[Buddha-l] Sabba Sutta

[Richard Hayes]

On Mon, 2008-12-01 at 12:36 -0800, Jayarava wrote:

> Could you say if these commentators were critiquing Dignaga on the
> basis of his own writings, or are they critiquing the presentation and
> interpretation of him by Yogacarins? It's not clear.

As it happens, I was reading Candrakirti's criticisms of an unnamed
opponent today. No mention whatsoever was made of either the opponent's
name or any scholastic affiliation. A paraphrase of a recognizable view
(namely, Dignāga's) was given. It was then dismissed on the grounds that
the unnamed opponent had not answered an argument made in a text by
Nāgārjuna and so could not be taken seriously. All kinds of people have
formed all kinds of hypotheses about whom Candrakirti was refuting and
why. The only intellectually honest position consistent with all the
available textual evidence is: we do not know exactly who was the butt
of Candrakirti's attacks. It may have been Dignāga himself, or it may
have been someone whom Dignāga was quoting, or it may have been someone
who quoted Dignāga and then took that quote off in directions that would
have amazed Dignāga. (Anyone who has ever been a teacher knows what it
is like to be amazed by interpretations that students make of what one
has said in class.) 

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico