Kajiyama Yūichi

English

Otani University Academic Repository / 大谷大学学術情報リポジトリ

THE EASTERN BUDDHISTfollowed by a few remarks on the method of bearing this teaching in mind and on the spiritual advantages of following it.This analysis permits us to see the Hr day a in its historical perspective.It is the dbarma-cabra-pravartana-tutra of the new dispensation.This is a very penetrating insight.In this section, in connection with the texts concerned, Dr. Conze discusses the divergence between cittavarana and cittdlambana, both of which are used to denote the “impeded mind.” According to him, we may suppose that originally there was cittdrambana. Truly, in Nepalese Mss avarana is often changed into arambana, as Dr. Conze holds. Nevertheless, we cannot surmise its original form to be arambana merely on the basis of the Chinese translation and Nepalese Mss, for the Tibetan translation sgrib-pa is not arambana but avarana.As is usual with Dr. Conze’s work, the English translations are very good. This is especially the case with his translation of the Saddbarmapundarika, Chapter 5, which, by referring to the Tibetan translation, is very much an improvement on the hitherto published versions.Nagasaki HojunSTUDIEN ZUM MAHAPRAJ&4PARAM1TA (VPA DES A) SASTRA, Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosoph- ischen Fakultat der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat zu Miinchen vor- gelegt von Mitsuyoshi Saigusa in Miinchen 1962, Hokuseido Verlag Tokyo, 1969 239 PP-Although many studies have been made on the Madhyamika philosophy, most of them are based on the Madbyamakakarikd of Nagarjuna with its com­mentaries by his followers, especially by Candrakirti. Studies of another im­portant Madhyamika text, Ta cbib tn lun Atrita, are comparatively few, and insofar as those written in Western languages are concerned, there have been only two major works:1. Lamotte, fitienne. Le Trait I de la grande vertu de taggetre. Vol. 1, 1944; Vol. II, 1949, Louvain: Bureaux du Muston [A French translation of the first 18 Chiian of the Ta cbib tu lun\.2. Ramanan, K. Venkata. Nagarj una’s Philosophy as Presented in the Mabd-136BOOK REVIEWSprajHaparamitaiastra. Rutland, Vermont—Tokyo, Japan: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1966.The difficulties one encounters when he tries to make a systematic study of the Ta chib tu lun consist not only of its bulk (100 Chiian or 700 pages in the Taitbo Tripitaka'), but also of its being an encyclopedic commentary on the Pancavimlati- tdbasrikd-prajndpdramitdsurra, in other words, the fact that the text itself is not written with a consistent principle but is a gathering of incoordinate pieces of information. With great pleasure, therefore, we can add to the above list Professor Saigusa’s newly published work, Studien zum Mabdprajndpdramitd-^upadrfa) fastra.The present work was originally his dissertation presented to the Ludwig- Maximilians University in Munich in 1962 for doctorate, and was published in the form of a book in 1969. For reasons, unknown to the writer, the author has not consulted several important works, e.g., the above-named book of Rama- nan’s and Richard H. Robinson’s Early Mddbyamika in India and China, both of which were published between these two dates and which have much bearing upon the content of this book.Neither the Sanskrit original nor the Tibetan translation of the Ta cbi tu lun is extant. Thus, besides problems concerning its contents, there are two ques­tions about the text itself: 1) The Sanskrit name is usually reconstructed as MabaprajHafaramitalaitra, but we have no way to confirm it. Although the word lun (equivalent to iditra) is almost always added to Buddhist treatises in Chinese translations, it is very rare for a Sanskrit work to have the word Iditra at the end of its title. Professor Saigusa reconstructed the title as Mabdprajndpdramitd (ytpadeta) Iditra (Abbr. Mpp0, but without any argument for it. If we are not able to argue for a reconstruction of the title, it is perhaps better for us to use the Chinese name itself.2) Although Kumarajiva, the Chinese translator, ascribes the text to Nagarjuna, we are not sure if this tradition should be accepted. Professor Saigusa omitted his argumentation about the authenticity of the