Abhisamayalankara
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The Abhisamayālaṅkāra ("Ornament of/for Clear Realization[s]") is one of five Sanskrit-language Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy texts which Maitreya is said to have revealed to Asanga (northwest India, 4th century AD). Since the tradition regards Maitreya as either a Buddha or bodhisattva (the point is somewhat controversial, though either status would carry spiritual authority), some scholars (Erich Frauwallner, Giuseppe Tucci, Hakiju Ui) refer to the text's author as Maitreyanātha ("Lord Maitreya") in order to distinguish him from the votive figure, and avoid either affirming the claim of supernatural revelation, or identifying the author as Asanga himself. (Perhaps "Maitreya" was the name of Atisha's human teacher.)
It is worth noting that this text is never even mentioned by the translator Xuanzang, who spent several years at Nalanda in India during the early 7th century. He became a savant in the Maitreya-Asanga tradition, later translating a large number of their sastras, in addition to Abhidharma and Mahayana sutras into Chinese. A crucial question is, if the Abhisamayālaṅkāra is in fact the work of Maitreya and / or Asanga, or even comes from this period of time in India, why does he at least not make mention of it? One possible answer is that the text is in fact later, and was attributed to Maitreya-Asanga for purposes of legitimacy.
The text contains nine chapters and 273 verses. Its pithy contents summarize--in the form of eight categories and seventy topics--the Prajñāpāramitā ("Perfection of Wisdom") literature which the Madhyamika school of Buddhism regards as presenting the ultimate truth. Edward Conze admits that the correspondence between these numbered topics, and the contents of the Prajñāpāramitāsūtras, is "not always easy to see...";[1] and that the fit is accomplished "not without some violence" to the text.[2] Geshe Georges Dreyfus explains that the Abhisamayālaṅkāra is said to reflect the "hidden meaning" of the Prajñāpāramitāsūtras [3] One noteworthy effect is to recast the Prajñāpāramitāsūtras as path literature.
The Abhisamayālaṅkāra is studied by all lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, and is one of five principal works studied in the Geshe curriculum of the major Gelugpa monasteries. It is probably the most extensive and influential source of certain doctrines, such as the Ten Grounds (bhumi), the Five Paths, and the Four Buddha-Bodies (kaya). Alexander Berzin has suggested that its prominence in the Tibetan tradition, but not elsewhere, may be due to the existence of a commentary on it by Haribhadra, who was the disciple of Shantarakshita (an influential early Indian Buddhist missionary to Tibet).[4]
Tsongkhapa's writings name the Abhisamayālaṅkāra as the root text of the lamrim tradition founded by Atisha. Dreyfus reports that
- "Ge-luk monastic universities...take the Ornament as the central text for the study of the path; they treat it as a kind of Buddhist encyclopedia, read in the light of commentaries by Dzong-ka-ba, Gyel-tsap, and the authors of manuals [monastic textbooks]. Sometimes these commentaries spin out elaborate digressions from a single word of the Ornament." [5]
Dreyfus adds that Non-Gelug schools give less emphasis to the Abhisamayālaṅkāra, but study it alongside other, equally weighty texts.
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[edit] Title of the work
The text's full title is:
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- Sanskrit: Abhisamayālaṅkāranāmaprajñāpāramitopadeśaśāstra
- Tibetan: Shes rap kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag gi bstan bcos mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan ces bya ba
- Chinese: 現観荘嚴論 (NB: No Chinese version appears to have existed before the modern period.)
Which means:
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- abhisamaya (mngon par rtogs pa) - "Clear Realization(s)" (See Conze for a discussion of this term) [6]
- alaṅkāra (rgyan) -- "Ornament" (Berzin prefers "Filigree")
- nāma (zhes bya ba) -- "called"
- prajñāpāramitā (shes rap kyi pha rol tu phyin ba) - "Perfection of Wisdom"
- upadeśa (man ngag) -- "Instructions" (literally, "an up-close look")
- śāstra (bstan bcos)-- "Treatise"
Thus, a "Treatise [of] Instructions [on the] Perfection of Wisdom, called [the] Ornament [of / for] Clear Realization[s]."
One explanation is that this is a text for clear realization, i.e. enlightenment. Another is that it is an ornament (like a necklace?) of (usually eight) clear realizations (i.e., topics to be realized).
