辯中邊論Bianzhongbian — Middle & Extremes

T1600 · 彌勒說世親釋

全帙 · 可讀

卷首心要Essence

你以為「外面有個世界、裡面有個我」——這道裡外的界線，是誰劃的？

彌勒菩薩留下一束偈頌，世親菩薩為它寫了長行的釋。全論只做一件事：把「中道」從兩個極端裡分辨出來。一邊是增益——把心當下造出來的東西，當成鐵打的實有；一邊是損減——聽說「一切皆空」，就以為什麼都沒有、什麼都不算。書名的「中」，不是各打五十大板的折中，而是一個比兩邊都更準的看法。

這準頭，全在那首心臟偈——「虛妄分別有，於此二都無，此中唯有空，於彼亦有此」。心不停在造作、在分辨，這股活動是有的（不墮虛無）；可它劈出來的「我—境」兩半，其實沒有（不墮執實）；拿掉那條假的格線，剩下的「空」就在這股心流裡（真實不在別處）；而看穿了，心流照樣還在（不落斷滅）。合起來，這叫「有—無—有—有」四句立中，也正是唯識三性的一爐熔鑄。

它是唯識一系的重要根本論之一。本編把它與《二十論》《三十論》的相關義節並讀，作為理解唯識義理的一條閱讀路徑；這是編排上的互參，不是對諸論文本依存關係的斷言。全論分七品，像醫家次第：先看清病相，再點名何者障你，說透真相，授你怎麼修、經哪些階、結什麼果，末了明此乘何以最究竟——一本百餘首偈頌的小書，把一條完整的「見—修—證」之路走盡了。

且推開這扇門。

You take it that "a world lies outside and a self within" — but this line between inside and outside, who drew it?

Maitreya left a garland of verses, and Vasubandhu wrote a prose commentary for them. The whole treatise does one thing: it distinguishes the "middle" from the two extremes. One extreme is superimposition — taking what the mind fabricates moment by moment to be iron-cast reality; the other is denial — hearing "all is empty" and concluding that nothing exists, nothing counts. The "middle" of the title is not a compromise that splits the difference, but a view more accurate than either.

That accuracy lies wholly in the heart-verse — 「虛妄分別有，於此二都無，此中唯有空，於彼亦有此」"The unreal imagination exists; in it, the two do not exist at all; here there is only emptiness; and in that, this too exists." The mind's ceaseless fabricating and dividing — this activity exists (no falling into nihilism); yet the "self–object" split it cleaves out is in fact absent (no falling into reification); take away that false dividing-line, and the "emptiness" that remains is right here within the mind-stream (the real is not elsewhere); and once seen through, the mind-stream still runs on (no falling into annihilation). Together this is the "exists — absent — exists — exists" establishing of the middle — and the very furnace in which Yogācāra fuses its three natures into one.

It is one of the important root treatises of the Yogācāra line. This edition reads it alongside related passages in the Viṃśatikā and Triṃśikā as an interpretive route through Yogācāra doctrine; that is an editorial cross-reading, not a claim of textual dependence among the treatises. The treatise falls into seven chapters, like a physician's sequence: first see the look of the sickness, then name what obscures you, then tell the truth through, then hand you how to practice, what stages it passes, what fruit it ripens, and at last why this vehicle is most ultimate — a small book of a hundred-odd verses that walks a complete path of "seeing — cultivating — realizing" to its end.

Now push open this door.

緒論Introduction

一、彌勒·無著·世親——本論之傳承

《辯中邊論》非一人一手之作，而是瑜伽行一派根本傳承之結晶。漢傳可逐字核者有二層：本頌（kārikā），T1601 題「彌勒菩薩說」；釋論（bhāṣya），T1600 題「世親菩薩造」。窺基又記無著從慈氏受本頌、付世親廣釋（T44n1835 0001a06–10）。安慧另有釋讀，漢地無全疏傳本；本編只在窺基《述記》具名轉述處隨文著錄，不取現代校刊本補寫其文。

本論之頌，漢傳列於「慈氏五論」之一。遁倫《瑜伽論記》所載五論為《瑜伽論》《分別瑜伽論》《大莊嚴論》《辨中邊》《金剛般若》（T42n1828 0311b07–10）。本編只陳此一漢傳可證範圍：本頌出於慈氏一系之傳，其釋出於世親；不以「藏漢無異辭」概括其他傳統，亦不為其餘四論建立跨傳統等同表。

頌與釋之漢譯，先後有二。世親釋之舊譯，為陳·真諦所譯《中邊分別論》二卷（約 557–569）；其新譯，為唐·玄奘所譯《辯中邊論》三卷，又別出《辯中邊論頌》一卷（皆譯於龍朔元年，661，玉華寺）。安慧之疏，漢地未嘗傳譯；本編於疏，有其名而不取其文——凡安慧之說，唯就窺基《述記》所引述者隨段標明，餘者不憑記憶代擬（其故詳第五節）。

世親既為瑜伽行之巨擘，《辯中邊論》之釋與其《二十論》《三十論》同出一手、同屬一系。本編將三論相互參讀，以考察虛妄分別、三性與唯識義理；此是編本之讀路安排，不冒充三論彼此有已由古典明說的寫作依存。

二、《辯中邊論》是什麼

《辯中邊論》者，分辨「中道」於「二邊」之論也。Madhyāntavibhāga 在本編只作題名之通行羅馬字讀音；漢題之義依窺基《述記》：辯為顯了分別，中為離邊之正善，邊為有失之邪偏，「中邊之辯」為依士釋（T44n1835 0001a10–18）。玄奘題作「辯」，真諦題作「分別」，二本品名遂有「辯相品」與「相品」之別。

何謂「中」、何謂「邊」？「邊」者，偏執之兩端：一曰增益——執心所變現者為心外實有；一曰損減——聞空而墮一切皆無之虛無。「中」者，非折二邊而取其半，乃一較二邊俱準之如實見。

此見之骨幹，盡在本論之題眼——第二頌（玄奘譯本逐字）：

虛妄分別有，於此二都無，此中唯有空，於彼亦有此。

四句立中：分別有（破損減之虛無）、二取無（破增益之執實）、空有（真實非在他處）、分別亦有（不墮斷滅）。而此四句，正攝三性於一爐——虛妄分別即依他起（心流之造作，有而不真），其中能取所取之二即遍計所執（妄構之格線，畢竟非有），二既無而所顯之空即圓成實（依他起上離遍計之真如，有而真實）。本論之為「三性根本說之所在」，即在於此。

一事當為讀者明言：題眼偈之首句，玄奘、真諦二譯皆作「虛妄分別有」，無異；而後三句之「此／彼」用字相反（玄奘「於此」「於彼」，真諦「彼處」「於此」）。二本指涉其實相同：玄奘「此」指虛妄分別、「彼」指二空性，世親 T1600 0464b18–22 與窺基 T1835 0002b22 皆有明釋。本編逐段並列此一譯語差異，不默改，也不另造義理論諍。

三、論之全程：七品之弧

《辯中邊論》一百一十三頌，非散列之論點，而是一條從病到癒、首尾完整之修證大道。七品相承，如醫家之次第：

辯相品（一）立全論之眼目——以題眼偈辨中道之相，明虛妄分別攝三性、空之異門與差別，終於「心性本淨、客塵所染」之結。此見道之所依。 辯障品（二）問：實相既爾，何以不見、不證？乃開一張「障」之清單——煩惱、所知二障，九結、三十能障，乃至十地別障，逐一點名。 辯真實品（三）正答「何者為真實」——不予空泛之「真理」，而析「真」為十真實，皆所以除我見；三自性為其根本。 辯修對治品（四）由「見」轉「修」——總攝佛道所修為三十七菩提分（四念住、八斷行、五根五力、七覺八正），而以菩薩之「無所得」別於二乘。 辯修分位品（五）明修之有階——開為十八分位，收為三分位（不淨、淨不淨、清淨）；而於末頌標出：階梯雖歷，無一實我在攀。 辯得果品（六）答「修證何果」——先以阿毘達磨通說之五果，更開為十果，極於佛地。 辯無上乘品（七）終明「此乘何以無上」——曰三無上（正行、所緣、修證），廣於十波羅蜜多、十法行、十無倒、離二邊之中道行，全論結頌而迴向。

合之，即：此是何病 → 何者障汝 → 真相為何 → 如何治之 → 歷何階位 → 證何果相 → 此藥何以最究竟。 一束偈頌，而一條完整之「見—修—證」道盡於是。

至於品數與頌數，漢傳證據明確：T1599、T1600、T1601 均立七品；T1601 共一百一十三頌，窺基亦記「初一總攝，後一結釋，中為正宗」（T44n1835 0001a25–27）。本編逐品、逐頌之編一依此漢傳七品與 [001]–[113] 序位。

四、為何以玄奘漢本為據

本編以唐玄奘所傳之頌（T1601）與釋（T1600）為底本，不更從梵本重譯為漢；真諦舊譯《中邊分別論》（T1599）為參校。此一抉擇，出於本編之自我界定。

玄奘譯頌、釋同出一手、同年譯就，偈與長行分明，又與其所譯《二十論》《三十論》《攝大乘論》《成唯識論》同屬一系，得以相發明而成唯識之全帙——此其一。玄奘去世親之世已逾二百年，然其所承者，乃印度唯識一脈相傳之讀法（玄奘西行，受學於那爛陀戒賢之門）；讀玄奘之譯，所讀者不止一部漢譯，而是唯識一系自印度至漢地一整脈相承之詮釋——此其二。本編之志，正在把這一脈相承之「傳本」作為整體來讀：讀彌勒如何立頌、世親如何釋之、玄奘如何傳之、窺基如何疏之——而非繞過此一傳承，逕向千餘年前之梵本另起爐灶。

真諦舊譯之與新譯並存，使本論自帶一「舊譯／新譯」之對讀軸；二譯於題眼偈「此／彼」之異（見第二節）、於品名用字之異（辯／分別），皆譯本源流之實證，本編逐段〈譯名〉著其同異，不於此贅。

五、既有譯本與研究

《辯中邊論》之梵本校刊、近世譯註與專門研究，固非一家；本編於起草時，亦嘗私覆以自警其誤。然本編之斷限有一定則：所據、所引、所著錄者，唯經與古德——佛所說之經，及去今久遠、其解出於修證之古德論疏。現代學者之譯與研、及晚近梵本之重構校勘，本編一概不列為權證、不加評騭、不著於書目。

此非輕視今人之功，乃出於一信念：經之為據，以其為佛語；古德之可信，以其解出於親證之力，非徒文獻之推。今人之說，縱有可採，亦當還諸今人之名下為一家之言，不宜引之以壓他家、增葛藤於本論。是故本編但以現代之語，重述彌勒所立、世親所釋、玄奘所傳、窺基所疏之《辯中邊論》；於諸現代成果，存而不論。其詳，見全集所附之方法說明。

六、如何讀這部編本

本編一論而分多層，非故為繁複，乃因一部《辯中邊論》所對之讀者不一：有欲徑讀玄奘原文者，有欲先把握全論大勢者，有初接觸唯識而須緩坡者，有欲逐段深考義理、論諍、諸家異釋與譯名者。一本而欲兼應此數種之需，勢必顧此失彼；故本編不強合為一，而分為原文、學術白話、義疏、心要、及逐段疏解數層，各應一種讀法，而以《詞彙對照》貫通其術語。各層之分工、讀法之路徑、逐段疏解之內部結構，以及辯論標記之約定，已詳於〈讀法導引〉，讀者可先取而觀之，按所需擇層而入。

七、《辯中邊論》與現代

《辯中邊論》所辨之二邊——增益與損減——五世紀之印度有之，今人之心亦未嘗無之。執身心世界為鐵打之實有者，增益之邊也；聞「一切皆空」而墮虛無、以為善惡因果俱不足道者，損減之邊也。本論之「中」，不偏於二者之任一，而教人如實見此心流之造作：見其有（不墮虛無），見其所造之二分本空（不墮執實），於是格線雖用而不為所縛。此於今人之受用，初不待轉譯。

本論與現代心理之學容有可對話處（如認知之學亦言「念頭不等於事實」），然唯識所行更深、更系統：不止言某念不可恃，而授人一整套「心如何造起內外世界、又如何看穿」之地圖。然當謹記：此一可對話者，是問題之相應，非學說之等同；古今之間容有迴響，迴響非合流。讀者於此迴響中，或得一思辨之資、一返躬之鏡，而其判斷，仍當還諸讀者自身，與彌勒、世親之文本。

故本緒論至此而止，不更代讀者作結。《辯中邊論》是一條完整的修證之路；讀者既得其傳承之實、其題眼之要、其七品之弧、其於既有成果中之斷限，可自入正文，與彌勒、世親、玄奘之文相見，循「見—修—證」之次第而行。

I. Maitreya, Asaṅga, Vasubandhu — the transmission of this treatise

The Madhyāntavibhāga is not the work of a single hand but the crystallization of a root transmission of the Yogācāra line. Two layers are directly verifiable in the Chinese canon: T1601 identifies the root verses (kārikā) as spoken by Maitreya, and T1600 identifies the commentary (bhāṣya) as composed by Vasubandhu. Kuiji further records that Asaṅga received the verses from Maitreya and entrusted them to Vasubandhu for extended explanation (T44n1835 0001a06–10). Sthiramati had a further interpretation, but no complete Chinese witness of his sub-commentary survives; this edition records his views only where Kuiji names and reports them, without supplying text from a modern Sanskrit edition.

