Difference between revisions of "Asanga"
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| − | [[ | + | [[Image:Asanga.JPG|frame|Asanga]] |
| − | + | '''Asanga''' (Skt. ''[[Asaṅga]]'', Tib. {{BigTibetan|[[ཐོགས་མེད་]]}}, ''[[Tokmé]]''; [[Wyl.]] ''[[thogs med]]'') — one of the most famous Indian saints, he lived in the fourth century and was the elder brother of [[Vasubandhu]]. He received teachings from [[Maitreya]] and transcribed them as the ‘[[Five Treatises of Maitreya]]’. Together with Asanga's own commentaries, these texts became the basis for the [[philosophical]] schools known as [[Yogachara]], or [[Chittamatra]]. | |
| − | [[Asaṅga]] | ||
==His Writings== | ==His Writings== | ||
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*[[Summary of the Mahayana]] | *[[Summary of the Mahayana]] | ||
| − | Early [[Life]] | + | ==Further Reading== |
| + | {{Nolinking|*Lobsang N. Tsonawa, ''Indian Buddhist Pandits from The Jewel Garland of Buddhist History'', Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1985. | ||
| + | *[[Sogyal Rinpoche]], ''[[The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying]]'', pages 125-126.}} | ||
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| + | ==External Links== | ||
| + | *{{TBRC|P6117|TBRC Profile}} | ||
| + | {{RigpaWiki}} | ||
| + | {{NewSourceBreak}} | ||
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| + | [[File:Asanga-47.jpg|thumb|250px|]] | ||
| + | [[Asaṅga]] ([[Sanskrit]]: [[असङ्ग]]; [[Tibetan]]: {{BigTibetan|[[ཐོགས་མེད།]]}}; [[Wylie]]: [[Thogs med]]; [[traditional]] {{Wiki|Chinese}}: [[無著]]; pinyin: [[Wúzhuó]]; [[Romaji]]: [[Mujaku]]) was a major exponent of the [[Yogācāra]] [[tradition]] in [[India]], also called [[Vijñānavāda]]. [[Traditionally]], he and his half-brother [[Vasubandhu]] are regarded as the founders of this school. The two half-brothers were also major exponents of [[Abhidharma]] teachings, which were highly technical and sophisticated {{Wiki|hermeneutics}} as well. | ||
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| + | ==Early [[Life]]== | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[Asaṅga]] was born as the son of a [[Kshatriya]] father and [[Brahmin]] mother in Purushapura ({{Wiki|present}} day {{Wiki|Peshawar}} in {{Wiki|Pakistan}}), which at that [[time]] was part of the {{Wiki|ancient}} {{Wiki|kingdom}} of [[Gandhāra]]. Current {{Wiki|scholarship}} places him in in the fourth century CE. He was perhaps originally a member of the [[Mahīśāsaka]] school or the [[Mūlasarvāstivāda]] school but later converted to [[Mahāyāna]]. According to some scholars, Asaṅga's frameworks for abhidharma writings retained many underlying Mahīśāsaka traits. André Bareau writes: | ||
| − | [ | + | : [It is] sufficiently obvious that Asaṅga had been a Mahīśāsaka when he was a young monk, and that he incorporated a large part of the doctrinal opinions proper to this school within his own work after he became a great master of the Mahāyāna, when he made up what can be considered as a new and Mahāyānist Abhidharma-piṭaka. |
In the record of his journeys through the {{Wiki|kingdoms}} of [[India]], [[Xuanzang]] wrote that [[Asaṅga]] was initially a [[Mahīśāsaka]] [[Monk]], but soon turned toward the [[Mahāyāna]] teachings. [[Asaṅga]] had a half-brother, [[Vasubandhu]], who was a [[Monk]] from the [[Sarvāstivāda]] school. [[Vasubandhu]] is said to have taken up [[Mahāyāna]] [[Buddhism]] after meeting with [[Asaṅga]] and one of [[Asaṅga's]] [[disciples]]. | In the record of his journeys through the {{Wiki|kingdoms}} of [[India]], [[Xuanzang]] wrote that [[Asaṅga]] was initially a [[Mahīśāsaka]] [[Monk]], but soon turned toward the [[Mahāyāna]] teachings. [[Asaṅga]] had a half-brother, [[Vasubandhu]], who was a [[Monk]] from the [[Sarvāstivāda]] school. [[Vasubandhu]] is said to have taken up [[Mahāyāna]] [[Buddhism]] after meeting with [[Asaṅga]] and one of [[Asaṅga's]] [[disciples]]. | ||
| − | [[Meditation]] and teachings | + | |
| + | ==[[Meditation]] and teachings== | ||
