Sanskrit Reading and Translation Workshop: Vācaspati Miśra on Yogic Perception

The aim of this workshop, organized by Elisa Freschi and Nilanjan Das, will be to read and translate a critique of an influential Buddhist theory of yogic perception offered by the Sanskrit philosopher and polymath, Vācaspati Miśra (9th/10th century), in his commentary Nyāyakaṇikā on Maṇḍana Miśra’s (8th century) Vidhiviveka.

For many Buddhist philosophers, the insight that paves the way for awakening is an experience that presents things as they truly are: as suffering, as impermanent, and so on. It is the experience of things as the Buddha taught them through Four Truths of the Noble Ones (caturāryasatya). Buddhist epistemologists in the tradition of Dharmakīrti (7th century) call this experience ‘yogic perception’ (yogipratyakṣa). In Nyāyakaṇikā, Vācaspati attacks Dharmakīrti’s theory of yogic perception.

Vācaspati’s critique is both historically significant in the context of studying Indian Buddhist philosophy. In the relevant section of the text, Vācaspati engages with a range of Buddhist authors—not just Dharmakīrti but also other figures like Dharmottara, Prajñākaragupta and Kamalaśīla. In this respect, the text is an invaluable source of historical information about how Buddhist theories of yogic perception were received and interpreted by non-Buddhist thinkers towards the end of the first millennium CE. In turn, Vācaspati himself became a target of attack for later followers of Dharmakīrti such as Jñānaśrīmitra (10th century) and Ratnakīrti (11th century). Thus, without a proper understanding Vācaspati’s challenge for Dharmakīrti, huge swathes of later Yogācāra texts like Jñānaśri’s Yoginirṇayaprakaraṇa and Ratnakīrti’s Sarvajñasiddhi are unintelligible.

The workshop will bring together leading experts, junior scholars, and graduate students whose research focuses on Buddhist and Mīmāṃsā philosophy.

Confirmed Participants

• Jed Forman (Simpson College)
• Alessandro Graheli (Toronto)
• Bhikṣu Hejung (Joongang Sangha University)
• Parimal Patil (Harvard)
• Akane Saito (Vienna)
• Davey Tomlinson (Villanova)
• Lee Ling Ting (Vassar College)

If you are interested in participating, please contact Nilanjan Das.

The organizers are grateful to the decanal fund at UTM, the Centre for South Asian Critical Humanities at UTM, and the Ho Centre for Buddhist Studies at U of T, for funding the workshop and for helping with logistics.