Literary History of Sanskrit Buddhism

Aśvaghoṣa and his School – 52
which is said to contain “a refutation of the four vedas,” is described
as translated into Chinese between 973 and 981 and is ascribed to a
Dharmakīrti (Bunyo Nanjio, Catalogue of the Chinese translation of
the Buddhist Tripiṭaka, No. 1303). The Chinese term “fa-shang” is
the translation of the Sanskrit proper name Dharmakīrti.
Other Works of Aśvaghoṣa
It is altogether undecided whether other books the authorship of
which is assigned to Aśvaghoṣa by Chinese, Japanese and Tibetan
writers were actually composed by him. The fame of Aśvaghoṣa as a
teacher of the Mahāyāna is founded on his Mahāyāna Śraddhotpada
or the Rise of the Mahāyāna Faith, a philosophical treatise studied in
the monasteries of Japan as the basis of the Mahāyāna doctrine. “The
poet of the Buddhacarita,” says Levi “shows him[self] here as a
profound metaphysician, as an intrepid reviver of a doctrine which
was destined to regenerate Buddhism.” However it is anything but
certain or rather highly improbable that it is in reality the product of
Aśvaghoṣa since it embodies teaching which is assignable to a later
date. So long, however, as the Sanskrit [40] text of the book is denied
us a final judgment regarding the age of the author is impossible.
The Śraddhotpada was translated first in 534 and then in 710 A.D.
into Chinese. From the second Chinese translation T. Suzuki
prepared an English version, “Discourse on the Awakening of Faith
in the Mahāyāna.” Suzuki holds Aśvaghoṣa the poet to be the author
and asserts on the basis of the book itself, the Mahāyāna
Śraddhotpada, that he was the actual founder of the Mahāyāna sect.
The doctrine which the book incorporates is, however, that of
Vijñānavāda as taught by Asaṅga and the teaching of