2021 Volume 2 Pages 111-138
The Saṃskṛtāsaṃskṛtaviniścaya (SAV) of Daśabalaśrīmitra (12th–13th c.), preserved only in a Tibetan translation, is a treatise that expounds the essential doctrines of major Indian Buddhist groups such as Sarvāstivāda, Sthaviravāda, Sammitīya, as well as Mahāyāna in general. Although the author says at the beginning of this text that he wrote it as memorandum for himself, it is also an important source for modern scholarly investigation into Buddhist theories that had been transmitted to the latest period of Indian Buddhism.
Among the thirty-five chapters that constitute the SAV, Chapters II–XII are devoted to Sarvāstivāda theories. It is well-known that the Sarvāstivādas were one of the most influential groups in Indian Buddhist tradition and that they provided a doctrinal basis for the entire tradition. These eleven chapters in the SAV contain concrete explanations of the Sarvāstivāda theories that comprised the basic Buddhist knowledge of that period. This paper presents a Japanese translation of Chapter IX, which expounds the system of elements (dharmas), a fundamental theory in the Sarvāstivāda system. For want of space, this paper deals with only the first half of Chapter IX, from the opening remarks to the section on envelopment (paryavasthāna).
In a previous paper, the author has pointed out that the Sarvāstivāda system of elements presented in the SAV was transmitted in a textual tradition as follows: *Skandhila’s Abhidharāvatāra → Candrakīrti’s *Madhyamakapañcaskandhaka → Abhayākaragupta’s Munimatālaṃkāra (MMA) → Daśabalaśrīmitra’s SAV. Parallel and related passages in those texts, particularly the Sanskrit text of the MMA, are helpful for translating the SAV from the Tibetan version. The relevant texts are included in the notes.
