Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra

TheAbhidharmaMahāvibhāṣāŚāstra(Sanskrit:अभिधर्म महाविभाष शास्त्र) is an ancientBuddhisttext.It is thought to have been authored around 150 CE.It is an encyclopedic work onAbhidharma—scholasticBuddhist philosophy.Its composition led to the founding of a new doctrinal school, calledVaibhāṣika( "those [upholders] of theVibhāṣā"), which was very influential in the history of Buddhist thought and practice.

TheVibhāṣāCompendia

Vibhāṣāis aSanskritterm—derived from the prefixvi+ the verbal root√bhāṣ,"speak" or "explain" —meaning "compendium", "treatise", or simply "explanation". Evidence strongly indicates that there were originally many differentVibhāṣātexts, mainly commenting on theJñānaprasthāna,but also commenting on other Abhidharma texts too. The relationship between all of these texts is very complex, as there is mutual influence between them, and the texts underwent some development from initial inception to completion. TheTaishō canonhas three, however, which arecompendiumson theJñānaprasthānaand its "six legs":theAbhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra(T1545), theAbhidharma Vibhāṣā Śāstra(T1546) and theVibhāṣā Śāstra(T1547).

The tradition of theMahāvibhāṣāstates that it was taught by theBuddhahimself, but differs as to the circumstances; oneKātyayanīputrawas credited with its later compilation. TheMahā-prajñā-pāramitopadeśa(which actually refers to theAṣṭaskandha) states that 100 years after the Buddha's demise, there arose doctrinal disputes among the great masters, giving rise to distinctly named schools.

Xuanzangmaintained that it was written some three centuries after the Buddha, which would be c. 150 BCE.

Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra,by Katyāyāniputra

Of these three, theAbhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā Śāstrais considered most prominent. Its authorship is traditionally attributed to five hundredarhats,some 600 years after theparinirvāṇaof theBuddha.Its compilation, however, is attributed to Katyāyāniputra. This date and authorship are based on theChinesetranslation, also by Xuanzang, and other historical considerations.It appears in the Taishō Tripitaka in its own volume (T27, No. 1545, a bì đạt ma đại bì bà sa luận, ngũ bách đại a la hán đẳng tạo, tam tàng pháp sư huyền trang phụng chiếu dịch ), due to its huge size: a massive 200fascicles—which makes up a third of the total Abhidharma literature, and is larger than the previous (Abhidharma) texts combined. TheVibhāṣā Śāstrais an older translation, translated by Buddhavarman and Daotai (T28, No. 1546, a bì đạt ma bì bà sa luận, già chiên diên tử tạo, ngũ bách la hán thích, bắc lương thiên trúc sa môn phù đà bạt ma cộng đạo thái đẳng dịch ).

Contents

As such an immense text, it contains a huge array of material. This includes the discussion of basically everydoctrinalissue of the day, as put forth by: other—non-Sarvāstivādin—Buddhist schools, such as theVibhajyavāda,thePudgalavāda,theMahāsāṃghika,and others; non-Buddhist systems, such as theSaṃkhya,theVaiśeṣika,and others; and, finally, the Sarvāstivāda itself, as represented by the works of various learnèd and venerable leaders therefrom.

As regards the former two, their "unorthodox" and "incorrect" doctrines are taken to task from the perspective of the Sarvāstivādins; with regard to the latter, several views are often expressed as elaborations of (presumably-) orthodox Sarvāstivāda doctrines. These are often open-ended, with no one explanation favored over another, though sometimes a particular explanation is extolled as being particularly clear and in harmony with the teachings.

Due to the above two reasons, theVibhāṣāliteratureis particularly useful not only in understanding the Sarvāstivāda, but also in obtaining a relatively detailed perspective on the then-current state of both theBuddhadharmaand other, non-Buddhist religions.

Sarvāstivāda of Kāśmīra

The Sarvāstivāda ofKāśmīraheld theMahāvibhāṣāas authoritative, and thus were given themonikerof beingVaibhāṣikas— "those [upholders] of theVibhāṣā".Some scholars believe that some of the other, now-lostVibhāṣātexts may have represented a similar authoritative work, as held by theGandhāraSarvāstivāda or other centers oforthodoxy.It was due to the predominance of this text and its teachings at the time thatVasubandhuengaged in the study thereof, as a compendium that encompassed all of the essential doctrines.

Mahāyāna history

TheMahāvibhāṣācontains a great deal of doctrinal material with a strong affinity toMahāyānadoctrines.According to Karl Potter, the information in theMahāvibhāṣāconcerning the Mahāyāna is of considerable importance.The text employs a schema of Buddhist practice that consists of theThree Vehicles:

1. Śrāvakayāna
2. Pratyekabuddhayāna
3. Bodhisattvayāna

It also describes accommodations reached between theHīnayānaand Mahāyāna traditions, as well as the means by which Mahāyāna doctrines would become accepted.TheMahāvibhāṣādefines the Mahāyāna teachings, which are described asVaipulya(Ch. Phương quảng )—a commonly used synonym for the Mahāyāna teachings—as follows:

What is the Vaipulya? It is said to be all the sūtras corresponding to elaborations on the meanings of the exceedingly profound dharmas.

According to a number of scholars, Mahāyāna Buddhism flourished during the time of theKuṣāṇa Empire,and this is illustrated in the form of Mahāyāna influence on theMahāvibhāṣā.TheMañjuśrīmūlakalpaalso records thatKaniṣkapresided over the establishment ofPrajñāpāramitādoctrines in the northwest of India.According to Paul Williams, the similarly massiveMahā-prajñā-pāramitopadeśaalso has a clear association with the Vaibhāṣika Sarvāstivādins.

References to the (Mahāyāna) ideal of the Bodhisattvayāna, and to the practice of the SixPāramitās,are commonly found in Sarvāstivāda works.The Sarvāstivādins did not hold that it was impossible, or even impractical, to strive to become a fully enlightened buddha (Skt.samyaksaṃbuddha), and therefore they admitted the path of abodhisattvaas a valid one.