Dharmakīrti’s School, Epistemological Ontology and New Comparative Dimensions

This article examines the ontological implications inherent in the sharp distinction, established within Diṅnāga’s school, between sensory perception and all mental constructions. Focusing on Dharmakīrti’s equation (and that of his commentators) of being with causal efficacy (arthakriyā), both in the Nyāyabindu and Pramāṇavārttika (the 7th c. A.D.), the author reconstructs a more complete hierarchy of being within the Pramāṇa tradition of Buddhist philosophy, also basing himself on the most renowned commentaries, i.e., those of Vinītadeva, Dharmottara and Prajñākāragupta (the 7th–8th c. A.D). At the apex of this hierarchy stands the ultimately real being-as-causal efficacy, i.e., momentary perceptions; in the middle are all universals, including non-being (abhāva); at the bottom is the existence of illusory perceptual objects. While having been articulated by the commentators, this “ladder” already began its elaboration in Dharmakīrti’s writings. The article concludes by opening a new comparative horizon—juxtaposing Buddhist attempts to define being as such with certain Western models of ontological definitions (those of Plato and his followers up to the 21st century) and ontological hierarchies.