The Abhidharma-ko\u015ba <\/i>has long been the standard sourcebook on early Buddhism in use among Mah\u0101y\u0101na Buddhists, and is studied by them up to the present. It presents the entire Buddhist worldview, skillfully condensed by Vasubandhu into 600 terse verses, which are explained by him in his own detailed commentary (bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i>) on them. It is an encyclopedic work, reflecting the wide knowledge of educated Buddhists in the fourth to fifth centuries C.E. prevalent in Kashmir, the famous center where these Buddhist teachings were preserved and cultivated and taught. For this reason, it proved to be exceptionally challenging to translate into a Western language. Although this text was known to Western scholars since the mid-1800s, its translation was not attempted until the second and third decades of the 1900s. The fact that the Sanskrit original of the Abhidharmako\u015ba<\/i> and its own commentary (bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i>) by Vasubandhu was then lost made this task doubly difficult. These texts could at that time be studied only in their Chinese and Tibetan translations, with the help of a Sanskrit sub-commentary by Ya\u015bomitra that had been found in Nepal. Not until later was the Sanskrit original discovered in Tibet by Rahula Sankrityayana.<\/p>\n
The difficult task of translating the Abhidharmako\u015ba<\/i> and the bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i> thereon was accomplished by Louis de la Vall\u00e9e Poussin, whose annotated French translation was published in six volumes, 1923-1931. He devoted the latter half of his life to it, after in the first half of his life mastering all four Buddhist canonical languages: Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese, and Tibetan. His translation, then necessarily made from the Chinese and Tibetan translations, has not so far been superseded. This is because of his detailed annotations, drawing on a wide range of Buddhist texts in all four canonical languages. His French translation was translated into English in four volumes by Leo M. Pruden, 1988-1990, and translated again into English in four volumes by Lodr\u00f6 Sangpo, 2012, with many additional annotations. Yet, since the discovery of the Sanskrit original in the mid-1930s, everyone knew that a new translation made directly from it will be required. The Sanskrit Abhidharmako\u015ba<\/i> was published in 1946, edited by V. V. Gokhale, while the Sanskrit bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i> thereon was published in 1967, edited by P. Pradhan (both posted here in the Sanskrit texts section). We do not yet have a translation of the Sanskrit original. We have instead two English translations of a French translation of Chinese and Tibetan translations of the Sanskrit original. Errors in these are inevitable, as will be seen in the passages given below, which I translate from the Sanskrit original.<\/p>\n
Chapter 3 of the Abhidharmako\u015ba<\/i> is titled loka-nirde\u015ba<\/i>, \u201cexposition of the world.\u201d This chapter includes a description of the sattva-loka<\/i>, the \u201cworld of living beings,\u201d followed by a description of the bh\u0101jana-loka<\/i>, the \u201creceptacle world.\u201d The receptacle world is the vessel or container or receptacle for the living beings, the house as distinguished from its occupants. So after the kinds of living beings are described, the world in which they live is described. This is the receptacle world. What this chapter describes, however, is not limited to our visible world. It is an entire world-system, a loka-dh\u0101tu<\/i>, more fully a \u201ctriple-thousand-great-thousand\u201d (tri-s\u0101hasra-mah\u0101-s\u0101hasra<\/i>) world-system (loka-dh\u0101tu<\/i>). Below the human realm are eight hell realms, and above the human realm are twenty-seven heaven realms, where dwell twenty-seven classes of gods (deva<\/i>). That these beings are invisible to us is taken for granted; it is not stated. Likewise, besides our continent, Jamb\u016b-dv\u012bpa, there are three other continents in the cardinal directions, a central mountain named Meru or Sumeru, seven surrounding rings of mountains, seven intervening oceans, etc. From the fact that most of the inhabitants of our world-system are invisible to us, it would logically follow that most of the receptacle world would also be invisible to us. But this, too, is not stated; and the continents and mountains and oceans have usually been understood as features of our visible world. The discrepancies between what is described and what physically exists have caused many modern Buddhists to reject the Abhidharma teachings on cosmology.<\/p>\n
The description of the receptacle world, the bh\u0101jana-loka<\/i>, starts with verse 45 of chapter 3. It is here that we find what little cosmogony is given. Vasubandhu\u2019s description given in his commentary begins at the bottom (adhas<\/i>) of the receptacle world with the v\u0101yu-ma\u1e47\u1e0dala<\/i>, the \u201ccircle of wind,\u201d saying that this is situated in or supported on space (\u0101k\u0101\u015ba-prati\u1e63\u1e6dha<\/i>), and came into manifestation (abhinirv\u1e5btta<\/i>) as a result of the karma or actions of living beings (sattva<\/i>).<\/p>\n
