Viṃśatikā (विंशतिका)

Executive summary

The Viṃśatikā (विंशतिका) is Vasubandhu's “Twenty”, 22 verses in this text, a proof that what appears is vijñapti (विज्ञप्ति), a cognition, and that the object it seems to be is not there apart from that. The book is nāstika (नास्तिक) for the same reason as the Madhyamaka: the Veda is not the means of knowing. Nāgārjuna (नागार्जुन)'s verses say no thing has a nature of its own. These verses say what is present in experience is cognition only. They are their own book. The ranges below are this book's groups inside the one pāṭha (पाठ).

नेपालीमा

विंशतिका वसुबन्धुको ग्रन्थ हो। 'विंशतिका' नाम भए पनि यस पाठमा २२ श्लोक छन्। देखा पर्ने कुरा विज्ञप्ति हो, अर्थात् एउटा ज्ञान, र जस्तो वस्तु देखिन्छ त्यो त्यसबाट अलग छैन भन्ने प्रमाण यसले दिन्छ। यो पुस्तक मध्यमकझैँ नास्तिक हो, किनकि वेदलाई प्रमाण मानिँदैन। नागार्जुनका श्लोकले कुनै वस्तुको आफ्नै स्वभाव छैन भन्छन्। यी श्लोकले अनुभवमा जे छ त्यो केवल विज्ञान हो भन्छन्। यी आफ्नै पुस्तक हुन्। तलका खण्ड एउटै पाठभित्र यस पुस्तकका समूह हुन्।

This is the other Buddhist book in these pages, and it is nāstika (नास्तिक) for the same reason: the Veda is not the pramāṇa (प्रमाण). The author is Vasubandhu. The book is the Viṃśatikā (विंशतिका), the “Twenty”, also called the Viṃśatikā Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi (विंशतिका विज्ञप्तिमात्रतासिद्धि), a proof of cognition-only. The “Twenty” has 22 verses in this text.

'विंशतिका' नाम भए पनि यस पाठमा २२ श्लोक छन्।

Vijñapti (विज्ञप्ति) is a making-known, a cognition that appears as an object. Mātra (मात्र) means only. The claim of the first verse is that what is appearing is that, and the object it seems to be is not there. The example is the hair and the moon that a person with an eye disease sees.

Nāgārjuna (नागार्जुन)'s verses say no thing has a svabhāva (स्वभाव), a nature of its own. These verses say what is present in experience is vijñapti (विज्ञप्ति). Read them as their own book. The prose explanation Vasubandhu wrote around the verses is not the line. The line is the kārikā (कारिका).

The pāṭha (पाठ) is the kārikā (कारिका) text. Where that file drops an anusvāra (अनुस्वार) or doubles a syllable, the sitting teaches the word and says what the file wrote. Lévi's edition, which prints the prose with the verses, reads keśoṇḍuka (केशोण्डुक) in verse 1, a hair-net, where this kārikā (कारिका) reads keśacandra (केशचन्द्र), hair and moon. The sitting of verse 1 says so.

22 of 22 lines are written out word by word.

Begin at 1

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