Asaṅga's Abhidharmasamuccaya
大乘阿毘達磨集論
Dan Lusthaus
The Abhidharmasamuccaya survives in Chinese and Tibetan translations, with a section of the Sanskrit text (approximately two fifths) discovered in Tibet in 1934 by Rāhula Saṅkṛtyayana. In 1950 Pralhad Pradhan produced a reconstructed Sanskrit version of the full text, using the extant Sanskrit section and drawing on the Tibetan to fill in the gaps. In 1971, relying primarily on Pradhan's reconstruction, Walpola Rahula rendered the Abhidharmasamuccaya into French.
Asaṅga, judging from his works, was primarily an Agamist, i.e., one who based himself on the āgamas. This text served as his overview of abhidharma from his developing Yogacaric perspective. The following summary relies primarily on Xuanzang's Chinese rendition (T.31.1605), though I have consulted Rahula for suggestions on Sanskrit equivalents.
The text begins with verses briefly introducing the themes to be taken
up:
本事與決擇。 是各有四種。 三法,攝,應,成。
諦, 法, 得, 論議。 幾, 何因, 取, 相。 建立,與次第。
義, 喩, 廣分別。 集總頌應知。
"The main text [i.e., the
lakṣaṇa-samuccaya, collection of characteristics] and the
expository section [i.e., the viniścaya-samuccaya, collection of explanations] each have
four parts.
"[The four parts of the main text are]
the Three Dharmas [viz., skandhas, dhātus, āyatanas]; categories
(saṃgraha); association (samprayoga); and
accomplishments (samanvāgama).
"[The four parts of the exposition are]
the truths (satya), doctrine (Dharma), [karmic] accrual (prapti),
and rhetorical skill (sāṃkathya).
"How many? For what reason?
Appropriation (upādāya); Characteristics (lakṣaṇa); Definitions (vyavasthāna);
And gradations (anukrama), referents (artha), examples
(dṛṣṭanta), and broadening differentiations
(prabheda),
all
this the Samuccaya makes known."
In the first three fascicles
the Three Dharmas (viz. the five skandhas, eighteen dhātus, and twelve āyatanas)
are discussed. For instance, after enumerating the items in each of the Three
Dharmas, he takes up the "How much?" question:
Why
are there only five skandhas? Because these are the five ways in which the
notion of self appears (為顯五種我事故). This means, body as the concrete
self (謂身\具我事), pain/pleasure (vedanā) as the
function of self (受用我事),[1]
language[2]
as the explainer of self (言說我事), the construction of all dharmas and
non-dharmas[3]
as [performed by] the self (造作一切法非法我事)﹔ and that on which all those are fixed
is the self's self-nature (彼所依止我自體事).[4]
After taking up similar
questions for the dhātus and āyatanas, he turns to the "For what reason"
question:
For
what reason are the skandhas-of-appropriation (取蘊 upādāna-skandha) called
"upādāna" (appropriation)? ... they are appropriation. That means the skandhas
contain desire (欲 chanda) and appropriational
intent (貪 rāga). For what reason are
desire and appropriational intent called "upādāna"? Since the ability of present
skandhas to lead to future skandhas is not cut off, they subtly desire the
future while remaining attached to present skandhas, and are thus called
upādāna.
In this way he takes up all
Three Dharmas. For instance, to the question, "what is the characteristic of
rūpa (sensate form)?" he answers:
Change is the characteristic of rūpa.
There are two types: Change as temporary resistance in sensory contact
(sparśa) (觸對變壞) and change in terms of appearing in a
locus (方所示現). What is change in terms of sensory
contact? It is change caused when there is sensory contact with a hand, foot,
stone, clump, blade, stick, cold, heat, hunger, thirst, mosquito, gadfly, snake,
scorpion, etc. What is change in terms of appearing in a locus? Characteristics
appear in space in such or such a form, or in such or such a form; sometimes
they are definite in the mind, sometimes indefinite [in which case] one
investigates their association with the other things in which they are
situated.
In this manner
Asaṅga treats the Three
Dharmas in detail, analyzing them in terms of substance and name,
saṃvṛti and paramārtha, conditioned and
unconditioned, mundane and transmundane, time and space, conditioned co-arising,
and so on, demonstrating that no self occurs in any of
these.
