Yamāri (also transliterated as Jamāri; ca. 1000–1060) was an eminent eleventh-century Buddhist scholar and a major representative of the Buddhist epistemology school (Pramāṇavāda). He is renowned as the author of the Pramāṇavārttikālaṅkāranibandha (also known as Pramāṇavārttikālaṅkāraṭīkā Supariśuddhā, "The Thoroughly Purified Commentary"), which is the second and last major commentary on Prajñākaragupta's Pramāṇavārttikālaṅkāra. Yamāri's work applies Buddhist logic to fundamental religious questions including the reliability of the Buddha, the existence of God, karma and rebirth, and the path to liberation. His commentary was long considered lost in its original Sanskrit and was known only through Tibetan translation until a Sanskrit manuscript was recently discovered preserved in Lhasa, with a photocopy held at the China Tibetology Research Center (CTRC) in Beijing.
Source: Franco, Eli, Hiroko Matsuoka, Junjie Chu, and Xuezhu Li, eds. Yamāri's Pramāṇavārttikālaṅkāranibandha. Pramāṇasiddhi Chapter: Diplomatic Edition with Critical Notes. Part 1: Folios 3–107 on Pramāṇavārttikālaṅkāra on Pramāṇavārttika 2.1–50. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2025.
Mentioned in
A History of Buddha-Nature Theory: The Literature and Traditions
A lengthy historical survey of buddha-nature theory through the literature and traditions, based on academic scholarship.
Gardner, Alex. "A History of Buddha-Nature Theory: The Literature and Traditions." Buddha-Nature: A Tsadra Foundation Initiative, October 9, 2019. https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php/Articles/A_History_of_Buddha-Nature_Theory:_The_Literature_and_Traditions.
Other names
- Jamāri · other names
Affiliations & relations
- Prajñākaragupta · teacher
