DESCRIPTION
Vasubandhu (circa 4th to 5th century CE) was an influential scholar and Buddhist monk from Puruṣapura, modern day Peshawar, Pakistan. He was a philosopher who wrote commentary on the Abhidharma representing the Sarvastivadan school and then ‘converted’ to Mahayana Buddhism along with his half-brother, Asaṅga.
Both monks composed works and commentary on the ‘Mind-Only’ teaching, which would become the basis of Yogacara Buddhism. The most notable are Asaṅga’s Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, a massive encyclopedia of Yogacara Buddhist philosophy, and Vasubandhu’s Triṃśikā-vijñaptimātratā (‘Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only’), which is considered one of the most succinct presentations of the essential teachings of this school of thought.
The definitive commentary on the Thirty Verses is the 成唯識論 (’Demonstration of Consciousness-Only’) by Xuanzang who drew on the commentarial work of 10 different Indian Yogacara scholars as well as his experience of studying under Indian Yogacara masters. It is a line-by-line, often word-by-word analysis of Vasubandhu’s treatise.
Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only
Part One - Verse 1 - 4
The ‘three transformations of consciousness’
- The ripening - ālayavijñāna (Receptacle, container)
- The pondering - manasvijñāna
- The differentiating - six vijñāna / manovijñāna
由假說我法， 有種種相轉。 彼依識所變， 此能變唯三：
Speaking conventionally of self (atma) and dharmas, There are various kinds of characteristics (r)evolving (’turning’). Those depend upon transformations of consciousness, These transformations are three: １
謂異熟、思量， 及了別境識。」
初阿賴耶識， 異熟一切種，
The ripening (vipāka), the pondering (vicāra), and objective differentiating consciousnesses (vijñāna).
The first is the ālaya consciousness ‘Ripening’ all the different seeds ２
不可知執受， 處了常與觸、 作意、受、想、思， 相應唯捨受。
That which it holds is unknowable, As is its location, ever associated with being in contact (sparśa), Thinking (manāskara), sensing (vedanā), perceiving (saṃjñā), and contemplating (cetanā). In it, the only characteristic is one of indifference (upekṣā). 3
是無覆無記， 觸等亦如是， 恒轉如瀑流， 阿羅漢位捨。」
It is unobstructed, and without [karmic] prediction, Contact, etc. (see Verse 3) are also like this, Ever turning like a flowing stream, It is relinquished at the stage of arhat. ４