Editing Asanga (section)

=== The Maitreya Corpus ===
The next group of texts are those that Tibetan [[Hagiography|hagiographies]] state were taught to Asaṅga by Maitreya and are thus known as the "Five [[Dharmas]] of Maitreya" in [[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan Buddhist]] scholasticism. According to D.S. Ruegg, the "five works of Maitreya" are mentioned in Sanskrit sources from only the 11th century onwards.<ref>Ruegg, D.S. ''La Theorie du Tathagatagarbha et du Gotra''. Paris: Ecole d'Extreme Orient, 1969, p. 35.</ref> As noted by [[Shenpen Hookham|S.K. Hookham]], their attribution to a single author has been questioned by modern scholars.<ref>Hookham, S. K. (1991). The Buddha within: Tathagatagarbha doctrine according to the Shentong interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga. SUNY Press. {{ISBN|0-7914-0357-2}}. Source; [3] (accessed: Tuesday May 5, 2009), p.325.</ref> 

According to the Tibetan tradition, the so called Asanga-Maitreya is:

* ''[[Mahayana-sutra-alamkara-karika|Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra-kārikā]]'', ("The Adornment of [[Mahayana sutras]]", Tib. ''theg-pa chen-po'i mdo-sde'i rgyan''), which presents the Mahāyāna path from the Yogācāra perspective and shows structural similarities with the ''Bodhisattvabhumi.'' There is a closely related commentary on this text, the ''Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra-bhāṣya.'' Some scholars, like Mario D'amato, have questioned the attribution of this text to Asanga-Maitreya. Instead, D'amato places this text (together with the commentary, which he considers the work of one author) after the ''Bodhisattvabhumi'', but before the composition of Asanga's ''Mahāyānasaṃgraha'' (which quotes the ''Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra'' as an authoritative text).<ref name=":0">D’AMATO, M. “THREE NATURES, THREE STAGES: AN INTERPRETATION OF THE YOGĀCĀRA ‘TRISVABHĀVA’-THEORY.” ''Journal of Indian Philosophy'', vol. 33, no. 2, 2005, pp. 185–207. ''JSTOR'', <nowiki>http://www.jstor.org/stable/23497001</nowiki>. Accessed 16 Feb. 2024.</ref> 
* ''[[Madhyanta-vibhaga-karika|Madhyāntavibhāga-kārikā]]'' ("Distinguishing the Middle and the Extremes", Tib. ''dbus-dang mtha' rnam-par 'byed-pa''), 112 verses that are a key work in Yogācāra philosophy. D'amato also places this text in the second phase of Yogacara scholarship, i.e. after the ''Bodhisattvabhumi,'' but before the classic works of Asanga and Vasubandhu.<ref name=":0" /> 
* ''[[Dharma-dharmata-vibhaga|Dharmadharmatāvibhāga]]'' ("Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being", Tib. ''chos-dang chos-nyid rnam-par 'byed-pa''), a short Yogācāra work discussing the distinction and correlation (''vibhāga'') between phenomena (''dharma'') and reality (''dharmatā'').
* ''[[Abhisamayalankara]]'' ( "Ornament for clear realization", ''Tib. mngon-par rtogs-pa'i rgyan''), a verse text which attempts a synthesis of [[Prajnaparamita|''Prajñaparamita'']] doctrine and Yogacara thought. There are differing scholarly opinions on authorship, John Makransky writes that it is possible the author was actually Arya Vimuktisena, the 6th century author of the first surviving commentary on this work.<ref>Makransky, John J.  ''Buddhahood Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet'' SUNY Press, 1997, p. 187.</ref> Makransky also notes that it is only the later 8th century commentator [[Haribhadra (Buddhist philosopher)|Haribhadra]] who attributes this text to Maitreya, but that this may have been a means to ascribe greater authority to the text.<ref>Makransky, John J.  ''Buddhahood Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet'' SUNY Press, 1997, p. 17.</ref> As Brunnholzl notes, this text is also completely unknown in the Chinese Buddhist tradition''.''<ref name=":2">Brunnholzl, Karl'', When the Clouds Part: The Uttaratantra and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra,'' Shambhala Publications, 2015, p. 81.</ref>
* ''[[Ratnagotravibhaga]]'' (Exposition of the Jeweled lineage, Tib. ''theg-pa chen-po rgyud bla-ma'i bstan,'' a.k.a. ''Uttāratantra śāstra)'', a compendium on [[Buddha-nature]] attributed to Maitreya via Asaṅga by the Tibetan tradition. The Chinese tradition attributes it to a certain Sāramati (3rd-4th century CE), according to the [[Huayan]] patriarch [[Fazang]].<ref>Williams, Paul, Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, Routledge, 1989, p. 103.</ref> According to [[Shenpen Hookham|S.K. Hookham]], modern scholarship favors Sāramati as the author of the RGV. She also notes there is no evidence for the attribution to Maitreya before the time of [[Maitripada|Maitripa]] (11th century).<ref>Hookham, S. K. (1991). The Buddha within: Tathagatagarbha doctrine according to the Shentong interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhaga. SUNY Press. {{ISBN|0-7914-0357-2}}. Source; [3] (accessed: Tuesday May 5, 2009), pp.165-166.</ref> [[Peter Harvey (Buddhism)|Peter Harvey]] concurs, finding the Tibetan attribution less plausible.<ref>Peter Harvey (1993). "An Introduction to Buddhism." Cambridge University Press, page 114.</ref>

According to Karl Brunnholzl, the Chinese tradition also speaks of five Maitreya-Asanga texts (first mentioned in Dunlun's ''Yujia lunji''), "but considers them as consisting of the ''[[Yogacarabhumi-sastra|Yogācārabhūmi]], *Yogavibhāga'' [now lost]'', [[Mahayana-sutra-alamkara-karika|Mahāyānasūtrālamkārakā]], [[Madhyanta-vibhaga-karika|Madhyāntavibhāga]]'' and the ''Vajracchedikākāvyākhyā."''<ref name=":2" />

While the ''[[Yogacarabhumi-sastra|Yogācārabhūmi śāstra]]'' (“Treatise on the Levels of Spiritual Practitioners”), a massive and encyclopaedic work on yogic praxis, has traditionally been attributed to Asaṅga or Maitreya ''[[in toto]]'', but most modern scholars now consider the text to be a compilation of various works by numerous authors, and different textual strata can be discerned within its contents.<ref>Delhey, Martin, [http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393521/obo-9780195393521-0248.xml ''Yogācārabhūmi'', oxfordbibliographies.com], LAST MODIFIED: 26 JULY 2017, DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780195393521-0248.</ref> However, Asaṅga may still have participated in the compilation of this work.<ref name=":12" />

The third group of texts associated with Asaṅga comprises two commentaries: the ''Kārikāsaptati'', a work on the ''[[Diamond Sutra|Vajracchedikā]]'', and the ''Āryasaṃdhinirmocana-bhāṣya'' (Commentary on the [[Sandhinirmocana Sutra|''Saṃdhinirmocana'']])''.'' The attribution of both of these to Asaṅga is not widely accepted by modern scholars.<ref name=":12" />