Why This Treatise Speaks With the Buddha's Voice
This page carries Ru-Yi's complete translation of fascicle 1 — the treatise's entire prose preface (阿毘達磨發智大毘婆沙論序): the traditional case for why this work, though compiled by the Venerable Kātyāyanīputra centuries after the Buddha's final nirvāṇa, still counts as the Buddha's own word; a long dialectic on whether the sūtra, vinaya, and Abhidharma baskets truly differ; ten similes for why the venerable one composed the root Jñānaprasthāna at all; scripture's own shifting answers to "what is profound Abhidharma?"; a sustained argument, through ten everyday analogies, for why an ordinary treatise may still bear the name Abhidharma; more than a dozen masters' competing etymologies of that name; and, finally, why the root text is called Jñānaprasthāna, and what benefits the whole undertaking is said to bring. Fascicle 2 continues where the treatise's lasting root-verse-and-commentary structure begins.
Translation Method
The Chinese source is Xuánzàng's seventh-century translation of the Abhidharma-mahāvibhāṣā-śāstra (阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論), preserved in the Taishō canon (T1545, vol. 27) via the CBETA digital edition — public domain text, translated directly from the Chinese. No complete modern English translation of this two-hundred-fascicle treatise exists; a handful of individual fascicles and topical excerpts have been rendered by specialist scholars over the years, but none of that scholarship is reproduced or paraphrased here — the English wording throughout is Ru-Yi's own.
This fascicle carries no root-verse-and-commentary structure of its own. It is the treatise's prose preface, explaining who really composed the underlying Jñānaprasthāna and this vast commentary upon it, why the three baskets differ, why the venerable Kātyāyanīputra undertook the work at all, what Abhidharma's own essential nature is, why an ordinary treatise may still bear that name, more than a dozen masters' competing etymologies for the term itself, and finally why the root text is called Jñānaprasthāna. From fascicle 2 onward, the treatise settles into the form it sustains for the rest of its two hundred fascicles: a root topic or verse from the Jñānaprasthāna, followed by the successive, often conflicting positions of named Vaibhāṣika masters on exactly what it means.
As with Ru-Yi's other Abhidharma translations, these reading notes are original, grounded in standard Sarvāstivāda scholarship rather than a specific named commentator's lecture transcript — this treatise has not, to date, been the subject of a widely used modern commentary the way the Abhidharmakośa or other texts on this site have been. Classical text is set in the left-hand column below, our English in the right.
1. Who Composed This Treatise — the Buddha, or Kātyāyanīputra?
The preface opens with the question any reader of this treatise eventually has to face: it is attributed to a named human author, centuries after the Buddha's death, yet the tradition insists on calling it Buddha-word. The opening exchange states the problem as sharply as possible before resolving it.
問誰造此論。答佛世尊。所以者何。以一切種所知法性甚深微妙。
One asks: who composed this treatise? The answer: the Buddha, the World-Honored One. Why is this? Because the nature of all knowable dharmas, of every kind, is extremely profound and subtle.
非佛世尊一切智者。誰能究竟等覺開示。若爾此中誰問誰答。或有說者。尊者舍利子問。佛世尊答。復有說者。五百阿羅漢問。佛世尊答。有作是說。諸天神問。佛世尊答。有餘師說。化苾芻問。佛世尊答。所以者何。諸佛法爾所知法性。於諸世間定應開示。然無問者。爾時世尊化作苾芻。形容端正眾所樂見。剃除鬚髮服僧伽胝。令彼請問佛世尊答。猶如徵問義品因緣。問若爾此論何故傳言。尊者迦多衍尼子造。答由彼尊者受持演說廣令流布。是故此論名稱歸彼。然是佛說。復有說者。此論即彼尊者迦多衍尼子造。問豈不前言以一切種所知法性甚深微妙。非佛世尊一切智者誰能究竟等覺開示。云何彼尊者能造此論耶。答以彼尊者亦有微妙甚深猛利善巧覺慧。善知諸法自相共相。通達文義及前後際。善解三藏離三界染成就三明。具六神通及八解脫。得無礙解。獲妙願智。曾於過去五百佛所。積修梵行發弘誓願。我於未來釋迦牟尼佛般涅槃後造阿毘達磨。故如是說。一切如來應正等覺弟子眾中。法爾皆有二大論師任持正法。若在世時如尊者舍利子。若般涅槃後如尊者迦多衍尼子。故彼尊者以願智力觀法所益而造此論。問若爾佛說阿毘達磨。何者是耶。答世尊在世於處處方邑。為諸有情以種種論道。分別演說阿毘達磨。佛涅槃後或在世時。諸聖弟子以妙願智。隨順纂集別為部類。是故尊者迦多衍尼子佛去世後。亦以妙願智隨順纂集造發智論。謂於佛說諸論道中安立章門。摽舉略頌造別納息制總蘊名。謂集種種異相論道。制為雜蘊。集結論道制為結蘊。集智論道制為智蘊。集業論道制為業蘊。集大種論道制為大種蘊。集根論道制為根蘊。集定論道。制為定蘊。集見論道制為見蘊。猶如一切鄔拕南頌。皆是佛說。謂佛世尊於處處方邑。為種種有情隨宜宣說。
No one but the Buddha, the World-Honored One, the one who is omniscient, could possibly open and reveal it to its very limit. If that is so, then in this treatise, who is asking and who is answering? Some say: the Venerable Śāriputra asked, and the Buddha, the World-Honored One, answered. Others say: the five hundred arhats asked, and the Buddha answered. Some hold that the gods asked, and the Buddha answered. Other teachers say a phantom monk asked, and the Buddha answered — and why is this? Because it is simply the nature of every buddha that the dharmas they know must, without fail, be revealed to the world; yet if there is truly no one to ask, the World-Honored One himself conjures up a monk, handsome in form and pleasing to all who see him, his hair and beard shaved, wearing the monastic robe, and has him pose the questions, which the Buddha then answers — just as with the causal circumstances behind the Arthavargīya Sūtra's own questions. One then asks: if that is so, why does tradition say that the Venerable Kātyāyanīputra composed this treatise? The answer: because that venerable one received, upheld, expounded, and widely propagated it, the treatise's fame has come to be attributed to him — even though it is, in fact, the Buddha's own word. Others hold instead that this treatise was composed by that very Venerable Kātyāyanīputra himself. One then asks: did it not just say that the nature of all knowable dharmas, of every kind, is extremely profound and subtle, and that no one but the Buddha, the omniscient World-Honored One, could open and reveal it to its very limit — how, then, could that venerable one have composed this treatise? The answer: that venerable one likewise possessed subtle, profound, sharp, and skillful understanding. He thoroughly knew the specific and general characteristics of all dharmas, and had penetrated both the letter and the meaning, together with what comes before and after. He was well versed in the three baskets, had left behind the defilements of the three realms, had accomplished the three insights, possessed the six supernormal powers and the eight liberations, had attained the unhindered understandings, and had gained the wondrous wisdom of aspiration. Long ago, in the presence of five hundred past buddhas, he had cultivated the holy life and made a vast vow, saying: "In the future, after Śākyamuni Buddha's final nirvāṇa, I will compose the Abhidharma." For this reason it is said: among the disciples of every tathāgata, worthy one, and perfectly awakened one, it is simply the nature of things that there are always two great treatise-masters upholding the true dharma — one while the Buddha is still living, such as the Venerable Śāriputra, and one after his final nirvāṇa, such as the Venerable Kātyāyanīputra. It was therefore by the power of this wondrous wisdom of aspiration, observing what would benefit the dharma, that the venerable one composed this treatise. One then asks: if that is so, then what exactly is the Abhidharma that the Buddha taught? The answer: while the World-Honored One was alive, he traveled from place to place and region to region, and for the sake of sentient beings, expounded and distinguished the Abhidharma through many different lines of argument. After his final nirvāṇa — or, indeed, even while he was still alive — the noble disciples, by their own wondrous wisdom of aspiration, gathered these teachings together in due order and sorted them into distinct categories. It was for this reason that the Venerable Kātyāyanīputra, after the Buddha had passed from the world, likewise gathered these teachings together in due order, by his own wondrous wisdom of aspiration, and composed the Jñānaprasthāna. Within the many lines of argument the Buddha had taught, he established chapter-divisions, set forth condensed summary verses, and composed the individual sections, fixing overall names for each of the eight chapters: gathering the lines of argument on various distinct topics, he made these into the Miscellaneous Chapter (雜蘊); gathering those on the fetters, the Fetters Chapter (結蘊); those on knowledge, the Knowledge Chapter (智蘊); those on karma, the Karma Chapter (業蘊); those on the great elements, the Great Elements Chapter (大種蘊); those on the faculties, the Faculties Chapter (根蘊); those on meditative absorption, the Absorption Chapter (定蘊); and those on views, the Views Chapter (見蘊) — just as with every mnemonic summary verse (udāna), all of which are the Buddha's own word, spoken by the World-Honored One, from place to place and region to region, as suited to beings of every kind.