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- Spelling variations: The compound title Abhisamayālaṅkāra may be separated as Abhisamaya-alaṅkāra. Stripped of diacriticals, the second element may either be spelled -alankara or -alamkara, with the "n" or "m" representing the transliterated letter ṅ (an n with a superscribed dot) and sound ng.
[edit] Philosophical Perspective
Asanga is best known for his writings on Yogācāra. The Abhisamayālaṅkāra however is held not to be his work but that of Maitreya, who is said to have interpreted the text from the viewpoint of Madhyamaka (although several of Maitreya's other treatises--all revealed to Asanga--appeal especially to those with Yogācāra or Tathāgatagarbha leanings). Some Tibetan sources claim that Asanga wrote a commentary of his own, the Thorough Ascertainment of the Twenty Thousand (nyi khri de nyid rnam nges). If this work ever existed (the only evidence comes from a cryptic comment by Haribhadra in the verses of praise at the beginning of his Great Commentary), it is no longer extant.
Gelugpa writers, following Bu ston, specify that Maitreya's text teaches something called "Yogācāra Svātantrika Madhyamaka."[7] The category is often criticized as artificial, even by the standards of Tibetan doxography. Nyingma and Sakya writers agree that the Abhisamayālaṅkāra contains Madhyamaka teachings, without endorsing the subdivisions proposed by Gelugpas.
Conze observes that "in its doctrinal position the book shows some affinities with other Yogacarin works..." [8] In an aside, Ian Charles Harris finds it "curious" that
- "...Maitreya is generally considered to be the mythical instructor of Asaṅga, and therefore for those who see Māhāyana Buddhism in terms of schools [as Harris does not], to be the founder of the Yogācāra-Vijñānanavāda. One wonders why someone seeking to establish a rival school to Nāgārjuna should wish to write a treatise on the Prajñāpāramitā if, as many authors believe, it is amenable only to an interpretation from the standpoint of the Prāsaṅgika-Madhyamaka." [9]
Harris goes on to note the "strange fact" that Tsongkhapa would be a self-avowed Prasangika, despite his system's assignment of "all the great Madhyamaka authorities on the Prajñāpāramitā" to Yogācāra Svātantrika Madhyamaka. [10]
[edit] The Eight Categories and Seventy Topics
The Eight Categories correspond to the first eight chapters of the work (the ninth being a summary), and--with one technical exception in chapter eight--to the eight "realizations" said to be necessary for full enlightenment. (Conze remarks that these eight are "not attested elsewhere.") [11] The Seventy Topics are their subdivisions. The text may be subdivided further still, into 1,200 items.
The first three categories represent the objects or goals of practice, whose attainment leads to peace for the four classes of Buddhist practitioner:
- 1. Sarvākārajñatā ("Knowledge of all modes").........................................10 topics
- (Wisdom attained by Buddhas; inclusive of categories two and three below)
- 2. Mārgākārajñatā ("Knowledge of the modes of the path").......................11 topics
- (Wisdom attained by bodhisattvas; inclusive of category three below)
- 3. Sarvajñatā ("All-knowledge")...............................................................9 topics
- (Wisdom attained by sravakas and pratyekabuddhas, i.e., Hinayana practitioners)
Berzin explains these categories as
- "...groupings of realizations gained by the three sets of aryas ('phags-pa, highly realized beings), those who have gained nonconceptual cognition of the sixteen aspects of the four noble truths. The three are organized into basis, pathway, and resultant stages and thus, in a complex manner, are cumulative. They are studied, however, in reverse order to their attainment, in order to inspire interest in developing them."[12]
Categories four through seven (in this order) represent progressive stages of spiritual practice en route to enlightenment:
- 4. Sarvākārābhisambodha ("the full understanding of all modes)..............11 topics
- 5. Murdhābhisamaya("the full understanding at its summit")........................8 topics
- 6. Anupurvābhisamaya (the progressive, or gradual, understanding)..........13 topics
- 7. Ekaksanābhisamaya (The "single-instantaneous" understanding).............4 topics
Referring to the above, Dreyfus explains that
- "...the Ornament presents the four practices or realizations [chapters 4-7], emphasizing particularly 'the practice of all the aspects' (rnam rzdogs sbyar ba), which is treated in the fourth chapter. In fact, that practice is the central topic of the text and may have been an actual practice in which all the aspects of the three wisdoms [chapters 1-3] are brought together... But--and this point is crucial--no teacher I have ever met seems to have practiced this meditation, or even to have been clear on how to do so... Clearly the work's central themes are not practiced in the Tibetan scholastic traditions." [13]
The last Category concerns the result of spiritual practice:
- 8. Dharmakāyābhisambodha (The full understanding of the Dharmabody)...4 topics
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- 70 topics
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By this is meant the Dharmakāya, one of several glorified spiritual bodies which a Buddha is said to possess. Haribhadra's commentary is noteworthy for teaching the existence of four such bodies, rather than the more traditional three (cf. trikaya), with the fourth kāya being the Svabhāvikakāya (Tib. ngo bo nyid kyi sku) or "Nature / Essence Body". Other writers interpret this last term as a synonym for Dharmakaya, or else as symbolizing the unity of the three.
