): it avoids the theory of
annihilation
by denying that he who eats the fruit is anyone other than he who carried out the aaion.
Abhidharmakosabhasyam-Vol-1-Vasubandhu-Poussin-Pruden-1991
3) which are treatises; it fits the Abhidhammas a little less poorly, but without being satisfying.
Does it designate some lists "omitting all the explanations and other details" (Childers, 243), lists of items which form part of the dgama and which are not specifically Abhidharma!
The Sautrantikas, who deny the existence of an Abhidharma Pitaka distinct from the Sutra, certainly had such an "index," exactly like the Sarvastivadins of that period, and earlier than the Abhidharmas to which the expressions
of the Divya refer. Does it designate some presentations, in the manner of the sutras, like those that constituted the mdtikds of the Vibhanga? , In this book, which is the property of the Abhidharma, it is often a type of commentary in the form of glosses.
5. See the article of Rhys Davids in Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics.
6. Developpement de VAbhidharma, Dogme et philosophies 122; J. Przyluski, Concile, third
chapter and 179, 353; Acoka, 322; ? un4railles, 49; Levi, Seize Arhats, 20, 39.
7. In Hastings' Encyclopedia, 1. 19-20; Winternitz, Geschichte, 134. Scholastic definitions of the
Abhidharma: AttasMini, 48-50 and following; Satrdlamkdra, XI. 3.
8. It knows, however, that the author of the Kathdvatthu foresaw and refuted in advance the heresies to come; see Atthakathd, pp. 6-7. The remark is by Minayeff, and the observations by H. Oldenberg (Buddh. Studien, p. 633, 676) do not demonstrate that the Kathdvatthu has not been amplified in the course of time.
9. This is incorrect. The Samgitiparydya is only the Samgitisuttanta. The second part of the Dhdtukdya has a close relationship with the Dhdtukathdprakarana. A careful study will show other points of contaa, and one can see that the Sarvastivadins simply enriched by their inventions (theory of the viprayuktas, of the mahdbhdmikas, etc. ) the earlier material of the Abhidhamma.
10. The account of Buddhaghosa, Kathdvatthu-Atthakathd, p. 6, holds that because of this, at least the Vibhajjavadins are the orthodox party.
11. This is one of the aspects of the problem of kiriyavdda.
12. This definition of the two schools is borrowed from the Abhidharmako/a, v. 9; see Kathdvatthu, 1. 8 (which does not entirely confirm our interpretation). The controversy of time and the pudgala in the Vijndnakdya, Etudes Asiatiques, 1925.
13. Geography of the Sarvastivadin sect, J. Przyluski, Apoka. I know that Sinologists, notably Takakusu, are not settled on the language in which the first of the Abhidharmas of the
Poussin 49
? 50 Introduction
Sarvastivadins, the Jndnaprathdna, was written: "In what language, however, the original text was composed we have no means of ascertaining. All we can say is that the text brought by Sarhghadeva and Dhammapiya [Dharmapriya] from Kacmira [383 A. D. ] seems to have been in
a dialect akin to Pali, whereas the text used by Hiuen-tsang [657 A. D. ], as in other cases, seems to have been in Sanskrit. But this supposition rests solely on the phonetic value of Qiinese ideographs employed in these translations, and is not corroborated by any other evidence . . . It seems to me more than probable that the JHdnaprasthdna at least was written in some dialect: one thinks naturally of the dialect of Kacmira, but we really have no certainty that the Jndnaprasthdna was not composed in Kosala (JPTS; 1905, p. 84,86). "
We possess a fragmentary quotation from the Sarvastivadin Pratimoksa which proves that some earlier forms, Paji or dialect, remained in use: "When, in the Posadha ceremony, the Vinayadhara asks, 'Are you pure? ' (bhiksuposadhe hi kacci ttha parisuddhd iti vinayadharend- nusrdvite), if any bhiksu does not confess his transgression . . . " (Abhidharmakofavydkhydad iv. 72; compare the introduction of the Pdtimokkha and the remarks of Rhys Davids, Dialogues, II, p. 257). (See L Finot, "Pratimoksasutra des Sarvastivadins," JA, 1913,2. 177-9).
But we possess a fragment of the Jndnaprasthdna, quoted in the Abhidharmakosavydkhyd (ad i. 49): katamad buddhavacanam tathdgatasya yd vdg vacanam vyavahdro gir niruktir vdkpatho vdgghoso vdkkarma vdgvijnaptih // buddhavacanam kusalam vaktavyam athdvydkrtam vak- tavyam / sydt kusalam sydd avydkrtam // katarat kusalam / kusalacittasya tathdgatasya vdcarh bhdsamdnasya yd [vdgjvijnaptih // katarad avydkrtam / . . . purvavat // punas tatraivdnantaram uktam / buddhavacanam ka esa dharmah / ndmakdyapadakdyavyanjanakdydndm ydnupur- vavacand anupurvasthdpandanupurvasamayoga iti /
14. Invention of the prdptis, of sabhdgatd, of the existence of the past and the future, of diverse types of cause, of apratisamkhyanirodha, not to mention the nirvedhabhagiyas, etc.
15. The Abhidharmako/avydkhyd speaks of satpdddbhidharma-mdtrapdthina Abhidharmikas, Abhidharmikas "who read only the six-legged Abhidharma" which we understand to mean "who do not read the Vibhdsd. " These are Sarvastivadins; but all Sarvastivadins are not "followers of the Vibhdsa' (Vaibhasikas). We know, for example, that there were four ways of understanding "all exists," those of the Sarvastivadins Dharmatrata, Ghosaka, Vasumitra, and Buddhadeva: the Vaibhasikas of Kas'mTr condemn the first, the second and the fourth; and the first for the serious reason that it is confused with the non-Buddhist teaching of the Saihkhyas.
