大乘百法明門論開宗義決 1.13

1.13

Regarding "The twenty-second patriarch who transmitted the Dharma pitaka": In the biography, his name is Poxiupanduo (Vashubandhu); the Fahua lun (Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-śāstra) calls him Posoupanchan; while the Zheng lun calls him Fasubanfan (Vasubandhu). Formerly translated as Tianqin; now named Shiqin (Vasubandhu). "Vasu" refers to the lord of the world god (deva). Because this god is the lord of the world, this god is called the lord of the world. It says this worldly god is a dear friend. Therefore, the new and old translations each present one name. Master Yuanhui, in his commentary on the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra, does not accept that Vasubandhu was the twenty-second; his enumeration of the Dharma-transmitters is deeply confused and erroneous. Moreover, the Fu fazang zhuan (Transmission of the Dharma Pitaka) states that this noble one composed five hundred treatises, and the name is identical; hence we definitely know he was the patriarch who transmitted the Dharma. He was a person from Gandhāra in Northern India. The two brothers both entered the Buddha's Dharma. The elder brother Asaṅga cultivated and studied the Mahāyāna, realizing the first bhūmi. The younger brother Linchi cultivated and studied the Hīnayāna, attaining arhatship. Vasubandhu was exceptionally intelligent, revered across the five regions of India. The treatises he composed were a mirror for a thousand generations. Asaṅga Bodhisattva saw that his younger brother Vasubandhu possessed the Mahāyāna nature, but fearing he would realize the lesser fruition, wished to enlighten him and cause him to return to the Mahāyāna. He then feigned illness to summon him. Vasubandhu, hearing the command, came from afar. Asaṅga secretly sent two people to wait for him and, in the dead of night, approach Vasubandhu's room. One recited the "Mahāyānasaṃgraha" chapter of the Abhidharma-sūtra, and one recited the "Daśabhūmika" chapter of the Avataṃsaka-sūtra. Vasubandhu, hearing the Dharma, gave rise to grief and remorse simultaneously: "Such a wondrous Dharma as this I previously slandered! The fault lies with this tongue; it is proper to cut it off." He immediately seized a sharp knife, intending to cut out his tongue himself. Suddenly, he saw Asaṅga standing before him, seizing his hand to stop him, and saying to him: "Now, the Mahāyāna is the ultimate Dharma. I wished to instruct you, and you have awakened on your own. Your awakening comes at the right time! What could be better than this? In the noble teachings of the buddhas, changing one's path is true repentance. Previously you used your tongue to slander the Mahāyāna; now you should use your tongue to broadly praise and explain it. In vainly cutting off your tongue, what benefit would there be?" Having spoken these words, he suddenly vanished. Vasubandhu was deeply awakened and thereupon did not cut his tongue. He went to Asaṅga and requested instruction on the Mahāyāna. Asaṅga then composed the root text of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha for him, instructing him to compose a commentary, and conferred the Daśabhūmika-sūtra upon him, directing him to compose a treatise. Therefore, these two treatises were the first composed by Vasubandhu Bodhisattva upon his initial entry into the Mahāyāna. His abundant virtues were very numerous, fully detailed in his separate biography.