Ratnakirti; Buddhist logic; Omniscience; Theory of; knowledge; Buddhism; Study and teaching
摘要
This dissertation includes an English translation and transliterated Sanskrit text of Ratnakirti's Sarvajnasiddhi, along with an introduction which attempts to contextualize the arguments and problems involved. The Sarvajnasiddhi was written in the eleventh century C.E. as a logical defense for the Buddhist interpretation of omniscience, and to an extent represents a compendium of views on the subject. A follower of the school of logic and epistemology (pramanavada) established by Dignaga and Dharmakirti, Ratnakirti is best known for explicating the works of his master, Jnanasrimitra. Their writings reflect the culmination of a tradition of debate and logic in India which attempted both to defend the basic tenets of later Sautrantika Buddhism and to refute the assertions of Hindu opponents.
According to Ratnakirti, Buddhism is concerned only with omniscience in a religiously or soteriologically relevant sense (upayukta sarvajnata), as opposed to literal, cognitive omniscience (sarva sarvajnata). Ratnakirti's method of proof is to provide a syllogism which establishes the plausibility of such omniscience, which is consequent upon prolonged, intensive meditation on the truth of all things. He then defends this proof against charges of fallacious reasoning (hetvabhasa) while demonstrating that his opponents' arguments are subject to such flaws. Much of the text is dedicated to a defense of yogic perception (yogi-pratyaksa), an extraordinary cognition arising from meditation, which provides the means for omniscience.
As in Santaraksita's examination of omniscience in the Tattvasamgraha (eighth century), Ratnakirti is primarily opposed by the Mimamsikas, such as Kumarila Bhatta, who categorically reject the possibility of omniscience, maintaining that no being, either human or divine, can cognize religious truth (dharma) which is revealed by Vedic scriptural Word alone. In defending the Buddhist theory of yogic perception, Ratnakirti also answers additional objections posed in the intervening centuries both by Mimamsikas (Vacaspati and Sucarita Misra) and members of the Nyaya school (Trilocana and Bhasarvajna).
The Sarvajnasiddhi is valuable both as a digest of views on the subject of omniscience from the perspective of late Indian Buddhism, and as a telling portrait of difficulties involved when rigorous philosophical methods are brought to bear on issues of religious belief.
