Nature of Perception : With Special Reference to Nyaya and Buddhism Book

In this work, the object has been to brought together the basic ideas of the different philosophical systems of Indian philosophy pertaining to Prama and Pramana and then tried to ascertain that in general Indian Philosophy and in particular both the systems i.e. Nyaya and Buddhism accept perception as a common source of knowledge i.e. pramana. In the first chapter entitled ‘Prama’ is comparatively exhaustive and discusses the nature of knowledge, means of acquiring knowledge etc. The second chapter entitled ‘Pramana’ deals with the definitions of pramana from Nyaya, Buddhists, Samkhya, Mimamsa, Jaina etc. points of view. The subject matter of third chapter is perception as a Pramana. All the Indian philosophical systems are unanimous in holding that perception is the basis of all the sources of knowledge. In the fourth chapter entitled ‘Definition of Perception’, I have discussed all the definition given by the old Naiyayikas. In the fifth chapter i.e. characteristics of perception, I have made it clear that Nyaya has accepted both the types of perception where as according to Buddhist thinkers there is only one type of perception i.e. Nirvikalpaka Pratyaksa and said that Savikalpaka Pratyaksa comes under anumana where we know each and everything about the object we have perceived. The sixth chapter concludes the study of the text. In this chapter, I have tried my best to distinguish prama and pramana. (jacket)