Pósǒupándòu fǎshī zhuàn 婆藪槃豆法師傳
Biography of the Dharma-Master Vasubandhu
translated by 真諦 (Paramārtha, 499–569, 譯) under the Chén 陳 dynasty
About the work
The Chinese biography of Vasubandhu (婆藪槃豆 Pósǒupándòu / 世親 Shìqīn; conventionally placed in the fourth-century, although the dating is among the most debated questions of Indian Buddhist intellectual history), translated by 真諦 (Paramārtha) during his Chén-period activity in southern China (557–569). The text is the principal Chinese source for the life and conversion of Vasubandhu — author of the Abhidharmakośa and, after his Mahāyāna conversion, of the foundational Yogācāra treatises (Triṃśikā, Viṃśatikā, etc.).
Abstract
真諦 arrived in southern China in 546 and worked through the late Liáng and Chén until his death in 569. The translation of the Pósǒupándòu fǎshī zhuàn falls within his Chén-period output (557–569), the period of his greatest doctrinal-translation activity (the Mahāyānasaṃgraha, the Abhidharmakośa, and so on).
The biography narrates: the family background of Vasubandhu in Puruṣapura (Peshawar) of Gandhāra, with his elder brother Asaṅga (無著) and a younger brother Viriñcivatsa (比鄰持跋婆); Vasubandhu’s initial career as a Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma master and his composition of the Abhidharmakośa; the dispute with the Kaśmīra Sarvāstivāda masters; his conversion to Mahāyāna under the influence of Asaṅga; his composition of the great Yogācāra treatises; and his death. The text is the principal source for the fraternal relationship of Vasubandhu and Asaṅga, and for the canonical East Asian narrative of the founding of the Yogācāra school.
The work has been the subject of intense modern scholarly debate around the so-called “Vasubandhu problem”: Erich Frauwallner’s hypothesis (On the Date of the Buddhist Master of the Law Vasubandhu, Rome, 1951) that there were in fact two Vasubandhus — one the Abhidharma master, one the Yogācāra master — separated by a century or more, has been argued and re-argued ever since. 真諦’s biography assumes a single Vasubandhu and supplies most of the narrative detail that Frauwallner sought to rationalise.
Translations and research
- Erich Frauwallner, On the Date of the Buddhist Master of the Law Vasubandhu (Rome: Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1951) — the modern critical study, with extensive use of KR6r0039.
- Junjirō Takakusu, “The Life of Vasubandhu by Paramārtha,” T’oung Pao 5 (1904): 269–296 — early English translation, still cited.
- Stefano Zacchetti, “Inventing a New Idiom: Some Aspects of the Language of the Yi-jing’s Translations” (and other articles) — comparative philological treatments.
- David Eckel, To See the Buddha: A Philosopher’s Quest for the Meaning of Emptiness (San Francisco: Harper, 1992) — biographical introduction.
- Albert A. Dalia, “Doctrinal History,” in Robert E. Buswell (ed.), Encyclopedia of Buddhism — surveys the Vasubandhu hagiographic problem.
Links
- CBETA: T50n2049
- Wikipedia: Vasubandhu