16. Better, "after the reign of Kaniska," Inde sous les Mauryas . . . , p. 328.
17. See this Introduction, Darstantikas, and Index, Sautrantikas.
18. I omit here the rather long note where the bibliography on the "dating" of Vasubandhu is summarized, and where the texts proving the existence of an "earlier Vasubandhu" were brought together; see below.
19. All the opinions, or almost all the opinions, marked in the Ko? a or in the Bhdsyam by the adverb kila ("certain," "it is said," grags so), are erroneous opinions of the Vaibhasikas. A correct translation would be: "The School says, wrongly, that. . . "
20. N. Peri, "A propos de la date de Vasubandhu," BEFEO, 1911, p. 374. The Tibetan Siddhantas also take a great deal from the Kosa. Note that it was translated into Chinese only in 563, and the Tibetan version, by Jinamitra and Srikutaraksita, during the period of Ral-pa-can (816-838).
21. This does not exist in extenso in Chinese (JPTS, 1905, p. 77). This is the treatise the first two parts of which are analyzed in the Appendix of Cosmologie bouddhique.
22. The Vydkhyd, the commentary on the Bhdsyam by Yasomitra, adds many details.
? 23. It is from this point of view that Oldenberg recommends the study of the Abhidharmakoiay in Bttddhistische Studien, ZDMG; III; p. 644 (1898).
24. According to P. Demieville, BEFEO, 1924, p. 463.
25. With reference to Gunamati, see H. Ui, Studies in Indian Philosophy {^Indo-tetsugaku
Kenkyu], 5th volume, pp. 136-140.
26. Missing in the two treatises of Sarhghabhadra, the Aryan quoted in Vydkhyd i. 31, which is a criticism of Kosa i, kdrika 11.
In the two treatises of Sarhghabhadra, the first chapter is entitled MiUavastunirdesa, the second Vitesanirdefa, the third Pratityasamutpddanirdes'a. As is proper, the Pudgalapratisedha- prakarana, an appendix to the Kofa, is ignored.
27. It has been preceded by Susumu Yamaguchi [September 1931].
28. See Ko? a i. l. Obermiller, in the preface to his translation of the Uttaratantra {Asia Majory 1931), digresses from the thesis of Ui.
29. Perhaps because the work of Dharmatrata enjoyed, for a long time, a great reputation; because, in the eyes of the Sarvastivadins, the Kola passed, with good reason, for heretical and tendentious.
30. Quoted iii. 59, on the explanation of the word utsada.
31. See below.
32. Satpdddbhidharmamdtrapdfhittas, a good reading for the Kosa, v. 22, note 80.
33. An account of the council in Ta-chih-tu-lun. Przyluski, Concile de Rdjagrha, p. 72.
34. Translated in 383 by Gotama Samghadeva of Kasmir, and by Hsiian-tsang.
35. Watters, i. 294; S. Levi, Catalogue geographique des Yaksas, 55; J. Przyluski, Acoka, 263.
36. On the language in which the Jndnaprasthdna was written, see Takakusu, p. 82, 84, 86. See above p. 3.
37. On the laukikdgradharmasy Kofa, vi. 19c, and "Parayana quoted in the Jndnaprasthdna" Melanges Unossier (where we see that the Jndnaprasthdna poorly presents the problem of the nirvedhabhdgiyas).
38. Same text, Small Vibhdsd, p. 5b.
39. Compare Ko/a. i. 3, and Documents d'Abhidharma; Vibhdsd, p. 236b.
40. The controversy of time and of the pudgala in the Vijndnakdya, in Etudes Asiatiques, 1925, i. 343-376; Inde sous les Mauryas, 1930,138; Note in Bouddhique, ii. AC Belgique, Nov. 1922.
The fourth volume of theJapanese translation reached me in September, 1931. It contains the Vijndnakdya. The translator, Bun'yu Watanabe, in a short preface, treats of the philosophic import of the book, of its compilation, and its relation with the Abhidhammas.
41. One must be more precise with respect to the remarks made by Barth (ii. 355): in truth the editors of the Dipavamsa are alone in knowing a Tissa Moggaliputta "who must have presided over the council of Ashoka and composed the Kathdvatthu. " But the Sarvastivadin tradition knows of a Mu-lien to whom it attributes, in the controversy of the past and the future, the position that the Dipavamsa assigns to Tissa. There is certainly much legend in Singhalese hagiography.
42. The enigmatic Gopala of Hsiian-tsang? Our sources are in agreement in attributing to the
Pomsin 51
? 52 Introduction
Sammltlyas, and to the VatsiputrTyas, the doarine of the pudgala. See Madhyamakavrtti, pp. 275-276.
43. Kathavatthu: saccikapphaparamapphena puggalo upalabbhati. The Sanskrit formula is not restored with any certainty. We have tattvdrthatah (satydrthatah? ) paramdrthatah pudgala upalabhyate sdksikriyate sampratividyate (? ) sathvidyate. The edition of Devasarman, more developed than that of Tissa, appears to be later.
44. Sanskrit sources like the expression purusapudgala; for example, the Sanskrit edition of Majjhima, iii. 239 (chadhdturo ayam puriso) has saddhdtur ayarh purusapudgalah. See Madhya- makavrtti, pp. 129,180, etc
45. The expression that I translate as "Recognize the contradiction into which you fall! ",/# t'ing tuofu, corresponds to a Sanskrit original ajdnihi nigraham. Tuofu is in fact translated by nigraha sthdna in a word list {Tetsugaku Daijisho, Tokyo, 1912) abstracted by Rosenberg ("Introduction to the study of Buddhism," i, Vocabulary, Tokyo, 1916). Thus we have here the exact equivalent of the formula djdndhi niggaham of the Kathavatthu and the MUinda.
