Works of Vasumitra
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In Chinese translations of the Abhidharma-pitaka there are four works which are ascribed to Vasumitra, Viz:
- 1) Abhidharma prakarana pāda sāstra, 18 fasciculi; 8 chapters. Translated by Hsuan-chuang in A. D. 659, of the T’an dynasty.
- 2) Abhidharma dhātukaya pāda sāstra, 2 fasciculi; 2 chapters. Translated by Hsuan Chuang, A. D. 663, of the T’an dynasty.
- 3) Ārya Vasumitra bodhisattva sangiti sāstra, translated by Sanghabhūti and others, A. D. 384, of the former Ch’in dynasty. 15 fasciculi; 14 khandas.
- 4) Samayabhedoparacanacakra sāstra, translated by Hsuan-chuang, A. D. 662, of the T’an dynasty.
According to ‘Fa-jen’ the author of the first two words is not the author of the Samayabhedoparacanacakra sāstra, while in Yasomitra’s Abhidharma-kosa-vyākhyā, the author of the second work is Pūrna. Nāgārjuna in his Mahāpra-jnāpāramita-sāstra said: “Among eight chapters of the Avhidharma-prakarana-pāda-sāstra there are four chapters which were written by Vasumitra, and another four chapters were written by the Arhat of Kubhāna.”[1] Lu-chen presumed that the four chapters which were written by Vasumitra are:
- a) Discussion on all spheres.
- b) discussion on seven items.
- c) Discussion on the anusāyas.
- d) Discussion on the ascription of all dharmas.[2]
But Rev. Yin-shun said that he has found that the eight chapters of the Abhidharma prakarna aāda sāstra are really separated into two groups: the first group are inherited from the old treatises and through rewriting. The second group are a rearrangemet of the old treatises, but with some new additions. In each group there are four chapters:[3]
In the first group there are four chapters:
- a) Discussion on seven items.
- b) Discussion on the ascription of all dharmas.
- c) Discussion on one thousand questions.
- d) Discussion on discrimination of correctness.
In the second group there are also four chapters:
- a) Discussion on five items.
- b) Discussion on all wisdom.
- c) Discussion on all spheres.
- d) Discussion of the anuśāyas.
According to Rev. Yin-shun, the four cur chapters in the second group were written by Vasumitra.[4]
In regard to the third work, the Ārya Vasumitra bodhisattva sangiti-sāstra many Buddhist scholars deemed that its author is the same Vasumitra who wrote the Abhidharmaprakarna pāda sāstra, and regard it as an Abhidharma work; but they did not perceive that it is a treatise which is ascribed to the Dārstāntika master Vasumitra. Rev. Yin-shun has pointed out[5] that the Mahāvibhāsā-sāstra mentioned this sāstra as ‘The Sastra of Questions’.[6] And Vasubandhu’s Mahāyāna karmasiddha sāstra also mentiones this sāstra as ‘The Sāstra of Questions’[7], and he quotes the discussion about the subtle mind in abstract meditation (nirodhasamāpatti).
The fourth work is the I-pu-tsung-lun-lun or ‘Treatise on the Wheel of Propositions of Different Schools’, it was translated by Hsuan-chuang in the T’an dynasy A. D. 662, and it is also called the T’an-lun. As I have already mentioned the three different versions of this text in the beginning of this introduction, it is needless to repeat them here again.
Footnotes
- ↑ T. E. T. 25, P.70a.
- ↑ ‘A general discussion on Abhidharma Studies’ (‘Nei-Hsueh’ 內舉, or ‘The Interior Learning’ Vol. 2, P.167.)
- ↑ ‘Abhidharma Treatises and Abhidharma Masters’ P. 150.
- ↑ ‘Abhidharma Treatises and Abhidharma Masters’ P. 156.
- ↑ ‘Abhidharma Treatises and Abhidharma Masters’ P. 379.
- ↑ T. E. T. 27, P. 38b.
- ↑ T. E. T. 31, P. 784a. Cf. ‘Ārya-Vasumitra-bodhisattva-sangiti-sāstra’, (T. E. T. 28, P. 741a.)