인식의 인과관계를 통해 살펴본 의지각의 발생 과정

Abstract

Mental perception(mānasa-pratyakṣa) in Dharmakīrti’s philosophy is always difficult to be defined. It is included in the class of pratyakṣa, although its contents are so conceptual(vikalpa). The first is based on the reason of its object and the second relies on the process of cognition. To find out two causes would be examined. Thus, this article aims to define mental perception in the context of the causality. The two representative schools of Abhidharma argue different causalities in terms of time. One of them, Vaibhāṣika, argues that the cause and effect could exist at the same time. On the other hand, Sautrāntika insists that the cause exists always before its result. Dharmakīrti adopts the latter as his causality. The reason why Dharmakīrti adopted Sautrāntika’s theory is a concept of the condition of object support(ālmbana-pratyaya). The condition of object support in Sautrāntika is the same as the particular(svalakṣaṇa). It has the causal power(arthakriyā) so that it can raise pratyakṣa, as like a condition of object support. However, when the particular is converted to an image(ākāra) in the Buddhist epistemology, the concept of it is no longer considered as same as Sautrāntika’s. This article looks more concretely at how Manorathanandin explains the causal process of mental perception through his comment on verses 240 to 244 in the Pratyakṣa chapter of Pramāṇavārttika. First, he explains that the particular outside of cognition raises the mental perception. At the same time, a sense perception(indriya-pratyakṣa) as samantara-pratyaya raises it before one moment. Each cause gives a different role to the mental perception. The particular before one moment makes it pratyakṣa. On the other hand, the sense perception in the cognitive process makes it right cognition(pramāna). Only in the process of cognition, the mental perception can have the causal power, which later helps people achieve their goals. To sum up, the mental perception requires two causes for its different roles. Chief of all, samantara-pratyaya in the cognitive process is absolutely necessary to achieve one’s goal. The reason why a cognition is noteworthy is that, both as a perception and as right cognition, it plays a more essential role in achieving its purpose in daily life. Therefore, the process of mental perception is that we express our desire and achieve it.