Polemics with Nyaya-Vaisheshika about the existence of an actor in Shantarakshita’s Tattvasamgraha

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Abstract: The subject of this article is the philosophical polemics between Buddhism and Indian School of Nyaya-Vaisheshika on the question of existence and qualities of an actor as it presented in the chapter Atmapariksha (literally, "Study of the Atman") in Shantarakshita’s Tattvasamgraha). Shantarakshita is a Buddhist philosopher of the VIII century, one of the prominent Buddhist thinkers in India and Tibet, a representative of the school of Svatantrika-Madhyamaka. An outstanding oeuvre of Shantarakshita is "Tattvasamgraha" ("Compilation of Essential Problems", or "Compendium of Principles"). It is an extensive polemic work, containing 26 chapters that subject to criticism the identical number of the fundamental philosophical schools of India (Sankhya, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimansa, Lokayata, Yoga, Vedanta, and also Jainism and Buddhism of other schools). The author concludes that the key postulate of the Nyaya-Vaisheshika regarding the actor lies in the fact that for the mental phenomena (for example, desire, etc.), which are considered as qualities within its system, necessitates the presence of a certain substrate, namely Atman. Shantarakshita, in turn, criticizes the position of the Nyaya-Vaisheshika that the numerous perceptions are comprehended by "self" and, therefore, pertain to the same actor. This article is first to introduce translation from Sanskrit into the Russian language of a substantial passage from Shantarakshita’s Tattvasamgraha with commentaries of Kamalashila dedicated to the question of the existence of actor, as well as philosophical analysis of the aforementioned fragment of text.