Buddha-nature (as Depicted in the Lankavatara-sutra)

by Nguyen Dac Sy | 2012 | 70,344 words

This page relates ‘Aryadeva and His Works’ of the study on (the thought of) Buddha-nature as it is presented in the Lankavatara-sutra (in English). The text represents an ancient Mahayana teaching from the 3rd century CE in the form of a dialogue between the Buddha and Bodhisattva Mahamati, while discussing topics such as Yogacara, Buddha-nature, Alayavijnana (the primacy of consciousness) and the Atman (Self).

Āryadeva (Shengtian) or Deva Bodhisattva (Tipopusa) probably lived between the middle of the second and third centuries (ca. 170–270 CE) and was a Sri Lanka‘s prince who renounced the throne, traveled to South India, and became Nāgārjuna‘s foremost disciple.[1]

Āryadeva and the contemporaries Aśvaghoṣa, Nāgārjuna and Kumāralabdha (Kumāralāta) were called“the four suns which illumined the world” by the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang:

“At this time in the east was Aśvaghoṣa, in the south Deva, in the west Nāgārjuna, in the north Kumāralabdha. These four were called the four suns that illumined the world.”[2]

Among them, Kumāralabdha (jiumoluoluoduo or tongshou) was a native of Takshaśilā and the founder of the Sautrāntika school.[3] Nāgārjuna and his pupil Āryadeva were the founders of the Mādhyamika system. When the Mādhyamika was introduced to Chine by Kumārajīva, it became the Sanlun school (Three Treatises School) because it was based on three treatises: Treatise on the Middle (Mādhyamakaśāstra) and Treatise of the Twelve Aspects (Dvādaśanikāyaśāstra) by Nāgārjuna; and Treatise in One Hundred Verses (Śataśāstra) by his disciple Āryadeva.[4]

According to a legend, Āryadeva is said to have been named ‘Nīlanetra’(the blue-eyed) because he had two blue spots, resembling eyes, on his cheeks.[5] He was also known as ‘Kāṇadeva’(the one-eyed Deva) due to the following legend: In order to demonstrate that a golden statue of Maheśvara is not the god himself, he tore out the left eye of the statue;but, in order to show that he had not done this out of pride, he tore out one of his own eyes, when Maheśvara paid him a visit the next day.[6] He was a very famous Buddhist monk who criticized other heretical schools, so tragically that he was hated and finally assassinated by a heretic while he was sitting in meditation in a forest.[7]

Most of Āryadeva‘s works have not existed in the original Sanskrit, but they are mostly preserved in Tibetan and Chinese translations. His works are as follows:[8]

l. Śataśāstra (Bailun; Treatise in One Hundred Verses)[9] : This is a short treatise, existing only in the Chinese version with commentary of Vāsu (pocou) on it, translated by Kumārajīva. The text attacked other philosophical schools very severely. This śāstra is a very important treatise in the Sanlun school of China. Sanlun school is actually Chinese form of the Indian Mādhyamaka introduced into China by Kumārajīva. The term Three-treatise (Sanlun) refers to the three important commentaries of this school. They are: Nāgārjuna‘s Mādhyamakaśāstra (Treatise on the Middle) and Dvādaśanikāyaśāstra (Treatise of the Twelve Aspects), and Āryadeva‘s Śataśāstra. All the three texts were translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva.

2. Catuḥśataka (Treatise in Four Hundred Verses): This is the bestknown work of Āryadeva, which contains, as the name itself shows, four hundred kārikās in sixteen chapters of twenty-five each. The text was written not only to merely explain the Nāgārjuna‘s works, but also to present the two truths of the Mādhyamaka through the refutation of non-Buddhist assertions. It has two commentaries, one by Candrakīrti[10] and the other by Dharmapāla[11] . But both the original and two commentaries are not available in Sanskrit now.

3. Akṣaraśataka. It exists in the Chinese Baizilun[12] and the Tibetan versions.

4. Mahāpuruṣaśāstra. It exists only in Chinese Dazhangfulun[13]

5. Cittaviśuddhiprakaraṇa (Section of the Purification of the Mind). This is a didactic poem containing arguments against the Brahmanical ceremonial system (bathing in the Ganges washes away sins).[14]

6. There are four books, existing in Tibetan alone, which are traditionally ascribed to Āryadeva, but must be virtually works of later scholars.[15] The Jñānasarasamuccaya, Skhalitapramathanayuktihetusiddhi, Āryaprajñāpāramitāmahāparipṛcchā and Madhyamakabhramaghāta.

7. There are two Āryadeva‘s commentaries relating to the Laṅkāvatārasūtra which were translated into Chinese by Bodhiruci. These texts will be presented in the next chapter.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Robert E. Buswell (ed.), Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Vol. I, p. 31; Saṃyuttanikāya. Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy, Vol. II, p. 254

[2]:

Samuel Beal, Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World by Hiuen Tsiang, Vol. II, pp. 302-03.

[3]:

Ibid., 302.

[4]:

Wing-tsit Chan, Aṅguttaranikāya Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, p. 357.

[5]:

Majjhimanikāya. Winternitz, History of Indian Literature, Vol. II, p. 336 note.

[6]:

Ibid.

[7]:

Ibid., p. 337.

[8]:

Cf. Hajime Nakamura, Indian Buddhism: Aṅguttaranikāya Survey with Bibliographical Notes, pp. 144-45.

[9]:

Bai-lun 百論 (Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T30n1569])

[10]:

Guang-bai-lun-ben 廣百論本 (Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T30n1570]).

[11]:

Da-sheng-guang-bai-lun-shi-lun 大乘廣百論釋論 (Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T30n1571]).

[12]:

Bai-xun-lun 百字論 (Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T30n1572]).

[13]:

Da-zhang-fu-lun 大丈夫論 (Taisho Tripiṭaka (CBETA 2011) [T30n1577]).

[14]:

Majjhimanikāya. Winternitz, History of Indian Literature, Vol. II, p. 339.

[15]:

Hajime Nakamura, Indian Buddhism: Aṅguttaranikāya Survey with Bibliographical Notes, p. 245.

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