In Xuanzang's translation this
continues into the third fascicle, which also includes three short chapters, the
first dealing with categories (攝 saṃgraha), eleven to be exact: 1.
characteristics (相 lakṣaṇa), 2. dhātus 界, 3. species (種類
jāti), 4. situation (分位 avasthā), 5. accompaniments
(伴 sahāya), 6. space (方 deśa), 7. time (時 kāla), 8. part (一分 ekadeśa), 9. whole
(具分 sakala), 10. mutuality
(更互 anyonya), 11. paramārtha
勝義.
In the next short chapter
Asaṅga discusses associations (相應 samprayoga), specifically
citta and caittas (心心所) which are citta samprayukta
dharmas (心相應法).[5]
The final chapter of the third
fascicle, on accomplishments (成就 samanvāgama), discusses how the
seeds (種子 bījās) of sentient beings
affect their station in the triple world (desire, form and formless) according
to the mundane and transmundane qualities they cultivate; by understanding this,
one overcomes attachment and aversion.
Fascicles four to six deal
with the Four Noble Truths:
The first Truth: Suffering
(duḥkha) encompasses all sentient beings,
including hell denizens, animals, hungry ghosts, humans (in various realms),
devas (in the Assembly of the Four Great Kings, the Heaven of Thirty-three,
Yama's realm, etc.), and inhabitants of the various Brahmalokas (Asaṅga provides a detailed inventory of
Buddhist cosmology). Even the insentient worlds are subject to suffering, since
they are impermanent, undergoing unending change and
dissolution.
The famous formula of the
eight examples of suffering (birth, old age, sickness, death, acquiring
something unpleasant, loss of something pleasant, not attaining what one
desires, the very fact that the five appropriational skandhas are suffering) is
analyzed in terms of three kinds of duḥkha:
1.
duḥkha-duḥkhatā, i.e., ordinary suffering; pain,
misery, etc.
2.
parināṃa-duḥkhatā, i.e., suffering due to change,
instability, impermanence
3.
saṃskāra-duḥkhatā, i.e., suffering due to embodied
conditioning resulting from previous experiences.
All things are characterised
as impermanent (anitya), suffering, empty (śūnya), and non-self
(anātman). Rūpa is momentary (rūpasya kṣaṇikatā); atoms lack physical dimension (i.e.,
extension, niḥśurīra), and are merely a product of analytic
speculation.[6]
Asaṅga also discusses intermediate states
(between lives) (antarābhava) and gandharvas (celestial beings) in the
context of death.
The second Truth: The cause of
the Arising of Suffering (samudaya) is initially identified by
Asaṅga as desire (tṛṣṇā), but he quickly moves on to a more
nuanced discussion of kleśa as kleśa-adhipateya-karma (actions permeated
by mental disturbances). There follows a detailed analysis of types of kleśa,
types of karma, causes of rebirth and conditioning (saṃskāra).
The third Truth: Nirodha
(cessation of suffering) is treated in twelve aspects:
1.
characteristics (相 lakṣaṇa) - the nonarising of kleśa in the
noble path of suchness (真如 tathatā)...
The
World Honored One said that "it is the definitive cessation of name-and-form
(nāma-rūpa), without remainder in the sensory spheres (處 āyatana) of eye, ear, nose,
tongue, body, and mental organ (意 manas)." He also said that "you
should now contemplate that in that sphere the eye utterly ceases and the
perception of visible forms is detached (遠離) ... up to... the mental organ ceases
and the perception of mental objects is detached. For this reason, in suchness
(tathatā) objects (ālambana...viṣaya) appear and the contaminated dharmas
(sāsrava-dharma) cease. This is the definition (lakṣaṇa) of the truth of cessation
(由此道理 顯示所緣 真如境上 有漏法滅 是滅諦相). "
2.
depth
(甚深 gāmbhīrya) - cessation by
putting saṃskāras to rest (saṃskāra-upaśama). Beyond prapañca
(proliferation of psycho-linguistic conceptuality).
3.
conventional (世俗 saṃvṛti) - cessation attained by suppressing
the seeds through the mundane path (laukika-mārga), called 'partial
nirvana' (tadāṃśika-nirvāṇa).