\u0101k\u0101\u015ba-prati\u1e63\u1e6dham adhast\u0101d v\u0101yu-ma\u1e47\u1e0dalam abhinirv\u1e5btta\u1e43 sarva-sattv\u0101n\u0101\u1e43 karm\u0101dhipatyena | (Skt., p. 158, lines 1-2; Tib., vol. 79, p. 355, lines 6-7)1<\/sup><\/p>\n \u201cBelow, supported in or on space, the circle of wind came into manifestation through the power of the actions (karma<\/i>) of all living beings.\u201d<\/p>\n The karma that had been latent during the period of twenty intermediate eons (antara-kalpa<\/i>), when the cosmos was out of manifestation, now brings about the manifestation of the circle of wind. Despite the name \u201cwind\u201d (v\u0101yu<\/i>), this circle or disk (ma\u1e47\u1e0dala<\/i>) is described as being \u201csolid\u201d (d\u1e5b\u1e0dha<\/i>). We are given no details as to how the circle of wind or v\u0101yu-ma\u1e47\u1e0dala<\/i> arises, which forms the base and basis of the receptacle world. The first half of the next verse, 46ab, brings in the circle of water. Vasubandhu in his commentary explains what happens.<\/p>\n tasmin v\u0101yu-ma\u1e47\u1e0dale sattv\u0101n\u0101\u1e43 karmabhir megh\u0101\u1e25 sa\u1e43bh\u016by\u0101k\u1e63a-m\u0101tr\u0101bhir dh\u0101r\u0101bhir abhivar\u1e63anti | tat bhavaty ap\u0101\u1e43 ma\u1e47\u1e0dalam | . . . t\u0101\u015b ca punar \u0101pa\u1e25 sattv\u0101n\u0101\u1e43 karma-prabh\u0101va-sa\u1e43bh\u016btair v\u0101yubhir \u0101varttyam\u0101n\u0101 upari\u1e63\u1e6d\u0101t k\u0101\u00f1can\u012b-bhavanti pakva-k\u1e63\u012bra-\u015bar\u012b-bh\u0101va-yogena | (Skt., p. 158, lines 6-11 or 6-12; Tib., vol. 79, p. 355, lines 11-19)2<\/sup><\/p>\n \u201cClouds, having arisen through the actions (karma<\/i>) of living beings, rain on this circle of wind in streams the size of a pole. This becomes the circle of water. . . . Then these waters, being set into circular motion by the winds arisen through the power of the actions (karma<\/i>) of living beings, become gold on top, like the forming of a skin on cooked milk.\u201d<\/p>\n Two things here require comment. First, what is the strange-sounding rain in streams the size of a pole? We don\u2019t know for sure, and possibly neither did the commentators. This is perhaps rain so heavy that it comes down in continuous streams rather than in drops. Earlier in this chapter, commenting on verse 3, Vasubandhu quotes a s\u016btra that says: \u012b\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101re deve var\u1e63ati n\u0101sti v\u012bcir v\u0101 antarik\u0101 v\u0101 antarik\u1e63\u0101d v\u0101ri-dh\u0101r\u0101\u1e47\u0101\u1e43 prapatant\u012bn\u0101m,3<\/sup> \u201cWhen the god \u012a\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101ra rains there is no break or gap in the streams of water falling from the sky.\u201d Now in English we say, \u201cit is raining,\u201d without ever specifying what \u201cit\u201d is that is raining. In Sanskrit they often say, \u201cthe gods rain,\u201d or a particular god rains, as we have here. The sub-commentator Ya\u015bomitra explains that \u012a\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101ra means: \u012b\u1e63\u0101-pram\u0101\u1e47a-var\u1e63\u0101-dh\u0101ra\u1e25,4<\/sup> whose \u201cstreams of rain are the measure of a pole.\u201d Elsewhere another relevant s\u016btra is quoted, as noted by Poussin, this one in the \u015aik\u1e63\u0101-samuccaya<\/i> by \u015a\u0101ntideva. I give the Sanskrit, from chapter 14, followed by my translation:<\/p>\n vivartam\u0101ne khalu punar loke samant\u0101d dv\u0101tri\u1e43\u015bat-pa\u1e6dal\u0101 abhra-ghan\u0101\u1e25 sa\u1e43ti\u1e63\u1e6dhante | sa\u1e43sth\u0101ya sarv\u0101vanta\u1e25 tri-s\u0101hasra-mah\u0101-s\u0101hasra\u1e43 loka-dh\u0101tu\u1e43 ch\u0101dayanti | yata\u1e25 pa\u00f1c\u0101ntara-kalp\u0101n \u012b\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101ro devo var\u1e63ati | (Skt., Bendall ed., p. 247, lines 5-7, Vaidya ed., p. 132, lines 16-18; Tib., collated Tengyur, vol. 64, p. 1335, line 19, to p. 1336, line 3)5<\/sup><\/p>\n \u201cThen, when the world is coming into manifestation, thirty-two masses of thick clouds gather from all sides. Having gathered, they cover the entire triple-thousand-great-thousand world-system. From them, the god \u012a\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101ra rains for five intermediate eons.\u201d<\/p>\n After that three other gods also rain for five intermediate eons each. Altogether the rains occur for twenty intermediate eons, constituting the larger eon of formation.<\/p>\n The other thing here requiring comment is the last phrase, where these waters become gold on top, \u201clike the forming of a skin on cooked milk.\u201d6<\/sup> There is a small error in the French translation here, that only got worse in the two English translations. Poussin has, \u201ccomme le lait cuit devient de al cr\u00e8me,\u201d literally, \u201clike cooked milk becomes cream.\u201d The small error is the word \u201ccr\u00e8me,\u201d meaning \u201ccream.