________________
INTRODUCTION
lxvii
suggests a study of the Sūtrālankara of Arya Maitreyanatha with the Bhasya of Asanga for a clear grasp of the philosophy expounded in the Sākārasaṁgrahasūtra and the Sākārasiddhiśāstra :
सूत्रालङ्कारमार्थीयं भाष्ययुक्तञ्च चिन्तय । यत्र रूपादिराख्यातः परतन्त्रपरिस्फुट: ।। '
7. The Life, Works and The Probable Date of Asanga
Life There is a dearth of authoritative accounts of Aryasanga's life in Sanskrit or Chinese sources. We get only a few passing references2 to our author in Paramartha's biography of Vasubandhu3. Yüan Chwang and Taranatha also furnish some useful infor1. JMN, p. 532.
2. Paramartha and Kumārajīva, the biographers speak of Vasubandhu and only a few passing references to Asanga in relation to Vasubandhu are found.
3. This has been translated by J. Takakusu, "The Life of Vasubandhu by Paramartha (A.D. 499-569)', T'oung Pao Series II, Vol. V (1904), pp. 269-96, 620; vide also, BEFEAO, IV (1904), pp. 40-67; a study of the same has also been presented in JRAS, 1904, 33-53 under the title 'A Study of Paramartha's Life of Vasubandhu and the date of Vasubandhu', for references to the Chinese account of Asanga's life, vide, Fraüwallner, On the Date of the Buddhist Master of the Law, Vasubandhu, p. 47.
4. Thomas Watters, 'On Yüan Chwang's Travels in India, 629-645 A.D., I.210 sq., 354-59; Beal, Buddhist Record of the Western World, 1.98.105 sq., 225-9.
5. Grunwedel, Taranatha's Edelesteinmine, das Buch von den Vermittlernder Sicben Inspirationen, Bibliotheca Buddhica, XVIII, Petrograd, 1914, p. 106.
