世親

《婆藪槃豆法師傳》記兄弟三人同名婆藪槃豆，長兄別號無著，第三別號比鄰持跋婆，「兄弟既有別名故法師但稱婆藪槃豆」——世親是那個沒有別名的。傳記其資質：「第二婆藪槃豆。亦於薩婆多部出家。博學多聞遍通墳籍」〔T50n2049 0188c27〕，神才俊朗無可為儔，戒行清高難以相匹。他先是部派阿毘達磨的第一人，本編所繫之《阿毘達磨俱舍論》即出此時之學。

The Life of Master Vasubandhu records three brothers all named Vasubandhu, the eldest additionally called Asaṅga and the third Viriñcivatsa, "and since the brothers had additional names, the Master alone is called Vasubandhu" — he is the one without a second name. The Life records his capacity: "The second, Vasubandhu, likewise went forth in the Sarvāstivāda; broad in learning, wide in hearing, he ran through the whole body of texts" 〔T50n2049 0188c27〕, of a brilliance without peer and a purity of conduct hard to match. He was first of all a master of sectarian Abhidharma; the Abhidharmakośa associated with his name belongs to that period of his learning.

轉折在他毀謗大乘之後。就兄遍學大乘義，前後悉與理相應，始驗小乘為失、大乘為得；既知昔日毀謗必入惡道，深自咎責，欲悔先過。他所提之法是割舌：「我昔由舌故生毀謗。今當割舌以謝此罪」〔T50n2049 0191a01〕。兄不許，答曰「汝設割千舌亦不能滅此罪」〔T50n2049 0191a02〕；滅罪之方在別處：「汝舌能善以毀謗大乘。汝若欲滅此罪當善以解說大乘」〔T50n2049 0191a04〕。

The turn came after he had slandered the Great Vehicle. Studying it fully under his brother, he found that everything accorded with principle, and so verified that the lesser vehicle was the loss and the great vehicle the gain; knowing then that his former slander must lead him to the evil destinies, he blamed himself deeply and sought to repent his fault. The means he proposed was to cut out his tongue: "By my tongue I formerly gave rise to slander; now I shall cut out my tongue to atone for this offense" 〔T50n2049 0191a01〕. His brother would not allow it, answering, "Though you cut out a thousand tongues you could not extinguish this offense" 〔T50n2049 0191a02〕; the means of extinguishing it lay elsewhere: "Your tongue was able to slander the Great Vehicle skillfully. If you would extinguish this offense, you must explain the Great Vehicle skillfully" 〔T50n2049 0191a04〕.

這一答決定了世親的後半生，也決定了本編所依之大半論典。阿僧伽法師殂歿後，天親方造大乘論，解釋華嚴、涅槃、法華、般若、維摩、勝鬘等諸大乘經，「又造唯識。釋攝大乘三寶性甘露門等諸大乘論」。傳末記其終：「於阿緰闍國捨命年終八十」〔T50n2049 0191a12〕。本編所譯《唯識三十論頌》《唯識二十論》《辯中邊論》釋、《攝大乘論釋》，皆此一「以舌解說」之果。

That answer decided the second half of Vasubandhu's life, and with it the greater part of the treatise corpus this edition rests on. Only after Master Asaṅga's death did he compose the great-vehicle treatises, explaining the Avataṃsaka, Nirvāṇa, Lotus, Prajñāpāramitā, Vimalakīrti, and Śrīmālā sūtras, and "further composed the consciousness-only works, and explained the Compendium of the Great Vehicle, the Ratnagotra, the Amṛta-mukha, and other great-vehicle treatises." The Life records his end: "In the kingdom of Ayodhyā he relinquished his life, ending his years at eighty" 〔T50n2049 0191a12〕. The Thirty Verses, the Twenty Verses, the commentary on the Madhyānta-vibhāga, and the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha-bhāṣya rendered in this edition are all fruit of that same "explaining with the tongue."