Pre-Dinnaga Buddhist Texts on Logic from Chinese Sources, by Giuseppe Tucci

"In this Volume I have collected, translated, and commented upon the texts on logic or bearing upon the history and development of Indian logic, preserved in Chinese sources and anterior to Dinnaga. Two of these texts, viz., the Upayahrdaya and the Tarkasastra, have been translated not into English but into Sanskrit, for the following reasons. First of all it has been proved that the more a text is translated into different languages, the more it is subject to alterations. Secondly these works are very technical, since they are concerned more with rules of dialectical debates, vivada than with epitemological theories. Although their bearing upon the first development of Indian logical theories is great, their theoretical interest is not so wide as that of some of later treatises like those of Dinnaga and Dharmakirti. Moreover, the contents of these two texts are such as to appeal very much to many of the Naiyayikas of modern India who are masters of Sanskrit, but very often possess a scanty knowledge of English. When we write on Indian subjects we must try, if possible, not to forget the large mass of the Indian pandits, whose deep learning I had very often the opportunity to admire, and from whose collaboration our studies might be largely benefited. As regards my translation I must say that it has not been my purpose to give any hypothetical restoration of our texts into Sanskrit. Even though the Chinese seems very often to adhere quite strictly to the original, we cannot state that it is literal in every passage. As a rule, the Chinese translators do not reproduce their text, verbatim, as the Tibetans do; they try to render the original in such a way that it becomes intelligible to Chinese readers. It is evident therefore that my Sanscrit text is nothing"