Explore

Compare

Two thinkers, side by side

Life

c. 480 CE – c. 540 CE

BuddhistIndian

The founder of Buddhist logic, who rebuilt the theory of knowledge around two sources alone: bare perception and inference.

Dharmakirti

c. 600 CE – c. 660 CE

BuddhistIndianLogician

He asked what it means to truly know something, and gave a stricter answer than anyone before him.

Connection

Dignaga the successor who rebuilt the system Dharmakirti — Dharmakirti's commentaries on Dignaga became more authoritative than the originals, tightening the account of inference and perception until his version was simply what Buddhist logic meant.

Shared Ideas

Reason

Shared Places

Nalanda

Ideas

Reason

Reason Emptiness (Shunyata)

Words

“There are but two means of knowledge, perception and inference, for the object known is twofold: the particular and the universal.”
— Dignaga

“Like a river reaching the ocean, my work will find no one able to grasp its depths, and will age and perish within my own person.”
— Dharmakirti

“Whatever is real is momentary, and does causal work; what does nothing is nothing.”
— Dharmakirti

Key Moments

c. 480 CE

Born in South India

c. 500 CE

The Founding of Buddhist Logic

c. 510 CE

Exclusion Theory of Meaning

c. 520 CE

Teaching at Nalanda

c. 625 CE

Studies at Nalanda

c. 640 CE

The seven treatises on knowledge

c. 800 CE

The measure of later Indian thought

Works

Compendium of Valid Cognition

Pramanavarttika

Explore

Compare

Two thinkers, side by side

Life

Dignaga

c. 480 CE – c. 540 CE

BuddhistIndian

The founder of Buddhist logic, who rebuilt the theory of knowledge around two sources alone: bare perception and inference.

Dharmakirti

c. 600 CE – c. 660 CE

BuddhistIndianLogician

He asked what it means to truly know something, and gave a stricter answer than anyone before him.

Connection

Shared Ideas

Reason

Shared Places

Nalanda

Ideas

Reason

Reason Emptiness (Shunyata)

Words

“There are but two means of knowledge, perception and inference, for the object known is twofold: the particular and the universal.”
— Dignaga

“Like a river reaching the ocean, my work will find no one able to grasp its depths, and will age and perish within my own person.”
— Dharmakirti

“Whatever is real is momentary, and does causal work; what does nothing is nothing.”
— Dharmakirti

Key Moments

c. 480 CE

Born in South India

c. 500 CE

The Founding of Buddhist Logic

c. 510 CE

Exclusion Theory of Meaning

c. 520 CE

Teaching at Nalanda

c. 625 CE

Studies at Nalanda

c. 640 CE

The seven treatises on knowledge

c. 800 CE

The measure of later Indian thought

Works

Compendium of Valid Cognition

Pramanavarttika