The pramāṇas (प्रमाण)
Executive summary
A pramāṇa (प्रमाण) is a means of knowing. The schools do not share one list. This book sets the lists side by side and sends each means back to the line that names it. There is no pramāṇa (प्रमाण) sūtra (सूत्र) here. Perception, inference, comparison, word, postulation, and non apprehension are the pages. A further page says what Nyāya (न्याय) will not count apart, and a further page says why Jain knowing is a different cut. Read this before the long sūtra (सूत्र) books, and come back when a line uses one of these words.
नेपालीमा
प्रमाण जान्ने साधन हो। दर्शनहरूको एउटै सूची छैन। यो पुस्तकले सूचीहरूलाई छेउछाउ राख्छ र हरेक साधनलाई त्यसको नाम लिने पङ्क्तिमा फर्काउँछ। यहाँ प्रमाणसूत्र छैन। प्रत्यक्ष, अनुमान, उपमान, शब्द, अर्थापत्ति र अनुपलब्धि पृष्ठ हुन्। अर्को पृष्ठले न्यायले के अलग गन्दैन भन्छ, र अर्कोले जैन ज्ञानको वर्गीकरण किन अर्कै छ भन्छ। लामा सूत्र पुस्तक पढ्नुअघि यो पढ्नुहोस्, र कुनै पङ्क्तिले यी शब्द प्रयोग गर्दा यहीँ फर्कनुहोस्।
A pramāṇa (प्रमाण) is a means of knowing. pramā (प्रमा) is a knowing that has got the thing right. The knower is the pramātṛ (प्रमातृ). What is known is the prameya (प्रमेय). The word is built on pra (प्र) and the root mā (मा), to measure a thing out.
The schools do not share one list. This book sets the lists side by side. Each means has its own page, and the page says who counts it and which line names it. There is no pramāṇa-sūtra (प्रमाण-सूत्र) here. The lines stay in their own books. Where a school has no root book, the page says the claim is a report.
Where to start
- For the shortest list with definitions, read Nyāya (न्याय) 1.1.3 through 1.1.8, then come back.
- For the three that Sāṅkhya (साङ्ख्य) and Yoga (योग) share, read kārikā (कारिका) 4, kārikā (कारिका) 5, and Yoga (योग) 1.7.
- If pratyakṣa (प्रत्यक्ष) has started to mean 'the senses,' read the Jain page before going on. Jaina (जैन) pratyakṣa (प्रत्यक्ष) is a different cut.
The lists
| School | What it counts | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Nyāya (न्याय) | Perception, inference, comparison, and word. Four. | 1.1.3 |
| Sāṅkhya (साङ्ख्य) | Perception, inference, and a trusted person's speech. Three. | kārikā (कारिका) 4 |
| Yoga (योग) | The same three, and they are one of the five activities of the mind. | 1.6 and 1.7 |
| Vaiśeṣika (वैशेषिक) | The sūtra (सूत्र) gives the mark, puts word under that account, and says pleasure and pain arise by perception and by the mark. | 9.2.1, 9.2.3, 10.1.3 |
| Mīmāṃsā (मीमांसा), Bhāṭṭa (भाट्ट) | The Nyāya (न्याय) four, plus postulation and non-apprehension. Six. Kumārila (कुमारिल). Jaimini (जैमिनि)'s sūtra (सूत्र) opens on dharma (धर्म), and the six are the later school. | Postulation and non-apprehension |
| Mīmāṃsā (मीमांसा), Prābhākara (प्राभाकर) | Five. Prabhākara (प्रभाकर) keeps postulation. Absence is known by adhikaraṇa-mātra-pratyakṣa (अधिकरण-मात्र-प्रत्यक्ष), perception of the bare locus. | Non-apprehension |
| Vedānta (वेदान्त) | Scripture is the ground of knowing Brahman (ब्रह्मन्). | 1.1.3 |
| Advaita (अद्वैत) | For the knowledge this teaching is after, the Veda (वेद) is the means. Worldly knowing uses the Bhāṭṭa (भाट्ट) six. | Upadeśasāhasrī (उपदेशसाहस्री) 17.8 |
| Jaina (जैन) | Two pramāṇas (प्रमाण), cut across five kinds of knowing. Sense and scripture are parokṣa (परोक्ष). The other three are pratyakṣa (प्रत्यक्ष). | Jain knowing |
| Cārvāka (चार्वाक) | The reports name perception. No root book is in hand. | Cārvāka (चार्वाक) |
| Ājīvika (आजीविक) | The reports are about niyati (नियति), the fixed course of a life. A list of means is not what those reports preserve. | Ājīvika (आजीविक) |
| Madhyamaka (मध्यमक) and Yogācāra (योगाचार) | The two Buddhist books in the darśana (दर्शन) set. The later pramāṇa (प्रमाण) school of Dignāga (दिग्नाग) and Dharmakīrti (धर्मकीर्ति) counts perception and inference. Those verses are not in this book. | Madhyamaka (मध्यमक) and Yogācāra (योगाचार) |
The pages
- Perception, pratyakṣa (प्रत्यक्ष).
- Inference, anumāna (अनुमान).
- Comparison, upamāna (उपमान).
- Word, śabda (शब्द).
- Postulation, arthāpatti (अर्थापत्ति).
- Non-apprehension, anupalabdhi (अनुपलब्धि).
- What Nyāya (न्याय) will not count apart: tradition, inclusion, and the folding of the extras.
- Jain knowing: parokṣa (परोक्ष) and Jaina (जैन) pratyakṣa (प्रत्यक्ष).
A pramāṇa (प्रमाण) in a sūtra (सूत्र) is sometimes the means, and sometimes the authority of a sentence. Mīmāṃsā (मीमांसा) says śabdapramāṇatvāt (शब्दप्रमाणत्वात्) many times: because the word is the authority. That is the same family of words. It is a use inside a Vedic argument, and the defining lists are the pages above.