Yuktisastikavrtti: Commentaire a la soixantaine sur le raisonnement ou Du vrai enseignement de la causalite par le Maitre indien Candrakirti.

• Author: Hattori, Masaaki

The Yuktisastika (YS) of Nagarjuna is a philosophical treatise consisting of sixty verses intended for elucidating by reasoning (yukti) the doctrine of pratityasamutpada. This work is not extant in the original Sanskrit as such, but no less than twelve verses are available in Sanskrit, being quoted in other works. It has come down to us in Tibetan translation by Muditasri and Pa tshab Ni ma grags (D. 3825, P. 5225) and in Chinese translation by Shih-hu (T. 1575). The Tibetan text was edited and translated into Japanese by S. Yamaguchi, into Danish and English by C. Lindtner, and into English by F. Tola in collaboration with C. Dragonetti (introduction, p. xxvi). The Chinese version, which is often quite difficult to read, was translated into German with constant reference to the Tibetan version by P. Schaffer (ibid.). Candrakirti (seventh century), well known as the author of the Prasannapada, an extensive commentary on Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamaka-karika (MMK), wrote a commentary on YS, viz., the Yuktisastikavrtti (YSVr), which is preserved only in Tibetan translation, done by Ye ses sde with Jinamitra et al. (D. 3864, P. 5265). A Japanese translation of YSVr was made by R. Uryuzu (p. xxix), but there is much room for improvement in this translation.

In the book under review, the author, Dr. Christina A. Scherrer-Schaub, has presented a complete French translation of YSVr together with the Tibetan texts of YS and YSVr. There are two different Tibetan versions of YS, viz., one unaccompanied by a commentary ([YS.sub.1]) and one cited in YSVr ([YS.sub.2]). [YS.sub.2] was noted down as variants in Yamaguchi's edition of [YS.sub.1]. The publication of the carefully edited texts of [YS.sub.1] and YSVr with [YS.sub.2] certainly facilitates the study of this important work of Nagarjuna. For a critical edition of the Tibetan texts the author utilized, besides Peking, sNar-than, sDe-dge and Co-ne editions, two manuscripts from Dunhuang kept in the Bibliotheque nationale de Paris (Fonds Pelliot tibetain 795, 796). In these manuscripts the name of the translator is not given, but the author makes the remark that the text presented in them is close to [YS.sub.2].

Among Nagarjuna's philosophical treatises a special importance is attached to YS by Candrakirti. He states that while the Vigrahavyavartani and the Sunyatasaptati are intended to explain in detail what has been expounded in MMK, YS is an independent work composed for the purpose of elucidating...