Vasubandhu

Vasubandhu (Sanskrit; traditional Chinese: ; ; pinyin: Shqn;

Wylie: dbyig gnyen) (fl. 4th to 5th century C.E.) was a very influential
Vasubandhu
Buddhist monk and scholar from Gandhara. Vasubandhu was a
philosopher who wrote on the Abhidharma from the perspectives of the
Sarvastivada and Sautrntika schools. Along with his half-brother
Asanga, he was also one of the main founders of the Yogacara school
after his conversion to Mahayana Buddhism.

Vasubandhu's Commentary on the Treasury of the Abhidharma

(Abhidharmakoabhya) is widely used in Tibetan and East Asian
Buddhism as the major source for non-Mahayana Abhidharma
philosophy. His philosophical verse works set forth the standard for the
Indian Yogacara metaphysics of "appearance only" (vijapti-mtra),
which has been described as a form of "epistemological idealism",
phenomenology[1] and close to Kant's Transcendental Idealism.[2] Apart Gandharan monk and Yogacara
from this, he wrote several commentaries, works on logic, philosopher Vasubandhu as Chan
argumentation and devotional poetry.
patriarch in a Chinese illustration.
Vasubandhu is one of the most influential thinkers in the Indian Occupation Buddhist monk
Buddhist philosophical tradition. In Jdo Shinsh, he is considered the Known for Cofounder of the
Second Patriarch and in Chan Buddhism, he is the 21st Patriarch. Yogacara philosophical
school.

Contents
1 Life and works
1.1 Two Vasubandhus theory
2 Philosophy
2.1 Abhidharma
2.2 Critique of the Self
2.3 Momentariness
2.4 Yogacara theories
2.5 Appearance only
2.6 Three Natures and non-duality
2.7 Logic
3 Notes
4 Works
5 References
6 External links

Life and works

Born a Brahmin[3] in Peshawar (present-day Pakistan), Vasubandhu was the half brother of Asanga, another key
personage in the founding of the Yogacara philosophy. Vasubandhu's name means "the Kinsman of
Abundance."[4] He and Asanga are members of the "Six Ornaments"[5] or six great commentators on the
Buddhas teachings. He was contemporaneous with Chandragupta I, father of Samudragupta. This information
temporally places this Vasubandhu in the 4th century CE.[6] The earliest biography of Vasubandhu was
translated into Chinese by Paramrtha (499-569).[7] Vasubandhu initially studied with the Buddhist
Sarvastivada (also called Vaibhika, who upheld the Mahavibhasa) school which was dominant in Gandhara,
and then later moved to Kashmir to study with the heads of the orthodox Sarvastivada branch there.[8] After
returning home he lectured on Abhidharma and composed the Abhidharmakoakrik (Verses on the Treasury
of the Abhidharma), a verse distillation of Sarvastivada Abhidharma teachings, which was an analysis of all
factors of experience into its constituent dharmas (phenomenal events). However Vasubandhu had also begun
to question Sarvastivada orthodoxy for some time, and had studied with the Sautantrika teacher Manoratha.
Due to this, he then went on to publish an auto-commentary to his own verses, criticizing the Sarvastivada
system from a Sautrntika viewpoint (also called Drtntika).[2]

He is later said to have converted to Mahayana beliefs under the influence of his brother Asanga, whereupon he
composed a number of voluminous treatises, especially on Yogacara doctrines and Mahayana sutras. Most
influential in the East Asian Buddhist tradition have been the Vimatikvijaptimtratsiddhi, the "Twenty
Verses on Representation Only", with its commentary (Viatikvtti), the Triik-vijaptimtrat, the
"Thirty Verses on Representation-only" and the "Three Natures Exposition" (Trisvabhvanirdea). Vasubandhu
also wrote a texts on Buddhist Hermeneutics, the Proper Mode of Exposition (Vykhyyukti). Vasubandhu thus
became a major Mahayana master, scholar and debater, famously defeating the Samkhya philosophers in debate
in front of the Gupta king Chandragupta II at Ayodhya, who is said to have rewarded him with 300,000 pieces
of gold.[9] Vasubandhu used the money he made from royal patronage and debating victories to build Buddhist
monasteries and hospitals.

