Once Again Vaisesika Sutra 3 1 13

Author(s): Johannes Bronkhorst
Publisher: Johannes Bronkhorst

Page 5

ONCE AGAIN VAIŠEŞIKA SŪTRA 3.1.13
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(ii) Simhasūri quotes the following definition of perception in his Nyāyāgamānusāriņi (ed. Jambuvijaya, vol. I, p. 110):
ātmendriyamano'rthasannikarsād yan nispadyate tad anyat, ätmā manasā mana indriyeņa indriyam artheneti catustayatrayadvayasannikarşad utpadyamanam pratyakşam
This is our Vaiseșika sūtra along with an explanation. The sūtra was apparently quoted - in order to be rejected - in Mallavādin's Dvādaśāra Nayacakra, which Simhasüri comments. 10
(iii) The Yuktidipikā (p. 34, 1. 29-30) cites this sūtra besides other definitions of perception.
(iv) Jayantabhatta's Nyāyamañjari cites the sūtra in the following, slightly amplified, form (p. 280, 1. 15-16):
yad api kaiścit pratyaksalaksaņam uktam 'ärmendriyamano'rthasannikarsad yad utpadyate jñānam tad anyad anumānādibhyah pratyakşam'iti...
Here too there can be no doubt that the sūtra is read as a definition of perception.
(v) The anonymous Vịtti on the Vaiseșika Sūtra edited by A. Thakur (1957), too, explains the sūtra as a definition of perception. So does the commentary by Bhatta vadîndra edited by Thakur (1985), of which the former is an abbreviation.
(vi) The anonymous Sarvasiddhāntapraveśaka, in its chapter on Vaišeşika, contains the following passage (Jambuvijaya, 1961: 145):
āha pratyakşalaksanam kim iti cet, tadāha 'ātmendriyamano'rthasannikarşād yan nispadyate tad anyat '/asya vyākhyā: ātmā manasa yujyate mana indriyena indriyam artheneti/ tataś catustayasannikarşād ghatarūpādijñānam, trayasannikarsāc chabde, dvayasannikarşāt sukhadişul evam pratyakşam nirdistam/
10 Be it noted in passing that Simhasūri appears to quote in matters Vaišeșika usually from
the katandi, a Vaišesika work probably written before Dignāga's Pramāṇasamuccaya (see Bronkhorst, 1993). Do we have to conclude that also the present explanation given by Simhasūri derives from the Katandi? It is not possible at this point to address this question.