BIBLIOGRAPHY
More than two hundred volumes by Steiner and an equal number
concerning anthroposophy by other authors, including
Christopher Bamford, Owen Barfield, Sergei Prokofieff,
M. C. Richards, and Valentin Tomberg, are available from
Anthroposophic Press/Steiner Books at http://www.anthropress.
org. The following books are published by Anthroposophical
Press/Steiner Books, Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Bamford, Christopher, ed. Spiritualism, Madame Blavatsky, and
Theosophy. Great Barrington, Mass., 2001.
Barnes, Henry. A Life for the Spirit: Rudolf Steiner in the Crosscur-
rents of Our Time. Hudson, N.Y., 1997.
Prokofieff, Sergei. Rudolf Steiner and the Founding of the New Mys-
teries. East Sussex, U.K., 1986.
Steiner, Rudolf. An Autobiography—Chapters in the Course of My
Life: 1861–1907. Translated by Rita Stebbing, Herndon,
Va., 1999.
ROBERT A. MCDERMOTT (1987 AND 2005)
STHIRAMATI. Although he was born in India, Indian
Buddhist literature has almost nothing to say about Sthira-
mati (470–550). Therefore, Tibetan and Chinese sources
must be relied on for information on his life. According to
Tibetan Buddhist historians, Sthiramati was born in
Dan:d:akara ̄n:ya, the son of a ́su ̄dra, and as a child studied
under Vasubandhu (c. mid-fourth to mid-fifth centuries).
Both Chinese pilgrim scholars Xuanzang (600?–664) and
Yijing (635–713) mention Sthiramati as one of the great
Buddhist philosophers and that he was a disciple of
Gun:amati (c. 420–500). In addition, in Chengweishilun
shuji, Kuiji (632–682), a disciple of Xuanzang, gives short
biographies of the ten great Buddhist masters. He includes
Sthiramati and names him as a student of Gun:amati. Kuiji
also reports that Sthiramati hailed from the state of Lat:a ̄ in
southern India and was an older contemporary of
Dharmapa ̄la (530–561). Also, in the opening section of the
Uighur translation of his Abhidharmako ́sabha ̄s:yat: ̄ıka ̄
Tattva ̄rthana ̄ma Sthiramati states explicitly that Gun:amati
was his teacher. This is significant evidence to confirm the
Chinese scholars’ account that Sthiramati was a disciple of
Gun:amati, not of Vasubandhu as the Tibetan historians as-
serted.
Both Tibetan and Chinese sources note that he dwelled
at Na ̄landa ̄. However, Sthiramati’s name is closely associated
with the city of Valabh ̄ı, and the fact that Sthiramati was one
of the most renowned Buddhist masters at Valabh ̄ı is attest-
ed to by both Chinese Buddhist sources and historical docu-
ments. Regarding the dates of Sthiramati’s life, Ui Hakuju
suggested 470 to 550 whereas Erich Frauwallner suggested
510 to 570. Ui’s date appears to be more plausible as a work-
ing hypothesis than the one established by Frauwallner be-
cause he based his calculation on Xuanzang, who, in turn re-
lied on the dates of Dharmapa ̄la as well as S ́ ̄ılabhadra (529–
645). Ui also relied on the date of Gun:amati, which he
established as around 420 to 500.
EXTANT WORKS. Sthiramati is mostly known through his
two extant works in Sanskrit that have been edited and par-
tially translated into western languages: the Madhya ̄nta-
vibha ̄gat: ̄ıka ̄ and the Trim: ́sika ̄bha ̄s:ya. However, the Tibetan
tradition attributes thirteen works to the name Sthiramati.
Among them seven are Tantric texts, although it is almost
impossible to know whether the author of these works is the
same Sthiramati. Of the remaining six, two are Tibetan
translations of the Madhya ̄ntavibha ̄gat: ̄ıka ̄ and the
Trim: ́sika ̄bha ̄s:ya, and four are works of which the Sans-
krit originals are lost, namely, Su ̄tra ̄lam:ka ̄ravr:ttibha ̄s:ya,
Pañcaskandhaprakaran:avibha ̄s:a, Abhidharmako ́sabha ̄s:yat: ̄ıka ̄
Tattva ̄rthana ̄ma, and A ̄rya Maha ̄ratnaku ̄t:adharmaparyaya-
́satasa ̄hasrika ̄ Ka ̄ ́syapaparivartat: ̄ıka ̄. The Chinese canon also
contains four works under the name Anhui (Sthiramati): Ju-
shelun shiyishu, Dacheng zhongguan shilun, Dacheng apidamo
zajilun, and Dacheng guang wuyunlun. Among these the Ju-
shelun shiyishu and the Dacheng guang wuyunlun appear to
correspond respectively to the Abhidharmako ́sabha ̄s:yat: ̄ıka ̄
Tattva ̄rthana ̄ma and the Pañcaskandhaprakaran:avibha ̄s:a (al-
though they are different in contents), whereas the Dacheng
apidamo zajilun and the Dacheng zhongguan shilun are works
extant only in Chinese translation. Thus, in all, there are
eight non-Tantric works that can be attributed with some
certainty to Sthiramati.
Sthiramati was primarily a commentator and did not
compose any independent treatise. His most significant con-
tribution is in the field of Yoga ̄ca ̄ra philosophy. In his com-
mentaries Sthiramati appears as a thinker who was mainly
concerned with clarifying and systematizing Yoga ̄ca ̄ra philos-
ophy, and, although he did have his preferences, he was not
particularly interested in sectarian controversy. Sthiramati’s
commentaries on major Yoga ̄ca ̄ra texts, including the
Maha ̄ya ̄nasu ̄tra ̄lamka ̄ra and the Madhya ̄ntavibha ̄ga, show
that one of his main intentions was to elucidate the
Maha ̄ya ̄na concept of enlightenment (bodhi) or buddha-
hood, expressed by the term dharmadha ̄tu, and its soteriolog-
ical implications as the ultimate goal of the Buddhist
path. These issues are discussed at great length in his two
larger works: the Madhya ̄ntavibha ̄gat: ̄ıka ̄ and the
Su ̄tra ̄lam:ka ̄ravr:ttibha ̄s:ya.
YOGA ̄CA ̄RA THOUGHT. Sthiramati’s systematic understand-
ing of Yoga ̄ca ̄ra philosophy is found most succinctly in his
Trim: ́sika ̄bha ̄s:ya. According to this, ordinary people are in-
clined to impose the concepts of persons (pudgala) and phe-
nomena (dharma) on the realities that in truth consist of mo-
ment-to-moment processes of cognitions (citta or vijñapti)
caused by their own conditions. The view of self (or person)
constitutes afflictive obstruction (kle ́sa ̄varan:a) that hinders
liberation (moks:a) whereas the construct of phenomena leads
to cognitive obstruction that hinders omniscience (saravaj-
ñatva). The teaching of mind-only (cittama ̄tra) or cognition-
only (vijnaptima ̄tra) is to enable unenlightened people to un-
derstand the selflessness of persons (pudgalanaira ̄tmya) and
the selflessness of phenomena (dharmanaira ̄tmya). The
constructed duality of persons and phenomenaSTHIRAMATI 8739