________________ Samdhinirmocanasutra VIII. 7 Lambert Schmithausen 454 455 matical (or logical) subject of vijnaptimatra(ta)61): it is, in his terminology, not the object or image but cognition itself that is qualified to be cognition only (because it is devoid of an external object : MSg II. 6). On the other hand, the reading (S) of the sentence under discussion ...... -vijfaptimatraprabhavitam vijnanam), especially if understood in the sense of [S2], precisely corresponds to this pattern. Had [A] been its original form, it is difficult to see why Asanga should have preferred this sentence to the preceding one (as also to the occurrences of vijfaptimatra in Samdh VIII. 8 and 9. where too vijnaptimatra qualifies the images, not vijnana). 23. Thus, both a critical examination of the source material and the cumulative evidence of intrinsic probabilities of context and style show that the original form of the sentence under discussion was [S] (*alambanavi jnapti. matraprabhavitam vijnanam......), not [A](*alambanam vijnaptio). Therefore, the interpretation proposed in $ 10 being applicable, the sentence under discussion, even if pointing to a former statement (88 7-9), would not conflict the assumption that Samdh VIII. 7-9 is not only the oldest extant source for the doctrine of vijnaptimatra proper but also its first literary expression. 20. The originality of [S] is not only supported by the fact that the unwieldy structure of its predicate does not make sense as a secondary change but becomes perfectly intelligible if one gets to the bottom of its double entendre (see $ 10) which can be appreciated as purposeful only in the context of the introduction of a new idea on which its discoverer wanted to confer as much of a traditional garb as was available. One could also point to the terminology of the sentence which diverges significantly from that of its context: alambana instead of gocara or pratibimba, and vijnana instead cittaa divergency which would not be motivated if the sentence had originally been, as it would have to if [A] were authentic, merely a more explicit and emphatic restatement of the preceding sentence. But the change in terminology, too, is natural in the case of [S] in view of the double meaning alluding to an Abhidharmic (alambana !) etymological definition (vijnapti- vijnana !). 21. Another point of view is the syntactical structure of the sentence as a whole. In this regard, [S], following the pattern de finiens-de finiendum, is perfectly unobjectionable and unequivocal, whereas [A] (de finiendum- definiens 1-de finiens 2) is formally ambiguous and, to my feeling, somewhat clumsy, to say the least. This unsatisfactory character of [A] from a purely formal point of view is easily explained as an unintentional by-product of a transformation of [S] into [A]. On the other hand, had [A] been the original reading, one might, to be sure, easily have felt bound to improve its formal structure, but this would almost certainly have led to some expansion of the somewhat abrupt second predicate (vi jnanam-ato vijnanam eva, or the like), but never to [S]. 22. Finally, attention should be paid to the fact that MSg II. 7 quotes only the sentence under discussion but not the preceding one according to which the images (pratibimba) [perceived in meditative concentration] are cognition only (vijfaptimatra) (see $ 2). This is strange, for one would expect that Asanga, in the context of scriptural proofs, would not have omitted this sentere without some reason, for after all it is, except for the sentence under discussion, the only one in Samdh VIII. 7 that contains the term vijnaptimatra. As there does not seem to be any clue for regarding the sentence omitted in MSg II. 7 as a later interpolation in the Samdhinirmocanasutra (there are some more omissions in MSg II. 7 which is thus obviously an abbreviated quotation), I suppose that Asanga has omitted the sentence because it did not fit his own terminology; for in MSg II he almost invariably uses vijfapti (II. 8: vijnana) as the gram - ne 61) Cp., e. g., MSg II. 2 (last 8); II. 6; II. 7. 2; II. 9; II. 11.
