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{{Short description|9th/10th century Buddhist philosopher}}
'''Śaṅkaranandana''' (fl. c. 9th or 10th century), (Tibetan: ''Bde byed dga’ ba)'' was a [[Mahayana]] Buddhist philosopher,<ref>EAST | Epistemology and Argumentation in South Asia and Tibet, University of Heidelberg. https://east.ikga.oeaw.ac.at/buddh/ind/persons/</ref><ref name=":1" /> and a [[brahmin]] lay devotee ([[upāsaka]]) active in [[Kashmir]] in the [[Buddhist logico-epistemology|epistemological (''pramana'') tradition]] of [[Dignāga|Dignaga]] and [[Dharmakirti|Dharmakīrti]]. He was quite influential in both Kashmir and [[Tibet]], and became known as "the second Dharmakīrti," and “the Great Brahmin.”<ref name=":0">"Śaṅkaranandana" (Eltschinger) in Silk, Jonathan A (editor in chief). ''Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume II: Lives.''</ref>

Śaṅkaranandana is cited by both [[Kashmir Shaivism|Kashmiri Shaiva]] authors like [[Abhinavagupta]]<ref>Franco, Elo; Ratié, Isabelle (2016). ''Around Abhinavagupta: Aspects of the Intellectual History of Kashmir from the Ninth to the Eleventh Century,'' p. 282. LIT Verlag Münster</ref> and by Tibetan Buddhist authors and translators.<ref name=":0" /> Vincent Eltschinger states that he was "the main interlocutor of the [[Shaivism|Saiva]] [[Pratyabhijna|Pratyabhijña]] school and as one of the most influential thinkers among the early generations of Tibetan philosophers."<ref name=":1">Eltschinger, Vincent. ''Latest News from a Kashmirian “Second Dharmakīrti”'' In Patrick McAllister, Cristina Scherrer-Schaub, Helmut Krasser, ed., [https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/ikga/publikationen/reihen/beitraege-zur-kultur-und-geistesgeschichte-asiens-bkga/cultural-flows-across-the-western-himalaya ''Cultural Flows across the Western Himalaya.'' (BKGA 83.) Wien: VÖAW, 2015.]</ref> His influence on Kashmir Shaiva thinkers was such that Abhinavagupta even calls Śaṅkaranandana his "[[guru]]" in ''Mālinīvijayavārttika'' and speaks of Śaṅkaranandana's enlightenment in another text (the interpretation of this is disputed however).<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> This led some modern scholars to speculate whether Śaṅkaranandana was a Shaiva at some point who later converted to Buddhism. This thesis has not been proven however. [[Taranatha|Tāranātha’s]] ''History'' does state that he was a non-Buddhist brahmin who converted after seeing [[Manjushri|Manjusri]] in a dream. Whatever the case, all of Śaṅkaranandana's extant works are of a Buddhist persuasion.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />

Like other thinkers in his tradition, Śaṅkaranandana defended the idealistic [[Yogachara|Yogacara]] theory of "consciousness only" or ''Vijñānavāda'' through the logical refutation of any external objects of cognition.<ref name=":1" /> Thus, according to Eltschinger, for Śaṅkaranandana "[[Philosophical realism|realistic]] or [[Pluralism (philosophy)|pluralistic]] accounts of reality rely on latent tendencies and are ultimately erroneous". For Śaṅkaranandana, the ultimate view is the [[Nondualism|non-dual]] view (advaya-darsana) in which a Buddha perceives only non-dual consciousness free of subject-object distinctions and of all transformations of thought produced by latent tendencies.<ref>Eltschinger, Vincent. 2008. ''Śaṅkaranandana’s Sarvajñasiddhi: A Preliminary Report''. Mémoires de La Commission Orientaliste 1. Roma: Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente.</ref>

== Work ==
Śaṅkaranandana wrote at least 17 works on logic and epistemology.<ref name=":0" /> Four of his works have survived in Tibetan translation, and others have survived in Sanskrit manuscripts, most incomplete or fragmentary.<ref>Eltschinger, V. 2008. “Śaṅkaranandana's ''Sarvajñasiddhi''. A preliminary report”, in Sferra, F. (ed.), Manuscripta Buddhica I: Sanskrit Texts from Giuseppe Tucci's Collection, part 1. (Serie Orientale Roma 104.) Rome: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente, 115–56.</ref>