\u201d While the Sanskrit word \u015bara<\/i> can mean \u201ccream,\u201d this is not the meaning intended here. Cooked milk does not become cream, but a skin or film or scum does form on it. Pruden, perhaps seeing this problem and trying to address it, introduced a second error in his 1988 English translation: \u201cas churned milk becomes cream.\u201d However, the French word \u201ccuit\u201d means \u201ccooked,\u201d not \u201cchurned.\u201d Then, Sangpo in his 2012 English translation apparently followed Pruden in this, giving: \u201cin the way that churned milk becomes cream.\u201d The original Sanskrit word pakva<\/i> means \u201ccooked,\u201d as does the Tibetan translation bskol ba<\/i>. The analogy given here is not to cream, which rises to the top without the milk being cooked (or churned, which produces butter, not cream). The analogy is to the forming of a crust on the surface of the water like the forming of a skin or film or scum on milk that is cooked. The parallel text in the Sa\u1e45ghabhedavastu<\/i> makes this even clearer, by adding that the cooked milk \u201chas become cool\u201d (\u015b\u012bt\u012b-bh\u016bta<\/i>) when this occurs.<\/p>\n tena khalu samayeneya\u1e43 mah\u0101p\u1e5bthiv\u012b ekodak\u0101 bhavaty ek\u0101r\u1e47av\u0101 | ya\u1e25 khalu [ekodak\u0101y\u0101] mah\u0101p\u1e5bthivy\u0101 ek\u0101r\u1e47av\u0101y\u0101 upari v\u0101yun\u0101 sara\u1e25 sa\u1e45gacchati sa\u1e43m\u016brchati santanoti tadyath\u0101 payasa\u1e25 pakvasya \u015b\u012bt\u012bbh\u016btasya upari v\u0101yun\u0101 sara\u1e25 sa\u1e45gacchati sa\u1e43m\u016brchati santanoti | evam ekodak\u0101y\u0101 mah\u0101p\u1e5bthivy\u0101 ek\u0101r\u1e47av\u0101y\u0101 upari v\u0101yun\u0101 sara\u1e25 sa\u1e45gacchati sa\u1e43m\u016brchati santanoti | (Skt., Gnoli ed., p. 7, lines 18-23; Tib., collated Kangyur, vol. 3, p. 620, lines 9-15)7<\/sup><\/p>\n \u201cAt that time this great earth was only water, a single ocean. On top of the great earth that was only water, a single ocean, by means of wind (or air) a skin forms, congeals, and spreads across, just like, on top of cooked milk that has become cool, by means of wind (or air) a skin forms, congeals, and spreads across. In this way, on top of the great earth that was only water, a single ocean, by means of wind (or air) a skin forms, congeals, and spreads across.\u201d<\/p>\n After several verses giving descriptions of the mountains and continents and seas and hells and their measures, we come to the next snippet that is apparently on cosmogony (bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i> on verse 59cd). For we read in both English translations of \u201cthe winds which create (nirm\u0101<\/i>) the moon, the sun and the stars\u201d (matching the French, \u201cdes vents qui cr\u00e9ent (nirm\u0101<\/i>) . . . la lune, le soleil et les \u00e9toiles\u201d). When we read the Sanskrit, however, this is not what we find. Poussin notes here that the two Chinese translations, by Param\u0101rtha and by Hiuan-tsang (Hs\u00fcan-tsang, Xuanzang), differ; perhaps meaning that he here followed the Tibetan translation. Unfortunately, the Tibetan translation that he used, the Peking edition or the Narthang edition, has a serious misprint here that misled him. The Peking and Narthang editions have \u2019phrul ba<\/i> here, rather than the correct \u2019phul ba<\/i> as in the Der-ge and Co-ne editions. With his wide linguistic knowledge acquired by comparing many Sanskrit texts with their Tibetan translations, acquired without the benefit of the Tibetan-Sanskrit dictionaries that we now have, he knew that the Tibetan \u2019phrul ba<\/i> often translates the Sanskrit nirm\u0101<\/i>, meaning \u201ccreate\u201d (i.e., the prefix nir<\/i> plus the root m\u0101<\/i>, making words such as nirm\u0101\u1e47a<\/i> and nirmita<\/i>). But, as he could not know, this is only a typographical error.<\/p>\n That the correct Tibetan word here is \u2019phul ba<\/i> would now be a simple matter to verify by comparison with the original Sanskrit text that was discovered, except that the sole known manuscript has a corruption at this very place. The learned editor, P. Pradhan, corrects the unintelligible voc\u0101ra\u1e25<\/i> of the manuscript to vordhvac\u0101ra\u1e25<\/i>, which means, \u201cor the going upward.\u201d However, this does not match the normally literal Tibetan translation, \u2019phul bar byed pa<\/i> (nor does it match the erroneous reading, \u2019phrul bar byed pa<\/i>). So we do not know what the original Sanskrit term is. Nor is it found in the Sanskrit sub-commentary by Ya\u015bomitra, or in the fragmentary Sanskrit Abhidharmad\u012bpa<\/i>, which is missing most of this chapter. It took the more clearly worded version in the Tibetan translation of the important but neglected commentary by Sa\u1e45ghabhadra to verify this.8<\/sup> In this version, \u2019phul ba<\/i> is the main verb, rather than a verbal in a dependent clause like in Vasubandhu\u2019s commentary; and in all four editions this text has \u2019phul<\/i> (not \u2019phrul<\/i>).9<\/sup><\/p>\n The Tibetan-English Dictionary<\/i> by Sarat Chandra Das gives as the second meaning for \u2019phul ba<\/i>, \u201cto press, to drive, to push.