Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c6.s5.t13.2

c6.s5.t13.2

Arcaṭa gave a rebuttal to this objection by Kumārila, because Buddhists do not hold that all generalized reality (*sāmānya lakṣaṇa*) is cognized through inference only. But then this argument of Arcaṭa has gone against the dictum of Dharmakīrti himself, and thus misunderstood the theory of Diṅnāga and Dharmakīrti. D.N. Shastri rightly points out that followers of Buddhist philosophy like Arcaṭa as well as the adherents of orthodox Nyāya philosophy misunderstood Dharmakīrti. The idea of inference in Diṅnāga and Dharmakīrti is different from its counterpart in orthodox Nyāya.