THE VIJNAPTIMATRATA BUDDHISM OF THE CHINESE MONK K'UEI-CHI (A.D. 632-682) ALAN SPONBERG B.A. , American University, 1968 M.A. , University of Wisconsin, 1972 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ; THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Department of Asian Studies We accept this dissertation as conforming to the required standard. THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA August 1979 © Alan Sponberg, 1979 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia 2075 Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5 DE-6 BP 75-51 1 E ABSTRACT The dissertation seeks to determine the main features of the Buddhist thought of K'uei-chi, First Patriarch of the Fa-hsiang School of East Asian Buddhism, and to further establish his position as a key figure in the transmission of Indian philosophical traditions into China.. In addition it provides a translation of an original essay written "by K'uei-chi on Vijnaptimatrata. (Mere Conceptualization) the fundamental philosophic principle of the School of Yogacara Buddhism to which he was heir. There are two parts to the dissertation: Part One comprising Chapts. I-III and Part Two comprising Chapts. IV and V. In Part One, the first chapter summarizes the biographical data available on K'uei-chi's life, discussing in particular his role as translator and exegete, and also the relationship between these activities and his personal religious life. Chapt. II discusses K'uei-chi's written works, pointing out a number of features that indicate his special interests. It includes a detailed and annotated analysis of all his surviving works. Chapt. Ill presents a survey of the main doctrines of the Vijnaptimatrata Yogacara school of Asafiga and Vasubandhu. As one branch of Mahayana Buddhism, the. school is shown to be best understood as a systematic soteriology characterized by an emphasis on the epistemic rather than the ontologic analysis of the constituents of experience (dhamas). This chapter concludes with a discussion of K'uei-chi's significance as a major figure in the development of iii Buddhist thought in East Asia. He is presented as a syncretist who sought to organize a manifold and complex tradition in a manner that would allow its transmission into a very different cultural context. Part Two consists of a translation of one essay from K'uei-chi's voluminous doctrinal compendium, the Forest of Doctrines in the Garden of the Dharma of Mahayana Buddhism (Ta-sheng fa-yuan i-lin ohang). Chapt. IV provides an introduction to the work, out• lining the commentaries used, both contemporary and modern, and discussing the methodological problems confronted in translating the text. Chapter V is the translation itself: K'uei-chi's "Essay on Vijnaptimatrata" (Wei-shih chang) in ten sections. It includes extensive annotation indicating the sources of the ideas K'uei-chi discusses and providing supplementary information on the many Buddhist doctrines to which he refers. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ii PART ONE: K'UEI-CHI, THE MAN AND HIS THOUGHT Chapter I. BIOGRAPHY 2 Family and Childhood k Attraction to Buddhism 6 K'uei-chi and Hsuan-tsang 8 K'uei-chi, the Exegete 11 Quality of K'uei-chi's Scholarship 11 Personal Religious Life l6 II. K'UEI-CHI'S WRITTEN WORKS 21 An Analysis of the Surviving Works 2k Discussion 32 III. K'UEI-CHI AND YOGACARA 37 YOGACARA IN INDIA AND CHINA 38 VIJNAPTIMATRATA 39 Atman and Dharmas 39 Trisvabhavata: the Three Aspects of Own-being hO Vijnaptimatrata vs. Cittamatrata in later Yogacara k2 Vijnana and Vijnapti k3 YOGACARA PSYCHOLOGY 50 The Eight Modes of Mental Activity 51 Alaya and Atman 57 The Components of Perception 60 THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT 6l The Five Stages of Sanct if ication 6l The Yogacara Conception of Nirvana 6k K'UEI-CHI'S CONTRIBUTION . 6U Doctrinal Classification 65 The Five-level Contemplation of Vijnaptimatrata 67 PART TWO TRANSLATION OF "THE ESSAY ON VIJNAPTIMATRAT&" IV. INTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSLATION TO The Commentaries 70 Methodological Considerations 72 V. K'UEI-CHI'S "ESSAY ON VIJNAPTIMATRATS" 79 [Preface] ' 79 Section 1. Exposition of the Substance 80 2. Critical Analysis of the Term 103 3. Explanation of the Distinctions and the Unity 108 h. Which Mode of Mentation Performs the Contemplation? 118 5. Clarifying what Distinguishes the Classes 120 vi 6. The Stages of Cultivating Realization .... 127 7. Of What Nature is the Dharma '.Contemplation*? 137 •8.' The Stations and the Base of Arising .... ikk 9. Severing the Obstacles and Defilements . 