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辯中邊論

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Text ID
KR6n0072
Date
661–661
Dynasty
唐

Biàn zhōngbiān lùn 辯中邊論

Treatise Discriminating the Middle from the Extremes (Vasubandhu, Madhyāntavibhāga-bhāṣya) by 世親菩薩 (Shìqīn púsà = Vasubandhu, 造) and 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 譯)

About the work

玄奘’s standard three-fascicle translation of Vasubandhu’s Madhyāntavibhāga-bhāṣya — the prose-commentary on Maitreya’s verse-text. Translated at the Yùhuágōng 玉華宮 in 661 CE (Lóngshuò 1), the same translation campaign as KR6n0055 Wéishí èrshí lùn (T31n1590). Supplants KR6n0071 Zhōngbiān fēnbié lùn (T31n1599, Paramārtha) as the canonical Chinese text of the Madhyāntavibhāga. Three fascicles.

Structural Division

CANWWW (T31N1600) lists the related text as KR6n0075 Biàn zhōngbiān lùn shùjì (T44n1835, 窺基’s authoritative commentary). Internally, the three fascicles correspond to the seven chapters of the root text + auto-bhāṣya: (1) Xiāngpǐn 相品 / Lakṣaṇa, (2) Zhàngpǐn 障品 / Āvaraṇa, (3) Zhēnshípǐn 真實品 / Tattva, (4) Duìzhì xiūdé pǐn 對治修得品 / Pratipakṣa-bhāvanā, (5) Wèipǐn 位品 / Avasthā, (6) Déguǒ pǐn 得果品 / Phala, (7) Wúshàngshèng pǐn 無上乘品 / Anuttarayāna.

Abstract

The Madhyāntavibhāga — verses by Maitreya, bhāṣya by Vasubandhu, with later sub-commentary (ṭīkā) by Sthiramati (Sanskrit and Tibetan only, not in Chinese) — is the second of the great Maitreya treatises (after the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra) and one of the principal philosophical bases of Indian Yogācāra. The seven-chapter structure articulates the Yogācāra path: (1) the characteristics of saṃsāric experience as imagined / dependent / perfected; (2) the obstructions to liberation; (3) the truth of suchness as fivefold; (4) the antidotes / contemplative practices; (5) the stages of progress; (6) the result of liberation; (7) the supremacy of the bodhisattva path.

Xuánzàng’s translation is the standard text used in all subsequent East Asian Yogācāra study. Its principal commentary in Chinese is KR6n0075 by 窺基. The translation date is firmly 661 (Lóngshuò 1), per the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù j. 8 and the Dà Táng dà cí’ēnsì sānzàng fǎshī zhuàn j. 10.

Translations and research

  • Stcherbatsky, Theodor. Madhyāntavibhāga. Bibliotheca Buddhica 30. Leningrad, 1936.
  • Anacker, Stefan. Seven Works of Vasubandhu. Delhi: Motilal, 1984.
  • Pandeya, Ramchandra. Madhyānta-vibhāga-śāstra. Delhi: Motilal, 1971.
  • D’Amato, Mario. Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes. New York: AIBS, 2012. (English translation with commentary.)
  • Yoshimura Makoto 吉村誠. Chūgoku Yuishiki shisōshi kenkyū. Tokyo: Daizō shuppan, 2013.

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