On the Origin of Indian Logic from the Viewpoint of the Pali Canon

In this paper, I show that in the Pali Canon there was a tradition of Buddhist logic, but this tradition was weak, and the proto-logic we can reconstruct on the basis of the early Pali texts can be evaluated as a predecessor of the Hindu logic. According to the textual analysis of the Pali texts, we can claim that at the time of the closing of the Pali Canon (excluding the later addition of the Milindapanha into it by the Burmese tradition) there did not exist the Nyaya philosophy known by the Nyaya Sutra. Meanwhile, we can assume that the Milindapanha, the best logical source of early Pali literature, was written under influences of the Gandharan Buddhists and this text preceded the Nyaya philosophy.