The History of Buddhist Thought c26.34

c26.34

¹ The life of Vasubandhu was written in the sixth century by Paramārtha. It has been translated by Takakusu in *T'oung-pao*, 1904. There were three brothers of Peshawar, all called Vasubandhu, who became Sarvāstivāda monks. We are concerned only with the first two. The eldest studied the doctrine of the Void, but could not grasp it. When in despair he was about to destroy himself, the arhat Piṇḍola came from the mythical island, Pūrvavideha, and taught him the Hinayāna doctrine. But still unsatisfied, he went by his magic power to the Tushita heaven and learnt the doctrine of the Void from the future Buddha Maitreya. Thenceforth he was known as Asanga (he who is without attachment), but he was unable to convince people of the doctrine, so at his request Maitreya came down and in the course of four months recited the Yogācārabhūmi. He also taught Asanga a form of concentration through which he could understand all things, even the most abstruse Mahāyāna sūtras, and on these he wrote commentaries. Many more details are told about him, the most credible of which is that he converted his next younger brother Vasubandhu, who had already written important Sarvāstivāda works. It had been usual to assume that this story of Maitreya was sheer invention intended to give authority to what was really Asanga’s work. But Professor H. Ui has shown that the explanation is rather that Maitreya was a historical personage and the instructor of Asanga, and that in the legends he has been confused with Maitreya the bodhisattva. See H. Ui in *Indian Studies in Honor of C. R. Lanman*, 1929; G. Tucci, *Doctrines of Maitreya[nātha] and Asanga*, Calcutta, 1930.