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.

It states that sutras are to be explained according to:

1. their purpose (Skt. sūtrānta-prayojana; Wyl. mdo sde 'i dgos pa)
2. their summarized meaning (Skt. piṇḍārtha; Wyl. bsdus pa'i don)
3. the meaning of the words (Skt. padārtha; Wyl. tshig gi don)
4. their sequence and connection (Skt. anusaṃdhi; Wyl. mtshams sbyar ba)
5. 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.

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.