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{{Short description|4th century Mahayana Buddhist scholar}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2025}}
{{Mahayana Buddhism}}
[[File:Mujaku Asanga Kofukuji.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Japanese art|Japanese]] wood statue of Asaṅga from 1208 CE]]
'''Asaṅga''' ([[Sanskrit]]: असंग, {{bo|t=ཐོགས་མེད།|w=thogs med}}, {{CJKV|t=無著|p=Wúzhuó}}; [[Romaji]]: ''Mujaku'') ([[Floruit|fl.]] 4th century C.E.) was one of the most important spiritual figures of [[Mahayana]] Buddhism and the founder of the [[Yogachara]] school.<ref>{{Britannica|37687}}. "Asaṅga, (flourished 5th century AD, b. [[Puruṣapura]], India), influential Buddhist philosopher who established the Yogācāra (“Practice of Yogā”) school of idealism."</ref><ref name="Engle, Artemus 2016">Engle, Artemus (translator), Asanga,  ''The Bodhisattva Path to Unsurpassed Enlightenment: A Complete Translation of the Bodhisattvabhumi,'' Shambhala Publications, 2016, Translator's introduction.</ref><ref name="Rahula, Walpola 2015">Rahula, Walpola; Boin-Webb, Sara (translators); Asanga, ''Abhidharmasamuccaya: The Compendium of the Higher Teaching,'' Jain Publishing Company, 2015, p. xiii.</ref> Traditionally, he and his half-brother [[Vasubandhu]] are regarded as the major classical Indian [[Sanskrit]] exponents of Mahayana [[Abhidharma]], ''Vijñanavada'' (awareness only; also called ''Vijñaptivāda'', the doctrine of ideas or percepts, and ''Vijñaptimātratā-vāda'', the doctrine of 'mere representation) thought and Mahayana teachings on the [[bodhisattva]] path. He is also traditionally considered as one of the seventeen [[Nalanda]] masters who taught at the monastery which is located in modern-day [[Bihar]].<ref name="KumarDriem2020">{{cite book|author1=Niraj Kumar|author2=George van Driem|author3=Phunchok Stobdan|title=Himalayan Bridge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IhEHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA253|date=18 November 2020|publisher=KW|isbn=978-1-00-021549-6|pages=253–255}}</ref>

==Biography==
[[File:Asanga.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan]] depiction of Asaṅga and [[Maitreya]]]]

There are differing views as to Asaṅga's birthplace. Some sources record that he was born in [[Purushapura|Puruṣapura]] (present day [[Peshawar]] in [[Pakistan]]) in a [[Brahmin]] family, which at that time was part of the ancient kingdom of [[Gandhara|Gandhāra]].<ref name=":02">Hattori, Masaaki. "Asaṅga." In ''Aaron–Attention''. Vol. 1 of ''The Encyclopedia of Religion''. 2d ed. Edited by Lindsay Jones, 516–517. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Buswell|first1=Robert E. Jr.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EGmYDwAAQBAJ&dq=asanga+peshawar&pg=PA69|title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism|last2=Lopez|first2=Donald S. Jr.|date=2013-11-24|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-15786-3|pages=69|language=en|quote=Born into a brāhmana family in Puruṣapura (modern-day Peshawar, Pakistan), Asanga originally studied under Sarvāstivāda (possibly Māhiṣasaka) teachers but converted to the Mahāyāna later in life.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Jestice|first=Phyllis G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5cQH17-HnMC&q=asanga+peshawar&pg=PA69|title=Holy People of the World: A Cross-cultural Encyclopedia|date=2004|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-355-1|pages=69|language=en|quote=Asanga, born in the Gandara region of present-day Pakistan in the city of Purusapura (the modern Peshawar) as the third son of Prasannasila (or Prakasila), was probably active around the fourth or fifth century.}}</ref> However the writings of [[Buton Rinchen Drub]] state that Asanga and his brother, [[Vasubandhu]], were born in [[Central India]].<ref name=Brill>{{cite journal |last1=Kritzer |first1=Robert |title=Vasubandhu |journal=Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Online |url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/ENBO/COM-2071.xml}}</ref>  Current scholarship places him in the fourth century CE. He was perhaps originally a member of the [[Mahīśāsaka]] school or the [[Mūlasarvāstivāda]] school but later converted to [[Mahāyāna]].<ref name="Engle, Artemus 2016"/> According to some scholars, Asaṅga's frameworks for Abhidharma writings retained many underlying Mahīśāsaka traits, but other scholars argue that there is insufficient data to determine which school he originally belonged to.<ref name="Rahula, Walpola 2015"/><ref>Rama Karana Sarma (1993). ''Researches in Indian and Buddhist Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Alex Wayman.'' p. 5</ref><ref name=":12">Lugli, Ligeia, [http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393521/obo-9780195393521-0205.xml Asaṅga, oxfordbibliographies.com], LAST MODIFIED: 25 NOVEMBER 2014, DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195393521-0205.</ref>

In the record of his journeys through the kingdoms of [[India]], [[Xuanzang]] wrote that Asaṅga was initially a Mahīśāsaka monk, but soon turned toward the Mahāyāna teachings.<ref name="Rongxi 1996, p. 153">Rongxi, Li (1996). ''The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions.'', Numata Center, Berkeley, p. 153.</ref> Asaṅga had a half-brother, Vasubandhu, who was a monk from the [[Sarvastivada|Sarvāstivāda]] school. Vasubandhu is said to have taken up Mahāyāna Buddhism after meeting with Asaṅga and one of Asaṅga's disciples.<ref>Rongxi, Li (1996). ''The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions.'', Numata Center, Berkeley, pp. 154-155.</ref>

Asaṅga spent many years in serious meditation and study under various teachers but the narrative of the 6th century monk [[Paramartha (Chinesemonk)|Paramārtha]] states that he was unsatisfied with his understanding. Paramārtha then recounts how he used his meditative powers ([[siddhi]]s) to travel to [[Tushita|Tuṣita]] Heaven to receive teachings from [[Maitreya]] [[Bodhisattva]] on [[Śūnyatā|emptiness]], and how he continued to travel to receive teachings from Maitreya on the [[Mahayana sutras]].<ref>Wayman, Alex (1997). ''Untying the Knots in Buddhism: Selected Essays.'' p. 213</ref><ref>Rahula, Walpola; Boin-Webb, Sara (translators); Asanga, ''Abhidharmasamuccaya: The Compendium of the Higher Teaching,'' Jain Publishing Company, 2015, p. xiv.</ref>

[[Xuanzang]] (fl. c. 602 – 664), a Chinese monk who traveled to India to study in the Yogacara tradition tells a similar account of these events:<ref name="Rongxi 1996, p. 153" />

{{quote|In the great mango grove five or six ''[[li (unit)|li]]'' to the southwest of the city ([[Ayodhya]]), there is an old monastery where Asaṅga Bodhisattva received instructions and guided the common people. At night he went up to the place of Maitreya Bodhisattva in Tuṣita Heaven to learn the ''{{IAST|[[Yogacarabhumi-sastra|Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra]]}}'', the ''{{IAST|[[Mahayana-sutra-alamkara-karika|Mahāyāna-sūtra-alaṃkāra-śāstra]]}}'', the ''{{IAST|[[Madhyanta-vibhaga-karika|Madhyānta-vibhāga-śāstra]]}}'', etc.; in the daytime, he lectured on the marvelous principles to a great audience.}}Modern scholars disagree on whether the figure of Maitreya in this story is to be considered as Asaṅga's human teacher or as a visionary experience in meditation. Scholars such as [[Erich Frauwallner|Frauwallner]] held that this figure, sometimes termed [[Maitreya-nātha]], was an actual historical person and teacher.<ref>''Being as Consciousness: Yogācāra Philosophy of Buddhism.'' Tola, Fernando and Carmen Dragonetti. Motilal Banarsidass: 2004 pg xv</ref> Other scholars argue that this figure was the tutelary deity of Asaṅga (''[[Iṣṭa-devatā (Buddhism)|Iṣṭa-devatā]]'') as well as numerous other Yogacara masters, a point noted by the 6th century Indian monk [[Sthiramati]].<ref>Rahula, Walpola; Boin-Webb, Sara (translators); Asanga, ''Abhidharmasamuccaya: The Compendium of the Higher Teaching,'' Jain Publishing Company, 2015, p. xvii.</ref> Whatever the case, Asaṅga's experiences led him to travel around India and propagate the [[Mahayana]] teachings. According to [[Taranatha|Taranatha's]] ''History of Buddhism in India'', he founded 25 Mahayana monasteries in India.<ref>Rahula, Walpola; Boin-Webb, Sara (translators); Asanga, ''Abhidharmasamuccaya: The Compendium of the Higher Teaching,'' Jain Publishing Company, 2015, p. xviii.</ref>

