Dharmakirti

Dharmakīrti (fl. c. 7th century) was a Buddhist scholar of India. He was one of the Buddhist founders of Indian philosophical logic. He was one of the primary theorists of Buddhist atomism, according to which the only items considered to exist are momentary states of consciousness.

History

Born around the turn of the 7th century in Sumatra, Dharmakirti was a Sailendran prince. He became a revered scholar and poet in Srivijaya and moved to India to become a teacher at the famed Buddhist monastic university of Nalanda. He built on and reinterpreted the work of Dignāga, the pioneer of Buddhist logic, and was very influential among Brahman logicians as well as Buddhists. His theories became normative in Tibet and are studied to this day as a part of the basic monastic curriculum.

Collins colourfully contextualised Dharmakirti and his experience of disaffection and collegiate misunderstanding at Nalanda:

Writings