The Abhidharmakośabhāṣya (, lit. Commentary on the Treasury of Abhidharma), Abhidharmakośa () for short (or just Kośa or AKB), is a key text on the Abhidharma written in Sanskrit by the Indian Buddhist scholar Vasubandhu in the 4th or 5th century CE. The Kośa summarizes the Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma in eight chapters with a total of around 600 verses and then comments on (and often criticizes) it. This text was widely respected and used by schools of Buddhism in India, Tibet and East Asia. Over time, the Abhidharmakośa became the main source of Abhidharma and Sravakayana Buddhism for later Mahāyāna Buddhists.

In the Kośa, Vasubandhu presents various views on the Abhidharma, mainly those of the Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika, which he often criticizes from a Sautrāntika perspective. The Kośa includes an additional chapter in prose refuting the idea of the "person" (pudgala) favoured by some Buddhists of the Pudgalavada school.

The Vaibhāṣika master Samghabhadra considered that Vasubandhu had misrepresented numerous key points of Vaibhāṣika Abhidharma in the Kośa, and saw Vasubandhu as a Sautrāntika (upholder of the sutras). However, Vasubandhu often presents and defends the Vaibhāṣika Abhidharma position on certain topics (contra Sautrāntika).

Background

The Abhidharmakośabhāṣya (AKB) is a work of Abhidharma, a field of Buddhist philosophy which mainly draws on the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma tradition. This tradition includes various groupings or "schools", the two main ones being Vaibhāṣika and Sautrāntika. The main source for the Vaibhāṣika tradition (which was based in Kaśmīra) is the Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra. The other main tradition of Sarvāstivāda philosophy were those masters who were called "westerners" (Pāścāttya) or "outsiders" (Bāhyaka) and they were mainly based in Gandhara.

According to K.L. Dhammajoti, in the AKB, Vasubandhu often favors the opinion of the Sautrāntika school against the Sarvāstivāda Vaibhāṣikas (when there is a dispute). For example, he criticizes the doctrine of the existence of the three times (past, present, future), a central Sarvāstivāda doctrine.

Content Overview

The text is divided into the following chapters.

1: The Exposition on the Elements (dhātu-nirdeśa)

The first chapter of the work outlines the various conditioned and unconditioned factors (dharmas) that constitute sentient existence. This chapter mainly goes over the five aggregates, the sense fields, and the "eighteen dhātus". It also analyses which of the elements are pure or impure.

2: The Exposition on the Faculties (indriya-nirdeśa)

The second chapter examines three interconnected topics, starting with the twenty-two sense faculties (indriya), which govern specific aspects of sentient life. These include the six sense faculties, the male and female sex faculties, the faculty of life force, five feeling faculties (e.g., pleasure and equanimity), five spiritual faculties (e.g., faith and wisdom), and three pure faculties related to spiritual attainment. Vasubandhu also discusses the Vaibhāṣika list of seventy-five factors, categorized into matter (rūpa), mind (citta), mental factors (caitasika), conditioned factors dissociated from mind (cittaviprayuktasaṃskāras), and unconditioned factors (asaṃskṛta). In 1967 and then in a revised edition of 1975, Prof. P. Pradhan of Utkal University finally published the original Sanskrit text of the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, Vasubandhu's great work summarizing earlier traditions of the Vibhāṣā school of Buddhist philosophy.

The Abhidharmakośa-kārikā (the verses) and the Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya (the auto-commentary) were translated into Chinese in the 6th century by Paramārtha (T1559). They were translated again in the 7th century by Xuanzang (T1560 & T1558).