46. The doarine of the Bhagavat is a path between two extremes. It avoids the extreme theory of permanence by saying that he who eats the fruits of the aaion is not the same person who carried out the aaion (sa karoti so'nubhavati?
): it avoids the theory of annihilation by denying that he who eats the fruit is anyone other than he who carried out the aaion. Compare Samyutta, ii. p. 23.
47. The edition of the Dirgha has only four oaades: vimoksa, abhibhu, lokadharma and samyag- mdrga (which recalls the Pali samattas).
48. On the different Vasumitras, see Watters, i. 274-5; the Introduction to the Traite surles Sectes, Masuda, Asia Major, ii. p. 7; T&ranatha, 174.
49. Who (Vibhdsd, p. 152a) declares that all citta-caitta disappears in nirodhasamdpatti?
50. Perhaps Taisho 1556, anonymous: Sarvdstivddasamaya-pancavastuka, notable for its enumera-
tion of the viprayuktas; 997c: prdpti, asamjnisamdpaUi, nirodhasamdpatti, dsamjnika, fivitendriya, sabhdgatd, desaprdpti (? ), dyatanaprdpti, jdti'jard, sthiti, anityatd, ndma-pdda-vyanjanakdyas.
51. It quotes the Abhidharma-acaryas. It admits the mahdbhumikas, p. 994b3, and also avijnapti, p. 992c, which it explains, along with the samvaras, exaaly as the Kosa does. But the formula, "There are two gates to amrta, the contemplation of the loathsome and the regulation of the breath," is to be noted, p. 989b.
52. On the andgdmin, Vibhdsd, p. 879b; on the meaning of bhava, p. 960b; on the absorptions which follow a good mind of Kamadhatu, p. 961c.
53. One gloss says that the word signifies "Bodhi-taking," which would give Bodhilata.
54. The Darstantikas deny the caittas; the Sautrantikas admit the caittas, but differ on their number.
55. See above, p. 30.
56. Sautrdntikd Bhadantddayah; sautrdntikadarsanavalambin.
57. According to Wassiliew, 279, Samgharaksita differs a little. We do not know this master, nor
the Bhumisena of p. 280.
58. The opinion on seeing through the visual consciousness, on the number of the caittas, on the non-existence of avijnapti, are clearly non-Vaibhasika. Moreover, the Vibhdsd carefully notes the opinions of the Bhadanta.
? 59. See also Vibhdsd, p. 219.
60. However Dharmatrata, in Abhidharmasdra, p. 885, explains the causes of the viprayuktas.
61. See the references to the Mahasaihghikas, the VatsTputrlyas, the Mahisasakas, and the Dharmaguptas in the index.
62. Ch'uan-yil\ Ch'uan translates agama or avavdda.
63. Vasubandhu, Kofa, iv. 56, as well as Samghabhadra, p. 572 (which is surprising enough), do
not take into account the second alternative and follow the doctrine of the ch'mn-yil.
64. A note translated imprecisely in Kosa, v. 9d, note.
65. The truth is that Paramartha wrote one word for another.
66. This is obscure; the Samgraha quotes the Agama of the Mahisasakas and ignores the Vibhajyavadins; the Vibhdsd, it appears, ignores the Sammitlyas.
67. This is the meaning oiyogdcdra in the Saundarananda, and in the Mahdvastu.
68. Or vaiydprtya, Avaddnafataka, ii. 235.
69. "Some say: 'When the Buddha was in this world, Sariputra, with an end to explaining the words of the Buddha, compiled the Abhidharma. Later, the monk VatsTputrTya recited [this work]. Up to the present day, this is what is called the Abhidharma of Sariputra,'" J. Przyluski, Concile, p. 73.
The only book of the Abhidharma which teaches the doctrine of the pudgala appears to be Taisho vol. 32, no. 1649, the Sammittya-nikdya-sdstra, Kofa, ix.
70. "The past is that which has arisen and is destroyed; the future is that which has not arisen, not appeared," p. 543b.
71. For the last terms, compare the variant p. 526c: the Sanskrit reading is doubtful:
dkds'dyatanajndna . . . and dkdsdyatanapratyayatfndna].
72. Compare the doctrine of the Dhammasangani, Kola v. 4, note.
73. Taisho volume 28, numbers 1550, 1551,1552, Abhidharmahrdaya; see above p. 16.
74. We have the Sanskrit text of one of the kdrikds, Kosa, v, note 14.
75. For example, the ninth chapter: Dharmatrata takes up twenty kdrikds of Dharmasn and
interpolates six new kdrikds; he continues with twenty-two new kdrikds. 16. Taisho 1546; mentioned by Takakusu, p. 128.
77. The third doctrine, difference in avasthd, (trans, fen-fen).
78. We have fang-pien, which should translate vydydna (see Demieville, Milinda) more often than updya.
79. See above p. 33.
Poussin 53
? CHAPTER ONE
The Dhdtus
. Homage to the Buddha.
1. He has, in an absolute manner, destroyed all blindness; He has drawn out the world from the mire of transmigration: I fender homage to Him, to this teacher of truth, before composing the treatise called the Abhidharmakosa.
Desiring to compose a treatise, with the intention of making known the greatness of his master, the author undertakes to render him homage and to first present his qualities.
"He" refers to the Buddha, the Blessed One.
"He has destroyed all blindness," that is to say, by him or through him blindness with respect to all things is destroyed.
