聞分館君 Ask BunKanKun

中邊分別論

3 min read

Text ID
KR6n0071
Date
558–569
Dynasty
陳

Zhōngbiān fēnbié lùn 中邊分別論

Treatise Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes (Maitreya / Vasubandhu, Madhyāntavibhāga) by 天親菩薩 (Tiānqīn púsà = Vasubandhu, 造) and 真諦 (Zhēndì = Paramārtha, 譯)

About the work

真諦’s two-fascicle translation of the Madhyāntavibhāga-bhāṣya — Vasubandhu’s prose commentary on Maitreya’s Madhyāntavibhāga-kārikā (Bhāṣya = T31n1599; Kārikā = T31n1601 KR6n0073 in Xuánzàng’s later separate translation). One of the foundational five “Maitreya treatises” (Wǔ bù dà lùn 五部大論; Císhì wǔ lùn) of the Indian Yogācāra tradition. Title: “Distinguishing the Middle [Path] from the [Two] Extremes.” Translated during Paramārtha’s Chén-period activity in the south, c. 558–569.

Structural Division

CANWWW (T31N1599) lists the related text as KR6n0072 Biàn zhōngbiān lùn (T31n1600, 玄奘’s later translation of the same text). The two fascicles correspond to the seven chapters of the Madhyāntavibhāga (1. Lakṣaṇa 相, 2. Āvaraṇa 障, 3. Tattva 真實, 4. Pratipakṣa-bhāvanā 對治, 5. Avasthā 位, 6. Phala 得果, 7. Yāna-anuttarya 無上乘).

Abstract

The Madhyāntavibhāga — verses traditionally ascribed to Maitreya, with auto-bhāṣya by Vasubandhu — is one of the central early-Yogācāra philosophical treatises. Its title’s “middle and the extremes” refers to the Yogācāra middle path between the two false extremes of nihilism (the absolute non-existence of consciousness) and eternalism (the absolute existence of objects), avoided through the doctrine of pariniṣpanna-svabhāva (the perfected nature) as conventional appearance grounded in vijñapti-mātra representational consciousness.

Paramārtha’s translation is the earlier of two Chinese versions; it reflects his characteristic vocabulary (cf. KR6n0054, KR6n0059, KR6n0061) and is doctrinally aligned with the Shèlùn-school synthesis of tathāgatagarbha and ālayavijñāna doctrine. The text was studied in the Shèlùn school but was relatively neglected in favour of KR6n0061 (the great Vasubandhu bhāṣya on the Mahāyāna-saṅgraha); the standard East Asian text of the Madhyāntavibhāga became Xuánzàng’s later translation, KR6n0072 (T31n1600).

The dating window (558–569) follows the standard Paramārtha late-period bracket, identical to KR6n0054 and other works of the Chén-period southern translation activity.

Translations and research

  • Stcherbatsky, Theodor. Madhyāntavibhāga: Discourse on Discrimination between Middle and Extremes. Bibliotheca Buddhica 30. Leningrad, 1936; repr. Calcutta: Indian Studies Past and Present, 1971. (Translation principally from Sanskrit; comparative reference to Chinese.)
  • Friedmann, David Lasar. Sthiramati’s Madhyāntavibhāgaṭīkā. Utrecht, 1937.
  • Pandeya, Ramchandra. Madhyānta-vibhāga-śāstra. Delhi: Motilal, 1971.
  • Anacker, Stefan. Seven Works of Vasubandhu. Delhi: Motilal, 1984. (Includes English translation of the bhāṣya.)
  • Funayama Tōru 船山徹. Shintai sanzō kenkyū ronshū. Kyoto, 2012.

Graph View

Backlinks