PRAMANA Course - TERM 1 - FALL 2014 resources

In accordance with the suggestion of H.H. Dalai Lama to our teacher, Geshe Kelsang Wangmo, in May 2014, the Advanced Buddhist Philosophy in English program of the Institute for Buddhist Dialectical studies is offering a new course on the Second Chapter of Dharmakirti's Commentary on [Dignaga's] Compendium of Valid Cognition (Skt. Pramāņavarttika; ཚད་མ་རྣམ་འགྲེལ་).

The multi-year Perfection of Wisdom course (based on Maitreya's Ornament for Clear Realizations (Abhisamayalamkara) that began several years ago is on temporary hiatus and will resume upon completion of this course.

Following His Holiness' advice, Geshe Wangmo is translating the Second Chapter of Dharmakirti's Pramāņavarttika and other commentarial materials that are used in Tibetan Monastic institutions to present this very important text and its deep meaning to students.

The Text [Handout for the Fall 2014 Term] prepared by Geshe Wangmo for the first term of the Pramana Course includes:

• An INTRODUCTION to the Pramana course.
• Gyaltsab Je's Elucidation of the Path to Liberation, a Detailed Explanation of the Verses of the Pramāņavarttika [tshad ma rnam 'grel gyi tshig le'ur byes pa rnam bshad thar lam gsal byed - ཚད་མ་རྣམ་འགྲེལ་གྱི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱེས་པ་རྣམ་བཤད་ཐར་ལམ་གསལ་བྱེད།], commonly known as, Elucidation of the Path to Liberation [ཐར་ལམ་གསལ་བྱེད་].  
• The verses of the Pramāņavarttika are embedded into Gyaltsab Je's commentary.  They are distinguished in the course text by different formatting and fonts - see, Technical Note on page 11 of the Fall 2014 Text.
• Geshe Wangmo has translated relevant recordings and notes of oral teachings by prominent contemporary Geluk scholars and inserted those into the text to provide explanation of difficult points.  Some of those masters are:  Geshe Yeshe Thabgyal, Geshe Palden Drakpa, Geshe Wangchen, Geshe Gyatso, Geshe Tsering Norbu.

Additionally, Geshe Wangmo prepared three Handouts of Charts, Illustrations, Diagrams as study aids for topics raised in the text.

As an aid for students, Study Questions regarding most important important points raised in the text are included therein.

Because of extensive materials that required translation, etc., and prior commitments, the Fall 2014 Term will be limited to the Month of October.  The next term will be for two months in the Spring of 2015.

DOWNLOAD PDF COURSE MATERIALS

TEXT for FALL 2014 TERM. 

3 PDFs of CHARTS, ILLUSTRATION &  DIAGRAMS: CHARTS 1-12. CHARTS 13-15. CHARTS 16-28.

DOWNLOAD CLASS TRANSCRIPTS for this COURSE

TEXT for each Class appears in body of transcript when Geshe-la reads it out loud and, otherwise, in footnotes.

DRAFT Transcript of Class 1 (Oct. 1, 2014).
DRAFT Transcript of Class 2 (Oct. 3, 2014). 

DOWNLOAD MP3 Recordings for Fall 2014 Course Term

See, CLASS ONE Blog Post for information about this class and links to the MP3 tracks.

See, CLASS TWO Blog Post for outline of this Class & links to MP3 tracks.

Download a single track for Classes 3-13 below. These are rather large files, so please give your feedback regarding any difficulties you may encounter in downloading them. Once Blog Posts are created for a class, the single track will be replaced with edited tracks.

CLASS THREE - Friday, October 10

CLASS FOUR - Monday, October 13

CLASS FIVE - Wednesday, October 15

CLASS SIX - Friday, October 17

CLASS SEVEN - Monday, October 20

CLASS EIGHT - Wednesday, October 22

CLASS NINE - Friday, October 24

CLASS TEN - Monday, October 27

CLASS ELEVEN - Wednesday, October 29

CLASS TWELVE - Friday, October 31

CLASS THIRTEEN - Monday, November 3

Pramanavarttika - FALL 2014 Class 2

The 2nd class of Fall 2014 term was held on Friday, the 3rd day of October. The first term of this course on Chapter 2 of Dharmakirti's Pramāņavarttika is a comprehensive introduction to the material contained in this profound text.