He was prolific, writing a large number of other works, including:

Pacaskandhaprakaraa (Explanation of the Five Aggregates)

Karmasiddhiprakarana ("A Treatise on Karma")
Vykhyyukti ("Proper Mode of Exposition")
Vdavidhi("Rules for Debate")
Catuhataka-stra
Mahyna atadharm-prakamukha stra
Amitayus sutropadea ("Instruction on the Amitabha Sutra")
Discourse on the Pure Land[10]
Vijnaptimatrata Sastra ("Treatise on representation only")
Mahynasagrahabhya (Commentary to the Summary of the Great Vehicle of Asanga)
Dharmadharmatvibhgavtti (Commentary on Distinguishing Elements from Reality)
Madhyntavibhgabhya (Commentary on Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes)
Mahynastrlakrabhya (Commentary on the Ornament to the Great Vehicle Discourses)
Dasabhmikabhsya (Commentary on the Ten Stages Sutra)
Commentary on the Aksayamatinirdesa-sutra
Commentary on the Diamond Sutra
Commentary on the Lotus Sutra[11][12]
Paramrthasaptati, a critique of Samkhya

Two Vasubandhus theory

Erich Frauwallner, a mid-20th-century Buddhologist, sought to distinguish two Vasubandhus, one the
Yogcrin and the other a Sautrntika, but this view has largely fallen from favour in part on the basis of the
anonymous Abhidharma-dpa, a critique of the Abhidharmakoa which clearly identifies Vasubandhu as the
sole author of both groups of writings.[13] According to Dan Lusthaus, "Since the progression and development
of his thought ... is so strikingly evident in these works, and the similarity of vocabulary and style of argument
so apparent across the texts, the theory of Two Vasubandhus has little merit."[14] Scholarly consensus on this
question has generally moved away from Frauwallner's "two-authors" position.[15][16]

Philosophy
Abhidharma
Vasubandhu's Verses on the Treasury of the Abhidharma contains a
description of all 75 dharmas (phenomenal events), and then outlines
the entire Sarvastivada doctrine including "meditation practices,
cosmology, theories of perception, causal theories, the causes and
elimination of moral problems, the theory of rebirth, and the qualities of
a Buddha."[17] The Treasury and its commentary also expound all kinds
of arguments relating to the Sarvastivada Abhidharma and critique
those arguments from a Sautantrika perspective in the commentary.
Major arguments include an extensive critique of the Self (Atman and
Pudgala) and a critique of the Sarvastivada theory of "the existence of
the dharmas of the three time periods [past, present and future]". In the
Treasury, Vasubadhu also argued against a Creator God (Ishvara) and
against the Sarvastivada theory of avijaptirpa ("unperceived
physicality" or "invisible physicality").

Critique of the Self

Vasubandhu: Wood, 186 cm height,
Vasubandhu's critique of the Self is a defense of Buddhist Anatman
about 1208, Kofukuji Temple, Nara,
doctrine, and also a critique of the Buddhist Personalist School and Japan
Hindu view of the soul. It is intended to show the unreality of the self or
person as over and above the five skandhas (heaps, aggregates which
make up an individual). Vasubandhu begins by outlining the soteriological motive for his argument, writing that
any view which sees the self as having independent reality (e.g. the Hindu view) is not conductive to Nirvana.

Vasubandhu then critiques the idea of the Self from epistemic grounds (Pramana). Vasubandhu states that what
is real can only be known from perception (Pratyaka) or inference (Anuma). Perception allows one to
observe directly the objects of the six sense spheres. Inference allows one to infer the existence of sense organs.
However, there is no such inference for a solid real Self apart from the stream of constantly changing sense
perceptions and mental activity of the sense spheres.[2]

Vasubandhu also argues that because the Self is not causally efficient, it is mere convention (prajapti) and a
conceptual construction (parikalpita). This argument is mainly against the Buddhist Pudgalavada school who
held a view of a 'person' that was dependent on the five aggregates, yet was also distinct, in order to account for
the continuity of personality. Vasubandhu sees this as illogical, for him, the Self is made up of constantly
changing sensory organs, sense impressions, ideas and mental processes and any imagined unity of self-hood is
a false projection.

