四川话百科：“拖板儿鞋”就是拖鞋

Question

It is commonly claimed in Nyaya and Vedanta circles that Udayanacharya brought an end to the long-standing philosophical debate between Buddhist thinkers and Vaidika traditions. His works, such as Kusumanjali, Atmatattva Viveka, and Nyaya Vartika Tatparya Parishuddhi, are said to have decisively refuted core Buddhist doctrines like shunyavada, kshanikavada, and vigyanavada.

A Traditionalist Vedantin author summarizes this viewpoint as follows:

**"Dharmkirti who is well known for his scholarly works, criticized nyaya doctrines and Vartikam in his Work called “Praman -Vartika”. After Dharmkirti Buddhism went into decline, last work which was a considerable criticism was written by a Nalanda professor as “TatvaSangraha”. In This tatvaSangraha the writer had also tried to critize BhagvatPad Sankara’ views (verse 330-331).

Vachaspati misra who was the knower of 12 darshanas, He wrote Nyaya Vartika Tatparya tika and answered the claims that were made till now in a very good manner. His refutations are Calm,deep and subtle.**

An unexpected refutation came from Kashmir and that was from Jayanta Bhatt. He wrote an independant commentary on NyayA suTras called “Nyaya Manjari” He established the authority of the Veda and refuted the buddhist doctrines mercilessly. He has quoted everyone be it DharmaKirti, Dingnaga or Dharmottara.

Bhasvarajna an other Kashmiri wrote ‘NyayaBhusana’. He criticized everyone from Nagarjuna till Prajnakara Gupta(writer of VartikaAlankara).

Jayanta Has wrote a verse while refuting ????????? which goes as follows :-

???????????? ???????????? ? ???????? ??????????? , ????????? ???????? ?????????????????? ??????? ????? ? ???? ????????? ????? ????? ?????? ?????????, ????????? ????? ??????????? ??????? ????? ??? ?

You Bauddhas, hold that there is no soul, yet you construct caityas (towers) to enjoy pleasure in paradise after death; you say that everything is momentary, yet you build monasteries with the hope that they will last for centuries; and you say that the world is void, yet you teach that wealth should be given to spiritual guides. What a strange character the Bauddhas possess; they are verily a monument of conceit.

JnanaSariMitra and his disciple RatnaKirti wrote some works answering Vachaspati and made last tries to save buddhist philosophy from the attacks of logicians.

UdayanaCharya ended this debate with very strong logics. He composed works as “Kusumanajali” “Atma Tatva Viveka” and “Nyaya Vartika Tatparya Parishuddhi” and refuted ShunyaVada,KshanikVada,VigyanVada.

There are other works as Bauddha Dhikkara tika(sankara misra) and Bauddh dhikkar shiromani but till then Buddhism became a history."

Source - The Literary debates between Buddhists and Vaidikas

Given this narrative, my question is the following:

Did any later Buddhist philosophers, either in India, Tibet, Nepal, or elsewhere, directly or indirectly respond to Udayanacharya's arguments? Are there surviving texts or commentaries that attempt to refute or answer his critiques of the Buddhist doctrines of no-self, momentariness, and emptiness?

Or did the Buddhist tradition leave Udayana's works unanswered, either due to historical decline or strategic neglect?

Any textual, historical, or scholastic leads would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

From this Dharmawheel post:

Udayana was a scholar who was provoked by J?ānashrimitra's refutation of Trilocana, Vachaspati, Bhāsarvaj?a and other Naiyayikas.

Therefore, he composed Atma Tattva Viveka and Nyāya Kusumanjali.

His works even reflect his constant word-shaming and frustrations too.

He was refuted by J?ānashrimitra's student Ratnakīrti in his essays :- "Udayana Nirakaranam"

"Udayana Nirākara?am" simply means "refutation of Udayana".

The book "Ratnakirti's Udayana Nirakaranam" (1984) edited by Raghunath Pandey (aka R.N. Pandey) and published by Sri Satguru Publications has the following description by the publisher as quoted from Asia Bookroom's page on it. You can buy the book there.

Text in Sanskrit, introduction in English.

"This work of Ratnakirti refutes arguments of Udayana in Atamattatwaviveka, revealing the conflict of mind with mind, ideas with ideas, and philosophy with philosophy in a lucid style." (Publisher's description).

You can also buy it from Reader's End which has this long description:

Acharya Udayana in his Atmatattwaviveka supports the theory of permanent soul & refuted the Buddhist concepts of Apoha, ksanabhanga etc. he vehemently refuted Jnansrihmitra the preceptor of Ratnakirti in his works. Ratnakirti was a Mahapandit & crudite scholar, his exposition of Kshanbhanga. Apoha & other special theories is very learned & noteworthy for their analysis. The present work has not been mentioned either in the Ratnakirti Nibandhavali or in Tibetan translations. The title of the present work has been asserted on the basis of quotation in atmattawaviveka from the work Apohasiddhi. As in the all other works of Ratnakirti, this worked also begin with salutation to goddess Tara, furthermore at the end of the chapter IInd. Its name has clearly been mentioned. This work refutes arguments of Udayana in Atamattatwaviveka in a very lucid style. The present work of ratnakirti brings before us a combat of two logicians with arguments and counter arguments, philosophy with philosophy. The word logi machy applies to their discussion very suitably. The work has been critically deciphered from a very faded mss, after a a long spell of time. There is available no Sanskrit of its original as such the present decipherment we hope will be welcome by the scholars all over the world.