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ŚRĀVAKABHUMI
paryaya, the pitṛiputrasamāgamasutra, the Grabhāvakranti, the DBS, and other Mahāyānic texts1. Several other passages have also been quoted without mentioning their actual sources. All this goes to prove that our author had a remarkable and unquestioned mastery over the canons of the Buddhist sects, the PPs and the Mahāyāna Sutras. At several places, the DBS has been quoted and the entire body of the SSS3 has been reproduced without mentioning the source.
Asanga was conversant with various trends of development in the philosophical speculation of his time. He clearly refers to the Samkhya view of Sat-karyavāda in the name of Varṣaganya, the Atomic-theory of the Nyaya-Vaiseṣika system and its theory of regarding the God as the Creators, the Yajña-institution of the Vedas and Mimāmsā, the Śāśvatavāda representing the Upanisadic doctrine of permanent and Eternal entity' and astrology and different planets and their effect on the human fortune8.
His works also show a thorough knowledge of the
1. For references, vide ff. 4 (Sources), the MSAB and YBS, I. 2. BSB, pp. 208, 227, 229.
3. YBS, 1.228 sq.
4. YBS, I.119; he also mentions Vārṣaganyadṛṣṭi in the Cintāmayi
bhūmi under the title 'hetu-vidya'.
5. ईश्वरादिकर्तृकवादः, YBS, I.118, 144 sq.
6. विहिंसाधर्मवादः, YBS, I. 145-7.
7. Ibid., I.137 sq.
8. Ibid., I.159.11-5 sq.