佛去世後大德法救。展轉得聞隨順纂集制立品名。謂集無常頌立為無常品。乃至集梵志頌立為梵志品。此亦如是。阿毘達磨本是佛說。亦是尊者隨順纂集。又若佛說若弟子說不違法性。世尊皆許苾芻受持。故彼尊者展轉得聞。或願智力觀察纂集。為令正法久住世故制造此論。
After the Buddha had passed from the world, the great elder Dharmatrāta, having received these teachings through a chain of transmission, likewise gathered them together in due order and established chapter-titles: gathering the verses on impermanence, he established the Chapter on Impermanence; and so on, up to gathering the verses addressed to brahmins, which he established as the Chapter Addressed to Brahmins. This case is exactly the same. Abhidharma is, at its root, the Buddha's own word, even though it is likewise gathered together in due order by a venerable disciple. Moreover, whether spoken by the Buddha or spoken by a disciple, so long as it does not contradict the nature of dharma, the World-Honored One permits monastics to receive and uphold it as his own teaching. This is why that venerable one, having received these teachings through a chain of transmission — or, by the power of his wisdom of aspiration, having observed and gathered them together — composed this treatise, in order that the true dharma might long abide in the world.
This is Sarvāstivāda's answer to a genuine historical-critical problem: the Jñānaprasthāna is a datable work by a named author, Kātyāyanīputra, yet the tradition wants to keep calling it Buddha-word. Rather than deny the human authorship, the passage relativizes it — a disciple who "receives, upholds, and widely propagates" a teaching lends it his name without changing its ultimate source, the way a courier's name can attach to a message that is not, in the end, his own. The Dharmatrāta parallel is not incidental: it is offered as an already-accepted precedent, and readers of Ru-Yi's translation of the Abhidharmakośa will recognize it immediately — Vasubandhu's own fascicle 1 cites this exact same comparison (Kātyāyanīputra compiling the Jñānaprasthāna, "comparable to how the great elder Dharmatrāta compiled the verse-summaries on impermanence") almost certainly drawing directly on this very passage, centuries later, to make the same point in miniature.
The eight chapter-names listed here — Miscellaneous, Fetters, Knowledge, Karma, Great Elements, Faculties, Absorption, and Views — are the Jñānaprasthāna's own table of contents, the twenty-fascicle root text this two-hundred-fascicle commentary exists to unpack line by line. Note that "蘊" (skandha) is being used here in a different, narrower technical sense than its ordinary meaning of "aggregate" (as in the five aggregates of form, feeling, and so on) — here it simply means a major chapter or division of the treatise, a usage this fascicle will not clarify further but that later fascicles' organization depends on entirely.
2. Are the Three Baskets Really Different?
Having settled who composed the treatise, the preface turns to a second foundational question: sūtra, vinaya, and Abhidharma are all called the Buddha's teaching, so what, if anything, actually distinguishes them? The passage first argues there is no difference at all, then reverses course and offers nine separate ways they do differ.
復次諸佛出世皆說三藏。謂素怛纜。毘㮈耶。阿毘達磨。如是三藏有何差別。或有說者。無有差別。所以者何。一切佛教從一智海之所生故。隨一覺池之所出故。等力無畏所攝受故。同一大悲所等起故。復有說者。亦有差別。且名即差別。謂此名素怛纜。此名毘㮈耶。此名阿毘達磨。復次依處亦有差別。謂若依增上心論道是素怛纜。若依增上戒論道是毘㮈耶。若依增上慧論道是阿毘達磨。問於一切中一切可得。謂素怛纜中亦有依增上戒增上慧論道。毘㮈耶中亦有依增上心增上慧論道。阿毘達磨中亦有依增上心增上戒論道。
Moreover, every buddha who appears in the world teaches all three baskets: the sūtra, the vinaya, and the Abhidharma. What difference, then, is there among these three baskets? Some say: there is no difference at all. Why is this? Because every teaching of every buddha arises from one and the same ocean of wisdom, issues from one and the same pool of awakening, is embraced by the same equal powers and fearlessnesses, and is equally set in motion by the very same great compassion. Others hold instead that there is indeed a difference — beginning simply with their names: this one is named sūtra, this one vinaya, this one Abhidharma. Further, they differ by what they depend on: discourse that depends on heightened concentration is sūtra; discourse that depends on heightened moral discipline is vinaya; discourse that depends on heightened wisdom is Abhidharma. One then objects: but all three can be found within each of the three — sūtra, too, contains discourse depending on heightened discipline and heightened wisdom; vinaya, too, contains discourse depending on heightened concentration and heightened wisdom; Abhidharma, too, contains discourse depending on heightened concentration and heightened discipline —
如是三藏應無差別。答依增勝說。謂素怛纜中依增上心論道增勝。毘㮈耶中依增上戒論道增勝。阿毘達磨中依增上慧論道增勝。有作是說。素怛纜中依增上心論道是素怛纜。依增上戒論道即毘㮈耶。依增上慧論道即阿毘達磨。毘㮈耶中依增上戒論道是毘㮈耶。依增上心論道即素怛纜。依增上慧論道即阿毘達磨。阿毘達磨中依增上慧論道是阿毘達磨。依增上心論道即素怛纜。依增上戒論道即毘㮈耶。故由依處亦有差別。復次所顯亦有差別。謂素怛纜次第所顯。謂素怛纜中應求次第。何故世尊此品無間宣說彼品若毘㮈耶緣起所顯謂毘㮈耶中。應求緣起。世尊依何緣起制立彼彼學處。阿毘達磨性相所顯。謂阿毘達磨中應求諸法真實性相。不應求彼次第緣起。
— so by this reasoning the three baskets ought to have no difference after all. The answer: the distinction is drawn by predominance. Within sūtra, discourse depending on heightened concentration simply predominates; within vinaya, discourse depending on heightened discipline predominates; within Abhidharma, discourse depending on heightened wisdom predominates. Some hold it differently still: within sūtra, only the discourse depending on heightened concentration is truly sūtra — the discourse there depending on heightened discipline is, strictly speaking, vinaya, and the discourse there depending on heightened wisdom is, strictly speaking, Abhidharma. Likewise, within vinaya, only the discourse depending on heightened discipline is truly vinaya — its discourse on heightened concentration is really sūtra, and its discourse on heightened wisdom is really Abhidharma. And within Abhidharma, only the discourse depending on heightened wisdom is truly Abhidharma — its discourse on heightened concentration is really sūtra, and its discourse on heightened discipline is really vinaya. So it is that a difference exists by what each basket depends on. Further, they differ by what each reveals: sūtra reveals sequence — that is, within sūtra one should look for sequence, for why the World-Honored One taught this topic immediately followed by that one. Vinaya reveals origin-conditions: within vinaya one should look for the origin-conditions, for on the basis of which origin-condition the World-Honored One established this or that precept. Abhidharma reveals the true nature and characteristics of dharmas: within Abhidharma, one should look for the true nature and characteristics of dharmas, not for their sequence or origin-conditions.
