A Study On Translation And Minimalist Studies On

The thesis is centered on presenting a briefly annotated Chinese translation of Chapter one of the fifth century A.D. Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakosabhasya(hence AKBh). In this chapter Vasubandhu expounds Vaibhasika’s Paramanu theory and his critiques.The original Sanskrit Text of AKBh was fortunately found by Mahapandita Rahula Sankrityayana in1930s. Since then, scholars have provided several critical editions of AKBh. The translation is based on a Japanese scholar, Yasunori Ejima’s critical edition: Chapter â… :Dhatunirdesa, Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakosabhasya, and Pradhan’s second edition of Abhidharmakosabhasya of Vasubandhu. Paramartha (真谛), Xuan Zang (玄奘), Sakurabe(桜部建) and Poussin’s translations will also be taken extensive reference to. All the important differences of wordings and explanations in these versions that I notice are indicated in the footnotes.Vaibhasika’s Paramanu theory is an essential complement to its theory of dvasatya and metaphysics. Since it generated an incessant debate among comtemporary Buddist schools and philosophers, this work includes an exhausted study of its fundamental theoretical issues.Before we can turn to these issues, however, it is necessary to deal first with some terms. In Chapter One, I give a brief etymological analysis of rupa and rupyate: V rup=lupâ†'rupaâ†'rupâ†'rupyateBased on multiple meanings of its root, Vasubandhu provides two definitions of rupa, namely, badhyate and pratighata. It is widely accepted by sarvastivadins that one paramanu does not take any space. Thus, paramanu does not have impenetrability and would violate the second definition of rupa.Some Japanese scholars, such as Kimura Taiken and Mizuno Kougen, argued that Vaibhasika’s paramanu perception would violate Buddhist traditional mahabhuta theory. To review their arguments, in Chapter Two, I analyze first the relation between mahabhuta and upadaya, and point out that the former is not the material cause of the latter, but functions a karana-hetu. This means mahabhuta and upadaya are both treated as realities and have their own paramanus. Therefore, Kimura and Mizuno’s arguments are absolutely unjustified.In Chapter Three, two different explanations on paramanu’s samghata(aggregate, combination, collection), namely "Septuple theory" and "Astadravyaka", are examined separately. According to Sarvastivada’s system,"Septuple theory" serves as a metaphor to indicate the minuteness of a paramanu. Astadravyaka, however, is delicately designed as a standard explanation on paramanu’s samghata. From this theory, it is natural to infer that the diversity of various matters does not result from different quantities of paramanus, since different matters’components are exactly the same. Therefore, sarvastivadins invented a theory called prabhava to explain the diversity of matters. After comparing Vaibhasika, Srilata and Sautrantika’s opinions on prabhava, I present how Vasubandhu criticized Vaibhasika and Srilata’s viewpoints.Chapter Four is centered on how Vasubandhu construct several dilemmas to defeat Vaibhasika’s Paramanu theory. The first dilemma is concerning about the problem of paramanus’contact. No matter does a paramanu contact others with a part or with its whole, both of them will bring about undesirable consequences. But if paramanus do not really touch others, it is reasonable to infere that objects constructed by paramanus would also fail to touch other objects. Vasubandhu, therefore, implied that Vaibhasika’s Paramanu theory failed to provide a sound explanation on these issues.In the last chapter, Sarvastivada’s dvasatya theory and momentness of paramanu are investigated. As far as I am concerned, paramanu and ksana are derived from the same Sarvastivada’s ontological principle—"samvrtisat relies on paramarthasat". And they are spatial and temporal descriptions of absolute reality. This reveals Sarvastivada’s fundamental philosophy ground and that all their descriptions of paramanu, such as infinitive minuteness and non-contat, are derived from this principle.