The Chinese transmission counts this work among the “five treatises of Maitreya.” Dunlun's Yujia lun ji lists the five as the Yogācārabhūmi, the Fenbie yujia lun, the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, the Madhyāntavibhāga, and the Vajracchedikā commentary (T42n1828 0311b07–10). This edition confines itself to that canonically attested Chinese record: the verses belong to the Maitreya transmission and their commentary to Vasubandhu. It does not generalize this as a cross-traditional consensus or construct equivalences for the other four works.

The verses and commentary were rendered into Chinese twice. The older translation of Vasubandhu's commentary is Paramārtha's Zhongbian fenbie lun in two fascicles (c. 557–569); the newer is Xuanzang's Bianzhongbian lun in three fascicles, with the verses also issued separately as the Bianzhongbian lun song in one fascicle (both translated in the first year of Longshuo, 661, at Yuhua Monastery). Sthiramati's sub-commentary was never transmitted into Chinese. This edition therefore keeps the name but does not use an unattested text: whatever of Sthiramati's readings is cited by Kuiji's commentarial record is marked section by section, and nothing further is supplied from memory in his name (the reason is given in §V).

Vasubandhu, a giant of the Yogācāra, composed the commentary on this treatise by the same hand and within the same line as his Viṃśatikā and Triṃśikā. This edition reads the three works together in order to examine unreal imagination, the three natures, and consciousness-only. That is an editorial reading path, not a claim that the classical texts themselves expressly state a line of compositional dependence.

II. What the Madhyāntavibhāga is

The Madhyāntavibhāga is the treatise that distinguishes the “middle” from the “extremes.” In this edition the romanized title serves only as a pronunciation aid. The meaning of the Chinese title follows Kuiji: 辯 is the teaching that makes a distinction clear, 中 is the right and wholesome that departs from extremes, 邊 is the deviant and faulty extreme, and “the distinguishing of middle and extremes” is a other-dependent compound (T44n1835 0001a10–18). Xuanzang titles the first chapter 辯相品; Paramārtha titles its counterpart 相品.

What is the "middle," and what are the "extremes"? The "extremes" are the two ends of biased grasping: one is superimposition — taking what consciousness fabricates to be real apart from the mind; the other is denial — hearing "emptiness" and falling into a nihilism in which nothing exists at all. The "middle" is not a halving of the two extremes to take their mean, but a seeing-as-it-is that is more accurate than either.

The backbone of this view lies wholly in the treatise's eye — the second verse (Xuanzang's Chinese, word for word):

虛妄分別有，於此二都無，此中唯有空，於彼亦有此。

The unreal imagination exists; in it, the two do not exist at all. Here there is only emptiness; and in that, this too exists.

Four lines establish the middle: the imagination exists (against the nihilism of denial), the two grasped-and-grasper are absent (against the reification of superimposition), emptiness exists (the real is not elsewhere), the imagination also exists (no falling into annihilation). And these four lines gather the three natures into one furnace: unreal imagination is the other-dependent nature (paratantra — the mind-stream's fabrication, existent but not real); the duality of grasper and grasped within it is the wholly-imagined nature (parikalpita — the fabricated line, ultimately non-existent); the emptiness that is disclosed once the duality is absent is the perfectly-accomplished nature (pariniṣpanna — the thusness left on the other-dependent nature when the imputed is removed, existent and real). That this treatise is "the locus of the foundational account of the three natures" lies just here.

One matter to make plain for the reader: the first line of the eye-verse is rendered 「虛妄分別有」“the unreal imagination exists” in both Xuanzang and Paramārtha, without divergence; the “this/that” wording in the following lines is reversed. Their referents, however, agree: Xuanzang's “this” is unreal imagination and “that” is the emptiness of the two, as Vasubandhu explains at T1600 0464b18–22 and Kuiji confirms at T1835 0002b22. This edition therefore records a difference of deictic wording without manufacturing a doctrinal dispute.

III. The whole course of the treatise: the arc of seven chapters

The hundred and thirteen verses of the Madhyāntavibhāga are no scatter of separate points, but a complete great path of cultivation-and-realization, whole from sickness to cure. The seven chapters follow one upon another, like a physician's sequence:

Distinguishing the Characteristics (1) establishes the eye of the whole — distinguishing the characteristic of the middle by the eye-verse, showing that unreal imagination gathers the three natures, the synonyms and distinctions of emptiness, and closing on 「心性本淨、客塵所染」"mind's nature is originally pure, defiled by adventitious dust." This is what the path of seeing rests on. Distinguishing the Obscurations (2) asks: reality being thus, why is it not seen, not realized? It draws up a list of "obscurations" — the afflictive and cognitive obscurations, the nine fetters, the thirty hindering causes, on to the distinct obscurations of the ten grounds, each named in turn. Distinguishing the Real (3) answers head-on "what is the real" — giving no vague "truth," but analyzing the "real" into ten reals, all serving to remove the view of self; the three natures are their root. Distinguishing the Cultivation of Antidotes (4) turns from "seeing" to "practice" — gathering all that the Buddha-path cultivates into the thirty-seven limbs of awakening (the four foundations of mindfulness, the eight applications, the five faculties and five powers, the seven factors and the eightfold path), distinguishing the bodhisattva by "non-apprehension" from the two vehicles. Distinguishing the Stages of Cultivation (5) shows that practice has its stages — unfolded as eighteen stages, gathered into three (impure, pure-and-impure, pure); and at its closing verse it marks: though the stairway is climbed, there is no real self climbing it. Distinguishing the Fruits Attained (6) answers "what fruit is realized" — first by the five fruits of common Abhidharma teaching, then unfolded into ten fruits, culminating in the buddha-ground. Distinguishing the Unsurpassed Vehicle (7) finally shows "why this vehicle is unsurpassed" — by the three unsurpassed (practice, object, realization), elaborated through the ten perfections, the ten dharma-practices, the ten non-perversions, and the middle-way practice that departs from the two extremes; the whole treatise closes on its concluding verse and dedication.

Together this is: what the sickness is → what obscures you → what the truth is → how to treat it → what stages it passes → what fruit-state is realized → why this medicine is most ultimate. One garland of verses, and one complete path of "seeing — cultivating — realizing" is told to its end.

The Chinese evidence is explicit about both chapter and verse counts: T1599, T1600, and T1601 each establish seven chapters; T1601 contains one hundred thirteen verses, and Kuiji likewise records “the first is the general summary, the last the concluding explanation, and the middle the main body” (T44n1835 0001a25–27). This edition follows those seven chapters and the [001]–[113] sequence throughout.

IV. Why Xuanzang's Chinese as the source of record

This edition takes Xuanzang's transmitted verses (T1601) and commentary (T1600) as its base text, and does not re-translate the treatise into Chinese from the Sanskrit; Paramārtha's older translation, the Zhongbian fenbie lun (T1599), serves as a parallel for collation. The choice follows from how this edition understands itself.

Xuanzang's verse and commentary issued from one hand in one year, with verse and prose kept distinct, and they belong to the same line as his translations of the Viṃśatikā, Triṃśikā, Mahāyāna-saṃgraha, and Cheng weishi lun, so that they may be read together as one whole body of Yogācāra — this first. Xuanzang stood more than two centuries after Vasubandhu; yet what he inherited was the reading handed down within the Indian Yogācāra lineage (Xuanzang journeyed west and studied under Śīlabhadra at Nālandā); to read Xuanzang's translation is to read not one Chinese version but a whole transmitted interpretation of the Yogācāra line, carried from India into China — this second. This edition's aim is to read that transmitted text as a whole: how Maitreya set the verses, how Vasubandhu commented, how Xuanzang transmitted them, how Kuiji glossed them — rather than to bypass the transmission and begin afresh from a Sanskrit settled more than a thousand years ago.

That Paramārtha's older translation survives alongside the new gives this treatise a built-in "old translation / new translation" axis for comparison; the divergence of the two versions at the eye-verse's "this/that" (see §II) and in the wording of the chapter titles (辯 / 分別) are alike attested facts of the versions' descent, set out in the per-section Translation Choices and not labored here.

V. Existing translations and scholarship

The critical editions of the Sanskrit, the recent translations and annotations, and the specialized studies of the Madhyāntavibhāga are, to be sure, more than one; in drafting, this edition has privately consulted them as a guard against its own error. But the bounds of this edition are set by a fixed rule: what it rests on, cites, and records is canonical scripture and the ancient masters alone — the scripture spoken by the Buddha, and the commentarial treatises of the ancient masters whose understanding issued from realization, far removed from us in time. The translations and studies of modern scholars, and the recent reconstructed editions of the Sanskrit, this edition does not list as authority, does not appraise, and does not record in its bibliography.

This is not to slight the labor of the moderns, but follows from a conviction: scripture is authoritative because it is the Buddha's word; the ancient masters are trustworthy because their understanding issued from the power of direct realization, not from documentary inference alone. The moderns' views, however serviceable, are best returned to the moderns' own names as the word of one school, not invoked to override others and add entanglement to this treatise. And so this edition only restates, in modern language, the Madhyāntavibhāga that Maitreya established, Vasubandhu commented, Xuanzang transmitted, and Kuiji glossed; of the modern findings it keeps silence rather than verdict. For the detail, see the methodology statement appended to the collection.

VI. How this edition is built

That one treatise is presented in several layers is not complication for its own sake, but follows from the fact that the Madhyāntavibhāga meets more than one kind of reader: one who would read Xuanzang's Chinese directly; one who would first grasp the sweep of the whole; one meeting Yogācāra for the first time, who needs a gentler slope; one who would study each section in turn for its doctrine, its debate, its commentarial forks, and its lexical choices. A single book trying to serve all of these at once must fail one for another; so this edition divides into the source text, the scholarly vernacular, the exposition, the Essentials, and the per-section apparatus — each answering one way of reading — with the Glossary running through them to hold the vocabulary together. How the layers divide the labor, the paths of reading, the internal structure of the per-section apparatus, and the convention for marking the debate are all set out in the Reading Guide, which the reader may take up first and, according to need, choose the layer by which to enter.

