ĀRYADEVA

ᾹRYADEVA , often called simply Deva (Tib., ʾPhagspa-lha); an important Buddhist dialectician, linked with several other names such as Kāṇadeva, Nīlanetra, Piṅgalanetra, Piṅgalacakṣuḥ, and Karṇaripa, although the identification with some of these is doubtful. In China, he is known both by the transcription of his name, Tibo or Tiboluo (Jpn., Daiba or Daibara), and by the translation of his name, Cheng-t'ien, (Jpn., Shōten).

Scholars have identified at least two Ᾱryadevas. The first, who will be referred to as "Ᾱryadeva I," was a Madhyamaka (Mādhyamika) dialectician, the most eminent disciple of Nāgārjuna, who lived between the third and fourth centuries ce. The second, "Ᾱryadeva II," was a Tantric master whose date has been variously proposed as in the seventh to tenth centuries (most probably at the beginning of the eighth century), because he cites the Madhyamakahṛdayakārikā of Bhāvaviveka (500–570) and the Tarkajvālā, its autocommentary, in his Madhyamakabhṛamaghāta, and because verse 31 of his Jñānasārasamuccaya is cited in the Tattvasaṃgra-hapañjikā of Kamalaśīla (740–795).

Biographies are available in Chinese sources (T.D. no. 2048; see also T.D. no. 2058, chap. 6), in Tibetan materials (Bu ston, Tāranātha, etc.), and partially but most genuinely in Sanskrit documents (Candrakīrti's Catuḥśatakaṭīkā, the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, etc.). If the Chinese sources are concerned solely with Ᾱryadeva I, the Tibetan ones in general combine and do not adequately distinguish between the two Ᾱryadevas. Both traditions confuse history and legend, and now it is almost impossible to separate them. However, if one singles out only the most plausible elements, the two individuals can be described as follows. Ᾱryadeva I was born in Sri Lanka (Sinhaladvīpa) as the son of a king but abandoned his glorious career and went to South India. After traveling throughout India, he met Nāgārjuna at Pāṭaliputra and became his disciple. He showed his talent in debate and converted many Brahmanic adherents to Buddhism. He is called Kāṇadeva ("One-eyed Deva") because he offered his eye to a non-Buddhist woman (according to Tāranātha), to a tree goddess (according to Bu ston), to a woman (according to the Caturaśīti-siddha-pavṛtti, or Biography of the Eighty-four Siddhas ), or to a golden statue of Maheśvara (according to the Chinese sources).

Ᾱryadeva II studied alchemy at Nālandā under the Tantric Nāgārjuna, who was a disciple of Saraha and founder of the ʾPhags-lugs lineage of the Guhyasamāja Tantra. The story of offering one eye is related about him also, but this might be an interpolation from the biography of Ᾱryadeva I.

All of the texts ascribed to Ᾱryadeva in the Chinese canon and most of the texts so ascribed in the Madhyamaka section of the Tibetan canon can be considered as the works of Ᾱryadeva I. The most famous is his Catuḥśataka (Derge edition of the Tibetan Tripiṭaka 3846, hereafter cited as D.; Bejing edition of the Tripiṭaka 5246, hereafter cited as B.; T. D. no. 1570 [the second half only], see also T.D. no. 1517), which consists of sixteen chapters, the first eight being concerned with the preparation of those who practice the path and the last eight explaining the insubstantiality of all dharma s. The Śatakaśāstra, a so-called abridged version of the Catuḥśataka available only in Kumārajīva's translation (T. D. no. 1569), and the Akṣaraśataka (T.D. no. 1572), said to be composed by Nāgārjuna in Tibetan versions (D. 3834, B. 5234), are especially noteworthy as the works of Ᾱryadeva I.

On the other hand, all the works ascribed to Ᾱryadeva in the Tantric section of the Tibetan canon are unquestionably attributed to Ᾱryadeva II. The most important and well-known texts among them are the Cittaviśuddhiprakaraṇa (D. 1804, B. 2669), a Sanskrit version of which was edited by P. B. Patel (Calcutta, 1949); the Caryāmelāpakapradīpa (D. 1803, B. 2668); and the Pradīpoddyotana-nāma-ṭīkā (D. 1794, B. 2659). There are also some texts in the Madhyamaka section of the Tibetan canon that can, on the basis of their contents, be attributed to Ᾱryadeva II: the Madhyamakabhṛamaghāta (D. 3850, B. 5250), most of which simply consists of extracts from the Madhya-makahṛdaya and the Tarkajvālā of Bhāvaviveka; the Jñānasārasamuccaya (D. 385l, B. 5251), a siddhānta text exposing the philosophical tenets of non-Buddhist and Buddhist schools; and the Skhalitapramathanayuktihetusiddhi (D. 3847, B. 5247), consisting of non-Buddhist objections and Buddhist answers.

The Hastavālaprakarana (D. 3844, B. 5244 and 5248; see also autocommentary, D. 3845, B. 5245 and 5249), attributed to Ᾱryadeva in its Tibetan versions, is now considered to be a work of Dignāga, as indicated in the Chinese version (T.D. nos. 1620, 1621). If the identification of Piṅgalanetra (Chin., Qingmu) with Ᾱryadeva is correct, Ᾱryadeva I also composed a commentary on the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (T.D. no. 1564).

See Also

Mādhyamika.

Bibliography

Lamotte, Étienne. Le traité de la grande vertu de sagesse, vol. 3. Louvain, 1970. See especially pages 1370–1375.

Lindtner, Christian. "Adversaria Buddhica." Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens 26 (1982): 167–194. See page 173, note 21.

Robinson, James B. Buddha's Lions: The Lives of the Eighty-four Siddhas. Berkeley, Calif., 1979.

Ruegg, David S. The Literature of the Madhyamaka School of Philosophy in India. Wiesbaden, 1981.

New Sources

Aryadeva, Candrakirti, and Karen Lang. "Aryadeva and Candrakirti on Self and Selfishness." In Buddhism in Practice, edited by Donald S. Lopez, Jr., pp. 380–398. Princeton, 1995.

Jong, J. W. de. "Materials for the Study of Aryadeva, Dharmapala and Candrakirti: The Catuhsataka of Aryadeva." Indo Iranian Journal 36 (1993): 150–153.

McClintock, Sara. "Knowing All through Knowing One: Mystical Communion or Logical Trick in the Tattvasamgraha and Tattvasamgrahapanjika." Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 23, no. 2 (2000): 225–244.

Mimaki Katsumi (1987)

Revised Bibliography