"Blindness" is ignorance, for ignorance hinders the seeing of things as they truly are.
l
Bythis,theBuddha,theBlessedOne issufficientlydesignated,for he alone, through the possession of the antidote to ignorance (v. 60), has definitely destroyed all ignorance with respect to all knowable things, so that it cannot rearise.
But the Pratyekabuddhas and the 5>ravakas have also destroyed all blindness, for they are freed from all ignorance defiled by the defilements.
2 But they do not know the qualities proper to the Buddha (vii. 28),
3 objectsverydistantinspaceortime(vii. 55), northeinfinitecomplex
4
ofthings; therefore,theyhavenotdestroyedblindnessinanabsolute
manner, for the ignorance freed from the defilements is active in
5
them.
Having thus praised the Blessed One from the point of view of
qualities useful to himself, the author praises him from the point of view of qualities useful to others: "He has drawn out the world from
? % Chapter One
the mire of transmigration. " Transmigration is a mire, because the world is bound up in it, and because it is difficult to traverse. The Blessed One, having pity on the world which finds itself drowned
6 without recourse in this mire, has pulled it out, as much as possible, by
7
"I render homage," by prostrating myself even to my head "to this
8
teacher of truth:" teacher of truth," because he teaches in conformity
with that which is, without error. By thus qualifying the Blessed One, the author indicates the manner in which the Blessed One is useful to others. It is by the true teaching that the Blessed One, the teacher, has pulled the world out of the mire of transmigration, not by his
9
supernatural powers, nor by the granting of favors.
After having rendered homage to this teacher of truth, what will
the author do? "I shall compose a treatise. " A treatise is that which instructs disciples. Which treatise?
T h e Abhidharmakosa.
***
W h a t is Abhidharma}
2a. Abhidharma is pure prajnd with its following.
Prajnd which will be defined below (ii. 24, vii. l) is the discernment 10
u
The "following" of prajnd is its escort, namely the five pure
In common usage, the word Abhidharma also designates all prajnd which brings about the obtaining of Abhidharma in the absolute sense of the word; defiled prajnd whether it is innate or natural, or whether the result of an effort, the result of hearing, reflection, absorption
extending to each one the hands of the teaching of the Good Law.
of the dharmas.
Pure prajnd is undefiled prajnd.
skandhas (i. 7a) which coexists with prajnd.
u
of Abhidharma.
13
Such is the absolute meaning
2b. It is also prajnd, and the Treatise which brings about the
obtaining of pure prajnd.
? (srutacintdbhdvand-mayi, ii. 71c), receives, along with its following, by convention, the name of Abhidharma.
14
One also gives the name of Abhidharma to the Treatise, for the
Treatise also brings about the obtaining of pure prajnd: it is thus a factor in Abhidharma in the absolute sense of the word.
Dhanna is that which bears (dhdrana) self-(or unique) charac- teristics.
The Abhidharma is called abhi-dhanna because it envisions (abhi- mukhd) the dharma which is the object of supreme knowledge, or the supreme dharma, Nirvana; or rather it is so-called because it envisions the characteristics of the dharmas, both their self-characteristics and their common (or general) characteristics.
***
Why is the present work called the Abhidharmakosa!
2c-d. The present work is called the Abhidharmakosa because the Abhidharma enters into it through its meaning; or because the Abhidharma constitutes its foundation.
The Treatise that bears the name of Abhidharma enters by its meaning into this work, which is thus the Abhidharmakosa, "the sheath of the Abhidharma. " Or rather as the Abhidharma is the point of support of this work, one can say that this work is drawn from out of the Abhidharma, as from a sheath; it is thus called the Abhi- dharmakosa, "the work which has the Abhidharma for a sheath. "
Why was the Abhidharma taught? By whom was the Abhidharma originally taught? The answer to these two questions will tell us why the author piously undertakes the writing of the Abhidharmakosa.
3. Apart from the discernment of the dharmas, there is no means to extinguish the defilments, and it is by reason of the defilements that the world wanders in the ocean of existence.
So it is with a view to this discernment that the Abhidharma
has been, they say, spoken [by the Master].
15
The Dhatus 57
? 58 Chapter One
Apart from the discernment of dharmas, there does not exist any means for the extinguishing of the defilements (v. l), and these are the defilements which cause the world to wander in the great ocean of
16
transmigration. This is why, say the Vaibha? ikas, with a view to the
discernment of the dharmas, the master, the Buddha, the Blessed One, spoke the Abhidharma. For, without the teaching of the Abhidharma, a disciple would be incapable of discerning the dharmas.
However, the Vaibhasikas explain, the Blessed One spoke the
Abhidharma in fragments. And in the same way that the Sthavira
Dharmatrata made a collection of the Udanas scattered throughout the
11
Scriptures,--the Udanavarga, --in this same way the Aryan Kat-
yayaniputra and the other Saints established the Abhidharma [by
18 collecting it into the seven Abhidharmas].
***
What are the dharmas of which the Abhidharma teaches the discerning?
4a. The dharmas are impure, "in a relationship with the defilements," or pure,"with no relationship to the defilements. "
This is the complete teachings of all the dharmas. What are the impure dharmas!
4b-c. Conditioned dharmas, with the exception of the Path, are impure.
With the exception of the Path, all conditioned dharmas are defiled. Why is this?
19
(For the samkrtadharmas see i. 7a, ii. 45c-d. For the defilements, the asravas, see v. 40. )
Without doubt certain defilements, for example false views, can have the Path or the unconditioned dharmas, for their object. This does not make the Path or these dharmas impure, or in a (necessary)
4d. They are impure because the defilements adhere to them.
? relationship with the defilements, because the defilements do not adhere to them. This point will be explained later in the Fifth Chapter.
What are the pure dharmas?
5a-b. The undefiled truth of the Path and the three uncondi-
20
tioned things are pure.
