Indologica Taurinensia

Author(s): Colette Caillat, Siegfried Lienhard, Irma Piovano, Saverio Sani
Publisher: Comitato AIT

Page 35

On the Relationship of the Nyāyâvatāra and the Sammati-tarka-prakarāṇa
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In addition to that, Siddhasena's peculiar, as it were, usage of the term sastra in a logical-epistemological treatise finds its precedence again in Pramāṇa-samuccaya of Dinnaga. In the well-known opening verse, which is a homage to the Buddha, we read:
'Having paid to [the Buddha] who is a cognitive criterion, who strives for the welfare of the world, who is the teacher (śāstṛ), the well-gone, the res
93
cuer...
And further Dinnaga explains that 'the cause [why the Buddha is a cognitive criterion] is his perfection in inner disposition and in its application. The application [of being a cognitive criterion] is his being a teacher because he edifies the world.' 94 Instead of sastṛ, Siddhasena speaks of sastra, but in an active sense of sastṛ: 'authoritative treatise is that ... which gives the instruction about reality' (tattvôpadeśa-krt sārvaṁ śāstram). As we can easily notice, the idea, the wording and the epistemological context are very similar in both cases.
Thus, there remains nothing that could seriously disprove that either NA 8 or 9 are out of place or are some later interpolations.
8.2. Bansidhar BHATT (2000: 74) expresses his further reservations: 'The NV v. 27 defining the pratyakṣa as kevala appears all of a sudden between the final topic on the parartha anumāna (v. 26) and the conclusion of the entire thesis, viz. pramāṇa-phala (v. 28), without any specific hint of it at the initial stage (v. 1,4, 6 etc.). It is an interpolation.'
We should remember that the concern of the author of the Nyāyâvatāra, which is so closely tight to epistemological-logical issues, is not only to present a new model of epistemology, but also to present it in such a way that it may further serve as the basis of and proof for both Jaina ontology and soteriology, the latter being of paramount interest to the Jainas. This should, again, come to us as no surprise: it suffices to recall the opening verse of Pramāṇa-samuccaya, which correlates soteriological issues and epistemology, as well Dharmakirti's two introductory verses to his Pramāṇa-vārttika. Even
93. PS 1.1ab: pramāṇa-bhātāya jagad-dhitaișine praṇamya sastre sugataya tayine/, quoted in PV1 (Parisista, p. 518.26).
94. PSV: tatra hetur aśaya-prayoga-sampat. chāstṛtvam.
prayogo jagac-chāsanāc