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Ch. LINDTNER
While the problem of “Die Reihenfolge und Entstehung der Werke Dharmakīrti's” has already been established in rough outlines by FRAUWALLNER in a paper thus entitled", and while the general historical significance of Dharmakīrti seems to boil down to his penetrating contributions to "scientific methodology" (i.e. to logic and epistemology rather than to ethics and ontology), still numerous textual and historical puzzles as well as problems of interpretation remain to be solved before we are in a position to reconstruct a full picture of Dharmakīrti as an individual author and philosopher with the historical setting as contrasting background.
The following marginal notes to the first two chapters of the Pramanaviniscaya (PVin) - Dharmakirti's most systematic major work - as edited and translated by VETTER and STEINKELLNERS are only intended as a modest contribution towards that end. The approach of its author can be characterized as that of a philologist primarily concerned with philosophical issues.
First, however, it will be useful for our purpose briefly to recall the frame-work of his thought as presented in PVin I-II and subsequently summarized by him in the epitome Nyāyabindu (NB). Though his
* Reprinted in his Kleine Schriften, pp. 667–689. - While his views on the formation and sequence of Dharmakīrti's works is basically valid he does, however, leave several of the works ascribed to him out of account. Moreover, the Yogācāra background of Dharmakīrti is entirely left out of consideration, though, in my opinion, we here find a basic motive in the formation of his thought.
+ I have adopted this characterization from a paper read in Copenhagen (May 1983) by Ernst Steinkellner whom I here wish to thank for precious advice and support in preparing this contribution.
5 TILMANN VETTER, Dharmakīrti's Pramāņaviniscayah. 1. Kapitel: Pratyakşam. Einleitung, Text der tibetischen Übersetzung, Sanskritfragmente, deutsche Übersetzung, Wien 1966. - ERNST STEINKELLNER, Dharmakīrti's Pramāņaviniscayah. Zweites Kapitel: Svārthānumanam. Teil I. Tibetischer Text und Sanskrittexte, Wien 1973; id., Dharmakīrti's Pramānaviniscayah. Zweites Kapitel: Svārthānumānam. Teil II. Übersetzung und Anmerkungen. Wien 1979. See also ERNST STEINKELLNER, Verse-Index of Dharmakīrti's Works (Tibetan Versions), Wien 1977.
• Dharmottarapradīpa. Being a subcommentary on Dharmottara's Nyāyabindutīkā, a commentary on Dharmakīrti's Nyāyabindu. Dec. and ed. D. MALVANIA, Patna 1955. - For a general characterization of the relationship of NB to PVin see e.g. ERNST STEINKELLNER, Dharmakīrti's Hetubindu. Teil I. Tibetischer Text und rekonstruierter Sanskrit-Text, Wien 1967, pp. 24–25: "Der Nyāyabinduḥ, welcher im engsten Zusammenhang mit dem Pramāņaviniscayah steht, ist der Form nach eine Art Epitome aus diesem, dem Inhalt nach ein knapper Leitfaden zur Einführung in die Theorie der Erkenntnismittel und der Logik. Die Einteilung in drei Kapitel (pratyaksam, svārthānumānam,
