Yìbù zōnglún lùn 異部宗輪論
Treatise on the Wheel of the Tenets of the Diverse Schools (Samayabhedoparacanacakra)
composed by 世友 (Vasumitra, 造) and translated by 玄奘 (Xuánzàng, 602–664, 譯) in 662
About the work
A foundational doxographic treatise on the schism of the early Buddhist saṃgha into eighteen (or twenty) Hīnayāna schools (nikāya / bù 部), composed by Vasumitra and rendered into Chinese by Xuánzàng in 662 (Lóngshuò 龍朔 2). Together with KR6r0009 and KR6r0010 — earlier Chinese translations of variant recensions of the same work by 真諦 (Paramārtha) — it constitutes the principal Chinese source for the school-divisions of Indian sectarian Buddhism. Xuánzàng’s version became the standard.
Abstract
The text begins with the schism at Pāṭaliputra a century after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa under the reign of King Aśoka, dividing the original community into the Sthavira (上座部) and Mahāsāṃghika (大眾部) factions. It then describes the further sub-divisions of each over subsequent centuries — the Mahāsāṃghikas branching into Ekavyāvahārika, Lokottaravāda, Bahuśrutīya, etc., and the Sthaviras branching into Sarvāstivāda, Vātsīputrīya, Sammitīya, Kāśyapīya, Mahīśāsaka, Dharmaguptaka, etc. — until eighteen sub-schools are enumerated. The second part of the treatise lists the doctrinal positions held by each school: their views on the existence of past and future dharmas, the nature of anuśaya, the relation of mind and cetasika, and so forth.
世友 (Vasumitra) is traditionally identified with the famous Sarvāstivāda master who is said to have presided at the Council of Kaniṣka, but the historicity and date of this identification are uncertain; the work itself is unmistakably composed from a Sarvāstivāda perspective. A Sanskrit original is not extant; Tibetan and three Chinese translations (the present Xuánzàng version, plus KR6r0009 and KR6r0010 by Paramārtha) are the principal witnesses.
The work is the standard reference for early Indian sectarian historiography and is the principal source from which all later East Asian summaries of the schism are derived. Xuánzàng’s translation supplies most of the Chinese technical vocabulary for the eighteen schools.
Translations and research
- Jiryō Masuda, “Origin and Doctrines of Early Indian Buddhist Schools: A Translation of the Hsüan-chwang Version of Vasumitra’s Treatise,” Asia Major 2 (1925): 1–78 — the standard English translation, still cited.
- André Bareau, Les sectes bouddhiques du petit véhicule (Saigon: École française d’Extrême-Orient, 1955) — the magisterial European synthesis, building on Vasumitra’s treatise as one of its principal sources.
- L. de La Vallée Poussin, “La controverse du temps et du pudgala dans le Vijñānakāya,” Études asiatiques 1 (1925): 343–376.
- 寺本婉雅, 藏漢和三譯對校：異部宗輪論 (Tokyo, 1935) — Tibetan-Chinese-Japanese parallel edition.
Other points of interest
Xuánzàng’s translation supplanted the two earlier Paramārtha versions (KR6r0009 Shíbā bù lùn and KR6r0010 Bù zhí yì lùn) in East Asian use; the commentary of his disciple 窺基 (KR6r0008 Yìbù zōnglún lùn shù shù jì) is the canonical scholastic exposition.
Links
- CBETA: T49n2031
- Wikipedia: Samayabhedoparacanacakra