Sthiramati, Paramārtha, and Wŏnhyo: On the Sources of Wŏnhyo’s Chungbyŏn punbyŏllon so

Abstract:The categorization of the East Asian Yogācāra traditions should be reconsidered, since it is based on later historiographies or orthodoxy in Japanese Buddhism. In this paper, I would like to approach this problem by examining Wŏnhyo’s (617–686) commentary on Vasubandhu’s Madhyāntavibhāga-bhāṣya (MAVBh), known in Korean as the Chungbyŏn punbyŏllon so 中邊分 別論疏 (CPS). The MAVBh is an important work not only in the Indian Yogācāra tradition, but also in the context of broader East Asian Buddhist debates. Although Wŏnhyo was one of the most influential Yogācāra scholars in East Asia, the research on CPS, the only extant commentary on Paramārtha’s translation of MAVBh (MAVBh[P]), has made little progress. Compared with Sthiramati’s Madhyāntavibhāga-ṭīkā (MAVṬ), an Indian commentary on the MAVBh, CPS has some similarities to Sthiramati’s explanations in MAVṬ. Historical evidence which indicates some close relationship between Sthiramati and Paramārtha can be found in East Asian materials, while there is no evidence that connects them with Wŏnhyo. Thus, it seems probable to suggest that in the seventh century there was another lineage of Yogācāra Buddhism in East Asia, which was studied by Sthiramati and Paramārtha in India and brought to East Asia by Paramārtha.