Dignāga

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

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Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/dignga

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was Dignāga born?c. 470/480 CE
2. Where was Dignāga born?India
3. Who was Dignāga?Dignāga was a Buddhist monk and scholar who lived around 470‑540 CE. He made big contributions to logic and the study of how we know things.
4. What did Dignāga do with logic?He created the first systematic framework for Buddhist reasoning, called hetu vidyā. This became the standard way of thinking about logic in India and Tibet.

Hetu Vidyā: The Indian philosophical tradition of logic and reasoning, emphasizing valid means of inference and argumentation.
Pramāṇa: In Buddhist epistemology, the valid means or sources through which reliable knowledge can be obtained, primarily perception and inference for Dignāga.
Apoha: Dignāga's theory of meaning, positing that conceptual understanding of words arises from negating or excluding all other entities.
Pratyaksa: Direct, non-conceptual perception through the senses, considered a primary source of valid knowledge by Dignāga.