Paramartha

Paramārtha (Sanskrit, Devanagari: परमार्थ; ) (499-569 CE) was an Indian monk from Ujjain, who is best known for his prolific Chinese translations of Buddhist texts during the Six Dynasties era. He is known as one of the four great translators in Chinese Buddhist history (along with Kumārajīva and Xuanzang). He is also known for the various oral commentaries he gave on his translations which were written down by his disciples (and now only survive in fragmentary form).

Paramārtha is associated with some unique doctrines. He is traditionally seen as having taught the doctrine of the "immaculate consciousness" (amalavijñāna, Ch: amoluoshi 阿摩羅識). He is also seen as the source of the doctrine of “original awakening” (benjue [本覺]).

The first destination of Paramārtha was the kingdom of Funan, or pre-Angkor Cambodia. Here in Funan, Paramārtha's reputation grew to the extent that Emperor Wu of Liang sent ambassadors to bring Paramārtha to the Chinese imperial court. Paramārtha arrived in China through Guangdong (then called Nanhai) on 25 September 546 CE.23 The conditions of Paramartha's arrival at the capital are described in a Chinese introduction written by Pao Kuei in 597 CE:

In China, Paramārtha worked with a translation team of twenty accomplished monks. Paramartha's work was interrupted by political events and the general chaotic state of China during this period, which included the murder of Emperor Wu. Several years later, Paramārtha was able to continue translation efforts in earnest with his translation team, beginning with the Golden Light Sutra (Skt. Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra). Despite his success in China, Paramārtha wished to return to India toward the end of his life, but felt that this journey back to the west would be "impossible." Instead, he accepted the patronage of Ouyang Ho and continued his translation efforts at a rapid pace. During much of his later life, Paramārtha continued a pattern of continually translating texts while traveling from region to region in China. He also continued to review his older translations for any areas in which the words and the general meaning were in conflict.

During his later years (562–569) Paramārtha finally attained a stable patronage and could remain in one single place to work - Guangzhou. It was during this late period that he and his main students, like Huikai, Sengzong (僧宗), Fazhun (法准), and Sengren (僧忍), produced the most important translations, like the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya and the Mahāyānasaṃgraha. Because of this, Paramārtha is seen as an important figure in the development of the Yogacara-tathagatagarbha synthesis.

Since the status of the various texts attributed to Paramārtha are still up for debate, attempting to extract Paramārtha's original doctrine from later interpolations and the ideas of other figures in Paramārtha's tradition is quite difficult. San wuxing lun (三無性論, T. 1617) Rushi lun fan zhinan pin (如實論反質難品, T. 1633). Suixiang lun jie shiliu di yi (隨相論解十六諦義, T. 1641). Lishi apitan lun (立世阿毘曇論, *Lokasthānābhidharma-śāstra, T. 1644). Si di lun (四諦論, T. 1647). Baoxing wang zhenglun (寶行王正論, Ratnāvalī of Nagarjuna, T. 1656). Posoupandou fashi zhuan (婆藪槃豆法師傳, Biography of the Dharma Master Vasubandhu, T. 2049).

Regarding the famous Mahayana Awakening of Faith (Dasheng qi xin lun 大乘起信論, T. 1666), it is cited as "dubious" in one of the Chinese catalogs, hence the current scholarly debate as to its provenance.

As Paramārtha's work became more influential, it also became central to the so called Faxing school (法性宗, “School of Dharma-nature”), which was a Chinese form of Yogacara that also placed much emphasis on the doctrine of tathagatagarbha.

Paramārtha's doctrine of the immaculate consciousness was a particularly influential teaching which was widely adopted by many later Chinese Buddhist thinkers. Beginning with the work of Huijun (慧均, d.u., fl. 574–580s?), the immaculate consciousness began to be widely called the untainted consciousness (wugoushi 無垢識) as well as the “ninth consciousness” (jiushi 九識), an extension of the Yogacara doctrine of eight consciousnesses). While numerous later sources claim that Paramārtha taught the immaculate consciousness as a “ninth consciousness”, this is not found in any of Paramārtha's extant works and Michael Radich writes that the truth of the issue is impossible to determine. Later sources also drew on a passage in the Laṃkâvatăra sūtra to defend the doctrine of immaculate consciousness as a ninth consciousness.

The idea is used by numerous influential East Asian Buddhist authors like Zhiyi (智顗, 538–597), Wŏnch’uk (圓測, 613–696); Wŏnhyo (元曉, 617–686); Amoghavajra (不空金剛, 705–774), Chengguan (澄觀, 738–839); and Zongmi (宗密, 780–841).

Many later authors interpreted Paramārtha's doctrine of the immaculate consciousness through other works, especially the Awakening of Faith. The influence of the Awakening of Faith on the immaculate consciousness doctrine can already be seen in the work of Jingying Huiyuan (淨影慧遠, 523–592). For Huiyuan, the amalavijñăna and the ălayavijñăna are both two aspects of the same "true" consciousness, reminiscent of the "One Mind" of the Awakening of Faith. The doctrine is also further developed in the Vajrasamādhi sūtra.

Faxiang school thought also commented on the doctrines associated with Paramārtha, the immaculate consciousness and the "ninth consciousness". Kuiji, a key disciple of Xuanzang, saw the doctrine as heterodox and criticised it in his works. Wŏnch’uk meanwhile used the term untainted consciousness as just a synonym for ālayavijñāna. References