Among the most famed monasteries that he established was Veluvana in [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadha]] region of what is now [[Bihar]].<ref name="Blo-bzang-grags-paTsoṅ-kha-pa1991">{{cite book|author1=Tsong-kha-pa Blo-bzang-grags-pa|author2=Tsoṅ-kha-pa|title=The Central Philosophy of Tibet: A Study and Translation of Jey Tsong Khapa's Essence of True Eloquence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eZT1JLe_RwoC&pg=PA30|year=1991|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-02067-1|page=30}}</ref> It was here that he hand-picked eight chosen disciples who would all become famed in their own right and spread the Mahayana.<ref name="Asaṅga2002">{{cite book|author=Asaṅga|title=On Knowing Reality: The Tattvārtha Chapter of Asaṅga's Bodhisattvabhūmi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W_8ucGq5begC&pg=PA52|year=2002|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers|isbn=978-81-208-1106-5|page=52}}</ref>

==Works==

Asaṅga went on to write some key treatises (shastras) of the [[Yogācāra]] school. Over time, many different works were attributed to him (or to Maitreya, with Asaṅga as transmitter), although there are discrepancies between the Chinese and Tibetan traditions concerning which works are attributed to him.<ref>[[Giuseppe Tucci]] (1930). ''On Some Aspects of the Doctrines of Maitreya (natha) and the Asanga'', Calcutta.</ref> Modern scholars have also problematized and questioned these attributions after critical textual study of the sources. The many works attributed to this figure can be divided into the three following groups.

The first are three works which are widely agreed by ancient and modern scholars to be by Asaṅga:<ref name=":12"/><ref name=":02"/>

* ''[[Mahāyānasaṃgraha]]'' (Summary of the [[Great Vehicle]]), a systematic exposition of the major tenets of the Yogacara school in ten chapters.<ref>Keenan, John P. (2003). [https://web.archive.org/web/20140821120318/http://www.bdk.or.jp/pdf/bdk/digitaldl/dBET_T1593_GreatVehicleSummary_2003.pdf "The summary of the Great Vehicle by Bodhisattva Asaṅga"], transl. from the Chinese of Paramārtha (Taishō vol. 31, number 1593). Berkeley, Calif: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. {{ISBN|1-886439-21-4}}</ref> Considered his [[magnum opus]], survives in one Tibetan and four Chinese translations.
* ''[[Abhidharma-samuccaya]],'' a short summary of the main Mahayana [[Abhidharma]] doctrines, in a traditional Buddhist Abhidharma style similar to non-Mahayana expositions.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/abhidharmasamuccayaofasangarahulawalpolasaraboinweb2001_668_B/page/n20/mode/1up  The Compendium of the Higher Teaching, by Asanga, 2001, p.xx.] {{access-date|8 December 2024}}</ref> According to [[Walpola Rahula]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Walpola|first=Rahula |author-link=Walpola Rahula Thero |title= Abhidharma Samuccaya : The Compendium of the Higher Teaching, by Asanga|date=2001|publisher=Asian Humanities Press|url= https://archive.org/details/abhidharmasamuccayaofasangarahulawalpolasaraboinweb2001_668_B/mode/1up |pages=359}}, English version from the French published in 1971 (trad. Sara Boin-Webb).{{access-date|8 December 2024}}</ref> the thought of this work is closer to that of the Pali ''{{IAST|[[Nikayas|Nikāyas]]}}'' than is that of the Theravadin [[Abhidhamma]].<ref>Dan Lusthaus (2002). ''Buddhist Phenomenology.'' Routledge, p. 44, note 5. Lusthaus draws attention to Rahula's ''Zen and the Taming of the Bull.''</ref>
* ''Xianyang shengjiao lun,'' variously retranslated into Sanskrit as ''Āryadeśanāvikhyāpana, Āryapravacanabhāṣya, Prakaraṇāryaśāsanaśāstra'', ''Śāsanodbhāvana'', and ''Śāsanasphūrti.'' A work strongly based on the [[Yogacarabhumi-sastra|''Yogācārabhūmi'']]. Only available in Xuanzang's Chinese translation, but parallel Sanskrit passages can be found in the ''Yogācārabhūmi.''

