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Karin Preisendanz
Debate and Independent Reasoning vs. Tradition
of the employment of the terms yama and niyama," but also puts the Self explicitly at the centre of the activities mentioned and, one can assume, recommended:
“For this purpose (1.e., for the purpose of release)" the Self (amman) is prepared with (general) restraint and (specific) discipline, and also on account of yoga with means (prescribed) for the practice concerning the Self (adhyatmavidhi).
of methodical thinking or reasoning (nyayabhasa). It is implied there that such a procedure does not have its place in the science of Nykya.
We can thus observe that Vatsyayana, next to anchoring his philosophical tradition in a prestigious secular classification of science and in the most excellent position to boot, is concerned to accommodate it with the established religious tradition and place it, so to say, in line with the Upanişads. The Nyayasūtra itself does not address the topic specifically and explicitly, the only source which may tell us something about its compilers' attitude, or about the attitude of one of its compilers, as regards the position of the Nyaya vis-à-vis the science concerning the Self, are the concluding sutra-s of the fourth book of the Nydyasútra, starting with sutra 4.2.38. The whole section, reaching up to 4.2.50 and thus comprising 13 sūtra-s." begins rather abruptly with an argumentative reference to the continuous repetition or practice of a specific concentration (samddhi). that is, to a yogic exercise, an interpretation corroborated by NS 4.2.41, a sutra following upon two objections, which speaks of the practice of yoga tyogábhyasa) in the wilderness, in caves, on sandbanks or islets, etc. One would not originally connect yogic practices with a philosophical school that developed out of a tradition of debate, but even if the compositional history of the sequence of stras concerned has still to be studied in detail," it is clear that in both cases we are dealing with siddhantasütra-s. This is also the case with NS 4.2.45 which not only strengthens the connection to yogic practices because
After the discussion concluded with sutra 45, a discussion which evidently touches upon aspects of the Nyaya which could corroborate its designation as an adhyatmavidya, there follows a sequence of five siddhantasitra-s which, within the
"Cf. also JACOBI 1929, 163
* The reference of the anaphoric pronoun tad is anything but settled. RUBEN (cf. RUBEN 1928, 127) supplies three referents in his translation, 1.c., concentration, true cognition and release, obviously, because he could not reach a decision among the three contextually justifiable possibilities. As she considers 38-45 to constitute an originally independent (although composite) sub-section on the topic of meditation, MEUTHRATH supplies only "Versenkung" as the referent of rad- (cf. MEUTHRATH 1996, 198). Vatsylyana, whose interpretation I follow preliminarily, clearly interprets tad-to refer to release (apawarga) (cf. also JACOBI 1929, 163, JUNANKAR 1978, 471 and OBERHAMMER 1984, 123 (n. 2287: the term occurs first in the purwapakasara 4.2.42 and concludes the immediately preceding siddhantasma 4.2.44. Bhisarvaja, who quotes the sutra in NBhi p. 445,2728, seems to follow this interpretation: although he does not gloss tadartham, the fact that the quotation follows immediately after his statement that dharma produced with pure means, such as devotion to God and the limbs of yopa, is nothing but a cause for the highest good frihreyasa) - and does not also lead to suffering in an indirect way - (cf. on this passage OBERHAMMER 1984, 77, 96), suggests that he understood tad to refer to hireasa, i.e., apavarga. Furthermore, his introduction to his partial quotation of 4.2.45 earlier on in the text (cf. Noha p. 10.19-20: tatha cdiomddindim pramdropapanaram pratipdidya "adhydomavidypdyairly witam materialet follows upon the concluding statement... to the effect that a circumspect person, who is free of uncertainty after having determined that everything which has been stated in the Upanisad-s, etc. (i.e., and in other teachings of yoga, c. line 12) is indeed true, will attain release inasmuch as he (then) cats the means which is well established there ... yenopanigaddiyabham saram sathyam velicinya ninakarya prekvatar saprasiditham vopchamanthato'paverpaprapair bhavarit). This sequence of concluding statement, introduction and partial quotation also implies that tad should refer to release according to Bhisarvajda (for another partial quotation of 4.2.45 cf. NBM 584,11: yordc cddydavidhypdyah, on the whole passage see also OBERHAMMER 1984, 122-123)
It may also be considered to connect this sara with stro-s 39-40, assuming the interpolation of 41-44, because an answer to 40 has not been given and 41 does not provide its answer to 39 in the more straightforward way as is typical for the standard dialectical style of the stras. ad would under this assumption relate back to sandchimesa) in 38: the compound would thus mean for the purpose of the special concentration)." with the implication for the purpose of counteracting the disturbances of the special concentration mentioned by the opponent in 39 and 40."
NS 4.2.45: tadartham yamaniyambhyam dimasauskaro yopdc addhydomavidyapiyal
Cf. Noh p. 3.8:yat punar anumanam pratyakşdgamavindham rydydbhasah sain. This sentence is quoted in MM p. 293,15. Cf. also HALBFASS 1988, 277 (with reference merely to kudratarka in n. 62, i.e., to NM p. 9,13); MATILAL 1990, 24
*RUBEN rightly suggests that two sub-sections have to be assumed here, consisting of sutra-s 38-45 (i) and 46-50 (k): cf. RUBEN 1928, 125-128. See also, from the point of view of stratification of the Nydyasara as a whole, MEUTHRATH 1996, 196-203: MEUTHRATH speaks of two independent sub-sections, one on meditation, the other on the code of conduct for Naiydyikas," which have most probably been joined together by the redactor of NS 4.2 who was also responsible for linking the other originally independent sub-sections of NS 42
CF. NS 4.2.38: samadhivierabhyasar.
Cr. NS 4.2.41: aranaguhpuliddişu yogdbrydsopadedah
"A first, not yet detailed and sufficiently argued attempt has been presented in MEUTHRATH 1996, 199, MEUTHRATH considers 38 and 45 to be the oldest sitros of this sub-section, and the intervening objections, replies and explanations to be later accretions. For a possible grouping together of 38-40 and 45 see below, n. 46. Individual sütros, together with Väsyāyana's comments, have been treated, from the perspective of hermeneutics of religion, in ONERHAMMER 1984; c. pp. 8-9. 24-25 and 55-56 on NS/NBH 4.2.38. p. 20 on NB 4.2.41, p. 24 on NS/NBH 4.2.42, pp. 21, 2324 and 30 on NS/NBH 4.2.45, pp. 56-57 and 123 on NS/NBH 4.2.46.
tablisse