The Spread of Buddhism

32 bart dessein

the arguments we read in the *Abhidharmamahvibhstra as to why the

path of vision can be seen as the wheel of the doctrine. It includes

the opinion attributed to Gho aka with the claim that the eight mem-

bers of the seeker that reach the thoughts of someone else when

turning is called the “turning of the wheel of the doctrine”. In the

Abhidharmakoa, after summarising the Vaibh

ika arguments,^71 Gho aka’s

simile of a wheel, alluded to in the *Abhidharmamah vibhstra and

the *Sa yuktbhidharmahdaya, is de ned as follows: right view, right

conceptualising, right effort, and right mindfulness resemble the spokes

of a conventional wheel; right speech, right action, and right livelihood

resemble the nave; and right concentration resembles the felloe.^72 This

simile for the wheel of the doctrine is also attributed to Gho aka in the

*[Abhidharma]vibh[stra] «Apitan piposha lun» (T.1546).^73

The tradition knows Gho aka as a Tokharian who settled in

Gandhra and after the synod of Kani ka went to the west of Kamra

near Tukhara.^74 As Gho aka is contradicted in the *Abhidharmamah

vibhstra, he to all likelihood was a non-Vaibh

ika Sarvstivda

master. As Vasubandhu criticises the Vaibh

ika ideas, it is no surprise

that he does not contradict the simile with a wheel attributed to Gho aka

in his Abhidharmakoa.^75

That the theory on the three cycles and twelve constituent parts

became the subject of further philosophical interpretation is evident

from an interesting passage in the Abhidharmakoa in which the Vaibh

ika

interpretation of the three cycles and twelve constituent parts is con-

tradicted, and the opinion found in the vinaya and s tra literature dealt

with above is favoured. Judging from the Sphu

rth Abhidharmakoavykhy,

an eighth century commentary on the Abhidharmakoa by Yaomitra,

this latter opinion also is the Sautrntika opinion.^76 The interpreta-

tion we  nd in the Abhidharmakoa is also the interpretation of the

*Vibh[stra] «Piposha lun» (T.1547), the vibh commentary on the

(^71) T.1558.29.128b28–c2: “As it moves swiftly, it resembles a wheel; because there is
leaving behind and grasping; because of subduing what was not yet subdued; because
of guarding what is already subdued; because of evolving from higher to lower.” See
also La Vallée Poussin 1980, vol. 4, pp. 245–246; T.1559.29.280a1–4.
(^72) T.1558.29.128c2–6. See also La Vallée Poussin 1980, vol. 4, p. 246.
(^73) T.1546.28.158b21–24.
(^74) See nti Bhik u str 1953, p. ii; Malalasekera 1961, p. 84; Trantha 1970,
p. 49; La Vallée Poussin 1980, vol. 1, p. xlvi; Dessein 1998, p. 1046.
(^75) See also Dessein 1998, p. 1048.
(^76) Sphu
rth Abhidharmakoavykhy 581.32–35. See also La Vallée Poussin 1980, vol.
4, pp. 248–249.
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