A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s6.t4.278

v2.c19.s6.t4.278

Vyākhyā, Yaśomitra's commentary on the work,¹ and on the other hand the Chinese and Tibetan versions. the earliest Chinese translation is that of Paramārtha, written between 563 and 567 A.D. A second translation (651-654 A.D.) is by the celebrated Hsüan-Tsang. The Abhidharmakośa treats, in 600 memorial verses (Kārikās) together with the author's own commentary (Bhāṣya), of the entire field of ontology, psychology, cosmology,² ethics and the doctrine of salvation. The last chapter, which is given either as Chapter IX or as an appendix to Chapter VIII, and which is not composed of memorial verses, treats of the Buddhist doctrine of the soul (denial of a permanent soul), and is directed against the Pudgalavādins, those who believe in a permanent soul.³ Though the Abhidharmakośa is written from the standpoint of the Sarvāstivāda school of the Hīnayāna, it is nevertheless an authority for *all* schools of Buddhism. We can learn far more from the Kośa with its commentary, about the dogmatics of the ancient Buddhist schools, than from any other work, and it affords us a sidelight upon the debates between the Vaibhāṣikas and the Sautrāntikas. Moreover, the work is rich in quotations from the earlier literature.¹ In the 7th century the Abhidharmakośa was so widely read in India that, in a description of a hermitage of Buddhist monks, Bāṇa says that the parrots explained the Kośa to one another.² This work gave rise to an extensive literature of commentaries, and in China and Japan it is largely used as a text-book. It is also the final authority, when controversies regarding points of dogma arise.³