The Venerable Person from the Western Region
in the Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra
ISHIDA Kazuhiro
1. The Aim of This Paper
In order to elucidate one aspect of the Gandhāra Buddhism, the term pāścāttyāḥ or xifang
zhushi (西方諸師), Buddhist scholars from the Western Region, in the Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra (AMv) is to be examined in detail. Although I have discussed the
defi-nition of the term pāścāttya,1) the term xifang zunzhe (西方尊者), the venerable person
from the Western Region, is dealt with below. This term is used three times in the AMv. Two example of this term are found in the context of the four stages of penetration (nirvedhabhāgīya) interpretation by the venerable person (尊者), the author of the
Jñānaprasthāna Śāstra (Jñp), and the venerable person from the Western Region,
respec-tively. The third one is in the context where the ninety-eight defilements (anuśaya) are clas-sified, which has been investigated in my previous papers.2) In this paper, I will focus on
the first two occurrences.
2. The
Nirvedhabhāgīya Interpretation
It is well known that the nirvedhabhāgīya consists of the four elements: the warmth (ūṣmagata), the tipping point (mūrdhan), the patience (kṣānti), and the highest mundane ex-istence (laukikāgradharma). In the Jñp, the laukikāgradharma is analyzed from seven per-spectives: (1) nature, (2) origin of name, (3) connection with three realms, (4) relation with
vitarka and vicāra, (5) association with the pleasure-faculty, joy-faculty, and
abandonment-faculty, (6) one-mind or plural-mind, and (7) regression and non-regression. The
Abhidharmāṣṭaskandha Śāstra (Ask) and the Jñp commonly use these perspectives for
ex-amination of agradharma. As a commentary on the Jñp, the AMv automatically follows the way of the examination. However, the ūṣmagata and mūrdhan in the Jñp are inspected from different perspectives in which some points are omitted from the analysis of agradharma.
It is generally pointed that there is no explanation of the kṣānti in the Jñp. In sum, the four elements of nirvedhabhāgīya are addressed from different perspectives in the AMv.
In the AMv, on the other hand, the xifang zunshe interprets the nirvedhabhāgīya differ-ently. He examines each of the four elements of nirvedhabhāgīya from the seventeen per-spectives. The verse in the AMv3) enumerates these seventeen perspectives as follows:
foundation (意趣), basis (依), cause (因), mental object (所縁), result (果), uniform outflow (等流), fruition (異熟), victory (勝利), aspect (行相), two relationships (二緣), wisdom (慧), realms (界), meditation (定), vitarka and so on (尋等), faculty (根), mind (心), and regres-sion (退).
Comparing these seventeen perspectives of the xifang zunzhe with the seven perspec-tives in the Jñp mentioned above, the five of the seven perspecperspec-tives, namely (3) connection with three realms, (4) relation with vitarka and vicāra, (5) association with the pleasure-faculty, joy-pleasure-faculty, and abandonment-pleasure-faculty, (6) one-mind or plural-mind, and (7) regres-sion and non-regresregres-sion, agree with realms, vitarka and so on, faculty, mind, and regresregres-sion in the seventeen perspectives, respectively. We can presume that the compilers of the AMv accepted the perspectives by the xifang zunzhe, because they introduced these perspectives as a theory of the xifang zunzhe without any criticism.
3. The Term
zunzhe
The term zunzhe (尊者) appears 1027 times in the AMv.4) There are two types of usages
in this term: an honorific title and a personal pronoun. As an honorific title, for instance, we find zunzhe Shiyou (尊者世友), Xie zunzhe (脇尊者), etc. In the case of a personal pro-noun usage, the term zunzhe indicates a particular person. The person indicated by zunzhe is to be specified in context. Generally speaking, zunzhe in the AMv denotes Kātyāyanīputra, the author of the Jñp.
