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大乘阿毘達磨集論

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Text ID
KR6n0081
Date
652–652
Dynasty
唐

Dàshèng āpídámó jí lùn 大乘阿毘達磨集論

Mahāyāna Compendium of Abhidharma (Asaṅga, Abhidharmasamuccaya) by 無著菩薩 (Wúzhuó púsà = Asaṅga, 造) and 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 譯)

About the work

玄奘’s seven-fascicle translation of Asaṅga’s Abhidharmasamuccaya — the most concise and pedagogically organised of the great Yogācāra systematic treatises, and the canonical Mahāyāna-school abhidharma compendium. Translated at the Cí’ēnsì 慈恩寺 in 652 (Yǒnghuī 永徽 3), per the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù j. 8 and the Dà Táng dà cí’ēnsì sānzàng fǎshī zhuàn j. 7. Seven fascicles. Companion text: KR6n0082 Dàshèng āpídámó zájí lùn (T31n1606), the Abhidharmasamuccaya-bhāṣya by Sthiramati, also translated by Xuánzàng in 646–647.

Structural Division

CANWWW (T31N1605) does not preserve a per-fascicle internal table. The seven juǎn are organised into eight fēn 分 (parts), each subdivided into pǐn 品 (chapters): (1) Běnshì fēn 本事分 (root events), with chapters on the trisvabhāva, the eighteen dhātu, the twelve āyatana, the five skandha; (2) Juézé fēn 決擇分 (determinative analyses); (3) Zìtǐ fēn (sub-)Císhìyán pǐn (the bodhisattva path); etc. The eight-fold structure parallels the standard Sarvāstivāda abhidharma organisation while substituting Yogācāra doctrinal categories.

Abstract

The Abhidharmasamuccaya is the canonical Mahāyāna abhidharma — Asaṅga’s response to and reorganisation of the Sarvāstivāda abhidharma tradition, presenting the entire path-and-result system of Yogācāra in compact systematic form. It is the principal text-base for Mahāyāna-school analytical philosophy and is heavily used in subsequent Cí’ēn / Hossō school doctrinal commentary, particularly in the analysis of the mental factors (caitasika) and the path-stages.

The translation by 玄奘 is the third major Yogācāra translation campaign of his career (after the KR6n0077 Xiǎnyáng in 645–646 and the Yogācārabhūmi in 646–648), reflecting the systematic plan of his curriculum: the Yogācārabhūmi as encyclopedic reference; the Xiǎnyáng as digest; the Mahāyāna-saṅgraha as topical compendium; and the Abhidharma-samuccaya as analytical-philosophical compendium. Together with the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra (translated earlier by Prabhākaramitra, KR6n0080) and the Madhyāntavibhāga (KR6n0072), this gives Chinese Yogācāra its complete systematic textual foundation.

The Sanskrit original is partially preserved (Pradhan 1950); the principal Indian commentary is the Abhidharmasamuccaya-bhāṣya attributed in the Indian tradition to Sthiramati, in the Chinese tradition to Buddhasiṃha + Asvabhāva (translated as KR6n0082). The relationship between the two attributions is a long-standing scholarly puzzle.

Translations and research

  • Pradhan, Pralhad, ed. Abhidharma Samuccaya of Asaṅga. Visva-Bharati Series 12. Santiniketan, 1950.
  • Rahula, Walpola. Le compendium de la super-doctrine (philosophie) (Abhidharmasamuccaya) d’Asaṅga. Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient, 1971; English trans. by Sara Boin-Webb, Abhidharmasamuccaya, Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 2001.
  • Tatia, Nathmal, ed. Abhidharmasamuccayabhāṣyam. Patna: Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institute, 1976.
  • Schmithausen, Lambert. Ālayavijñāna. Tokyo: IIBS, 1987.
  • Yoshimura Makoto 吉村誠. Chūgoku Yuishiki shisōshi kenkyū. Tokyo: Daizō shuppan, 2013.

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