婆藪槃豆法師傳

The Dharma Master Vasubandhu was a man of the country of Puruṣapura, in Northern India. Puruṣa is translated as "Man" (Hero), and pura is translated as "Eminent One."

According to tradition, the Heaven-King Viṣṇu was the younger brother of Śakra (Indra). Śakra dispatched him to the realm of Jambudvīpa to become a king and subdue the asuras. He was born in Jambudvīpa as the son of King Vasudeva.

At that time, there was an asura named Indra-damana. Indra is a name of Śakra, and damana is translated as "Subduer." Because this asura often did battle with Śakra and was able to subdue Śakra, he received this name.

The Vyākaraṇa Treatise explains "asura" as "Not Fond of Goodness." Translating according to that designation, the devas are always fond of doing good, while the asuras delight in doing evil, and so they received this name; they are also called "Non-devas."

This asura had a younger sister named Prabhāvatī. Prabhā is translated as "Radiance," and vatī is translated as "Lady" (Consort).

This asura maiden was exceedingly beautiful. The asura wished to harm Viṣṇu, and therefore he made use of his younger sister to deceive Viṣṇu. The asura Indra-damana used the magical power of his spells to darken a certain region of Jambudvīpa, and then dwelt there, so that no one could see him.

The asura told his younger sister to stand in a bright place, instructing her thus: "If any man wishes to take you as his wife, you should say: 'My elder brother has very great strength. If you wish to take me, then do battle with my brother. Only if you are willing to fight my brother will I consent.'"

Afterward, Viṣṇu met the asura maiden Prabhāvatī, and his heart was filled with great joy. He asked, "What manner of being are you?"

She answered, "I am an asura maiden."

Viṣṇu said, "All asura maidens are originally of deva descent. I have no wife, and you have no husband. Now I wish to take you in marriage—do you consent?"

The asura maiden answered as her elder brother had instructed her before.

Viṣṇu said, "Now you hold me dear, and therefore you speak these words; you love me, and how could I bear to let this pass? I possess great power, and I shall do battle with your brother." The asura maiden then consented to become husband and wife.

Afterward, the asura came to the bright place and asked Viṣṇu, "Why have you taken my younger sister as your wife?"

Viṣṇu answered, "If I were not a true hero and had taken your sister as my wife, then it would be worthy of blame. But as it is, I am openly and rightly a hero without a wife, and your sister is a maiden without a husband. Now that I have taken her, it is proper and justified in name—what is strange about it?"

The asura asked, "How dare you call yourself a hero? If you are a hero, do battle with me and win, and then I shall give my younger sister to you."

Viṣṇu said, "If you do not believe it, then let us decide it in combat." Thereupon, each took up his weapon and they hacked at one another. Viṣṇu had the body of Nārāyaṇa and could not be cut. But when Viṣṇu cut off the asura's head, as soon as it was severed it returned again, and so too with the arms and the other parts of the body—as soon as each was severed it returned. In this way, from morning until evening they hacked but could not sever him. The asura did not die, while Viṣṇu's strength gradually became exhausted; and as evening came, the asura's strength grew yet greater.

The wife, fearing that her husband would not prevail, took an utpala flower, broke it into two pieces, and each of them held one half.

When morning came, the wife went walking within that place. Viṣṇu then understood her meaning, and he seized the asura's body, broke it into two, and cast one half aside; and Viṣṇu walked back and forth there. The asura met his end.

Formerly the asura had gone to a sage to beg the boon that, when his body was cut, it would at once be restored. The sage had granted the asura this boon, and so thereafter, when cut, he did not lose his life. But the sage, wishing the devas to be able to kill him, did not grant the asura the boon that the hand and the other parts of the body be restored, and for this reason he afterward met his end.

At that time, that Viṣṇu manifested the power of a hero. On account of this it was called the Country of the Hero (Puruṣapura).

In that country there was a National Preceptor of the brahmin lineage named Kauśika. Kauśika had three sons, all named Vasubandhu. Vasu is translated as "Heaven" (Deva), and bandhu is translated as "Kinsman" (Bond).