What are the three unconditioned things?
22 5c. Space and the two types of extinctions.
The two extinctions are pratisamkhyanirodha, extinction due to knowledge, and apratisamkhydnirodha* extinction not due to knowledge.
The three unconditioned things and the truth of the Path are pure dharmas because the defilements do not adhere to them.
of the Divya refer. Does it designate some presentations, in the manner of the sutras, like those that constituted the mdtikds of the Vibhanga? , In this book, which is the property of the Abhidharma, it is often a type of commentary in the form of glosses.
5. See the article of Rhys Davids in Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics.
6. Developpement de VAbhidharma, Dogme et philosophies 122; J. Przyluski, Concile, third
chapter and 179, 353; Acoka, 322; ? un4railles, 49; Levi, Seize Arhats, 20, 39.
7. In Hastings' Encyclopedia, 1. 19-20; Winternitz, Geschichte, 134. Scholastic definitions of the
Abhidharma: AttasMini, 48-50 and following; Satrdlamkdra, XI. 3.
8. It knows, however, that the author of the Kathdvatthu foresaw and refuted in advance the heresies to come; see Atthakathd, pp. 6-7. The remark is by Minayeff, and the observations by H. Oldenberg (Buddh. Studien, p. 633, 676) do not demonstrate that the Kathdvatthu has not been amplified in the course of time.
9. This is incorrect. The Samgitiparydya is only the Samgitisuttanta. The second part of the Dhdtukdya has a close relationship with the Dhdtukathdprakarana. A careful study will show other points of contaa, and one can see that the Sarvastivadins simply enriched by their inventions (theory of the viprayuktas, of the mahdbhdmikas, etc. ) the earlier material of the Abhidhamma.
10. The account of Buddhaghosa, Kathdvatthu-Atthakathd, p. 6, holds that because of this, at least the Vibhajjavadins are the orthodox party.
11. This is one of the aspects of the problem of kiriyavdda.
12. This definition of the two schools is borrowed from the Abhidharmako/a, v. 9; see Kathdvatthu, 1. 8 (which does not entirely confirm our interpretation). The controversy of time and the pudgala in the Vijndnakdya, Etudes Asiatiques, 1925.
13. Geography of the Sarvastivadin sect, J. Przyluski, Apoka. I know that Sinologists, notably Takakusu, are not settled on the language in which the first of the Abhidharmas of the
Poussin 49
? 50 Introduction
Sarvastivadins, the Jndnaprathdna, was written: "In what language, however, the original text was composed we have no means of ascertaining. All we can say is that the text brought by Sarhghadeva and Dhammapiya [Dharmapriya] from Kacmira [383 A. D. ] seems to have been in
a dialect akin to Pali, whereas the text used by Hiuen-tsang [657 A. D. ], as in other cases, seems to have been in Sanskrit. But this supposition rests solely on the phonetic value of Qiinese ideographs employed in these translations, and is not corroborated by any other evidence . . . It seems to me more than probable that the JHdnaprasthdna at least was written in some dialect: one thinks naturally of the dialect of Kacmira, but we really have no certainty that the Jndnaprasthdna was not composed in Kosala (JPTS; 1905, p. 84,86). "
We possess a fragmentary quotation from the Sarvastivadin Pratimoksa which proves that some earlier forms, Paji or dialect, remained in use: "When, in the Posadha ceremony, the Vinayadhara asks, 'Are you pure? ' (bhiksuposadhe hi kacci ttha parisuddhd iti vinayadharend- nusrdvite), if any bhiksu does not confess his transgression . . . " (Abhidharmakofavydkhydad iv. 72; compare the introduction of the Pdtimokkha and the remarks of Rhys Davids, Dialogues, II, p. 257). (See L Finot, "Pratimoksasutra des Sarvastivadins," JA, 1913,2. 177-9).
But we possess a fragment of the Jndnaprasthdna, quoted in the Abhidharmakosavydkhyd (ad i. 49): katamad buddhavacanam tathdgatasya yd vdg vacanam vyavahdro gir niruktir vdkpatho vdgghoso vdkkarma vdgvijnaptih // buddhavacanam kusalam vaktavyam athdvydkrtam vak- tavyam / sydt kusalam sydd avydkrtam // katarat kusalam / kusalacittasya tathdgatasya vdcarh bhdsamdnasya yd [vdgjvijnaptih // katarad avydkrtam / . . . purvavat // punas tatraivdnantaram uktam / buddhavacanam ka esa dharmah / ndmakdyapadakdyavyanjanakdydndm ydnupur- vavacand anupurvasthdpandanupurvasamayoga iti /
14. Invention of the prdptis, of sabhdgatd, of the existence of the past and the future, of diverse types of cause, of apratisamkhyanirodha, not to mention the nirvedhabhagiyas, etc.
15. The Abhidharmako/avydkhyd speaks of satpdddbhidharma-mdtrapdthina Abhidharmikas, Abhidharmikas "who read only the six-legged Abhidharma" which we understand to mean "who do not read the Vibhdsd. " These are Sarvastivadins; but all Sarvastivadins are not "followers of the Vibhdsa' (Vaibhasikas). We know, for example, that there were four ways of understanding "all exists," those of the Sarvastivadins Dharmatrata, Ghosaka, Vasumitra, and Buddhadeva: the Vaibhasikas of Kas'mTr condemn the first, the second and the fourth; and the first for the serious reason that it is confused with the non-Buddhist teaching of the Saihkhyas.
16. Better, "after the reign of Kaniska," Inde sous les Mauryas . . . , p. 328.
17. See this Introduction, Darstantikas, and Index, Sautrantikas.
18. I omit here the rather long note where the bibliography on the "dating" of Vasubandhu is summarized, and where the texts proving the existence of an "earlier Vasubandhu" were brought together; see below.
