Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c35.s3.t4.48

v2.c35.s3.t4.48

The sixth book *Prajñaptiśāstra* is attributed to Maudgalyāyana. It was translated into Chinese at a very late date (1004-1055 A.D.) by Fa-nu (=Dharmapāla) of Magadha. The Chinese text is incomplete. In Tibetan version this treatise is divided into three parts, viz., *lokaprajñapti*, *kāraṇaprajñapti* and *karmaprajñapti*. The *lokaprajñapti* appears in a well-digested form in the *Abhidharmakośa* (III). Prof. La Vallée Poussin has analysed the first two *prajñaptis* in the *Cosmologie bouddhique* (pp. 275-350).² In the *lokaprajñapti* the cosmological ideas of the Buddhists are given, in the *kāraṇaprajñapti* the characteristics that make a Bodhisattva are discussed while in the *karmaprajñapti* there is an enumeration and classification of different kinds of deeds.