Two Literary Conventions Of Classical India

Author(s): Johannes Bronkhorst
Publisher: Johannes Bronkhorst

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JOHANNES BRONKHORST
commentary. It is clear that Lang's thesis, if true, might have chronological consequences. In that case we cannot take it for granted anymore that Aryadeva knew these Nyāya sūtras.
(v) Several of the preceding examples dealt with the Vārttika style and its possible effects on the texts commented upon in this style. Our last example, like the first one, will deal with the Bhāsya style. Tradition states that both the Abhidharmakośa - i.e. the verse text - and the Abhidharmakośa Bhāsya were composed by one and the same person, viz., Vasubandhu. I am not going to bore you with a detailed account of the controversy which has arisen regarding the reliability of the tradition of the life and works of Vasubandhu. This controversy mainly concerns the belief that Vasubandhu became a Mahāyānist later in life. No one seems to have seriously asked the question whether one and the same person wrote both Kośa and Bhāsya. This is remarkable, for verses and commentary represent different points of view: the verses mainly the Vaibhāșika, or Sarvāstivāda, position, the commentary the Sautrāntika position. The traditional account gives some kind of explanation for this, but one which on close inspection does not look very plausible. What is more, Kośa and Bhāsya do not just represent Vaibhāșika and Sautrāntika positions, as tradition would have it. If the Bhāsya is to be believed, some of the verses express Sautrāntika views. And what is even more surprising, the Bhāsya differs from the Kośa regarding the correct Vaibhāsika position in a few cases.
An example is the Bhāsya on Abhidh-k 3.2. This verse states that there are 17 places' (sthāna) in the Rūpadhātu, viz., three 'stages' (bhūmi) in the first three Dhyānas, eight in the fourth.21 The Bhāsya specifies these stages, enumerating, among others, Brahmapurohitas and Mahābrahmans in the first Dhyāna. Then the Bhāsya continues: “There are [only] 16 (places) according to the Kashmirians. As is well-known (kila), among the Brahmapurohitas a higher place has been erected for the Mahābrahman, which is like a tower (? parigana), inhabited by [only] one ruler; this is not however another stage (bhūmi)."22
Abhidh-k 3.2: urdhvaṁ saptadaśasthāno rūpadhātuh prthak prthak/dhyānaṁ tribhumika tatra caturthaí tv astabhūmikam// Abhidh-k-bh (P) p. 111 1. 26-27: ... sodaśeti kāśmīrāh/brahmapurohitesv eva kila sthānam utkrstataraṁ mahābrahmanah parigana ivābhinirvrttam ekanāyakaṁ na tu bhūmyantaram