\u201d But we must verify that this meaning is found in canonical Tibetan. The Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary<\/i> by J. S. Negi (vol. 8, 2002, p. 3653) shows that \u2019phul ba<\/i> translates the Sanskrit nutta<\/i> in the famous Sanskrit lexicon, the Amarako\u015ba<\/i>. The word nutta<\/i>, a past passive participle from the verb-root nud<\/i>, is defined in Li\u1e45gayas\u016brin\u2019s commentary thereon as nudyate<\/i>, preryate<\/i>, i.e., \u201cis pushed or driven, is impelled.\u201d Thus, \u2019phul ba<\/i> in this canonical text does mean \u201cto drive,\u201d and is the correct word here rather than \u2019phrul ba<\/i>, \u201cto create.\u201d Thanks especially to the Tibetan translation of the commentary by Sa\u1e45ghabhadra, we are now in a position to accurately translate this Sanskrit passage (3.59cd), despite the corrupt word(s) at the end of it.<\/p>\n athemau candr\u0101rkau kasmin prati\u1e63\u1e6dhitau | v\u0101yau | v\u0101yavo \u2019ntar\u012bk\u1e63e sarva-sattva-s\u0101dh\u0101ra\u1e47a-karm\u0101dhipatya-nirv\u1e5btt\u0101 \u0101vartavat sumeru\u1e43 parivartante | candr\u0101rka-t\u0101r\u0101\u1e47\u0101\u1e43 vordhva-c\u0101ra\u1e25 ? (ms. voc\u0101ra\u1e25) | (Skt., p. 165, lines 10-11 or 12-14; Tib., vol. 79, p. 365, lines 10-14)<\/p>\n \u201cNow, on what are these two, the moon and the sun, supported? On the wind. The winds in space, originated through the power of the general karma of all living beings, revolve around Sumeru like a whirlpool, driving the moon, the sun, and the stars.\u201d<\/p>\n So this passage does not say that the winds create the moon, the sun, and the stars, but rather that the winds drive them in their circular orbits. We may here recall Book of Dzyan, stanza 5, \u015bloka 1: \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 The verb used with winds is parivartante<\/i>, which I have translated as \u201crevolve around,\u201d but it could just as well be translated as \u201ccircumgyrate.\u201d<\/p>\n The sun and the moon, or at least their underlying crystal disks, are in fact said a few lines later to be created or brought into manifestation by the karma of living beings. We see again and again in these cosmogonic passages that karma is the creator of the cosmos, not God as in many other creation stories.10<\/sup> In the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i> (Skt., p. 43, lines 2-3) the sun disk is said to be made of fire-crystal, s\u016brya-ma\u1e47\u1e0dala\u1e43 teja\u1e25-spha\u1e6dika-mayam, and the moon disk is said to be made of water-crystal, candra-ma\u1e47\u1e0dala\u1e43 udaka-spha\u1e6dika-mayam. Here in the Abhidharmako\u015babh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i> (3.60b), a fiery (taijasam<\/i>) crystal disk (spha\u1e6dika-ma\u1e47\u1e0dalam<\/i>) is said to be below the celestial palace (vim\u0101na<\/i>) of the sun, and a watery (\u0101pyam<\/i>) crystal disk is said to be below the celestial palace of the moon.<\/p>\n s\u016brya-vim\u0101nasy\u0101dhast\u0101t bahi\u1e25 spha\u1e6dika-ma\u1e47\u1e0dala\u1e43 taijasam abhinirv\u1e5btta\u1e43 t\u0101pana\u1e43 prak\u0101\u015bana\u1e43 ca | candra-vim\u0101nasy\u0101dhast\u0101d \u0101pya\u1e43 \u015b\u012btala\u1e43 bh\u0101svara\u1e43 ca | pr\u0101\u1e47in\u0101\u1e43 karmabhir | (Skt., p. 165, lines 18-19 or 20-22; Tib., vol. 79, p. 365, line 20, to p. 366, line 2)<\/p>\n \u201cOutside, below the celestial palace of the sun, through the actions (karma<\/i>) of living beings a fiery crystal disk came into manifestation, heating and illumining. Below the celestial palace of the moon, a watery [crystal disk came into manifestation], cold and radiant.\u201d<\/p>\n We notice in this passage an unusual and curious phrase that is also found in the Dzyan commentary and catechism, \u201ccold and radiant\u201d (\u015b\u012btala\u1e43 bh\u0101svara\u1e43 ca<\/i>). It seems contradictory for something to be both cold and radiant at the same time, since radiance is normally associated with heat. The \u201cOccult Catechism\u201d uses this phrase in reference to the \u201cBreath which is eternal,\u201d as follows (The Secret Doctrine<\/i>, vol. 1, p. 12): \u201cIt expands and contracts<\/em> [exhalation and inhalation<\/em>]. When it expands the mother diffuses and scatters; when it contracts<\/em>, the mother draws back and ingathers. This produces the periods of Evolution and Dissolution<\/em>, Manvantara and Pralaya. The Germ is invisible and fiery; the Root<\/em> [the plane of the circle<\/em>] is cool; but during Evolution and Manvantara her garment is cold and radiant.<\/em>\u201d Then, the \u201cCommentary\u201d on Book of Dzyan, stanza 6, \u015bloka 4, says (S.D., vol. 1, p. 144): \u201cThe Breath of the Father-Mother issues cold and radiant and gets hot and corrupt<\/em>, to cool once more<\/em>, and be purified in the eternal bosom of inner Space<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n The most connected account of cosmogony found in the Abhidharmako\u015ba-bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i>, although still very brief, occurs when the kinds of eons (kalpa<\/i>) are described. The eon of the coming into manifestation (vivarta-kalpa<\/i>) of the cosmos is described in verse 90cd and the commentary (bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i>) thereon. In the early Buddhist cosmogony accounts, which are well restated here, the genesis of the cosmos begins with the primordial wind.