Treatise on the Three Natures

The Treatise on the Three Natures (Skt. trisvabhāvanirdeśa; Tib. རང་བཞིན་གསུམ་ངེས་པར་བསྟན་པ་, rangshyin sum ngepar tenpa, Wyl. rang bzhin gsum nges par bstan pa) is a short treatise by Vasubandhu that describes the three natures.

This text is one of three short treatises by Vasubandhu that are known for presenting Vasubandhu's understanding of the Yogacara philosophy. (The other two treatises being the Viṃśatikā and the Triṃśikā.)

This text is 38 stanzas long.

Translations

In English

• Jay L. Garfield
  • "Vasubandhu's Trisvabhāvanirdeśa (Treatise on the Three Natures)". In William Edelglass and Jay Garfield (editors) Buddhist Philosophy: Essential Readings (Oxford University Press: 2009)
  • 'Vasubandhu's Treatise on the Three Natures' in Empty Words: Buddhist Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Interpretation, Oxford University Press, 2002

  This translation is available online here: Vasubandhu’s Treatise on the Three Natures

• Karl Brunnhölzl, Straight from the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions, Snow Lion, 2007, pp. 43-53
• Stefan Anacker, Seven Works of Vasubandhu: The Buddhist Psychological Doctor, Motilal Banarsidass, 2nd Edition, 2002, pp. 287-297, ISBN 978-8120802032
• Thomas Kochumuttom, A Buddhist Doctrine of Experience: A New Translation and Interpretation of the Works of Vasubandhu the Yogācārin, Motilal Banarsidass (Delhi 1982).

In French

• Philippe Cornu, Vasubandhu, Cinq traités sur l'esprit seulement (Paris: Fayard, 2008).