Dharmakirti’s Hetubindu
edited by Ernst Steinkellner
The Hetubindu, composed by the Buddhist philosopher and logician Dharmakirti during his middle period (around 600 CE), develops further, with succinct formulations and elaborations on the formal structures and essential elements, his theory of logical reason and inference as he had presented it in the work of his youth, which later became the first chapter, on inference, of the Pramanavarttika together with an explanatory Vrtti, and was refined in the second chapter of his Pramanaviniscaya. In the Hetubindu, a treatise of pure logic, he further enriched his ideas in three digressions: an analysis of his teacher Isvarasenas theorem of the reason with six characteristics, an epistemological examination of negative cognition and a demonstration of its applicability as a logical reason, and an extensive presentation of the possibilities, by investigating causality, for determining the nexus in the case of the proof of the momentariness of all entities. The original Sanskrit text of the Hetubindu was still considered lost when, in 1967, Ernst Steinkellner critically edited its Tibetan translation, reconstructed a Sanskrit text on the basis of fragments, various testimonies and Arcatas commentary extant in Sanskrit, and prepared an annotated German translation. But nearly two decades later, in 1985, a unique Sanskrit manuscript of the text was discovered by Luo Zhao at the Potala in Lhasa. After almost another two decades, through a cooperation agreement between the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the China Tibetology Research Center, Beijing, a photographic copy of this manuscript could finally be accessed in 2004. The editorial work of this Sanskrit manuscript was entrusted to Helmut Krasser, who prepared a first transliteration and a preliminary critical edition. Regrettably he was unable to finish the task due to a lengthy grave illness; he passed away in March 2014. Steinkellner subsequently revised Krassers work, provided an analytical survey and an introduction. Thanks to Klaus Wille he was also able to add, together with the latters transliteration, photos of the Gilgit fragment, the oldest testimony of this jewel of Indian logical thought.
- Edited by Ernst Steinkellner
Other Titles in this Series
The Dharmadhatustava
A Critical Edition of the Sanksrit with the Tibetan and Chinese Translations, a Diplomatic Transliteration of the Manuscript and Notes
Volume 17
A Less Traveled Path
Saddharmasmrtyupasthanansutra chapter 2: Critically edited with A Study on Its Structure and Significance for the Development of Buddhist Meditation. Volume I and Volume II
Candrakirti’s Madhyamakavatarabhasya
Chapters 1 to 5, critically and diplomatically edited on the basis of preparatory work by Helmut Krasser
Volume 22
Dharmakirti’s Sambandhapariksa and Devendrabuddhi’s Sambandhapariksavrtti
Critically edited by Ernst Steinkellner
Volume 23
Dharmottara’s Pramanaviniscayatika Chapter 3
Diplomatic Edition. In collaboration with Takashi Iwata and Toshiazu Watanabe
Volume 21
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