[edit] Influence
[edit] In India
According to Jetsun Chokyi Gyeltsen's Ocean of Sport, twenty-one (ancient) Indian commentaries exist for the Abhisamayālaṅkāra Of these, four simultaneously comment on the 20,000- (or 25,000) line Prajñāpāramitāsūtra.They are:
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- Arya Vimuktisena, Illuminating the Twenty Thousand (Pañcavimsatisāhasrikā-prajñāparamitopadesasāstra-abhisamāyalaṅkāra-vrtti, nyi khri nsang ba).
- Bhadanta Vimuktisena, Excellent Explanation of the Twenty Thousand (Abhisamayālaṅkāra-vārttika, tshig le'ur byas pa'i rnam par 'drel pa).
- Haribadra, Eight Chapters on the Twenty Thousand.
- Shantipa, Pure Possessor of the Twenty Thousand (nyi khri dag ldan).
Three more simultaneously comment on the 8,000-line Prajñāpāramitāsūtra:
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- Haribadra, Illumination of the Ornament (Abhisamayālankārāloka, rgyan snang).
- Shantipa, Sublime Essence (snying po mchog).
- Abhayakara, Moonlight of Important Points (gnad kyi zla 'od)
Three more simultaneously comment on the Dharmasamgitasūtra (Compedium of Dharma Sutra):
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- Haribadra, Easily Understandable Commentary on the Difficult Points of the Compendium (sdud pa'i dka' 'grel rtogs sla).
- Buddhajnana, ''Commentary on the Difficult Points of the Compedium (sdud pa'i dka' 'grel).
- Dharmashri, A Key to the Perfection of Wisdom Treasury (sher phyin mdzod kyi lde mig).
This last author wrote another commentary using the 100,000-line Prajñāpāramitāsūtra:
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- Dharmashri, Explanation of the One Hundred Thousand (stong phrag brgya pa'i shad pa)
One author simultaneously commented on all three "Mother" Prajñāpāramitāsūtras:
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- Smrtijnana, Exposition of the Three Mothers According to the Eight Categories (yum gsum don brgyad kyis mthun par bstan pa).
Nine commented on the Abhisamayālaṅkāra alone:
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- Haribadra, Commentary on the Clear Meaning ('grel pa don gsal).
- Dharmakalyana, Clear Explanation of the Words Commentary ('grel bshad tshig gsal).
- Suvarnadvipa, Illumination of Reasoning (rtog ge'i snang ba).
- Prañjasamati, Compendium of Meanings (bsdus don).
- Atisha, Compendium of Meanings.
- Shrikumara, Compedium of Meanings.
- Ratnakirti, Renowned Parts (grags cha).
- Buddhashri, A Rosary of the Lamp of Wisdom (shes rab sgron me'i phreng ba).
- Abhayakara, Ornament for the Muni's Thoughts (thub pa dgongs rgyan).[14]
[edit] In Tibet
The Abhisamayālaṅkāra was extremely influential in Tibet, resulting in the production of numerous commentaries. Of these, the most important are the following:
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- Influential early translator Rngog blo ldan shes rab wrote at least two commentaries, the first in Tibetan literature: Mngon rtogs rgyan gyi don bsdus pa (a summary); Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i man ngag mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan gi tik chung (a "small" commentary); and am 8000-line Prajnaparamita summary called Yum brgyad stong pa'i 'grel pa'i don bsdus (possibly a sub-commentary to Haribhadra's Sphutārthā).
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- Rong ston shes bya kun rig wrote 7 commentaries on and treatises related to the Abhisamayālaṅkāra [15]
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- Sakya writer 'Go rams pa bsod nams seng ge wrote four commentaries.