=== The Maitreya Corpus ===
The next group of texts are those that Tibetan [[Hagiography|hagiographies]] state were taught to Asaṅga by Maitreya and are thus known as the "Five [[Dharmas]] of Maitreya" in [[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan Buddhist]] scholasticism. According to D.S. Ruegg, the "five works of Maitreya" are mentioned in Sanskrit sources from only the 11th century onwards.<ref>Ruegg, D.S. ''La Theorie du Tathagatagarbha et du Gotra''. Paris: Ecole d'Extreme Orient, 1969, p. 35.</ref> As noted by [[Shenpen Hookham|S.K. Hookham]], their attribution to a single author has been questioned by modern scholars.<ref>Hookham, S. K. (1991). The Buddha within: Tathagatagarbha doctrine according to the Shentong interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga. SUNY Press. {{ISBN|0-7914-0357-2}}. Source; [3] (accessed: Tuesday 5 May 2009), p.325.</ref> 

According to the Tibetan tradition, the so called Asanga-Maitreya is:

* ''[[Mahayana-sutra-alamkara-karika|Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra-kārikā]]'', ("The Adornment of [[Mahayana sutras]]", Tib. ''theg-pa chen-po'i mdo-sde'i rgyan''), which presents the Mahāyāna path from the Yogācāra perspective and shows structural similarities with the ''Bodhisattvabhumi.'' There is a closely related commentary on this text, the ''Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra-bhāṣya.'' Some scholars, like Mario D'amato, have questioned the attribution of this text to Asanga-Maitreya. Instead, D'amato places this text (together with the commentary, which he considers the work of one author) after the ''Bodhisattvabhumi'', but before the composition of Asanga's ''Mahāyānasaṃgraha'' (which quotes the ''Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra'' as an authoritative text).<ref name=":0">D’AMATO, M. "THREE NATURES, THREE STAGES: AN INTERPRETATION OF THE YOGĀCĀRA ‘TRISVABHĀVA’-THEORY." ''Journal of Indian Philosophy'', vol. 33, no. 2, 2005, pp. 185–207. ''JSTOR'', <nowiki>http://www.jstor.org/stable/23497001</nowiki>. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.</ref> 
* ''[[Madhyanta-vibhaga-karika|Madhyāntavibhāga-kārikā]]'' ("Distinguishing the Middle and the Extremes", Tib. ''dbus-dang mtha' rnam-par 'byed-pa''), 112 verses that are a key work in Yogācāra philosophy. D'amato also places this text in the second phase of Yogacara scholarship, i.e. after the ''Bodhisattvabhumi,'' but before the classic works of Asanga and Vasubandhu.<ref name=":0" /> 
* ''[[Dharma-dharmata-vibhaga|Dharmadharmatāvibhāga]]'' ("Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being", Tib. ''chos-dang chos-nyid rnam-par 'byed-pa''), a short Yogācāra work discussing the distinction and correlation (''vibhāga'') between phenomena (''dharma'') and reality (''dharmatā'').
* ''[[Abhisamayalankara]]'' ( "Ornament for clear realization", ''Tib. mngon-par rtogs-pa'i rgyan''), a verse text which attempts a synthesis of [[Prajnaparamita|''Prajñaparamita'']] doctrine and Yogacara thought. There are differing scholarly opinions on authorship, John Makransky writes that it is possible the author was actually Arya Vimuktisena, the 6th century author of the first surviving commentary on this work.<ref>Makransky, John J.  ''Buddhahood Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet'' SUNY Press, 1997, p. 187.</ref> Makransky also notes that it is only the later 8th century commentator [[Haribhadra (Buddhist philosopher)|Haribhadra]] who attributes this text to Maitreya, but that this may have been a means to ascribe greater authority to the text.<ref>Makransky, John J.  ''Buddhahood Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet'' SUNY Press, 1997, p. 17.</ref> As Brunnhölzl notes, this text is also completely unknown in the Chinese Buddhist tradition''.''<ref name=":2">Brunnhölzl, Karl'', When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra,'' Shambhala Publications, 2015, p. 81.</ref>
* ''[[Ratnagotravibhaga]]'' (Exposition of the Jeweled lineage, Tib. ''theg-pa chen-po rgyud bla-ma'i bstan,'' a.k.a. ''Uttāratantra śāstra)'', a compendium on [[Buddha-nature]] attributed to Maitreya via Asaṅga by the Tibetan tradition. The Chinese tradition attributes it to a certain Sāramati (3rd-4th century CE), according to the [[Huayan]] patriarch [[Fazang]].<ref>Williams, Paul, Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, Routledge, 1989, p. 103.</ref> According to [[Shenpen Hookham|S.K. Hookham]], modern scholarship favors Sāramati as the author of the RGV. She also notes there is no evidence for the attribution to Maitreya before the time of [[Maitripada|Maitripa]] (11th century).<ref>Hookham, S. K. (1991). The Buddha within: Tathagatagarbha doctrine according to the Shentong interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga. SUNY Press. {{ISBN|0-7914-0357-2}}. Source; [3] (accessed: Tuesday 5 May 2009), pp.165-166.</ref> [[Peter Harvey (Buddhism)|Peter Harvey]] concurs, finding the Tibetan attribution less plausible.<ref>Peter Harvey (1993). "An Introduction to Buddhism." Cambridge University Press, page 114.</ref>

