In his Vaidalyaprakaraṇa, Nāgārjuna critiques the Nyāyasūtra, the foundational scripture of the Nyāya school of Indian logic. One distinctive feature of this text is the systematic analysis and refutation of the sixteen categories （padārtha） enumerated in the Nyāyasūtra from the standpoint of the Madhyamaka school. No Sanskrit original or Chinese translation of this text is known, and only a Tibetan translation is available. As the specific focus of this paper, in the 27th verse, in which Nāgārjuna refutes examples （dṛṣṭānta）, and in the 32nd verse, in which he refutes established doctrines （siddhānta）, Nāgārjuna employs a form of reasoning that is not commonly found in his other writings. In these passages, Nāgārjuna analyzes dṛṣṭānta as dṛṣṭa-anta and siddhānta as siddha-anta, with the aim of negating the possibility of the establishment of anta. This serves as an attempt to deny the existence of examples （dṛṣṭānta） and established doctrines （siddhānta）. The usage of these two passages is highly significant in identifying the context of Nāgārjuna’s composition of the Vaidalyaprakaraṇa. Therefore, this paper aims to compare these passages with examples from Nāgārjuna’s other works while considering the doctrines of the Nyāya school to provide further insights and analysis.
