{"id":1024,"date":"2013-10-17T23:55:32","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T23:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/?p=1024"},"modified":"2019-05-12T16:57:39","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T16:57:39","slug":"creation-stories-the-cosmogony-account-from-the-yogacarabhumi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/creation-stories-the-cosmogony-account-from-the-yogacarabhumi\/","title":{"rendered":"Creation Stories: The Cosmogony Account from the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i> is a massive sourcebook of the Buddhist Yog\u0101c\u0101ra school. In the second section of this book, titled manobh\u016bmi<\/i>, occurs an account of cosmology that includes cosmogony. It is similar to, but more detailed than, the standard Buddhist Abhidharma account of cosmology given in the Abhidharmako\u015ba<\/i> (chapter 3). The Sanskrit original of the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i> was discovered in Tibet in the 1930s by the indefatigable Rahula Sankrityayana, and was both transcribed and photographed by him. Its first five sections were edited from this transcript and these photographs by Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya, in comparison with the Tibetan translation (Narthang edition), and published in 1957 (I have posted this here: yogacarabhumi_chapters_1-5_1957.pdf<\/a>). Very little of the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i> has so far been published in English translation. We are fortunate to have a translation of its account of cosmology, made by the late Y\u016bichi Kajiyama and published in 2000 (posted here: Buddhist cosmology, Yogacarabhumi, Eng. 2000<\/a>). This translation was competently made from the Sanskrit in comparison with the Chinese and Tibetan translations. Paragraphs pertaining to cosmogony have been selected from this account of cosmology and given below, the Sanskrit from Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya\u2019s edition, and the English from Y\u016bichi Kajiyama\u2019s translation. The brackets are theirs. Also given below for comparison are page references to the Tibetan translation found in the collated Tengyur (bstan \u2019gyur<\/i>) published in China, vol. 72, 2001.<\/p>\n

When the world is regenerated after its periodic destruction by wind (more extensive than by fire or by water), beings from the fourth or highest dhy\u0101na<\/i> heaven, upon dying there, are reborn in the third dhy\u0101na<\/i> heaven. Then beings from the third dhy\u0101na<\/i> heaven, upon dying there, are reborn in the second dhy\u0101na<\/i> heaven; and beings from the second dhy\u0101na<\/i> heaven, upon dying there, are reborn in the first or lowest dhy\u0101na<\/i> heaven. At this point our account continues (Sanskrit, p. 37, line 12; Tibetan, p. 712, line 18; English, p. 191):<\/p>\n

tata\u1e25 pa\u015bc\u0101d iha tri-s\u0101hasra-mah\u0101-s\u0101hasra-[loka-dh\u0101tu]-pram\u0101\u1e47a\u1e43 v\u0101yu-ma\u1e47\u1e0dalam abhinirvartate tri-s\u0101hasra-mah\u0101-s\u0101hasrasya [lokasya] prati\u1e63\u1e6dh\u0101-bh\u016btam avaim\u0101nik\u0101n\u0101\u1e43 sattv\u0101n\u0101\u1e43 [ca] | tat punar dvi-vidham | utt\u0101na-\u015baya\u1e43 p\u0101r\u015bva-\u015baya\u1e43 ca | yena t\u0101s\u0101mara\u1e43 tiryag-vim\u0101na\u1e25 adha\u015b c\u0101yatana\u1e43 (?) | tatas tasyopari tat-karm\u0101dhipatyena k\u0101\u00f1cana-garbh\u0101 megh\u0101\u1e25 sambhavanti | yato v\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e6di\u1e25 sa\u00f1j\u0101yate | t\u0101\u015b c\u0101po v\u0101yu-ma\u1e47\u1e0dale santi\u1e63\u1e6dhante | tato v\u0101yava\u1e25 sambh\u016by\u0101pa\u1e25 sa\u1e43m\u016brchayanti ka\u1e6dhin\u012b-kurvanti | s\u0101 bhavati k\u0101\u00f1canamay\u012b p\u1e5bthivy \u016brdhva\u00f1 c\u0101dha\u015b codaka-vimarda-k\u1e63amatv\u0101t || tasy\u0101\u1e43 viv\u1e5btt\u0101y\u0101\u1e43 punas tasyopari tat-karm\u0101dhipaty\u0101d eva n\u0101n\u0101-dh\u0101tu-garbho megha\u1e25 sambhavati | yato v\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e6di\u1e25 sa\u00f1j\u0101yate | t\u0101\u015b c\u0101pa\u1e25 k\u0101\u00f1canamayy\u0101\u1e43 p\u1e5bthivy\u0101\u1e43 santi\u1e63\u1e6dhante | tathaiva ca punar v\u0101yava\u1e25 sa\u1e43m\u016brchayanti ka\u1e6dhin\u012b-kurvanti |<\/p>\n