  • Samghabhadra (5th century CE), Abhidharmakośa-śāstra-kārikā-bhāṣya (Tibetan: '). This is a brief summary of the Abhidharmakośa.
  • Samghabhadra (5th century CE), Nyāyānusāra. This text critiques Vasubandhu's exposition on numerous points and defends the Vaibhasika orthodox views against Vasubandhu and other Sautrāntikas such as the elder Śrīlāta and his pupil Rāma. It only survives in a Chinese translation by Xuanzang.
  • Yashomitra (6th c. CE), Abhidharmakośa-ṭīkā or Abhidharmakośa-sphuṭārthā (chos mngon pa'i mdzod kyi 'grel bshad (don gsal ba)
  • Sthiramati (6th c. CE), Abhidharmakoṣa-bhāṣya-ṭīkā-tattvārtha (chos mngon pa mdzod kyi bshad pa'i rgya cher 'grel pa, don gyi de kho na nyid)
  • Dignaga (6th c. CE), Abhidharmakośa-vṛtti-marmapradīpa (chos mngon pa'i mdzod kyi 'grel pa gnad kyi sgron ma)
  • Purnavardhana, Abhidharmakośa-ṭīkā-lakṣaṇānusāriṇī (chos mngon pa mdzod kyi 'grel bshad mtshan nyid kyi rjes su 'brang ba). Purnavardhana was a student of Sthiramati.
  • Unknown author, Sārasamuccaya-nāma-abhidharmāvatāra-ṭīkā (chos mngon pa la 'jug pa rgya cher 'grel pa snying po kun las btus)

Chinese Commentaries

According to Paul Demiéville, some of the major extant Chinese commentaries to the Abhidharmakośa include:

  • Shentai (神泰), Jushe lun shu (俱舍論疏), originally in twenty Chinese volumes, today only volumes 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 17 are extant.
  • Puguang (普光), Jushe lun ji (俱舍論記, in thirty-volumes, 7th century), which quotes Shentai. Puguang also wrote a small treatise on the Kosa.
  • Fabao (法寶), Jushe lun shu (俱舍論疏), which quotes Shentai and Puguang.
  • Yuanhui (圓暉), Jushe lun song shu (俱舍論頌疏). According to Demiéville, this work was "commented upon several times in China and widely used in Japan; it is from this work that the Mahayanists generally draw their knowledge of the Kośa. But from the point of view of Indology, it does not offer the same interest as the three preceding commentaries."

Two other disciples of Xuanzang, Huaisi and Kuiji, wrote commentaries on the Kośa which are lost.

Tibetan Commentaries

  • Chim Lozang Drakpa (1299-1375), An Ocean of Excellent Explanations Clarifying the Abhidharma Kośa (')
  • Chim Jampé Yang (13th century), Ornament of Abhidharma ('), Chim Jampé Yang was a student of Chim Lozang Drakpa.
  • Rongtön Sheja Kunrig (1367-1449), Thoroughly Illuminating What Can be Known ('). Rongtön was a great scholar of the Sakya school.
  • Gendün Drup, First Dalai Lama (1391–1474) Illuminating the Path to Liberation (')
  • The Ninth Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje (1556–1603), An Explanation of the Treasury of Abhidharma called the Essence of the Ocean of Abhidharma, The Words of Those who Know and Love, Explaining Youthful Play, Opening the Eyes of Dharma, the Chariot of Easy Practice (')
  • Mipham Rinpoche (1846–1912), (')
  • Jamyang Loter Wangpo (1847-1914), A Lamp Illuminating Vasubandhu's Intention (')
  • Khenpo Shenga (1871–1927), A Mirror for What Can be Known (')

See also

  • Abhidharma
  • Dharma
  • Sarvastivada
  • Mulasarvastivada
  • Kleshas (Buddhism)
  • Mental factors (Buddhism)

Notes

References

Sources

Printed sources

  • Vallée Poussin, Louis de la, trad. (1923-1931). L’Abhidharmakosa de Vasubandhu, Paris: Paul Geuthner, Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5, Vol. 6.
  • Pruden, Leo M. (1991), Abhidharmakosabhasyam, translated from the French translation by Louis de la Vallée Poussin, Asian Humanities Press, Berkeley.

Web-sources

  • Multilingual edition of the Abhidharmakośa in the Bibliotheca Polyglotta, Web archive:Multilingual edition of the Abhidharmakośa in the Bibliotheca Polyglotta
  • Sanskrit text of the Abhidharma-kośa-bhāṣya, with Chinese translations by Paramārtha and Xuanzang (from Peking University)
  • Sanskrit text of the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya edited by P. Pradhān and published (2ed) in 1975