An Anachronistic Analogy: Rereading the Dàshèng qǐxìn lùn in the light of Ratnākaraśānti's Prajñāpāramitopadeśa.

This paper is a comparative study of two texts separated by a considerable temporal-spatial gap. The methodological approach is, as we would like to define it, a-philological. Five central concepts drawn from the Dàshèng qǐxìn lùn (大乘起信論, *Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra, QXL), traditionally associated with Aśvaghoṣa (1st-2nd cent. CE), Paramārtha (499–569 CE), and Śikṣānanda (652–710 CE), shall be examined against the related ideas found in Ratnākaraśānti's (970–1045 CE) Prajñāpāramitopadeśa (PPU). Our observations are the following: 1) The two dimensions of the single mind (一心二門, yīxīn èrmén) advocated in the QXL are doctrinally identical to the two forms (rūpa) of the dependent nature (paratantrasvabhāva) in the PPU. 2) The intermingling mind (和合識, héhé shí) which is taken as ālayavijñāna (阿梨耶識, ālíyē shí) in the QXL, corresponds to the imagination of the unreal (abhūtaparikalpa) in the PPU. 3) The mutual perfuming of the real and the unreal (真妄互熏, zhēnwàng hùxūn) is in essence the same as the false inseparability (tādātmya) of clear light (prakāśa) and image (ākāra) in the PPU. 4) The essence of perception (覺性, juéxìng) and its synonyms used in the QXL, its commentarial literature and other related texts, find equivalents such as prakāśamānatā, prakāśātmatā, saṃvedyatā, buddhilakṣaṇa, in the PPU. 5) The concept of activated perception (始覺, shǐjué) in the QXL sheds light on a puzzling word in the PPU, arvāk, which can be interpreted as the opposite of "suddenly" (忽然, hūrán) in the QXL. Our investigation reaffirms the philosophical value as well as the religious legitimacy of the QXL, and it underscores the significance of the late mādhyamika texts for Buddhist Studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]