As the former type of usages, we find about 800 time examples, in which there are cases:
zunzhe appears in front of a name or after a name. Some persons, for instance, Xie zunzhe5)
or xifang zunzhe are always referred to with this honorific title after their names. This case is about seventeen percent of all. Though I search all examples of zunzhe in the AMv, it is not clear why there are two types of word order are found. All that I can point out is that the term zunzhe as an honorific title always modifies a singular noun. Therefore, the xifang
4. Why the Theory of the
Xifang zunzhe Is Adopted
Why did the compilers of the AMv introduce the theory of the xifang zunzhe without any criticism? The reason I present here is that they need to solve the difficult problem in the
nirvedhabhāgīya explanation. A summary of the nirvedhabhāgīya explanation in the AMv
based on the Kokuyaku issai kyō is as follows:6)
1.24 The Way of Classification of the Nirvedhabhāgīya (T. 27 29b21–29c5)
This section refers to the intention of the author of the Jñp who analyzed agradharma by the seven perspectives and to the xifang zunzhe s theory in which the nirvedhabhāgīya is examined from the seventeen perspectives.
1.25 Natures and the Origin of Names of the Nirvedhabhāgīya (T. 27 29c6–30a4)
This section refers to natures of the nirvedhabhāgīya consisting of the four elements and the reason why the four types of dharmas (ūṣmagata, mūrdhan, kṣānti, and agradharma) are called
nirvedhabhāgīya. The term four wholesome roots (四善根) appears for the first time in the
AMv.
1.26 Differences in the Nirvedhabhāgīyas (T. 27 30a4–30b7) This section refers to differences in the four wholesome roots.
1.27 The Reason and Merit of Acquisition and Abandonment of the Nirvedhabhāgīyas (T. 27 30b8–30c16)
This section refers to how to acquire and abandon the nirvedhabhāgīyas.
1.28 The Classification of the Nirvedhabhāgīyas from the Same Seventeen Perspectives (T. 27 30c25–31b2)
This section refers to the theory of the xifang zunzhe about the nirvedhabhāgīyas in detail. 1.29 The Practice in the Present and the Future of the Nirvedhabhāgīyas (T. 27 31b2–31c20)
This section refers to how to practice the nirvedhabhāgīyas.
1.30 The Way of Origination of the Nirvedhabhāgīyas, and Their Specification (T. 27 31c20–32b16) This section refers to how the nirvedhabhāgīyas are originated and their specification. 1.31 The Relation between the Nirvedhabhāgīyas and Stages. (T. 27 32b17–33b3)
This section refers to the stages where the nirvedhabhāgīyas are originated.
The compilers of the AMv had the problem about the nirvedhabhāgīya explanation because of no description about the kṣānti in the Jñp. Therefore they needed to create a new theory to introduce the kṣānti into the AMv. Tanaka 1993 pointed out that the four wholesome roots were not in the Jñp7) and the kṣānti was added to the nirvedhabhāgīya explanation in
the AMv.8) Chou 2009 tried to demonstrate that a process where the kṣānti was included in
stud-ies explained that the process how the kṣānti was included on the basis of an internal theo-ry of Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma. The formation of the four wholesome roots cannot be ex-plained without ābhidharmic theories. However, It is likely that a key factor of the structure of the nirvedhabhāgīya descriptions in the AMv is the introduction of the xifang
zunzhe s theory. In 1.25 summarized above, the AMv for the first time refers to the nirvedhabhāgīya consisting of the four wholesome roots after the xifang zunzhe s theory
was introduced. Thereafter the four wholesome roots as the nirvedhabhāgīyas are discussed from several ābhidharmic viewpoints. It seems probable that the xifang zunzhe s theory is used by the compilers of the AMv in order to introduce into discussion the
nirvedha-bhāgīyas consisting of the four wholesome roots. The theory of the venerable person from
the Western Region gave authority the introduction of the nirvedhabhāgīyas consisting of the four wholesome roots. Therefore, it became necessary to interpret his explanation in detail. Consequently, it is carried out in 1.28 of the AMv without any criticism from the
Vaibhāṣikas.
The kṣānti was added to the nirvedhabhāgīya before the compilation of the AMv because of a demand within a development of ābhidharmic theories on practices.10) Hence it was
in-evitable for the compilers of the AMv to include the kṣānti in the nirvedhabhāgīyas. As they also knew that a theory of the nirvedhabhāgīya consisting of the four wholesome roots was not based on the Jñp, they required the basis to introduced the nirvedhabhāgīya consisted of the four wholesome roots. Therefore they used the xifang zunzhe s theory to support their idea. On the other hand, this structure is not found in the Av. In this text, there is no section corresponding 1.24 of the AMv. Thus it seems that the structure about an explana-tion of the Av is not clearer than that of the AMv. It is not obvious that the reason why the difference between the Av and the AMv occurs.
