“upādānam upādāya prajñapti”

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Huifeng
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Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:51 am

“upādānam upādāya prajñapti”

Post by Huifeng »

A couple of questions, if anybody can throw some light on the situation...

Working on my translation of Ven. Yin Shun's Investigations into Emptiness, 空之探究, Chp. 4.5 has the following (pg. 239):
Avalokitavrata’s (Guan shi 觀誓) commentary on this, the *Prajñā¬pradīpa¬ṭīkā (Bo re deng lun guang zhu 般若燈論廣註; Wisdom Lamp Treatise Sub-commentary), explains “designation on a cause” as “upādānam upādāya prajñapti”, which is “designation having composed a composition”.
And also:
From Diṅnāga (Chen na 陳那), who had himself renounced in the Vātsīputrīya school, there is also the *Upādāna¬upādāya¬prajñapti Śāstra (Qu yin jia she lun 取因假設論; Treatise on Designation of Compounding on a Cause). In summary, the “composite designation (shou jia 受假)” which is given in the Prajñā[pāramitā] sūtras is precisely the “prajñapti upādāya” (yin shi she 因施設; cause designation) which is stated in the *Madhyamaka Śāstra (Middle Treatise).
The Ven. provides no citations for either of these passages.

However, the name for the text from Avalokitavrata as *Prajñā¬pradīpa¬ṭīkā appears to be correct. However, I would like some more details on whether the Tibetan, for example, matches the reconstructed Sanskrit here: “upādānam upādāya prajñapti”.

For the Diṅnāga text, the Ven.'s book actually gives the incorrect Chinese (the correction is already made above). However, I would still like some further confirmation or otherwise, of the reconstructed title as "*Upādāna¬upādāya¬prajñapti Śāstra".

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or pointers.

~~ Huifeng
tantular
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2011 8:36 am

Re: “upādānam upādāya prajñapti”

Post by tantular »

The relevant passage from Avalokitavrata:

BRTEN NAS GDAGS PA DE YANG KUN RDZOB TU
'JIG RTEN PA DANG, 'JIG RTEN LAS 'DAS PA'I THA SNYAD 'DOGS PAS
RANG RANG GI NYE BAR LEN PA DAG LA BRTEN NAS GDAGS PA YIN PAS
NGO BO NYID MED PAR BSTAN PA'I PHYIR, 'JIG RTEN PA DANG 'JIG
RTEN LAS 'DAS PA'I THA SNYAD 'DOD PAS NYE BAR LEN PA DAG LA BRTEN NAS GDAGS PA
YIN NO ZHES BYA BA SMRAS TE

(D. No.] 3859, mdo 'grel, wa, folio 240a, according to ACIP)

The Tibetan supports Ven. Yin Shun's reading. The first phrase in red certainly contained the words upādāna, upādāya, & prajñapti in Sanskrit, and the second was in all likelihood exactly upādānam upādāya prajñaptiḥ, which Avalokitavrata is giving as a more specific definition of upādāya-prajñaptiḥ.

Unfortunately the Dignāga text doesn't seem to have been translated into Tibetan.

upādāya prajñaptiḥ (without the upādāna) is a well-attested phrase in Sanskrit: it occurs in the root verse MMK 24.18 that Avalokitavrata is (sub-)commenting on, and Candrakīrti also uses it many times in his commentary. He never links it with upādānam, instead using similar words like "skandhān upādāya prajñapyate" or "saṃskārān upādāya prajñaptaḥ." The basic idea is the same, so I'd say *upādāna-upādāya-prajñapti is a very plausible reconstruction.

It's a little strange to turn an absolutive phrase into a compound noun, but it can be done, as it was with pratītya samutpādaḥ. In fact I'd say the grammatical parallel between pratītya samutpādaḥ and upādāya prajñaptiḥ is deliberate (after all verse 24.18 is identifying pratītyasamutpādaḥ, śūnyatā, upādāyaprajñaptiḥ, and madhyamā pratipat as synonyms).
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