19. All the opinions, or almost all the opinions, marked in the Ko? a or in the Bhdsyam by the adverb kila ("certain," "it is said," grags so), are erroneous opinions of the Vaibhasikas. A correct translation would be: "The School says, wrongly, that. . . "
20. N. Peri, "A propos de la date de Vasubandhu," BEFEO, 1911, p. 374. The Tibetan Siddhantas also take a great deal from the Kosa. Note that it was translated into Chinese only in 563, and the Tibetan version, by Jinamitra and Srikutaraksita, during the period of Ral-pa-can (816-838).
21. This does not exist in extenso in Chinese (JPTS, 1905, p. 77). This is the treatise the first two parts of which are analyzed in the Appendix of Cosmologie bouddhique.
22. The Vydkhyd, the commentary on the Bhdsyam by Yasomitra, adds many details.
? 23. It is from this point of view that Oldenberg recommends the study of the Abhidharmakoiay in Bttddhistische Studien, ZDMG; III; p. 644 (1898).
24. According to P. Demieville, BEFEO, 1924, p. 463.
25. With reference to Gunamati, see H. Ui, Studies in Indian Philosophy {^Indo-tetsugaku
Kenkyu], 5th volume, pp. 136-140.
26. Missing in the two treatises of Sarhghabhadra, the Aryan quoted in Vydkhyd i. 31, which is a criticism of Kosa i, kdrika 11.
In the two treatises of Sarhghabhadra, the first chapter is entitled MiUavastunirdesa, the second Vitesanirdefa, the third Pratityasamutpddanirdes'a. As is proper, the Pudgalapratisedha- prakarana, an appendix to the Kofa, is ignored.
27. It has been preceded by Susumu Yamaguchi [September 1931].
28. See Ko? a i. l. Obermiller, in the preface to his translation of the Uttaratantra {Asia Majory 1931), digresses from the thesis of Ui.
29. Perhaps because the work of Dharmatrata enjoyed, for a long time, a great reputation; because, in the eyes of the Sarvastivadins, the Kola passed, with good reason, for heretical and tendentious.
30. Quoted iii. 59, on the explanation of the word utsada.
31. See below.
32. Satpdddbhidharmamdtrapdfhittas, a good reading for the Kosa, v. 22, note 80.
33. An account of the council in Ta-chih-tu-lun. Przyluski, Concile de Rdjagrha, p. 72.
34. Translated in 383 by Gotama Samghadeva of Kasmir, and by Hsiian-tsang.
35. Watters, i. 294; S. Levi, Catalogue geographique des Yaksas, 55; J. Przyluski, Acoka, 263.
36. On the language in which the Jndnaprasthdna was written, see Takakusu, p. 82, 84, 86. See above p. 3.
37. On the laukikdgradharmasy Kofa, vi. 19c, and "Parayana quoted in the Jndnaprasthdna" Melanges Unossier (where we see that the Jndnaprasthdna poorly presents the problem of the nirvedhabhdgiyas).
38. Same text, Small Vibhdsd, p. 5b.
39. Compare Ko/a. i. 3, and Documents d'Abhidharma; Vibhdsd, p. 236b.
40. The controversy of time and of the pudgala in the Vijndnakdya, in Etudes Asiatiques, 1925, i. 343-376; Inde sous les Mauryas, 1930,138; Note in Bouddhique, ii. AC Belgique, Nov. 1922.
The fourth volume of theJapanese translation reached me in September, 1931. It contains the Vijndnakdya. The translator, Bun'yu Watanabe, in a short preface, treats of the philosophic import of the book, of its compilation, and its relation with the Abhidhammas.
41. One must be more precise with respect to the remarks made by Barth (ii. 355): in truth the editors of the Dipavamsa are alone in knowing a Tissa Moggaliputta "who must have presided over the council of Ashoka and composed the Kathdvatthu. " But the Sarvastivadin tradition knows of a Mu-lien to whom it attributes, in the controversy of the past and the future, the position that the Dipavamsa assigns to Tissa. There is certainly much legend in Singhalese hagiography.
42. The enigmatic Gopala of Hsiian-tsang? Our sources are in agreement in attributing to the
Pomsin 51
? 52 Introduction
Sammltlyas, and to the VatsiputrTyas, the doarine of the pudgala. See Madhyamakavrtti, pp. 275-276.
43. Kathavatthu: saccikapphaparamapphena puggalo upalabbhati. The Sanskrit formula is not restored with any certainty. We have tattvdrthatah (satydrthatah? ) paramdrthatah pudgala upalabhyate sdksikriyate sampratividyate (? ) sathvidyate. The edition of Devasarman, more developed than that of Tissa, appears to be later.
44. Sanskrit sources like the expression purusapudgala; for example, the Sanskrit edition of Majjhima, iii. 239 (chadhdturo ayam puriso) has saddhdtur ayarh purusapudgalah. See Madhya- makavrtti, pp. 129,180, etc
45. The expression that I translate as "Recognize the contradiction into which you fall! ",/# t'ing tuofu, corresponds to a Sanskrit original ajdnihi nigraham. Tuofu is in fact translated by nigraha sthdna in a word list {Tetsugaku Daijisho, Tokyo, 1912) abstracted by Rosenberg ("Introduction to the study of Buddhism," i, Vocabulary, Tokyo, 1916). Thus we have here the exact equivalent of the formula djdndhi niggaham of the Kathavatthu and the MUinda.
46. The doarine of the Bhagavat is a path between two extremes. It avoids the extreme theory of permanence by saying that he who eats the fruits of the aaion is not the same person who carried out the aaion (sa karoti so'nubhavati?
