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Triṃśikā (Vasubandhu) with Sthiramati's bhāṣya · 17
vijñānapariṇāmo 'yaṃ vikalpo yad vikalpyate | tena tan nāsti tenedaṃ sarvaṃ vijñāptimātrakam
Translation. This transformation of consciousness (vijñānapariṇāma) is conceptual construction (vikalpa);
what is conceptualized by it does not exist.
Therefore, all this is representation-only (vijñaptimātraka).
Grammar check: 13 words pass / 0 flagged / 0 beyond the checkerPāṇini-verified
Every word's claimed grammar is re-derived with vidyut-prakriya, software implementing Pāṇini's rules. Flags are shown, never hidden; some are the text taking epic or Vedic liberties the classical rules do not generate.
Word by word
| surface | lemma | grammar |
|---|
| vijñānapariṇāmaḥ | vijñānapariṇāma | pass |
| ayam | idam | pass |
| vikalpaḥ | vikalpa | pass |
| yat | yad | pass |
| vikalpyate | kḷp | pass |
| tena | tad | pass |
| tat | tad | pass |
| na | na | pass |
| asti | as | pass |
| tena | tad | pass |
| idam | idam | pass |
| sarvam | sarva | pass |
| vijñāptimātrakam | vijñāptimātraka | pass |
How the commentary settled it
Where the verse alone is ambiguous, the reading follows Sthiramati's commentary; the deciding lines are quoted below each decision.
Vijñānapariṇāma is construed as a ṣaṣṭhī-tatpuruṣa, ‘transformation of consciousness,’ and ayam vijñānapariṇāmaḥ is the subject equated with predicate vikalpaḥ.→ ‘This transformation of consciousness is conceptual construction.’
trbh [1096]yo 'yaṃ vijñānapariṇāmas trividho 'nantaram abhihitaḥ so 'yaṃ vikalpaḥ
This threefold transformation of consciousness, which has just been stated, is this conceptual construction.
trbh [1100, 1101, 1102]tena trividhena vikalpenālayavijñānakliṣṭamanaḥpravṛttivijñānasvabhāvena
sasaṃprayogeṇa yad vikalpyate bhājanam ātmāskandhadhātvāyatanarūpaśabdādikaṃ
vastu tan nāstīty ataḥ sa vijñānapariṇāmo vikalpa ucyate
What is conceptualized by that threefold construction—whose nature is store-consciousness, afflicted mind, and active consciousness, together with its associated factors—namely the receptacle world, self, aggregates, elements, sense-fields, form, sound, and so forth, does not exist; therefore that transformation of consciousness is called conceptual construction.
Vikalpa is not rendered in its ordinary sense ‘alternative’ or ‘option,’ but as the technical ‘conceptual construction’ consisting of three-realm mind and mental factors that assume forms of superimposed objects.→ “conceptual construction (vikalpa)”
trbh [1097]adhyāropitārthākārās traidhātukāś cittacaittā vikalpa ucyate
The mind and mental factors of the three realms, having the forms of superimposed objects, are called conceptual construction.
trbh [1098, 1099]yathoktam
abhūtaparikalpas tu cittacaittās tridhātukā iti
As has been stated: ‘Unreal construction, however, is the mind and mental factors belonging to the three realms.’
Yat is a neuter nominative relative pronoun, tena is the instrumental agent of passive vikalpyate, and tat is the correlative neuter nominative subject of nāsti.→ “what is conceptualized by it does not exist”
trbh [1100, 1101, 1102, 1103]tena trividhena vikalpenālayavijñānakliṣṭamanaḥpravṛttivijñānasvabhāvena
sasaṃprayogeṇa yad vikalpyate bhājanam ātmāskandhadhātvāyatanarūpaśabdādikaṃ
vastu tan nāstīty ataḥ sa vijñānapariṇāmo vikalpa ucyate
asadālambanatvāt
What is conceptualized by that threefold construction, together with its associated factors—the receptacle world, self, aggregates, elements, sense-fields, form, sound, and so forth—does not exist; therefore the transformation of consciousness is called construction, because its object is unreal.
The negation tan nāsti applies to the object conceptualized by vikalpa, not to the occurrence of consciousness itself and not as a blanket nihilistic assertion.→ The conceptualized object is denied; consciousness itself is not denied.
trbh [1107, 1108]vijñānañ ca
māyāgandharvanagarasvapnatimirādāv asaty apyālambane jāyate
Consciousness arises in illusion, a city of Gandharvas, dream, visual disorder, and the like even when its object is unreal.
trbh [1112, 1113, 1114]tasmāt pūrvakān niruddhāt tajjātīyavijñānād vijñānam utpadyate
na bāhyād
arthāt tasminn asaty api bhāvāt
Therefore consciousness arises from a preceding, ceased consciousness of the same kind, not from an external object, since it occurs even when that object is absent.
trbh [1119, 1120, 1121]tasmād adhyāropitarūpatvād vikalpasyālambanam asad iti
pratipattavyam
anena tāvat samāropāntaṃ parihṛtyāpavādāntaparijihīrṣayā āha
Therefore one should understand that the object of construction is unreal because its form is superimposed. Having thus avoided the extreme of superimposition, he speaks out of a wish to avoid the extreme of denial.
The second tena is causal—‘therefore’—rather than another instrumental agent: because the conceptualized object is absent, all is representation-only.→ “Therefore”
trbh [1122, 1123, 1124]tenedaṃ sarvaṃ vijñāptimātrakam
iti
teneti tasmāt
‘Therefore all this is representation-only.’ Here tena means ‘therefore’ (tasmāt).
trbh [1125, 1126]yasmāt pariṇāmātmakena vikalpena yad vikalpyate tena tan
nāsti tasmād viṣayābhāvāt sarvaṃ vijñaptimātrakam
Because what is conceptualized by the construction whose nature is transformation does not exist through that construction, therefore, because of the absence of an object, all is representation-only.
Sarvam has the unusually broad scope specified by Sthiramati: the three realms and the unconditioned.→ “all this,” with the commentary’s scope of the three realms and the unconditioned
trbh [1127, 1128]sarvam iti traidhātukam
asaṃskṛtañ ca
‘All’ means what belongs to the three realms and also the unconditioned.
Vijñāptimātrakam is interpreted as a limiting karmadhāraya, ‘representation-only’: mātra excludes any object beyond representation, while the final -ka contributes no additional meaning and merely fills the metrical pāda.→ “representation-only (vijñaptimātraka)”
trbh [1129]mātraśabdas tadadhikaviṣayavyavacchedārthaḥ
The word mātra serves to exclude an object over and above that.
trbh [1130, 1131]kakāraḥ
pādapūraṇārthaḥ
The letter/suffix ka serves to fill out the metrical pāda.