\u201cThereafter a whirlwind as large as the Tris\u0101hasra-mah\u0101s\u0101hasra [world] arises here and becomes the support of the Tris\u0101hasra-mah\u0101s\u0101hasra [world] as well as of sentient beings having no palaces [i.e., gods of the two lowest worlds of desire and sentient beings on and under the earth]. It is of two kinds: the whirlwind stretching itself upwards and that stretching itself on the flank of the world, which prevent water [on the wind] from leaking out downwards and sideways. And then clouds containing gold appear above these [whirlwinds] by the influence of [sentient beings\u2019] karma. Rains fall from the [clouds]. The water [of the rains] is sustained on the whirlwind. Then, wind blows and condenses and hardens the water. It is called the earth made of gold as it withstands upward and downward agitations of water. When the [earth] is regenerated, clouds containing various kinds of elements are produced above the earth by virtue of the influence of karma [made by sentient beings]. Rains fall from the clouds, and the water stays on the golden earth. Again, in the same way [as above] wind condenses and hardens [the water].\u201d<\/p>\n

The account goes on to say that the best elements produce Mount Sumeru, the middle class elements produce the seven mountain ranges that surround Mount Sumeru, and the inferior elements produce the four great continents, the eight mid-islands, and the surrounding Cakrav\u0101\u1e0da Mountain. So we see that the wind hardens the water containing the various elements. Compare Book of Dzyan, stanza 3, \u015bloka 12: \u201cThen svabh\u0101va<\/i> sends fohat<\/i> to harden the atoms.\u201d The so far unidentified fohat<\/i> is described in stanza 6, \u015bloka 1, as \u201cthe breath of their progeny,\u201d and stanza 5, \u015bloka 1, tells us that: \u201cThe primordial seven, the first seven breaths of the dragon of wisdom, produce in their turn from their holy circumgyrating breaths the fiery whirlwind,\u201d i.e., fohat<\/i>. So in the Book of Dzyan it is fohat<\/i>, the breath, the fiery whirlwind, that hardens the atoms. It should be noted that Kajiyama\u2019s \u201cwhirlwind\u201d translates v\u0101yu-ma\u1e47\u1e0dala<\/i>, which is often translated elsewhere as \u201cwind circle,\u201d or \u201cwind disk.\u201d<\/p>\n

After further descriptions of the continents, the mountain ranges, the oceans, etc., the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i> account proceeds to the topic of the origin of humanity, or anthropogenesis (Sanskrit, p. 41, line 17; Tibetan, p. 717, line 11; English, p. 196):<\/p>\n

evam abhinirv\u1e5btte bh\u0101jana-loka \u0101bh\u0101svar\u0101d deva-nik\u0101y\u0101t sattv\u0101\u015b cyutvehotpadyante | p\u016brvavad eva prathama-kalpa-sa\u1e43vedan\u012byena karma\u1e47\u0101 | tac ca param agrya\u1e43 \u015bre\u1e63\u1e6dha\u1e43 k\u0101m\u0101vacara\u1e43 karma | tadaiva ca tasya karma\u1e47a\u1e25 phal\u0101bhinirv\u1e5bttir n\u0101nyad\u0101 | te ca sattv\u0101s tasmin samaye prathama-kalpak\u0101 ity ucyante | te ca bhavanti r\u016bpi\u1e47o manomay\u0101 ity anus\u016btram eva sarva\u1e43 |<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the material world (bh<\/i>\u0101janaloka<\/i>) has been accomplished in this way, beings among the heavenly class of \u0100bh\u0101svara die there and are born here [in this world], as stated before, because of their karma which should be recognized as leading to (sa\u1e43vedan\u012bya<\/i>), the first kalpa<\/i> [of the regeneration of the world]. It is the superior, first, excellent karma belonging to the world of desire (k\u0101m\u0101vacara<\/i>), and the karma completes its effect only at this time [when the world is regenerated], and not at other times. And those sentient beings in this very time are called \u2018belonging to the first kalpa<\/i>\u2019 (prathamakalpaka<\/i>). <\/i>They have beautiful forms and are \u2018made of will\u2019 (manomaya<\/i>). All of this is described according to Buddhist s\u016btras.\u201d<\/p>\n

