A method for driving a PDP is provided in which power loss is reduced and
light emission efficiency is improved while applying a voltage pulse train
so as to generate display discharge whose number of times corresponds to
luminance in cells to be lighted. A drive step of one pulse for generating
one time of display discharge includes steps of supplying current to a
pair of display electrodes of the cells to be lighted from a drive power
source so as to charge capacitance between the display electrodes so that
voltage between the display electrodes exceeds display discharge start
voltage and cutting off a current path between the display electrode pair
and the drive power source at least in a part of a period from start to
end of the display discharge.
