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Dharmottara

Indian Buddhist author

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
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Source updated November 29, 2025

Dharmottara (Tibetan: chos mchog) was an 8th-century Indian Buddhist author of several important works on pramana (valid cognition, epistemology), including commentaries on the writings of Dharmakirti. Only one of his works survives in the original Sanskrit, the Nyāyabinduṭīkā, while others survive in Tibetan translation.

01Works

  • Apoha-nāma-prakaraṇa (gzhan sel ba zhes bya ba'i rab tu byed pa)
  • Kṣaṇabhaṅgasiddhi (skad cig ma 'jig pa grub pa)
  • Nyāyabinduṭīkā (rigs pa'i thigs pa'i rgya cher 'grel pa)
  • Paralokasiddhi ('jig rten pha rol grub pa)
  • Pramāṇaparīkṣā (tshad ma brtag pa)
  • Pramāṇaviniścayaṭīkā (tshad ma rnam par nges pa'i 'grel bshad)
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Related topics

Buddhist logico-epistemology

Buddhist logico-epistemology is a term used in Western scholarship to describe Buddhist systems of pramāṇa and hetu-vidya (reasoning, logic). While the term may refer to various Buddhist systems and views on reasoning and epistemology, it is most often used to refer to the work of the "Epistemological school" (Sanskrit: Pramāṇa-vāda), i.e., the school of Dignaga and Dharmakirti which developed from the 5th through 7th centuries and remained the main system of Buddhist reasoning until the decline of Buddhism in India.

Epistemology

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called the theory of knowledge, it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowledge in the form of skills, and knowledge by acquaintance as a familiarity through experience.