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大乘五蘊論

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Text ID
KR6n0094
Date
647–647
Dynasty
唐

Dàshèng wǔyùn lùn 大乘五蘊論

Mahāyāna Treatise on the Five Aggregates (Vasubandhu, Pañcaskandhaka-prakaraṇa) by 世親菩薩 (Shìqīn púsà = Vasubandhu, 造) and 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 譯)

About the work

A short single-fascicle treatise by Vasubandhu on the five skandha (form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness) — one of his important short philosophical / pedagogical works, presenting the Yogācāra reorganisation of the abhidharma analysis of the five aggregates. Translated by 玄奘 in 647 (Zhēnguān 21) at Hóngfúsì 弘福寺. One fascicle. Companion text: KR6n0095 Dàshèng guǎng wǔyùn lùn (T31n1613) — Sthiramati’s expanded commentary on the Pañcaskandhaka, translated by 地婆訶羅 (Divākara).

Structural Division

CANWWW does not preserve a structural division for T31N1612. The single fascicle treats each of the five skandha in turn: rūpa (form), vedanā (feeling), saṃjñā (perception), saṃskāra (formations — the longest section, with the analysis of mental factors), and vijñāna (consciousness — with the eight-consciousness scheme).

Abstract

The Pañcaskandhaka-prakaraṇa is one of Vasubandhu’s principal pedagogical works on the abhidharma-style analysis of mental and physical reality. Its distinguishing feature, vis-à-vis the Sarvāstivāda abhidharma tradition, is its presentation of the analysis from a Yogācāra perspective — particularly in the vijñāna-skandha section, which presents the eight-consciousness scheme rather than the simpler six-consciousness analysis of the Sarvāstivāda. The work is one of the standard introductory texts for advanced Yogācāra study and is heavily cited in the Cí’ēn commentarial tradition.

The dating is firm: 647 (Zhēnguān 21), per the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù j. 8 — among the earliest of 玄奘’s short-treatise translations after his 645 return from India. The Sanskrit original survives partially (Li-Yongming and Steinkellner 2008); the Tibetan version (D 4059) is a parallel witness.

The Cí’ēn commentary on this work is KR6n0097 Dàshèng bǎifǎ míngmén lùn jiě (T44n1836) by 窺基 — though strictly speaking that is on the KR6n0096 Bǎifǎ míngmén lùn, which is a closely related but more compressed work on the same subject matter. The Cí’ēn tradition treats the Wǔyùn lùn and the Bǎifǎ míngmén lùn together as the introductory pair on the abhidharma of the eight-consciousness Yogācāra system.

Translations and research

  • Anacker, Stefan. Seven Works of Vasubandhu. Delhi: Motilal, 1984. (English trans. of T1612.)
  • Li Xuezhu and Ernst Steinkellner, eds. Vasubandhu’s Pañcaskandhaka. Beijing/Vienna: China Tibetology Publishing House / Austrian Academy, 2008.
  • Engle, Artemus B., trans. The Inner Science of Buddhist Practice: Vasubandhu’s Summary of the Five Heaps with Commentary by Sthiramati. Boston: Snow Lion, 2009.

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