Āpídámó Shùnzhènglǐ Lùn 阿毘達磨順正理論
Abhidharmanyāyānusāra-śāstra: Treatise Following Correct Principle in Abhidharma by 眾賢 (造), 玄奘 (譯)
About the work
The Āpídámó Shùnzhènglǐ Lùn 阿毘達磨順正理論 (Skt. Abhidharmanyāyānusāra-śāstra “Treatise in Conformity with Correct Reasoning in Abhidharma”; also known as the Nyāyānusāra; CBETA T29n1562) is a Tang dynasty translation of the great Vaibhāṣika rebuttal to Vasubandhu’s Kośa, 80 juan, composed by the Kaśmīri master Saṃghabhadra 尊者眾賢 (眾賢) and translated by Xuánzàng 玄奘 (玄奘). The source text reads “尊者眾賢造 / 三藏法師玄奘奉詔譯.”
Prefaces
No independent preface survives in the received text. The text begins directly with 辯本事品第一 and opens with a verse of praise to the Buddha in the same meter as the Kōsha’s opening stanza, signaling Saṃghabhadra’s direct engagement with Vasubandhu.
Abstract
Saṃghabhadra 眾賢 (Skt. Saṃghabhadra “Good Fellowship”; c. 4th–5th century CE) was the leading orthodox Vaibhāṣika scholiast and Vasubandhu’s chief intellectual opponent. According to traditional accounts preserved in Xuánzàng’s Dà Táng xīyù jì 大唐西域記 (KR6r0121), Saṃghabhadra spent twelve years composing the Nyāyānusāra as a systematic refutation of every major position in the Kośa. He originally titled the work Tattvasiddhi (“Establishment of Truth”), but when he sought a debate with Vasubandhu and Vasubandhu acknowledged the text’s quality while declining to retract his own work, Saṃghabhadra renamed it Nyāyānusāra (“Conforming to Correct Method”) — a title less combative in tone.
At 80 juan, the Nyāyānusāra is more than twice the length of the Kośa itself. It follows the same chapter structure as the Kośa but subjects each of Vasubandhu’s positions to detailed Vaibhāṣika criticism, marshaling arguments from the Mahāvibhāṣā (KR6l0010). In particular, Saṃghabhadra defends the Vaibhāṣika doctrines of sarvāstivāda (existence of dharmas in all three times), the self-sufficiency of the Jñāna-prasthāna (KR6l0009), and the ontological reality of avijñapti (non-manifestation). The Nyāyānusāra is one of the most technically demanding Abhidharma texts and remains incompletely studied in Western scholarship. A companion text, the Abhidharmadīpa (by a Sarvāstivāda author, preserved in Sanskrit fragments), argues along similar lines but independently.
Xuanzang also translated Saṃghabhadra’s shorter systematic exposition of orthodox Vaibhāṣika doctrine, the Abhidharmakośa-śāstra-kārikā-vibhāṣya (KR6l0032, T1563, 40 juan). The commentary on the Nyāyānusāra by 元瑜 Yuányú survives in part as KR6l0033 (X53n843).
Translations and research
- Cox, Collett. Disputed Dharmas: Early Buddhist Theories on Existence. Tokyo: International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 1995. — Analyzes the Vaibhāṣika vs. Kośa debate in depth.
- Willemen, Charles, Bart Dessein, and Collett Cox. Sarvāstivāda Buddhist Scholasticism. Leiden: Brill, 1998. — Contextualizes the Nyāyānusāra in the scholastic tradition.
Links
- CBETA Online
- Taisho Vol. 29, No. 1562
- 眾賢 DILA
- Kanseki DB