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- Tsongkhapa's Golden Garland (gSer-phreng)
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- His disciple Gyaltsab's Ornament of the Essence
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- Sa skya writer G.Yag ston, Sangs gyas dpal (g.yag phrug pa), 1350-1414. Wrote Mngon rtogs rgyan 'grel pa rin chen bsam 'phel dbang rgyal (King of Wish-Fulfilling Jewels), in eight volumes.
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- Shakya Chogden
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- Panchen Ngagwang Dragpa
[edit] Bibliography
Conze, Edward. The Prajnaparamita Literature. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 2000 (1978). See pp. 101-120.
Conze, Edward (translator and editor). The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom: With the Divisions of the Abhisamayālankāra. Univ. of California Press: 1985.
Conze, Edward (translator). Abhisamayālankāra: Introduction and Translation from Original Text, With Sanskrit-Tibetan Index. Serie Orienta: Rome, [n.d.].
Dreyfus, Georges. The Sound of Two Hands Clapping: The Education of a Tibetan Buddhist Monk. University of California Press: 2003. Ch. 8 (pp. 174-182 of this edition) discusses the role of the Abhisamayalankara in the Tibetan monastic curriculum.
Dreyfus, Georges. "Tibetan scholastic education and the role of soteriology." In Paul Williams (ed.), Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, vol. VI, pp. 32-57. Originally published in the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies vol. 20, no. 1 (1997), pp. 31-62. This is an early (and extended) version of material later incorporated into The Sound of Two Hands Clapping. Dreyfus's discussion of the Abisamayalankara begins on pp. 46, and continues to the end of the article.
Obermiller, E[ugene]. Analysis of the Abhisamayalamkara. Asian Humanities Press: 2003.
Obermiller, E. The Doctrine of Prajna-Paramita as Exposed in the Abhisamayalamkara of Maitreya. Canon Publications: 1984.
Sparham, Gareth (translator). Abhisamayalamkara with Vrtti and Aloka. Jain Publishing Company: 2006 (vol. 1) and 2008 (vol. 2).
Thrangu Rinpoche. The Ornament of Clear Realization: A Commentary on the Prajnaparamita of the Maitreya Buddha. Sri Satguru Publications: Delhi, 2001. Oral translation by Ken and Katia Holmes; final translation by Cornelia Weishaar-Gunter.
Toh Tze Gee (translator). The Explanation Ornament of the Essence along with (i) the Root Text of the Treatise of Quintessential Instructions of the Perfection of Wisdom: Ornament for Clear Realization and (ii) the Commentary Clear Meaning. FPMT Masters Program: Pomaia, Italy, 2008.
[edit] References
- ^ From his Preface to the Large Sutrap. x
- ^ From his Abisamayālaṅkara translation, p. 10.
- ^ Dreyfus, pp. 175-176 (ch. 8)
- ^ In his "Overview..." (cited below), second sentence.
- ^ ...Two Hands Clapping, pp. 175-176.
- ^ The Prajnaparamita Literature, p. 104.
- ^ See Alexander Berzin's "The Five Pathway Minds (The Five Paths): Advanced Presentation," par. 3.
- ^ The Prajnaparamita Literature, p. 102.
- ^ The Continuity of Madhyamaka and Yogācāra in Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism (Leiden: Brill, 1991), p. 72.
- ^ Op. cit., p. 73
- ^ The Prajnaparamita Literature, p. 105.
- ^ Berzin, "Overview...," subheading entitled "The Three Sets of Realized Awareness."
- ^ ...Two Hands Clapping, p. 176.
- ^ Adapted from a privately-circulated FPMT transcript of oral teachings given by Geshe Jampa Gyatso from 1998-1999.
- ^ See David Jackson, Kyoto: 1988
[edit] External links
Berzin, Alexander. "The Five Pathway Minds (The Five Paths): Basic Presentation" Feb. 2002, revised April 2006.
Berzin, Alexander. "The Five Pathway Minds (The Five Paths): Advanced Presentation." March 2004, revised April 2006.
Berzin, Alexander. "Overview of the Eight Sets of Realizations in Abhisamayamankara". Feb. 2002, revised July 2006.
Shenga, Khenchen. "Prologue to the Abhisamayalankara."
Tsöndrü, Khenpo. "The Seventy Points: The Words of Jikmé Chökyi Wangpo: A Commentary Presenting the Subject Matter of the Great Treatise, the Abhisamayalankara."
Tsulga, Geshe. Oral Commentaries on the Ornament of Clear Realizations and its Seventy Topics, given to the Kurukulla Center. (Scroll about halfway down the page for audio files.)