According to Eltschinger his magnum opus was most likely the ''Prajñālaṅkāra'' (“Ornament of Wisdom”), which was "a systematic exposition of the [[Yogachara|Yogācāra]] Buddhist doctrine of mind-only (''vijñaptimātratā'')."<ref name=":0" />

Among his other writings are four commentaries on Dharmakīrti's texts, including the ''Pramāṇavārttikaṭīkā'', which comments on Dharmakīrti's ''Pramāṇavārttikasvavṛtti''.<ref name=":0" />

One of his surviving texts, the ''Īśvarāpākaraṇa-saṅkṣepa (Summary of a refutation of [[Ishvara|Īśvarā]]),'' a refutation of the Hindu concept of a [[creator deity]], has been translated by into German in Helmut Krasser's [[Habilitation|habilitation study]].<ref>Krasser, Helmut (2002) ''Sankaranandanas Isvarapakaranasanksepa: Texte.'' Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften</ref><ref>[https://stb.univie.ac.at/en/research/research-projects/fp-detail-engl/news/sankaranandanas-isvarapakaranasanksepa-mit-einem-anonymen-kommentar-und-weiteren-materialien-zur/?tx_news_pi1%5Bcontroller%5D=News&tx_news_pi1%5Baction%5D=detail&cHash=15add66a9b509fabb8047eb8b62f5285 Krasser (2002). Śaṅkaranandanas Īśvarāpākaraṇasaṅkṣepa mit einem anonymen Kommentar und weiteren Materialien zur buddhistischen Gottespolemik]</ref>

Other works include:<ref name=":0" /><ref>Eltschinger, Vincent. 2006. “Les Œuvres de Śaṅkaranandana: Nouvelles Ressources Manuscrites, Chronologie Relative et Identité Confessionnelle.” ''Annali Dell’Università Degli Studi Di Napoli “L’Orientale”'' 66 (1–4): 83–122.</ref>

* ''Sambandhaparīkṣānusāra'' (translated by Parahita-bhadra and Dga’ ba’i rdo rje into Tibetan)
* ''Apohasiddhi'' translated by Manoratha and Rngog Blo ldan shes rab
*''Vādanyāya'' (a commentary on a work by Dharmakīrti)
* ''Pratibandhasiddhikārikā'' translated by Bhavyarāja and Rngog Blo ldan shes rab
* ''Laghupratibandhasiddhikārikā'' (“Short Proof of the Connection”)
* ''Sūkṣmaprāmāṇya-, Madhyaprāmāṇya-'', and ''Bṛhatprāmāṇya'' kārikās (“Short/Middle/Extensive versions of "Examination of Valid Cognition")
* ''Anyāpohasiddhikārikā'' (“Proof of Other-Exclusion”)
* ''Dharmālaṅkāra'' (“Ornament of the Dharma”)
* ''Sarvajñasiddhikārikā'' (“Proof of all-knowledge”)
* ''Svalpasarvajñasiddhikārikā'' (also known as ''Sarvajñasiddhisaṅkṣepa'', “Summary of the Proof of all-knowledge”),
* ''Saṅkṣipteśvarāpākaraṇa'' (also known as ''Īśvarāpākaraṇasaṅkṣepa'', “Summary of the Refutation of [a Creator] God”)
* ''Āgamasiddhi'' (“Proof of [the Human Origin of Authoritative] Scripture”)

==See also==
* [[Pramana]]
* [[Epistemology]]
* [[Dharmakirti]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==

{{Buddhism topics}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:10th-century Indian philosophers]]
[[Category:10th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:Atheist philosophers]]
[[Category:10th-century Buddhists]]
[[Category:Buddhist logic]]
[[Category:Mahayana Buddhist writers]]
[[Category:History of logic]]
[[Category:Indian Buddhists]]
[[Category:Indian scholars of Buddhism]]
[[Category:Indian logicians]]
[[Category:10th-century Indian Buddhists]]

Śaṅkaranandana - Revision history

DinahFlo5043561: added stub