The people of India give names to their children in this fashion. Within the same name, each one afterward came to have a distinct epithet. The third Vasubandhu went forth as a monk and studied under the Sarvāstivāda school, attaining the fruit of arhatship. He had a distinct epithet, Viriñcivatsa. Viriñci was the name of his mother. Vatsa is translated as "Son," also called "Child." This term is applied in common to both humans and animals; thus a calf is also called vatsa, while in China a calf is called "the chief calf-son."

Vasubandhu was a man possessed of the root-nature of a bodhisattva. He too went forth as a monk under the Sarvāstivāda school, cultivated meditative absorption, departed from desire, and contemplated the meaning of emptiness; but he could not enter into it, and wished to kill his own body.

The arhat Piṇḍola, in Eastern Videha, observing this matter, reproached him; and from Eastern Videha he came and expounded the emptiness-contemplation of the Hīnayāna, in the manner of doctrinal instruction. Thereupon Vasubandhu entered into the emptiness-contemplation.

Although he realized the emptiness-contemplation of the Hīnayāna, his mind was still not at peace, for he held that this principle of emptiness was not in accord with the truth.

Therefore, relying upon his spiritual powers, he went to the Tuṣita Heaven and inquired of the Bodhisattva Maitreya.

The Bodhisattva Maitreya expounded for him the emptiness-contemplation of the Mahāyāna.

He returned to Jambudvīpa and, in accordance with the words of the Bodhisattva Maitreya, contemplated and reflected upon it, and at once realized awakening.

When he reflected upon it, the earth quaked six times, and he immediately attained the emptiness-contemplation of the Mahāyāna. On account of this he took the name Asaṅga, which is translated as "Unattached." Afterward, several times he ascended to Tuṣita to inquire of the Bodhisattva Maitreya about the meaning and principles of the Mahāyāna sūtras. The Bodhisattva Maitreya explained them thoroughly. Thereby he gained realization. Afterward, he returned to Jambudvīpa and, taking what he had heard, explained and preached it to others; but most of those who heard did not believe.

The Dharma Master Asaṅga made a vow: "I now wish to cause sentient beings to believe in and understand the Mahāyāna. I beseech the Great Master to descend to Jambudvīpa and preach the Mahāyāna, so that sentient beings may all come to believe and understand."

The Bodhisattva Maitreya then complied with this vow. By night, he descended to Jambudvīpa, emitting a brilliant radiance everywhere, in order to gather those who had the karmic conditions to assemble together at the hall of Dharma; and he recited the Sūtra of the Seventeen Stages. In accordance with what he recited, sentient beings thereby understood its meaning. Over the course of four months the recitation of the Sūtra of the Seventeen Stages was completed.

Although they dwelt together in the same hall hearing the Dharma, only the Dharma Master Asaṅga was able to draw near to the Bodhisattva Maitreya, while the others could only hear him from afar.

By night they heard the Bodhisattva Maitreya preach the Dharma, and by day they received from the Dharma Master Asaṅga the exposition of what Maitreya had preached. Thereby everyone came to believe and follow the Bodhisattva Maitreya's teaching of the Mahāyāna.

The Dharma Master Asaṅga cultivated the Sunlight Samādhi. Practicing as it was taught, he at once attained this samādhi. From the time he realized this samādhi, he penetrated and comprehended all that he had not understood before; and whatever he saw or heard, he remembered forever without forgetting.

In former times, when the Buddha had preached the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and the other Mahāyāna scriptures, he expounded the meaning and principle of all of them with clarity.

The Bodhisattva Maitreya, in the Tuṣita Heaven, explained the various Mahāyāna scriptures for the Dharma Master Asaṅga, and the Dharma Master comprehended them all and retained them in memory.

Afterward, in Jambudvīpa, he expounded the Mahāyāna scriptures, composing treatises (upadeśa) that explained all the Mahāyāna teachings preached by the Buddha.

The second Vasubandhu also went forth as a monk under the Sarvāstivāda school. He was broadly learned, having heard much of all the scriptures; he was a man of brilliant and rare talent, and his moral conduct was so lofty and pure that hardly anyone could match it. Since his brothers already had distinct epithets, this Dharma Master was called simply Vasubandhu.