[[Asaṅga]] spent many years in intense [[Meditation]], during which [[time]] [[tradition]] says that he often visited [[Tuṣita]] [[Heaven]] to receive teachings from [[Maitreya Bodhisattva]]. [[Heavens]] such as [[Tuṣita]] [[Heaven]] are said to be accessible through [[Meditation]], and accounts of this are given in the writings of the [[Indian]] [[Buddhist monk]] [[Paramārtha]], who lived during the 6th century CE. [[Xuanzang]] tells a similar account of these events: | [[Asaṅga]] spent many years in intense [[Meditation]], during which [[time]] [[tradition]] says that he often visited [[Tuṣita]] [[Heaven]] to receive teachings from [[Maitreya Bodhisattva]]. [[Heavens]] such as [[Tuṣita]] [[Heaven]] are said to be accessible through [[Meditation]], and accounts of this are given in the writings of the [[Indian]] [[Buddhist monk]] [[Paramārtha]], who lived during the 6th century CE. [[Xuanzang]] tells a similar account of these events: | ||
| − | “ In the great [[mango grove]] five or six li to the {{Wiki|southwest}} of the city ([[Ayodhya]]), there is an old [[Monastery]] where [[Asaṅga]] [[Bodhisattva]] received instructions and guided the common [[people]]. At night he went up to the place of [[Maitreya Bodhisattva]] in [[Tuṣita]] [[Heaven]] to learn the [[Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra]], the [[Mahāyāna-Sūtra-alaṃkāra-śāstra]], the [[Madhyānta-vibhāga-śāstra]], etc.; in the daytime, he lectured on the marvelous {{Wiki|principles}} to a great audience. ” | + | :“ In the great [[mango grove]] five or six li to the {{Wiki|southwest}} of the city ([[Ayodhya]]), there is an old [[Monastery]] where [[Asaṅga]] [[Bodhisattva]] received instructions and guided the common [[people]]. At night he went up to the place of [[Maitreya Bodhisattva]] in [[Tuṣita]] [[Heaven]] to learn the [[Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra]], the [[Mahāyāna-Sūtra-alaṃkāra-śāstra]], the [[Madhyānta-vibhāga-śāstra]], etc.; in the daytime, he lectured on the marvelous {{Wiki|principles}} to a great audience. ” |
[[Asaṅga]] went on to write many of the key [[Yogācāra]] treatises such as the [[Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra]], the [[Mahāyāna-samgraha]] and the [[Abhidharma-samuccaya]] as well as other works, although there are discrepancies between the {{Wiki|Chinese}} and [[Tibetan]] [[traditions]] concerning which works are attributed to him and which to [[Maitreya]]. | [[Asaṅga]] went on to write many of the key [[Yogācāra]] treatises such as the [[Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra]], the [[Mahāyāna-samgraha]] and the [[Abhidharma-samuccaya]] as well as other works, although there are discrepancies between the {{Wiki|Chinese}} and [[Tibetan]] [[traditions]] concerning which works are attributed to him and which to [[Maitreya]]. | ||
| + | ==[[Abhidharma Samuccaya]]== | ||
| − | [[ | + | According to [[Walpola Rahula]], the [[Thought]] of the [[Abhidharma-samuccaya]] is invariably closer to that of the [[Pali]] [[Nikayas]] than is that of the [[Theravadin]] [[Abhidhamma]]. |
| − | + | ==Questions of authorship== | |
The [[Tibetan tradition]] [[attributes]] authorship of the [[Ratnagotravibhaga]] to him, while the {{Wiki|Chinese}} [[traditions]] [[attributes]] it to a certain [[Sthiramati]] or [[Sāramati]]. Peter Harvey finds the [[Tibetan]] attribution less plausible. | The [[Tibetan tradition]] [[attributes]] authorship of the [[Ratnagotravibhaga]] to him, while the {{Wiki|Chinese}} [[traditions]] [[attributes]] it to a certain [[Sthiramati]] or [[Sāramati]]. Peter Harvey finds the [[Tibetan]] attribution less plausible. | ||
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| + | [[Asanga]] [[無著]] (n.d.) (Skt; Jpn [[Mujaku]]) | ||
