Śaṅkaranandana

Śaṅkaranandana (fl. c. 9th or 10th century), (Tibetan: ''Bde byed dga’ ba)'' was a Mahayana Buddhist philosopher, and a brahmin lay devotee (upāsaka) active in Kashmir in the epistemological (''pramana'') tradition of Dignaga and Dharmakīrti. He was quite influential in both Kashmir and Tibet, and became known as "the second Dharmakīrti," and “the Great Brahmin.”"Śaṅkaranandana" (Eltschinger) in Silk, Jonathan A (editor in chief). ''Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume II: Lives.''

Śaṅkaranandana is cited by both Kashmiri Shaiva authors like Abhinavagupta and by Tibetan Buddhist authors and translators. Vincent Eltschinger states that he was "the main interlocutor of the Saiva Pratyabhijña school and as one of the most influential thinkers among the early generations of Tibetan philosophers."Eltschinger, Vincent. ''Latest News from a Kashmirian “Second Dharmakīrti”'' In Patrick McAllister, Cristina Scherrer-Schaub, Helmut Krasser, ed.
''Cultural Flows across the Western Himalaya.'' (BKGA 83.) Wien: VÖAW, 2015.
/ref> His influence on Kashmir Shaiva thinkers was such that Abhinavagupta even calls Śaṅkaranandana his "guru" in ''Mālinīvijayavārttika'' and speaks of Śaṅkaranandana's enlightenment in another text (the interpretation of this is disputed however). This led some modern scholars to speculate whether Śaṅkaranandana was a Shaiva at some point who later converted to Buddhism. This thesis has not been proven however. Tāranātha’s ''History'' does state that he was a non-Buddhist brahmin who converted after seeing Manjusri in a dream. Whatever the case, all of Śaṅkaranandana's extant works are of a Buddhist persuasion.

Like other thinkers in his tradition, Śaṅkaranandana defended the idealistic Yogacara theory of "consciousness only" or ''Vijñānavāda'' through the logical refutation of any external objects of cognition. Thus, according to Eltschinger, for Śaṅkaranandana " realistic or pluralistic accounts of reality rely on latent tendencies and are ultimately erroneous". For Śaṅkaranandana, the ultimate view is the non-dual view (advaya-darsana) in which a Buddha perceives only non-dual consciousness free of subject-object distinctions and of all transformations of thought produced by latent tendencies.

Work

Śaṅkaranandana wrote at least 17 works on logic and epistemology. Four of his works have survived in Tibetan translation, and others have survived in Sanskrit manuscripts, most incomplete or fragmentary.

According to Eltschinger his magnum opus was most likely the ''Prajñālaṅkāra'' (“Ornament of Wisdom”), which was "a systematic exposition of the Yogācāra Buddhist doctrine of mind-only (''vijñaptimātratā'')."

Among his other writings are four commentaries on Dharmakīrti's texts, including the ''Pramāṇavārttikaṭīkā'', which comments on Dharmakīrti's ''Pramāṇavārttikasvavṛtti''.

One of his surviving texts, the ''Īśvarāpākaraṇa-saṅkṣepa (Summary of a refutation of Īśvarā),'' a refutation of the Hindu concept of a creator deity, has been translated by into German in Helmut Krasser's habilitation study.

Other works include:Eltschinger, Vincent. 2006. “Les Œuvres de Śaṅkaranandana: Nouvelles Ressources Manuscrites, Chronologie Relative et Identité Confessionnelle.” ''Annali Dell’Università Degli Studi Di Napoli “L’Orientale”'' 66 (1–4): 83–122.

* ''Sambandhaparīkṣānusāra'' (translated by Parahita-bhadra and Dga’ ba’i rdo rje into Tibetan)
* ''Apohasiddhi'' translated by Manoratha and Rngog Blo ldan shes rab
*''Vādanyāya'' (a commentary on a work by Dharmakīrti)
* ''Pratibandhasiddhikārikā'' translated by Bhavyarāja and Rngog Blo ldan shes rab
* ''Laghupratibandhasiddhikārikā'' (“Short Proof of the Connection”)
* ''Sūkṣmaprāmāṇya-, Madhyaprāmāṇya-'', and ''Bṛhatprāmāṇya'' kārikās (“Short/Middle/Extensive versions of "Examination of Valid Cognition")
* ''Anyāpohasiddhikārikā'' (“Proof of Other-Exclusion”)
* ''Dharmālaṅkāra'' (“Ornament of the Dharma”)
* ''Sarvajñasiddhikārikā'' (“Proof of all-knowledge”)
* ''Svalpasarvajñasiddhikārikā'' (also known as ''Sarvajñasiddhisaṅkṣepa'', “Summary of the Proof of all-knowledge”),
* ''Saṅkṣipteśvarāpākaraṇa'' (also known as ''Īśvarāpākaraṇasaṅkṣepa'', “Summary of the Refutation of CreatorGod”)
* ''Āgamasiddhi'' (“Proof of he Human Origin of AuthoritativeScripture”)

See also

* Pramana
* Epistemology
* Dharmakirti

References

Bibliography

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10th-century Indian philosophers
10th-century Indian writers
Atheist philosophers
10th-century Buddhists
Buddhist logic
Mahayana Buddhism writers
History of logic
Indian Buddhists
Indian scholars of Buddhism
Indian logicians