VII. The Madhyāntavibhāga and the modern reader

The two extremes the Madhyāntavibhāga distinguishes — superimposition and denial — were present in fifth-century India, and are not absent from the mind of a reader today. To take body, mind, and world as iron-cast reality is the extreme of superimposition; to hear "all is empty" and fall into nihilism, holding good and evil and cause and effect not worth regarding, is the extreme of denial. The "middle" of this treatise leans to neither, but teaches one to see, as it is, the fabrication of this mind-stream: to see that it exists (not falling into nihilism), to see that the duality it fabricates is empty (not falling into reification), so that the line, though used, no longer binds. Its benefit to a reader today waits on no transposition.

This treatise may have something to say to modern psychology (cognitive approaches, too, say "a thought is not a fact"); yet what Yogācāra undertakes goes deeper and is more systematic: it not only says some thought is unreliable, but hands one a whole map of "how mind raises up an inner and outer world, and how it sees through." Yet one must keep in mind: this conversability is a correspondence of problems, not an identity of doctrines; there may be an echo between old and new, and an echo is not a confluence. In that echo the reader may find something to think with, a mirror to turn back upon himself; but the judgment remains the reader's own, together with the text of Maitreya and Vasubandhu.

Here, then, this introduction stops, and does not draw the conclusion in the reader's place. The Madhyāntavibhāga is a complete path of cultivation-and-realization; the reader who now holds the fact of its transmission, the gist of its eye-verse, the arc of its seven chapters, and the bounds it observes among the existing work may enter the text itself, meet the words of Maitreya, Vasubandhu, and Xuanzang, and walk the sequence of "seeing — cultivating — realizing."

讀法How to read

本編本不是單一文本，而是一組分層的讀本。同一部《辯中邊論》，依讀者所需的深度，以五種方式呈現；每一連續讀本又各分漢、英兩種語言的姊妹本。本導引先說明這五層的分工，再給出讀法的路徑，最後說明逐段疏解的內部結構與辯論標記的約定，使讀者在翻開任何一品之前，先掌握全編的地圖。

一、五層讀本

原文本——彌勒頌（玄奘譯《辯中邊論頌》，T1601）與世親釋長行（玄奘譯《辯中邊論》，T1600）之逐字本，依底本斷句，僅出校勘異文之註。這是彌勒所說、世親所釋、玄奘所譯的文本本身，供能讀古漢語者通讀其全。

學術白話本——全品連續的現代漢語譯本，及其英譯姊妹本。每偈先列玄奘譯頌之原文（逐字原文，未改一字），緊接現代漢語疏解；頌文所折疊的論證層次，於疏解中攤開。其語體為現代學術漢語，古技術詞全保留。此層使讀者能將全品作為一個連貫的論說來讀。

義疏本——介於白話與逐段疏解之間的一層，以今語逐段開講一品之義理脈絡，保留釋家名相而不出梵文、台藏號之繁，使讀者得全品義理之中道分量，而不為考據所阻。亦分漢、英姊妹本。

逐段疏解——七品，依世親釋與窺基記之科判分為若干「義段」，每段一展開：所辯之偈、論諍脈絡、世親釋要、諸家異釋、譯名抉擇、四論互讀。此層不重複連續讀本，而是逐段深考。另有《詞彙對照》一檔，匯集全論技術詞之漢字、梵文與簡釋，供查檢；《引用書目與偈頌對照》著錄底本源流並列一百一十三頌之對照表。

心要本——每品一篇登陸短文，取最易入之現代語，為初接觸唯識者所設的緩坡，揭一品之問與答而引入。亦分漢、英姊妹本。

二、讀法路徑

一、通讀原文。 能讀古漢語者，可逕讀玄奘所譯之頌與釋，先與彌勒、世親、玄奘的文字本身相見，再參其餘各層。

二、通讀白話或義疏。 欲先把握全論大勢者，循品通讀學術白話本，或取義疏本得其義理脈絡。《辯中邊論》是一條「見—修—證」首尾相承的路——連續通讀方見其一氣呵成。

三、逐段精讀。 既得全論大勢，再入逐段疏解，一段一段深考其義理、論諍與譯名。

四、心要入門。 初接觸唯識而覺前三條皆陡者，可自心要本起步，每品先讀其一篇短文，俟得其大意，再循序而上。

三、逐段疏解之結構

每品考據之首，先列〈科判定位〉一節——錄窺基《辯中邊論述記》之科文（逐字校 CBETA），對位玄奘頌與本品各義段，顯義段所依之古德科判。其下，每一義段之疏解依同一格式：

段首——列該段所辯之偈（玄奘頌逐字原文）及其段題（依世親釋·窺基記之科判，已定稿）。

深入三門——〈論諍／義理脈絡〉指明此處所辨之中道、所破之偏執，及其在全品中的位置；〈世親釋要〉提挈世親長行之要義；〈諸家異釋〉列古德讀法之異同（漢傳唯窺基述記具存，故主據窺基；安慧之說唯就窺基所引者隨段標明）；〈譯名——古譯對讀〉辨玄奘與真諦於同一語詞上的抉擇。

四論互讀圖——以本段義理為樞，連向《二十論》《三十論》《攝大乘論》《成唯識論》之相應處，俾讀者見一義在唯識全系中之脈絡。

經與古德——所引之經（佛說）與古德論，散見〈論諍〉〈世親釋要〉，皆自譯其文、標其出處。

四、文體與辯論標記之約定

《辯中邊論》為頌、釋並行之體：彌勒之頌立綱領，世親之釋顯其所以然。原文「頌曰」「論曰」之文體標記一仍其舊，不代以「彌勒說」「世親說」之類——「頌曰」領彌勒頌，「論曰」領世親釋，二者之分即頌與釋之分。

世親釋中時有論主與對者之往復問答，而古漢語每將對話的層次折疊在文氣之中。為使這一辯論結構在現代漢語裡看得見，本編於對話切換處以方括號顯式標出：

〔難曰：⋯⋯〕——對者或論敵提出詰難；〔答曰：⋯⋯〕——論主作答。

如此，讀者一眼可辨何處是難、何處是答，不致將兩造之言混為一氣。

梵文一項，於本編為讀音之助，依術語本字之標準羅馬轉寫，非取自現代梵本之校勘；古德有音寫者特標（如窺基拆「空」śūnya、「空性」śūnyatā，明 -tā 即「性」義）。技術詞於首次出現處或附薄註，其後直用本字；欲詳考者，可檢《詞彙對照》。

This edition is not a single text but a set of layered readings. The one Madhyāntavibhāga is presented five ways, according to the depth a reader wants; each continuous reading also comes as a pair of language-pure sister files, one Chinese and one English. This guide first sets out what the five layers do, then offers the paths into the work, and finally explains the internal structure of the per-section apparatus and the convention used to mark the debate — so that before opening any single chapter, the reader holds a map of the whole.

I. The Five Layers

The source text — the word-for-word Chinese of Maitreya's verses (Xuanzang's Bianzhongbian lun song, T1601) together with Vasubandhu's prose commentary (Xuanzang's Bianzhongbian lun, T1600), punctuated to the base edition, annotated only where the witnesses diverge. This is the text Maitreya spoke, Vasubandhu commented, and Xuanzang translated, for the reader who can read it whole in the classical language.

The scholarly vernacular (Chinese and English) — a continuous modern Chinese translation of each chapter and its English sister. Each verse is first given in Xuanzang's source wording (verbatim, not one word changed), followed at once by a modern exposition; the layers of argument folded into the verse are unfolded in the exposition. Its register is modern scholarly language, with the inherited technical vocabulary kept intact. This layer lets the reader take a whole chapter as one continuous discourse.

The exposition (yishu) — a layer between the vernacular and the per-section apparatus, expounding a chapter's doctrinal sinews section by section in modern language, keeping the commentarial terminology while sparing the reader the thicket of Sanskrit and Taishō references, so that the reader may take the chapter's full doctrinal weight without being barred by the textual scholarship. It too comes as Chinese and English sisters.

The per-section apparatus — seven chapters, divided by the exegetical outline of Vasubandhu's commentary and Kuiji's record into a number of "sense-sections," each opened in turn: the verse under discussion, the sinews of the debate, the gist of Vasubandhu's commentary, the divergent readings of the commentators, the lexical choices, and the cross-reading of the four treatises. This layer does not repeat the continuous readings; it goes deep section by section. A companion Glossary file gathers the treatise's technical terms — Chinese, Sanskrit, and a brief gloss — for lookup; a Bibliography and Verse Concordance records the descent of the base editions and lists the hundred and thirteen verses in a concordance table.

The Essentials (xinyao) — one short landing essay per chapter, in the most approachable modern language, a gentle slope for the reader meeting Yogācāra for the first time, raising a chapter's question-and-answer to draw the reader in. It too comes as Chinese and English sisters.

II. Paths of Reading

1. Read the source whole. A reader at home in classical Chinese may go straight to the verses and commentary Xuanzang translated, and meet the words of Maitreya, Vasubandhu, and Xuanzang first, then consult the other layers.

2. Read the vernacular or the exposition whole. To grasp the sweep of the whole first, read through the scholarly vernacular chapter by chapter, or take the exposition for its doctrinal sinews. The Madhyāntavibhāga is a path of "seeing — cultivating — realizing," whole from beginning to end — and only a continuous reading shows it as the single sustained motion it is.

3. Read section by section. With the shape of the whole in hand, enter the per-section apparatus and work through each section's doctrine, debate, and lexical choices one at a time.

4. Enter by the Essentials. A reader new to Yogācāra who finds all three steep may begin from the Essentials, reading one short essay per chapter, and once the sense is gained, climb from there.

III. Anatomy of the Per-Section Apparatus

Each chapter's apparatus opens with a Doctrinal Outline (科判定位) — Kuiji's structural outline (科判) from his Commentarial Record, quoted verbatim (collated against CBETA) and mapped to Xuanzang's verses and to the chapter's sense-sections, showing the patristic basis of the segmentation. Below it, each sense-section is treated in the same form:

Section head — the verse the section discusses (Xuanzang's verse, verbatim) and its section title (settled by the exegetical outline of Vasubandhu's commentary and Kuiji's record).

Three Doorways Deeper — The Debate · Doctrinal Context identifies the middle being distinguished here, the biased grasping being refuted, and the section's place within the chapter; From Vasubandhu's Commentary draws out the gist of his prose; Commentarial Forks sets out where the ancient masters read differently (only Kuiji's record survives whole in Chinese, so Kuiji is the main basis; Sthiramati's readings are marked section by section only where Kuiji cites them); Translation Choices · Two Ancient Witnesses weighs how Xuanzang and Paramārtha decided the same terms.

Cross-reading of the Four Treatises — taking the section's doctrine as a hub, links to the corresponding places in the Viṃśatikā, Triṃśikā, Mahāyāna-saṃgraha, and Cheng weishi lun, so the reader sees one point in its sinews across the whole Yogācāra system.

Scripture and the ancient masters — the scripture cited (the Buddha's word) and the ancient masters' treatises, found within The Debate and From Vasubandhu's Commentary, each rendered by the translator with its source marked.

IV. The Convention for Marking the Debate

The Madhyāntavibhāga is a text of verse-and-commentary running together: Maitreya's verses set the outline, Vasubandhu's commentary shows why it is so. The source's own genre-markers — the verse says (頌曰) and the treatise says (論曰) — are kept rather than replaced with phrasings like "Maitreya states" or "Vasubandhu states": the verse says heads Maitreya's verse, the treatise says heads Vasubandhu's commentary, and the difference between them is the difference between verse and commentary.

Within Vasubandhu's commentary there are at times turns of objection-and-answer between proponent and opponent, which classical Chinese often folds into the flow of the prose. So that the structure of the debate stays visible in modern language, this edition marks each change of speaker explicitly, in brackets:

[An objection: …] — an opponent or objector raises a challenge; [A reply: …] — the proponent answers.