About five hundred years after the Buddha passed into nirvāṇa, there was an arhat named Kātyāyanīputra. Because his mother's clan was Kātyāyana, he was named after his mother's clan. Before he went forth as a monk under the Sarvāstivāda school, he was originally a man of India; afterward he went to the country of Kaśmīra. Kaśmīra lies to the northwest of India.

He, together with five hundred arhats and five hundred bodhisattvas, composed the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma, dividing it into eight granthas. In China these are called the eight skandhakas. Grantha is translated as "Knot," also called "Section." This means that its meanings and categories are all interrelated, and so it is called a "knot"; moreover, it binds together the meanings so that they do not become scattered. Because the meanings and categories have their bounds, it is called a "section." This text is also called the Treatise on the Generation of Wisdom (Jñānaprasthāna).

By the power of his spiritual penetrations and his vows, his teaching resounded everywhere.

Formerly, those who had heard the Abhidharma, according to whether they had attained much or little of it, all presented it to him. Devas, nāgas, yakṣas, asuras, and devas—there were those who had formerly heard the Buddha speak the Abhidharma, whether in brief or in full, even a single phrase or a single verse, and now they all reported it to him. Kātyāyanīputra, together with the arhats and bodhisattvas, selected those meanings that, if they accorded with the sūtras and treatises and contained no error, were to be recorded; while those portions that were erroneous were discarded.

The selected passages were arranged according to the interrelation of their meanings and categories: if the meaning belonged to wisdom, it was placed in the section on wisdom; if the meaning belonged to concentration, it was placed in the section on concentration; and the other portions were likewise treated. The eight skandhakas amounted in all to fifty thousand verses. Afterward, he composed the Vibhāṣā Treatise to explain the fifty thousand verses of the eight skandhakas.

Now, the Bodhisattva Aśvaghoṣa was a man of Bhāgīrathī, in the country of Śrāvastī. He thoroughly understood the eight parts of the Vyākaraṇa Treatise, the Treatise of the Four Vedas, the eighteen schools of treatises, and the Three Baskets of scripture. Kātyāyanīputra sent a man to the country of Śrāvastī to invite the Bodhisattva Aśvaghoṣa to come to the country of Kaśmīra. Kātyāyanīputra explained the eight knots (the eight skandhakas), and the arhats and the bodhisattvas together examined their meaning.

Aśvaghoṣa thereupon composed the Vibhāṣā Treatise, laboring continuously for twelve years, comprising one million verses.

Vibhāṣā is translated as "Extensive Explanation," meaning a broad and extensive exposition. Kātyāyanīputra then carved into stone and set up a stele, inscribing: "From this time forward, the scholars here may not leave the country of Kaśmīra, and the text of the eight knots and the Vibhāṣā Treatise may not be transmitted beyond the country."

Fearing that the other schools and the Mahāyāna would defile and corrupt this True Dharma, he reported the words inscribed on the stone stele to the King, and the King too consented.

The country of Kaśmīra is surrounded by ranges of mountains piled one upon another, like a city wall, with only a single mountain pass for going in and out. The sages used the power of their vows to subdue the yakṣa spirits, causing them to guard this pass. If anyone wished to study this Dharma, he could come to the country of Kaśmīra without any obstruction. The sages further used the power of their vows to dispatch five hundred yakṣas to act as donors, assisting those who studied this Dharma so that they would be fully provided for and would lack nothing.

In the country of Ayodhyā there was a Dharma Master named Vasubhadra. He was exceedingly intelligent and wise, and whenever he heard the True Dharma he was able to retain it. He wished to study the eight knots (the eight skandhakas) and the doctrine of the Vibhāṣā Treatise, and then to go to other countries to propagate the True Dharma. Therefore, the Dharma Master concealed his identity and, feigning to be a madman, went to the country of Kaśmīra. He often dwelt among the assembly hearing the Dharma, but his deportment was strange, and his speech and laughter were unusual.