或前或後或無緣起俱無過失。復次等流亦有差別。謂素怛纜是力等流。毘㮈耶是大悲等流。阿毘達磨是無畏等流。復次所說亦有差別。謂種種雜說是素怛纜。說諸學處是毘㮈耶。分別諸法自相共相是阿毘達磨。復次所為亦有差別。謂未種善根者令種善根故說素怛纜。已種善根者令相續成熟故說毘㮈耶。相續已成熟者令得正解脫故說阿毘達磨。復次分位亦有差別。謂依始業位說素怛纜。依已串習位說毘㮈耶。依超作意位說阿毘達磨。復次進趣亦有差別。謂未入正法令入正法故說素怛纜。已入正法令受持學處故說毘㮈耶。已受持學處令通達諸法真實相故說阿毘達磨。是故三藏亦有差別。
Whether a given topic comes first or last, or has no origin-condition attached to it at all, is no fault within Abhidharma. Further, they differ by what each flows out from: sūtra is the outflow of the Buddha's powers; vinaya is the outflow of his great compassion; Abhidharma is the outflow of his fearlessnesses. Further, they differ by what each states: various and miscellaneous topics are stated in sūtra; the various precepts are stated in vinaya; the specific and general characteristics of all dharmas are distinguished in Abhidharma. Further, they differ by whom each is for: sūtra is taught so that those who have not yet planted wholesome roots may plant them; vinaya is taught so that those who have already planted wholesome roots may bring their mental continuum to maturity; Abhidharma is taught so that those whose continuum has already matured may attain true liberation. Further, they differ by stage: sūtra is taught with the beginning practitioner's stage in mind; vinaya, with the stage of one already habituated to practice; Abhidharma, with the stage of one whose attention has transcended ordinary application. Further, they differ by the progress each serves: sūtra is taught so that those who have not yet entered the true dharma may enter it; vinaya is taught so that those who have entered the true dharma may uphold its precepts; Abhidharma is taught so that those who uphold its precepts may penetrate the true characteristics of all dharmas. For all these reasons, then, the three baskets do indeed differ.
Watch the argument's shape, not just its content: it opens by conceding the strongest possible case for "no difference" (one wisdom, one compassion, one set of powers behind all three baskets), then works through an objection-and-reply cycle before settling into nine distinct, cumulative criteria — depends-on, predominance, what-is-revealed, outflow, what-is-said, audience, stage, and progress. This piling-up of criteria rather than picking a single "correct" one is the Vaibhāṣika habit in miniature, and this treatise will repeat the same move, at far greater length, on substantive doctrinal questions across its full two hundred fascicles.
One line of the argument is worth sitting with: sūtra is called "the outflow of power," vinaya "the outflow of great compassion," and Abhidharma "the outflow of fearlessness." This assigns each basket its own root in one of the Buddha's own qualities — moral authority behind the monastic code, unshakeable confidence behind the analytical teaching — rather than treating the three as an arbitrary librarian's division of the canon.
3. Ten Similes for Why the Venerable Composed This Treatise
The preface now turns from authorship and classification to motive: why did Kātyāyanīputra undertake this enormous labor at all? The answer unfolds through a long chain of similes, each pairing an everyday image with the treatise's purpose.
問何故尊者造此論耶。答為饒益他故。謂彼尊者作是思惟。云何當令諸有情類於佛聖教無倒受持。精進思惟籌量觀察。由此無量煩惱惡行不現在前。便得悟入甚深法性。故造斯論。譬如有人為饒益他故於黑闇處然大明燈。令有目者見種種色。尊者亦爾為饒益他於佛滅後制造此論。令有智者入深法性。又如諸佛為饒益他。開示演說十二分教。一契經二應頌三記別四諷頌五自說六緣起七譬喻八本事九本生十方廣十一希法十二論議。所以者何。諸有情類。雖有因力若無緣力而覺發者。終不能修勝進之行。要遇緣力乃能修行。譬如池中雖有種種嗢鉢羅等眾妙蓮華。若日月光不照觸者。則不開發出種種香。要日月光之所照觸。乃得隨類開發出香。又如闇中有種種物。若無燈照終不可見。要假燈照乃得見之。有情亦爾。雖有因力若無緣力。廣說如前。如有頌言。
One asks: why did the venerable one compose this treatise? The answer: in order to benefit others. That venerable one reflected as follows: how might all sentient beings come to receive and uphold the Buddha's holy teaching without error, applying diligent thought, deliberation, and examination to it, so that through this, countless afflictions and unwholesome deeds would no longer manifest before them, and they would come to awaken and enter its most profound nature? For this reason, he composed this treatise. It is like someone who, wishing to benefit others, lights a great bright lamp in a pitch-dark place, so that those with eyes may see every kind of form; in just the same way, the venerable one, wishing to benefit others, composed this treatise after the Buddha's final nirvāṇa, so that those with wisdom might enter into the profound nature of dharma. It is likewise as when every buddha, wishing to benefit others, opens up and expounds the twelvefold division of the teaching: first, discourses; second, verses restating the meaning; third, prophetic declarations; fourth, verses of praise; fifth, spontaneous utterances; sixth, accounts of origins; seventh, parables; eighth, accounts of past events; ninth, birth-stories; tenth, extensive teachings; eleventh, teachings on wonders; and twelfth, discussions. Why is this? Because sentient beings, even if they possess the internal cause for awakening, can never bring their higher practice to fruition without also meeting an external condition — they need to meet that condition before they can actually practice. It is like a pond in which many wondrous blue lotuses and other flowers grow: unless the light of the sun or moon touches and shines upon them, they will never open and give off their fragrance; only once touched by that light do they, each according to its kind, open and give off their fragrance. Or again, it is like the various things that exist in darkness: without a lamp's light, they can never be seen at all; only with the aid of a lamp's light can they finally be seen. Sentient beings are just the same — even possessing the internal cause, without an external condition they cannot awaken — as has been explained at length above. As a verse states:
譬如闇室中 雖有種種物
無燈闇所隱 有目不能見
如是雖有智 不從他聞法
是人終不能 分別善惡義
譬如有目者 因燈見眾色
有智依多聞 能別善惡義
多聞能知法 多聞離不善
多聞捨無義 多聞得涅槃
又如經說。有二因緣。能生正見。一外聞他法音。二內如理作意。
Just as in a darkened room, though many things are present, / without a lamp, darkness hides them, and even a sighted person cannot see them; / so too, though one may have wisdom, if one does not hear the dharma from another, / that person will never be able to distinguish good from evil. / Just as a sighted person sees every form by the light of a lamp, / one who has wisdom, relying on much learning, is able to distinguish good from evil. / Much learning enables one to know the dharma; much learning frees one from what is unwholesome; / much learning lets one abandon what is meaningless; much learning brings one to nirvāṇa.
And as a sutra states, there are two conditions able to give rise to right view: first, hearing the teaching's sound from outside, from another; and second, applying oneself, from within, to thorough and proper reflection.