The reader can thus tell at a glance which lines are objection and which are answer, and not run the two parties' words together.

The Sanskrit, in this edition, is an aid to pronunciation, given in the standard romanization of the term's own form, not drawn from modern critical editions of the Sanskrit; where an ancient master left a transcription it is specially marked (as Kuiji parses 空 śūnya and 空性 śūnyatā, showing that the suffix -tā carries the sense of "-ness, nature"). A technical term may carry a light note at its first appearance and is used bare thereafter; the reader who wants more may consult the Glossary.

凡例Conventions

本編以《辯中邊論》為唯識一系的重要根本論之一——彌勒立頌、世親作釋。本編並將「虛妄分別、空有不二」與《二十論》《三十論》《攝大乘論》《成唯識論》相關義節互讀；此為編輯上的閱讀路徑，不作諸論成書先後或文本依存關係的斷言。下列凡例，乃本書全編所循之體例，俾讀者明其取捨。

一、底本與校本

底本：唐·玄奘譯《辯中邊論》（世親釋，T31n1600·三卷）與《辯中邊論頌》（彌勒本頌，T31n1601·一卷·113 頌），龍朔元年（661）玉華寺同出一手、同年譯就。偈與長行分明，法相一宗所據；本書源文一層即依此逐字錄出。偈頌編號、逐頌定位皆依 T1601（CBETA 序，[001] 為標目頌 uddāna）。
異譯校本（對校之用·非底本）：陳·真諦譯《中邊分別論》（世親釋舊譯，T31n1599·二卷·約 557–569）。玄奘「辯」即真諦「分別」（梵同 vibhāga），玄奘「辯相品」即真諦「相品」。逐段〈譯名〉所引「真諦讀法」即指此本，著其同異，不判孰譯為勝。
本論有經內平行（異於楞伽之三譯對勘軸）：以本段義理為樞，逐段〈四論互讀圖〉連向《二十論》《三十論》《攝大乘論》《成唯識論》之相應處，俾讀者見一義在唯識全系中之脈絡。

二、梵文體例

安慧《辯中邊論釋疏》（ṭīkā）漢無傳本，梵疏唯存現代校本；本書有其名而不取其文。凡安慧之說，唯就窺基述記所引述者隨段標明，餘不憑記憶代擬。
凡見梵文羅馬字（IAST），唯為發音輔助，依古德所傳而立——古德之音寫與勘梵本（如窺基拆「空」śūnya 瞬若、「空性」śūnyatā 瞬若多，明 -tā 即「性」義）——非取自現代校本（世親釋之近世梵本重構，列名不取其文——梵文唯取古德所傳，今世校本不入）。無古德音寫可據者，從闕不臆。
梵文羅馬字是還詞音之具，非論文之據。

三、考據層體例

考據層唯載典據原文：經、古德、玄奘·真諦二譯異文、科判、術語之古德所傳梵。凡非典據原文之說，一律不入。
不立「譯者按」目，亦不留待撰空目；凡不能確認典據原文來源者，不錄。
考據所引，唯經與古德：經（佛語）與古德（古來祖師之釋——世親釋要·窺基述記為主），不引現代學者之說（依本書 Rule 9）。
古德之引，皆逐字錄、一字不易，虛字得省且標〔…〕；逐字對藏經原文核訖。
本論考據不立「東西對觀」目：辯中邊為唯識內部之根本論，無西方足與古德讀法並陳者；明記其刪，不留空目。

四、語言純度

漢文讀本正文全純漢。唯三類非漢字得存：梵文羅馬字（古德所傳·發音輔助）、藏經號（T 號·頁行）、紀年。
考據層正文亦全純漢；英文 meta 詞一律用定譯（典據原文／校本／穩定徵引／出處／逐字校訖之類）。
英文姊妹本之考據作雙語：所引漢文典據原文存其本貌，另附英文，英文不取代漢文校勘。

五、稱謂

佛陀、如來，一律以「祂」稱之。

六、出處標示

引文出處作〔T31 PPPP〕之式，或徑標藏經號加頁行（如 T31n1600 0464b12）。
跨行則標其範圍；出處落於所引句實際所在之行。

七、白話層體例

白話讀本每偈先列玄奘譯本頌文（未改一字），緊接現代漢語疏解。頌文折疊之論證層次，於疏解中攤開；〔難〕〔答〕標示論主與對者之問答。技術詞（虛妄分別、能取所取、三性等）首見薄註，後文直用本字。各品白話讀本卷首之本品提要，惟述本品所辨之義。

八、辯論標記

世親釋中時有論主與對者之往復問答，古漢語每將對話折疊於文氣。本編於對話切換處以方括號顯式標出：〔難曰：⋯⋯〕標對者詰難，〔答曰：⋯⋯〕標論主作答。原文「頌曰」領彌勒頌、「論曰」領世親釋之文體標記，一仍其舊。

九、題跋

各層讀本末綴題跋，全純漢，以季節題年，不用 slug、不用阿拉伯數字品次、不用西曆日期。式如：

釋慧鏡 · 指月 · 辯中邊 · 品〔中文品次〕〔品名〕 · 〔層：白話／義疏／考據／心要〕 · 2026 春

This edition treats the Madhyāntavibhāga as one of the important root treatises of the Yogācāra tradition — Maitreya set the verses and Vasubandhu wrote the commentary. It cross-reads their account of "unreal imagination, emptiness and existence not-two" with related passages in the Viṃśatikā, Triṃśikā, Mahāyāna-saṃgraha, and Cheng weishi lun; this is an editorial reading path, not a claim about composition order or textual dependence. The conventions below govern the whole edition, so that the reader may see what is included and on what footing.

1. Base Text and Collation Witness

Base text: Xuanzang's Bianzhongbian lun (Vasubandhu's commentary, T31n1600 · three fascicles) and Bianzhongbian lun song (Maitreya's root verses, T31n1601 · one fascicle · 113 verses), issued from one hand in one year, translated in the first year of Longshuo (661) at Yuhua Monastery. Verse and prose are kept distinct; this is the base of the Faxiang school, and the source layer of this edition is taken verbatim from it. The verse-numbering and locators follow T1601 (the CBETA sequence, [001] the summary verse, uddāna).
Alternate-translation collation witness (for collation only — not the base): Paramārtha's Zhongbian fenbie lun (the older translation of Vasubandhu's commentary, T31n1599 · two fascicles · c. 557–569). Xuanzang's 辯 ("distinguish") is Paramārtha's 分別 (both Sanskrit vibhāga); Xuanzang's "Chapter on Distinguishing the Characteristics" is Paramārtha's "Chapter on the Characteristics." The "Paramārtha reading" cited in the per-section Translation Choices refers to this version, its agreements and divergences noted, with no verdict as to which rendering is superior.
This treatise has an intra-canonical parallel (unlike the Laṅkā's three-translation collation axis): taking a section's doctrine as a hub, the per-section Cross-reading of the Four Treatises links to the corresponding places in the Viṃśatikā, Triṃśikā, Mahāyāna-saṃgraha, and Cheng weishi lun, so the reader sees one point in its sinews across the whole Yogācāra system.

2. Sanskrit Policy

Sthiramati's Madhyāntavibhāga-ṭīkā (ṭīkā) is not transmitted into Chinese; the Sanskrit sub-commentary survives only in modern critical editions. This edition keeps its name but does not use its text: whatever of Sthiramati's readings is cited by Kuiji's record is marked section by section, and nothing further is supplied from memory in his name.
Where Romanized Sanskrit (IAST) appears, it is a pronunciation aid only, established on what the ancient masters transmitted — their transliterations and collation notes (as Kuiji parses 空 śūnya and 空性 śūnyatā, showing that the suffix -tā carries the sense of "-ness, nature") — and is not drawn from modern critical editions (the recent reconstructed Sanskrit of Vasubandhu's commentary is named but its wording not adopted — the Sanskrit is taken only as the ancient masters transmitted it; modern critical editions are not admitted). Where no ancient-master transliteration is available to stand on, the form is left blank rather than conjectured.
The Romanized form is a device for recovering the term's sound, not an authority for the treatise's wording.

3. Apparatus (Critical Layer)

The apparatus carries canonical verbatim only: scripture, the ancient masters, the variant readings between Xuanzang's and Paramārtha's translations, the structural outlines (kēpàn), and the ancient-master-transmitted Sanskrit of technical terms. Whatever is not canonical verbatim is excluded.
There is no "translator's note" rubric, and no placeholder for material yet to be written; anything whose canonical-verbatim source cannot be confirmed is not recorded.
The apparatus cites scripture and the ancient masters only — the Buddha's word and the classical commentarial masters' expositions (chiefly the gist of Vasubandhu's commentary and Kuiji's record) — and does not cite modern scholarship (per this edition's Rule 9).
Citations of the ancient masters are verbatim, not a character altered; only function-words may be elided, marked 〔…〕; each is checked character by character against CBETA.
For this treatise the apparatus sets no "East–West Comparison" rubric: the Madhyāntavibhāga is an internal Yogācāra root treatise, with no Western reading fit to set beside that of the ancient masters; the omission is recorded, and no empty rubric is left in its place.

4. Language Purity

The Chinese reading text is fully Han-pure. Only three classes of non-Han characters are admitted: Romanized Sanskrit (ancient-master-transmitted · pronunciation aid), canon numbers (T numbers · page-and-line), and calendar years.
The apparatus text in Chinese is likewise fully Han-pure; English meta-vocabulary is rendered by fixed Chinese equivalents (canonical verbatim → 典據原文, witness → 校本, stable citation → 穩定徵引, locus → 出處, byte-verified → 逐字校訖, and the like).
The English-sister apparatus is bilingual: the cited Han canonical verbatim is preserved in its original form, with English added; the English does not replace the Han collation.

5. Pronoun

The Buddha and the Tathāgata are referred to with the reverential pronoun 祂.

6. Locus Citation

A citation's locus is given as 〔T31 PPPP〕, or directly as canon-number plus page-and-line (e.g. T31n1600 0464b12).
Where a passage spans lines, the range is marked; the locus falls on the actual line where the cited passage stands.

7. Plain-Reading Layer Format

In the plain-reading (baihua) layer, each verse first gives Xuanzang's Chinese verbatim (the source, preserved in full as a visual anchor), followed by a continuous English rendering that unfolds the verse's compressed argument. 〔Objection〕/〔Reply〕 mark the implicit debate between the proponent and the opponent. The chapter note at the head of each plain reading states only what that chapter expounds.

8. Marking the Debate

Within Vasubandhu's commentary there are at times turns of objection-and-answer between proponent and opponent, which classical Chinese folds into the flow of the prose. This edition marks each change of speaker explicitly, in brackets: [An objection: …] for the opponent's challenge, [A reply: …] for the proponent's answer. The source's own genre-markers — 頌曰 heading Maitreya's verse and 論曰 heading Vasubandhu's commentary — are kept unchanged.

