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唯識二十論

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Text ID
KR6n0055
Date
661–661
Dynasty
唐

Wéishí èrshí lùn 唯識二十論

Twenty Verses on Consciousness-Only (Vasubandhu, Viṃśatikā-vṛtti) by 世親菩薩 (Shìqīn púsà = Vasubandhu, 造) and 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 譯)

About the work

玄奘’s standard Táng translation of Vasubandhu’s Viṃśatikā-vṛtti — the third and most influential Chinese version of the work, supplanting the earlier translations by 瞿曇般若流支 (T31n1588 = KR6n0053) and 真諦 (T31n1589 = KR6n0054). Translated at the Yùhuágōng 玉華宮 in 661 (Lóngshuò 1) and the standard text used in all subsequent East Asian Yogācāra exegesis.

Structural Division

CANWWW (T31N1590) lists KR6n0053 Wéishí lùn (T31n1588) and KR6n0057 Wéishí èrshí lùn shùjì (T43n1834, 窺基’s commentary) as related texts. The single fascicle contains the twenty kārikā with their auto-vṛtti in continuous order, prefaced by Xuánzàng’s brief introductory note.

Abstract

Xuánzàng’s translation was carried out, according to the colophon and to Dà Táng dà cí’ēnsì sānzàng fǎshī zhuàn j. 10, in the sixth month of Lóngshuò 1 (661) at Yùhuágōng 玉華宮; the assistants included Dàshèngjī (= 窺基) and others of his Cí’ēn circle. This version of the Viṃśatikā became the canonical Chinese text and is the verse-base for KR6n0057 Wéishí èrshí lùn shùjì — Kuījī’s authoritative commentary — and for all subsequent East Asian commentarial work.

The translation is notable for its strict adherence to Xuánzàng’s standardised Yogācāra terminology (developed in tandem with the Yogācārabhūmi and Chéng wéishí lùn translations) and for the inclusion of an introductory verse summarising the four-fold rationale (sì shì 四事 — place, time, stream, function) for the consciousness-only thesis. The auto-vṛtti expounds, in twenty stages: (i) the dream-analogy refutation of external-object realism; (ii) the dream-vs-collective-experience puzzle solved through karmic vāsanā; (iii) the impossibility of atoms as the basis of perception; (iv) the perception of mental contents in others (telepathy / dream-sharing) without external transmission; and so on. The text is one of the canonical “two treatises” of Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi (alongside the Triṃśikā, KR6n0022) on which Cí’ēn doctrinal architecture is built.

The Sanskrit Viṃśikā-vṛtti survives — edited by Sylvain Lévi (1925), with subsequent editions by Mejor and others — and modern translations into English and other European languages are based on the Sanskrit, though all consult Xuánzàng’s Chinese as the principal commentarial witness.

Translations and research

  • Hamilton, Clarence H. Wei Shih Er Shih Lun. New Haven: AOS, 1938. (Translation of T31n1590.)
  • Anacker, Stefan. Seven Works of Vasubandhu. Delhi: Motilal, 1984.
  • Kochumuttom, Thomas. A Buddhist Doctrine of Experience. Delhi: Motilal, 1982.
  • Wood, Thomas E. Mind Only. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1991.
  • Silk, Jonathan A. Materials Toward the Study of Vasubandhu’s Viṁśikā. Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 2016.
  • Lévi, Sylvain. Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi: Deux traités de Vasubandhu. Paris: Champion, 1925.

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