Васубандху: Ғандарлық буддалық монах және философ

4th/5th century Gandharan Buddhist monk

Vasubandhu (; Tibetan: དབྱིག་གཉེན་ ; fl. 4th to 5th century CE) was an influential Buddhist monk and scholar from Gandhara. He was a philosopher who wrote commentary on the Abhidharma, from the perspectives of the Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika schools. After his conversion to Mahayana Buddhism, along with his half brother, Asanga, he was also one of the main founders of the Yogacara school. Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośakārikā ("Commentary on the Treasury of the Abhidharma") is widely used in Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism, as the major source for non Mahayana Abhidharma philosophy. His philosophical verse works set forth the standard for the Indian Yogacara metaphysics of "appearance only" (vijñapti mātra), which has been described as a form of "epistemological idealism", phenomenology and close to Immanuel Kant's transcendental idealism. Apart from this, he wrote several commentaries, works on logic, argumentation and devotional poetry. Vasubandhu is one of the most influential thinkers in the Indian Buddhist philosophical tradition. Because of their association with Nalanda university, Vasubandhu and Asanga are amongst the so called Seventeen Nalanda Masters. In Jōdo Shinshū, he is considered the Second Patriarch; in Chan Buddhism, he is the 21st Patriarch.

Born in Puruṣapura, in the Gandhara region of ancient Indian subcontinent, Vasubandhu was the half brother of Asanga, another key personage in the founding of the Yogacara philosophy. Vasubandhu's name means "the Kinsman of Abundance." Tibetan Buddhism sees the two brothers as part of the six great Indian commentators called the "Six Ornaments". He was contemporaneous with Chandragupta I, father of Samudragupta. This information temporally places this Vasubandhu in the 4th century CE. The earliest biography of Vasubandhu was translated into Chinese by Paramärtha (499 569). Vasubandhu initially studied with the Buddhist Sarvāstivāda (also called Vaibhāṣika, who upheld the Mahavibhasa commentary) school which was dominant in Gandhara, and later moved to Kashmir to study with the heads of the orthodox Sarvastivada branch there. After returning home, he lectured on Abhidharma and composed the Abhidharmakośakārikā (Verses on the Treasury of the Abhidharma), a verse distillation of Sarvastivada Abhidharma teachings, which was an analysis of all factors of experience into its constituent dharmas (phenomenal events). However Vasubandhu had also begun to question Sarvāstivāda Vaibhāṣika view for some time, and had studied with the Sautrāntika teacher, Manoratha. Thus, his auto commentary to his Abhidharma verses sometimes criticize the Vaibhāṣika system from a Sautrāntika viewpoint. The Abhidharmakośa remains the main source for Abhidharma studies in both Tibetan Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism. Vasubandhu is later said to have converted to Mahayana beliefs under the influence of his brother Asanga, whereupon he composed a number of Yogacara treatises and Mahayana sutra commentaries. Some of his most influential Mahayana works have been the Twenty Verses on Consciousness Only (Vimśatikāvijñaptimātratāsiddhi), with its commentary (Viṃśatikāvṛtti), the Thirty Verses on Consciousness only (Triṃśikā vijñaptimātratā) and his Discourse on the Pure Land (Jìngtǔ lùn 浄土論). The Thirty Verses is the basis for Xuanzang's Cheng Wei Shi Lun, one of the most important sources in East Asian Yogacara Buddhism. His Pure Land treatise was also very influential on East Asian Pure Land Buddhism. In India, Vasubandhu became known as a major Mahayana master, scholar and debater. He is reported to have defeated Samkhya philosophers in debate in front of the Gupta king "Vikramaditya" (variously identified as Chandragupta II or Skandagupta) at Ayodhya, who is said to have rewarded him with 300,000 pieces of gold. Vasubandhu used the money he made from royal patronage and debating victories to build Buddhist monasteries and hospitals. As per traditional accounts, Vasubandhu died while visiting Nepal at the age of 100.

Vasubandhu was prolific author of Buddhist treatises and commentaries. A list of his key works includes:

Erich Frauwallner, a mid 20th century Buddhologist, sought to distinguish two Vasubandhus, one the Yogācārin and the other a Sautrāntika, but this view has largely fallen from favour in part on the basis of the anonymous Abhidharma dīpa, a critique of the Abhidharmakośakārikā which clearly identifies Vasubandhu as the sole author of both groups of writings. According to Dan Lusthaus, "Since the progression and development of his thought is so strikingly evident in these works, and the similarity of vocabulary and style of argument so apparent across the texts, the theory of Two Vasubandhus has little merit." Scholarly consensus on this question has generally moved away from Frauwallner's "two authors" position.

Vasubandhu's Verses on the Treasury of the Abhidharma contains a description of all 75 dharmas (phenomenal events), and then outlines the entire Sarvastivada doctrine including "meditation practices, cosmology, theories of perception, causal theories, the causes and elimination of moral problems, the theory of rebirth, and the qualities of a Buddha." The Treasury and its commentary also expound all kinds of arguments relating to the Sarvastivada Abhidharma and critique those arguments from a Sautantrika perspective in the commentary. Major arguments include an extensive critique of the Self (Atman and Pudgala) and a critique of the Sarvastivada theory of "the existence of the dharmas of the three time periods [past, present and future]". In the Treasury, Vasubadhu also argued against a Creator God (Ishvara) and against the Sarvastivada theory of avijñaptirūpa ("unperceived physicality" or "invisible physicality").