<\/p>\n 3.90cd: vivarta-kalpa\u1e25 pr\u0101g-v\u0101yor y\u0101van naraka-sa\u1e43bhava\u1e25 ||<\/p>\n pratham\u0101d v\u0101yo\u1e25 prabh\u1e5bti y\u0101van narake\u1e63u sattva-sambhava\u1e25 e\u1e63a k\u0101lo vivarta-kalpa ity ucyate | tath\u0101 sa\u1e43v\u1e5btte hi loka \u0101k\u0101\u015ba-m\u0101tr\u0101va\u015be\u1e63a\u015b cira\u1e43 k\u0101la\u1e43 ti\u1e63\u1e6dhati y\u0101vat punar api sattv\u0101n\u0101\u1e43 karm\u0101dhipatyena bh\u0101jan\u0101n\u0101\u1e43 p\u016brva-nimitta-bh\u016bt\u0101 \u0101k\u0101\u015be manda-mand\u0101 v\u0101yava\u1e25 syandante | tad\u0101 yad aya\u1e43 loko vi\u1e43\u015batim antara-kalp\u0101n sa\u1e43v\u1e5btto \u2019sth\u0101t tan niry\u0101ta\u1e43 vaktavyam | yad vi\u1e43\u015batim antara-kalp\u0101n vivartti\u1e63yate tad upay\u0101ta\u1e43 vaktavyam | tatas te v\u0101yavo vardham\u0101n\u0101 yathokta\u1e43 v\u0101yu-ma\u1e47\u1e0dala\u1e43 j\u0101yate | tata\u1e25 \u015banair yathokta-krama-vidh\u0101na\u1e43 sarva\u1e43 j\u0101yate ap-ma\u1e47\u1e0dala\u1e43 k\u0101\u00f1canamay\u012b mah\u0101-p\u1e5bthiv\u012b dv\u012bp\u0101\u1e25 sumerv-\u0101daya\u015b ca | prathama\u1e43 tu br\u0101hma-vim\u0101nam utpadyate | tato y\u0101vat y\u0101m\u012bya\u1e43 tato v\u0101yu-ma\u1e47\u1e0dal\u0101d\u012bni | iyat\u0101’ya\u1e43 loko viv\u1e5btto bhavati yad uta bh\u0101jana-vivartany\u0101 | (Skt., p. 179; Tib., vol. 79, p. 385, line 20, to p. 386, line 13)<\/p>\n \u201cThe eon of coming into manifestation extends from the primordial wind to birth in the hells.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis time beginning from the first wind up to the birth of living beings in the hells is called the eon of coming into manifestation. So, [as already described,] when the world has gone out of manifestation, what remains is only space (\u0101k\u0101\u015ba<\/i>). [This situation] lasts for a long time; until once again, through the power of the actions (karma<\/i>) of living beings, very light winds that are the preceding heralds of the receptacle [worlds] arise in space. At that time, this world has remained out of manifestation for twenty intermediate eons, which [period] is to be described as finished. [It] will come into manifestation for twenty intermediate eons, which [period] is to be described as started. Then, those winds increasing, the circle of wind arises as stated. Then gradually, in the sequence and manner as stated, all arises, the circle of water, the great earth made of gold, the continents, and Sumeru, etc. But first the celestial palace of Brahm\u0101 is generated, then down to that of the Y\u0101ma [gods], then the circle of wind, etc. This world becomes manifested to this extent, namely, the manifestation of the receptacle [world].\u201d<\/p>\n Such is the classical Buddhist cosmogony.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Notes:<\/p>\n 1. I quote from the Sanskrit edition by P. Pradhan, Abhidharmako\u015babh\u0101\u1e63yam of Vasubandhu<\/i>, giving page and line numbers from the 1967 first edition (posted here under \u201cSanskrit Texts\u201d) followed by line numbers from the 1975 second edition when different. It is also necessary to compare the Tibetan translation, which provides, in effect, a word by word gloss. For this I use the collated Tengyur (bstan \u2019gyur<\/i>) published in China, which gives the text as found in the Der-ge edition and variant readings from the Peking, Narthang, and Co-ne editions. Our texts are found in vol. 79, 2001. Sometimes, like here, I have corrected the placement of the da\u1e47\u1e0da<\/i> in the Sanskrit according to the Tibetan translation. My fairly literal translation of the Sanskrit, made in comparison with the Tibetan, then follows.<\/p>\n 2. For the phrase, ak\u1e63a-m\u0101tr\u0101bhir dh\u0101r\u0101bhir abhivar\u1e63anti, the Tibetan translation is, char gyi rgyun gnya\u2019 shing tsam \u2019bab pa (Tib., vol. 79, p. 355, line 12; the Peking and Narthang editions have the insignificant variant reading bab<\/i> for \u2019bab<\/i>). The Tibetan term gnya\u2019 shing tsam<\/i> usually translates the Sanskrit name \u012b\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101ra<\/i>.<\/p>\n 3. For this sentence, \u012b\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101re deve var\u1e63ati n\u0101sti v\u012bcir v\u0101 antarik\u0101 v\u0101 antarik\u1e63\u0101d v\u0101ri-dh\u0101r\u0101\u1e47\u0101\u1e43 prapatant\u012bn\u0101m, the Tibetan translation is, char gyi rgyun gnya\u2019 shing tsam \u2019bab pa na bar snang las chu\u2019i rgyun \u2019bab pa rnams kyi mtshams sam bar med (Skt., p. 113, lines 23-24 or 25-27; Tib., vol. 79, p. 274, lines 1-2; also repeated in Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i>, Skt., p. 44, lines 10-11).