Aniccata/Anityata : An Analysis of Buddhist Opposition to Permanence/Stability and Alternative Foundation of Ontology and/or Anthropology/Mangala R. Chinchore. Delhi, Satguru, 1995, xxv, 247 p., $23. ISBN 81-7030-456-1. [Bibliotheca Indo-Buddhica Series No. 159]
Contents: Introduction. 1. Anityata: foundation of an alternative account of the real and/or man. 2. Ksanikata: an explanatory device to analyse Anityata. 3. Ksanabhanga: methodological aspect of Anityata. 4. Salient implications. Bibliography. Index.
"This work undertakes a detailed study of the nature and rationale of Anityata, the third pillar of Buddhism. It explores into the concerned rationale in its three phases: (a) Anityata in general in the sense of permanent susceptibility to change, (b) Ksanikata as the adequate condition of the occurrence/cognition of change, and (c) Ksanabhanga as the adequate condition of the occurrence/cognition of the most radical change. The inquiry into the rationale of Anityata in its different phases is undertaken with two aims in view: (a) To explore into the aspects of Buddhist opposition to permanence and/or stability in any form and adopted by anybody--Buddhist or non-Buddhist, and (b) to bring out conceptual change in the Buddhist camp and articulate the way Anityata provided a sound basis for putting forth characteristically Buddhist alternative ontology and/or anthropology in opposition to the ones which were then current, assessing the significance and importance of it. This study is novel and no one has yet undertaken any of its kind." (jacket)
[Mangala R. Chinchore is on the faculty of the Department of Philosophy, University of Poona. Her books include Vadanyaya : A Glimpse of Nyaya Buddhist Controversy and Dharmakirti's Theory of Hetucentricity of Anumana.]