–22, 23ab, 24–28). I also clarify a few problems that emerged in the process of the Sanskrit reconstruction in terms of the transmission of the Nyāyamukha’s Chinese translation.