聞分館君 Ask BunKanKun

業成就論

3 min read

Text ID
KR6n0085
Date
541–541
Dynasty
元魏

Yè chéngjiù lùn 業成就論

Treatise on the Establishment of Karman (Vasubandhu, Karmasiddhi-prakaraṇa) by 天親菩薩 (Tiānqīn púsà = Vasubandhu, 造) and 毘目智仙 (Pímùzhìxiān = Vimokṣaprajñā-ṛṣi, 譯)

About the work

A single-fascicle treatise by Vasubandhu on the establishment of the doctrine of karman (karmasiddhi) — defending the Yogācāra account of karmic causation against Sarvāstivāda alternatives. Translated by 毘目智仙 (Vimokṣaprajñā-ṛṣi) under the Eastern Wèi (here catalogued as 元魏 / 後魏 / 北魏) at Yè 鄴, c. 541 CE. The same text was retranslated as KR6n0086 Dàshèng chéngyè lùn (T31n1609) by 玄奘 in 651, which became the standard Chinese version.

Structural Division

CANWWW does not preserve a structural division for T31N1608. The single fascicle treats the doctrine of karman through analysis of the eighth consciousness (ālayavijñāna) as the substrate of karmic seeds and as the resolution of the Sarvāstivāda problems concerning the persistence of karmic potential.

Abstract

The Karmasiddhi-prakaraṇa is one of the principal short-form Yogācāra philosophical treatises by Vasubandhu, alongside the Pañcaskandhaka-prakaraṇa (verse: KR6n0094 T31n1612, Dàshèng wǔyùn lùn by Vasubandhu trans. Xuánzàng) and the Trisvabhāva-nirdeśa (no Chinese translation). The treatise’s central argument is that the standard Sarvāstivāda accounts of karmic causation — particularly the vijñapti / avijñapti-rūpa doctrine of the Mahāvibhāṣā and the Saṃghabhadra tradition — fail to account for the persistence and causal efficacy of karman across multiple lives, while the Yogācāra ālayavijñāna doctrine (with karmic seeds bīja persisting in the substrate consciousness) provides a coherent philosophical resolution.

The Chinese translation by 毘目智仙 is one of the earliest direct Chinese contacts with this argument, predating the Paramārtha and Xuánzàng translations of the broader Yogācāra system. The dating (541) follows the standard Lìdài sānbǎo jì attribution of Vimokṣaprajñā-ṛṣi’s translations to Xīnghé 興和 3 = 541. The Sanskrit original survives partially (Lamotte 1936); the Tibetan version (D 4062) is a separate witness. The two surviving Chinese versions (T1608, T1609) differ in technical vocabulary but not in substance.

Translations and research

  • Lamotte, Étienne. Le traité de l’acte de Vasubandhu, Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa. Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques 4 (1935–1936): 151–263.
  • Anacker, Stefan. Seven Works of Vasubandhu. Delhi: Motilal, 1984. (Includes English translation of T1609.)
  • Pruden, Leo M., trans. Karma-Siddhi-Prakarana: The Treatise on Action by Vasubandhu. Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1987.

Graph View

Backlinks