Evidence

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Evidence (Skt. liṅga; Tib. རྟགས་, tak, Wyl. rtags) in pramana is defined as "something which enables us to know something else".[1] For example, in the well-known logical argument, the presence of smoke rising over the mountain pass can be the evidence enabling us to know that there is fire behind the mountain.

Subdivisions

Evidence is divided, first of all, into

  1. correct evidence (Tib. རྟགས་ཡང་དག་, Wyl. rtags yang dag) in which the three modes are complete, and
  2. incorrect evidence (Tib. ལྟར་སྣང་, Wyl. ltar snang)

Authentic evidence[2] is divided into three types:

  1. Non-observation (Tib. མི་དམིགས་པ་, Wyl. mi dmigs pa)
  2. Nature (Tib རང་བཞིན་, Wyl. rang bzhin)
  3. Effect (Tib འབྲས་བུ་, Wyl. 'bras bu)

Alternative Translations

  • Logical reason (Tillemans)

Notes

  1. Note that the technical definition is often given as "[whatever] is arranged as evidence" (Wyl. rtags su bkod pa rtags kyi mtshan nyid)
  2. These are also the three types of reason (གཏན་ཚིགས་, Wyl. gtan tshigs)