4.
ultimate
(勝義 paramārtha) - complete
extirpation of the root seeds (bījānirmūlana) by Noble Insight
(ārya-prajñā).
5.
incomplete (不圓滿 aparipūri) - cesstion of
Śaiṣikas (those still in training), such as
Stream-Enterers, Once-Returners, and Non-Returners.
6.
complete
(圓滿 paripūri) - cessation of
Aśaikṣas
(those who no longer need
to study), comparable to the Arhat fruit.
7.
nonadorned (無莊嚴 niralaṃkāra) - cessation of the arhats liberated
by insight (prajñā-vimukta)
8.
adorned
(莊嚴 alaṃkāra) - cessation of the Arhats who possess
the three vidyās and six abhijñās.[7]
9.
residual
(有餘 śeṣa) - cessation (i.e., Nirvana) with
remainder
10. nonresidual (無餘 aśeṣa) - cessation without
remainder
11. supremacy (最勝 agra) - the cessation of
Buddhas and Bodhisttvas, the nonabiding Nirvana
12. synonyms (差別 paryāya) - total cutting off
(aśeṣaprahāna), complete renunciation
(pratiniḥsarga), final attainment
(vyantībhāva), used up (kṣaya), detachment (virāga),
cessation (nirodha), tranquility (vyupaśama),
etc.
The fourth Truth: Asaṅga provides a detailed listing and
discussion of the path/method (mārga), which he breaks into five
stages:[8]
1.
Sambhāra-mārga 資糧道 (stocking up on provisions for the
Path). The Bodhisattva begins on the path to Unexcelled Awakening by practicing
śīla, learning to control his senses, etc.
2.
Prayoga-mārga 加行道 (Experimenting on the path). The
Bodhisattva further develops what he began in the
Sambhāra-mārga.
3.
Darśana-mārga 見道 (path/method of vision).
In
brief, this is the first dharma that immediately follows the mundane path, the
inconceivable samādhi prajñā (無所得三摩地鉢羅若) and the dharmas associated with it.
Again, its characteristic is cognition in which the objective and subjective
supports (ālambyālambana-jñāna) are thoroughly equalized (平等平等智為其相). Again, devoid of each separate
sentient being, provisional dharma, and provisional designations entirely, it
cognizes devoid of the two provisional ālambana dharmas (i.e., objective and
subjective cognitive supports); that is its
characteristic...
The
Darśana-mārga quickly diversifies into sixteen
types. Asaṅga then enters into a detailed excursus
on components of the path (with extensive quotes from the Āgamas), defining
carefully such terms as vyavasthāna, anubhāva, kṣanti, paripūri, etc.
4.
Bhāvanā-mārga 修道 (path/method of mental
cultivation)
Above the Darśana-mārga, consisting of
the mundane path (世閒道 laukika-mārga), the
transmundane path (出閒道 lokuttara-mārga), the weak path
(輭道 mṛda-mārga), the medium path (中道 madhyama-mārga), the intense
path (上道 adhimātra-mārga), the
experimental path (加行道 prayoga-mārga), the path of
immediate succession (無閒道 ānantarya-mārga), the path of
liberation (解脫道 vimukti-mārga), and the
distinct path (勝進道 viśeṣa-mārga).
Asaṅga now dives into an even lengthier
discussion of such notions as laukika- and lokottara-mārga,
saṃkleśa, vyavadāna, samāpatti,
saṃjñā-karaṇa-vyavasthāna, vimukti-mārga,
etc., including a
minute and original presentation of the 37 bodhipakṣa-dharmas (factors of enlightenment), as well as
varieties of meditation.
5.
Niṣṭhā-mārga
究竟道 (end of the path) occurs in the eighth
bhūmi (Bodhisattva stage), resultant on attaining the vajropamasamādhi
(diamond-like samādhi). He discusses topics such as the ten qualities
of the aśaikṣa(one no longer requiring training),
saṃyoga,
visṃyoga, āśraya-paravṛtti,
etc.
The next fascicle,
Dharma-viniścaya 法品, focuses on the Awakening of the
Buddha in terms of the twelve divisions of the Scriptures (十二分聖教 dvādaśāṅga).