9. Colophon

Each reading layer closes with a seasonal colophon, fully Han-pure, dated by season — no slug, no Arabic chapter number, no ISO date. In the form:

Shi Huijing · 指月 · Madhyāntavibhāga · Chapter [Chinese chapter number] [chapter name] · [layer: Vernacular / Exposition / Apparatus / Heart-Essence] · Spring 2026

譯者Translator

本論之作者　彌勒·世親

《辯中邊論》非一人一手之作。本頌（kārikā）相傳彌勒菩薩所說，無著菩薩受而傳之於世，漢傳「彌勒五論」之列見遁倫《瑜伽論記》（T42n1828 0311b07–10）。釋論（bhāṣya）世親菩薩造，逐頌開其義。本編另將本論與《二十論》《三十論》的相關義節互參；這是閱讀編排，不作文本依存關係的斷言。

原典譯者　玄奘

本書所譯之底本，為唐·三藏法師玄奘奉詔譯《辯中邊論》三卷（世親釋，T31n1600）及《辯中邊論頌》一卷（彌勒本頌，T31n1601），皆龍朔元年（661）譯於玉華寺。

玄奘（602–664），洛州緱氏人。少年出家，遍謁諸師而慨然於義理之異；貞觀初年西行求法，歷十七年，行五萬里，至那爛陀，受學於戒賢論師之門，通瑜伽行一系相傳之讀法。歸而譯經論七十五部一千三百餘卷，法相唯識之全帙由此立。玄奘去世親之世已逾二百年，然其所承者，乃印度唯識一脈相傳之讀法；讀玄奘之譯，所讀者不止一部漢譯，而是唯識一系自印度至漢地一整脈相承之詮釋。凡玄奘已立之譯詞，本書悉遵不易。惟本論古來新舊二譯並存，故譯名之比較，立於玄奘、真諦二漢傳校本之間。

異譯校證　真諦

玄奘新譯之外，世親釋尚有陳·真諦所譯《中邊分別論》二卷（T31n1599·約 557–569），是為舊譯，本書取以為逐字對勘之異譯校本。玄奘「辯」即真諦「分別」（梵同 vibhāga）；二譯於題眼偈「此／彼」指代之異、於品名用字之異，皆譯本源流之實證。本書對勘唯徵引二譯之異同，以顯本論文義，不判孰譯為勝。

古德釋家　窺基

玄奘弟子窺基（632–682），慈恩一宗之祖，撰《辯中邊論述記》三卷（T44n1835），逐句疏記本論，今存最完整之漢傳古德釋；本書各段〈諸家異釋〉所列即主據此記。安慧《辯中邊論釋疏》（ṭīkā）漢無傳本，唯窺基述記所引述者隨段標明。

本譯注者　釋慧鏡

本英譯與注疏，釋慧鏡譯注。

本書承玄奘所譯之漢傳頌·釋為據，將之再譯為英文，並依經、依古德疏記，逐品構其義疏與校勘。玄奘以譯場眾手成譯，今則以協作型AI輔一致性校驗、平行文本掃描與格式正規化；唯人自報不足憑，須以機械校驗器為據。凡義理詞之取定、段落詮釋之抉擇、異本之取捨，皆出譯注者一人之裁。此一譯業，續玄奘譯漢弘傳之願，承其法脈於英語世界。

AI於指月計畫各端之角色，總說維護於 waken.org/methodology。

The Authors of the Treatise — Maitreya and Vasubandhu

The Madhyāntavibhāga is not the work of a single hand. The root verses (kārikā) are, by tradition, spoken by Maitreya and handed down to the world through Asaṅga; the Chinese list of the "five treatises of Maitreya" is attested in Dunlun's Yuqie lun ji (T42n1828 0311b07–10). The commentary (bhāṣya) is Vasubandhu's, opening the sense verse by verse. This edition also cross-reads the treatise with related passages in the Viṃśatikā and Triṃśikā; that is an editorial arrangement, not a claim of textual dependence.

Translator of the Base Text — Xuanzang

The base text this edition translates is the Bianzhongbian lun in three fascicles (Vasubandhu's commentary, T31n1600) and the Bianzhongbian lun song in one fascicle (Maitreya's root verses, T31n1601), both rendered into Chinese by imperial commission by the Tang tripiṭaka master Xuanzang, and both translated in the first year of Longshuo (661) at Yuhua Monastery.

Xuanzang (602–664) was a man of Goushi in Luozhou. He left home young, and, calling on master after master, grew troubled by the divergence in their doctrine; in the early Zhenguan years he journeyed west in search of the Dharma, over seventeen years and fifty thousand li, reaching Nālandā, where he studied under Śīlabhadra and mastered the reading handed down within the Yogācāra line. Returning, he translated seventy-five works of scripture and treatise in over thirteen hundred fascicles, and the whole body of Faxiang Yogācāra was established thereby. Xuanzang stood more than two centuries after Vasubandhu; yet what he inherited was the reading handed down within the Indian Yogācāra lineage — to read Xuanzang's translation is to read not one Chinese version but a whole transmitted interpretation of the Yogācāra line, carried from India into China. Wherever Xuanzang fixed a rendering, this edition keeps it unchanged. Yet an old and a new translation of this treatise have coexisted since antiquity, and so the comparison of renderings stands between the two Chinese witnesses — Xuanzang and Paramārtha.

The Variant Translation for Collation — Paramārtha

Beyond Xuanzang's newer translation, Vasubandhu's commentary survives also in Paramārtha's Zhongbian fenbie lun in two fascicles (T31n1599 · c. 557–569), the older translation, which this edition takes as an alternate-translation witness for word-by-word collation. Xuanzang's 辯 ("distinguish") is Paramārtha's 分別 (both Sanskrit vibhāga); the divergence of the two versions at the eye-verse's "this/that" deixis, and in the wording of the chapter titles, are alike attested facts of the versions' descent. This edition cites only the agreements and divergences of the two renderings, to bring out the sense of the treatise; it does not adjudicate which rendering is superior.

The Ancient Master's Commentary — Kuiji

Kuiji (632–682), Xuanzang's disciple and founder of the Ci'en school, composed the Bianzhongbian lun shuji in three fascicles (T44n1835), glossing the treatise phrase by phrase; it is the most complete ancient-master commentary surviving in the Chinese transmission, and the principal basis of the Commentarial Forks in each section of this edition. Sthiramati's Madhyāntavibhāga-ṭīkā (ṭīkā) is not transmitted into Chinese; it is marked section by section only where Kuiji's record cites it.

Translator and Annotator of the Present Edition — Shi Huijing

This English translation and its apparatus are the work of Shi Huijing (釋慧鏡).

The edition takes Xuanzang's Chinese verses and commentary as its base and carries them into English, building the exposition and collation chapter by chapter from the scripture and from the ancient commentators. Where Xuanzang's translation was made by many hands in a translation hall, the present work draws on collaborative AI for consistency checking, parallel-text scanning, and format normalization; a self-report alone is not to be relied upon — the mechanical verifier must be the arbiter. All doctrinal term selection, passage-level interpretive choices, and decisions between textual variants are the translator-annotator's alone. This undertaking continues the vow of Xuanzang, who translated the Dharma into Chinese and spread it abroad, carrying that lineage onward into the English-speaking world.

The full statement of AI's role across the 指月 project is maintained at waken.org/methodology.

書目Bibliography

本編所據之底本、漢譯諸本、古德釋論及所引經，著錄於下；繼以玄奘、真諦七品名與頌數對照。

書目之例，謹守本編一貫之斷限：所著錄者唯經與古德——佛所說之經、與去今久遠之古德釋論；現代譯本、研究及梵文校本不作本編文字依據，亦不列為權證。其理見〈緒論〉第五節。

一、本頌與漢譯諸本

《辯中邊論頌》一卷　彌勒菩薩說，唐·玄奘譯（661 CE）。CBETA T31n1601。　純頌本，無長行；本編偈頌之底本（逐頌定位、編號皆依此本）。一百一十三頌（CBETA 序，[001] 為標目頌 uddāna）。玄奘譯於龍朔元年（661）玉華寺。

《辯中邊論》三卷　世親菩薩造，唐·玄奘譯（661 CE）。CBETA T31n1600。　世親釋（bhāṣya），頌與長行兼備，法相一宗所據；本編長行義理之底本。與《頌》同出玄奘一手、同年譯就。

《中邊分別論》二卷　天親菩薩造，陳·真諦譯（約 557–569 CE）。CBETA T31n1599。　世親釋之舊譯，散文體；本編之異譯校本（對校之用·非底本），逐段〈譯名〉所引「真諦讀法」即指此本。

著者名異譯：T31n1599 題作「天親」，T31n1600 題作「世親」，同為 Vasubandhu，乃譯者用字之異，非二人。詳見逐段〈譯名〉。

品名異譯：玄奘作「辯相品·辯障品·辯真實品·辯修對治品·辯修分位品·辯得果品·辯無上乘品」（七品）；真諦作「相品·障品·真實品·對治修住品·修住品·得果品·無上乘品」。二本題名與品名用字之別，對照見下〈五、七品名對照〉。

二、古德釋論

《辯中邊論述記》三卷　唐·窺基撰。CBETA T44n1835（卷上·中·下）。　玄奘弟子窺基之逐句疏記，慈恩一宗所本；今存最完整之漢傳古德釋，本編各段〈諸家異釋〉所列即主據此記。

《辯中邊論釋疏》（安慧 ṭīkā）　安慧菩薩造。漢無傳本。 　梵疏唯存現代校本，本譯注不取其文。各段〈諸家異釋〉唯列窺基；安慧之說，凡經窺基引述者隨段標明，餘不憑記憶代擬。

三、本論所引經（經證）

世親釋及窺基述記引以證義之經，散見各段〈論諍〉〈世親釋要〉，主要者：

《般若波羅蜜多經》（般若系）· 《解深密經》· 《大寶積經》（寶積·中道行）· 《十地經》· 《入楞伽經》· 《阿含》· 《多界經》· 對法（阿毘達磨）諸經。

四、本系列相關編本（互見）

《大乘百法明門論》編本——心心所法相分類；本論「三界心心所是虛妄分別」（[009]）之法相互見。

《唯識三十論頌》編本——三性系統論；本編將其三性義與本論「虛妄分別」相關段落互讀，不作文本依存關係的斷言。

《唯識二十論》編本——唯識無境之防難論；本編將其與《辯中邊論》相關義節成對互讀。此為閱讀路徑，不作文本依存關係的斷言。

《攝大乘論》《成唯識論》編本——唯識相關綜合論書；逐段〈四論互讀圖〉所指亦屬本編互參路徑。

五、七品名對照（玄奘·真諦）

品	玄奘（T1600／T1601）	真諦（T1599）	頌數
一	辯相品	相品	23
二	辯障品	障品	17
三	辯真實品	真實品	23
四	辯修對治品	對治修住品	14
五	辯修分位品	修住品	4
六	辯得果品	得果品	2
七	辯無上乘品	無上乘品	30

七品與頌數均依 T1601；真諦品名依 T1599。窺基明記彌勒本頌一百一十三，初一總攝、後一結釋（T44n1835 0001a25–27）。

The base text, the Chinese translations, the ancient masters' commentaries, and the scriptures cited on which this work draws are recorded below, followed by Xuanzang's and Paramārtha's seven chapter names and verse counts.

The bibliography keeps to the edition's consistent bound: what is recorded is canonical scripture and the ancient masters alone — the scripture spoken by the Buddha, and the commentarial treatises of the ancient masters far removed from us in time. Modern translations, studies, and Sanskrit critical editions do not supply wording or authority for this edition and are not listed as warrant. The reasoning is given in the Introduction, §V.

I. Root Verses and Chinese Translations

Madhyāntavibhāga-kārikā (《辯中邊論頌》), 1 fascicle. Spoken by Maitreya; tr. Xuanzang, Tang (661 CE). CBETA T31n1601. 　The verses alone, without prose; the base text of this edition's verses (its verse-numbering and locators follow this text). One hundred thirteen verses (the CBETA sequence, [001] the summary verse, uddāna). Translated by Xuanzang in the first year of Longshuo (661), at Yuhua Monastery.

Madhyāntavibhāga-bhāṣya (《辯中邊論》), 3 fascicles. By Vasubandhu; tr. Xuanzang, Tang (661 CE). CBETA T31n1600. 　Vasubandhu's commentary (bhāṣya), verse together with prose; the base of the Faxiang school, and the base text of this edition's prose doctrine. From the same hand and year as the verses.

