Shravak Bhoomi

SR No.: 002436
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Karunesha Shukla
Publisher: Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institute
Total Pages: 618
Language: Hindi, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_Devnagari
File Size: 10 MB

Page 70

lxx
ŚRĀVAKABHŪMI
mythical personagel. 1. JMN, p. 506 :
आर्यासङ्गमनङ्गजिन्नयवहो यद्भपतीशोऽन्वशाद् आचार्यो वसुबन्धुरुधुरमतिस्तस्याऽऽज्ञयाऽदिद्युतत् । दिग्नागोऽथ कुमारनाथविहितासामान्यसाहायक
स्तस्मिन् वार्तिकभाष्यकारकृतिनोरद्यानरद्या स्थितिः ॥ ; Jñānaśrīmitra also speaks of Maitreyanātha as ādyācārya (S. S. Sū., 54, III.6, p. 544, III.13, p. 543) and Āryaswāmi (p. 482), AAA, p. 306, lines 14-9 (quoted Supra, Section 6 : Asanga in Buddhist Literature, f.n. 6) quotes a passage from Asanga's comm. on AA and states him to lead the lineage of the Yogācāra teachers, AAA, p. 267, Vs. 1-2; the confusion with regard to the historicity of Maitreyanātha might have been created due to the similarity of the name of an interlocutor in the Sandhinirmocanasūtra (as quoted in JMN, p. 478) and Āryamaitreyavyākarana (vide, E. Lamotte, Histories du Buddhism Indien, p. 777) and the Gandvyūha, p. 368 sq. and it is due to this confusion that the MVY (ff. 177) omits the name of Maitreyanātha in the list of Buddhist Ācāryās; P. Demeville has grave doubts regarding the historicity of Asanga, quoted by Wayman, ibid, p. 33, f.n. 36; Wayman (loc. cit.) also refers to Tucci who once accepted the historical character of Maitreyanātha (Some Aspects of the Doctrines of Maitreyanātha and Asanga, p. 8 sq.) and subscribed to the views of MM. Dr. Haraprasad Shastri (IHQ, 1.465, II.354) and H. Ui ('Historical Personage of Maitreyanatha and works of Asanga' in the Philosophical Journal of Imperial University of Tokyo, No. 411, 1921) has now changed his opinion, MBT, 1.14; the title as well as the colophon of the AA (Bibilotheca Buddhica Ed.) also refers to Maitreyanātha as its author; vide also, R. Kimura, Origins of Mahayana, JDL, XII, p. 170 sq.; it is probable that the idea contained in the legend ascribing the revelation of his works to Asanga in the Tușita heaven by Maitreya and crediting Asanga to have brought them to Jambūdvīpa is only indicative of the fact that Asanga commented upon the works of
(contd. on p. lxxi)