Vasubandhu also uses this analysis of the stream of consciousness to attack non-Buddhist Hindu views of the
Atman. Vasubandhu shows that the Hindu view of the Self as 'controller' is refuted by an analysis of the flux
and disorder of mental events and the inability of the supposed Self to control our minds and thoughts in any
way we would like. If the Self is truly an eternal un-caused agent, it should be unaffected by mere physical and
mental causes, and it also seems difficult to explain how such a force existing independently outside of the
mind could causally interact with it.[2] Vasubandhu also answers several common objections to the Buddhist
not-self view such as how karma works without a Self and what exactly undergoes rebirth. Vasubandhu points
to the causal continuum of aggregates/processes which undergoes various changes leading to future karmic
events and rebirth.

Momentariness

During Vasubandhu's era Philosophy of time was an important issue in Buddhist philosophy. The Sarvstivdin
tradition which Vasubandhu studied held the view of the existence of dharmas (phenomenal events) in all three
times (past, present, future). This was said to be their defining theoretical position, hence their name
Sarvstivda is Sanskrit for "theory of all exists". In contrast to this eternalist view, the Sautrntika school, a
rival offshoot, held the doctrine of "extreme momentariness", a form of presentism (only the present moment
exists).
In the Abhidharmakoakrik, Vasubandhu puts forth the Sarvastivadin theory, and then in his commentary
(bhasya) he critiques this theory and argues for the 'momentariness' of the Sautantrika school. He also later
wrote the Karma-siddhi-prakaraa (Exposition Establishing Karma) which also expounded the momentariness
view (kanika-vda). Vasubandhu's view here is that each dharma comes into existence only for a moment in
which it discharges its causal efficacy and then self-destructs, the stream of experience is then a causal series of
momentary dharmas. The issue of continuity and transference of karma is explained in the latter text by an
exposition of the "container consciousness" (layavijna) which stores karmic seeds (bja) and survives
rebirth.

Yogacara theories

According to Dan Lusthaus, Vasubandhu's major ideas are:[8]

"Whatever we are aware of, think about, experience, or conceptualize, occurs to us nowhere else than
within consciousness."
"External objects do not exist."
"Karma is collective and consciousness is intersubjective."
"All factors of experience (dharmas) can be catalogued and analyzed."
"Buddhism is a method for purifying the stream of consciousness from 'contaminations' and
'defilements.'"
"Each individual has eight types of consciousness, but Enlightenment (or Awakening) requires
overturning their basis, such that consciousness (vijaana) is 'turned' into unmediated cognition (jaana)."

Appearance only

Vasubandhu's main Yogacara works (Viatik and Triik) put forth the theory of "vijaptimtra" which
has been rendered variously as 'representation-only', 'consciousness-only' and 'appearance-only'. While some
scholars such as Lusthaus see Vasubandhu as expounding a phenomenology of experience, others (Sean Butler)
see him as expounding some form of Idealism similar to Kant or George Berkeley.[18]

The Twenty verses begins by stating:

In Mahayana philosophy...[reality is] viewed as being consciousness-only...Mind (citta), thought

(manas), consciousness (chit), and perception (pratyaksa) are synonyms. The word "mind" (citta)
includes mental states and mental activities in its meaning. The word "only" is intended to deny the
existence of any external objects of consciousness. We recognize, of course, that "mental
representations seem to be correlated with external (non-mental) objects; but this may be no
different from situations in which people with vision disorders 'see' hairs, moons, and other things
that are 'not there.'"[2]

One of Vasubandhu's main arguments in the Twenty verses is the Dream argument, which he uses to show that
it is possible for mental representations to appear to be restricted by space and time. He uses the example of
mass hallucinations (in Buddhist hell) to defend against those who would doubt that mental appearances can be
shared. To counter the argument that mere mental events have no causal efficacy, he uses the example of a wet
dream. Vasubandhu then turns to a mereological critique of physical theories, such as Buddhist atomism and
Hindu Monism, showing that his appearance only view is much more parsimonious and rational.[2]

The Thirty verses also outlines the Yogacara theory of the Eight Consciousnesses and how each one can be
overcome on the stages of enlightenment, turning consciousness (vijnana) into unmediated cognition (jnana) by
cleansing the stream of consciousness from contaminations' and defilements. The Treatise on Buddha Nature
was extremely influential in East Asian Buddhism by propounding the concept of tathagatagarbha (Buddha
Nature).

