The Authorship of the Nyayapravesa

This article reopens the question of who wrote the Nyāyapraveśa, an introductory text on logic traditionally attributed to the Buddhist logician Dignāga. French scholar M. Tubianski suggested that the work might instead be by Śaṅkara Svāmin, and the article summarises his arguments. By comparing the colophons of Tibetan translations, Chinese catalogues and later commentaries, the author notes that some sources explicitly ascribe the Nyāyapraveśa to Śaṅkara Svāmin and distinguish it from Dignāga’s Nyāyamukha. The article reviews Indian and Chinese traditions, pointing out that early Chinese translators refer to the author as Sheng-chia-lo-su (Śaṅkara). However, it also considers evidence from Buddhist scholastic commentaries that treat the Nyāyapraveśa as an abridgement of Dignāga’s work. The author discusses stylistic differences: the Nyāyapraveśa emphasises didactic clarity and uses terminology not found in Dignāga’s authenticated works. Yet its logical framework—definition of inference, categories of hetu and fallacies—closely parallels Dignāga’s system. The article concludes by suggesting that the Nyāyapraveśa may represent an intermediate redaction by a later Buddhist scholar who sought to simplify Dignāga’s logic for students. Rather than definitively crediting either Dignāga or Śaṅkara Svāmin, the author advocates acknowledging the text’s composite origins and its role in disseminating Buddhist logic across India and Central Asia.

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