Dàshèng wéishí lùn 大乘唯識論
Mahāyāna Treatise on Consciousness-Only (Vasubandhu, Viṃśatikā; alt. Wéishí wújìngjiè lùn 唯識無境界論) by 天親菩薩 (Tiānqīn púsà = Vasubandhu, 造) and 真諦 (Zhēndì = Paramārtha, 譯)
About the work
The second Chinese translation of Vasubandhu’s Viṃśatikā (twenty-verse Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi with auto-commentary), produced by 真諦 (Paramārtha, 499–569) during his Liáng-Chén translation activity in the south. Distinct in title and idiom from the earlier KR6n0053 Eastern Wèi translation by 瞿曇般若流支 and the later KR6n0055 Táng translation by 玄奘. Catalogued in the Lìdài sānbǎo jì under Paramārtha’s Chén-period Guǎngzhōu output. Alternate Chinese title: Wéishí wújìngjiè lùn 唯識無境界論 (“Consciousness-Only [Treatise] on the Non-Existence of External Objects”).
Structural Division
CANWWW (T31N1589) lists KR6n0053 Wéishí lùn (T31n1588, Prajñāruci) and KR6n0056 Chéng wéishí bǎoshēng lùn (T31n1591, Dharmapāla on the Viṃśatikā) as related texts. The fascicle is internally undivided.
Abstract
Of the three Chinese Viṃśatikā translations, Paramārtha’s version is distinguished by its Mahāyāna-school terminology — “dàshèng” 大乘 in the title is interpretive — and by the close relationship between this translation and Paramārtha’s broader project of transmitting the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha and the late-Yogācāra synthesis to the Chinese south. The work was produced at a Chén-dynasty translation site (variously associated with Guǎngzhōu and Jiāngzhōu) during the years between Paramārtha’s flight from the Hóu Jǐng rebellion (548) and his death in 569. The catalogs (Lìdài sānbǎo jì j. 9; Kāiyuán shìjiào lù j. 7) place this translation in the late period of Paramārtha’s career; the standard dating window adopted here (558–569) reflects the post-rebellion settled phase.
The text overlaps substantially in content with the other two translations but uses Paramārtha’s distinctive Yogācāra vocabulary — terms such as liǎngbù 量部 (for “pramāṇa” perceptual school), xún sī 尋思 (for vitarka), and zì xìng 自性 (for svabhāva) — that he had developed for his translations of the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha (KR6n0059) and the Saṃdhinirmocana-related works. Paramārtha is regarded as the founder of the Shèlùn 攝論 school of early Chinese Yogācāra, and this Triṃśikā translation circulated within that doctrinal community before being supplanted by the Xuánzàng version after 661.
The translation is one of three (alongside KR6n0053 and KR6n0055) to which the term “Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi” was applied — though the proper Sanskrit title is Viṃśikā-kārikā with auto-vṛtti; the three Chinese versions differ in which Sanskrit features they prioritise.
Translations and research
- Hamilton, Clarence H. Wei Shih Er Shih Lun. New Haven: AOS, 1938.
- Lévi, Sylvain. Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi: Deux traités de Vasubandhu. Paris: Champion, 1925.
- Anacker, Stefan. Seven Works of Vasubandhu. Delhi: Motilal, 1984.
- Funayama Tōru 船山徹. Shintai sanzō kenkyū ronshū 真諦三藏研究論集. Kyoto: Kyōto Daigaku Jinbun Kagaku Kenkyūjo, 2012.
- Paul, Diana Y. Philosophy of Mind in Sixth-Century China: Paramārtha’s “Evolution of Consciousness”. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1984.
Links
- CBETA
- 天親菩薩 Tiānqīn púsà DILA
- 真諦 Zhēndì DILA
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (565): [ 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/