Self, No-Self, and Salvation: Dharmakirti`s Critique of the Notions of Self and Person (Beitrage Zur Kultur- Und Geistesgeschichte Asiens)

From very early times, Buddhist intellectuals have made the notion of a self-existing over and above the bodily and mental constituent’s one of their main targets. Their critique first culminates in Vasubandhu’s treatise against the Buddhist personalists (5th century CE).The eighth-century philosophers Santaraksita and Kamalasila provide another milestone in the history of the mainstream Buddhists’ critique of the self and the person: their Tattvasangraha (panjika) contains the most learned and elaborate treatment of the subject. But how have Dignaga and Dharmakirti contributed to this debate? The present study attempts to answer at least in part this question by offering an account of Dharmakirti’s position regarding the self.The book’s introduction deals with Dharmakirti’s view of the self as the paramount expression of nescience. Chapter 1 is devoted to his critique of the two main expressions of Buddhist substantialism; the Buddha-nature teachings and Personalism (pudgalavada). Chapter 2 presents his way of undermining the non-Buddhists’ arguments in favor of the self. Finally, Chapter 3 provides a detailed account of Dharmakirti’s most original contribution on the subject; his demonstration that the (belief in the) existence of a self makes salvation impossible.