Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2Eliot, Charles
Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2
Eliot, Charles
Asia -- Religion; Buddhism; Hinduism
[Footnote 225: The wooden statues of Asanga and Vasubandhu preserved
in the Kōfukaji at Nara are masterpieces of art but can hardly claim
to be other than works of imagination. They date from about 800 A.D.
See for an excellent reproduction Tajima's _Select Relics_, II. X.]
[Footnote 226: See Eitel and Grünwedel, but I do not know in what
texts this tradition is found. It is remarkable that Paramârtha's life
(_T'oung Pao_, 1904, pp. 269-296) does not say either that he was
twentieth patriarch or that he worshipped Amida.]
[Footnote 227: On receiving a large donation he built three
monasteries, one for Hinayanists, one for Mahayanists and one for
nuns.]
[Footnote 228: The work consists of 600 verses (Kârikâ) with a lengthy
prose commentary (Bhâshya) by the author. The Sanskrit original is
lost but translations have been preserved in Chinese (Nanjio, Nos.
1267, 1269, 1270) and Tibetan (see Cordier, _Cat. du Fonds tibétain de
la Bib. Nat._ 1914, pp. 394, 499). But the commentary on the Bhâshya
called Abhidharma-kośa-vyâkhyâ, or Sphuṭârtha, by Yásomitra has been
preserved in Sanskrit in Nepal and frequently cites the verses as well
as the Bhâshya in the original Sanskrit. A number of European savants
are at present occupied with this literature and Sir Denison Ross (to
whom I am indebted for much information) contemplates the publication
of an Uigur text of Book I found in Central Asia. At present (1920),
so far as I know, the only portion of the Abhidharma-kośa in print is
De la Vallée Poussin's edition and translation of Book III, containing
the Tibetan and Sanskrit texts but not the Chinese (De la Vallée
Poussin--_Vasubandhu et Yaśomitra_, London, 1914-18). This chapter
deals with such topics as the structure of the universe, the manner
and place of rebirth, the chain of causation, the geography of the
world, the duration and characteristics of Kalpas, and the appearance
of Buddhas and Cakravartins.]
[Footnote 229: See Nanjio, pp. 371-2, for a list of his works
translated into Chinese. Hsüan Chuang's account differs from the above
(which is taken from Paramârtha) in details. He also tells a curious
story that Vasubandhu promised to appear to his friends after death
and ultimately did so, though he forgot his promise until people began
to say he had gone to hell.]
CHAPTER XXIII
INDIAN BUDDHISM AS SEEN BY THE CHINESE PILGRIMS
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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