At that time, the assembly was discussing the doctrine of the Vibhāṣā. He then raised a question concerning the Mahāyāna. Everyone made light of it and paid no heed. Within twelve years he had studied the entire text and meaning of the Vibhāṣā to the point of ripeness, and he recited and held it by heart; and so he wished to return to his own country. When he came to the pass, the yakṣa spirits cried out loudly, saying, "The Great Abhidharma now wishes to leave the country—bind him within the great assembly!" Everyone together examined and interrogated him, but they found his language confused and incomprehensible. Everyone took him to be a madman, and so they released him.

Afterward, the Dharma Master once more came out to the pass, and the yakṣa spirits again bound him within the assembly and announced it to the King. The King sent men to investigate, just as before. Three times in this way he departed and was brought back; and on the fourth time, the yakṣa spirits again brought him into the assembly, but no longer interrogated him, and told the yakṣa spirits to release him from the country.

When the Dharma Master returned to his own country, he at once set forth the doctrine of the Vibhāṣā and taught it, so that people far and near all came to understand it. He said, "I have studied the entire text and meaning of the Vibhāṣā Treatise in the country of Kaśmīra. Whoever wishes to study this doctrine, let him come."

At that time, people from the four directions all gathered together in great numbers. The Dharma Master, fearing that he was aged and frail and could not expound the whole Vibhāṣā Treatise, instructed his disciples to receive it quickly: relying upon his exposition to make a written record, they would thereby gain a thorough understanding.

Afterward, when the masters of the country of Kaśmīra heard that the doctrine of the Vibhāṣā had been transmitted to another country, every one of them lamented.

About nine hundred years after the Buddha passed into nirvāṇa, there was a non-Buddhist named Vindhyavāsa. Vindhya is the name of a mountain; vāsa is translated as "Dweller." Because this non-Buddhist dwelt upon this mountain, he took it as his name.

At that time, there was a nāga-king named Vṛṣagaṇa, who dwelt in a pond at the foot of Mount Vindhya. This nāga-king well understood the Sāṃkhya Treatise. This non-Buddhist knew that the nāga-king possessed this understanding, and so he wished to come and receive instruction. The nāga-king transformed himself into a sage, living in a thatched leaf hut. The non-Buddhist came to the place of the nāga-king and set forth his heartfelt wish to study.

The nāga-king then consented. The non-Buddhist gathered a great tray full of flowers, came to the place of the nāga-king, circumambulated him once, and then scattered one flower as an offering; and with each flower he scattered, he composed a verse of praise. As the nāga-king listened, he understood the meaning of each, and at once he took up a flower and cast it back to the non-Buddhist; and according to the offering, the non-Buddhist composed a verse of praise, and again gathered up the flower the nāga-king had cast, and continued to scatter offerings. In this way, when the whole tray of flowers was finished, he understood the entire doctrine of the verses.

When he came to the place of the nāga-king, the nāga-king praised the non-Buddhist for his intelligence. The nāga-king expounded the Sāṃkhya Treatise for the non-Buddhist and said, "Now that you have received the treatise, take care that you do not alter it."

The nāga-king, fearing that the non-Buddhist would surpass him, gave this instruction: that he should expound and analyze it according to the capacity of the learner, and need not necessarily follow the original order; and that whenever he met with a passage whose meaning was unclear, he likewise should not alter it.

When the nāga-king had finished expounding the treatise, the non-Buddhist did not cease from composing, and presented to the nāga-king what he had composed.

The nāga-king, seeing that it was better than the original, became exceedingly angry, and out of jealousy said to the non-Buddhist, "Formerly I told you that you must not alter it. How is it that you have altered it, causing what I composed not to be circulated?"

The non-Buddhist answered, "Master, you instructed me that after the treatise was finished I must not alter it; you did not instruct me that, while explaining the treatise, I must not alter it. I have not transgressed the master's instruction—why then do you reproach me? I beg the master to grant me a boon: that while my body has not perished, this treatise will not perish."

The master then consented.

After receiving the treatise, the non-Buddhist gave rise to a haughty and arrogant mind. He declared his own teaching to be supreme, with no other teaching surpassing it. "But there is still the Dharma of Śākya, which flourishes in the world. Sentient beings hold that Dharma to be great. I must break it down." Thereupon he entered the country of Ayodhyā to proclaim and expound his doctrine, saying, "I wish to expound my doctrine. If I am defeated, then cut off my head; and if the other is defeated, then let that one offer his head."