《中邊分別論》, 2 fascicles. By Vasubandhu; tr. Paramārtha, Chen (c. 557–569 CE). CBETA T31n1599. 　The older translation of Vasubandhu's commentary, in prose; the alternate-translation collation witness of this edition (for collation, not the base) — the "Paramārtha reading" cited in the per-section Translation Choices refers to this version.

Variant rendering of the author's name: T31n1599 gives the author as 天親, T31n1600 as 世親 — both render Vasubandhu, a difference of translators' usage, not of persons. See the per-section Translation Choices.

Variant chapter names: Xuanzang gives seven chapters — Distinguishing the Characteristics · the Obscurations · the Real · the Cultivation of Antidotes · the Stages of Cultivation · the Fruits Attained · the Unsurpassed Vehicle; Paramārtha gives Characteristics · Obscurations · the Real · Antidote-and-Abiding Cultivation · Abiding Cultivation · the Fruits Attained · the Unsurpassed Vehicle. See the concordance in §V below.

II. Commentaries of the Ancient Masters

Madhyāntavibhāga commentarial record (《辯中邊論述記》), 3 fascicles. By Kuiji, Tang. CBETA T44n1835 (fascicles upper, middle, lower). 　Kuiji, Xuanzang's disciple, glosses the text phrase by phrase; the base of the Ci'en school, and the most complete ancient-master commentary surviving in the Chinese transmission, the principal basis of the Commentarial Forks in each section.

Madhyāntavibhāga-ṭīkā (Sthiramati's sub-commentary). By Sthiramati. Not transmitted into Chinese. 　The Sanskrit sub-commentary survives only in modern critical editions, whose wording this edition does not use. The Commentarial Forks list Kuiji alone; Sthiramati's readings are marked, section by section, only where Kuiji cites them, and nothing further is supplied from memory in his name.

III. Scriptures Cited (the Buddha's word)

The scriptures cited as warrant within Vasubandhu's commentary and Kuiji's record, found across the per-section The Debate and From Vasubandhu's Commentary, chiefly:

the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras · the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra · the Ratnakūṭa (its middle-way conduct) · the Daśabhūmika-sūtra · the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra · the Āgamas · the Bahudhātuka-sūtra · the Abhidharma sūtras.

IV. Related Editions in This Series (cross-reading)

The 《大乘百法明門論》 edition — the taxonomy of mind and mental factors; the dharma-cross-reference for this treatise's "the mind and mental factors of the three realms are unreal imagination" ([009]).

The 《唯識三十論頌》 edition — the systematic treatise of the three natures; this edition cross-reads its account of the three natures with related passages on unreal imagination here, without asserting textual dependence.

The 《唯識二十論》 edition — the treatise defending consciousness-only against objections; this edition reads its related passages alongside the Madhyāntavibhāga. That pairing is an editorial reading path, not a claim of textual dependence.

The 《攝大乘論》 and 《成唯識論》 editions — related synthetic Yogācāra treatises; references to them in the per-section Cross-reading of the Four Treatises are editorial cross-readings.

V. The Seven Chapter Names (Xuanzang · Paramārtha)

Ch.	Xuanzang (T1600/T1601)	Paramārtha (T1599)	Verses
1	辯相品	相品	23
2	辯障品	障品	17
3	辯真實品	真實品	23
4	辯修對治品	對治修住品	14
5	辯修分位品	修住品	4
6	辯得果品	得果品	2
7	辯無上乘品	無上乘品	30

Chapter names and verse counts follow T1601; Paramārtha's names follow T1599. Kuiji records one hundred thirteen root verses, the first a general summary and the last a concluding explanation (T44n1835 0001a25–27).

索引Indices

本編為《辯中邊論》編本之卷末索引：術語（IAST·漢字）、人名（古德）、經證，及彌勒頌一百一十三頌之偈頌對照表。詞條據各品考據（treatise/0N_*/*_apparatus_zh.md）之〈譯名〉〈諸家異釋〉與《詞彙對照》機械抽出，出處連向品考據。 IAST 為讀音之助（依術語本字之標準羅馬轉寫，非取自現代梵本校勘；古德有音寫者特標，如窺基 śūnya／śūnyatā）；源校未定者標「待校」，不臆造、不「訂正」。人名限古德（佛世以降至唐之師承），不錄現代學者——本編斷限見〈緒論〉第五節。

品→檔對照：品一 01_xiangpin／品二 02_zhangpin／品三 03_zhenshipin／品四 04_duizhipin／品五 05_fenweipin／品六 06_deguopin／品七 07_wushangpin。出處 [NNN] ＝ CBETA T1601 偈序。

一、IAST 術語索引

依 IAST 字母序。漢字為玄奘譯本用字（逐字）。出處連向該詞首見之品考據。

IAST	漢	首見（品·偈）
abhūta-parikalpa	虛妄分別	品一·002
āgantuka-kleśa	客塵	品一·023
anta-dvaya	二邊	品七·106
anuttara-yāna	無上乘	品七·084
artha · sattva · ātman · vijñapti	義·有情·我·了（識變四似）	品一·004
āvaraṇa	障（煩惱·所知二障）	品二·024
aviparyāsa	無倒（十無倒）	品七·096
bodhipakṣya-dharma	菩提分（三十七）	品四·072
catvāri prahāṇāni	四正斷	品四·065
catvāri smṛtyupasthānāni	四念住	品四·064
citta · caitta	心·心所	品一·009
daśa dharma-caryāḥ	十法行	品七·091
dharma-dhātu	法界	品一·015
dharma-nairātmya	法無我	品三·047
dvaya（grāhya-grāhaka）	二·二取（能取所取）	品一·002
madhyamā pratipad	中道	品一·003
pāramitā（daśa）	波羅蜜多（十度）	品七·087
paratantra-svabhāva	依他起性	品三·053
parikalpita-svabhāva	遍計所執性	品三·053
pariniṣpanna-svabhāva	圓成實性	品三·053
paramārtha-satya	勝義諦	品三·051
pratipakṣa	對治	品四·064
prakṛti-pariśuddha	心性本淨	品一·023
pudgala-nairātmya	補特伽羅無我	品一·021
saṃkleśa	雜染	品一·011
saṃvṛti-satya	世俗諦	品三·050
śūnyatā（śūnya 瞬若／śūnyatā 瞬若多，窺基音寫）	空·空性	品一·002
tathatā	真如	品一·015
tattva（daśa）	真實（十真實）	品三·041
traidhātuka	三界	品一·009
trisvabhāva	三性	品一·006
upalabdhi · anupalabdhi	有所得·無所得	品一·007
vijñāna · vijñapti	識·了	品一·004

二、漢字術語索引

依品次第。同一詞跨品再現者，列其首見品。

品一辯相品：虛妄分別 · 二取（能取所取）· 空／空性 · 中道 · 識變四似（義有情我了）· 三性 · 有所得／無所得 · 心心所 · 三界 · 雜染 · 真如 · 法界 · 心性本淨 · 客塵 品二辯障品：二障（煩惱障·所知障）· 九結 · 三十能障 · 三十七菩提分 · 十法界 品三辯真實品：十真實 · 根本真實 · 三自性（遍計所執·依他起·圓成實）· 二諦（世俗·勝義）· 五事 · 七真實 · 十善巧 · 十我見 · 無我（補特伽羅·法） 品四辯修對治品：四念住 · 四正斷 · 八斷行 · 五根 · 五力 · 七覺支 · 八正道 · 對治 品五辯修分位品：十八分位 · 三分位 · 補特伽羅（依位假立） 品六辯得果品：五果（異熟·增上·等流·士用·離繫）· 十果 品七辯無上乘品：三無上 · 六正行 · 十二最勝 · 十波羅蜜多 · 十法行 · 十無倒 · 十金剛句 · 二邊 · 所緣無上 · 修證無上

三、人名索引（古德）

人名	IAST	角色
彌勒（菩薩）	Maitreya	本頌（kārikā, T1601）說者；彌勒五論之一
無著（菩薩）	Asaṅga	受彌勒頌而傳之者
世親（菩薩）／天親	Vasubandhu	釋論（bhāṣya, T1600 玄奘／T1599 真諦）造者
玄奘（三藏）	Xuanzang	頌（T1601）·釋（T1600）漢譯者；661 玉華寺
真諦（三藏）	Paramārtha	釋之舊譯《中邊分別論》（T1599）譯者
安慧（菩薩）	Sthiramati	疏（ṭīkā）造者；漢無傳本，本編不取其文
窺基	Kuiji	玄奘弟子；《辯中邊論述記》（T44n1835）撰者，本編〈諸家異釋〉主據
護法（菩薩）	Dharmapāla	法相正義一線；逐段〈四論互讀圖〉所涉

四、經證索引

世親釋·窺基記引以證義之經（佛所說），及互見之古德論。

經（佛說）：《般若波羅蜜多經》· 《解深密經》· 《大寶積經》（中道行品）· 《十地經》· 《入楞伽經》· 《阿含》· 《多界經》· 阿毘達磨（對法）諸經 古德論（互見）：《瑜伽師地論》· 《顯揚聖教論》· 《大乘莊嚴經論》· 《大乘阿毘達磨雜集論》· 《攝大乘論》· 《唯識三十論頌》· 《唯識二十論》· 《成唯識論》· 《大乘百法明門論》

五、偈頌對照表

下表列彌勒頌（T31n1601）一百一十三頌之編號、所屬品、本編逐段標目（依世親釋·窺基記分段，已定稿）、及台藏本頌位。編號依 CBETA T1601 與窺基 T1835 所證之漢傳序位：[001] 為總攝頌，[002] 始為「虛妄分別有」，[113] 為結釋頌。

品一　辯相品（lakṣaṇa · 001–023）

偈	段題	T1601 頌位
[001]	標目頌─七義總攝	0477c07
[002]–[003]	中道根本──虛妄分別有相·無相·契中道	0477c09–11
[004]–[005]	識變·依他存在論──識變四似·境無識無	0477c13–15
[006]	三性標名·虛妄分別攝三性	0477c17
[007]–[008]	入無相方便──境無所得·識無所得·二無平等（見道）	0477c19–21
[009]–[010]	差別·異門·生起相──三界心心所·緣識受者	0477c23–25
[011]–[012]	雜染相──十二有支·三二七雜染	0477c27–29
[013]–[014]	空性綱·空相──二空性略說五門·非有非無·非異非一	0478a02–04
[015]–[016]	空異門及其義──真如·實際·無相·勝義·法界	0478a06–08
[017]	空之染淨差別──有垢無垢·水界金空喻	0478a10
[018]–[021]	空之所知差別──十六空·後二空	0478a12–18
[022]	空成立──染淨二量	0478a20
[023]	辯相品結頌──心性本淨·客塵所染	0478a22

品二　辯障品（āvaraṇa · 024–040）

偈	段題	T1601 頌位
[024]	五障──障菩薩·聲聞二種性	0478a25
[025]–[026]	煩惱障九相──九結·七遍知	0478a27–29
[027]–[031]	因障·三十能障──善等十法各三障	0478b02–10
[032]–[033]	因障收尾──善等十法名·十義次第	0478b12–14
[034]	覺分別障──三十七菩提分·七科各障	0478b16
[035]–[036]	六度別障──十波羅蜜多·果障顯自性障	0478b18–20
[037]–[039]	十地別障──十法界義·四自在·不染無明	0478b22–26
[040]	辯障品結頌──二障攝盡·一切障解脫	0478b28

品三　辯真實品（tattva · 041–063）

偈	段題	T1601 頌位
[041]–[042]	十真實標目──十真實·十善巧·皆為除我見	0478c02–04
[043]	根本真實──三自性各許何義為真實	0478c06
[044]–[047]	相真實·無顛倒真實──三性除二見·無常苦空無我各三	0478c08–14
[048]–[049]	因果真實·四諦──苦集滅道各三依三性	0478c16–18
[050]–[051]	麁細真實·二諦──世俗三·勝義三依根本	0478c20–22
[052]	極成真實·淨所行真實	0478c24
[053]	攝受真實·五事──相名分別真如正智攝三性	0478c26
[054]	差別真實·七真實──流轉等七依三性	0478c28
[055]–[056]	善巧真實·十我見──蘊等十法治十我見	0479a01–03
[057]–[063]	十善巧別義──蘊界處緣起處非處根世諦乘有為無為（辯真實品結）	0479a05–17

