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The Stores
Definitions
Prologue:
Now, the first. Stores means the three stores and the two stores, which are both called “Stores,” since they store and contain. Vasubandhu’s Samparigrana Shastra, Part One, and the Alamkara, Part Four, both say of the Three and the Two, “Why are they called ‘Stores?’” The answer says, “It is because they contain. That is, they contain all the meanings which need to be know. To contain means to include.”
Commentary:
Now the first, the first part of the discussion. Stores means the Three Stores and the Two Stores – they will be explained shortly – which are both called “Stores,” since they store and contain.
Vasubandhu is “Heavenly Relative” Bodhisattva, who wrote the Mahayana-Samparigraha Shastra. The reference here is to Part One of that, and the Mahayana-Sutra-Alamkara-Shastra,Part Four. Both of those Shastras say of the Three Stores andthe Two Stores, “Why are they called “Stores?’” The answer given to their own rhetorical question says, “It is because they contain. That is, they contain all the meanings which need to be known. To contain means to include.” It means to be included in, comprised and gathered in. We talked about magnets before. Any iron substance is attracted to and drawn in by magnet, which includes – contains – it.
The text mentions the Mahayana-Samparigraha Shastra written by Vasubandhu Bodhisattva. Some people ascribe it to him while others say it was written by Asanga – “Unattached” – Bodhisattva, his brother. Probably, as brothers, they wrote it together. Perhaps half each. Later, in the T’ang Dymasty, the Shastra was translated into Chinese by Dharma Master Hsuan Chuang in ten rolls. Prior to that, in the Liang Dynasty, Dharma Master Paramartha had made a translation of the same Shastra in fifteen rolls.
Prologue:Statement of the Three Stores: One, the Sutra (Hsiu To Lo) Store; Two, The Vinaya Store; Three, The Abhidharma Store.
Commentary:
Statement of the Three Stores. That is meant by the Three Stores: One, the first is the Sutra Store, the Treasury of Sutra texts. Two, the second, is the Vinaya Store, precepts and regulations. Three is the Abhidharma Store, the Treasury of Shastras. Those are the Three Stores.
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