<\/p>\n Akira Hirakawa in his very valuable word-index to the Abhidharmako\u015babh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i> (posted here in the \u201cSanskrit texts\u201d section) in this case erroneously (or at least incompletely) gives char gyi rgyun<\/i> for the cloud or god \u012b\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101ra<\/i>. As the Tibetan translations of the passages quoted here show, this should be gnya\u2019 shing tsam<\/i>. However, with deva<\/i>, the whole phrase is translated as char gyi rgyun gnya\u2019 shing tsam<\/i>. In this case, deva<\/i> is not translated as lha<\/i>, like it usually is in Tibetan. The whole phrase is somewhat paraphrased, making it hard to know exactly what translates what. But in Ya\u015bomitra\u2019s gloss (see note 4 below), \u012b\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101ra<\/i> is clearly just gnya\u2019 shing tsam<\/i>.<\/p>\n 4. For this definition, \u012b\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101ra iti \u012b\u1e63\u0101-pram\u0101\u1e47a-var\u1e63\u0101-dh\u0101ra\u1e25, the Tibetan translation is, gnya\u2019 shing tsam zhes bya ba ni char gyi rgyun gnya\u2019 shing gi tshad tsam ni gnya\u2019 shing tsam mo (Skt., Wogihara ed., vol. 1, p. 259, Dwarikadas ed., vol. 2, p. 388; Tib., collated Tengyur, vol. 80, p. 583, lines 2-3, variant reading in Peking and Narthang editions: gyis<\/i>, in char gyi rgyun<\/i>).<\/p>\n 5. For the last sentence, yata\u1e25 pa\u00f1c\u0101ntara-kalp\u0101n \u012b\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101ro devo var\u1e63ati, the Tibetan translation is, de las bskal pa bar ma lnga\u2019i bar du gshol mda\u2019 tsam gyi char gyi rgyun \u2019bab po (Tib., collated Tengyur, vol. 64, p. 1336, lines 2-3, variant reading in the Peking and Narthang editions: tsam gyis char<\/i> for tsam gyi char<\/i>). Here we have gshol mda\u2019 tsam<\/i> rather than gnya\u2019 shing tsam<\/i> for \u012b\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101ra<\/i>, although the meaning is the same. Note that there is also a mountain named \u012b\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101ra<\/i>, which is translated into Tibetan as gshol mda\u2019 \u2019dzin<\/i>, \u201cbearing a pole\u201d (such as the pole of a plough). The spellings of the Sanskrit name \u012b\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101ra<\/i>, whether of the god as a raincloud or of the mountain, vary. The first part may be found as either \u012b\u1e63\u0101<\/i> or \u012b\u015b\u0101<\/i>, although this probably is due primarily to the meaningless interchanging of the sibilants that is common in Sanskrit Buddhist texts. The standard spelling of this word is \u012b\u1e63\u0101<\/i>. It means a \u201cpole\u201d or \u201cshaft,\u201d as in the pole of a carriage or a plough. In the Loka-praj\u00f1apti<\/i> we find this as shing rta\u2019i srog shing<\/i>, the axle of a carriage (collated Tengyur, vol. 78, p. 769, lines 15-16). The second part may be found as either dh\u0101ra<\/i> or dhara<\/i>. Here the meaning differs. While dh\u0101ra<\/i> can mean the same as dhara<\/i>, namely, \u201cholding, bearing,\u201d it also means \u201cstreaming, flowing,\u201d and as a noun can refer to a downpour of rain. Its feminine form dh\u0101r\u0101<\/i> means a \u201cstream\u201d of something such as water. By contrast, dhara<\/i> keeps more to its basic meaning, \u201cholding, bearing,\u201d and as a noun can mean a \u201cmountain.\u201d Its feminine form dhar\u0101<\/i> means the \u201cearth.\u201d So according to the meaning, the god as a raincloud should be spelled \u012b\u1e63\u0101dh\u0101ra<\/i>, while the mountain should be spelled \u012b\u1e63\u0101dhara<\/i>.<\/p>\n The \u015aik\u1e63\u0101-samuccaya<\/i> was long ago translated into English by Cecil Bendall and W. H. D. Rouse, with the additional help of Louis de la Vall\u00e9e Poussin, before we had the resources that are now available. This 1922 translation was carefully done, and is very helpful to refer to for the general meaning. For precise meanings, however, it cannot be relied on, as shown by the advances of current scholarship in knowledge of Buddhist terms and ideas. A few lines after the passage that I have newly translated above, for example, this older translation refers to \u201cwhen this world arises\u201d (p. 229). The text goes on to speak of the appearance of seven suns. This occurs prior to the dissolution of the cosmos, and the phrase \u201cwhen the world arises\u201d must be translated as \u201cwhen the world is destroyed.\u201d The verb here is sa\u1e43vartate<\/i> (Skt. ed., p. 247, line 10), which is opposite of vivarta<\/i>. This Buddhist usage caused problems for others as well. Franklin Edgerton notes in his 1953 Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary<\/i> under vivarta<\/i> (p. 499) that the Pali-English Dictionary<\/i> published by the Pali Text Society (1921-1925) precisely inverts the meanings of the corresponding Pali viva\u1e6d\u1e6da<\/i> and sa\u1e43va\u1e6d\u1e6da<\/i>. J. J. Jones had made a similar observation in his translation of the Mah\u0101vastu<\/i>, vol. 1, 1949, p. 43 fn. 3.