Yīnmíng lùn lǐ mén shí sì guò lèi shū 因明論理門十四過類疏
Commentary on the Fourteen Categories of Fallacies in the Treatise on Reasoning of Hetuvidyā by 窺基 (Kuījī, 撰)
About the work
A short topical sub-commentary by 窺基 (Kuījī, 632–682) on the doctrine of the “fourteen categories of fallacy” (十四過類 shísì guòlèi) in Dignāga’s Yīnmíng zhèng lǐ mén lùn běn KR6o0001 — the canonical taxonomy of jāti (futile rejoinders) inherited from the older Nyāya and revised by Dignāga. The work is preserved only in the Jīn 金 (Zhàochéng / Zhàochéngzàng 趙城藏) edition of the canon, recovered in the 1930s; it is therefore one of the rare yīnmíng texts not transmitted in the conventional Sòng-canon line, and supplies a witness to a side of Kuījī’s logical scholarship not represented in his Dàshū KR6o0008.
Structural Division
This work is preserved only in the Jīn (Zhàochéng) canon edition (A119n1553) and is not in CANWWW. It is a topical sub-commentary on KR6o0001.
Abstract
The opening colophon “因明論理門十四過類䟽 / 大慈恩寺沙門窺基撰” identifies the author. The work expounds Dignāga’s classification of the fourteen species of fallacy in argument: the verse-passage of the Mūla “謂於圓滿能立顯示缺减性言…” enumerates fourteen species, including (1) 無過宗有過宗言 (claiming a fault where there is none in the thesis), (2) 成就因不成就因言 (claiming non-establishment of an established reason), and so on through (14) 無過喻有過喻言 (claiming a fault where there is none in the example). Kuījī’s commentary glosses each in turn, supplying brief illustrations from contemporary Indian-school debates. The work is normally placed in Kuījī’s mature period at the Dà Cí’ēnsì, c. 660–682. The Jīn-canon recension is the only complete witness; the work is referenced by name in later Japanese Hossō literature but had largely fallen out of Chinese transmission until the 1930s recovery of the Zhàochéngzàng manuscripts.
Translations and research
- Shen Jianying 沈剣英. “Kuījī Shí-sì guò lèi shū yánjiū” 窺基《十四過類疏》研究. Zhōngguó zhéxué shǐ 中國哲學史 (1998).
- Frankenhauser, Uwe. Die Einführung der buddhistischen Logik in China. Wiesbaden, 1996.
- Yoshimizu Kiyotaka 吉水清孝. “On the Fourteen Categories of Jāti.” Indogaku Bukkyōgaku kenkyū 49.1 (2000).
Other points of interest
The work is a precious witness to Kuījī’s separate treatment of jāti (sophisms / futile rejoinders), a topic where the Indian and East Asian logical traditions diverge most sharply: the Indian tradition treats the fourteen jāti as Nyāya inheritances with technical content, whereas Dignāga and his East Asian followers treat them as a residue category to be pruned away in favour of the canonical fallacy-taxonomy. Kuījī’s Shísì guò lèi shū tries to reconcile the two approaches.