又契經說。有四法人多有所作。一親近善友。二從他聞法。三如理作意。四法隨法行。復有經言。若我弟子一心屬耳聽聞正法能斷五蓋。及能修行七覺分滿。故如諸佛為饒益他說十二分教。如是彼尊者為饒益他制造此論。復次為破無明闇故。如燈破闇能發光明。阿毘達磨亦復如是。破無明闇發智慧明。故彼尊者制造此論。復次為顯無我像故。譬如鏡面極善磨瑩。種種色像皆於中現。阿毘達磨亦復如是。分別諸法自相共相。令無我像分明顯現。故彼尊者制造此論。復次為度生死河故。如牢船筏百千眾生依之無畏從河此岸渡至彼岸。阿毘達磨亦復如是。無數諸佛及諸有情。依之無畏。從生死此岸。至涅槃彼岸。故彼尊者制造此論。復次為照契經等故。如人執燈入諸闇室。能見眾色而無迷亂。如是行者以阿毘達磨照契經等義而無迷惑。故彼尊者制造此論。復次為觀察善等諸法故。如別寶人能善觀察金剛等寶。阿毘達磨亦復如是。能善分別善等諸法。故彼尊者制造此論。復次為顯阿毘達磨。諸大論師不傾動故。如妙高山踞金輪上一切猛風搖鼓飄擊不能傾動。阿毘達磨諸大論師。亦復如是。住淨尸羅。諸惡見者輕毀邪論不能摧伏。故彼尊者制造此論。復次尊者以三因緣制造此論。一為增益智故。二為開覺意故。
And as a sutra states, there are four things a person can accomplish a great deal by doing: first, drawing near to good friends; second, hearing the dharma from another; third, thorough and proper reflection; and fourth, practicing in accordance with the dharma. There is also a sutra that says: if my disciples single-mindedly turn their ears to listen to the true dharma, they are able to cut off the five hindrances and bring the seven factors of awakening to fulfillment through cultivation. It is for this reason that, just as every buddha, wishing to benefit others, taught the twelvefold division of the teaching, that venerable one likewise, wishing to benefit others, composed this treatise. Further, he composed it in order to shatter the darkness of ignorance: just as a lamp shatters darkness and gives off light, Abhidharma likewise shatters the darkness of ignorance and gives off the light of wisdom; for this reason that venerable one composed this treatise. Further, he composed it in order to reveal the image of no-self: just as a mirror-surface, thoroughly polished, shows every kind of form and image within it, Abhidharma likewise distinguishes the specific and general characteristics of every dharma, causing the image of no-self to appear clearly and distinctly; for this reason that venerable one composed this treatise. Further, he composed it in order to ferry beings across the river of birth-and-death: just as a sturdy boat or raft lets a hundred thousand beings rely on it, without fear, to cross the river from this shore to the far shore, Abhidharma likewise lets countless buddhas and sentient beings rely on it, without fear, to cross from the near shore of birth-and-death to the far shore of nirvāṇa; for this reason that venerable one composed this treatise. Further, he composed it in order to illuminate the sutras and the rest: just as a person holding a lamp who enters a dark room can see every form without confusion, a practitioner who uses Abhidharma to illuminate the meaning of the sutras and the rest likewise proceeds without confusion; for this reason that venerable one composed this treatise. Further, he composed it in order to enable the examination of wholesome and other dharmas: just as one skilled in appraising jewels is able to properly examine diamonds and other gems, Abhidharma likewise is able to properly distinguish wholesome dharmas and the rest; for this reason that venerable one composed this treatise. Further, he composed it in order to show that the great masters of Abhidharma cannot be shaken: just as Mount Sumeru, resting upon the golden wheel, cannot be shaken by even the fiercest winds battering and buffeting it, the great masters of Abhidharma likewise abide in pure moral discipline, and cannot be overturned by those of evil views who belittle and disparage them with false arguments; for this reason that venerable one composed this treatise. Further, the venerable one composed this treatise for three reasons: first, in order to increase wisdom; second, in order to open the mind to awareness; and —
Seven similes in a row — a lamp lit for others, a lotus needing sunlight to release its scent, a polished mirror, a raft crossing a river, a lamp carried into a dark room, a jeweler's trained eye, Mount Sumeru unmoved by wind — is a lot of imagery for one short passage, and that is rather the point: this is the treatise's own apologia, the "why does this book need to exist" case any substantial śāstra in this tradition eventually makes for itself, and it reaches for every register — pedagogical, protective, cosmological — to make the case. Readers who have followed Ru-Yi's other translations will recognize the genre; the impulse behind it is the same one that opens the Abhidharmakośa with its own homage verse and its own account, a few pages later, of "why the Buddha taught Abhidharma at all."
The twelvefold division of the teaching (十二分教) listed here — discourse, restated verse, prophecy, praise-verse, spontaneous utterance, origin-account, parable, past-event, birth-story, extensive teaching, wonder, and discussion — is a standard classification of the canon by literary form, distinct from the three-basket division (sūtra, vinaya, Abhidharma) discussed in the previous section; the two schemes classify the same body of teaching along two different axes; a discourse, for instance, belongs to the sūtra basket by content and to the "discourse" category by literary form at once.
4. Three Final Reasons: Increasing Wisdom, Opening the Mind, Refuting a Self
The chain of similes closes with three more compressed, technical reasons — the last of which points forward to the treatise's most consequential philosophical commitment.
三為遮計我故。增益智者。謂於內外諸經論中。令智增益無有能如阿毘達磨。開覺意者。謂諸有情無明所昏。如睡未覺不能了知。何者是遍行。何者非遍行。何者自界緣。何者他界緣。何者有漏緣。何者無漏緣。何者有為緣。何者無為緣。云何為攝。云何相應。云何因。云何緣。誰成就。誰不成就。何者順前句。何者順後句。何者四句。何者如是句。何者不如是句。於如是等所知境中。令諸有情開發覺意。無有能如阿毘達磨。遮計我者。尊者所造阿毘達磨。未曾說有補特伽羅。恒顯諸行空無有我。以如是等種種因緣。故彼尊者制造此論。
...and third, in order to refute the mistaken view of a self. As for increasing wisdom: among all the sutras and treatises, both inner and outer, nothing is able to increase wisdom the way Abhidharma can. As for opening the mind to awareness: sentient beings, clouded by ignorance, are like someone asleep who has not yet woken, unable to understand which factors are universally-arising and which are not, which take an object within their own realm of existence and which take an object in another realm, which take a contaminated object and which take an uncontaminated object, which take a conditioned object and which take an unconditioned object; how factors are to be subsumed under one another, how they are associated with one another, what functions as their cause, what functions as their condition; who possesses a given factor and who does not; which cases follow the pattern of "the former but not the latter," which follow "the latter but not the former," which admit all four alternatives, which follow one pattern exactly, and which do not — among all such knowable matters, nothing is able to open sentient beings' minds to awareness the way Abhidharma can. As for refuting the mistaken view of a self: the Abhidharma the venerable one composed never once speaks of there being a "person" (pudgala); it constantly reveals that all conditioned formations are empty, without any self at all. For all these various reasons, then, that venerable one composed this treatise.
The dense list of technical dyads in the middle of this passage — universally-arising or not, own-realm or other-realm object, contaminated or uncontaminated, conditioned or unconditioned, subsumption, association, cause, condition, possession, and the four-alternative pattern — is not decoration. It is a compressed table of contents for the analytic machinery the entire two-hundred-fascicle treatise will apply, case by case, to every dharma it examines; a reader who does not yet recognize these terms is meant to meet all of them again, worked out in full, in the fascicles ahead.
The closing line on refuting the "person" (補特伽羅, pudgala) is this fascicle's first mention of the no-self argument that becomes the treatise's signature commitment — and the same argument Vasubandhu takes up directly, centuries later, in the Abhidharmakośa's own ninth chapter, the Pudgala-viniścaya, already fully translated elsewhere on this site. The two texts share the same target and, largely, the same reasoning; the Kośa simply devotes an entire chapter to the case this preface states in a single sentence.
5. The Essential Nature of Abhidharma
With motive established, the preface turns to a question of substance: what, precisely, is Abhidharma? The answer given here is deliberately narrow, and will be widened again only after being tested against scripture.
問阿毘達磨。自性云何。答無漏慧根。以為自性。一界一處一蘊所攝。一界者謂法界。一處者謂法處。一蘊者謂行蘊。若兼相應及取。隨轉三界二處五蘊所攝。三界者謂意界法界意識界。二處者謂意處法處。五蘊者謂色蘊乃至識蘊。如契經說。此藥叉天於長夜中其心質直無有諂誑。諸有所問皆為了知不為嬈亂。我以甚深阿毘達磨恣彼意問。此中何者甚深阿毘達磨。謂無漏慧根。
One asks: what is the essential nature of Abhidharma? The answer: the uncontaminated wisdom-faculty is its essential nature. It is subsumed under one element, one sense field, and one aggregate. The one element is the dharma-element; the one sense field is the dharma-field; the one aggregate is the aggregate of volitional formations. If one includes what is associated with it and what accompanies its arising, then it is subsumed under three elements, two sense fields, and five aggregates. The three elements are the mental faculty-element, the dharma-element, and the mental consciousness-element; the two sense fields are the mental faculty-field and the dharma-field; the five aggregates are the aggregate of form, extending through to the aggregate of consciousness. As a sutra states: this yakṣa deity, throughout the long night, has been upright and straightforward in mind, without flattery or deceit; whatever he asks, he asks only in order to understand, never to cause trouble — so I shall let him freely ask about the profound Abhidharma. What, here, is meant by "profound Abhidharma"? It means the uncontaminated wisdom-faculty.
The distinction between "one element, one field, one aggregate" and "three elements, two fields, five aggregates" is the difference between wisdom taken strictly by itself and wisdom taken together with the mental factors that necessarily accompany any single moment of it. Readers of Ru-Yi's Abhidharmakośa translation will recognize this exact technical framework: Vasubandhu's own fascicle 1 defines Abhidharma in the ultimate sense as "the uncontaminated five aggregates" — the broader, associated-factors version given here as the second option — while this earlier, vaster treatise states the narrower version first, wisdom alone, before broadening it. The Kośa, composed centuries after this Mahāvibhāṣā, is drawing directly on this same inherited definition rather than inventing its own.
