Seven Treatises on Valid Cognition

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Written by Dharmakīrti as a detail commentary on the works of Dignāga, they became the fundamental works (mūla) to be studied on logic.


The principle text, containing the 'body' of the system is the

  • Pramāṇa-vārtika - consisting of four chapters on
  1. Inference
  2. Valid cognition
  3. Sense perception
  4. Logic


The remaining treatises, considered the 'six feet' of this text, are:

  • The two abridgments of the Pramāṇa-vārtika called:
  1. Pramāṇa-vinišcaya
  2. Nyāya-bindu

These both contain three chapters dealing with: sense perception, inference, and logic.

Then:

  • Hetubindu - a short classification of logical reasons
  • Sambandha-parīkṣā - an examination of the problem of relations
  • Codanā-prakaraṇa - a treatise on debate
  • Santānāntara-siddhi - a treatise on the reality of other minds, directed against the position of Solopsism (the theory that only the self exists).

All these works, aside from the Nyāya-bindu, are lost in the original Sanskrit but remain as translated works in the Tibetan Tengyur (bstan 'gyur).


Source: Buddhist Logic Volume 1 - TH. Stcherbatsky: p37