<\/p>\n In the passage that I translated above, the word sarv\u0101vanta\u1e25 is clearly taken in the Tibetan translation with tri-s\u0101hasra-mah\u0101-s\u0101hasra\u1e43 loka-dh\u0101tu\u1e43, not with the banks of clouds as its declension would indicate. The meaning also would require taking it with the world system (loka-dh\u0101tu\u1e43). So I have translated it accordingly. Here we also have another example of a word whose meaning in Buddhist Sanskrit was not known to the translators Bendall and Rouse. They take it in the standard Sanskrit meaning, translating it as \u201ccontaining everything\u201d (and construing it with the \u201cpalls of cloud\u201d), while in Buddhist Sanskrit it means \u201centire.\u201d<\/p>\n 6. For this phrase, pakva-k\u1e63\u012bra-\u015bar\u012b-bh\u0101va-yogena, the Tibetan translation is, \u2019o ma bskol ba spris ma chags pa\u2019i tshul du (Skt. reading k\u1e63\u012bra<\/i>, as in Ya\u015bomitra\u2019s vy\u0101khy\u0101<\/i>, rather than k\u1e63\u012br\u012b<\/i>, as in the sole extant manuscript of the bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i>; Tib., vol. 79, p. 355, line 19).<\/p>\n 7. For a link to the relevant portion of the Sanskrit edition of the Sa\u1e45ghabhedavastu<\/i>, see the post, \u201cCreation Stories: The Cosmogony Account from the Yog\u0101c\u0101rabh\u016bmi<\/i>.\u201d The whole text is posted here under \u201cSanskrit Texts,\u201d then \u201cSanskrit Buddhist Texts.\u201d Among the eight collated editions of the Kangyur, seven have grangs pa<\/i> for \u015b\u012bt\u012b-bh\u016bta<\/i>, while the Zhol or Lhasa edition corrected this to grang ba<\/i>, \u201ccool, cold,\u201d to avoid confusion with grangs<\/i>, \u201cnumber, enumeration.\u201d The parallel text in the Pali Agga\u00f1\u00f1a-sutta<\/i> also has a word for \u201ccooling\u201d here, nibb\u0101yam\u0101nassa<\/i>. Likewise in the Tibetan translation of the Loka-praj\u00f1apti<\/i> there is a word for \u201ccooling\u201d here, bsgrangs pa<\/i> (collated Tengyur, vol. 78, p. 769, line 21).<\/p>\n 8. While checking for something else I happened to notice that the opening few pages of\u00a0Sa\u1e45ghabhadra\u2019s commentary, also called a bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i>, matched Vasubandhu\u2019s bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i> almost verbatim. Wondering about this, I then saw that the author\u2019s name, \u2019Dus bzang, is the Tibetan translation of Sa\u1e45ghabhadra. Sa\u1e45ghabhadra is thought in Tibetan tradition to have been Vasubandhu\u2019s teacher, who liked his Abhidharmako\u015ba<\/i> because it gave the teachings of the Vaibh\u0101\u1e63ika (Sarv\u0101stiv\u0101da) school so well, but disliked portions of his commentary (bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i>) thereon in which Vasubandhu criticized some of the teachings of the Vaibh\u0101\u1e63ika school. So Sa\u1e45ghabhadra wrote two extensive critiques of the Abhidharmako\u015ba<\/i>–bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i>. These are now extant only in Chinese translation. I then checked Collett Cox\u2019s introduction to her translation of a portion of one of these, the Ny\u0101y\u0101nus\u0101ra<\/i> (Disputed Dharmas: Early Buddhist Theories on Existence<\/i>, Tokyo, 1995), to see if there is any tradition of him writing what we have here: a shorter version of the Abhidharmako\u015ba<\/i>–bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i>, wherein presumably the offensive passages were removed by him.<\/p>\n She says about this commentary, which is only extant in its Tibetan translation (p. 59): \u201cThough initially assumed to be Sa\u1e45ghabhadra\u2019s shorter work, this Tibetan commentary would appear to be simply a brief summary of Vasubandhu\u2019s Abhidharmako\u015bak\u0101rik\u0101<\/i> and Bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i>.\u201d A note thereon (note 31, p. 62) sources this to a personal communication from Alex Wayman, a scholar of Tibetan (Collett Cox is a scholar of Chinese). The late Alex Wayman was not a scholar of Abhidharma, and it would seem that he did little more than glance at this Tibetan text. I next checked the 1998 book, Sarv\u0101stiv\u0101da Buddhist Scholasticism<\/i>. The relevant portion of this book is by Collett Cox, and simply repeats (p. 243 fn. 308) what she wrote in her 1995 book. There is nothing more about this text here.<\/p>\n After that I checked the Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies<\/i>, vol. 9: Buddhist Philosophy from 350 to 600 A.D<\/i>. Here we do not find this book under Sa\u1e45ghabhadra\u2019s name, but rather under Vin\u012btabhadra (p. 370, see also p. 281). This is a Sanskrit re-translation of the Tibetan \u2019Dul bzang, almost certainly a typographical error for \u2019Dus bzang, that is found in the Peking and Narthang editions of the Tengyur. The correct \u2019Dus bzang is found in the Der-ge and Co-ne editions (see the collated Tengyur, vol. 79, p. 1366, where \u2019Dus bzang is given in the colophon of this text, and the relevant note on p. 1405 gives the variant reading \u2019Dul bzang from the Peking and Narthang editions). This Encyclopedia<\/i> was published in 2003, while the Tohoku Complete Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons<\/i>, cataloging the Der-ge (sde dge) edition and so giving the correct \u2019Dus bzang (no. 4091, p. 622), was published in 1934. The authorship of this text really should have been corrected in this Encyclopedia<\/i>.