By Kurtis Schaeffer (University of Virginia, 2009)
Following the sūtra commentaries comes the next major section of the Tengyur: the treatises related to the “third turning” of the Wheel of the Buddha’s word. These are the works of the Cittamātra (སེམས་ཙམ་, sems tsam)/Yogācāra (རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་, rnal ’byor spyod pa) tradition (D.4049-D.4114: sixty-six titles in sixteen volumes). This section is organized more or less according to traditional intellectual history, which charts a historical narrative beginning with Maitreya (བྱམས་པ་, byams pa) and moving to Asaṅga (ཐོགས་མེད་, thogs med) and his brother Vasubandhu (དབྱིག་གཉེན་, dbyig gnyen). The works of these three figures, as well as associated commentaries, form the backbone of Mind Only literature.
The section begins with four of the so-called “five teachings of Maitreya” (བྱམས་ཆེན་སྡེ་ལྔ་, byams chen sde lnga), a Tibetan doxographic grouping that includes the Ornament for the Scriptures of the Great Way (ཐེག་ཆེན་མདོ་སྡེའི་རྒྱན་, theg chen mdo sde’i rgyan, mahāyānasūtrālaṁkāra, D.4049), the Distinguishing Middle from Extreme (དབུས་མཐའ་རྣམ་འབྱེད་, dbus mtha’ rnam ’byed, madhyāntavibhaṅga, D.4050), the Distinguishing Phenomena and Phenomenality (ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་ཉིད་རྣམ་འབྱེད་, chos dang chos nyid rnam ’byed, dharmadharmatāvibhaṅga, D.4051), and the Unexcelled Continuum (རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་, rgyud bla ma, uttaratantraśāstra, D.4053; the remaining work, the Ornament for Higher Realization (མངོན་རྟོགས་རྒྱན་, mngon rtogs rgyan, abhisamayālaṅkāra, D.3813), is located in the Tengyur’s Perfection of Wisdom section. These works were a cornerstone of scholastic literature along with the Central Philosophy (དེབུ་མ་, dbu ma, madhyamaka) treatises, especially for the Nyingma and Kagyü schools. Commentaries on each of these follow with a total of ten treatises (D.4054-D.4063) dedicated to the four verse-works attributed to Maitreya.
Next follow the works of Asaṅga, including the massive cycle of works on Mahāyāna ethical and contemplative practices that is often attributed to him, the Levels of Yogic Practice (རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པའི་ས་, rnal ’byor spyod pa’i sa, yogācāryābhūmi, D.4064-D.4071), as well as commentaries upon this work (D.4072-D.4076). Asaṅga’s Summary of the Great Way (ཐེག་ཆེན་བསྡུས་པ་, theg chen bsdus pa, mahāyānasaṁgraha) – a work that was never as popular in Tibet as it was in China – as well as his Compendium of Metaphysics (ཆོས་མངོན་པ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ་, chos mngon pa kun las btus pa, abhidharmasaumuccaya, D.4078) and associated commentaries (D.4079-D.4083) complete the section.
The works of Vasubandhu follow (D.4084-D.4092). Among his works are several of the most influential treaties on philosophy of mind and other basic philosophical problems such as causation (D.4091). Vasubandhu also wrote the most enduring Buddhist treatise on scholastic methodology, the Methods of Exegesis (རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ་རིགས་པའི་མདོ་སྡེའི་དུམ་བུ་བརྒྱ་, rnam par bshad pa rigs pa’i mdo sde’i dum bu brgya, vyākhyāyukti-sūtra-khaṇḍaśata, D.4089). Commentaries on Vasubandhu’s major works follow (D.4093-D.4101), including major works by later exegetes such as Sthiramati, Vinītadeva, and Ratnākaraśānti.
The next group is comprised of eight short- to medium-length works on meditation practice (D.4102-D.4109). The major work among these is the late Indian scholar Ratnākaraśānti’s (c. eleventh century) Instruction on the Perfection of Wisdom (ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་མན་ངག, shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i man ngag, prajñāpāramitopadeśa, D.4108), which elaborates a Madhyamaka-Yogācāra synthesis.
Finally, five works on yogic practice and moral conduct conclude the section. Candragomin’s Twenty Vows of the Bodhisattva (བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྡོམ་པ་ཉི་ཤུ་པ་, byang chub sems dpa’i sdom pa nyi shu pa, bodhisattva-saṃvara-viṃśaka, D.4110) and two commentaries (D.4111-D.4112) upon his work stand out.
Literature: Karl H. Potter, ed., Buddhist Philosophy from 100 to 350 A. D, Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies vol. 8 (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1999), for summaries of the early Yogācāra works.