Mpp£, though he gives a brief ac­count of opinions of several scholars regarding the question of its attribution (pp. A more detailed account is given in Robinson’s work pp. 35-39. Among these opinions, the arguments of Higata Ryusho, Miyaji Kakue, and Robinson seem to be most important, and they deny, partially or wholly, the authenticity of the MppS.Most of the scholars who study the Madhyamika philosophy on the basis of137THE EASTERN BUDDHISTthe Madbyamakakarika of Nagaijuna restrict the citations of materials to works which he believes to be attributable to Nagarjuna. For example, Robinson, after enumerating all the works which Tibetan and Chinese traditions ascribe to Nagaijuna, says (Robinson p. 27):The question of which of these works are not authentic attributions has not yet been wholly resolved. However, if we define Nagaijuna as the author of the Middle Stanzas [Madbyamakakarika], then there arc no grounds for impeaching the authenticity of the other four works listed by Taranatha [Tuktisastikd, funyatasaftati, Kigrabavyavartani, Paidalya], as their content agrees with that of the Middle Stanzas. In addition, the Ratndvali, Catubstava, Pratttyasamutpadabrdaya, and Bbava- samkrantidastra (Murti, Buddhism, p. 90, n. 2; p. 91, n.4) are attested by quotations in Candrakirti, and the Subrllekba was translated into Chinese twice shortly after A.D. 430,once by Gunavarman and once by Sanghavar- man. The Mabayanavimdaka may or may not be by the author of the Middle Stanzas (Murti, Buddhism, p. 91, n. 3; Tucci, Minor Buddhist Texts, pp. 199-200).On the other hand, scholars who study the MppS usually work with the hypo­thesis that Nagarjuna is the author of the major portion of the Mpp£ (Saigusa p. 5) and ‘postpone such arguments [as those about the problem of the attribu­tion] to a later date’ (Ramanan p. 13).Those who have read Ramanan’s work must have had the impression that the Mpp£ contains many important philosophical ideas which are not found in the Madbyamakakarika, the Pigrahavyavartani, etc. There are some who feel with Ramanan that the basic conceptions of the Rostra (=Mpp£) constitute a natural continuation and development of those found in the well known works of Nagar­juna like the Mddbyamikakarikd and the Vigrahavyavartam (Ramanan p. 13-14). But there are also others who do not feel so. Besides, it is possible that someone other than Nagaijuna continued and developed the latter’s thought. It would seem better that until the problem of the attribution is solved, we treat the Mpps as a different field of the Madhyamika philosophy from that of Nagaijuna himself. We can compare the Mpps with the Madbyamakakarika and discuss the relation between them; but that is one thing and to attribute the Mpp6 to Na­gaijuna is another.138BOOK REVIEWSIf a scholar postpones argumentation about the problem of the attribution and studies with a mere hypothesis that the Mpp£ is Nagaijuna’s work, or if he remains noncommittal to the problem, he will be inevitably confronted by self-contradic­tion. In his review on Lamotte’s translation of the Mpps John Brough writes:Professor Lamotte is somewhat noncommittal in his introduction on the question of the attribution... In a note, however, on p. 140, the identification would seem to be accepted without question, in spite of the fact that the note concerns a difference in view (admittedly minor one) between Madhyamakaiditra and the Mpps. On pp. 614 and 734 further differences are noted and in the latter place Professor Lamotte appears to leave the question open... [Cited in Saigusa p. 4].Professor Saigusa writes on p. 141:Der Verfasser des MppS hat in diesem Werk [Mpps] in weit hoherem MaBe als in den Madbyamakakarikdj die verschiedenen Lehren vom Agama an bis zum Mahayana-Budd his mus seiner Zeit, vom Buddhismus bis zur damaligen allgemeinen indischen Philosophic hin beriicksichtigt...,And again on p. 147:Bei Nagaijuna und auch in den PrajOaparamitasitrat und selbstver- standlich im MppS, kommen die Begriffe Nirvana, moha oder Pimukri nicht haufig vor und wenn sie einmal auch gefunden werden, werden sie kaum im eigentlichen Sinne, namlich in Bezug auf das hochste Ziel beniitzt....However, if it is a mere hypothesis that the Mpps is a work of Nagarjuna, it seems incorrect to treat