Paramārthasaptati

Paramārthasaptati. A treatise attributed to Vasubandhu which presents a critique of Samkhya philosophy. The text is no longer extant, but it is attested to by the translator Paramārtha in his biography of Vasubandhu.

Paramārtha's account is summarized by Kritzer (2019) as follows:

Paramārtha next tells the story of a Sāṃkhya adherent named Vindhyavāsa, who went to Ayodhyā, where Vikramāditya was king, to challenge the Buddhist teachers there. Since Vasubandhu was not in Ayodhyā at that time, an old Buddhist teacher named Buddhamitra offered to debate Vindhyavāsa. After Vasubandhu returned and learned that Buddhamitra had lost to Vindhyavāsa, he wrote the Qishi zhenshi lun (七十眞實論; *Paramārthasaptati) to refute Vindhyavāsa’s Sengqia lun (僧佉論; *Sāṃkhyaśāstra, also called Jin qishi lun [金七十論], T. 2137).

Etymology of title

• parāmartha (T. don dam pa), means "ultimate," "ultimate reality," etc.
• sapta (T. bdun pa), means "seven"
• ti, possible abbreviation for ṭīkā (commentary)?

Sources

• Anacker, Stefan (2005), Seven Works of Vasubandhu: The Buddhist Psychological Doctor, Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass . Archive version
• Buddhadev Bhattacharya, "Buddhist Science of Logic from Nālandā and Vikramaśilā to Tibet (Period 400-1000 A.D)", Journal of the Asiatic Society, Volume LXII No. 1 2020. PDF version
• Kritzer, Robert (2019), "Vasubandhu", in Silk, Jonathan A., Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Vol. 2, Lives, Leiden/Boston: Brill . PDF version