(c.480-540)
A south Indian monk and scholar who was an indirect student of Vasubandhu. He combined aspects of Yogācāra and Sautrāntika theories of perception with his own innovative logical methodology (pramāṇa). Based in Orissa, he wrote a number of important works on Abhidharma and pramāṇa, including his highly influential Pramāṇa-samuccaya. This combines many of his earlier insights into a complete system of epistemology. The work deals with the problems of sense-perception and its role in knowledge, the reliability of knowledge, and the relationship between sensations, images, concepts, and the external world. After Dignāga the lineage continued through his pupil Īśvarasena to the great Dharmakīrti in the 7th century.