the Madbyamakakarika and the Mpps as belonging to the same person, and it is not selbstverttdndlicb that in the Mpps Nagaijuna does not use the terms, nirvana, moksa or vimukti very often.The present book is divided into two parts. In the first part which is con­cerned with the structure of the Mpp£, Professor Saigusa briefly introduces the author of the MppS and the Chinese translator, Kumarajiva (§1); deals with some problems regarding the relation between the extant MppS and its original which is said to have been much larger in bulk (§2); and presents detailed and139THE EASTERN BUDDHISTprecise lists of the sutras and treatises cited in the Mpp£. The list proves to be very useful for scholars. A list of the works cited in the Dalabbumikavibbaia is also appendiced, because the situation of the work is similar to that of the Mpps— i.e. both are commentaries on sutras; their authenticity is doubted; KumarajTva is their translator, etc. However, the author does not seem to draw any con elusion from this comparison.In the introduction (§i) of the second part, the author juxtaposes the verses of salutations that appear in the beginning of each of the Mpp£, Madbyamakakdrikd, Dalabbumikavibbasa, Tuktisastikd, and Pigrahavyavartani. He is of the opinion that the most important topics of a treatise are summarized in the verse of salutation of the treatise. Thus, from the salutation verse of the Mpp£, he derives three rhemes which he regards to be the central subjects of the MppS and which at the same time form the subjects of the chapters of the second part of his book, viz., i) the six pdramitas, 2) truth, 3) Bodhisattva.While explaining protityasamutpdda as it appears in the Mpps in p. 140, Professor Saigusa calls the causal chain of 12 members, in which one member appears or disappears after another, idampratyayata, and the interdependent relation para- sparapeksa. The latter is easy to understand. As to the former, however, since most scholars call interdependent relation idampratyayata, and not the causal chain of 12 members, the reader doubts this passage. He does not understand the meaning until he reads a previous article written by the author in Japanese and published in a Japanese journal in which the professor maintains that idampratya- yata does not mean interdependence but origination from a cause. Reference to this article is made in the present work, but Professor Saigusa gives no account of its content. Since his Japanese is very difficult even to the eyes ofscholars educated in Japan, the writer feels it is unlikely that many German readers will read this article, and hence, wishes the author had presented a brief account of the content in German in order to avoid misunderstanding of his interpretation referred here­in. Later, on p. 159, Professor Saigusa refers to another Japanese article without giving explanation of the content.The author devotes the first 28 pages to etymological interpretation of the Sanskrit word paramita. According to the author, the word has two different meanings: 1) having reached the other shore {piram-\rita')-> 2) perfection(pdrami+ to). As is well known, paramita was translated into Tib. pha rol tu pbyin pa (p. 67 pbal rol... is a misprint) and into Chi. too pi an or tu pi an These140BOOK REVIEWStranslations both mean ‘having reached the other shore/ the other shore standing for emancipation.Citing many passages from sutras, Hinayana as well as Mahayana, the author tries to defend the meaning of‘having reached the other shore’ the etymology of which is condemned by modem Sanskritists. He says that Mahayana Buddhism, especially Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism, has developed from the idea iparamita= having reached the other shore,’ and that therefore the idea is the foundation of Tibetan and Chinese Buddhism (pp. 68-69)—the author appears to have forgotten that he is not dealing with Tibetan, and Chinese Buddhism, but Indian Buddhism. At the same time, however, the author seems to be well conscious that such an etymology is wrong, and in the next section he cites proofs for the second ety­mology. It is at this point that the reader becomes perplexed because it is difficult for one to know which specific etymology the author favors.In Buddhist philosophical