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On the Theory of Two Vasubandhus1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Extract

Since the publication of Professor J. Takakusu's ‘Life of Vasubandhu by Paramārtha’ in the year 1904, several scholars have made attempts to determine the date and works of Vasubandhu. The problem is beset with several difficulties. Tradition gives three dates (A.N. 900, 1000, and 1100) based on different reckonings of the Nirvana era. Vasubandhu, himself a Sautrāntika, is the author of the celebrated Vaibhāsika work, viz., the Abhidharma-kox015B;a (and its Bhāṣya), and is at the same time credited with the authorship of several major works of the Vijñānavāda school. The problem is rendered more complex by the mention in Yaśoṁitra's Sphuṭārthā Abhidharma- kośa-vyākhyā of an elder (Vṛdāhacārya) Vasubandhu, leading to a recent theory of two Vasubandhus advocated by Professor E. Frauwallner.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1958

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References

page 48 note 2 T'oung Poo, Serie II, Vol. v, 269–96.Google Scholar

page 48 note 3 ‘ A propos de la date de Vasubandhu’, BÉFEO, XI, 1911, 339–90.Google Scholar

page 48 note 4 ‘ The date of Vasubandhu ’, in, Indian studies in honor of Charles Rockwell Lanman, Cambridge, Mass., 1929, 7988.Google Scholar

page 48 note 5 On the date of the Buddhist master of the law Vasubandhu (Serie Orientale Roma, III), Roma, 1951.Google Scholar

page 49 note 1 In his recent work Die Philosophic des Buddhismus (1956), Professor Frauwallner includes the Vimśatikā and the Trimśikāvijñaptimātratāsiddhi under the heading of‘ Vasubandhu der Ältere’, but is still hesitant about the ascription of these works: ‘ Meiner Ansicht nach ist Vasubandhu der Jüngere ihr Verfasser, doch kann diese schwierige Frage hier nicht weiter erörtert werden’ (p. 351).

page 50 note 1 I am grateful to the K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute for entrusting me with the work of editing this MS. It will soon be published in the Tibetan Sanskrit Works Series, Patna.

page 50 note 2 Henceforth called Dīpa.

page 50 note 3 Henceforth called Vrtti.

page 50 note 4 Henceforth called Kośa.

page 50 note 5 Henceforth called Bhāsya.

page 50 note 6 In this bold line the Vrtti criticizes the Kośakāra for his omission of a topic dealing with cessation of dhātus through various stages of anāsrava-mārga.

page 50 note 7 See Poussin's L’Abhidharma-kośa, chapter II, kā. 22, and Yaśomitra's Sphutārthā Abhidharma-kośa-vyākhyā, p. 123 (ed. Woghihara, U.).Google Scholar

page 50 note 8 See L'Abhidharma-kośa, chapter II, kā. 41a, and Vyākhyā, pp. 157–9.

page 50 note 9 See L' Abhidharma-kośa, chapter II, kā. 44d, and Vyākhyā, p. 169.

page 51 note 1 See L'Abhidharma-kośa, chapter II, kā. 10a, and Vyākhyā, p. 104.

page 51 note 2 Vaipulyam, katamat ? Bodhisattva-pitaka-samprayuktam bhāsitam. yad ucyate vaipulyam tad vaidalyam apy ncyate vaitulyam apy ucyate. (Ed. Pradhan, P., p. 79.Google Scholar)

page 51 note 3 cf. ‘Opinion du Sautrāntika.—Quelle discussion dans le vide! Le Sūtra enseigne: “En raison de l'organe de la vue et des visibles naît la connaissance visuelle”: il n'y a là ni un organe qui voit, ni un visible qui est vu; il n'y a là aucune action de voir, aucun agent qui voit; ce n'est que jeu de causes et effets. En vue de la pratique, on parle à son gré, métaphoriquement, de ce processus; “L'oeil voit; la connaissance discerne”. Mais il ne faut pas se prendre à ces métaphores. Bhagavat l'a dit: il ne faut pas se prendre aux manieres de dire populaires, il ne faut pas prendre au sérieux les expressions en usage dans le monde’. L'Abhidharma-kośa, chapter I, kā. 42.

page 51 note 4 See L'Abhidharma-kośa, chapter v, kā. 17–19.

page 52 note 1 Tatra Sarvāstivādasyādhva-trayam asti … Vibhajyavādinas tu, Dāstāntikasya ca pradeśovartamānādhva-samjñakah. Vaitulikasyāyoga-śūnyatā-vādinah sarvarp, nāstīti… (Fol. 108a.)

page 52 note 2 Yah Sarvāsti-vādākhyah … sadvādī. Tad anye Dārstāntika-vaitulika,-Paudgalikāh … Lokāyatika-Vaināśika.-Nagnāta-pakse prakseptavyāh. (Fol. 108a.)

page 52 note 3 Vaitulikab kalpayati—yat pratītya-samutpannam tat svabhāvān na vidyate/ yat khalu nihsvabhāvam nirātmakam. hetūn pratītya jāyate tasya khalu svabhāvo nāsti … Tasmād alāta-cakravan nihsvabhāvatvāt sarva-dharmā nirātmāna iti. Tam. praty apadiśyate….(Fol. 111a.)

page 52 note 4 See Professor T. R. V. Murti's The central philosophy of Buddhism, Appendix.

page 52 note 5 I am indebted to Professor T. K. V. Murti for suggesting this interpretation of the term ayoga-śūnyatā.

page 52 note 6 Atra Sarvāstivāda-vibhrastir Vaituliko nirāha—vayam api trīn svabhāvān parikalpayisyāmah. Tasmai prativaktavyam Parikalpair Jagad vyāptam mūrkha-cittānurañjibhih/ Yas tu vidvan-mano-grāhī parikalpah sa durlabhah/ / Te khalv ete bhavatkalpitās traya-svabhāvāh purvam eva pratyūdhāh. Evam anye’ py asat-parikalpāh protsārayitavyāh. Ity etad aparam adhva-sammohānkanā-sthānam Kośakārakasyeti. (Fol. 112a.)

page 53 note 1 Sanskrit text and Tibetan version edited by Sujitkumar Mukhopādhyāya, Visvabharati, 1939.

page 53 note 2 See parallel passages collected by S. Mukhopādhyāya in the Trisvabhāva-nirdeśa.