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आर्यचतुर्धर्मकव्याख्यान
Āryacaturdharmakavyākhyāna
འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་བཞི་པའི་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།
'phags pa chos bzhi pa'i rnam par bshad pa
An Explanation of the Noble Sūtra The Four Dharmas (84000)
Text
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Description
The Āryacaturdharmakavyākhyāna (Tib. 'Phags pa chos bzhi pa'i rnam par bshad pa; Toh 3990; RKTST 3330), by Vasubandhu, is a short commentary on the Āryacaturdharmakanāmamahāyānasūtra (Toh 251), a brief Mahāyāna sūtra teaching four factors that a bodhisattva must never abandon for as long as they live, even at the cost of their life. Vasubandhu explains why the sūtra was taught, why it gives its teaching as a numbered set of four, and why it calls its audience both bodhisattvas and great beings. He then reads the four factors as the remedies for the obstacles to gathering the accumulations for awakening and as the foundation for the qualities that support it. The commentary closes by explaining why those who strive for the awakening of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas are not called bodhisattvas. The colophon names no translators. A subcommentary on this work, attributed to Jñānadatta, is also preserved in the Tengyur (Toh 3990a).
Reference
Vasubandhu (slob dpon dbyig gnyen). āryacaturdharmakavyākhyāna [आर्यचतुर्धर्मकव्याख्यान]. 'phags pa chos bzhi pa'i rnam par bshad pa [འཕགས་པ་ཆོས་བཞི་པའི་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།]. [An Explanation of the Noble Sūtra The Four Dharmas (84000)]. Tengyur, RKTST 3330 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3330&typ=2.
Interconnections
1 Classical commentaries
Āryacaturdharmakavyākhyānaṭīkā (Tib. 'Phags pa chos bzhi pa'i rnam par bshad pa rgya cher 'grel pa; Toh 3990a), by Jñānadatta (Tib. Ye shes byin), is a subcommentary on Vasubandhu's Āryacaturdharmakavyākhyāna (Toh 3990), itself a commentary on the Āryacaturdharmakanāmamahāyānasūtra (Toh 251). In his opening verse, Jñānadatta says that although learned masters have already explained the sūtra, he writes for the benefit of those of lesser understanding. He works through Vasubandhu's commentary phrase by phrase, glossing its terms and filling in what Vasubandhu leaves implicit. He comments on the sūtra's setting at Jetavana, and he names the four factors themselves (the thought of awakening, the spiritual friend, tolerance and lenience, and dwelling in the forest), showing how each serves as the remedy for the obstacles, and the foundation for the qualities, that Vasubandhu discusses. It was translated by the Indian preceptors Dānaśīla and Prajñāvarman with the chief editor-translator Ye shes sde.
1 Classical commentary of
While residing in the Jeta's Grove in Śrāvastī, the Buddha explains to an assembly of monks and bodhisattvas four factors of the path that bodhisattvas must not abandon even at the cost of their lives: (1) the thought of awakening, (2) the spiritual friend, (3) tolerance and lenience (which are here counted as one), and (4) dwelling in the wilderness. The sūtra concludes with two verses in which the Buddha restates the four factors and asserts that those who do not relinquish them will attain complete awakening. (Source: 84000)
1 A topic of
Āryacaturdharmakavyākhyānaṭīkā (Tib. 'Phags pa chos bzhi pa'i rnam par bshad pa rgya cher 'grel pa; Toh 3990a), by Jñānadatta (Tib. Ye shes byin), is a subcommentary on Vasubandhu's Āryacaturdharmakavyākhyāna (Toh 3990), itself a commentary on the Āryacaturdharmakanāmamahāyānasūtra (Toh 251). In his opening verse, Jñānadatta says that although learned masters have already explained the sūtra, he writes for the benefit of those of lesser understanding. He works through Vasubandhu's commentary phrase by phrase, glossing its terms and filling in what Vasubandhu leaves implicit. He comments on the sūtra's setting at Jetavana, and he names the four factors themselves (the thought of awakening, the spiritual friend, tolerance and lenience, and dwelling in the forest), showing how each serves as the remedy for the obstacles, and the foundation for the qualities, that Vasubandhu discusses. It was translated by the Indian preceptors Dānaśīla and Prajñāvarman with the chief editor-translator Ye shes sde.
