Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

Mahāyānasaṅgraha is the key text of Indian Mahayana Buddhism and the Shèlùnzōng (攝論宗, the sect of Mahāyānasaṅgraha) in the period of Wèijìn- Nánběicháo (魏晉南北朝, the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, AD. 256-589) which was a formative period of Chinese Buddhism. The original Sanskrit text does not remain intact, and a Tibetan translation and four Chinese translations remain now. This study considers Zhēndì’s (眞諦, Paramārtha, AD. 499-569) translation as a key text and compares it with Xuánzàng’s (玄奘) translation and Fótuóshànduō’s(佛陀扇多, Buddhaśānta) one about the relation of the Bīja theory (種子說) of the Ālayavijñāna. Because the key aim of Mahāyānasaṅgraha is the enhancement of Mahayana, this study considers firstly the Mahayana view of Asaṅga (無着) that appeared in his biography. Second, this study analyzes the system of Mahāyānasaṅgraha which divides key doctrines as ten ways, and considers several arguments about the Ālayavijñāna in Yīngzhīsuǒzhīfēn (應知依止分), which is the first chapter of Mahāyānasaṅgraha. After analyzing, we can find that the outer bīja theory (外種子說) is explained in Xiàngpǐn (相品, the part of the form) and Chābiépǐn (差別品, the part of the differentiation) in Yīngzhīsuǒzhīfēn. The bīja is explained as the patitya samutpāda (緣起) of the discrimination of the self (自性分別), and the discrimination (分別性) as the simultaneity of the inner and the outer (內外同時性) by the quotations from Madhyāntavibhāga (辯中邊論頌) in Xiàngpǐn. The differentiation (差別) of the Ālayavijñāna is explained by three and four kinds of ways in the differentiation of appearance (相貌) in Chābiépǐn. Asaṅga divides the bīja as sāmāy-lakṣaṇa (共相)/ aṣmāy-lakṣṇa(不共相) of internal-external dimension, janma(受生)/ ajanma(無受生), and the bija in ādhyātmika-āyantana(內入處)/ bhājana-loka(器世間), and proves that the Ālayavijñāna can exist only when there is the outer condition(外緣). The implication of this proof is that outer world which exists as sāmāy-lakṣaṇa is synchronistic with the inner bīja(內種子) made by ādhyātmika-āyantana, and is the outside of the discrimination of the Ālayavijñāna. This also belongs to the dharma side of discrimination, which has two sides, atman and dharma. Mahāyānasaṅgraha explains the cause which makes the world as the bīja, and stresses six meanings of the bīja. However, these are limited to the inner bīja, and the outer condition of the discrimination is the bhājana-loka bīja(器世間種子) as the common bīja(共種子) made by the common karma(共業). The bīja of the inner conditions is the inner bīja hidden in the Ālayavijñāna, which makes the effect as a result, and is stored(薰習) in the Ālayavijñāna as a habit. But the outer bīja(外種子) doesn’t have the function of being stored and the action of feeling, and it is just as limitless as the bhājana-loka. Mahāyānasaṅgraha says that the relation between the inner bīja and the outer bīja are not of order, but the cause of each. When mind cures defilements, the target of the curing is limited to the inner bīja, and the outer bīja is manifested as the object which should be cured. The outer bīja of Asaṅga means that infinite outer environments like the natural one unites with mind and relates with true self, representing Mahayana which unites the world of sentient beings to one mind. We can understand that the outer bīja theory of Asaṅga proves that the relation between mind and outer objects (dharma) is inseparable.