The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (665 page)

 
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Dign
ga
or Di
ga
.

Buddhist logician who flourished towards the end of the 5th cent. CE. His greatest work is the
Pram
a-samuccaya
which combines many of his earlier insights into a complete system of epistemology.

 
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(Skt.). Initiation; in Indian religions, the means of access into a religious tradition, religious or social condition. D
k
a is given by the preceptor or
guru
and often involves the giving of a new name to the initiate which symbolizes the end of one condition and birth or entrance into a new.
In Hinduism, in the
Vedas
, d
k
a was a necessary prerequisite for the
soma
sacrifice undergone by the sacrificer (
yajam
na
) and his wife, involving asceticism (
tapas
) and fasting. In the
Upani
ads
, initiation into an ascetic life involves undergoing hunger, thirst, and abstention from all pleasure (
Chandogya Upani
ad
3. 17. 2). The importance of d
k
a carries on into classical and medieval Hinduism where subtraditions within the central traditions of
Vai
avism
,
aivism
, and
Tantrism
all required d
k