<\/p>\n This Encyclopedia<\/i>\u2019s brief entry gives us little more than what Wayman gave us. After saying that \u201cThe original Sanskrit is lost; what survives is the Tibetan translation,\u201d and giving the reference to the Peking edition, it tell us only: \u201cThis is a simple rehash of Vasubandhu\u2019s Abhidharmako\u015babh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i>, which shortens Vasubandhu\u2019s Sautr\u0101ntika objections to the Vaibh\u0101\u1e63ika system, and, aside from the invocatory verses, adds absolutely nothing new.\u201d It is not necessarily the case that readers are seeking something new. The need for a shorter presentation of Abhidharma than is given in Vasubandhu\u2019s bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i> has long been felt. Readers get bogged down in the various positions presented there, which often lead to establishing the Sautr\u0101ntika position against the Vaibh\u0101\u1e63ika position. This commentary is approximately half the size of Vasubandhu\u2019s bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i> (434 pp. versus 794 pp. in the collated Tengyur), yet it retains all the material that the Abhidharmako\u015ba <\/i>was originally written to present; namely, the Abhidharma system as understood by the Sarv\u0101stiv\u0101da Vaibh\u0101\u1e63ikas of Kashmir.<\/p>\n We finally get some real information about this commentary in Marek Major\u2019s 1991 book, Vasubandhu\u2019s Abhidharmako\u015ba and the Commentaries Preserved in the Tanjur<\/i>, pp. 29-38, and this book was even referred to in a footnote to the Encyclopedia<\/i> entry. It is unfortunate that what Marek Major found has not yet been assimilated by Buddhist scholars, and that this important commentary has remained neglected. There is no real reason to doubt that what we have here is by Sa\u1e45ghabhadra, a contemporary of Vasubandhu (probably not his teacher as the Tibetan tradition holds, since the older Chinese tradition does not say this). Even if, as Marek Major hypothesizes, Sa\u1e45ghabhadra\u2019s text was abridged by the Tibetan translator (or perhaps by some earlier Indian writer), this does not take away its value. It closely follows Vasubandhu\u2019s text, leaving out only what many think is non-essential. In the particular case at hand, it seems that while preserving what was in Vasubandhu\u2019s bh\u0101\u1e63ya<\/i>, this commentary only slightly reworded it in order to make it clearer.<\/p>\n 9. Sa\u1e45ghabhadra\u2019s commentary has: gang nyi ma dang zla ba \u2019di gnyis ci la gnas she na | rlung la ste sems can thams cad las kyi dbang gis \u2019byung ba\u2019i rlung gling bzhi [var. bzhin du, Pek. Nar.] ri rab yongs su \u2019khor zhing nyi ma dang zla ba dang skar ma rnams \u2019phul lo | (collated Tengyur, vol. 79, p. 1067, lines 7-9). Vasubandhu\u2019s commentary has: yang nyi ma dang zla ba \u2019di dag ci la brten zhe na | rlung la ste | sems can thams cad kyi thun mong gi las kyi dbang gis bar snang la nyi ma dang | zla ba dang | skar ma rnams \u2019phul [var. \u2019phrul, Pek. Nar.] bar byed pa\u2019i rlung dag grub ste | ri rab la rlung gi \u2019khor lo bzhin du \u2019khor ro | (vol. 79, p. 365, lines 10-14). As may be seen, Sa\u1e45ghabhadra made \u2019phul<\/i> the primary verb and \u2019khor<\/i> the verb of the dependent clause, while Vasubandhu made \u2019phul<\/i> the verb of the dependent clause, and \u2019khor<\/i> the primary verb.<\/p>\n 10. Buddhism, of course, does not accept the existence of a creator God, but on the contrary denies the existence of such a being. Like in Jainism and in the original Ny\u0101ya school of logic in Hinduism, the law of karma reigns supreme. There can be no God who is able to override or interfere with it. The universe is without beginning, and any new cosmos would be the result of the collective karma of the living beings of the previous cosmos. On the absence of God in the original Ny\u0101ya school in Hinduism, see my article, \u201cGod\u2019s Arrival in India\u201d (at www.easterntradition.org).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Abhidharma-ko\u015ba has long been the standard sourcebook on early Buddhism in use among Mah\u0101y\u0101na Buddhists, and is studied by them up to the present. It presents the entire Buddhist worldview, skillfully condensed by Vasubandhu into 600 terse verses, which are explained by him in his own detailed commentary (bh\u0101\u1e63ya) on them. It is an […]<\/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-1060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creation-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060","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=1060"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1070,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1060\/revisions\/1070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}