Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s7.t2.64

v1.c7.s7.t2.64

In old Hetuvidya, Buddhism usually adopted a five-part syllogism and some Buddhist texts, when talking about Hetuvidya, mentioned “three-part syllogism”, for instance, the *Mula-madhyamaka-karika* mentioned “proposition-cause-comparison”, but its examples also contained “application”, and it is not a sure form of three-part syllogism. “*Yogacarabhumi-sastra*” refers to “Founding Communion”, “Debating on the Causal” and “Allusion”. To sum up, three-part syllogism in old *Hetuvidya* is neither a regular nor a perfect reference. On the basis of these shortcomings, new *Hetuvidya* explicitly removed “application” and “conclusion”, made “three parts” a quite regular form of syllogism and further improved and made some contents more reasonable or scientific. Dignaga and Samkarasvamin all gave three-part examples in their works.