Three Natures and non-duality

The Thirty verses and the "Three Natures Exposition" (Trisvabhavanirdesha) does not, like the Twenty verses,
argue for appearance only, but assumes it and uses it to explain the nature of experience which is of "three
natures" or "three modes". These are the fabricated nature (parikalpitasvabhva), the dependent
(paratantrasvabhva) and the absolute (parinipannasvabhva). The fabricated nature is the world of everyday
experience and mental appearances. Dependent nature is the causal process of the arising of the fabricated
nature while the absolute nature is things as they are in themselves, with no subject object distinction.

According to Vasubandhu, the absolute, reality itself (dharmat) is non-dual, and the dichotomy of perception
into perceiver and perceived is actually a conceptual fabrication. For Vasubandhu, to say that something is non-
dual is that it is both conceptually non-dual and perceptually non-dual.[2] To say that "I" exist is to conceptually
divide the causal flux of the world into self and other, a false construct. Just the same, to say that an observed
object is separate from the observer is also to impute a false conception into the world as it really is - perception
only. Vasubandhu uses the analogy of a magician who uses a magic spell (dependent nature, conceptual
construction) to make a piece of wood (the absolute, non-duality) look like an elephant (fabricated nature,
duality). The basic problem for living beings who suffer is that they are fooled by the illusion into thinking that
it is real, that self and duality exists, true wisdom is seeing through this illusion.[2]

Logic

Vasubandhu contributed to Buddhist logic and is held to have been the origin of formal logic in the Indian
logico-epistemological tradition. Vasubandhu was particularly interested in formal logic to fortify his
contributions to the traditions of dialectical contestability and debate. Anacker (2005: p. 31) holds that:

A Method for Argumentation (Vda-vidhi) is the only work on logic by Vasabandhu which has to
any extent survived. It is the earliest of the treatises known to have been written by him on the
subject. This is all the more interesting because Vda-vidhi marks the dawn of Indian formal logic.
The title, "Method for Argumentation", indicates that Vasabandhu's concern with logic was
primarily motivated by the wish to mould formally flawless arguments, and is thus a result of his
interest in philosophical debate.[19]

This text also paved the way for the later developments of Dignaga and Dharmakirti in the field of logic.