151 10. Turning to and Embracing the Two Emptinesses 158 NOTES CHAPTER I 162 CHAPTER II 167 CHAPTER III 171 CHAPTER IV 175 CHAPTER V 176 ABBREVIATIONS 215 BIBLIOGRAPHY 217 1 PART ONE: K'UEI-CHI, THE MAN AND HIS THOUGHT Chapter I BIOGRAPHY The Chinese Buddhist monk K'uei--chi^jjf£ (A.D. 632-682), while remaining as yet relatively unknown in the West, was one of the most prominent figures among the aristocratic intelligentsia who were attracted to Buddhism during the early part of the T'ang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907). The beginning of the 7th century had seen the founding of a new Chinese empire after 500 years of internal strife and discord; finally once again China was united. It was a time when the Chinese court was becoming increasingly more interested in the regions beyond its western frontier, and when Buddhist thought was rapidly/becoming the fashion of the day. K'uei-chi's prominence stems from the two major activities of his life: his participation in the translation project,sponsored by- the T'ang Emperor T'ai-tsung 626-6H9), an<i his later prodigious literary activity as a textual commentator and formulator of what was to become the orthodox version of Yogacara Buddhism in East Asia. Both of these activities were the consequence of his long association with the famous Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Hsuan-tsang ^ (ca. 596-661+) .2 In A.D. 61+55 when K'uei-chi was thirteen years old, Hsuan- tsang returned to the T'ang capital from sixteen years of travel and study in the major Buddhist monastic centers and universities of 3 Central Asia and India. Buddhism had been growing steadily in China for several centuries by this time, but among Hsuan-tsang's native Chinese contemporaries there were none who could rival his understanding of the Indian origins of Buddhism. From his long residence at the famous Buddhist monastery-university at Nalanda he had brought back a profound mastery of Indian scholastic philosophy and also an . extensive collection of Buddhist religious and philosophical literature. The remaining nineteen years of his life were devoted to directing a team of Buddhist scholars who translated those Indian works from Sanskrit into Literary Chinese. This translation project, the most extensive and lavishly funded in the history of Chinese Buddhism, provided the textual corpus by which the Chinese were finally to gain a mature understanding of Indian Yogacara Buddhism, a philosophical system even more alien and contrary to the indigenous thought of their time than to some of our own modern notions of philosophy and psychology. Hsuan-tsang, if we judge from his work, considered his main role to be that of a transmitter and translator. It was to K'uei-chi, his specially chosen and personally instructed successor, that he left the equally important and arduous task of providing the commentaries that would make this vast body of newly translated technical literature accessible to the Chinese Buddhist public. It was K'uei-chi who was largely responsible for standardizing an orthodox synthesis of the various doctrinal interpretations and positions represented in the many works brought back to China by Hsuan-tsang. So important, in fact, was K'uei-chi's role as formulator and synthesizer, that it was he who •was later given the position of First Patriarch of the Fa-hsiang Tsung J/^v ^0 , the dominant school of Chinese Yogacara Buddhism and one which subsequently had a strong influence on Japanese intellectual history as well. Thus, in the eyes of some at least, K'uei-chi's place in the history of Chinese Yogacara Buddhism has been seen as even more crucial than that of Hsuan-tsang. Sources for an account of K'uei-chi's life are limited and beset, moreover, with all the usual problems involved in distinguishing hagiography from.biography, a task made all the more difficult by the 3 dearth of autobiographical references in K'uei-chi's own writings. In outline, the major events in K'uei-chi's life were his childhood in the aristocratic circles of the capital, his early attraction to Buddhism, his training and collaboration with Hsuan-tsang, and his literary activity subsequent to Hsuan-tsang1s death. There are, in addition, two important themes running throughout his life: his commitment to careful scholarship,and to Buddhist religious practice. In even a summary account of K'uei-chi's life it is necessary to consider each of these topics. Family and Childhood . The general circumstances of K'uei-chi's early years can be surmised with some probability. He was the scion of a family well- established in the T'ang imperial court.and heir to a long tradition of distinguished military leadership.