Vinitadeva's Nyayabindu-tika

VINITADEVA'S Nyayabindu-tika Sanskrit original reconstructed from the extant Tibetan version, with English translation and annotations by MRINALKANTI GANGOPADHYAYA INDIAN STUDIES PAST « PRESENT Printed by R. K. Maitra at the R. D. Press. 11B, Chowringhee Terrace, Calcutta-20, and published by him on behalf of Indian Studies: Past & Present, 3, Sambhunath Pandit Street, Calcutta-20 Price Rs. 35.00 First Published June 15,1971 PREFACE The Sanskrit original of Vinitadeva's Nyayabindu-tlka is lost. It survives in Tibetan translation and is contained in the bstan-gyur (mDo cxi. 1 : Tibetan Tripitaka, Tokyo-Kyoto edition, pp. 145-1-1 to 154-4-7). Along with the Tibetan text of the Nyayabindu, it was published in 1907 by the Asiatic Society of Bengal, edited by L. de la Vallee Poussin. In preparing the present Sanskrit reconstruction, I have on the whole followed this printed edition. In a few cases where neither its reading nor that of the Tibetan Tripitaka has appeared satisfactory, I have suggested and adopted different readings. These, along with the page-numbers of the printed edition, are given in the notes to the Sanskrit text. For the Sanskrit equivalents of the Tibetan logical terms, I have specially depended on S. C. Vidyabhusana's A Bilingual Index of Nyayabindu and E. Obermiller's Indices Verborum Sanscrit-Tibetan and Tibetan-Sanscrit to the Nyayabindu, besides of course the Tibetan-English Dictionaries by S. C. Das and Jaschke. Not much is known about the personal life of Vinitadeva. Mainly on the basis of the information given by Taranatha, Vidyabhusana suggests his date as c A.D. 700. Taranatha himself says that he lived during the period of King Lalitacandra and acted as the acarya of Nalanda (Sri Nalendra). In the bstan-gyur are attributed to him twelve commentaries, mostly on the works of Dharmakirti, but no original work. Stcherbatsky says that he followed in his works a method of 'simplicity and literalism'—characteristic of the school of commentators started by Devendrabuddhi, a direct disciple of Dharmakirti, which 'aimed at exactly rendering the direct meaning of the commented text without losing oneself in its deeper implications'. It is perhaps one of the reasons that makes his work appear to us to be full of verbal repetitions. In the annotations added to the English translation, I have mentioned the views of other Buddhist and non-Buddhist logicians for a better understanding of Dharmaklrti's position and for indicating the more important points on which Vinitadeva differs from them. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Pandit Bisvabandhu Nyayacarya of the Government Sanskrit College, Calcutta, who has been teaching me Indian logic and philosophy since my school-days and to Professor Lama Chimpa of the Visvabharati University, who taught me the Tibetan language. I am thankful to Professor Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya who was the first to introduce me to the study of Tibetan and suggested the idea of the present work. He also took personal interest in its proper execution. I thank Sri Ramakrishna Maitra and the staff of the R. D. Press for their kind co-operation in the matter of printing." June 15,1971 Mrinalkanti Gangopadhyaya CONTENTS Sanskrit Text 1 English Translation 77 1. Salutation by the commentator 3,79 Result of the act of salutation 79n Meaning of purusartha 79n 2. Four preliminary conditions of the work 3, 80 Implication of stating the fourth condition 80n Dharmottara's view 80n 3. Ground for mentioning subject-matter etc 3, 80 Subject-matter and purpose : stated and explained 3,81 Nature of the relation explained 4,81 Purpose of the purpose : stated and explained 4,82 4. Definition of right knowledge 4,82 Further explanation 82n Its acceptibility to both Sautrantika and Yogacara 4, 83 Buddhist view on some problems of kno