The Twelve Divisions of the Scriptures are:
1.
sūtra 契經﹔
2.
verse narration (應頌 geya) ;
3.
exposition (記[竹+別] vyākaraṇa);
4.
stanzas
(諷頌 gāthā);
5.
solemn
expression (自說 udana);
6.
situations (緣起 nidāna);
7.
legends
(譬喻 avadāna);
8.
original
occasions (本事 itivṛttaka);
9.
rebirth
stories (本生 jātaka);
10. expansive (方廣
vaipulya);
11. miraculous tales (希法
adbhuta-dharma);
12. Didactic (論議 upadeśa).
In the ensuing discussion
Asaṅga addresses such questions as "Why did
the Tathāgata establish a triple canon?" Answer:
The
Sutra piṭaka was established so as to counteract
the minor kleśa (upakleśa) of doubt. The Vinaya piṭaka was established so as to counteract
the minor kleśa of attachment to the two extremes (of pain and pleasure). The
Abhidharma piṭaka was established so as to counteract
the minor kleśa of attachment to one's own views. Furthermore, the Sutra
piṭaka was established in order to reveal the
three disciplines (i.e., śīla, samādhi, prajñā). The Vinaya piṭaka was established for the purpose of
accomplishing the disciplines of the higher discipline (adhi-śīla) and
for the development of higher mental [abilities] (adhicitta). The
Abhidharma was postulated in order to accomplish the discipline of higher wisdom
(adhi-prajñā)....
and so on. An interesting
hermeneutic theory of text is contained in this section. Sutras, etc., are
described in terms of their ālambana (所緣), their ākāra (行相), their āśraya (所依), and their associations
(samprayoga 相應). For instance:
It
says in a Sutra, "mind and its associates (citta-caitta 心心所法) have ālambana (objective
support), ākāra (functional aspects), āśraya (basis), and
associations."
In
this Dharma (concerning scriptures), what are their ālambanas? It is the
Sutras, etc.
What are their ākāra? It is the
skandhas, etc., and what is associated with those referents (義 artha).
What is their āśraya? It is
communicative indications from others (他表了 para-vijñapti), memory
(億念 smṛti), and habituated impressions
(習氣 vāsanā).
What are their associates? The
ālambana (i.e, the texts) and ākāra (i.e., what one mentally and
bodily brings to the text) mutually assist each other to be equally
understood.
And so on. Why and how we
investigate dharmas is analyzed, neatly broken down into sets of four. For
instance, there are four reasons for exploring dharmas: 1. dependence, 2. cause
and effect, 3. the evidence of the senses, 4. dharmatā 法爾 ...
What is the Dharmatā reason
(法爾道理)? This means that from beginningless
time the own-characteristic (自相 svalakṣaṇa) and general characteristic
(共相 samanya-lakṣaṇa) that have abided, joined
(成就 yukta), in dharmas are Dharmatā
(法性法爾).[9]
That is diligently contemplating dharmas.
... There are four types of investigations (尋思) of dharmas. 1. Investigating names (名尋思 nāma-paryeṣanā); 2. Investigating things (事尋思 vastu-paryeṣanā); 3. Investigating heuristic self-nature (自體假立尋思 svabhāva-prajñapti-paryeṣanā); 4. Investigating heuristic differentiations (差別假立尋思 viśeṣa-prajñapti-paryeṣanā).
Which Asaṅga goes on to further subdivide and define.
The next chapter, 得品 Prāpti-viniścaya (on karmic accrual), lays itself out primarily in sets of seven, first dealing with defining what a person (補特伽羅 pudgala-vyavasthāna) is, and then defining understanding (建立現觀 abhisamaya-vyavasthāna). Pudgala is viewed in terms of seven categories (primarily with an eye to issues of liberation and attaining the fruit of the path), which are then further broken down. Understanding is distinguished into ten categories (basically in terms of levels affecting liberation and attainment of the fruit, such as understanding which ends one's coursing in saṃsāra, or the difference between the understanding of a Buddha and that of a Bodhisattvas, etc.), which are then explored in some detail.
