View source for Well Explained Reasoning

'''''Well Explained Reasoning''''' (Skt. ''Vyākhyāyukti''; Tib. རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པའི་རིགས་པ་, [[Wyl.]] ''rnam par bshad pa'i rigs pa'') — a work by [[Vasubandhu]] that sets out the principles of exegesis or hermeneutics and teaches how to interpret and explain the content of a [[sutra]]. It has five chapters, and in the fourth Vasubandhu refutes the assertion that the [[Great Vehicle]] cannot be considered as Buddhism.<ref>Skilling, Peter. ''Vasubandhu and the Vyākhyāyukti Literature'', in the ''Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'', Volume 23, Number 2, 2000, page 334-335.</ref>

It states that sutras are to be explained according to:
#their purpose (Skt. ''sūtrānta-prayojana''; Wyl. ''mdo sde 'i dgos pa'')
#their summarized meaning (Skt. ''piṇḍārtha''; Wyl. ''bsdus pa'i don'')
#the meaning of the words (Skt. ''padārtha''; Wyl. ''tshig gi don'')
#their sequence and connection (Skt. ''anusaṃdhi''; Wyl. ''mtshams sbyar ba'')
#objections and refutations (Skt. ''codyaparihāra''; Wyl. ''brgal ba dang lan'')

These five topics are discussed in the first four chapters. The fifth chapter is an appendix on the benefits of listening to the dharma. 

==Commentaries==
*'''One Hundred Extracts from the Sūtras for the Principles of Exegesis''' (Skt. ''Vyākhyāyukti-sūtra-khaṇḍaśata''; Wyl. ''rnam par bshad pa rigs pa'i mdo sde'i dum bu brgya''), by Vasubandhu. A collection of 105 sutra passages that serve as Vasubandhu's source material.
*'''Commentary on the Principles of Exegesis''' (Skt. ''Vyākhyāyukti-ṭīkā''; Wyl ''rnam par bshad pa rigs pa'i bshad pa'') by [[Gunamati]].

All three texts, the text itself and the two related texts, at present only exist in Tibetan translation in the [[Mind Only]] section of the [[Tengyur]].

==References==
<small><references/></small>

==Alternative Translations==
*Principles of Elucidation (Ron Garry)
*Reasoned Exposition  (Dharmachakra Translation Committee)
*Rational System of Exposition (Gyurme Dorje)
*Principles of Exegesis (Peter Skilling)

==Further Reading==
*Skilling, Peter. ''Vasubandhu and the Vyākhyāyukti Literature'', in the ''Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'', Volume 23, Number 2, 2000.
*Cabezon, Jose Ignacio. ''Vasubandhu's Vyākhyāyukti on the Authenticity of the Mahāyāna Sūtras'', in Timm, Jeffrey R, ''Texts in Context: Traditional Hermeneutics in South Asia''. SUNY Press, 1992.
*Verhagen, Peter C.''Studies in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Hermeneutics (4):  The Vyākhyāyukti of Vasubandhu'' Journal Asiatique 293, no. 2 (2005): 559–602. 

[[Category: Texts]]
[[Category: Canon]]