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隨相論

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Text ID
KR6o0045
Date
550–569
Dynasty
陳

Suí xiàng lùn 隨相論

Treatise on Following Characteristics (Lakṣaṇānusāra-śāstra) by 德慧法師 (Déhuì fǎshī / Guṇamati, 造) and 真諦 (Zhēndì / Paramārtha, 譯)

About the work

A one-juǎn fragment of a bhāṣya / sub-commentary on Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya (T1559 / T1558) by 德慧法師 (Guṇamati, c. 420–500), the Indian Yogācāra-Sautrāntika master and teacher of Sthiramati. Translated by 真諦 (Paramārtha, 499–569) under the Chén 陳 dynasty. The Chinese version preserves only one juǎn of what was originally a much larger work; it focuses on the analytical treatment of lakṣaṇa (characteristics) of the dharmas and is a key witness to the late-fifth-century Indian Yogācāra-Sautrāntika synthesis of Vasubandhu’s abhidharma.

Structural Division

CANWWW (T32N1641) lists no internal sub-divisions for the surviving fragment.

Abstract

The Taishō text opens “德慧法師造，陳天竺三藏真諦譯”. The author 德慧 is universally identified with the Indian Yogācāra master Guṇamati of the Nālandā tradition, the teacher of 安慧菩薩 (Sthiramati). The original work is presumed to have been a sub-commentary on Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya — what we have in Chinese is a fragment focusing on the lakṣaṇa (相 xiàng) of the dharmas in a Yogācāra-tinged Sautrāntika analytical mode. Paramārtha’s translation activity in China (548–569) was carried out under difficult circumstances during the Liáng-Chén transition, and many of his translations are abbreviated or excerpt fragments rather than full versions of their Indian originals; the Suí xiàng lùn is one such fragment. Translation date 550–569. The Tibetan parallel is preserved as the Lakṣaṇānusāra-śāstra (mTshan-ñid kyi rjes-su ‘brang-ba’i bstan-bcos) — though the Tibetan witnessed differs in many places from the surviving Chinese. The Taishō follows the Korean canon as base text, collated against Sòng, Yuán, Míng, and palace editions.

Translations and research

  • Frauwallner, Erich. Die Philosophie des Buddhismus. 4th ed. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1969 (orig. 1956). — Contextualises Guṇamati within the late-Indian Yogācāra-Sautrāntika debate.
  • Funayama Tōru 船山徹. Shintai sanzō no kenkyū 真諦三藏の研究. Kyoto: Rinsen, 2012. — Treats Paramārtha’s translation work, including the Suí xiàng lùn.
  • Mejor, Marek. Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa and the Commentaries Preserved in the Tanjur. Stuttgart, 1991.

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