When was Dignaga born and where did he live?
Dignaga was born in around 470 or 480 CE near the city of Kanchi. He later became active in the Andhra country and associated with the monastery of Nalanda.
Questions about Dignāga
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What are the two instruments of knowledge according to Dignaga's epistemology?
Dignaga holds that there are only two valid cognitions: perception or sensation and inference or reasoning. Perception is pre-verbal sense data while inference involves arranging raw data into complex forms through kalpana.
How does Dignaga define the meaning of words in his theory of language?
Dignaga developed a Buddhist theory called apoha or exclusion where a word indicates an object merely by excluding other objects. For example, the word cow means the object is not a non-cow rather than denoting anything real.
Which work contains Dignaga's mature philosophy on logic and epistemology?
Dignaga expounded his mature philosophy in the magnum opus known as the Pramana-samuccaya or Compendium of Epistemology. This text examines perception, language, and inferential reasoning across five chapters.
Who founded the School of Dignaga and what was its influence?
Dignaga founded a tradition of Buddhist epistemology sometimes called the School of Dinnaga and Dharmakirti. This school influenced the Madhyamaka school and set in motion an epistemic turn in Indian philosophy after him.