天亲

Vasubandhu, 伐蘇畔度; 婆藪槃豆 (or 婆修槃豆) (or 婆修槃陀) 'akin to the gods ', or 世親 'akin to the world'. Vasubandhu is described as a native of Puruṣapura, or Peshawar, by Eitel as of Rājagriha, born '900 years after the nirvana', or about A. D. 400; Takakusu suggests 420-500, Peri puts his death not later than 350. In Eitel's day the date of his death was put definitely at A. D. 117. Vasubandhu's great work, the Abhidharmakośa, is only one of his thirty-six works. He is said to be the younger brother of Asaṅga of the Yogācāra school, by whom he was converted from the Sarvāstivāda school of thought to that of Mahāyāna and of Nāgārjuna. On his conversion he would have 'cut out his tongue' for its past heresy, but was dissuaded by his brother, who bade him use the same tongue to correct his errors, whereupon he wrote the 唯識論 and other Mahayanist works. He is called the twenty-first patriarch and died in Ayodhya.