DOWNLOAD PDF files for this CLASS

INTRODUCTION to Pramanavarttika course

[These are the final Text and Charts distributed to students in class on October 13, 2014.  The students in this second class only had the Introduction to the text & the first set of Charts 1-12.  if you want a copy of those, download them from CLASS 1 blog post].

CHARTS & DIAGRAMS used in Class 2.  Download the other two sets of CHARTS from PRAMANA  Course - Term 1  Blog Post. 

DRAFT Transcript of Class 2 (Oct. 3, 2014) - Text PDF material appears in body of transcript when Geshe-la reads it out loud and, otherwise, in footnotes.

DOWNLOAD Recorded MP3 Tracks of Class 2:

Track 1 - Brief Review of First Class

Biographies or Hagiographies – Life Stories of Dignaga & Dharmakirti.  Conclude Review.

• Life Story of Gyaltsab Je [Gyaltsab Dharma Rinchen - རྒྱལ་ཚབ་དར་མ་རིན་ཆེན་]
• Buddhist Criticism of Pramana:
• Non-Buddhist Philosophies extant in India at the time of Buddha (did not exist later in Tibet or other Buddhist countries) & the study of Pramana.
• However, except for monastic rules of Vinaya, most Buddhist scriptures are based on logical reasoning.

Track 2 - Dharmakirti’s Seven Treatises on Pramana (ཚད་མ་སྡེ་བདུན་)

• Commentaries on [Dignaga’s] Compendium of Pramana. 
• Of these, Three are compared to a Body; Four are like Branches.

The English & Tibetan translations of the Sanskrit titles of the Seven Treatises are:

    1.    Commentary on [Dignaga's Compendium of] Valid Cognition [tshad ma rnam 'grel - ཚད་མ་རྣམ་འགྲེལ་];
    2.    Ascertainment of Valid Cognition [tshad ma rnam nges - ཚད་མ་རྣམ་ངེས་];
    3.    Drops of Reasoning [rigs thigs - རིགས་ཐིགས་].
    4.    Drops of Logic [gtan tshigs thig pa - གཏན་ཚིགས་ཐིག་པ་];
    5.    Investigating Relations ['brel ba brtag pa - འབྲེལ་བ་བརྟག་པ་];
    6.    Proof of Other [(Mental) Continua [rgyud gzhan grub pa - རྒྱུད་གཞན་གྲུབ་པ་];
    7.    Reasoning of Debate [rtsod pa'i rigs pa - རྩོད་པའི་རིགས་པ་]. 

• The three treaties like the body teach all Eight Pivotal Points of Logic (tog ge'i tshigs don rgyad - རྟོག་གེའི་ཚིགས་དོན་རྒྱད་), while each of those like branches do not teach all of those points. 
• Translation Issues: tog gay [རྟོག་གེའི་] and tshig don [ཚིགས་དོན་].

General Introduction 

Importance of Logic to Counter Misperceptions of Reality:
    •    In everyday life, our afflictive emotions are based on reasoning.
    •    We constantly use logical analysis to perform tasks of living.
    •    Correct Logic works because of Interdependence; Incorrect reasoning brings troubles.  [A is B if B is C & A is C.] 
    •    Many of our basic perceptions of reality are wrong, e.g., perceiving permanence rather than impermanent momentary change.

Correct Inferential Reasoning is required to understand Hidden Phenomena:

• Misunderstanding Hidden Phenomena causes Suffering; that Misunderstanding can only be countered by Correct Inferential Reasoning.

Six Directly Perceiving Consciousnesses & One Conceptual Consciousness (the objects of which are Generic Images):

• Conceptual Minds must use Correct Inferential Reasoning to realize Hidden phenomena (that are not accessible to sense consciousnesses).

Track 3  - Eight Pivotal Points of Logic (rtog ge'i tshig don rgyad - རྟོག་གེའི་ཚིགས་དོན་རྒྱད་):
1.    Correct Inferential Cognizers (rjes dpag yang dag - རྗེས་དཔག་ཡན་དག་)
2.    False inferential cognizers (rjes dpag ltar snang -  རྗེས་དཔག་ལྟར་སྣང་)
3.    Correct direct perceivers (mngon sum yang dag - མངོན་སུམ་ཡན་དག་)
4.    False direct perceivers (mngon sum ltar snang - མངོན་སུམ་ལྟར་སྣང་)
5.    Correct proof statements (sgrub ngag yang dag - སྒྲུབ་ངག་ཡན་དག་)
6.    False proof statements (sgrub ngag ltar snang - སྒྲུབ་ངག་ལྟར་སྣང་)
7.    Correct refutations (sun ‘byin yang dag - སུན་འབྱིན་ཡན་དག་)
8.    False refutations (sun ‘byin ltar snang - སུན་འབྱིན་ལྟར་སྣང་)

 Introduction - Inferential Cognizers, Correct Inference &  Correct Syllogisms

Inferential Cognizers & Correct Inferential Cognizer are equivalent. Inferential Cognizers arise from logic & incorrect logic is not logic.

