Udayana
The order of the world proves a creator God, and a lasting self exists – both against the Buddhists who denied them.
Placement
Nyaya logician: his “Handful of Flowers of Reason” offers the classical Indian arguments for a creator God against Buddhists and Mimamsakas, and against the Buddhist denial of a lasting self.
Key ideas
- Proofs of God (Ishvara)
- Defence of an enduring self
- Fusion of Nyaya and Vaisheshika
Influence
Influenced by 2
Kanada
influenced by
Udayana commented on Prashastapada’s exposition of Kanada’s Vaisheshika in his Kiranavali and joined its categories with Nyaya logic in one system. Udayana, Kiranavali; K. H. Potter (ed.), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies II (1977)
Evidence: AI draft
Kanada › c. 200–130 BCE
Akshapada Gautama
influenced by
Udayana worked within the tradition of the Nyaya-sutra, writing a subcommentary on its commentaries and using its theory of inference for his proofs of God (Nyayakusumanjali). Udayana, Nyayakusumanjali; K. H. Potter (ed.), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies II (1977)
Evidence: AI draft
Akshapada Gautama › c. 120–190
Influenced 1
Gangesha
influenced
Gangesha built on Udayana’s synthesis of Nyaya and Vaisheshika and took up his proofs of God in the Tattvacintamani, the founding text of Navya-Nyaya. Gangesha, Tattvacintamani; K. H. Potter & S. Bhattacharyya (eds.), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies VI (1993)
Evidence: AI draft
Gangesha › c. 1300–1360
Criticism
Criticizes 2
Kumarila Bhatta
criticised
Udayana argued against Kumarila’s Mimamsa that the Veda needs an author, God, and that its validity derives from its source rather than being intrinsic (Nyayakusumanjali). Udayana, Nyāyakusumāñjali; K. H. Potter (ed.), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies II, 1977
Evidence: AI draft
Kumarila Bhatta › c. 590–650
Dharmakirti
criticised
Udayana defended an enduring self against Dharmakirti’s school, rejecting momentariness and the denial of external objects (Atmatattvaviveka) and its arguments against God (Nyayakusumanjali). Udayana, Ātmatattvaviveka; Nyāyakusumāñjali; K. H. Potter (ed.), Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies II, 1977
Evidence: AI draft
Dharmakirti › c. 600–660
Works
- c. 1000Nyayakusumanjali
A “handful of flowers of reason”: five chapters of arguments for the existence of God against Buddhists, Mimamsakas and other sceptics.
Position
Udayana fused the realist schools of Nyaya and Vaisheshika almost into one system and defended them against the Buddhists. In the Nyayakusumanjali he gave the classical Indian arguments for God (Ishvara): the world is an effect and so needs an intelligent maker; the first combination of atoms needs a guiding mind; the conventions of language and the authority of the Veda need an original author. He thus answered the Mimamsakas, for whom the Veda needs no author and God is superfluous. In the Atmatattvaviveka he attacked the Buddhist doctrines of momentariness and no-self and defended an enduring self. Gangesha built directly on his work, which prepared Navya-Nyaya.
Life & context
Udayana was a Brahmin logician from Mithila in northern Bihar, an old centre of Nyaya learning. Little is known of his life. One of his works, the Lakshanavali, bears a date corresponding to 984 CE, which places him in the late 10th century; other scholars, noting his replies to Buddhist logicians active around 1000, date him to the 11th century.
Further main works
- Discernment of the Truth about the Self (Atmatattvaviveka, late 10th or 11th century)
- Lakshanavali (dated 984 CE)
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