): it avoids the theory of annihilation by denying that he who eats the fruit is anyone other than he who carried out the aaion. Compare Samyutta, ii. p. 23.
47. The edition of the Dirgha has only four oaades: vimoksa, abhibhu, lokadharma and samyag- mdrga (which recalls the Pali samattas).
48. On the different Vasumitras, see Watters, i. 274-5; the Introduction to the Traite surles Sectes, Masuda, Asia Major, ii. p. 7; T&ranatha, 174.
49. Who (Vibhdsd, p. 152a) declares that all citta-caitta disappears in nirodhasamdpatti?
50. Perhaps Taisho 1556, anonymous: Sarvdstivddasamaya-pancavastuka, notable for its enumera-
tion of the viprayuktas; 997c: prdpti, asamjnisamdpaUi, nirodhasamdpatti, dsamjnika, fivitendriya, sabhdgatd, desaprdpti (? ), dyatanaprdpti, jdti'jard, sthiti, anityatd, ndma-pdda-vyanjanakdyas.
51. It quotes the Abhidharma-acaryas. It admits the mahdbhumikas, p. 994b3, and also avijnapti, p. 992c, which it explains, along with the samvaras, exaaly as the Kosa does. But the formula, "There are two gates to amrta, the contemplation of the loathsome and the regulation of the breath," is to be noted, p. 989b.
52. On the andgdmin, Vibhdsd, p. 879b; on the meaning of bhava, p. 960b; on the absorptions which follow a good mind of Kamadhatu, p. 961c.
53. One gloss says that the word signifies "Bodhi-taking," which would give Bodhilata.
54. The Darstantikas deny the caittas; the Sautrantikas admit the caittas, but differ on their number.
55. See above, p. 30.
56. Sautrdntikd Bhadantddayah; sautrdntikadarsanavalambin.
57. According to Wassiliew, 279, Samgharaksita differs a little. We do not know this master, nor
the Bhumisena of p. 280.
58. The opinion on seeing through the visual consciousness, on the number of the caittas, on the non-existence of avijnapti, are clearly non-Vaibhasika. Moreover, the Vibhdsd carefully notes the opinions of the Bhadanta.
? 59. See also Vibhdsd, p. 219.
60. However Dharmatrata, in Abhidharmasdra, p. 885, explains the causes of the viprayuktas.
61. See the references to the Mahasaihghikas, the VatsTputrlyas, the Mahisasakas, and the Dharmaguptas in the index.
62. Ch'uan-yil\ Ch'uan translates agama or avavdda.
63. Vasubandhu, Kofa, iv. 56, as well as Samghabhadra, p. 572 (which is surprising enough), do
not take into account the second alternative and follow the doctrine of the ch'mn-yil.
64. A note translated imprecisely in Kosa, v. 9d, note.
65. The truth is that Paramartha wrote one word for another.
66. This is obscure; the Samgraha quotes the Agama of the Mahisasakas and ignores the Vibhajyavadins; the Vibhdsd, it appears, ignores the Sammitlyas.
67. This is the meaning oiyogdcdra in the Saundarananda, and in the Mahdvastu.
68. Or vaiydprtya, Avaddnafataka, ii. 235.
69. "Some say: 'When the Buddha was in this world, Sariputra, with an end to explaining the words of the Buddha, compiled the Abhidharma. Later, the monk VatsTputrTya recited [this work]. Up to the present day, this is what is called the Abhidharma of Sariputra,'" J. Przyluski, Concile, p. 73.
The only book of the Abhidharma which teaches the doctrine of the pudgala appears to be Taisho vol. 32, no. 1649, the Sammittya-nikdya-sdstra, Kofa, ix.
70. "The past is that which has arisen and is destroyed; the future is that which has not arisen, not appeared," p. 543b.
71. For the last terms, compare the variant p. 526c: the Sanskrit reading is doubtful:
dkds'dyatanajndna . . . and dkdsdyatanapratyayatfndna].
72. Compare the doctrine of the Dhammasangani, Kola v. 4, note.
73. Taisho volume 28, numbers 1550, 1551,1552, Abhidharmahrdaya; see above p. 16.
74. We have the Sanskrit text of one of the kdrikds, Kosa, v, note 14.
75. For example, the ninth chapter: Dharmatrata takes up twenty kdrikds of Dharmasn and
interpolates six new kdrikds; he continues with twenty-two new kdrikds. 16. Taisho 1546; mentioned by Takakusu, p. 128.
77. The third doctrine, difference in avasthd, (trans, fen-fen).
78. We have fang-pien, which should translate vydydna (see Demieville, Milinda) more often than updya.
79. See above p. 33.
Poussin 53
? CHAPTER ONE
The Dhdtus
. Homage to the Buddha.
1. He has, in an absolute manner, destroyed all blindness; He has drawn out the world from the mire of transmigration: I fender homage to Him, to this teacher of truth, before composing the treatise called the Abhidharmakosa.
Desiring to compose a treatise, with the intention of making known the greatness of his master, the author undertakes to render him homage and to first present his qualities.
"He" refers to the Buddha, the Blessed One.
"He has destroyed all blindness," that is to say, by him or through him blindness with respect to all things is destroyed.
"Blindness" is ignorance, for ignorance hinders the seeing of things as they truly are.
l
Bythis,theBuddha,theBlessedOne issufficientlydesignated,for he alone, through the possession of the antidote to ignorance (v. 60), has definitely destroyed all ignorance with respect to all knowable things, so that it cannot rearise.
But the Pratyekabuddhas and the 5>ravakas have also destroyed all blindness, for they are freed from all ignorance defiled by the defilements.