The King, Vikramāditya—translated as "Valor of the Sun"—learning of this matter, summoned the non-Buddhist and questioned him.

The non-Buddhist said, "The King is the lord of the country. Toward the śramaṇas and the brahmins he should not be partial. If anyone has a system of practice and a method of conduct, then it should be tested as to whether it is right or wrong. I now wish to decide victory and defeat with the disciples of Śākya, and therefore I stake my head as my oath." The King then consented.

The King had inquiry made among the Dharma Masters of the country: who could debate with the non-Buddhist?

At that time, the masters such as Manoratha—Manoratha is translated as "Heart's Wish"—and the Dharma Master Vasubandhu, and the other great Dharma Masters, had all left for other countries, so that not one remained. There remained only the Dharma Master Buddhamitra.

Buddhamitra is translated as "Awakened Friend." This Dharma Master was very able, but he was advanced in years; his spirit was muddled and his speech feeble.

The Dharma Master said, "My teaching has for the most part been circulated abroad. The strength of the non-Buddhist cannot manipulate it. Now I must take on this matter."

The Dharma Master then reported to the King. The King appointed a day to gather the assembly at the hall of debate, so that the Dharma Master might debate with the non-Buddhist. The non-Buddhist asked the śramaṇa whether he wished to establish a thesis or to refute one.

The Dharma Master answered, "I am like the great ocean, which contains all things, while you are like a clod of earth cast into the ocean that at once sinks. Do as you please."

The non-Buddhist said, "Let the śramaṇa establish a thesis, and I shall break it down."

The Dharma Master then established the thesis of impermanence: "All conditioned dharmas change and decay in every kṣaṇa. Why? Because thereafter no enduring principle is found to be established." What that Dharma Master said, the non-Buddhist, hearing it once, then recited.

The non-Buddhist in turn brought forth reasonings to break it down, causing the Dharma Master to recite and examine them; but the Dharma Master, being aged and frail, could not recite and examine them. Therefore the Dharma Master was defeated before the refuting and assailing arguments of the non-Buddhist.

The non-Buddhist said, "You are of the brahmin lineage, and I too am of the brahmin lineage, and so I cannot bear to kill you. You should yourself strike your own back, to show that I have defeated you."

At that time, on account of this matter, the King bestowed upon the non-Buddhist three golden kośalas. The non-Buddhist distributed the gold in alms to everyone, and then returned into a stone cave on Mount Vindhya, where by the power of spells he employed a yakṣa goddess named Mokṣala.

The non-Buddhist begged a boon of the goddess: that after his death, his body should turn to stone and never be destroyed.

The goddess consented. The non-Buddhist himself sealed the cave with stone, and within it cast away his bodily life and turned to stone.

The reason he made this vow was that the non-Buddhist had formerly begged a boon of that nāga-king: "While my body has not perished, what I have formerly composed and the Sāṃkhya Treatise likewise shall not perish." For this reason, this treatise still exists today.

When Vasubandhu returned and heard of this matter, he lamented and harbored resentment. Not having met the non-Buddhist, he sent a man to Mount Vindhya to seek out the non-Buddhist and subdue him; but the non-Buddhist had already turned to stone. Vasubandhu's indignation grew all the greater, and he composed the Treatise of the Seventy Truths (Paramārthasaptati), from beginning to end breaking down the Sāṃkhya Treatise composed by the non-Buddhist, leaving not a single phrase intact.

The non-Buddhists, seeing this, suffered exceedingly, as though their own bodily lives were being cut. Although Vasubandhu had not met the non-Buddhist, he had utterly demolished the very roots and branches of the non-Buddhist's teaching, leaving them without anything to rely upon.

When the vengeance was accomplished, everyone felt rejoiced. The King bestowed upon the Dharma Master three villages' worth of gold sand. The Dharma Master divided it into three parts to build three monasteries in the country of Ayodhyā: one a monastery for bhikṣuṇīs, one a monastery for the Sarvāstivāda school, and one a Mahāyāna monastery. Thereafter the Dharma Master established the True Dharma.