| + | A [[scholar]] of the [[Consciousness]]-Only [[Doctrine]] in [[India]] who is [[Thought]] to have lived in the fourth or fifth century. Born to a [[Brahman]] family at Purushapura in [[Gandhara]], northern [[India]], he contributed greatly to the systematization of the [[Consciousness-Only]] [[Doctrine]]. [[Vasubandhu]] was his younger brother. According to The [[Record of the Western Regions]], [[Asanga]] became a [[Monk]] of the [[Mahishasaka]] school of [[Hinayana]], but according to [[Paramartha]]'s {{Wiki|Biography}} of the [[Dharma]] [[Teacher]] [[Vasubandhu]], he belonged to the [[Sarvastivada]] school. In either case, he later converted to the [[Mahayana]] teachings and succeeded in persuading [[Vasubandhu]] to do the same. The {{Wiki|Biography}} of the [[Dharma]] [[Teacher]] [[Vasubandhu]] describes how [[Asanga]], dissatisfied with the [[Hinayana]] [[view]] of [[nonsubstantiality]], used his [[supernatural powers]] to ascend to the [[Tushita]] [[Heaven]] and there received the [[Mahayana]] [[Doctrine]] of [[nonsubstantiality]] from [[Bodhisattva]] [[Maitreya]]. This is probably a mythicizing of his actually having studied the [[Doctrine]] under a [[teacher]] named [[Maitreya]], a contemporary historical figure. [[Asanga's]] works include A Collection of [[Mahayana]] Treatises, The Summary of the [[Mahayana]], The Treatise on the [[Diamond]] [[Wisdom]] [[Sutra]], and The Accordance with "The Treatise on the [[Middle Way]]." | ||
| + | {{R}} | ||
| + | [http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/A/97 nichirenlibrary.org] | ||
| + | {{NewSourceBreak}} | ||
| − | [[ | + | [[Asanga]] (also called [[Aryasanga]]), (c 300 - 370 CE) , was an exponent of the [[yogācāra school]] of [[Buddhist Philosophy]]. [[Traditionally]], he and his half-brother [[Vasubandhu]] are regarded as the founders of this school. |
| − | + | Born the son of a [[Kshatriya]] father in Puruspura ({{Wiki|Peshawar}}) in northernwestern [[India]], [[Asanga]] was perhaps originally a member of the [[Mahīśāsaka]] or the [[Mūlasarvāstivāda]] school but later converted to [[Mahāyāna]]; after many years of intense [[Meditation]], during which [[time]] some [[traditions]] say that he often visited [[Tushita]] [[Heaven]] to receive teachings from [[Maitreya]]-[[nātha]]. He went on to write many of the key [[Yogācāra]] treatises such as the [[Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra]], the [[Mahāyāna-samgraha]] and the [[Abhidharma-samuccaya]] (refer [[Abhidharma]]) as well as other works, although there are discrepancies between the {{Wiki|Chinese}} and [[Tibetan]] [[traditions]] concerning which works are attributed to him and which to [[Maitreya-nātha]]. | |
| − | + | The [[Tibetan tradition]] [[attributes]] authorship of the [[Ratnagotravibhaga]] to him, while the {{Wiki|Chinese}} [[traditions]] [[attributes]] it to a certain [[Sthiramati]] or [[Sāramati]]. Peter Harvey finds the [[Tibetan]] attribution less plausible. | |
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{{R}} | {{R}} | ||
[http://www.tamqui.com/buddhaworld/Asanga www.tamqui.com] | [http://www.tamqui.com/buddhaworld/Asanga www.tamqui.com] | ||
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[[Category:Buddhist Teachers]] | [[Category:Buddhist Teachers]] | ||
[[Category:Asanga]] | [[Category:Asanga]] | ||
[[Category:Vasubandhu]] | [[Category:Vasubandhu]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Indian Masters]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Seventeen Nalanda Masters]] | ||
Revision as of 19:43, 15 March 2014
Asanga (Skt. Asaṅga, Tib. ཐོགས་མེད་, Tokmé; Wyl. thogs med) — one of the most famous Indian saints, he lived in the fourth century and was the elder brother of Vasubandhu. He received teachings from Maitreya and transcribed them as the ‘Five Treatises of Maitreya’. Together with Asanga's own commentaries, these texts became the basis for the philosophical schools known as Yogachara, or Chittamatra.
His Writings
Further Reading
- Lobsang N. Tsonawa, Indian Buddhist Pandits from The Jewel Garland of Buddhist History, Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1985.
- Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, pages 125-126.
External Links
Source
Asaṅga (Sanskrit: असङ्ग; Tibetan: ཐོགས་མེད།; Wylie: Thogs med; traditional Chinese: 無著; pinyin: Wúzhuó; Romaji: Mujaku) was a major exponent of the Yogācāra tradition in India, also called Vijñānavāda. Traditionally, he and his half-brother Vasubandhu are regarded as the founders of this school. The two half-brothers were also major exponents of Abhidharma teachings, which were highly technical and sophisticated hermeneutics as well.
