Bhāviveka and Avalokitavrata on the Two So-Called Non-cause Theories (ahetuvāda) of the Lokāyatikas

The article discusses Bhāviveka’s Prajñāpradīpavṛtti and Avalokitavrata’s Prajñāpradīpaṭīkā commentaries on the “not without a cause” (nāpy ahetutaḥ) alternative of Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā 1.1ab, from which it emerges that at least two distinct theories of causality can be attributed to the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Toso, Krishna Del (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2023
In: Indo-Iranian journal
Year: 2023, Volume: 66, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-23
Further subjects:B Avalokitavrata
B svabhāvavāda
B Bhāviveka
B Causality
B ahetuvāda
B Lokāyata
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Summary:The article discusses Bhāviveka’s Prajñāpradīpavṛtti and Avalokitavrata’s Prajñāpradīpaṭīkā commentaries on the “not without a cause” (nāpy ahetutaḥ) alternative of Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā 1.1ab, from which it emerges that at least two distinct theories of causality can be attributed to the Lokāyata school. The first one is a physicalist theory that confines all causal relations within the sphere of material elements and is assimilated to accidentalism. The second one is a naturalist theory that attributes causal power to inner nature (svabhāva). The paper discusses the theoretical differences between these two approaches, considers Bhāviveka’s and Avalokitavrata’s counter-arguments and concludes that some of the conjectures that modern scholars have put forward on the relation between svabhāvavāda, accidentalism and Lokāyata should be revised.
ISSN:1572-8536
Contains:Enthalten in: Indo-Iranian journal
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15728536-06601001