Correct Syllogism [ten dzig yang dag - གཏན་ཚིགས་ཡང་དག་] - explained.

• Using Correct Syllogisms to overcome clinging to notion of my Self being permanent by generating a correct inferential cognition.
• Correct inferential cognizers realize their objects irrefutably.

Track 4 - Pivotal Points 1 - 4:

1. Correct Inferential Cognition (rjes dpag yang dag - རྗེས་དཔག་ཡན་དག་) - explanations of the First Tool of Logic.  Before developing correct inferential cognitions, we must identify the misperceptions of reality that lead to our discomforts.  E.g., check your mind when you experience upsets such as irritation that your quiet time has been interrupted and notice how your misperception of permanence/impermanence leads to an exaggerated reaction of an unhappy mind.

 2. False Inferential Cognition (rjes dpag ltar snang - རྗེས་དཔག་ལྟར་སྣང་).
Often, we say we know something is true, when actually we are assuming it is true based on some "authorities" or on the basis of incorrect or false syllogisms [ten dzig ltar snang - གཏན་ཚིགས་ལྟར་སྣང་].

Introduction to Direct Perceivers (mngon sum yang dag - མངོན་སུམ་)

Due to our long familiarity or habituation with misperceptions of reality, they are very deeply ingrained.  Inferential cognizers weaken the strength of those misperceptions, but only Mental Direct Perception can fundamentally eradicate such wrong views.   Direct perceivers and inferential cognizers are two extremely important tools required for Buddhist practice.  Since we need to cultivate these minds, we need to understand them as otherwise, they are very difficult to cultivate.

3. Correct Direct Perceivers (mngon sum yang dag - མངོན་སུམ་ཡན་དག་), and 4. False Direct Perceivers (mngon sum ltar snang - མངོན་སུམ་ལྟར་སྣང་) - Distinguishing the two.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 2nd class of the Fall 2014 term of

the Pramanavarttika course - which examines the
Second Chapter of Dharmakirti's Commentary's on [Dignaga's] Compendium of Valid Cognition

 

Pramanavarttika - 1st Term - FALL 2014 Class 1

The 1st class of Fall 2014 term was held on Wednesday, the 1st day of October. This is the first class of the first term of a new Course in the IBD's program of English Classes in Advanced Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy:  Chapter 2 of Dharmakirti's Pramāņavarttika.

For several years, the ongoing course, in Spring and Fall terms, has been on the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras as illuminated in Maitreya's Ornament for Clear Realizations [Abhisamayalamkara]. 

In accordance with the suggestion of H.H. Dalai Lama to our teacher, Geshe Kelsang Wangmo, several months ago, that course is in a temporary hiatus and will resume upon completion of this course.

Following His Holiness' advice, Geshe Wangmo is translating the Second Chapter of Dharmakirti's Commentary on [Dignaga's] Compendium of Valid Cognition along with the other commentarial materials that are used in Tibetan Monastic institutions to present this very important text and its deep meaning to students.

DOWNLOAD PDF files for this CLASS

INTRODUCTION to Pramanavarttika course.

CHARTS & ILLUSTRATIONS. 

DRAFT Transcript of Class 1 (Oct. 1, 2014) - Text PDF material appears in body of transcript when Geshe-la reads it out loud and, otherwise, in footnotes.

DOWNLOAD Recorded MP3 Tracks of Class 1:

Track 1 - Introduction to Text materials compiled and translated by Geshe Wangmo for the Course. 

At the beginning of this class, students were given a copy of an Introduction to the Pramanavarttika, along with a document containing Charts and Illustrations  depicting concepts to addressed in the first term of this multi-term course.

