Contents:
"Demonstration of Consciousness Only" by Hsuan-tsang
The name of the text translated as "Demonstration of Consciousness Only" is
Ch'eng wei-shih lun. Its author was a Chinese monk-scholar Hsuan-tsang (600-64), who also translated about seventy-five Sanskrit Buddhist texts.
The
Ch'eng wei-shih lun is presented simply as a translation of Vasubandhu's "Verses" and the commentaries, but in fact Hsuan-tsang was selective in his use and the commentaries; he seems to have decided that Dharmapala's interpretation of the "Verses" was the correct one. Consequently of the ten commentaries, only three are consistently used, with a fourth occasionally appearing.
"The Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only" by Vasubandu
The short verse work referred to commonly as the "Thirty Verses" is one of several important Buddhist Treatises that propound the idea that nothing exists except consciousness or mind, or that all things believed by the ordinary person to be objective realities outside mind are in reality mere mental constructs.
"The Treatise in Twenty Verses on Consciousness Only" by Vasubandhu
The brief verse work translated here and known commonly as the "Twenty Verses" should be read along with its companion piece, the "Thirty Verses", which appears previously in this volume. These two short verse treatises by the Indian Buddhist scholar-monk, Vasubandhu, who lived during the fourth century, set forth the philosophical position that characterizes the Yogacara school. But whereas the "Thirty Verses" is devoted to systematically discussing kinds of consciousness, the theory of seeds stored in the store consciousness, the nature of delusion and enlightenment, the process of eliminating false imagination and discrimination, and other aspects of Yogacara thought, the "Twenty Verses" is devoted to defending this teaching against possible counter arguments by Buddhists and non-Buddhist opponents.
Three Texts on Consciousness Only, Hsuan-tsang / Vasubandhu, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Hardcover, 452 pages, $45.00