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攝大乘論本

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Text ID
KR6n0060
Date
648–649
Dynasty
唐

Shè dàshèng lùn běn 攝大乘論本

Root Text of the Compendium of the Mahāyāna (Asaṅga, Mahāyāna-saṅgraha) by 無著菩薩 (Wúzhuó púsà = Asaṅga, 造) and 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 譯)

About the work

玄奘’s standard Táng translation of Asaṅga’s Mahāyāna-saṅgraha — the third and most influential Chinese version, supplanting the earlier translations by 佛陀扇多 (KR6n0058, T31n1592) and 真諦 (KR6n0059, T31n1593). The “běn” 本 (“root [text]”) in the title distinguishes this from KR6n0064 Shè dàshèng lùn shì (T31n1597), Vasubandhu’s accompanying bhāṣya which Xuánzàng translated separately at the same time. Three fascicles, with the ten-chapter structure intact.

Structural Division

CANWWW (T31N1594) does not preserve a per-fascicle internal table; the work follows the standard ten-chapter structure of the Mahāyāna-saṅgraha. Related canonical texts include KR6n0058 (T31n1592, Buddhaśānta), KR6n0059 (T31n1593, Paramārtha), KR6n0061 (T31n1595, Paramārtha’s Vasubandhu bhāṣya), KR6n0063 (T31n1596, Dharmagupta and Xíngjǔ’s bhāṣya), KR6n0064 (T31n1597, Xuánzàng’s Vasubandhu bhāṣya), and KR6n0065 (T31n1598, Xuánzàng’s Asvabhāva bhāṣya).

Abstract

The translation was completed by 玄奘 at Hóngfúsì 弘福寺 / Cí’ēnsì 慈恩寺 between Zhēnguān 22 (648) and Zhēnguān 23 (649), shortly after the Yújiā shī dì lùn (KR6n0001) and KR6n0022 Wéishí sānshí lùn sòng. Xuánzàng’s translation was paired with his renderings of Vasubandhu’s bhāṣya (T1597 = KR6n0064) and Asvabhāva’s commentary (T1598 = KR6n0065), the three together giving Chinese readers the complete Indian commentarial apparatus of the Mahāyāna-saṅgraha for the first time.

The Xuánzàng version differs from Paramārtha’s in vocabulary, doctrinal emphasis, and especially in the handling of the eighth and ninth consciousnesses: where Paramārtha distinguishes the ālaya and an additional pure amala-vijñāna 阿摩羅識, Xuánzàng renders consistently with the eight-consciousness scheme of Dharmapāla, the amala being absorbed into the pure mode of the ālaya itself. This terminological-doctrinal divergence is one of the principal points of contention between the older Shèlùn school of Paramārtha’s heirs and the new Cí’ēn school of Xuánzàng / Kuījī during the second half of the seventh century.

The Mahāyāna-saṅgraha itself is the central systematic Yogācāra treatise. Its ten chapters set out: (1) the basis (āśraya), with the ālayavijñāna doctrine; (2) the characteristics (lakṣaṇa) of the basis, with the three-natures (trisvabhāva) analysis; (3) entry (praveśa) to the jñeya-āśraya; (4) the cause and result (hetu-phala) of entry; (5) cultivation; (6–8) the three trainings adhiśīla, adhicitta, adhiprajñā; (9) the elimination of the basis; (10) the jñāna-result. The Xuánzàng translation is the canonical East Asian text and the basis of all subsequent Hossō school commentary.

Translations and research

  • Keenan, John P. The Summary of the Great Vehicle. Berkeley: Numata Center, 1992 (rev. 2003).
  • Lamotte, Étienne. La somme du Grand Véhicule d’Asaṅga. Louvain, 1938.
  • Nagao Gadjin 長尾雅人. Shōdaijōron — wayaku to chūkai. Tokyo: Kōdansha, 1982–1987.
  • Yoshimura Makoto 吉村誠. Chūgoku Yuishiki shisōshi kenkyū. Tokyo: Daizō shuppan, 2013.

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