6. Scripture's Shifting Answers: "What Is This Profound Abhidharma?"
The preface now tests its own definition against a series of sutra citations, each one addressed to a different interlocutor, and each one giving a different gloss for the same repeated question.
又契經說。此筏蹉氏及善賢外道并梵壽婆羅門。皆於長夜其性質直無諂無誑。諸有所問皆為了知不為嬈亂。我以甚深阿毘達磨恣彼意問。此中何者甚深阿毘達磨。謂無漏慧根。又如佛告西儞迦言。我有甚深阿毘達磨。難見難覺不可尋思非尋思境。唯有微妙聰叡智者。乃能知之。非汝淺智之所能及。所以者何。汝於長夜異見異忍異欲異樂。此中何者甚深阿毘達磨。謂空無我及如實覺。所以者何。以彼外道恒妄計我。空無我性非彼所及。又如佛告鄔陀夷言。
And as a sutra states: this member of the Vatsa clan, and the wanderer Subhadra, together with the brahmin Brahmāyus — throughout the long night, their nature has been upright and straightforward, without flattery or deceit; whatever they ask, they ask only in order to understand, never to cause trouble — so I shall let them freely ask about the profound Abhidharma. What, here, is meant by "profound Abhidharma"? It means the uncontaminated wisdom-faculty. And as the Buddha said to Śreṇika: I have a profound Abhidharma, hard to see, hard to awaken to, not to be reached by ordinary reasoning, not within the scope of ordinary thought — only one of subtle and keen wisdom is able to know it; it is not within the reach of your own shallow understanding. Why is this? Because throughout the long night you have held to different views, different acceptances, different desires, and different pleasures than this dharma requires. What, here, is meant by "profound Abhidharma"? It means emptiness and no-self, together with awakening to things as they truly are. Why is this? Because that non-Buddhist teacher has, throughout, wrongly grasped at a self — the nature of emptiness and no-self is simply beyond his reach. And as the Buddha said to Udāyin:
汝是愚夫盲無慧目。云何乃與上座苾芻共論甚深阿毘達磨。此中何者甚深阿毘達磨。謂滅定退及如實覺。又如佛告阿難陀言。我有甚深阿毘達磨。謂諸緣起。難見難覺不可尋思非尋思境。唯有微妙聰叡智者。乃能知之。此中何者甚深阿毘達磨。謂因緣性及如實覺。又契經說。我有甚深阿毘達磨。謂緣性緣起此處甚深難見難覺。不可尋思非尋思境。唯有微妙聰叡智者。乃能知之。復有甚深阿毘達磨。謂一切依皆永捨離。愛盡離染寂滅涅槃。此最甚深難見難覺。廣說如前。此中何者甚深阿毘達磨。謂因緣性及彼寂滅并如實覺。
you are a foolish man, blind, without the eye of wisdom — how could you possibly discuss the profound Abhidharma together with a senior monk? What, here, is meant by "profound Abhidharma"? It means the retrogression from the attainment of cessation, together with awakening to things as they truly are. And as the Buddha said to Ānanda: I have a profound Abhidharma — namely, dependent origination — hard to see, hard to awaken to, not to be reached by ordinary reasoning, not within the scope of ordinary thought; only one of subtle and keen wisdom is able to know it. What, here, is meant by "profound Abhidharma"? It means the nature of causes and conditions, together with awakening to things as they truly are. And as a sutra states: I have a profound Abhidharma — the nature of conditions and dependent origination; this point is profound, hard to see, hard to awaken to, not to be reached by ordinary reasoning, not within the scope of ordinary thought; only one of subtle and keen wisdom is able to know it. There is, furthermore, a profound Abhidharma: that every basis of existence is permanently relinquished, craving exhausted, defilement abandoned, in the still cessation that is nirvāṇa — this is the most profound of all, hard to see, hard to awaken to, as explained fully above. What, here, is meant by "profound Abhidharma"? It means the nature of causes and conditions, together with their cessation, and awakening to things as they truly are.
又如佛告阿難陀言。復有甚深阿毘達磨。謂有餘法相似甚深我於其中自覺正說。此中何者甚深阿毘達磨。謂諸見趣及如實覺。又契經說。我有甚深阿毘達磨。謂一切法甚深故難見。難見故甚深。此中何者甚深阿毘達磨。謂一切法性及如實覺。雖此等經中隨別意趣作種種異說。然阿毘達磨勝義自性唯無漏慧根。即由此故發起世間修所成慧。謂煖頂忍世第一法。以能別觀四聖諦故。亦得名為阿毘達磨。又由此故發起殊勝思所成慧。謂不淨觀持息念等。以能別總觀諸蘊故。亦得名為阿毘達磨。又由此故發起殊勝聞所成慧。分別諸法自相共相建立諸法自相共相。害實物愚及所緣愚。以於諸法不增減故。亦得名為阿毘達磨。又由此故發起殊勝生處得慧。以於三藏十二分教能受能持思量觀察不謬轉故。亦得名為阿毘達磨。復由如是資糧攝持無漏慧根轉得明盛。是故亦名阿毘達磨。
And as the Buddha said again to Ānanda: there is, furthermore, a profound Abhidharma: that certain other dharmas merely resemble profundity, and it is I myself who directly awakens to and rightly teaches the difference. What, here, is meant by "profound Abhidharma"? It means the various tendencies toward wrong views, together with awakening to things as they truly are. And as a sutra states: I have a profound Abhidharma — that all dharmas are profound precisely because they are hard to see, and hard to see precisely because they are profound. What, here, is meant by "profound Abhidharma"? It means the nature of all dharmas, together with awakening to things as they truly are. Although these various sutras, following their own particular intentions, give a variety of differing statements, the ultimate, essential nature of Abhidharma is, in every case, simply the uncontaminated wisdom-faculty. It is precisely by means of this same faculty that the mundane wisdom born of cultivation is aroused — namely, heat, summit, forbearance, and the supreme mundane dharma — since these are able to contemplate the Four Noble Truths each in turn; hence they too may be called Abhidharma. It is likewise by means of this faculty that a superior wisdom born of reflection is aroused — such as the contemplation of impurity and the mindfulness of breathing — since these are able to contemplate the aggregates both individually and as a whole; hence they too may be called Abhidharma. It is likewise by means of this faculty that a superior wisdom born of learning is aroused — distinguishing the specific and general characteristics of dharmas, establishing the specific and general characteristics of dharmas, and destroying both the delusion about a dharma's real substance and the delusion about its object — since these neither add to nor subtract from what a dharma truly is; hence they too may be called Abhidharma. It is likewise by means of this faculty that a superior wisdom attained at birth is aroused — since this wisdom is able to receive, uphold, deliberate on, and examine the three baskets and the twelvefold division of the teaching without ever falling into error; hence it too may be called Abhidharma. And it is further by means of just such provisions, sustaining and upholding the uncontaminated wisdom-faculty, that it comes to grow ever brighter and stronger — and this, too, is why these are called Abhidharma.
Seven different interlocutors — a Vatsa-clan wanderer, Subhadra, the brahmin Brahmāyus, Śreṇika, Udāyin, and Ānanda twice more — each trigger the same refrain, "what, here, is meant by profound Abhidharma?", and each time scripture supplies a different answer: pure wisdom itself, emptiness and no-self, retrogression from a meditative attainment, dependent origination, nirvāṇa, wrong views, and finally the nature of all dharmas whatsoever. Rather than treating this as scripture contradicting itself, the compilers draw the opposite lesson: "Abhidharma" names the uncontaminated wisdom-faculty itself, and that faculty simply takes a different object depending on which sutra and which listener is in view — the term tracks a kind of knowing, not a fixed topic.
The fourfold expansion that closes this section — wisdom born of cultivation (the four nirvedhabhāgīya roots: heat, summit, forbearance, and the supreme mundane dharma), wisdom born of reflection, wisdom born of learning, and wisdom attained at birth — is the same scheme Ru-Yi's Abhidharmakośa translation uses repeatedly; this passage is very likely one of that later, more famous treatise's own sources for it.