5. Conclusion
In this paper, I investigated the xifang zunzhe s interpretation of the nirvedhabhāgīya, the meaning of the term zunzhe in the AMv, and the structure of the AMv where the
nirvedhabhāgīyas were examined from some viewpoints. The conclusions of this paper are
as follows:
(1) The xifang zunzhe analyzed the nirvedhabhāgīya from the seventeen perspectives, which was not criticized by the Vaibhāṣikas in the AMv.
(2) When the term zunzhe is used as an honorific title, it always modifies a singular noun. Therefore, we can identify xifang zunzhe with the particular venerable person living in the Western Region rather than the venerable people.
(3) In the AMv, the xifang zunzhe s theory was used to introduce the nirvedhabhāgīya con-sisting of the four wholesome roots. However, this tendency did not appear in the Av. Notes
1) See Ishida 2011.
2) See Ishida 2009a and 2009b. 3) See T. 27.30c.
4) This term can be found 1028 times in SAT 2015. But this result is corrected because one occurrence in footnote is counted. In addition, there are two examples of 尊, abbreviated form of 尊者. According to the footnote in the AMv (T. 27. 676), the three editions of the Sung, the Yuan, and the Ming dynasties and the old Sung edition belonging to the library of the imperial household use 尊者 instead of 尊. If we count these two examples, all examples become 1029 times.
5) We can identify Xie Zunzhe (脅尊者) with Xie zunzhe (脇尊者). There is 脅尊者 4 times in the AMv and 脇尊者 105 times. As a result, these two examples are almost all examples of zunzhe after name, be-cause we are able to search all this types of example 132 times in the AMv.
6) Names of each section are based on the Kokuyaku issai kyō: bidonbu 国訳一切経 曇部, vol. 7: 116– 128.
7) See Tanaka 1993: 304. 8) See Tanaka 1993: 319. 9) Chou 2009: 133–144.
10) Based on Yin 1968, Chou presumed that the person who firstly mentioned the nirvedhabhāgīya con-sisted of the ūṣmagata, mūrdhan, kṣānti, and agradharma is Ghoṣaka (Chou 2009: 64–69). Yin pointed out that combining the four nirvedhabhāgīyas (四順決擇分) probably was achieved by Ghoṣaka (Yin 1968: 286). In the AMv (T. 27. 5c9–10) there is a statement that Ghoṣaka said in the Shengzhi lun (生智 論) What is ūṣmagata? What is mūrdhān? What is kṣānti? What is agradharma? But this statement is quoted to consider the order of accounting the four wholesome roots in the Jñp. Namely, Ghoṣaka s statement at least in the AMv was not regarded as the evidence to prove that the nirvedhabhāgīya consists of the ūṣmagata, mūrdhan, kṣānti, and agradharma. In addition, as far as we rely on the AMv, I think that it is difficult to settle which of Ghoṣaka and xifang zunzhe is older.
Abbreviations and Texts
AMv Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra. Apidamo da piposha lun 阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論. T. no. 1524, vol. 27.
Ask Abhidharmāṣtaskandha Śāstra. Apitan Ba jiandu lun 阿毘曇八犍度論. T. no. 1543, vol. 26.
Av Abhidharma vibhāṣā śāstra. Apitan piposha lun 阿毘曇毘婆沙論. T. no. 1546, vol. 28.
Jñp Jñānaprasthāna Śāstra. Apidamo fazhi lun 阿毘達磨發智論. T. no. 1544, vol. 26. Bibliography
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kyō: Bidonbu 国訳一切経: 曇部 7: 9–440. Tokyo: Daitō Shuppansha.
Tanaka Kyōsyō 田中教照. 1993. Shokibukkyō no shugyōdōron 初期仏教の修行道論. Tokyo: Sankibō Busshorin.
Yin Shun 印順. 1968. Shuoyiqieyoubuweizhude lunshu yu lunshi zhi yanjiu 説一切有部為主的論書與論師 之研究. Taipei: Zhengwenchubanshe.
(This research was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 17K13332)
Key words xifang zhushi, 西方諸師, nirvedhabhāgīya, 阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論
