Dignaga (6th century) and Dharmakirti’s (7th
century) theory of perception
The Abhidharma period 1st BCE -3rd CE:
the five psycho-physical aggregates (material forms, feelings, discrimination,
mental formations, and consciousness) or five skandas, the base of self.
Mind and mental factors (modalities with which we experience
the world with our mind)
Perception (sensory consciousness) in terms of three
conditions: external object, sensory faculty,
awareness, these 3 lead to perception.
Contact between a sense and an object is necessary for a perception to
arise. Scope is broadest for sight, then
auditory, olfactory, gustatory and tactile sensations most limited.
The first systematic system of Buddhist theory of perception
: the writings of Dignaga (student of Vishubandhu) in the 5th
century. Dharmakirti’s Seven
Works on Epistemology in the 7th century developed further
Dignaga’s view. All 7 texts in Tibetan language
survived. The available Pali and Sanskrit texts are incomplete.
Both Dignaga (6th century) and Dharmakirti’s (7th
century) were founders of the Pramana tradition (Buddhist epistemological
school).
Important questions:
1.How does our perception represent the world?
2.Do our senses give direct access to the actual world or
are even our perceptual knowledge always mediated?
3.How is the info received thru our senses integrated in our
cognition?
4. What is the role of our memory in our perception? Prior
experiences?
5.How are concepts formed, what is their status vs. reality?
How do thoughts relate to the actual world?
6.What is the connection between thought, language and reality?
Our knowledge of the world comes from 2 sources: our senses
and thoughts. Our lived world is made up
of unique particulars (which are real), and general characteristics (which are
unreal) constructed by our language and thought.
Perception-> real particulars (unique nature, momentary, causally efficient, at a specific time and place, inexpressible: the moment we try to express, it changes/moves on).
Thought -> general characteristics
Perception-> real particulars (unique nature, momentary, causally efficient, at a specific time and place, inexpressible: the moment we try to express, it changes/moves on).
Thought -> general characteristics
Dharmakirti’s theory of perception:
Definition:
Dignaga defines perception in terms of “free of conceptuality” (which involves “associates names and kinds to the object.”/categorizing, discrimination...).
Dignaga defines perception in terms of “free of conceptuality” (which involves “associates names and kinds to the object.”/categorizing, discrimination...).
Dharmakirti’s revised definition: perception is free of
conceptuality and is undistorted (free from distortion).
Both propound a causal theory of perception (a perception
and the object are not simultaneous; they are subsequent, perception is always a
consequence of the obj that triggers the perception.
“When a perception occurs, a sensory obj acts as a
contributing cause for the production of a cognition in which an “image” of
that sensory obj appears.” (Dunne, 2004)
Cognitive science theory of illusions-> Dhamrmakirti would refer to this as illusion of the mind (at the level of interpretation, not at the level of sensory experience). To Dharmakirti, perceptual illusions are sensoral or perceptual, hence they are NOT undistorted. They do not qualify as genuine perception, because these experiences do not correspond to actual reality. They do not reflect reality as it actually is. Distorted perceptions result from a defect caused by an internal (a disease…) or external factor (environmental…). The distortion happens at the level of the perceptual mechanism itself (at a very fundamental level). Contrast this with at the level of the mind (recognizing rope is no longer a snake).
Genuine perception is free of concept, devoid of any form of articulation of the perceptual content, mere sensing of the object, no conceptual processing. Perception does not determine.
Perceptual reduction experiment by Dhamrmakirti:
Withdrawing one's mind from everything else
And with no movement of thoughts
Even in such a state one senses the form
This cognition is sense-born (perception)
When later thought slowly returns
one then identifies one's own conceptuality
and knows that this conceptualizing was absent
for the previously mentioned sensory cognition.
Pramanavarttika III:124-125
Source:
Mind & Life XXX - Session 1 Perception