品四　辯修對治品（pratipakṣa-bhāvanā · 064–077）

偈	段題	T1601 頌位
[064]–[065]	念住·正斷──四念住入四諦·四正斷遠離修集	0479a20–22
[066]–[069]	神足·五過失·八斷行──滅五過·勤修八斷行	0479a24–b01
[070]–[071]	五根·五力──五增上即信等五根·損障名力	0479b03–05
[072]–[073]	覺支──七覺支略五·三無染支	0479b07–09
[074]–[075]	道支成八──八正道略四廣八·三類成支	0479b11–13
[076]	修治差別──三位（異生·有學·無學）	0479b15
[077]	辯修對治品結──菩薩三殊勝·與二乘差別	0479b17

品五　辯修分位品（avasthā · 078–081）

偈	段題	T1601 頌位
[078]–[079]	十八分位──修對治之十八位	0479b20–22
[080]	三分位──不淨·淨不淨·清淨	0479b24
[081]	辯修分位品結──依位假立補特伽羅	0479b26

品六　辯得果品（phala · 082–083）

偈	段題	T1601 頌位
[082]	五果──異熟·增上·等流·士用·離繫	0479b29
[083]	辯得果品結──餘十果	0479c02

品七　辯無上乘品（anuttarayāna · 084–113）

偈	段題	T1601 頌位
[084]–[085]	三無上·六正行標目──無上乘之綱	0479c05–07
[086]–[089]	最勝正行──十二最勝·十波羅蜜多·十度別業	0479c09–15
[090]–[093]	作意正行──三慧思惟大乘·助伴十法行	0479c17–23
[094]–[096]	隨法正行──無散亂（六散亂）·無顛倒（十無倒標）	0479c25–29
[097]–[105]	十無倒別釋──文義作意不動·二相染淨客·無怖高（安立十金剛句）	0480a02–18
[106]–[109]	離二邊正行──寶積經中道·諸二邊·七種分別二邊	0480a20–26
[110]	差別·無差別正行──十地·十度增上等修集	0480a28
[111]	所緣無上──十二所緣	0480b01
[112]	修證無上──十修證	0480b03
[113]	全論結頌──「辯中邊」之名·深密堅實廣大一切	0480b05

The back-matter index to this edition of the Madhyāntavibhāga: the terms (IAST · Chinese), the persons (the ancient masters), the scriptural citations, and a concordance of the one hundred thirteen verses of Maitreya's kārikā. Entries are drawn from the per-chapter apparatus (treatise/0N_*/*_apparatus_zh.md) — its Translation Choices and Commentarial Forks — and from the Glossary; each locus links to the chapter apparatus. IAST is an aid to pronunciation (the standard romanization of the term's own form, not drawn from modern critical editions; where an ancient master left a transcription it is specially marked, as Kuiji's śūnya / śūnyatā); where a source form is not settled the entry reads "pending" — nothing is conjectured or "corrected." The persons are limited to the ancient masters (the lineage from the Buddha's time down to the Tang); no modern scholar is recorded — for the edition's bound, see Introduction §V.

Chapter → file: Ch. 1 01_xiangpin / Ch. 2 02_zhangpin / Ch. 3 03_zhenshipin / Ch. 4 04_duizhipin / Ch. 5 05_fenweipin / Ch. 6 06_deguopin / Ch. 7 07_wushangpin. A locus [NNN] = the CBETA T1601 verse sequence.

I. IAST Term Index

By IAST alphabetical order. The Chinese is Xuanzang's wording (verbatim). The locus links to the chapter apparatus where the term first appears.

IAST	Chinese	First seen (ch. · v.)
abhūta-parikalpa	虛妄分別	Ch. 1 · 002
āgantuka-kleśa	客塵	Ch. 1 · 023
anta-dvaya	二邊	Ch. 7 · 106
anuttara-yāna	無上乘	Ch. 7 · 084
artha · sattva · ātman · vijñapti	義·有情·我·了 (four semblances)	Ch. 1 · 004
āvaraṇa	障 (afflictive · cognitive obscurations)	Ch. 2 · 024
aviparyāsa	無倒 (ten non-perversions)	Ch. 7 · 096
bodhipakṣya-dharma	菩提分 (thirty-seven)	Ch. 4 · 072
catvāri prahāṇāni	四正斷	Ch. 4 · 065
catvāri smṛtyupasthānāni	四念住	Ch. 4 · 064
citta · caitta	心·心所	Ch. 1 · 009
daśa dharma-caryāḥ	十法行	Ch. 7 · 091
dharma-dhātu	法界	Ch. 1 · 015
dharma-nairātmya	法無我	Ch. 3 · 047
dvaya (grāhya-grāhaka)	二·二取 (grasper-grasped)	Ch. 1 · 002
madhyamā pratipad	中道	Ch. 1 · 003
pāramitā (daśa)	波羅蜜多 (ten perfections)	Ch. 7 · 087
paratantra-svabhāva	依他起性	Ch. 3 · 053
parikalpita-svabhāva	遍計所執性	Ch. 3 · 053
pariniṣpanna-svabhāva	圓成實性	Ch. 3 · 053
paramārtha-satya	勝義諦	Ch. 3 · 051
pratipakṣa	對治	Ch. 4 · 064
prakṛti-pariśuddha	心性本淨	Ch. 1 · 023
pudgala-nairātmya	補特伽羅無我	Ch. 1 · 021
saṃkleśa	雜染	Ch. 1 · 011
saṃvṛti-satya	世俗諦	Ch. 3 · 050
śūnyatā (śūnya 瞬若 / śūnyatā 瞬若多, Kuiji's transcription)	空·空性	Ch. 1 · 002
tathatā	真如	Ch. 1 · 015
tattva (daśa)	真實 (ten reals)	Ch. 3 · 041
traidhātuka	三界	Ch. 1 · 009
trisvabhāva	三性	Ch. 1 · 006
upalabdhi · anupalabdhi	有所得·無所得	Ch. 1 · 007
vijñāna · vijñapti	識·了	Ch. 1 · 004

II. Chinese Term Index

By chapter sequence. A term recurring across chapters is listed at its first chapter.

Ch. 1 Distinguishing the Characteristics: 虛妄分別 · 二取（能取所取）· 空／空性 · 中道 · 識變四似（義有情我了）· 三性 · 有所得／無所得 · 心心所 · 三界 · 雜染 · 真如 · 法界 · 心性本淨 · 客塵 Ch. 2 Distinguishing the Obscurations: 二障（煩惱障·所知障）· 九結 · 三十能障 · 三十七菩提分 · 十法界 Ch. 3 Distinguishing the Real: 十真實 · 根本真實 · 三自性（遍計所執·依他起·圓成實）· 二諦（世俗·勝義）· 五事 · 七真實 · 十善巧 · 十我見 · 無我（補特伽羅·法） Ch. 4 Distinguishing the Cultivation of Antidotes: 四念住 · 四正斷 · 八斷行 · 五根 · 五力 · 七覺支 · 八正道 · 對治 Ch. 5 Distinguishing the Stages of Cultivation: 十八分位 · 三分位 · 補特伽羅（依位假立） Ch. 6 Distinguishing the Fruits Attained: 五果（異熟·增上·等流·士用·離繫）· 十果 Ch. 7 Distinguishing the Unsurpassed Vehicle: 三無上 · 六正行 · 十二最勝 · 十波羅蜜多 · 十法行 · 十無倒 · 十金剛句 · 二邊 · 所緣無上 · 修證無上

III. Index of Persons (the ancient masters)

Person	IAST	Role
彌勒 (Maitreya, bodhisattva)	Maitreya	speaker of the root verses (kārikā, T1601); one of the "five treatises of Maitreya"
無著 (Asaṅga, bodhisattva)	Asaṅga	who received Maitreya's verses and transmitted them
世親 / 天親 (Vasubandhu, bodhisattva)	Vasubandhu	author of the commentary (bhāṣya, T1600 Xuanzang / T1599 Paramārtha)
玄奘 (Xuanzang, tripiṭaka)	Xuanzang	Chinese translator of the verses (T1601) and commentary (T1600); 661, Yuhua Monastery
真諦 (Paramārtha, tripiṭaka)	Paramārtha	translator of the older Zhongbian fenbie lun (T1599)
安慧 (Sthiramati, bodhisattva)	Sthiramati	author of the sub-commentary (ṭīkā); not transmitted into Chinese, its text not used by this edition
窺基 (Kuiji)	Kuiji	Xuanzang's disciple; author of the Bianzhongbian lun shuji (T44n1835), the principal basis of the Commentarial Forks
護法 (Dharmapāla, bodhisattva)	Dharmapāla	the orthodox Faxiang line; touched in the per-section Cross-reading of the Four Treatises

IV. Index of Scriptural Citations

The scriptures cited as warrant in Vasubandhu's commentary and Kuiji's record (the Buddha's word), and the ancient masters' treatises seen in cross-reference.

Scripture (the Buddha's word): the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras · the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra · the Ratnakūṭa (its middle-way conduct) · the Daśabhūmika-sūtra · the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra · the Āgamas · the Bahudhātuka-sūtra · the Abhidharma sūtras Ancient masters' treatises (cross-reference): the Yogācārabhūmi · the Xianyang shengjiao lun · the Mahāyāna-sūtrālaṃkāra · the Abhidharma-samuccaya-vyākhyā · the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha · the Triṃśikā · the Viṃśatikā · the Cheng weishi lun · the Mahāyāna-śatadharma-vidyā-dvāra-śāstra

V. Verse Concordance

The table lists, for each of the hundred and thirteen verses of Maitreya's kārikā (T31n1601), the number, chapter, this edition's section title (settled by the exegetical division of Vasubandhu's commentary and Kuiji's record), and the Taishō locator. The numbering follows the Chinese sequence attested by T1601 and T1835: [001] is the general summary, [002] begins 「虛妄分別有」“the unreal imagination exists,” and [113] is the concluding explanation.

