The nature of direct perception (pratyak?a 直接知覺; 現量) is one of the most important topics in the Logico-Epistemological (pramā?a) School of Buddhism in India. In this paper, I tried to give more or less a general explanation as to how direct perception is defined by Kamala?īla 蓮華戒 (ca. 740-795 C.E.), one of the most brilliant scholar-monks of the school after the establishment of the philosophical system by Dhamakīrti 法稱 (ca. 600-660). In the course of analysis, the relation between direct perception and conceptual construction (Kalpanā, 分別) was also elucidated. Dignāga 陳那 (ca. 480-540) defined conceptual construction as nāmajātyādiyojanā which usually means 'the connection of a name, genus, etc.' Dhamakīrti, on the other hand, defined the same notion as 'a cognition associated with an expression' (abhilāpinī pratīti?). Interestingly enough, he did not explicitly state the relationship between his own definition and that by Dignāga. This fact urged ?āntarak?ita and likewise his eminent disciple Kamala?īla's serious examinations of the relationship between the two definitions. Indicating three different possible interpretations of Dignāga's definition, Kamala?īla finally reached the concluson that what was intended by Dignāga and Dhamakīrti was none other than the same.
目次
Introduction I. Hermeneutics of 'Free from Conceptual Construction' 1. Connection with a name and a genus, etc. 2.Connection of a name through a genus, etc.; i.e., conception is that cognition which connects a name with the relevant object through the medium of a genus, etc., both of which are expressed from the Buddhist standpoint only. II. The Meaning of 'Non-Erroneous' III. Some Problems Underlying Yogic Perception