Formerly, since he had thoroughly understood the meaning of the Vibhāṣā, he took its explanation and taught it to everyone. Each day, after lecturing, he composed a single verse that gathered together all the meanings he had expounded that day, engraving it upon a leaf of red copper to write the verse; and then he hung the verse upside down and beat a drum to announce: "Who is able to break down the meaning of this verse? If anyone has the ability to break it down, let him come forth." In this way, one after another, he composed sixty verses of the Vibhāṣā, and with each verse he did likewise; but there was no one who could break them down.

Those verses are precisely the verses of the Abhidharmakośa Treatise.

After the verses were completed, he sent fifty pounds of gold together with these verses to the Vibhāṣā masters in Kaśmīra. When the masters received them, they all rejoiced, saying, "Our True Dharma has been propagated far and wide; the words of the verses are marvelous and profound, beyond complete understanding."

They again sent fifty more pounds of gold, together with the fifty pounds of gold that the Dharma Master had sent before, making one hundred pounds of gold, which they offered up to the Dharma Master, begging the Dharma Master to explain the essential meaning of those verses in prose. The Dharma Master then explained them in prose, establishing the doctrine of the Sarvāstivāda, and wherever appropriate, using the doctrine of the Sūtra school to break it down. It was called the Abhidharmakośa Treatise. After the treatise was completed, he sent it to all the masters in Kaśmīra. When the masters perceived that their doctrine had been demolished, they gave rise to sorrow and distress.

The crown prince of King Vikramāditya was named Bālāditya. Bāla is translated as "New," and āditya is translated as "Sun" (day, the sun). The King had formerly sent the crown prince to the Dharma Master to receive the precepts. The King's queen consort also went forth as a monastic and became a disciple of the Dharma Master. Afterward, when the crown prince succeeded to the throne, he respectfully invited the Dharma Master to come and dwell in the country of Ayodhyā to receive offerings, and the Dharma Master consented.

The husband of the younger sister of King Bālāditya was of the brahmin lineage, named Vasurāta, who was a non-Buddhist Dharma Master expounding the Vyākaraṇa Treatise.

The Bodhisattva Vasubandhu had composed the Abhidharmakośa Treatise. This non-Buddhist used the doctrine of the Vyākaraṇa Treatise to break down the passages established by the Dharma Master.

The King considered the Vyākaraṇa Treatise to be self-contradictory, and so he ordered the Dharma Master to examine it; if he could not examine it, then that treatise would be demolished. The Dharma Master said, "If this poor monk did not understand the Vyākaraṇa Treatise, how could he understand its profound doctrine?"

The Dharma Master then composed a treatise to break down the Vyākaraṇa Treatise from beginning to end.

Thereupon the Vyākaraṇa Treatise was lost, and only the Abhidharmakośa Treatise remained. The King offered one village's worth of gold sand to the Dharma Master. The King's mother offered two villages' worth of gold sand to the Dharma Master. The Dharma Master divided it into three parts and built three monasteries in the three countries of Puruṣapura, Kaśmīra, and Ayodhyā.

The non-Buddhists, giving rise to shame and indignation, wished to subdue the Dharma Master, and so they sent a man to India to invite the Dharma Master Saṃghabhadra to come to the country of Ayodhyā and compose a treatise to break down the Abhidharmakośa Treatise.

This Dharma Master came and composed two treatises. The first was the Treatise on Categories (Samaya), comprising ten thousand verses, which merely restated the meaning of the Vibhāṣā. Samaya is translated as "Categories of Meaning."

The second was the Treatise in Accordance with Reality, comprising one hundred and twenty thousand verses, which examined the doctrine of the Vibhāṣā in order to break down the Abhidharmakośa Treatise.

After the treatise was completed, he called upon the Bodhisattva Vasubandhu to come and debate face to face. The Bodhisattva Vasubandhu knew that, although this treatise sought to break it down, it could not defeat the doctrine of the Kośa, and so there was no need to meet face to face and debate any longer.

