Āryacaturdharmakavyākhyāna

Āryacaturdharmakavyākhyāna (T. ’phags pa chos bzhi pa’i rnam par bshad pa). "An Explanation of the Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors".

Adam Pearcey states:

This short commentary, ascribed to Vasubandhu, explains The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors (Āryacaturdharmakanāmamahāyānasūtra, Toh 251), a discourse on a set of four factors of the path of a bodhisattva: the thought of awakening, the spiritual friend, the twin qualities of tolerance and lenience, and dwelling in the forest. The commentary proposes various reasons for the sūtra’s composition and explains why it refers to bodhisattvas as followers of the Great Vehicle. It also specifies the four factors, which obstructive elements these factors overcome, which beneficial elements they support, and why śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas are not called bodhisattvas.

Also:

Vasubandhu’s commentary is one of two commentaries related to that sūtra preserved in Tibetan in the Tengyur. The other, A Commentary on An Explanation of The Noble Sūtra on the Four Factors (*Āryacaturdharmakavyākhyānaṭīkā; ’phags pa chos bzhi pa’i rgya cher bshad pa’i rgya cher ’grel pa, Toh 3990a), is attributed to Jñānadatta, and is a commentary on Vasubandhu’s text rather than on the sūtra itself.

Text

The Tibetan translation of this sutra can be found in the Tibetan Dergé Tengyur, Toh 3990

• English translation: An Explanation of the Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra on the Four Factors, 84000 Collection