According to Karl Brunnhölzl, the Chinese tradition also speaks of five Maitreya-Asanga texts (first mentioned in Dunlun's ''Yujia lunji''), "but considers them as consisting of the ''[[Yogacarabhumi-sastra|Yogācārabhūmi]], *Yogavibhāga'' [now lost], ''[[Mahayana-sutra-alamkara-karika|Mahāyānasūtrālamkārakā]]'', ''[[Madhyanta-vibhaga-karika|Madhyāntavibhāga]]'' and the ''Vajracchedikākāvyākhyā."''<ref name=":2" />

While the ''[[Yogacarabhumi-sastra|Yogācārabhūmi śāstra]]'' ("Treatise on the Levels of Spiritual Practitioners"), a massive and encyclopaedic work on yogic praxis, has traditionally been attributed to Asaṅga or Maitreya ''[[in toto]]'', but most modern scholars now consider the text to be a compilation of various works by numerous authors, and different textual strata can be discerned within its contents.<ref>Delhey, Martin, [http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393521/obo-9780195393521-0248.xml ''Yogācārabhūmi'', oxfordbibliographies.com], LAST MODIFIED: 26 JULY 2017, DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195393521-0248.</ref> However, Asaṅga may still have participated in the compilation of this work.<ref name=":12" />

The third group of texts associated with Asaṅga comprises two commentaries: the ''Kārikāsaptati'', a work on the ''[[Diamond Sutra|Vajracchedikā]]'', and the ''Āryasaṃdhinirmocana-bhāṣya'' (Commentary on the [[Sandhinirmocana Sutra|''Saṃdhinirmocana'']])''.'' The attribution of both of these to Asaṅga is not widely accepted by modern scholars.<ref name=":12" />

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* Keenan, John P. (1989). [http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/8749/2656 Asaṅga's Understanding of Mādhyamika: Notes on the Shung-chung-lun], Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 12 (1), 93-108

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*[http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/  Digital Dictionary of Buddhism] (type in "guest" as userID)
*[http://www.iep.utm.edu/v/vasubandhu.htm Vasubandhu: Entry at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
*[http://www.namsebangdzo.com/Distinguishing_Dharma_p/11445.htm   Distinguishing Dharma and Dharmata by Asanga and Maitreya By: Thrangu Rinpoche]

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