A Study Of The Summary Of The Great Vehicle

With only 27 thousand words, the Summary of the Great Vehicle is a milestone of the history of Consciousness-only School. When people probe into it, it seems to become deeper and deeper. How to study it? We need to establish correct directing methods and ways.The work in front of us is to get rid of the habit of emphasizing the differences between the Summary of the Great Vehicle and other scriptures and treatises because of superficial studying, and to find the sameness between them after putting the Summary of the Great Vehicle into the whole Buddhism theories system. And then, we can get to the fact that they are really in accordance with each other in the aspect of meaning. The above conclusion is obtained by systematical study of Sutra of the Explication of the Underlying Meaning, Discourse on the Stages of Concentration Practice, and Discourse on the Theory of Consciousness-only.The author discards many unsure conclusions, and stands on the standpoint of studying from the origin. He puts his efforts in punctuating the original materials, comparing different translations, and making out the best meaning.In China, there are 5 different translating versions of the Summary of the Great Vehicle, which are with different styles and phrasings. That adds some difficulties in understanding the treatise. And up to now, there is no comparison of the different five translations, thus is really a pity for the academe. So it is important to compare the different versions, integrate them into a perfect one, and restore its original meanings farthest.The thesis uses the Summary of the Great Vehicle in Zang Yao as the basic version,...