The Expression anupradānāt in the Savitarkasavicārabhūmi of the Yogācārabhūmi

Abstract

Anupradāna is an expression whose meaning is indeterminate. In the Yogācārabhūmi, it is a significant term that has a deep connection with the description of cetanā, one of the five omnipresent mental factors (sarvatraga). Therefore, the usage examples of anupradāna in the Yogācārabhūmi need to be investigated.

This article will examine an example in the statement of the paiśunika (a telltale) in the Savitarkasavicārabhūmi. This statement, however, includes thorny problems – the structure of the entire statement is extremely difficult to understand and, the expression anupradānāt in Bhattacharya’s edition is an emendation of anupradānāṃ in the manuscript, but which is not supported by any other materials.

Investigation reveals that this statement is an explanation with embedded portions quoted from Āgama. Those early Buddhist texts, showing that neither anupradānāṃ in the manuscript nor anupradānāt in Bhattacharya’s edition is appropriate, provide a more credible emendation, namely anupradātā. Furthermore, it became clear that the verb anu-pra-√dā in this statement can be understood as “to stay, support; to make firm”.