Wéishí lùn 唯識論
Treatise on Consciousness-Only (Vasubandhu, Viṃśatikā; “Treatise Refuting Form and Mind” — alternate title 破色心論) by 天親菩薩 (Tiānqīn púsà = Vasubandhu, 造) and 瞿曇般若流支 (Qútán Bōrěliúzhī = Gautama Prajñāruci, 譯)
About the work
The earliest of the three surviving Chinese translations of Vasubandhu’s Viṃśatikā-vṛtti (verse + prose auto-commentary, twenty kārikā arguing for vijñapti-mātratā against external-object realism). Translated by 瞿曇般若流支 at Yè 鄴 under the Eastern Wèi (here catalogued as 後魏) in or near 541 CE. The Sanskrit is Vimśatikā (also Vimśatikā-kārikā), the vṛtti of which is by Vasubandhu himself; an alternate Chinese title is Pò sèxīn lùn 破色心論 (“Treatise Refuting [the absolutising of] Form and Mind”).
Structural Division
CANWWW (T31N1588) lists the following related texts: KR6n0054 Dàshèng wéishí lùn 大乘唯識論 (T31n1589, Zhēndì’s later translation of the same work) and KR6n0056 Chéng wéishí bǎoshēng lùn 成唯識寶生論 (T31n1591, Dharmapāla’s commentary on the Viṃśatikā translated by Yìjìng). The single fascicle is internally undivided.
Abstract
The Wéishí lùn (T31n1588) is the first of three Chinese versions of Vasubandhu’s twenty-verse demonstration of consciousness-only. The three Chinese translations are:
- T31n1588 Wéishí lùn — by 瞿曇般若流支, 後魏 (Eastern Wèi), c. 541 (this entry).
- KR6n0054 Dàshèng wéishí lùn (T31n1589) — by 真諦, 陳, c. 558–569.
- KR6n0055 Wéishí èrshí lùn (T31n1590) — by 玄奘, 唐, 661.
The Viṃśatikā sets out, in twenty kārikā with auto-commentary, the standard Yogācāra arguments against the existence of external objects: that perception of place, time, and stream-of-consciousness can be accounted for without external matter (analogy of dream); that the appearance of mass action by multiple beings (dream-vs-collective experience problem) is solved by vāsanā; and that the apparent “atomic” basis of perception is incoherent under analysis. The text is the principal short-form companion to the Triṃśikā and constitutes, together with it, the canonical Yogācāra introduction to vijñaptimātratā.
The terminus post quem (538) is Prajñāruci’s arrival at Yè per the Lìdài sānbǎo jì; the terminus ante quem (543) is the catalog date of his most active translation period under the Eastern Wèi. The Prajñāruci translation is sometimes confused in the catalogs with the lost Bodhiruci version of the same work — the modern critical literature distinguishes the two.
Translations and research
- Hamilton, Clarence H. Wei Shih Er Shih Lun, or, The Treatise in Twenty Stanzas on Representation-Only. American Oriental Series 13. New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1938. (Translation of T31n1590; comparative discussion of T31n1588 and T31n1589.)
- Lévi, Sylvain. Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi: Deux traités de Vasubandhu. Paris: Champion, 1925.
- Anacker, Stefan. Seven Works of Vasubandhu. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1984.
- Kochumuttom, Thomas. A Buddhist Doctrine of Experience. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1982.
- Wood, Thomas E. Mind Only: A Philosophical and Doctrinal Analysis of the Vijñānavāda. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1991.
- Silk, Jonathan A. Materials Toward the Study of Vasubandhu’s Viṁśikā. Cambridge, MA: Department of South Asian Studies, Harvard University, 2016.
Links
- CBETA
- 天親菩薩 Tiānqīn púsà DILA
- 瞿曇般若流支 Qútán Bōrěliúzhī DILA
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (543): [ T ] T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014. https://dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/1/