Dignāga (Sanskrit Dignāga / Diṅnāga / Dinnāga; Chinese 陳那 Chén-nà, 大域龍 Dà-yù-lóng, 童授 Tóng-shòu), conventionally dated c. 480–540 CE (some scholars give c. 470–530); a south-Indian brahmin-born Buddhist ācārya of the Andhra region, recognised as the founder of the Buddhist pramāṇa (epistemology + logic) tradition and as one of the most influential figures of late-classical Yogācāra. Disciple of Vasubandhu (世親), teacher of Īśvarasena, and the spiritual grandfather (through Īśvarasena) of Dharmakīrti (法稱). Together with Vasubandhu and Dharmakīrti he forms the central trio of the “Two Excellences and Six Ornaments” (二勝六莊嚴) of Indian Buddhist scholasticism in the Tibetan reckoning.
His extensive surviving corpus is preserved partly in Chinese and partly in Sanskrit / Tibetan witnesses. The principal works translated into Chinese include the Pramāṇasamuccaya 集量論 (epistemology), the Nyāyamukha Yīn-míng zhèng-lǐ mén lùn 因明正理門論 (logic), the Hetucakraḍamaru Yīn-lún jué-zé lùn 因輪抉擇論, the Hetumukha Yīn-mén lùn 因門論, the Hetvābhāsamukha Sì-yīn-mén lùn 似因門論, the Sāmānyalakṣaṇaparīkṣā Guān zǒng-xiàng lùn 觀總相論 (KR6n0121), the Ālambanaparīkṣā Guān suǒ-yuán-yuán lùn 觀所緣緣論 / Wú-xiāng sī-chén lùn 無相思塵論 (KR6n0112 / KR6n0111), the Hastavālaprakaraṇa Jiě-juǎn lùn / Zhǎng-zhōng lùn 解捲論 / 掌中論 (KR6n0118 / KR6n0119), the Upādāyaprajñaptiprakaraṇa Qǔ-yīn jiǎ-shè lùn 取因假設論 (KR6n0120), the Trikālaparīkṣā Guān sān-shì lùn 觀三世論, the Abhidharmakośavṛtti-marmapradīpa Apídámó jù-shè lùn-zhù jīng-yào dēng 阿毘達磨俱舍論註精要燈, and the Prajñāpāramitāpiṇḍārtha Bān-ruò bō-luó-mì-duō yuán-jí yào-yì lùn 般若波羅蜜多圓集要義論. His logical works were translated into Chinese principally by 玄奘 and 義淨 and into Tibetan by Vidyākaraprabha and Pal-tsek.
Doctrinally Dignāga is the founder of the sākāra / “form-bearing” current within Yogācāra (cognition apprehends its object via an internal ākāra “image”), the originator of the canonical theory of pratyakṣa (perception) and anumāna (inference) as the sole valid means of knowledge, and the architect of the so-called “wheel of reason” (hetucakra) — the systematisation of valid versus fallacious inferential evidence that defined Buddhist logic for the next millennium. (Sources: インド仏教 p. 176; 佛光大辭典 p. 4820; Sòng gāosēng zhuàn: Kuījī biography, T50n2061 p. 725c29.)