Niisaku Yoshiaki

The third verse of chapter I (I-3) of the Madhyāntavibhāgakārikā (MAV-K) is one of the most important verses for the Yogācāra school. However, since Vasubandhu's Madhyāntavibhāgabhāṣya (MAVBh), which is a commentary on MAV-K, is simple, there are two expressions that are difficult to understand. One of the two expressions is arthasattvapratibhāsasyānākāratvāt, which explains that artha is non-existent. The other expression was discussed in my previous article(IBK 60-2, pp. 975–972.). In Sthiramati's Madhyāntavibhāgaṭīkv, a subcommentary on MAV-K, ākāra is considered a subjective cognitive function. However, we cannot obtain a clear interpretation of MAVBh on the basis of this interpretation. In this paper, we analyze Avalokitavrata's criticism of the Yogācāra school's interpretation of MAVBh in the Prajñāpradīpaṭīkā, which is a commentary on the Prajñāpradīpa. On the basis of Avalokitavrata's interpretation, we conclude that ākāra means "image" in MAVBh.