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Studies in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Hermeneutics (4) the Vyakhyayukti by Vasubandhu1

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Studies in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Hermeneutics (4) the Vyakhyayukti by Vasubandhu1 STUDIES IN INDO-TIBETAN BUDDHIST HERMENEUTICS (4) THE VYAKHYAYUKTI BY VASUBANDHU1 BY PETER C. VERHAGEN (0) Introduction. A considerable portion of the extraordinarily extensive and diverse lit- erature which has been produced in the Indian and Tibetan Buddhist tra- ditions throughout their long history belongs to the genre of the com- mentary. Either offering comments directly on a basic text or —quite frequently— commenting on another commentary, or giving a survey or synopsis of a basic text and / or its commentaries, a very large part of the Buddhist scholastical literature has come down to us in the form of a commentary. Nonetheless, surprisingly few treatises are extant in these literatures that deal specifically with the theory and practice of compos- ing such commentaries on the sacred scripture. It is my intention to devote a number of articles in this series to this genre of the commentator's manual. As the first of these, the present article will focus on one particular specimen of this type of text, namely the Vyakhyayukti attributed to Vasubandhu. In the Buddhological sec- ondary literature, very little investigation of this genre has been docu- mented. For Vyakhyayukti we have a few studies2 which are mainly of a preliminary or fragmentary nature. By far the most important single 1 This research was made possible by a subsidy of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, NWO). Cordial thanks are due to Professor T.E. Vetter (Leiden University, emeritus) for care- fully reading draft versions of this article and providing a number of valuable suggestions for improvement. 2 Yamaguchi (1959) and (1962), Matsuda (1983) and (1985), Cabezón (1992) and Prapod & Skilling (1999). A (partial) outline of the text is given in Schoening (1992: 224, 234). Journal Asiatique 293.2 (2005): 559-602 560 P.C. VERHAGEN study on this text which is accessible to me at present3 is Skilling (2000) which gives a most informative introduction on the text in general and a preliminary discussion of certain particulars4. In the present article I will attempt to outline the main characteristics of Vyakhyayukti, focussing in particular on the hermeneutical techniques it expounds. (1) The Vyakhyayukti by Vasubandhu. The Vyakhyayukti (henceforth VY), the title of which can be rendered as ‘Proper Application of Exegesis'5, is a manual for the interpretation of the Buddha-vacana i.e. the ‘words of the Buddha', offering methods of explaining and expounding the doctrine within the conceptual frame- work of the Yogacara school of Mahayana Buddhism. The work is attributed to the famous master Vasubandhu6 (fourth-fifth cent. CE) and there seem to be no convincing indications that cast doubt on this attribution7. The text is written primarily in prose8 with intermit- tent use of verse, generally of the type of the ‘verse summary' (Skt. saµgraha-sloka), a feature which has been identified as typical of the work of Vasubandhu9. 3 Recently the following two titles came to my notice: Lee Jong-cheol (2001A), The Tibetan Text of the Vyakhyayukti of Vasubandhu, Tokyo: The Sankibo Press and Lee Jong-cheol (2001B), [English translation of Japanese title:] A study of Vasubandhu — with special reference to the Vyakhyayukti, Tokyo: The Sankibo Press. I have not had access to these publications while writing the present article. 4 I had reached an advanced stage in writing the present study when Skilling (2000) came to my notice. Given the tremendous importance of the VY on the one hand and the almost complete lack of serious academic exploration of this document on the other, I have decided to proceed with the publication of this study, inspite of some overlap with the scope of the article by Skilling, of course incorporating references to Skilling's admirable study where relevant. 5 Cf. e.g. Thurman (1984): «Principles of Elucidation», Cabezón (1992: 223): «The Science of Exegesis», Prapod & Skilling (1999: 13) and Skilling (2000: 297): «Princi- ples of Exegesis». 6 The colophon of the Indic manuscript, as reflected in the Tibetan translation, states: ‘The Vyakhyayukti, written by master Vasubandhu, has [now] been completed', rnam-par- bshad-pa'i-rigs-pa / slob-dpon-dbyig-gnyen-gyis-mdzad-pa-rdzogs-so //, 156r5-156r6. 7 Cf. e.g. Schmithausen (1987: 262-263 n. 101); Skilling (2000: 297-303, 309-313, 336) supplies arguments for Vasubandhu's authorship of VY and for the identity of ‘this' Vasubandhu with the Kosakara, i.e. the ‘author of the (Abhidharma-) Kosa'. 