[Buddha-l] Pudgalavada - Vasumitra

[Dan Lusthaus]

Here is a translation of what Vasumitra says about the Vatsiputriyas. This has been translated before (though I don't have those on hand at the moment). Since it is Xuanzang's rendering, this is much easier to read, and the equivalents are much more reliable. Paramartha's translation of the same text (done about a century earlier) has additional portions, but since they are unclear and don't seem to correspond in an obvious manner to what is discussed in our long and short text passages, I will ignore that for now. It is terse, but gives some suggestions about what their abhidharma and marga was like, as well as their basic tenets. I have, however, translated the Chinese versions of the names of the different schools, as did Xuanzang.

The section on the Vatsiputriyas in Vasumitra's "Tenets of the Different Schools", tr. from Xuanzang's Ch. version.

有犢子部本宗同義。
The tenets that the Vātsīputrīya schools held in common:

謂補特伽羅非即蘊離蘊。依蘊處界假施設名。
The Pudgala is neither the same as the skandhas nor different from the skandhas (非即蘊離蘊). It is a prajñapti (假施設名) dependent on the skandhas, āyatanas and dhātus.

諸行有暫住。亦有剎那滅。
Saṃskāras have a temporary duration, while some cease in an instant (kṣaṇika). 

諸法若離補特伽羅。無從前世轉至後世。依補特伽羅可說有移轉。
Dharmas, if apart from the pudgala, cannot move on from a previous lifetime to a subsequent lifetime. It is on the basis of the pudgala that one can say there is transference (saṃkrānti).

亦有外道能得五通。
Moreover, even non-Buddhists can attain the five ṛddhis. 

五識無染亦非離染。
The five consciousnesses have no kleśas, and are not apart from kleśas.

若斷欲界修所斷結。名為離欲。非見所斷。
If the bonds (saṃyojana) are eliminated by cultivation (bhāvanā-mārga) in the kāma-dhātu, one is called "free from desire." They aren't eliminated in darśana (-mārga).

即忍名相。世第一法名能趣入正性離生。
It is by [the four wholesome roots, viz.] kṣānti, nāma, nimitta, and laukikā agra-dharmāḥ (the highest meditative insight) that one can enter into the correct nature in which no kleśas arise. (niyāmāvakrānti or samyaktva-niyāma).

若已得入正生離生。十二心須說名行向。
If entering niyāmāvakrānti during the twelve mental moments, this is called "Going toward" (pratipanna?).

第十三心說名住果。
If during the thirteenth mental (moment), this is called "abiding in the fruit." 

有如是等多差別義。
There many different opinions concerning such things.

因釋一頌執義不同。從此部中流出四部。謂法上部。賢胄部。正量部。密林山部。
Because of holding different interpretations of a single verse, this school branched off into four schools, which are Dharmottarīya (Higher Dharma), Bhadrayāṇīyas (Lineage of the Honorables), Saṃmatīyas (Correct Measure), and the Ṣāṅḍagirikas (Hidden in the Forests and Mountains).

所釋頌言。
The verse says:

已解脫更墮。墮由貪復還。獲安喜所樂。隨樂行至樂。
Already liberated, again one backslides / 
backsliding due to desire. Again returning / 
recovering peaceful joy and the place of happiness. / 
>From happiness going to perfect happiness.
(T.49.2031.16c14-25)

Dan Lusthaus
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