The beings of the first kalpa<\/i>, or age, are given in the Abhidharmako<\/i>\u015b<\/i>a<\/i> and Bh<\/i>\u0101\u1e63<\/i>ya<\/i> by Vasubandhu (chapter 3, verses 8-9) as examples of humans (manu\u1e63ya<\/i>) who are self-born or parentless or spontaneously generated (upap\u0101duka<\/i>). Buddhaghosa says the same in his Pali commentary on the D\u012bgha Nik\u0101ya, using Pali opap<\/i>\u0101<\/i>tika<\/i> in place of Sanskrit upap<\/i>\u0101<\/i>duka<\/i> (Rhys Davids, Dialogues of the Buddha<\/i>, vol. 3, p. 82 fn. 1). This is the first root-race described in The Secret Doctrine<\/i>. The Mah\u0101vastu<\/i> (see below) tells us that: \u201cThese beings are self-luminous, move through space, are made of mind [manomaya<\/i>], feed on joy, abide in a state of bliss, and go wherever they wish.\u201d (J. J. Jones translation, vol. 1, p. 285). In the next paragraph, the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i> account shows the first appearance of food. We take up where the sentient beings of that time begin to eat it, by which they lose their spiritual powers and their bodies become more dense (Sanskrit, p. 42, line 5; Tibetan, p. 718, line 3; English, p. 196).<\/p>\n

tatas te sattv\u0101s tat-parigrahe sand\u1e5b\u015byante | tatas te\u1e63\u0101\u1e43 sattv\u0101n\u0101\u1e43 ras\u0101di-paribhog\u0101d daurvar\u1e47ya\u1e43 pr\u0101durbhavati | prabh\u0101va\u015b c\u0101ntardh\u012byate | ya\u015b ca prabh\u016btatara\u1e43 bhu\u1e45kte sa durvar\u1e47ataro bhavati guruka-k\u0101yatara\u1e25 |<\/p>\n

\u201cThereupon those sentient beings are seen seizing [these foods]. Then, due to their consumption of [earth] nectar and the rest, those sentient beings become ugly (daurvar\u1e47ya<\/i>), and their supernatural powers disappear. The more one eats, the uglier he becomes, and the heavier his body gets.\u201d<\/p>\n

This brings us through the period of the second root-race described in The Secret Doctrine<\/i>, and into the third root-race. In the middle of the third root-race occurs the separation of the sexes. The Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i> account now describes this (Sanskrit, p. 42, line 9; Tibetan, p. 718, line 10; English, p. 196).<\/p>\n

tato \u2019nyonya\u1e43 cak\u1e63u\u1e63\u0101 cak\u1e63ur upanidhy\u0101ya prek\u1e63ante | tata\u1e25 sa\u1e43rajyante | tata\u1e25 str\u012b-puru\u1e63a- sa\u1e43vartan\u012byena karma\u1e47aikaty\u0101n\u0101\u1e43 str\u012bndriya\u1e43 pr\u0101durbhavati ekaty\u0101n\u0101\u1e43 puru\u1e63endriya\u1e43 | tato vipratipadyete dvaya-dvaya-sam\u0101pattita\u1e25 |<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, they gaze at each other eye to eye, and they become enamored. Then, because of their karma conducive to either femaleness or maleness, some of them acquire female organs and others male organs, and they transgress by means of copulation (dvaya-dvaya-sam\u0101patti<\/i>).\u201d<\/p>\n

