Asaṅga · Xuánzàng · 攝大乘論

The Treatise That Gathers the Whole Great Vehicle.

The Mahāyānasaṃgraha — "Summary of the Great Vehicle" — is Asaṅga's own synthesis of Yogācāra philosophy into a single treatise: the storehouse consciousness that carries every seed of experience, the three natures that explain how a constructed world is mistaken for a real one, the path of the six perfections through the ten bodhisattva grounds, and the three bodies of a buddha at the path's end. This page is the entrance for reading it part by part, following the treatise's own eleven-part outline.

Browse 11 parts → Translation notes →

How to read this collection

This treatise is dense and systematic — Asaṅga wrote it to gather the entire Great Vehicle into eleven parts, each building on the one before. We keep the treatise's own structure rather than smoothing it away, and add reading notes wherever a modern English reader would otherwise lose the thread.

Our primary commentary guide is Vasubandhu, Asaṅga's own younger brother, whose commentary shares Xuánzàng as translator with the root text, so terminology stays aligned. Where Asvabhāva's independent commentary on the same root text adds something worth hearing, we bring it in as a second voice.

What each part page includes

The Chinese source text beside our English translation.
Reading notes drawn from Vasubandhu's commentary, with Asvabhāva as a second voice where useful.
A running glossary so terminology stays consistent from Part 1 to Part 11, and with the site's other Yogācāra pages.

11 of 11 parts — complete

2 commentaries woven in — Vasubandhu primary, Asvabhāva as a second voice

Read by Part

Asaṅga's own eleven-part outline, named in Part 1 itself. Use this as the table of contents for the treatise, from the proof that the Great Vehicle is Buddha-word through to the three bodies of buddhahood.

Parts 1–3

The Ten Points, the Storehouse Consciousness, and the Three Natures

Asaṅga's proof that the Great Vehicle is Buddha-word, the full account of the ālayavijñāna as the basis of everything knowable, and the three natures — dependent, discriminated, and perfectly accomplished — that are its character.

Parts 4–9

Entering the Path, Cultivating the Grounds, the Three Trainings

Realizing the nature of Consciousness-Only, the six perfections as the entry's cause and effect, the ten bodhisattva grounds, and the higher trainings in morality, concentration, and non-discriminating wisdom.

Parts 10–11

Non-Abiding Nirvāṇa, and the Three Bodies of a Buddha

The fruit of relinquishment — saṃsāra and nirvāṇa as one reality seen two ways — and the treatise's closing part: the three bodies of a buddha, their qualities, twelve kinds of profundity, and the pure buddha-land they manifest.

Part 1 · 總標綱要分 Ten Points That Prove the Great Vehicle Is the Buddha's Word Asaṅga's own outline for the whole treatise. Complete. Part 2 · 所知依分 The Basis of the Knowable The ālayavijñāna, in full — its names, the proof of a further defiled manas, five proofs it must exist, and its own internal distinctions. The treatise's longest part. Complete. Part 3 · 所知相分 The Character of the Knowable The three natures, the dream simile, the textual proof of Consciousness-Only, and Asaṅga's own method for reading Mahāyāna scripture. Complete. Part 4 · 入所知相分 Entering the Character of the Knowable The four investigations, the rope-and-snake simile, and the breakthrough into the path of seeing. Complete. Part 5 · 彼入因果分 The Cause and Effect of That Entry The six perfections, before and after realization — number, order, cultivation, grades, and mutual support. Complete. Part 6 · 彼修差別分 The Distinctions in Cultivating That The ten bodhisattva grounds, why each is named as it is, and the three incalculable great eons. Complete. Part 7 · 增上戒學分 The Higher Training in Morality The treatise's shortest part: four kinds of excellence in a bodhisattva's moral code. Complete. Part 8 · 增上心學分 The Higher Training in Concentration Six-fold excellence, ten difficult practices, and the Buddha's own riddling hidden words. Complete. Part 9 · 增上慧學分 The Higher Training in Wisdom Non-discriminating wisdom examined from every angle, in the treatise's longest run of verse. Complete. Part 10 · 果斷分 The Fruit of Relinquishment Non-abiding nirvāṇa and the six kinds of transformation of the basis. Complete. Part 11 · 彼果智分 The Fruit of Wisdom The three bodies of a buddha, in full — the treatise's closing part. Complete.

Translation Notes

Recurring terms, kept consistent from Part 1 through Part 11, and matched to the site's other Yogācāra pages where the same term appears. See also this site's note on translation method.

所知依 — the basis of the knowableWhat everything knowable depends on and arises from — identified in Part 1 as the ālayavijñāna.

阿賴耶識 — ālayavijñānaThe storehouse consciousness, which holds the seeds of every past action and experience.

三自性 — the three naturesThe dependent, discriminated-and-attached-to, and perfectly accomplished natures — the same terms used across the site's Cheng Weishi Lun pages.

唯識性 — the nature of Consciousness-OnlyVijñaptimātratā: what is realized when the three natures are directly understood.

十地 — the ten groundsThe ten bodhisattva stages, each pairing one of the six perfections with a ground to be traversed.

三種佛身 — the three bodiesThe intrinsic-nature body, the enjoyment body, and the transformation body — the treatise's account of buddhahood.