聞分館君 Ask BunKanKun

大乘百法明門論

3 min read

Text ID
KR6n0096
Date
648–648
Dynasty
唐

Dàshèng bǎifǎ míngmén lùn 大乘百法明門論

Mahāyāna Treatise on the Bright Door of the Hundred Dharmas (Vasubandhu, Mahāyāna-śatadharma-prakāśamukha-śāstra) by 天親菩薩 (Tiānqīn púsà = Vasubandhu, 造) and 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 譯)

About the work

The shortest and most pedagogically compact of Vasubandhu’s abhidharma digests: a single-fascicle catalog of the “hundred dharmas” of Mahāyāna abhidharma — the Yogācāra reorganisation of the Sarvāstivāda 75-dharma scheme into 100 categories, divided into five groups: (1) eight citta-dharmas (the eight consciousnesses); (2) fifty-one caitasika-dharmas (mental factors); (3) eleven rūpa-dharmas (form-categories); (4) twenty-four citta-viprayukta-saṃskāra (formations dissociated from mind); (5) six asaṃskṛta (unconditioned dharmas). Translated by 玄奘 in 648 (Zhēnguān 22) at Hóngfúsì.

Structural Division

CANWWW (T31N1614) lists the related text as KR6n0097 Dàshèng bǎifǎ míngmén lùn jiě (T44n1836) — Kuījī’s commentary, expanded by Pǔtài. The single fascicle is organised by the five-fold grouping of dharmas described above.

Abstract

The Bǎifǎ míngmén lùn is the most compact and convenient catalog of the Yogācāra abhidharma available in Chinese — a basic curriculum text at virtually every East Asian Buddhist study institution from the Tang onwards. The “hundred dharmas” classification systematises the Yogācāra reorganisation of the abhidharma: where the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharmakośa tradition recognises 75 dharmas divided into 5 categories, Yogācāra adds 25 more (chiefly mental factors, plus several disjoint saṃskāra) and reorganises the 5 groupings to put citta first (reflecting the Yogācāra primacy of mind).

The translation date is firmly 648 (Zhēnguān 22), per the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù j. 8 — the same year as 玄奘’s translation of KR6n0022 Wéishí sānshí lùn sòng. The pairing reflects the Cí’ēn curricular sequence: the Triṃśikā as the introductory verse-text on consciousness-only, and the Bǎifǎ as the abhidharma catalog of the dharmas referenced in those verses.

The Sanskrit original is partially preserved, and the work is one of seven Vasubandhu treatises edited together in the standard Seven Works of Vasubandhu corpus (Anacker 1984). The Tibetan version (D 4063) is a parallel witness.

Translations and research

  • Anacker, Stefan. Seven Works of Vasubandhu. Delhi: Motilal, 1984. (English trans. of T1614.)
  • Tagawa Shun’ei 田川俊英. Living Yogācāra. Boston: Wisdom, 2009. (Pedagogical translation with commentary.)
  • Hopkins, Jeffrey. Maps of the Profound: Jam-Yang-Shay-Ba’s Great Exposition of Buddhist and Non-Buddhist Views on the Nature of Reality. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2003.

Graph View

Backlinks