texts we find a number of dogmatic etymologies which, though philologically incorrect, present important philosophical ideas. For example, Candrakirti derives the meaning ‘universally covering=conven- tion’ from the word samvrti (Praiannapadd p. 492, samantad varanam iamvrtib). He is wrong in etymology, but no one will try to defend him, nor to condemn him for his lack of grammatical knowledge. It simply shows that Candrakirti was a philosopher and that he preferred philosophical significance to philological ac­curacy. The same thing can be said with regard to the first etymology of para- mita. Ancient Buddhist philosophers loved the idea of‘having reached the other shore’ and did not care for philology. Professor Saigusa need not suffer from such a dilemma!Then, he explains the usage of the word paramitd in the Mpp£, in which Ku- marajiva interprets the word according to the first meaning; the author suggests in §2,4 the meaning of‘having reached perfection’ as the third interpretation and cites some passages supporting it.In the rest of §2, different numbers of paramitas and each of the six pdramirdr are explained with profuse citations from various texts. In §3, the idea of truth is treated under three headings: pratityatam-utpdda (dependent origination), iunyata (emptiness), and madbyamd pratipad (the middle way). The section on emptiness in which the author stresses that emptiness in the Madhyamika philoso­phy is none other than emancipation is perhaps most fascinating in this book. In §4 which deals with the bodbijattva, he, after having described the development141THE EASTERN BUDDHISTof the idea of bodhisattva, explains the characteristic features of the bodhisattva and mahasattva, the relation between the bodhisattva and the buddha, etc. in the Mpp£. A large and exact list of bodhisattvas with proper names who appear in the MppS is conspicuous in this chapter. As an appendix to the book, the author has prepared another list of the verses in MppS which are identical or comparable to those in the Madhyamakakanka. Higata, Lamotte, and Robinson once tried to identify citations from the Madhyamakakarikdin the Mpp£ (cf. the list in Robinson pp. 37-38). There is no doubt, however, that Professor Saigusa’s list is most com­plete and exact.To sum, the greatest merit of the present work is a number of lists in which materials are collected, coordinated, and arranged under important categories. No reader will fail to notice how much work has been involved in the compilation of these lists, most of which are unique and of great help for scholars of various fields of Buddhist study. The author begins each section with a brief account of the subject concerned and subsequently presents a list to support his argument and conclusion. On the other hand, however, the author sometimes neglects discussions necessary to make those lists more functional; and when the author derives no conclusion from a list the reader is left wondering as to its purpose. In spite of this writer’s criticism, there is no doubt that Professor Saigusa’s book is one of the most useful works yet to appear on this subject.Kajiyama YuichiEARLT MAD HI A MIKA IN INDIA AND CHINA. By RichardH. Robinson. The University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, Milwaukee, and London, 107, 347 PP-Very few scholars have concentrated their studies on the impact and adapta­tion of Indian Buddhism in China. The work under review falls in this category. Other works which have enlightened our knowledge in this area are Arthur F. Wright’s Buddhism in Chinese History and E. Ziircher’s The Buddhist Conquest of China, but these are mainly historical in nature which carry the whole area of Buddhism and therefore fall short of any doctrinal interpretation. It is without saying that Japanese scholars on the whole, such as, Tsukamoto Zenryu, Ocho Enichi, Nagao Gadjin, etc., have been doing extensive work in Chinese Bud­dhism but their works generally have not been read outside their native land.142

BOOK REVIEWS SAIGUSA MITUYOSHI: Studien zum Mahāprajñāpāramitā-(upadeśa) śāstra

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BOOK REVIEWS SAIGUSA MITUYOSHI: Studien zum Mahāprajñāpāramitā-(upadeśa) śāstra

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