The final chapter, 論議品 Sāmkathya-viniścaya (On rhetoric), is a debate manual, representing the Buddhist use and evaluation of positions prior to the advent of Buddhist logic a century of so later. Rāhula efficiently summarizes the contents of this chapter thus (p. xx; my translation from the French):
Chapter IV [of this part], entitled "Decisions on Dialectic", treats 1. methods for deciding the meaning (arthaviniścaya), 2. methods for explicating a sutra (vyākhāviniścaya), 3. methods of analytic demonstration (prabhidyasandarśanaviniścaya), 4. methods for treating questions (sampraśnaviniścaya), 5. methods for deciding among groups (saṃgrāhaviniścaya), 6. methods for deciding on the subject matter or controversy (vādaviniścaya), and 7. methods for deciding on the profound and secret meaning of certain passages in the sutras (abhisandhiviniścaya).
This section on vāda (art of debate) by Asaṅga may be considered the first essay on the Buddhist logic that Diṅnāga and Dharmakīrti came to systematize, develop, and perfect later. This subject is treated under seven rubrics: 1. debate or discussion (vāda), 2. assembling a discussion (vādādhikaraṇa), 3. subject of discussion (sādhya, things to prove, sādhana, proof), 4. ornaments of discussion (erudition, eloquence, etc.)(vādālaṅkāra), 5. defeat in discussion (vādanigraha), 6. leaving the discussion (vādaniḥsaraṇa), 7. useful qualities in a discussion (extensive knowledge, self-confidence, lively mind, etc.)(vāde bahukārā dharmāḥ). Finally citing a passage from the Mahāyānābhidharmasūtra which says that a Bodhisattva shouldn't debate with others for twelve reasons, Asaṅga advises only to engage in debate in order to acquire knowledge for one self, but guard against debating for the mere pleasure of arguing.
Note that even while the Abhidharmasamuccaya is ostensibly on Abhidharma - and it does cover some topics commonly found in Abhidharma literature - Asaṅga's many scriptural citations come primarily from sutra literature, not abhidharma texts, including this last quote mentioned by Rāhula above.
[1] This plays on the notion of self as 'enjoyer' (bhoktṛ), which, as enjoyer of experience, implies 'the one who experiences,' a common characterization of 'self' in Buddhist and Hindu literature.
[2] It is interesting that Asaṅga uses "language, words" as a synonym for saṃjñā (associative cognition).
[3] "Construction of all dharmas and non-dharmas" is also an interesting gloss on saṃskāra (embodied karmic conditioning).
[4] In other words, taking consciousness (the fifth skandha) as foundational to be the essence of what a 'self' is.
[5]
Rāhula, in the introduction to his translation -- Le Compendium de la
Super-Doctrine (Philosophie)(Abhidharmasamuccaya) d'Asaṅga, traduit et
annoté par Walpola Rāhula, Paris: École Française D'Extrême-Orient, 1971 ,
p. xv) claims that this chapter discusses "en esprit seulement
(cittamātra)," but the term cittamātra (唯心)
per se never occurs in Xuanzang's translation. Where in Rāhula's
translation he offers: "Il connait la conjonction et la disjonction des choses
qui soillent (sāṃkleśa) et qui
puifient (vyāvadānika) telles que les sensations (vedanā), en
esprit seulement (cittamātra)." Xuanzang has: 能善了悟唯依止心有受想等染諸法相應不相應義.
[6] The Cheng weishilun offers a similar argument concerning spatiality (ākāśa).
[7] Three knowledges, trividyā, viz. knowing one's own past life, knowing others' past lives (and the karmic causes operating in them), and eliminating the āśravas (the fundamental cognitive errors glossed as ignorance). The six Abhijñā are the powers gained from meditative practice in the Formless realm: 1. ability to walk on water, etc.; 2. ability to hear at any distance; 3. ability to read the mind of others; 4-6 are the same as the trividyā.
[8] The Cheng weishilun presents the same five-step path, deriving it as implicit in the last five verses of Vasubandhu's Triṃsikā.
[9] The implication of 成就, which implies something brought to completion or perfection, something that has fulfilled itself, suggests that this passage means that it is dharmatā which brings dharmas to actuality qua self-characteristic (what uniquely defines a particular dharma) and general characteristic (definition of a dharma as part of a class of similar things).