7. Why an Ordinary Treatise Can Still Be Called "Abhidharma"
If Abhidharma in the strict sense is only uncontaminated wisdom, a written treatise made of ink and argument should not qualify for the name at all. The preface answers with an analogy it will run through nine more times: a thing can be named after its own instrument.
問若阿毘達磨唯無漏慧根為自性者。何故此論復名阿毘達磨。答阿毘達磨具故亦名阿毘達磨。如處處經中於彼彼具立彼彼名。此亦如是。謂如於樂具立以樂名。如伽他說。
One asks: if Abhidharma has the uncontaminated wisdom-faculty alone as its essential nature, then why is this treatise, too, called Abhidharma? The answer: because it is an implement of Abhidharma, it too is called Abhidharma — just as, throughout the sutras, a thing is named after whatever it is the implement of. It is the same here. It is like how, in the case of pleasure, a thing is named "pleasure" after its implement, as a verse states:
食所乞食樂 衣隨得衣樂
經行山林樂 栖隱巖窟樂
飲食衣等體實非樂。勝義樂者謂諸樂受。或有說者。亦輕安樂。然衣食等是樂具故。於伽他中亦說為樂。又如於垢具立以垢名。如伽他說。
Eating one's begged food is pleasure; wearing whatever robe one receives is pleasure; / walking for exercise in the forest is pleasure; dwelling secluded in a mountain cave is pleasure.
Food, drink, robes, and the like are not, in their own substance, truly pleasure — pleasure in the ultimate sense refers only to feelings of pleasure themselves. Some say it also includes the pleasure of mental and physical pliancy. Yet because food, robes, and the like are pleasure's implements, the verse, too, speaks of them as "pleasure." It is likewise in the case of a stain, where a thing is named "stain" after its implement, as a verse states:
女是梵行垢 女損害眾生
苦梵行所淨 非由水能洗
女實非垢。勝義垢者謂貪瞋癡。然伽他中說女為垢。是垢具故。
Woman is the stain of the holy life; woman brings harm to living beings; / this is purified by the painful holy life, and not by water's washing.
A woman is not, in truth, a stain — stain in the ultimate sense refers to greed, hatred, and delusion. Yet the verse speaks of woman as a "stain" because she is a stain's implement.
The pattern set up here — X is not, strictly, Y; Y in the ultimate sense means only Z; but scripture still calls X "Y" because X is Y's instrument — will run for ten examples in total before this argument closes in the next section. The logic is meant to license exactly one further case: this treatise is not, strictly, uncontaminated wisdom, but it is Abhidharma's instrument, the way begged food is pleasure's instrument, so it may honestly carry the name.
The second verse's characterization of "woman" as an instrument of defilement is a stock trope of celibate monastic rhetoric, not a claim about women specifically argued for anywhere in this passage — it is simply the second item in a list of nine parallel examples (pleasure, stain, leaks, latent tendencies, taste, desire, retrogression, karma, and a ripening-cause, continued in the next section), each illustrating the same naming pattern rather than developing its own argument.
8. More Examples: Leaks, Latent Tendencies, Taste, Desire, Retrogression, Karma, and Ripening
The list of nine "instrument" examples continues to its end, closing with a story about the Buddha's own disciple Aniruddha before returning, finally, to the treatise's own essential nature.
又如於漏具立以漏名。如說七漏是損害是燒然是苦惱。根等實非漏。是漏具故立以漏名。勝義漏唯三。謂欲漏有漏無明漏。又如於隨眠具立隨眠名。如契經說。苾芻當知。色是隨眠隨增隨死。若隨增即隨死。若隨死即隨取。若隨取即隨縛。色非隨眠。勝義隨眠唯有七種。然經說色是隨眠者。隨眠具故。又如於味具立以味名。如契經說。苾芻當知。眼味妙色。色是魔鉤。眼實非味。勝義味者謂所生愛。然契經說。眼味色者是味具故。又如於欲具立以欲名。如契經說。欲者是何。謂五妙欲。又如頌言。
It is likewise in the case of a leak, where a thing is named "leak" after its implement, as is said: the seven leaks are harmful, are a burning, are suffering and affliction. The sense faculties and the like are not, in truth, leaks themselves, but they are named "leak" because they are a leak's implement — leak in the ultimate sense is only threefold: the leak of desire, the leak of existence, and the leak of ignorance. It is likewise in the case of a latent tendency, where a thing is named "latent tendency" after its implement, as a sutra states: monks, you should know that form is a latent tendency, an increase of latent tendency, a following-into-death of latent tendency — if there is increase, there is a following into death; if there is a following into death, there is a following into grasping; if there is a following into grasping, there is a following into bondage. Form is not, in truth, a latent tendency — latent tendency in the ultimate sense has only seven kinds. Yet the sutra calls form a "latent tendency" because it is a latent tendency's implement. It is likewise in the case of taste, where a thing is named "taste" after its implement, as a sutra states: monks, you should know that the eye tastes fine forms, and form is Māra's hook. The eye is not, in truth, taste — taste in the ultimate sense refers to the craving that thereby arises. Yet the sutra speaks of the eye as "tasting" form because it is taste's implement. It is likewise in the case of desire, where a thing is named "desire" after its implement, as a sutra states: what is desire? It refers to the five sensual objects. And as a verse states:
如是五妙欲 可愛可欣樂
可意欲所牽 能令心染著
色等非欲。勝義欲者。謂於彼愛然經頌說。彼是欲者是欲具故。又如於退具立以退名。如契經說。有五因緣令時解脫阿羅漢退。一營事業。二樂戲論。三和諍訟。四好遠行。五遇長病。非營事等是能退體。勝義退者。謂一切不善有覆無記法。然契經中說營事等是能退者。謂退具故。又如於業具立以業名。如契經說。有三種意。故思惡不善業。若作增長感非愛異熟。謂貪欲瞋恚邪見。非貪欲等是實意業勝義意業。謂意俱思。然契經中名意業者。謂是不善意業具故。又如於異熟因具立異熟因名。如彼尊者無滅所說。我由一食異熟因故。七生天上七生人中。於最後身得盡諸漏。非即一食是異熟因。勝義異熟因者。謂諸不善善有漏法。然彼尊者即說一食為異熟因。是彼具故。如於此等處處經中以彼彼名說彼彼具。此論亦爾。
These five sensual objects — lovely, delightful, and pleasing, / drawing the mind on by their desirability, causing the mind to become attached.
Form and the rest are not, in truth, desire — desire in the ultimate sense refers to the craving directed toward them. Yet the sutra and its verse speak of them as "desire" because they are desire's implement. It is likewise in the case of retrogression, where a thing is named "retrogression" after its implement, as a sutra states: there are five causes and conditions that make an arhat, temporarily liberated, retrogress: first, being occupied with business affairs; second, delighting in idle argument; third, mediating disputes and quarrels; fourth, being fond of long journeys; and fifth, encountering a lingering illness. Being occupied with business affairs and the rest are not, in truth, the substance of retrogression itself — retrogression in the ultimate sense refers to every unwholesome, obstructed, or indeterminate dharma. Yet the sutra speaks of being occupied with business affairs and the rest as "able to cause retrogression" because they are retrogression's implement. It is likewise in the case of karma, where a thing is named "karma" after its implement, as a sutra states: there are three kinds of mental intention that, once deliberately committed as unwholesome karma, when performed and increased, bring about undesirable ripening — namely, covetousness, ill will, and wrong view. Covetousness and the rest are not, in truth, mental karma itself — mental karma in the ultimate sense refers to volition itself, associated with the mind. Yet the sutra calls covetousness and the rest "mental karma" because they are unwholesome mental karma's implement. It is likewise in the case of a ripening-cause, where a thing is named "ripening-cause" after its implement, just as that venerable Aniruddha himself said: because of the ripening-cause of a single meal, I was reborn seven times in the heavens and seven times among humans, and in my very last body attained the exhaustion of all contaminants. It is not that the single meal itself is, in truth, the ripening-cause — ripening-cause in the ultimate sense refers to every unwholesome or wholesome contaminated dharma. Yet that venerable one himself called the single meal a "ripening-cause" because it is a ripening-cause's implement. Just as, in this way, throughout the sutras, a thing is named after whatever it is the implement of, so too it is with this treatise.
