Apoha: 15 definitions

Introduction
In Buddhism
1. General definition
In Jainism
1. Jain philosophy
2. General definition
Languages
1. Sanskrit
2. Prakrit
3. Kannada
See also
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Introduction:

Apoha means something in Buddhism, Pali, Jainism, Prakrit, Hinduism, Sanskrit. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.

In Buddhism

General definition (in Buddhism)

Source: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Śāntarakṣita

Apoha (अपोह) refers to the Buddhist “exclusion theory”—a negative process of exclusions (or apoha) eliminates that which contradicts the referred object.—Apoha or exclusions typically involves a double negation. Because in Buddhism the absence of something is a fiction in that absences are not caused and do not function, exclusions can be used to explain away universals as the referents of words. Because negations are fictions, this lightens the ontological commitment. A distinction is drawn between entities and pseudo-entities. Only particulars are real; negations are not real, but they are also not universals. Universals are positive or affirmative, whereas exclusions are negative.

Kumārila levels three criticisms of apoha theory in particular: that it is circular, that it is counter-intuitive, and that it is redundant. Śāntarakṣita’s response to these criticisms begins by describing three primary types of negations which he equates with exclusions: non-implicative negations (niṣedha, med dgag) and two types of implicative negations (paryudāsa, ma yin dgag): mental exclusions and object exclusions.

In Jainism

Jain philosophy

Source: archive.org: Anekanta Jaya Pataka of Haribhadra Suri

Apoha (अपोह) refers to “distinction” (the doctrine of negative denotation), as occurring in the Anekāntajayapatākā-prakaraṇa, a Śvetāmbara Jain philosophical work written by Haribhadra Sūri.—[Cf. Vol. I, P. 333, ll. 5-7 & p. 334, ll. 3-8]—What words signify is the distinction of things from others which they are not (apohastaditaravyāvṛtti). The word ‘go’ gives us no idea about a bull It conveys to us that the entity we call ‘go’ is not a-go i.e., it is not a horse, a camel, etc. This is the apoha (distinction, difference or exclusion) which, according to the Bauddhas, is the conventional meaning of words.

Apoha is threefold:

vyāvṛtta-svalakṣaṇarūpa,
anyavyavaccheda-mātraka,
vikalpabuddhi-pratibhāsa.

Apoha or “the doctrine of negative denotation” is a logical necessity of kṣaṇikavāda, and it is endorsed by all the schools of Buddhism. Cf. Stcherbatsky’s Conception of the Buddhist Nirvāṇa (p, 155, fn, 3).—“But the school of Diṅnāga have a special theory of their own about the meaning of words according to which words express only relations, or mutual negation (apoha = parasparaparihāra = anyavyāvṛtti = vyavaccheda = pariccheda), between point-instants”.

context information

General definition (in Jainism)

Source: archive.org: Trisastisalakapurusacaritra

Apoha (अपोह) refers to “resolution of doubts” and represents one of the eight dhīguṇas (eight qualities), named in the Yogaśāstra, comentary p. 53a (Bhavnagar ed.). An alternative explanation offered by the commentary for ūha and apoha is that ūha is general knowledge and apoha specialized knowledge”.

context information

Jainism is an Indian religion of Dharma whose doctrine revolves around harmlessness (ahimsa) towards every living being. The two major branches (Digambara and Svetambara) of Jainism stimulate self-control (or, shramana, ‘self-reliance’) and spiritual development through a path of peace for the soul to progess to the ultimate goal.

Languages of India and abroad

Sanskrit dictionary

Source: DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary

Apoha (अपोह).—

1) Removing, driving away, healing &c.

2) Removal of doubt by the excercise of the reasoning faculty.

3) Reasoning, arguing; reasoning faculty.

4) Negative reasoning (opp. ūha) (aparatarkanirāsāya kṛto viparītastarkaḥ). one of the dhiguṇas q. v. स्वयमूहापोहासमर्थः (svayamūhāpohāsamarthaḥ); इमे मनुष्या दृश्यन्ते ऊहापोहविशारदाः (ime manuṣyā dṛśyante ūhāpohaviśāradāḥ) Mahābhārata (Bombay) 13. 145.43. ऊहापोहमिमं सरोजनयना यावद्विधत्तेतराम् (ūhāpohamimaṃ sarojanayanā yāvadvidhattetarām) Bv.2.74; hence ऊहापोह (ūhāpoha) = complete discussion of a question.

5) Excluding all things not coming under the category in point; तद्वानपोहो वा शब्दार्थः (tadvānapoho vā śabdārthaḥ) (where Maheśvara paraphrases apoha by atadvyāvṛtti i. e. tadbhinnatyāgaḥ),

6) A superfluous member attached to a structure of some construction.

Derivable forms: apohaḥ (अपोहः).

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Apoha (अपोह).—m.