2 But they do not know the qualities proper to the Buddha (vii. 28),
3 objectsverydistantinspaceortime(vii. 55), northeinfinitecomplex
4
ofthings; therefore,theyhavenotdestroyedblindnessinanabsolute
manner, for the ignorance freed from the defilements is active in
5
them.
Having thus praised the Blessed One from the point of view of
qualities useful to himself, the author praises him from the point of view of qualities useful to others: "He has drawn out the world from
? % Chapter One
the mire of transmigration. " Transmigration is a mire, because the world is bound up in it, and because it is difficult to traverse. The Blessed One, having pity on the world which finds itself drowned
6 without recourse in this mire, has pulled it out, as much as possible, by
7
"I render homage," by prostrating myself even to my head "to this
8
teacher of truth:" teacher of truth," because he teaches in conformity
with that which is, without error. By thus qualifying the Blessed One, the author indicates the manner in which the Blessed One is useful to others. It is by the true teaching that the Blessed One, the teacher, has pulled the world out of the mire of transmigration, not by his
9
supernatural powers, nor by the granting of favors.
After having rendered homage to this teacher of truth, what will
the author do? "I shall compose a treatise. " A treatise is that which instructs disciples. Which treatise?
T h e Abhidharmakosa.
***
W h a t is Abhidharma}
2a. Abhidharma is pure prajnd with its following.
Prajnd which will be defined below (ii. 24, vii. l) is the discernment 10
u
The "following" of prajnd is its escort, namely the five pure
In common usage, the word Abhidharma also designates all prajnd which brings about the obtaining of Abhidharma in the absolute sense of the word; defiled prajnd whether it is innate or natural, or whether the result of an effort, the result of hearing, reflection, absorption
extending to each one the hands of the teaching of the Good Law.
of the dharmas.
Pure prajnd is undefiled prajnd.
skandhas (i. 7a) which coexists with prajnd.
u
of Abhidharma.
13
Such is the absolute meaning
2b. It is also prajnd, and the Treatise which brings about the
obtaining of pure prajnd.
? (srutacintdbhdvand-mayi, ii. 71c), receives, along with its following, by convention, the name of Abhidharma.
14
One also gives the name of Abhidharma to the Treatise, for the
Treatise also brings about the obtaining of pure prajnd: it is thus a factor in Abhidharma in the absolute sense of the word.
Dhanna is that which bears (dhdrana) self-(or unique) charac- teristics.
The Abhidharma is called abhi-dhanna because it envisions (abhi- mukhd) the dharma which is the object of supreme knowledge, or the supreme dharma, Nirvana; or rather it is so-called because it envisions the characteristics of the dharmas, both their self-characteristics and their common (or general) characteristics.
***
Why is the present work called the Abhidharmakosa!
2c-d. The present work is called the Abhidharmakosa because the Abhidharma enters into it through its meaning; or because the Abhidharma constitutes its foundation.
The Treatise that bears the name of Abhidharma enters by its meaning into this work, which is thus the Abhidharmakosa, "the sheath of the Abhidharma. " Or rather as the Abhidharma is the point of support of this work, one can say that this work is drawn from out of the Abhidharma, as from a sheath; it is thus called the Abhi- dharmakosa, "the work which has the Abhidharma for a sheath. "
Why was the Abhidharma taught? By whom was the Abhidharma originally taught? The answer to these two questions will tell us why the author piously undertakes the writing of the Abhidharmakosa.
3. Apart from the discernment of the dharmas, there is no means to extinguish the defilments, and it is by reason of the defilements that the world wanders in the ocean of existence.
So it is with a view to this discernment that the Abhidharma
has been, they say, spoken [by the Master].
15
The Dhatus 57
? 58 Chapter One
Apart from the discernment of dharmas, there does not exist any means for the extinguishing of the defilements (v. l), and these are the defilements which cause the world to wander in the great ocean of
16
transmigration. This is why, say the Vaibha? ikas, with a view to the
discernment of the dharmas, the master, the Buddha, the Blessed One, spoke the Abhidharma. For, without the teaching of the Abhidharma, a disciple would be incapable of discerning the dharmas.
However, the Vaibhasikas explain, the Blessed One spoke the
Abhidharma in fragments. And in the same way that the Sthavira
Dharmatrata made a collection of the Udanas scattered throughout the
11
Scriptures,--the Udanavarga, --in this same way the Aryan Kat-
yayaniputra and the other Saints established the Abhidharma [by
18 collecting it into the seven Abhidharmas].
***
What are the dharmas of which the Abhidharma teaches the discerning?
4a. The dharmas are impure, "in a relationship with the defilements," or pure,"with no relationship to the defilements. "
This is the complete teachings of all the dharmas. What are the impure dharmas!
4b-c. Conditioned dharmas, with the exception of the Path, are impure.
With the exception of the Path, all conditioned dharmas are defiled. Why is this?
19
(For the samkrtadharmas see i. 7a, ii. 45c-d. For the defilements, the asravas, see v. 40. )
Without doubt certain defilements, for example false views, can have the Path or the unconditioned dharmas, for their object. This does not make the Path or these dharmas impure, or in a (necessary)
4d. They are impure because the defilements adhere to them.
? relationship with the defilements, because the defilements do not adhere to them. This point will be explained later in the Fifth Chapter.
What are the pure dharmas?
5a-b. The undefiled truth of the Path and the three uncondi-
20
tioned things are pure.
What are the three unconditioned things?
22 5c. Space and the two types of extinctions.
The two extinctions are pratisamkhyanirodha, extinction due to knowledge, and apratisamkhydnirodha* extinction not due to knowledge.
The three unconditioned things and the truth of the Path are pure dharmas because the defilements do not adhere to them.