Notes

1. Lusthaus, Dan, 2002. Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogcra Philosophy

and the Cheng Wei-shih lun, New York, NY: RoutledgeCurzon.
2. Gold, Jonathan C., "Vasubandhu", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2015 Edition),
Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2015/entries/vasubandhu/>.
3. P. 34 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 2001 By Royal Asiatic
Society of Great Britain and Ireland
4. Anacker, Stefan; Seven Works of Vasubandhu, the Buddhist Psychological Doctor, page 13.
5. http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Six_Ornaments
6. Dharma Fellowship (2005). Yogacara Theory - Part One: Background History. Source: [1] (http://www.d
harmafellowship.org/library/essays/yogacara-part1.htm#one) (Accessed: November 15, 2007)
7. Takakusu, J., trans. (1904). The Life of Vasubandhu (https://web.archive.org/web/20140627165827/htt
p://www.gampoabbey.org/documents/kosha-sources/Takakusu-Life-of-Vasu-bandhu-by-Paramartha-190
5.pdf) by Paramartha, T'oung-pao 5, 269 - 296
8. Lusthaus, Dan; Vasubandhu (http://www.acmuller.net/yogacara/thinkers/vasubandhu-bio-asc.htm)
9. Anacker, Stefan; Seven Works of Vasubandhu, the Buddhist Psychological Doctor, page 21.
10. Matsumoto, David (2015). Jdoron : Discourse on the Pure Land (http://www.shin-ibs.edu/public
ations/pacific-world/pacific-world-third-series-number-17-2015/), Pacific World: Third Series 17, 23-42
11. Abbot, Terry Rae (1985). Vasubandhus Commentary to the Saddharmapundarika-sutra. PhD
dissertation, Berkeley: University of California
 12. Abbot, Terry (2013). The Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, in: Tsugunari Kubo; Terry Abbott; Masao
Ichishima; David Wellington Chappell, Tiantai Lotus Texts (http://www.bdkamerica.org/system/files/pdf/
dBET_TiantaiLotusTexts_2013.pdf) (PDF). Berkeley, California: Bukky Dend Kykai America.
pp. 83149. ISBN 9781886439450.
13. Jaini, Padmanabh (1958). "On the Theory of Two Vasubandhus". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and
African Studies (1): 4853. JSTOR 610489 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/610489).
doi:10.1017/s0041977x00063217 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fs0041977x00063217).
14. Dan Lusthaus, "What is and isn't Yogacara." (https://wayback.archive.org/web/20100331102337/http://w
ww.acmuller.net/yogacara/articles/intro-uni.htm).
15. Anacker, Stefan (2005). Seven Works of Vasubandhu. Delhi: MLBD. pp. 728.
16. Gold, Jonathan C. "Vasubandhu" (http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/vasubandhu/). The
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition). Stanford University.
17. Lusthaus, Vasubandhu (http://www.acmuller.net/yogacara/thinkers/vasubandhu-bio-asc.htm)
18. Butler, Sean (2011) "Idealism in Yogcra Buddhism," The Hilltop Review: Vol. 4: Iss. 1, Article 6.
Available at: http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/hilltopreview/vol4/iss1/6
19. Anacker, Stefan (2005, rev.ed.). Seven Works of Vasubandhu: The Buddhist Psychological Doctor. Delhi,
India: Motilal Banarsidass. (First published: 1984; Reprinted: 1986, 1994, 1998; Corrected: 2002;
Revised: 2005), p.31

Works
Abhidharma Kosha Bhashyam 4 vols, Vasubandhu, translated into English by Leo Pruden (based on
Louis de la Valle Poussins French translation), Asian Humanities Press, Berkeley, 1988-90.
LAbhidharmakosa de Vasubandhu, traduit et annot par Louis de la Valle Poussin, Paul Geuthner, Paris,
1923-1931 vol.1 vol.2 vol.3 vol.4 vol.5 vol.6 Internet Archive (PDF)
Stefan Anacker, Seven Works of Vasubandhu Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1984, 1998
Ernst Steinkellner and Xuezhu Li (eds), Vasubandhu's Pacaskandhaka (Wien, Verlag der
sterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008) (Sanskrit Texts from the Tibetan Autonomous
Region, 4).
Dharmamitra, trans.; Vasubandhu's Treatise on the Bodhisattva Vow, Kalavinka Press 2009, ISBN 978-1-
935413-09-7

References
David J. Kalupahana, The Principles of Buddhist Psychology, State University of New York Press,
Albany, 1987, pp 173192.
Francis H. Cook, Three Texts on Consciousness Only, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and
Research, Berkeley, 1999, pp 371383 ("Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only") and pp 385408
("Twenty Verses on Consciousness Only")
Erich Frauwallner, The Philosophy of Buddhism, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 2010.
Li Rongxi, Albert A. Dalia (2002). The Lives of Great Monks and Nuns, Berkeley CA: Numata Center
for Translation and Research
Thich Nhat Hanh Transformation at the Base (subtitle) Fifty Verses on the Nature of Consciousness,
Parallax Press, Berkeley, 2001; inspired in part by Vasubandhu and his Twenty Verses and Thirty Verses
texts
Kochumuttom, Thomas (1982). A Buddhist Doctrine of Experience: A New Translation and
Interpretation of the Works of Vasubandhu the Yogacarin. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass

External links
Gold, Jonathan C. "Vasubandhu". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Vasubandhu: Entry at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Multilingual edition of Triikvijapti in the Bibliotheca Polyglotta
Vasubandhus Treatise on the Three Natures (Trisvabhvanirdea) A Translation and Commentary by
Jay Garfield
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