 While philosophers in the West trace their lineage back to ancient Greece, it is worth remembering that philosophical ideas were also being discussed elsewhere in the world. One tradition that has a long history of concern with issues to do with the minds of others is the Indian Buddhist tradition. While one should not read texts from other philosophical traditions only to find parallels with one’s own, it is striking that these early Buddhist philosophers may be thought to have grappled with many of the same issues concerning others as have philosophers in the Western tradition. It is possible to find discussion of both epistemological and conceptual problems in connection with others in Buddhist texts. There are two important works in this tradition devoted to questions concerning others, one by Dharmakīrti in the seventh century and another by Ratnakirti in the 11th. Indeed, Sharma (1985) writes that “Dharmakīrti is perhaps the first ever thinker to make a systematic attempt to come to grips with this problem [of other minds]”. Dharmakīrti is an idealist who denies the reality of the external world and whose work, therefore, is open to the charge of solipsism. In his Proof of the Existence of Other Streams of Consciousness, Dharmakīrti first points out that the mind of another is imperceptible; he then goes on to argue that other minds are inferred from observed speech and action. Dharmakīrti is careful to acknowledge that there are limits to our understanding of others (we cannot know what it is like for them) (Inami 2001). Ganeri (2012) suggests that what we find in Dharmakīrti’s text is “a sort of argument from analogy” for the existence of others. Responding to Dharmakīrti here, Ratnakirti points out the difficulties in reasoning to the mind of another that one can never be in a position to verify. In effect, Ratnakirti argues that other minds cannot be taken to exist, and solipsism must be accepted. However, Ratnakirti is careful to draw a distinction between conventional and ultimate existence—while other minds do not exist ultimately, they do exist conventionally. It is this conventional existence that explains our actions with regards to others. According to Ganeri, we can also find in Ratnakirti’s work arguments to show that it is not possible even to form a conception of another mind (2012: 203). This problem is particularly pressing for the Buddhist philosopher for, as Ganeri reminds us (2012: 202), without a conception of others it is a question how can one cultivate compassion.