Early Life
Asaṅga was born as the son of a Kshatriya father and Brahmin mother in Purushapura (present day Peshawar in Pakistan), which at that time was part of the ancient kingdom of Gandhāra. Current scholarship places him in in the fourth century CE. He was perhaps originally a member of the Mahīśāsaka school or the Mūlasarvāstivāda school but later converted to Mahāyāna. According to some scholars, Asaṅga's frameworks for abhidharma writings retained many underlying Mahīśāsaka traits. André Bareau writes:
- [It is] sufficiently obvious that Asaṅga had been a Mahīśāsaka when he was a young monk, and that he incorporated a large part of the doctrinal opinions proper to this school within his own work after he became a great master of the Mahāyāna, when he made up what can be considered as a new and Mahāyānist Abhidharma-piṭaka.
In the record of his journeys through the kingdoms of India, Xuanzang wrote that Asaṅga was initially a Mahīśāsaka Monk, but soon turned toward the Mahāyāna teachings. Asaṅga had a half-brother, Vasubandhu, who was a Monk from the Sarvāstivāda school. Vasubandhu is said to have taken up Mahāyāna Buddhism after meeting with Asaṅga and one of Asaṅga's disciples.
Meditation and teachings
Asaṅga spent many years in intense Meditation, during which time tradition says that he often visited Tuṣita Heaven to receive teachings from Maitreya Bodhisattva. Heavens such as Tuṣita Heaven are said to be accessible through Meditation, and accounts of this are given in the writings of the Indian Buddhist monk Paramārtha, who lived during the 6th century CE. Xuanzang tells a similar account of these events:
- “ In the great mango grove five or six li to the southwest of the city (Ayodhya), there is an old Monastery where Asaṅga Bodhisattva received instructions and guided the common people. At night he went up to the place of Maitreya Bodhisattva in Tuṣita Heaven to learn the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, the Mahāyāna-Sūtra-alaṃkāra-śāstra, the Madhyānta-vibhāga-śāstra, etc.; in the daytime, he lectured on the marvelous principles to a great audience. ”
Asaṅga went on to write many of the key Yogācāra treatises such as the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, the Mahāyāna-samgraha and the Abhidharma-samuccaya as well as other works, although there are discrepancies between the Chinese and Tibetan traditions concerning which works are attributed to him and which to Maitreya.
Abhidharma Samuccaya
According to Walpola Rahula, the Thought of the Abhidharma-samuccaya is invariably closer to that of the Pali Nikayas than is that of the Theravadin Abhidhamma.
Questions of authorship
The Tibetan tradition attributes authorship of the Ratnagotravibhaga to him, while the Chinese traditions attributes it to a certain Sthiramati or Sāramati. Peter Harvey finds the Tibetan attribution less plausible.
Source
Asanga 無著 (n.d.) (Skt; Jpn Mujaku) A scholar of the Consciousness-Only Doctrine in India who is Thought to have lived in the fourth or fifth century. Born to a Brahman family at Purushapura in Gandhara, northern India, he contributed greatly to the systematization of the Consciousness-Only Doctrine. Vasubandhu was his younger brother. According to The Record of the Western Regions, Asanga became a Monk of the Mahishasaka school of Hinayana, but according to Paramartha's Biography of the Dharma Teacher Vasubandhu, he belonged to the Sarvastivada school. In either case, he later converted to the Mahayana teachings and succeeded in persuading Vasubandhu to do the same. The Biography of the Dharma Teacher Vasubandhu describes how Asanga, dissatisfied with the Hinayana view of nonsubstantiality, used his supernatural powers to ascend to the Tushita Heaven and there received the Mahayana Doctrine of nonsubstantiality from Bodhisattva Maitreya. This is probably a mythicizing of his actually having studied the Doctrine under a teacher named Maitreya, a contemporary historical figure. Asanga's works include A Collection of Mahayana Treatises, The Summary of the Mahayana, The Treatise on the Diamond Wisdom Sutra, and The Accordance with "The Treatise on the Middle Way."
Source
Asanga (also called Aryasanga), (c 300 - 370 CE) , was an exponent of the yogācāra school of Buddhist Philosophy. Traditionally, he and his half-brother Vasubandhu are regarded as the founders of this school.
Born the son of a Kshatriya father in Puruspura (Peshawar) in northernwestern India, Asanga was perhaps originally a member of the Mahīśāsaka or the Mūlasarvāstivāda school but later converted to Mahāyāna; after many years of intense Meditation, during which time some traditions say that he often visited Tushita Heaven to receive teachings from Maitreya-nātha. He went on to write many of the key Yogācāra treatises such as the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, the Mahāyāna-samgraha and the Abhidharma-samuccaya (refer Abhidharma) as well as other works, although there are discrepancies between the Chinese and Tibetan traditions concerning which works are attributed to him and which to Maitreya-nātha.
The Tibetan tradition attributes authorship of the Ratnagotravibhaga to him, while the Chinese traditions attributes it to a certain Sthiramati or Sāramati. Peter Harvey finds the Tibetan attribution less plausible.
