Vijñānakāya () or Vijñānakāya-śāstra (विज्ञानकायशास्त्र) is one of the seven Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

scriptures. "Vijñānakāya" means "group or substance of consciousness". It was composed by Devasarman (according to both

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and Chinese sources), with the Chinese translated by

Xuanzang Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...

: T26, No. 1539, 阿毘達磨識身足論, 提婆設摩阿羅漢造, 三藏法師玄奘奉　詔譯, in 16 fascicles. Vijñānakāya is the first

Abhidharma The Abhidharma are a collection of Buddhist texts dating from the 3rd century BCE onwards, which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the canonical Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. It also refers t ...

text that is not attributed to a direct disciple of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

, but written some 100 years after the Buddha's

parinirvana In Buddhism, ''Parinirvana'' (Sanskrit: '; Pali: ') describes the state entered after death by someone who has attained '' nirvana'' during their lifetime. It implies a release from '' '', karma and rebirth as well as the dissolution of the '' ...

, according to

's disciple Puguang. Yin Shun however, concludes it was composed around the 1st century CE, and was influenced by the Jñānaprasthāna, though differs in several aspects. In this regard, he likens it to the Prakaranapada, which is also a different position on the

Sarvāstivāda The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (; ;) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (third century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy in the First Millennium CE, 2018, p. 60. It was particularl ...

as a whole. This is an esteemed Sarvāstivāda text wherein the Sarvāstivāda is upheld against Vibhajyavada objections, in the first of its six sections. It is here that the theory of "sarva-asti", the existence of all

dharma Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear Untranslatability, translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold ...

s through past, present and future, is first presented. The issue is only brought up when

Moggaliputta-tissa Moggaliputtatissa (ca. 327–247 BCE), was a Buddhist monk and scholar who was born in Pataliputra, Magadha (now Patna, India) and lived in the 3rd century BCE. He is associated with the Third Buddhist council, the Mauryan emperor Ashoka ...

makes the standard claim of the Vibhajyavada, "past and future (

s) do not exist, (only) present and unconditioned (dharmas) do exist". The Vijñānakāya has four main theses to refute this: # The impossibility of two simultaneous

citta ''Citta'' (Pali and Sanskrit: चित्त, or in Prakrit script 𑀘𑀺𑀢𑁆𑀢, pronounced ''chitta'' ͡ɕit̚.tɐ́sup>( key)) is one of three overlapping terms used in the Nikaya to refer to the mind, the others being '' mana ...

s # The impossibility of

karma Karma (, from , ; ) is an ancient Indian concept that refers to an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called ...

and vipāka being simultaneous # That vijñāna only arises with an object # Attainments are not necessarily present. In addition to refuting the Vibhajyavāda view, the second section is a refutation of the Vatsiputriya Pudgalavada claim of: "the paramartha of the ārya ruthscan be attained, can be realized by the 'pudgala', present and complete, therefore it is certainly he casethat the 'pudgala' exists". The Sarvāstivāda take the title ' śūnyatāvāda' in order to refute this claim, though this obviously means "empty of pudgala", rather than the later Śunyavāda of the

Mahāyāna Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...

, i.e. the ''Madhyamaka''. The first refutation centres on the two extremes of "absolute identity" and "absolute difference". The second hinges on the continuity of the existence of the

skandha ' (Sanskrit) or (Pāḷi) means "heaps, aggregates, collections, groupings, clusters". In Buddhism, it refers to the five aggregates of clinging (), the five material and mental factors that take part in the perpetual process of craving, cli ...

s in the past, present and future – Sarvāstivāda – proper. The third and fourth sections concern the causal condition, and the conditioning object of vijnana respectively. The fifth includes the two other conditions, the immediate condition and predominant condition. These conditions are discussed in terms of their realm, nature, temporal location, etc. in a format that came to be standard for the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma. Such a system also appears in Abhidharma type analysis of dharmas in the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra and Mahāprajñāpāramitāupadeśa. The remaining five sections are doctrinal elaborations of the Sarvāstivāda school, including issues regarding perception, dependent origination and conditionalitySee Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa: T25n1509_p0493a~b.

External links

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References

{{Buddhism topics Abhidharma