8 «Sastra prose», as Skilling (2000: 316) styles it. 9 Under the heading bsdus-pa'i-tshigs-su-bcad-pa: 44v6-7, 45r5-7, 50v6-7, 80v7-8, Journal Asiatique 293.2 (2005): 559-602 STUDIES IN INDO-TIBETAN BUDDHIST HERMENEUTICS 561 The Sanskrit original appears not to have been preserved. A limited number of passages have been preserved in the original language, in casu in quotations from VY occurring in Sanskrit works for which the original is extant, most notably in Mahayanasutralaµkara10, Bhavya's Tarkajvala (prob. sixth century)11, Haribhadra's Aloka commentary on Abhisamayalaµkara12 (prob. eighth century) and Viryasridatta's Artha- viniscayasutranibandhana (eighth century)13. For the entire text we have only a Tibetan translation which is extant in the Bstan-'gyur canon, under the title Rnam-par-bshad-pa'i-rigs-pa14. According to the colophon ‘The Indian scholars Visuddhasiµha and Sakyasiµha, and the translator of the Great Revision, the venerable Rtsangs DevendrarakÒita have translated [this text], revised [the transla- tion] and established its definitive form.'15 It is noteworthy that, roughly speaking, the same team of translators was responsible for the Tibetan translations of two ancillary works to VY as well16. We cannot establish an exact date for this translation. It would in any case appear to date from the Snga-dar or ‘Earlier dissemination' period of Buddhism in Tibet (mid seventh-late ninth century CE) as the transla- tors mentioned are known to have been active in that period17. Further 100v2-3, 109v5, 123r8-v1, 134r2-3, 146v6-147r1, 148v6-7, 152r5-6, 152v5-153r1; vari- ant sdud-pa'i-tshigs-su-bcad-pa: 80v3-4; not explicitly indicated as saµgraha-slokas, yet possible other instances: 34r1-3 (cf. infra), 34r5-6 (cf. infra), 45v2-3 (?), 61r2-4 (?), 77r3 (?); cf. Prapod & Skilling (1999: 14, 20-22), Skilling (2000: 317, 337-338). On the saµgraha-sloka in general, cf. Mimaki (1980). 10 Cf. infra sub 5.5. 11 Cf. Skilling (2000: 330). 12 Cf. infra sub 3 and 5.3; also Prapod & Skilling (1999: 16, 20-22), Skilling (2000: 331, 332-333). 13 Cf. Prapod & Skilling (1999: 13), Skilling (2000: 330-331). 14 Peking Bstan-'gyur, Mdo-'grel (Sems-tsam) vol. si, f. 31v8-156r5, Otani repr. title no. 5562; Sde-dge Bstan-'gyur, Mdo-'grel (Sems-tsam) vol. shi, f. 29r2-134v2, Tohoku catalogue title no. 4061. All references in the present article are to the Peking edition. 15 rgya-gar-gyi-mkhan-po-bi-shuddha-singha-dang- / shakya-singha-dang- / zhu- chen-gyi-lo-tsa-ba-bande-rtsangs-de-bendra-rakÒi-tas-bsgyur-cing-zhus-te-gtan-la-phab- pa’o, 156r5. 16 Cf. infra sub (2), and Skilling (2000: 329-330). 17 For instance, two of the three translators mentioned here occur in the listing of transla- tors belonging to the Snga-dar period which Si-tu Pa∞-chen Chos-kyi-’byung-gnas included in his longer version of the Sde-dge Bka'-'gyur dkar-chag (Gsung-’bum vol. 9, f. 1-260r5; facs. ed. Sherab Gyaltsen 1990.9: 1-523/524): Visuddhasiµha among the Indian pandits (no. 13, f. 191v6) and DevendrarakÒita as one of the Tibetan translators (no. 20, f. 192v2). Journal Asiatique 293.2 (2005): 559-602 562 P.C. VERHAGEN corroboration for the early date of this translation can be found in the well-known Lhan-dkar-ma or Ldan-dkar-ma catalogue of Tibetan trans- lations of the early ninth century, which includes an entry on a transla- tion of VY (in 1800 slokas or ten bam-pos)18 and a translation of its main commentary (cf. infra; in 4500 slokas or fifteen bam-pos)19. This cata- logue does not mention names of translators, so we cannot be entirely sure that this entry refers to the translation now extant in the Bstan- 'gyur, but it is highly probable. Early manuscript remains of a Tibetan version of VY have been found in Dunhuang (tenth-eleventh century) and Ta-pho (ca. eleventh-thirteenth century)20. The two major ancillary works associated with VY which are con- tained in the Tibetan canon, in casu a commentary on VY and a separate compilation of the sample-passages discussed in VY, will be briefly described in a separate paragraph infra. An important non-canonical Tibetan work that is closely associated with VY is the Mkhas-pa-'jug- pa'i-sgo by Sa-skya Pa∞∂ita Kun-dga'-rgyal-mtshan (1182-1251), in particular its second chapter. We will be having a closer look at this text in other articles in this series21. The importance of VY in the Indian as well as the Tibetan scholastic tra- ditions is evinced by the frequency of references to and quotations from it in such important Sanskrit works as Bhavya's Tarkajvala, Haribhadra's Abhisamayalaµkaraloka and Viryasridatta's Arthaviniscayasutra-niband- hana (all three mentioned supra) and, for Tibet, the religious historiography (Chos-'byung) by Bu-ston Rin-chen-grub (1290-1364),22 the above-men- tioned Mkhas-pa-'jug-pa'i-sgo by Sa-skya Pa∞∂ita23, the Legs-bshad-snying- po by Tsong-kha-pa Blo-bzang-grags-pa (1357-1419)24 and the Shes-bya- mtha'-yas-pa'i-rgya-mtsho by Kong-sprul Blo-gros-mtha'-yas (1813-1899)25.
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