(-haḥ) 1. The removal of doubt by the exercise of the reasoning faculty. 2. Reasoning, arguing. E. apa reverse, ūha to reason, and ghañ affix; opposed to doubt or deliberation.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Apoha (अपोह).—i. e. apa-ūh + a, m. Disconnecting reasoning, Mahābhārata 13. 6725.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Apoha (अपोह).—[masculine] na [neuter] removal, rejection, negation.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary

1) Apoha (अपोह):—[from apoh] m. pushing away, removing

2) [v.s. ...] (in disputation) reasoning, arguing, denying.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Goldstücker Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Apoha (अपोह):—[tatpurusha compound] m.

(-haḥ) Removing, taking off; e. g. in the Jaiminīya-nyāyam.: viśiṣṭasya yadādānamanyāpohena vastunaḥ . arthāntaranyāsavatī parivṛttirasau yathā. Comp. apohana and vyapoha.

2) Reasoning away, i. e. a reasoning which removes one object from another or disconnects two objects; the reverse of ūha, the reasoning which establishes a relation between two objects, i. e. which connects them (for the detailed explanation of the latter term see, however, s. v. ūha); e. g. on the words of the Bhāgav. Purāṇa which speak of the difference between Soul and Body: ‘dehastu sarvasaṃghāto jagattasthuriti dvidhā . atraiva mṛgyaḥ puruṣo neti netītyatattyajan’ Śrīdharasvāmin observes: neti netītyanyāpohe kriyamāṇe &c.; or in the Siddhāntamuktāvalī: apoharūpo nīlatvādirvijñānadharma iti cet . na . nīlatvādīnāṃ viruddhānāmekasminnasamāveśāt ‘are blue, yellow and similar qualities such properties of knowledge as must be disconnected from it by reasoning? no, for contrary notions as blue, yellow &c. cannot take place (at the same time in the same thing)’; the Dwandwa ūhāpoha ‘positive and negative reasoning, reasoning which connects and reasoning which disconnects’ is therefore also used in the sense of ‘thorough or clever reasoning, sharpness or cleverness of intellect’; e. g. in Bharatasena on a verse of the Bhaṭṭik.: ūhāpohakṣamairna śukādivadadhītavaktṛtvam; or Mādhava says of a work on carpentry: ūhāpohakuśalapuruṣotprekṣāmūlā takṣasmṛtirna vedaṃ kalpayituṃ prabhavati.—Hemachandra calls apoha one of the eight qualities of intellect (śuśrūṣā śravaṇaṃ caiva grahaṇaṃ dhāraṇaṃ tathā ūhopohorthavijñānaṃ tattvajñānaṃ ca dhīguṇāḥ), but this piece of psychology seems to belong to him as exclusively as his definition of apāna. E. ūh with apa, kṛt aff. ghañ.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Apoha (अपोह):—[apo+ha] (haḥ) 1. m. The ascertainment of any thing, reasoning.

Source: DDSA: Paia-sadda-mahannavo; a comprehensive Prakrit Hindi dictionary (S)

Apoha (अपोह) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit words: Apoha, Avoha, Pūha.

[Sanskrit to German]

Apoha in German

context information

Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.

Prakrit-English dictionary

Source: DDSA: Paia-sadda-mahannavo; a comprehensive Prakrit Hindi dictionary

1) Apoha (अपोह) in the Prakrit language is related to the Sanskrit word: Apoh.

2) Apoha (अपोह) also relates to the Sanskrit word: Apoha.

context information

Prakrit is an ancient language closely associated with both Pali and Sanskrit. Jain literature is often composed in this language or sub-dialects, such as the Agamas and their commentaries which are written in Ardhamagadhi and Maharashtri Prakrit. The earliest extant texts can be dated to as early as the 4th century BCE although core portions might be older.

Kannada-English dictionary

Source: Alar: Kannada-English corpus

Apōha (ಅಪೋಹ):—

1) [noun] the act of pushing away; a driving out.

2) [noun] removal of doubt with help of reasoning.

3) [noun] the negative reasoning; the deviating wilfully from the logical method, to establish wrong conclusions.

4) [noun] a wrong inference.

5) [noun] incompleteness; deficiency; imperfection.

context information

Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.

Relevant text

Search found 18 books and stories containing Apoha, Apōha; (plurals include: Apohas, Apōhas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:

Verse 956 < [Chapter 16 - Examination of the Import of Words]

Verse 961-963 < [Chapter 16 - Examination of the Import of Words]

Verse 929 < [Chapter 16 - Examination of the Import of Words]

+ 114 more chapters / show preview

4.3. Sentence-Meaning in Other Systems of Knowledge < [Chapter 2 - Perspectives on the Concept of Sentence]

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A Dialogue between Mādhava and Dignāga

Dignāga on the View of a Generic Term as Denoting a Relation

Dharmakīrti’s Apoha Theory

+ 7 more chapters / show preview

Chapter VII - The Doctrine of Apoha or the Import of Words < [Part I - Metaphysics]

Introduction