是阿毘達磨具故亦名阿毘達磨。如是勝義阿毘達磨自性。唯是無漏慧根。一界一處一蘊所攝。若兼相應及取隨轉三界二處五蘊所攝。餘資糧等皆是世俗阿毘達磨。是名阿毘達磨自性。如說自性我物自體相分本性。應知亦爾。
It is because this treatise is Abhidharma's implement that it, too, is called Abhidharma. Thus, Abhidharma in the ultimate sense has as its essential nature only the uncontaminated wisdom-faculty, subsumed under one element, one sense field, and one aggregate; if one includes what is associated with it and what accompanies its arising, it is subsumed under three elements, two sense fields, and five aggregates. All the remaining provisions and the like are Abhidharma only in the conventional sense. This is what is called the essential nature of Abhidharma — one should understand that terms such as "own-nature," "own substance," "own entity," "characteristic-portion," and "original nature" all refer to this same thing.
The Aniruddha story is a well-known canonical account: a single meal offered in a past life is said to have ripened into fourteen fortunate rebirths — seven in the heavens, seven as a human — before his final life as one of the Buddha's great disciples, famous elsewhere for his mastery of the divine eye. It closes the list of nine examples on a note the whole passage has been building toward: even a single, ordinary, long-past action can rightly be called by the name of a result it merely enables, exactly as this treatise may rightly be called by the name of the wisdom it merely enables.
With the list complete, the preface restates, almost verbatim, the same "one element, one field, one aggregate — or three elements, two fields, five aggregates" definition given in Section 5. Nothing about the definition itself has changed; what this whole excursion through pleasure, stains, leaks, and a monk's single meal has done is justify extending the name "Abhidharma," in a secondary and conventional sense, to everything that serves that wisdom — including, finally, this treatise itself.
9. The Many Etymologies of "Abhidharma" — General Definitions
Its essential nature settled, the preface turns to the word itself: why is it called "Abhidharma" specifically? A list of general definitions comes first, offered without attribution to any particular master.
已說自性。所以今當說。以何義故名阿毘達磨。阿毘達磨諸論師言。於諸法相能善決擇能極決擇故。名阿毘達磨。復次於諸法性能善覺察能善通達故。名阿毘達磨。復次能於諸法現觀作證故。名阿毘達磨。復次法性甚深能盡原底故。名阿毘達磨。復次諸聖慧眼由此清淨故。名阿毘達磨。復次能善顯發幽隱法性故。名阿毘達磨。
Its essential nature has now been explained. Next it should be explained for what reason it is named "Abhidharma." The Ābhidharmika masters say: because it is able to skillfully discern, and to discern to the utmost, the characteristics of all dharmas, it is named Abhidharma. Further, because it is able to skillfully perceive and skillfully penetrate the nature of all dharmas, it is named Abhidharma. Further, because it is able to directly realize and bear witness to all dharmas, it is named Abhidharma. Further, because the nature of dharmas is extremely profound, and this is able to plumb it to its very depths, it is named Abhidharma. Further, because it is by this that the wisdom-eye of the noble ones is purified, it is named Abhidharma. Further, because it is able to skillfully reveal the hidden and obscure nature of dharmas, it is named Abhidharma.
所知法性無始幽隱。離此無有能顯發故。復次所說法性無有乖違故。名阿毘達磨。若有能於阿毘達磨自相共相極善串習。必無有能如法問難。令於法性有少違故。復次能伏一切外道他論故。名阿毘達磨。阿毘達磨諸大論師。邪徒異學無能敵故。尊者世友作如是說。常能決擇契經等中諸法性相故。名阿毘達磨。復次於十二支緣起法性善覺了故。名阿毘達磨。復次以能現觀四聖諦法故。名阿毘達磨。復次善說修習八聖道法故。名阿毘達磨。復次能證涅槃故。
The nature of knowable dharmas has been hidden and obscure since beginningless time; apart from this, there is nothing able to reveal it. Further, because what it teaches about the nature of dharmas is never self-contradictory, it is named Abhidharma. One who has thoroughly and skillfully mastered the specific and general characteristics of Abhidharma can never be shown, by any legitimate challenge, to hold even the slightest contradiction regarding the nature of dharmas. Further, because it is able to subdue every rival treatise of other, outside schools, it is named Abhidharma — the great masters of Abhidharma cannot be matched by heretical followers or other schools. The Venerable Vasumitra has said: because it is constantly able to discern the nature and characteristics of dharmas within the sutras and elsewhere, it is named Abhidharma. Further, because it awakens well to the nature of the twelve-linked dependent origination, it is named Abhidharma. Further, because it is able to directly realize the Four Noble Truths, it is named Abhidharma. Further, because it well teaches the cultivation of the Eightfold Noble Path, it is named Abhidharma. Further, because it is able to realize nirvāṇa —
Ten near-synonymous glosses arrive here before a single master is named — decisive discernment, perception, direct realization, plumbing profundity, purifying the wisdom-eye, revealing what is hidden, internal non-contradiction, defeating rivals, and finally realizing dependent origination, the four truths, the eightfold path, and nirvāṇa. This is the Vaibhāṣika method itself on display: rather than adjudicate between competing explanations of a single word, the compilers record as many as have been transmitted, unranked, and move on. The full-scale doctrinal chapters ahead will do the same thing at far greater length and consequence.
10. Named Masters on the Meaning of "Abhidharma"
The list of etymologies now shifts from anonymous consensus to named individual masters and schools — several of whom readers of this treatise will meet again and again across its two hundred fascicles.
名阿毘達磨。復次能於諸法以無量門數數分別故。名阿毘達磨。大德說曰。於雜染清淨繫縛解脫流轉還滅法。以名身句身文身次第結集安布分別故。名阿毘達磨。脇尊者言。此是究竟慧。此是決斷慧。此是勝義慧。此是不謬慧故名阿毘達磨。尊者妙音作如是說。求解脫者修正行時。能為分別所未了義。謂此是苦此是苦因。此是苦滅此是趣滅道。此是加行道。此是無間道。此是解脫道。此是勝進道。此是向道。此是得果。能正分別如是等義故。名阿毘達磨。
— it is named Abhidharma. Further, because it is able to analyze all dharmas through countless approaches, again and again, it is named Abhidharma. The Bhadanta [the Elder, Dharmatrāta] says: because it takes up dharmas of defilement and purity, bondage and liberation, cyclic flow and return to cessation, and, by means of groups of names, groups of phrases, and groups of letters, compiles, arranges, and analyzes them in due order, it is named Abhidharma. The Venerable Pārśva says: this is ultimate wisdom, this is decisive wisdom, this is supreme wisdom, this is unerring wisdom — for this reason it is named Abhidharma. The Venerable Ghoṣaka speaks as follows: when one seeking liberation cultivates the right practice, it is this that is able to analyze the meanings not yet understood — this is suffering, this is the cause of suffering, this is the cessation of suffering, this is the path leading to cessation; this is the path of preparatory effort, this is the uninterrupted path, this is the liberation path, this is the path of further advancement; this is the path directed toward the fruit, this is the attainment of the fruit — because it is able to rightly analyze meanings such as these, it is named Abhidharma.
法密部說。此法增上故。名阿毘達磨。如有頌言。
慧於世間尊 能決擇趣向
以正了知故 老死盡無餘
化地部說。慧能照法故。名阿毘達磨。如契經說。一切照中我說慧照最為上首。譬喻者說。於諸法中涅槃最上。此法次彼故。名阿毘達磨。聲論者言。阿謂除棄。毘謂決擇。此法能除棄決擇故。名阿毘達磨。何所除棄。謂結縛隨眠隨煩惱纏。何所決擇。謂蘊界處緣起。諦食及沙門果菩提分等。尊者佛護作如是說。阿毘者。是助言顯現前義。此法能引一切善法。謂諸覺分皆現在前故。名阿毘達磨。尊者覺天作如是說。阿毘者。是助言顯增上義。如增上慢者名阿毘慢。增上覺者。名阿毘覺。增上老者名阿毘老。此亦如是。此法增上故。名阿毘達磨。尊者左受作如是說。阿毘助言顯恭敬義。
The Dharmaguptaka school says: because this dharma is supreme, it is named Abhidharma, as a verse states:
Wisdom is honored in the world, able to discern the way forward; / by rightly understanding, old age and death are exhausted without remainder.