Two Major Texts will be studied in this course: 

• Second Chapter of Dharmakirti's Commentary on [Dignaga's] Compendium of Valid Cognition [Skt. - Pramāņavarttika; tshad ma ram 'gel - ཚད་མ་རྣམ་འགྲེལ་].
• Gyaltsab Je's Elucidation of the Path to Liberation, a Detailed Explanation of the Verses of the Pramāņavarttika [tshad ma rnam 'grel gyi tshig le'ur byes pa rnam bshad thar lam gsal byed - ཚད་མ་རྣམ་འགྲེལ་གྱི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱེས་པ་རྣམ་བཤད་ཐར་ལམ་གསལ་བྱེད།], commonly known as, Elucidation of the Path to Liberation [ཐར་ལམ་གསལ་བྱེད་].  The verses of the Pramāņavarttika are embedded into Gyaltsab Je's commentary.  They are distinguished in the course text by different formatting and fonts.
• Geshe-la has translated relevant recordings and notes of oral teachings by prominent contemporary Geluk scholars and inserted those into the text to provide explanation of difficult points.  Some of those masters are:  Geshe Yeshe Thabgyal, Geshe Palden Drakpa, Geshe Wangchen, Geshe Gyatso, Geshe Tsering Norbu.

The translation of these materials that serves as the Fall 2014 course text will be distributed to students attending class on Friday, October 10, and posted here afterwards. 

Study Questions:  At the end of the Introduction (p. 10) and at the end of each section of the main course text, Study Questions are given.  Students are encouraged to read the text and the Questions before class.

Introduction to the Pramāņavarttika 

What is Pramana:    

• Pramana is one of the Five Fields of Tibetan Monastic Study.
• Pramana is often translated  as logic or epistemology, but its literal meaning is valid cognition or valid cognizer, i.e., an awareness that understands/realizes its object.
• We "know" many things that later turn out not to be true.  You can only "realize" -- actually "know" -- something that actually exists.
• A Valid Cognizer "incontrovertibly knows" its object.  So how does it do that?  These are some questions raised in the study of pramana.

Track 2 - Life Story of Dignaga

Track 3 - Life Story of Dharmakirti

The interesting stories of these great scholars' lives are presented.  Academic controversy began with regard to Dharmakirti and the Pramāņavarttika in his own time, and his verses of response may be misinterpreted by scholars today.  These controversies and interpretations are presented extensively in the class.

Some of Dharmakirti's colleagues tied this text to the tail of a dog and sent it forth to the villages.  He reputedly responded, ‘Oh, this is great.  The dog runs through the different villages and spreads my teachings.’

The verse that, in response to such negative reception, Dharmakirti inserted before the homage reads:

Most living beings are attached to the mundane and not endowed with the dexterity of wisdom.
Not only are they not interested in excellent teachings, they are hateful owing to the defilement of envy. 
This is why I do not think that this [treatise] will be beneficial to others.
However, since I have generated great effort familiarizing [my] mind with excellent teachings, I am happy [to compose the treatise].

The verse added after composition, when he realized that his disciple did not understand the implicit meanings of his text is:

Just as a river into the ocean, [the meaning of this treatise] will dissolve into my body and disappear.

Dignaga & Dharmakirti had a great impact on the course of Buddhist philosophy and Indian philosophy. "Their expositions on language, negation, direct perception, etc., were highly influential among both Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophers, but their greatest impact derived from their analysis of inferential reasoning.

The debate format that is still very popular among Tibetan Buddhists is based largely on Dignaga and Dharmakirti’s works.  Dharmakirti’s Pramāņavarttika, in particular, provides Tibetan Buddhist philosophers with a standard vocabulary that is used as a framework for analysis of the various Buddhist scriptures.  It also represents the epistemological foundation of the curriculum in many Tibetan monastic institutions.

Study Questions (p. 10 of Introduction) related to Class 1:

• Who composed the Compendium of Pramana and how many chapters does it have?
• Who composed the Pramāņavarttika and how many chapters does it have?
• Who composed the Elucidation of the Path of Liberation?
• Which of these three commentaries are written in verse and which are written in prose?
• On which text does the Pramāņavarttika primarily comment?
• On which text does the Elucidation of the Path of Liberation primarily comment?
• Which philosophical tenet school does Dignaga follow?
• Which philosophical tenet school does Dharmakirti follow?
• Which philosophical tenet school does Gyaltsab Je follow?

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 1st class of the Fall 2014 term of

the Pramanavarttika course - which examines the
Second Chapter of Dharmakirti's Commentary's on 

[Dignaga's] Compendium of Valid Cognition