On Quadruple Division Of Yogasastra

SR No.: 269647
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A Wezler
Publisher: A Wezler
Total Pages: 49
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 6 MB

Page 31

On the Quadruple Division of the Yogaśāstra
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le Sūtra du bon médecin; d'après Paramārtha, le Sūtra de la comparaison du médecin (Samyukta 15.19; 17.14) 90 ». Unfortunately, de la Vallée Poussin does not give any further explanation on the identity of the « Sūtra du bon médecin ». His second reference, however, can be traced, namely with the help of the Hôbôgirin 91 where the relevant passage from the Samyuktāgama as preserved in Chinese translation is rendered into French. It clearly shows a close similarity to the quotation by Yaśomitra, but does not, on the other hand, seem to agree fully with it 92. On closer examination, however, it becomes evident that what Demiéville — or one of his collaborators — actually did was to give but a free paraphrase of the Chinese translation, intermingling later portions of the « detailed explanation » (vibhanga) with earlier parts of the Sutra. When the Chinese translation itself (T 99, no. 389) is compared with the Sanskrit text quoted by Yaśomitra, one cannot but arrive at the conclusion that it is precisely this Sanskrit text that was translated by Gunabhadra 92a, i.e. that what Yaśomitra quotes is in fact nothing else but this Sūtra of the Samyuktāgama. The Chinese translator, however, seems to have read rājabhogyas instead of rājayogyas and the Chinese text obviously contains a corruption, not recognized by Demiéville: the character standing between that denoting « King » and that equivalent
90, I do not know which edition is referred to by de la Vallée Poussin; by the former reference, however, T 99, no. 344, might be meant and by the latter T 99, no. 389. In the latter passage three « ailments are referred to, viz. kāma-, bhavaand avidyā- (roga, or a similar expression) (evidently under the influence of the three asravas); however, it is not a comparison that is drawn here between the « Four Noble Truths » and medicine, but the concept of ailment is only used metaphorically in a context modelled after the Truths.
91. Viz. s.v. byô, p. 224 ff.
92. For according to Demiéville (loc. cit., p. 228) it runs thus: « On appelle un grand roi des médecins celui qui réalise les quatre Essences suivantes: (1) Bien connaitre la maladie, i.e. les différentes sortes de maladies...; (2) bien connaître l'origine de la maladie: due au Vent, ou au Flegme..., ou aux sécrétions salivaires..., aux différentes espèces de froid, à un fait actuel, à la saison...; (3) bien connaître le Contrecarrant de la maladie: onguents, expectorants ou vomitifs..., évacuations inférieures (purgatifs), instillations nasales..., fumigations..., sudorifiques...; (4) bien savoir traiter la maladie de telle façon qu'ayant été traitée il n'y ait aucun danger de récidive... de même. le Tg.-Arhat-So so buddha, ce grand roi de médecins, réalise quatre vertus grâce auxquelles il soigne les maladies des Etres; en effet, il connaît les quatre Saintes Vérités: (1) de la Douleur...; (2) de la Formation de la Douleur...; (3) du Barrage de la Douleur...; (4) du Chemin de ce Barrage ... Le médecin Mondain ne connaît pas vraiment, tels qu'ils sont..., les Contrecarrant radicaux (fondamentaux), à savoir le Contrecarrant radical de la Naissance..., et celui de la Vieillesse, de la Maladie. de la Mort, du chagrin, des plaintes, des douleurs, des Tribulations...». The differences, marked here by italicizing the corresponding elements in the translations, are, on the other hand, of such a kind that (except perhaps for the final portion which may simply have been left out of his quotation by Yasomitra) they can easily be accounted for by the assumption that they represent but later additions of an explanatory character to a text which may well have been identical with that attested in the Abhidharmakośavyākhyā. See, however, also below p. 320.
92a. Viz. 436-443 A.D. according to E. LAMOTTE, Histoire du Bouddhisme Indien, Louvain, 1958, p. 169.