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阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論

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Text ID
KR6l0010
Date
100–200
Dynasty
唐

Āpídámó Dà Pípóshā Lùn 阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論

Abhidharma-mahāvibhāṣā-śāstra: Great Treatise of the Great Exposition by 五百大阿羅漢 (等造), 玄奘 (譯)

About the work

The Āpídámó Dà Pípóshā Lùn 阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論 (Skt. Abhidharma-mahāvibhāṣā-śāstra “Great Commentary/Exposition of the Abhidharma”, CBETA T27n1545) is the most voluminous and authoritative text of the Kaśmīra Vaibhāṣika school, 200 juan, attributed to “five hundred great arhats” assembled at the Kaśmīra council under King Kaniṣka. It is a comprehensive commentary on Kātyāyanīputra’s Jñāna-prasthāna (KR6l0009), treating every major doctrinal topic of the Sarvāstivāda tradition in exhaustive detail. Xuánzàng 玄奘 translated it at Yùhuá-sì 玉華寺 from August 18, 656 to July 27, 659 — one of the most ambitious single translation projects in the history of East Asian Buddhism.

Prefaces

The text itself contains a verse colophon at the end of the final (200th) juan recording its origin:

佛涅槃後四百年　迦膩色加王贍部 / 召集五百應真士　迦濕彌羅釋三藏

“Four hundred years after the Buddha’s nirvāṇa, King Kaniṣka (Jiānísèjiā 迦膩色加) of Jambudvīpa summoned five hundred true arhats (yīng-zhēn shì 應真士) to Kaśmīra (Jiāshīmíluó 迦濕彌羅) to expound the Tripiṭaka.”

Abstract

The Mahāvibhāṣā (hereafter MVŚ) is the foundational text of the Kaśmīra Vaibhāṣika school — the school whose members took the MVŚ as their supreme authority and were accordingly called Vaibhāṣika (“those who follow the Vibhāṣā”). The text provides an exhaustive exegesis of the Jñāna-prasthāna (KR6l0009), systematically presenting and adjudicating the opinions of various Abhidharma masters on every major doctrinal question, including the reality of past and future dharmas (sarva-āsti doctrine), the nature of the antarābhava (intermediate state between death and rebirth), the theory of avijñapti-rūpa (non-informative form), and hundreds of other contested points.

The colophon locates the compilation “400 years after the nirvāṇa” at a Kaśmīra council under Kaniṣka. Modern scholarship accepts this broad setting: Kaniṣka I of the Kuṣāṇa dynasty reigned c. 100–150 CE (his exact dates remain debated), and the compilation of the MVŚ is dated accordingly to c. 100–200 CE. The text preserves the views of earlier Abhidharma masters, including Vasumitra (世友), Dharmatrāta (法救), Ghoṣa (尊者瞿沙), and Buddhadeva (覺天) — the four masters frequently cited in the MVŚ as representatives of different positions on the reality of past and future dharmas.

An earlier Chinese translation, the Āpítán Pípóshā lùn 阿毘曇毘婆沙論 (KR6l0011, T1546, 60 juan), was made in the Northern Liang (c. 437–439 CE) by Buddhavarman 浮陀跋摩 (浮陀跋摩) and Dàotài 道泰 (道泰). Xuánzàng’s complete translation (200 juan) is substantially longer and more accurate.

The MVŚ was the definitive reference work for Chinese Abhidharma scholars. Xuánzàng himself studied it in India at Nālandā and in Kaśmīra, and he explicitly cited it in his account of his travels. It became the starting point for Vasubandhu’s critical summary in the Abhidharmakośa (KR6l0023), which was intended as a condensation of and sometimes a polemic against the Vaibhāṣika positions.

Translations and research

  • Willemen, Charles, Bart Dessein, and Collett Cox. Sarvāstivāda Buddhist Scholasticism. Leiden: Brill, 1998. — essential contextualization.
  • Cox, Collett. Disputed Dharmas: Early Buddhist Theories on Existence. Tokyo: IIBS, 1995.
  • Dhammajoti, Bhikkhu KL. Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma. 4th ed. Hong Kong: Centre of Buddhist Studies, 2009. — the standard English reference.
  • Frauwallner, Erich. Studies in Abhidharma Literature. Albany: SUNY Press, 1995.
  • Potter, Karl (ed.). Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, vol. VII: Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 A.D. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1996. Includes a 56-page synopsis of the MVŚ.
  • Suen, Stephen. Methods of Spiritual Praxis in the Sarvāstivāda: A Study Primarily Based on the Abhidharma-mahāvibhāṣā. Hong Kong: CBSUHK, 2009.
  • Kokuyaku Issaikyō 国訳一切経 (Institute for Comprehensive Studies of Buddhism, Taishō University): annotated Japanese translation.

Other points of interest

The Mahāvibhāṣā is the single largest text in the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma corpus, and arguably the most important text in the history of Chinese Abhidharma study. Xuánzàng translated 200 juan in under three years (656–659), an astonishing pace for such technically demanding material. The earlier Northern Liang partial translation (T1546, 60 juan) covers only part of the text; Xuánzàng’s version is complete.

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