Ch. 1　Distinguishing the Characteristics (lakṣaṇa · 001–023)

v.	Section	T1601 locator
[001]	Summary verse — the seven topics gathered	0477c07
[002]–[003]	Root of the middle — unreal imagination: with-character, without-character, meeting the middle	0477c09–11
[004]–[005]	Consciousness-transformation · other-dependent ontology — the four semblances, object-absent so consciousness-absent	0477c13–15
[006]	Naming the three natures · unreal imagination subsumes the three	0477c17
[007]–[008]	The means of the signless — object non-apprehended, consciousness non-apprehended, the two-absences equal (path of seeing)	0477c19–21
[009]–[010]	Distinction · synonyms · arising — the three realms' mind and mental factors	0477c23–25
[011]–[012]	The defiled aspect — the twelve links, the three-two-seven defilements	0477c27–29
[013]–[014]	Outline and character of emptiness — the five gates, neither existent nor non-existent, neither one nor different	0478a02–04
[015]–[016]	Synonyms of emptiness and their sense — thusness, reality-limit, signless, ultimate, dharma-realm	0478a06–08
[017]	Emptiness's defiled-and-pure distinction — with-stain, without-stain; the water-mineral-gold-space simile	0478a10
[018]–[021]	The objects-distinction of emptiness — the sixteen emptinesses, the last two	0478a12–18
[022]	The establishing of emptiness — the two warrants of defilement and purity	0478a20
[023]	Closing verse of Ch. 1 — mind's nature originally pure, defiled by adventitious dust	0478a22

Ch. 2　Distinguishing the Obscurations (āvaraṇa · 024–040)

v.	Section	T1601 locator
[024]	The five obscurations — obscuring the bodhisattva and śrāvaka lineages	0478a25
[025]–[026]	The nine aspects of the afflictive obscuration — the nine fetters, the seven full-knowings	0478a27–29
[027]–[031]	The causal obscuration · thirty hindrances — the ten dharmas (good and the rest) each with three	0478b02–10
[032]–[033]	Closing the causal obscuration — the names and order of the ten dharmas	0478b12–14
[034]	Obscuration distinguished by the limbs of awakening — the thirty-seven, each set with its obscuration	0478b16
[035]–[036]	The obscurations distinct to the six perfections — the ten perfections, fruit-obscuration showing own-nature	0478b18–20
[037]–[039]	The obscurations distinct to the ten grounds — the ten dharma-realm meanings, the four masteries, undefiled ignorance	0478b22–26
[040]	Closing verse of Ch. 2 — the two obscurations subsumed, all obscuration freed	0478b28

Ch. 3　Distinguishing the Real (tattva · 041–063)

v.	Section	T1601 locator
[041]–[042]	Heading the ten reals — ten reals, ten skills, all to remove the view of self	0478c02–04
[043]	The root real — what each of the three natures admits as real	0478c06
[044]–[047]	The real of character · the real of non-perversion — the three natures removing the two views; each three of impermanence, suffering, emptiness, no-self	0478c08–14
[048]–[049]	The real of cause-and-effect · the four truths — suffering, origin, cessation, path, each in three by the three natures	0478c16–18
[050]–[051]	The real of coarse-and-subtle · the two truths — three conventional, three ultimate, resting on the root	0478c20–22
[052]	The real of common-establishment · the real of pure-domain	0478c24
[053]	The real of inclusion · the five items — appearance, name, discrimination, thusness, right cognition subsuming the three natures	0478c26
[054]	The real of distinction · the seven reals — the seven (transmigration and the rest) by the three natures	0478c28
[055]–[056]	The real of skill · the ten views of self — the ten dharmas curing the ten views of self	0479a01–03
[057]–[063]	The distinct senses of the ten skills — aggregates, elements, bases, dependent-arising, the possible-and-impossible, faculties, time, truths, vehicle, conditioned-and-unconditioned (closing Ch. 3)	0479a05–17

Ch. 4　Distinguishing the Cultivation of Antidotes (pratipakṣa-bhāvanā · 064–077)

v.	Section	T1601 locator
[064]–[065]	Foundations of mindfulness · right exertions — the four foundations entering the four truths, the four exertions of distancing-and-cultivating	0479a20–22
[066]–[069]	Bases of power · five faults · eight applications — extinguishing the five faults, diligently cultivating the eight applications	0479a24–b01
[070]–[071]	Five faculties · five powers — the five ascendants are the five faculties, overcoming obstruction are the powers	0479b03–05
[072]–[073]	The factors of awakening — the seven factors abbreviated to five, the three undefiled factors	0479b07–09
[074]–[075]	The path-limbs made eight — the eightfold path, abbreviated four expanded to eight, the three kinds forming the limbs	0479b11–13
[076]	The distinctions of cultivation — the three stations (ordinary, learner, beyond-learning)	0479b15
[077]	Closing Ch. 4 — the bodhisattva's three excellences, distinct from the two vehicles	0479b17

Ch. 5　Distinguishing the Stages of Cultivation (avasthā · 078–081)

v.	Section	T1601 locator
[078]–[079]	The eighteen stages — the eighteen stages of cultivating the antidote	0479b20–22
[080]	The three stages — impure, pure-and-impure, pure	0479b24
[081]	Closing Ch. 5 — the person nominally posited by the stages	0479b26

Ch. 6　Distinguishing the Fruits Attained (phala · 082–083)

v.	Section	T1601 locator
[082]	The five fruits — maturation, dominant, outflow, virile-action, disjunction	0479b29
[083]	Closing Ch. 6 — the ten further fruits	0479c02

Ch. 7　Distinguishing the Unsurpassed Vehicle (anuttarayāna · 084–113)

v.	Section	T1601 locator
[084]–[085]	Heading the three unsurpassed · the six practices — the outline of the unsurpassed vehicle	0479c05–07
[086]–[089]	The supreme practice — the twelve supremacies, the ten perfections, their distinct functions	0479c09–15
[090]–[093]	The practice of attention — the three wisdoms reflecting on the Great Vehicle, the auxiliary ten dharma-practices	0479c17–23
[094]–[096]	The practice in accord with dharma — non-distraction (the six distractions), non-perversion (heading the ten)	0479c25–29
[097]–[105]	The ten non-perversions in detail — letter, meaning, attention, the immovable; the two characters, defilement-and-purity, the adventitious; without dread or elation (establishing the ten adamantine sentences)	0480a02–18
[106]–[109]	The practice departing from the two extremes — the Ratnakūṭa's middle way, the various two-extremes, the seven discriminations of two extremes	0480a20–26
[110]	The practice of distinction and non-distinction — the ten grounds, the ten perfections' ascendant cultivation	0480a28
[111]	The unsurpassed object — the twelve objects	0480b01
[112]	The unsurpassed realization — the ten realizations	0480b03
[113]	Closing verse of the whole treatise — the name "distinguishing the middle from the extremes," the profound, firm, vast, all-pervading	0480b05

題署Colophon

一 · 題署

《辯中邊論》譯注

本頌　彌勒菩薩說《辯中邊論頌》（唐·玄奘譯·一卷·113 頌）·T31n1601。
底本　世親菩薩造《辯中邊論》（唐·玄奘奉詔譯·三卷·龍朔元年 661 玉華寺）·T31n1600。
異譯校本　真諦譯《中邊分別論》（陳·二卷·約 557–569）·T31n1599。
譯注　釋慧鏡（Shi Huijing）。
叢書　指月　漢傳經論譯注。
成書　二〇二六年春。
型制　唯識系根本論（慈氏·無著·世親之傳）；逐品五層分立讀本（原典·白話·義疏·考據·心要），漢英姊妹並立。
流通　釋慧鏡通讀定稿印可（二〇二六年春·第一版），刊行於指月《漢傳經論譯注》：github.com/pointing-at-the-moon/han-canon-translations（canon/yogacara/bianzhongbian）。

二 · 引用格式

引本書者，請具足品次、品名、層名與底本出處，俾讀者按圖而稽：

釋慧鏡《辯中邊論譯注》品一〈辯相品〉· 義疏 · 指月 · 二〇二六春〔T31n1600〕。

略式（單層稱引）：

釋慧鏡《辯中邊論譯注》品N〈品名〉· 層 · 指月 · 二〇二六春〔T31 PPPP〕。

層　白話／義疏／考據／心要，擇所引之層書之。
底本出處　〔T31n1600〕為玄奘譯世親釋之藏經號，〔T31n1601〕為玄奘譯彌勒本頌；徵引某段，以頁碼定位作〔T31 PPPP〕。
本書刊行於指月《漢傳經論譯注》GitHub 庫（github.com/pointing-at-the-moon/han-canon-translations · canon/yogacara/bianzhongbian）；徵引可繫其址。

三 · 識語

本書以玄奘譯頌（T31n1601）·釋（T31n1600）為底本，真諦《中邊分別論》（T31n1599）為異譯對勘校本，古德（唐·窺基《辯中邊論述記》T44n1835）為諸家異釋之據；皆載於考據層，逐字校訖於藏經原文。考據唯錄經與古德之典據原文，不引現代校本；安慧《釋疏》（ṭīkā）漢無傳本，有其名而不取其文。梵文 IAST 唯作發音輔助，依古德所傳音寫為錨。

本編將本論「虛妄分別、空有不二」之說，與《二十論》《三十論》《攝大乘論》《成唯識論》相關義節互讀，作為唯識一系的閱讀路徑；此為編輯編排，不作諸論成書先後或文本依存關係的藏典斷言。

授權　CC BY-NC-SA 4.0（姓名標示·非商業性·相同方式分享）。

非重譯、非取代祖師譯文；所立者，唯識系根本論逐品之經據而已。

釋慧鏡 · 指月 · 辯中邊 · 卷首題署 · 2026 春

I · Colophon

Madhyāntavibhāga: A Translation with Annotation (《辯中邊論》譯注)

Root verses — Maitreya's Bianzhongbian lun song 辯中邊論頌 (tr. Xuanzang, Tang · one fascicle · 113 verses), T31n1601.
Base text — Vasubandhu's Bianzhongbian lun 辯中邊論 (tr. Xuanzang by imperial commission, Tang · three fascicles · first year of Longshuo, 661, Yuhua Monastery), T31n1600.
Alternate-translation collation witness — Paramārtha's Zhongbian fenbie lun 中邊分別論 (Chen · two fascicles · c. 557–569), T31n1599.
Translation & annotation — Shi Huijing 釋慧鏡.
Series — Zhiyue 指月, Han-canon Treatise Translations with Annotation.
Compiled — Spring 2026.
Form — A root treatise of the Yogācāra tradition (the transmission of Maitreya · Asaṅga · Vasubandhu); a per-chapter five-layer reading stack (source · vernacular · exposition · apparatus · essence), with paired Chinese and English sister files.
Distribution — Read through and sealed by the translator (Shi Huijing, Spring 2026; first edition), and published in the Zhiyue 指月 Han-canon Translations with Annotation series: github.com/pointing-at-the-moon/han-canon-translations (canon/yogacara/bianzhongbian).

II · Citation

When citing this edition, give the chapter number, chapter title, layer, and base-text locus so a reader can trace the passage:

Shi Huijing, Bianzhongbian lun yizhu (Madhyāntavibhāga, A Translation with Annotation), Chapter One "Distinguishing the Characteristics" 〈辯相品〉 · Exposition · Zhiyue · Spring 2026 〔T31n1600〕.

Short form (single layer):

Shi Huijing, Bianzhongbian lun yizhu, Chapter N "{chapter title}" · {layer} · Zhiyue · Spring 2026 〔T31 PPPP〕.

Layer — vernacular / exposition / apparatus / essence; cite the layer drawn from.
Base-text locus — 〔T31n1600〕 is the Taishō number of Xuanzang's translation of Vasubandhu's commentary, 〔T31n1601〕 that of his translation of Maitreya's root verses; to cite a passage, add a page locator as 〔T31 PPPP〕.
The edition is published in the series repository (github.com/pointing-at-the-moon/han-canon-translations · canon/yogacara/bianzhongbian); a citation may reference it there.

III · Note

This edition takes Xuanzang's verses (T31n1601) and commentary (T31n1600) as its base text. Paramārtha's Zhongbian fenbie lun (T31n1599) serves as the alternate-translation collation witness; and the commentary of the ancient master — Kuiji's Bianzhongbian lun shuji T44n1835 — supplies the basis for noting divergent readings. All are carried in the apparatus layer and collated character-by-character against the canonical text. The apparatus records only the canonical verbatim of scripture and the ancient masters; no modern critical edition is cited. Sthiramati's sub-commentary (ṭīkā) is not transmitted into Chinese — its name is kept, its text not used. The Sanskrit IAST serves only as a pronunciation aid, anchored to the transliterations transmitted by the ancient masters.

This edition cross-reads the treatise's account of "unreal imagination, emptiness and existence not-two" with related passages in the Viṃśatikā, Triṃśikā, Mahāyāna-saṃgraha, and Cheng weishi lun as a route through the Yogācāra materials. This is an editorial arrangement, not a canon-attested claim about composition order or textual dependence.

License — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Attribution · NonCommercial · ShareAlike).

This is not a retranslation, nor a replacement for the patriarchs' translations; what it establishes is only the per-chapter scriptural grounding of a Yogācāra root treatise.