The Study On Dacheng Guang And His "Bai Fa Lun Shu"

Master Dacheng Guang 大乘光,commonly known as Puguang 普光,one of the most important students of Master Xuanzang 玄奘,is mainly known for his book "Ju She Lun Ji"俱舍论记.In addition,Dacheng Guang also writes "Bai Fa Guang Shu"百法光疏 which is both the earliest commentary on the Bai Fa Lun 百法论 and the earliest surviving Vij?aptimātra research book in the Xuanzang School.This article takes Dacheng Guang and his Guang Shu as the research object,attempting to make a more comprehensive discussion of Dacheng Guang,and it also analyzes the literature and philosophical issues reflected in the Guang Shu.This article consists of three chapters.The first chapter focuses on issues such as Dacheng Guang’s life and deeds,name and honorific title,types of works,and relationship with other people.This paper argues that Dacheng Guang is his name,and Puguang may be his honorific title.Dacheng Guang has six masterpieces,three of which have been lost.He has a prominent position among Xuanzang disciples,but he is not opposed to Dacheng Ji 大乘基 and other people.The second chapter introduces the characteristics and structure of the Guang Shu,and analyzes other existing commentaries on Bai Fa Lun in Tang Dynasty.This article believes that the Guang Shu has a rigorous structure and concise writing,and is good at using a variety of classics to elucidate and analyze.There are many doubts in the "Bai Fa Lun Jie"百法论解,which cannot be regarded as Dacheng Ji’s book.The third chapter has three subsections which analyze the literature and philosophical issues reflected in Guang Shu.The first section discusses the issue about the "Ben Shi Fen"本事分.By reading the existing commentaries on Bai Fa Lun in Tang Dynasty,the author believes that the "Ben Shi Fen" in the title of "Bai Fa Lun"should refer to the "Lak?a?asamuccaya"相集in the Mahayanabhidharma Samuccaya大乘阿毗达磨集论.This is Dacheng Guang’s statement which can be confirmed by Yizhong 义忠.However,due to the sacred position of the Yogācārabhūmi-?āstra 瑜伽师地论 in the Xuanzang School,the idea of "one root and ten branches"一本十支appeared later.It was believed that other Yogacara School classics were born out of the Yogācārabhūmi,and the Bai Fa Lun was one of them.Affected by this idea,people think that the "Ben Shi Fen" refers to the "Bahubhūmika-vastu" 本 地 分 in the Yogācārabhūmi.Although been questioned,this point of view eventually became conclusive.The second section discusseing issues about objects of eight consciousnesses is divided into two parts.The first part is the five consciousnesses.This article discusses the question of whether the five consciousnesses are recognize false objects or not,and the question of which objects are false objects.Compared with Dacheng Ji’s book,the discussion of the first question in Guang Shu is a bit brief.Both of them are basically divided into two points.One is that the five consciousnesses are only related to defining characteristic,so they are only related to the real objects.And the other is that the five consciousnesses can rely on real objects to recognize the false objects.In addition to Yizhong,everyone generally accepts the first statement.The discussion of the second question in Guang Shu is more systematic and perfect,but this question has not reached an agreement in Xuanzang School.The second part is the seventh consciousness and eighth consciousness.On the issue of objects of seventh consciousness,Guang Shu cites two kinds of opinions.But according to "Cheng Wei Shi Lun"成唯识论,it can be found that these two opinions are not correct.On the issue of objects of eighth consciousness,the terminologies used by Guang Shu are different from that of Cheng Wei Shi Lun.The third section discusses the question about the incessant causation 等无间缘of the first six consciousnesses.This article believes that the Dacheng Guang’s statement about “incessant causation” is consistent with Nanda’s statement about “basis of incessant causation” 等 无 间 缘 依.Both of them base their ideas on the “Yogācārabhūmi”,and think that the first five consciousnesses cannot be generated continuously.So the first five consciousnesses can only use the sixth consciousness as their incessant causation and the sixth consciousness uses the first six consciousnesses as its incessant causation.But this statement was refuted in the Cheng Wei Shi Lun.On the whole,the rational interpretation of Guang Shu is mainly based on the dictation of Xuanzang and the Yogacara School classics before the translation of Cheng Wei Shi Lun.After the translation of Cheng Wei Shi Lun,Xuanzang School generally adopted the views of this book,but some of the views in Guang Shu were also accepted by later generations,which also shows that Guang Shu has its merits.Finally,in this article,there is an appendix which is a proofreading version of Guang Shu.