Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s7.t2.82

v1.c7.s7.t2.82

As for “valid cause”, Dharmakirti advanced on the basis of “trairupya”. He suggested, there could be three kinds of valid cause that satisfied “three conditions” ie unattainable, of self-nature and causal. “Unattainable cause” means, when inferring the non-presence of an object, the cause can be not finding this object under relevant conditions, for instance, the signs (sound, body, etc.) of the presence of someone are not found in a certain place, and this being a cause, it can be inferred that this person is not present; “cause of self nature” means inferring the genus of an object from its attributes, for instance, an object can move and make a sound by itself (with attributes of animal or belonging to a kind of animal), it could be inferred as animal; “causal cause” means inferring the cause from the effect for an cause-and-effect object. For instance, from the rising of water, it can be inferred that it rains in the upper reaches of the river. As for “inferential errors”, Dharmakirti also put forth some novel ideas and he had a different opinion on *Asadharaṇa-anaikantika* and *Viruddhavyabhicarin*, the two hetvābhasa proposed by some *Hetuvidya* thinkers (Dignaga and others).