After this, says the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i> account, the idea of possession or ownership arises, with the result that theft and fighting begin. Then arises the need to establish a king to help prevent these things, and the need to allot different tasks to different people, which results in the establishment of the four castes. This brings us up to the present. From the time of the separation of the sexes onward, the mode of birth for humans would be what we know today, birth from a womb. Of the four modes of birth for humans described in the Abhidharmako<\/i>\u015b<\/i>a<\/i> and Bh<\/i>\u0101\u1e63<\/i>ya<\/i> (chapter 3, verses 8-9), we have now seen two: the womb-born (jar\u0101yuja<\/i>) as at present, and the spontaneously generated (upap\u0101duka<\/i>) as in the first kalpa<\/i> or age. For the sweat-born (sa<\/i>\u1e43<\/i>svedaja<\/i>) and the egg-born (a<\/i>\u1e47\u1e0d<\/i>aja<\/i>), Vasubandhu\u2019s Bh<\/i>\u0101\u1e63<\/i>ya<\/i> gives examples from mythology. No extant Buddhist text that I know of places these in the earlier humanities, as does The Secret Doctrine<\/i>, after the appearance of food when their bodies lose their spiritual powers and become denser.<\/p>\n

The Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i> is attributed to Maitreya by Chinese tradition, and is attributed to Asa\u1e45ga by Tibetan tradition, although in both traditions Maitreya taught Asa\u1e45ga. Modern scholarship sees the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i> as a composite text, having various strata, some of which are quite old. Other early Buddhist texts pertaining to cosmology and cosmogony and anthropogenesis may give some portions more briefly and some portions more extensively. The Loka-praj\u00f1apti<\/i>, an early Sarv\u0101stiv\u0101da Abhidharma text, gives the appearance of food and what followed upon this more extensively. Although a number of leaves of the Lokapraj\u00f1apti<\/i> in the original Sanskrit have been discovered, its cosmogony portion is not among these (see: Siglinde Dietz, \u201cA Brief Survey on the Sanskrit Fragments of the Lokapraj\u00f1apti\u015b\u0101stra,\u201d attached as: Lokaprajnapti, Survey on Sanskrit Fragments, Dietz 1989<\/a>). On the basis of the Tibetan translation (Peking edition attached: Lokaprajnapti, Tibetan, Peking edition<\/a>), however, Siglinde Dietz found that the cosmogony and anthropogenesis account that begins the Sa\u1e45gha-bheda-vastu<\/i> of the M\u016bla Sarv\u0101stiv\u0101da Vinaya corresponds closely to that of the Lokapraj\u00f1apti<\/i>. We have a good Sanskrit edition of the Sa\u1e45ghabhedavastu<\/i> prepared by Raniero Gnoli and T. Venkatacharya (2 vols., 1977, 1978; relevant portion, pp. 7-16, attached: Buddhist cosmogony, Sanghabhedavastu, Skt. 1977<\/a>). Its description of the separation of the sexes, for example, is found on p. 11, line 5 ff., which I quote and translate literally:<\/p>\n

tatas te\u1e63\u0101m indriya-n\u0101n\u0101tva\u1e43 pr\u0101durbh\u016btam | eke\u1e63\u0101\u1e43 str\u012bndriyam eke\u1e63\u0101\u1e43 puru\u1e63endriyam |<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, for them, difference of organs appeared. For some, female organs; for some, male organs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lokapraj\u00f1apti<\/i> account, like the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i> account, is based on Buddhist s\u016btras. The Lokapraj\u00f1apti<\/i>, unlike the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i>, gives at the end of each section a quotation from one particular s\u016btra that it drew upon for this section, and names this s\u016btra. For the cosmogony section, it quotes the gNas \u2019jog dang ba ra dva dza lung bstan pa<\/i>, which would be in Sanskrit, V\u0101si\u1e63\u1e6dha-bh\u0101radv\u0101ja-vy\u0101kara\u1e47a<\/i>. This s\u016btra, as stated by Siglinde Dietz, corresponds to the Pali Agga\u00f1\u00f1a-sutta<\/i> from the D\u012bgha Nik\u0101ya. The Agga\u00f1\u00f1a-sutta<\/i> has long been known as the Buddhist \u201cBook of Genesis,\u201d since its 1921 publication in English translation by T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids with this title (Dialogues of the Buddha<\/i>, vol. 3, pp. 77-94, attached: Agganna sutta, Eng. 1921<\/a>). Its rather brief account of cosmogony and anthropogenesis is found in its paragraphs 10 and 11. In paragraphs 12 and 13 people begin to eat and consequently their bodies become dense. In paragraph 16 the separation of the sexes occurs. This text provides us with an account in Pali (attached: Agganna sutta, Pali, 1889<\/a>). Besides this and the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i> and Sa\u1e45ghabhedavastu<\/i> accounts in Sanskrit, we have also a parallel account in the Mah\u0101vastu<\/i>. This large text is the major representative still extant that is written fully in what Franklin Edgerton calls \u201cBuddhist Hybrid Sanskrit,\u201d including even the prose, and not just the verses. Its account of cosmogony and anthropogenesis is found in \u00c9. Senart\u2019s Sanskrit edition, vol. 1, 1882, pp. 338-348 (attached: Buddhist cosmogony, Mahavastu, Skt. 1882<\/a>). In the English translation of this by J. J. Jones, this account is found in vol. 1, 1949, pp. 285-293 (attached: Buddhist cosmogony, Mahavastu, Eng. 1949<\/a>). There is also a parallel account in the M\u016bla Sarv\u0101stiv\u0101da Vinaya Vibha\u1e45ga. Its Sanskrit original has not yet been recovered.\u00a0Its Tibetan translation (attached: Buddhist cosmogony, Vinaya-vibhanga, Tib. Peking ed.<\/a>) was used by Ernst Waldschmidt to restore a closely parallel fragment on cosmogony discovered in central Asia from an otherwise lost s\u016btra, possibly the V\u0101si\u1e63\u1e6dha-bh\u0101radv\u0101ja-vy\u0101kara\u1e47a<\/i>. This was published in Sanskrit and English in 1970 as, \u201cFragment of a Buddhist Sanskrit Text on Cosmogony\u201d (attached: Buddhist cosmogony, Sanskrit Fragment, Waldschmidt 1970<\/a>).<\/p>\n

