Abstract

This paper studies the Tangut translation of Dharmakīrti’s Nyāyabindu. The Tangut translation of the treatise from the Tibetan text provides opportunities for us to pursue two objectives: it is a source that allows us to probe into the history of the rise of Tibetan Buddhist scholasticism in the Tangut State; it also enables us to make sense of the Tangut Buddhist language used to translate Tibetan Buddhist doctrinal and philosophical texts. The paper argues that the Tangut translation was based on the Tibetan version, either translated or revised in the late eleventh century by Rngog lo tsā ba Blo ldan shes rab. The translation embodies an effort by the Tibetans to introduce a monastic curriculum of presumably Gsang phu ne’u thog monastery in the Tangut State around the twelfth century. A part of the paper is a textual-critical study of the Tangut translation and the Tibetan original, which reveals certain connections between the Tangut and Tibetan Buddhist scholastic languages.