The Mahīśāsaka school says: because wisdom illuminates the dharma, it is named Abhidharma, as a sutra states: among all forms of illumination, I declare the illumination of wisdom to be foremost. The Dārṣṭāntikas say: among all dharmas, nirvāṇa is supreme, and this dharma stands next in rank to it — for this reason it is named Abhidharma. The grammarians say: "abhi" means removal, and "dharma" here carries the sense of decisive discernment; because this dharma is able to remove and to discern, it is named Abhidharma. What does it remove? The fetters, the latent tendencies, and the entangling secondary afflictions. What does it discern? The aggregates, elements, and sense fields; dependent origination; the truths and the nutriments; and the fruits of the śramaṇa and the limbs of awakening, and so on. The Venerable Buddharakṣita speaks as follows: "abhi" is a particle indicating the sense of facing or manifesting; because this dharma draws forth every wholesome dharma — that is, all the limbs of awakening are made to manifest by it — it is named Abhidharma. The Venerable Buddhadeva speaks as follows: "abhi" is a particle indicating the sense of heightened or superior — just as one of heightened conceit is called "abhi-conceited," one of heightened perception is called "abhi-perceiving," and one of heightened age is called "abhi-aged"; it is the same here — because this dharma is heightened, it is named Abhidharma. The Venerable Zuǒshòu (左受) speaks as follows: "abhi" is a particle indicating the sense of reverence —
如恭敬稽首者名阿毘稽首。恭敬供養者名阿毘供養。此亦如是。此法尊重可恭敬故。名阿毘達磨。
— just as one who reverently bows is called "abhi-bowing," and one who reverently makes offerings is called "abhi-offering"; it is the same here — because this dharma is to be honored and revered, it is named Abhidharma.
This passage reads almost like a doxography in miniature. Dharmatrāta ("the Bhadanta," already introduced in Section 1 as compiler of the impermanence-verses), Pārśva, Ghoṣaka, and Buddhadeva are, together with Vasumitra named in the previous section, generally counted among the "four great Vaibhāṣika masters" whose named, often conflicting opinions this treatise cites on nearly every substantive question across all two hundred fascicles — this preface is a reader's first introduction to voices they will meet constantly from here on. The identities behind "Buddharakṣita" (佛護) and "Zuǒshòu" (左受) are less securely attested in the scholarship Ru-Yi has consulted; both Sanskrit reconstructions above are offered cautiously, and the Chinese names are kept alongside them for readers who want to check other sources.
The grammarians' etymology — "abhi" as removal, the rest of the word as discernment — is worth noticing for what it removes and what it discerns: bonds, latent tendencies, and secondary afflictions on one side; the aggregates, elements, fields, dependent origination, the truths, and the path-factors on the other. That is a fair one-sentence summary of this entire treatise's subject matter, offered here as a play on two syllables.
11. Why Is This Treatise Called "Jñānaprasthāna"?
Having explained "Abhidharma," the preface turns to the second half of the root text's title — 發智, "the arising of knowledge," the name Kātyāyanīputra gave his own treatise, and which this vast commentary exists to explain.
問何故此論名發智耶。答諸勝義智。皆從此發此為初基。故名發智。復次此論應名智安足處。諸勝義智此為根本依此而立。是故名為智安足處。復次諸勇健智此最能發。發勇智緣故名發智。復次諸智彼岸依此能到故名發智。開發諸法自相共相。無有能如此論者故。復次世出世智。皆依此發智之妙門故名發智。
One asks: why is this treatise named Jñānaprasthāna, "the arising of knowledge"? The answer: every ultimate wisdom arises from it — this treatise is their starting foundation; for this reason it is named "the arising of knowledge." Further, this treatise should also be named "the standing-ground of knowledge": every ultimate wisdom takes this as its root, and is established in dependence on it; for this reason it is named "the standing-ground of knowledge." Further, it is this treatise that is best able to give rise to every vigorous wisdom — because it gives rise to the condition for vigorous wisdom, it is named "the arising of knowledge." Further, it is by relying on this treatise that every wisdom is able to reach its own far shore; for this reason it is named "the arising of knowledge" — for nothing else is able, as this treatise is, to open up the specific and general characteristics of all dharmas. Further, both mundane and supramundane wisdom alike depend on this treatise's wondrous gateway of the arising of knowledge; for this reason it is named "the arising of knowledge."
It is worth pausing on which text this etymology is actually about. This whole fascicle belongs to the Mahāvibhāṣā — the two-hundred-fascicle commentary Ru-Yi is translating here — yet this section explains the title of the twenty-fascicle root text underneath it, the Jñānaprasthāna, composed by Kātyāyanīputra and introduced back in Section 1. The nesting is worth keeping straight: the Jñānaprasthāna is the root; the Mahāvibhāṣā is this treatise, the vast commentary defending and explaining it, fascicle by fascicle; and the Abhidharmakośa, already fully translated elsewhere on this site, is Vasubandhu's later condensation of the whole tradition the Mahāvibhāṣā represents. This preface, in other words, is explaining why the grandparent text has the name it has, before the two-hundred-fascicle commentary proper gets underway.
12. The Treatise's Benefits
The preface closes, as many śāstras of this kind do, with a final accounting of what the whole undertaking is for.
問此論勝利其相云何。答隨順解脫斷除繫縛。順空無我違我我所。顯無我理遮數取趣開覺意息昏迷。遣愚癡生智慧。斷疑網與決定。背雜染向清淨。訶流轉讚還滅。捨生死得涅槃。摧破一切外道邪論。成立一切佛法正論。此論勝利其相如是。
One asks: what are the characteristics of this treatise's benefits? The answer: it accords with liberation and cuts off bondage; it accords with emptiness and no-self, and runs contrary to the notions of self and what belongs to a self; it reveals the principle of no-self and blocks the notion of a repeatedly-transmigrating person; it opens the mind to awareness and dispels its torpor; it removes delusion and gives rise to wisdom; it cuts through the net of doubt and confers certainty; it turns one away from defilement and toward purity; it censures the cyclic flow of existence and praises the return to cessation; it lets one abandon birth-and-death and attain nirvāṇa; it destroys every false treatise of the outside schools, and establishes every true treatise of the Buddha's own teaching. Such, then, are the characteristics of this treatise's benefits.
This closing list is the customary final movement of a śāstra's preface — a rapid inventory of what the labor ahead is supposed to accomplish, matched almost item for item against the ten similes and three reasons given back in Sections 3 and 4: refuting the self, dispelling ignorance, ending the cycle of rebirth. It functions as a hinge rather than a conclusion. Everything up to this point has been the treatise explaining and justifying itself; from fascicle 2 onward, that justification is set aside, and the Jñānaprasthāna's own root text — its actual chapters, verses, and the many masters' debates over what each line means — finally begins.
Fascicle 1 Complete
This closes fascicle 1 of Ru-Yi's translation: the whole of the Mahāvibhāṣā's prose preface, drawn from the treatise's true CBETA boundary (the translator-credit roster and dedication text that immediately follows the second, repeated title line belong to the printed edition's front matter, not to the treatise itself, and have been excluded here). Fascicle 1 has carried the case for why a treatise composed by a named disciple, centuries after the Buddha's death, still counts as Buddha-word; a long argument for why the three baskets genuinely differ, given nine separate ways; ten similes for why Kātyāyanīputra composed the root Jñānaprasthāna at all; the treatise's own definition of Abhidharma's essential nature, tested against seven sutras' shifting answers to "what is profound Abhidharma?"; a run of nine everyday analogies explaining why an ordinary treatise may still bear that name; more than a dozen masters' — Dharmatrāta, Pārśva, Ghoṣaka, Vasumitra, Buddhadeva, and others — competing etymologies of the word itself; and, finally, why the root text is called Jñānaprasthāna, and what benefits the whole undertaking is said to bring. Fascicle 2 begins the treatise's true, lasting structure: the Jñānaprasthāna's own root chapters, opening with the Miscellaneous Chapter (雜蘊), unpacked verse by verse through the successive, often disputed positions of named Vaibhāṣika masters — the format the remaining hundred and ninety-nine fascicles sustain in full.