BnwShortPersonBio
|
Traditionally counted among the Seventeen Great Paṇḍitas of Nālandā, Asaṅga was an illustrious Indian scholar who, along with his brother Vasubandhu, is credited with the founding of the Yogācāra school and the introduction of the associated theories of mind-only (cittamātra), the storehouse consciousness (ālayavijñāna), the three natures (trisvabhāva), and so forth, into the milieu of Indian Buddhist philosophical discourse. He is most famously eulogized in the Tibetan tradition for his association with the Five Dharma Treatises of Maitreya (Byams chos sde lnga), which he is reported to have received directly from the bodhisattva Maitreya. In terms of the Uttaratantra, the Tibetan tradition, which divides the text into two distinct works, asserts that Asaṅga was the author of the prose commentary (vyākhyā) of this work, while Maitreya, himself, is the author of the actual verses of the treatise (śāstra).
|