As noted by Kajiyama (p. 183): \u201c. . . the cosmology as presented in the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi <\/i>shows a transmission different from that in the Abhidharmako\u015ba<\/i>. <\/i>It gives many particular accounts which we do not find in the Abhidharmako\u015ba<\/i>, <\/i>although the two are in general similar.\u201d Likewise, the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi <\/i>account differs from the account found in the Agga\u00f1\u00f1a-sutta<\/i>, the Sa\u1e45ghabhedavastu<\/i>, and the Mah\u0101vastu<\/i>. It gives a somewhat more detailed cosmogony, while those texts give a more detailed anthropogenesis.\u00a0They have together preserved for us enough to form a skeleton view of what is given much more fully in the Book of Dzyan.<\/p>\n

Grammatical notes:<\/p>\n

First paragraph quoted above:<\/p>\n

\u015baya\u1e43 (in the sentence, utt\u0101na-\u015baya\u1e43 p\u0101r\u015bva-\u015baya\u1e43 ca), in the Tibetan translation is gnas<\/i>, and in Kajiyama\u2019s English translation is \u201cstretching itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

yena t\u0101s\u0101mara\u1e43 tiryag-vim\u0101na\u1e25 adha\u015b c\u0101yatana\u1e43 (?), question mark by the editor, Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya, for this whole phrase. In the Tibetan translation it is: des chu de dag thad kar yang mi \u2019bo la | thur du yang mi \u2019dzag go |<\/p>\n

sa\u1e43m\u016brchayanti, second occurrence, is misprinted as sa\u1e43m\u016brchay\u0101\u1e43nta in Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya\u2019s edition. He notes that the manuscript has sa\u1e43karchayanti, which he corrected to sa\u1e43m\u016brchayanti.<\/p>\n

Please note that Kajiyama gives, preceding his translation, an important list of corrections to Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya\u2019s edition of the Sanskrit text for this section. A major new study of the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i> was published in 2013: The Foundation for Yoga Practitioners: The Buddhist Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi Treatise and Its Adaptation in India, East Asia, and Tibet<\/i>, edited by Ulrich Timme Kragh, Harvard Oriental Series, vol. 75. Martin Delhey in his contribution to this volume, p. 516 fn. 80, corrects one of Kajiyama\u2019s corrections, saying that sa eca<\/i> on p. 31, line 17, should be sa ca<\/i> rather than sa eva<\/i> as Kajiyama proposed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi is a massive sourcebook of the Buddhist Yog\u0101c\u0101ra school. In the second section of this book, titled manobh\u016bmi, occurs an account of cosmology that includes cosmogony. It is similar to, but more detailed than, the standard Buddhist Abhidharma account of cosmology given in the Abhidharmako\u015ba (chapter 3). The Sanskrit original of the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creation-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1796,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions\/1796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}