The Dharma Master said, "Now I am old; do as you please. Long ago I composed a treatise to break down the doctrine of the Vibhāṣā, yet I did not meet you face to face to debate. Now that you have composed a treatise, what need is there to summon me? A person of wisdom should himself know what is right and what is wrong."

The Dharma Master had thoroughly understood the doctrine of the eighteen schools of treatises, and was skilled in the Hīnayāna; but being attached to the Hīnayāna, he therefore did not believe in the Mahāyāna, holding that the Mahāyāna was not preached by the Buddha. The Dharma Master Asaṅga, perceiving that his younger brother's intelligence surpassed that of ordinary people, and knowing that his younger brother penetrated and comprehended all things both inner and outer, feared that his younger brother would compose a treatise to break down the Mahāyāna. Therefore Asaṅga went to dwell in the country of Puruṣapura and sent a man to the country of Ayodhyā to inform Vasubandhu, saying, "I am now gravely ill; come quickly."

Vasubandhu then complied, and returned to his native country to visit and inquire into the root cause of his elder brother's illness.

His elder brother answered, "Now I am ill on account of you."

Vasubandhu asked, "Why on account of me?"

His elder brother answered, "Because you do not believe in the Mahāyāna, and constantly give rise to a mind of disparagement. On account of this evil karma you will surely sink and drown in the evil destinies. For this reason, I am now so grieved and distressed that I cannot preserve my bodily life."

Hearing this, Vasubandhu was startled and afraid, and at once requested his elder brother to expound the Mahāyāna.

His elder brother then spoke briefly of the essential meaning of the Mahāyāna.

The Dharma Master immediately awakened to the fact that the doctrine of the Mahāyāna surpassed that of the Hīnayāna, and so he studied with his elder brother the entire doctrine of the Mahāyāna. Reflecting upon it, he saw clearly that, from beginning to end, its meanings and principles were mutually accordant, with nothing contradictory.

"Formerly I devoted myself one-sidedly to the study of the Hīnayāna and lost the Mahāyāna. If there were no Mahāyāna, there would be no fruits of the path of the three vehicles. Formerly I disparaged the Mahāyāna and gave rise to no mind of faith and delight; now I fear that for this offense I must surely fall into the evil destinies." Thus he reproached himself for his fault, and wished to repent of his former wrong. He went to the place of his elder brother, set forth fully all his former delusions, and expressed his wish to repent; but he did not know by what means he might extinguish that offense, and so he said, "Formerly, with this tongue I disparaged; now I must cut out my tongue to atone for the offense."

His elder brother said, "Even if you were to cut out a thousand tongues, you could not extinguish that offense. If you wish to extinguish that offense, you should employ skillful means."

The Dharma Master then begged him to tell him the skillful means for extinguishing the offense. His elder brother said, "Your tongue was skilled in slandering the Mahāyāna; if you wish to extinguish that offense, then skillfully use that very tongue to expound the Mahāyāna."

After the Dharma Master Asaṅga passed away, the Bodhisattva Vasubandhu then composed Mahāyāna treatises to explain the Mahāyāna scriptures, such as the Avataṃsaka, the Nirvāṇa, the Lotus, the Prajñā, the Vimalakīrti, the Śrīmālā, and others.

The treatises on the Mahāyāna sūtras were all composed by the Dharma Master. In addition, there were the Vijñaptimātratā Treatise, the Commentary on the Mahāyānasaṃgraha, the Nature of the Mahāyāna, the Gate of Sweet Dew, and other Mahāyāna treatises composed by the Dharma Master, whose literary form and meaning were all subtle and excellent, so that whoever saw or heard them placed their trust in them. Therefore, scholars of both the Mahāyāna and the Hīnayāna in other places all took up his works for study. The other schools and the non-Buddhist treatise-masters, hearing his name, none failed to revere and submit to him.

The Dharma Master passed into stillness in the country of Ayodhyā, at the age of eighty. Although his traces lay in the realm of ordinary beings, his true principle is difficult to conceive and discuss.

From the beginning up to this point, the record concerns the brothers of the Bodhisattva Vasubandhu. What follows records the Tripiṭaka master ācārya, who from Terrace City came eastward to Guangzhou and translated the Mahāyāna treatises, transmitting them to later generations.