This paper will discuss the possible interpretations of the locative meaning of Vijnanaparinama as it appears in the Timsikakarika. The wording of this first verse, in its Sanskrit original and in its Chinese translation by Xuan Zang, is as follows: atmadharmopacaro hi vividho yah pravartate/ vijnanapariname 'sau parinamah sa ca tridha//1//由仮説我法有種種相転彼依識所変此能変唯三The Chinese translation of Vijnanapariname into '依識所変', suggests that Xuan Zang understands it as 'object of cognition'. In the seventeenth verse of the Trimsikakarika, however, Vasubandhu certainly means 'subject of cognition' by Vijnanaparinama when he says 'vijnanaparinamo 'yam vikalpo'. If we assume that the term Vijnanaparinama is employed by Vasubandhu in both cases with the same meaning, in the first verse also, it probably bears the meaning of 'subject of cognition ([能]分別)'. As an English translation of the Sanskrit original I therefore suggest: Manifold upacara (=verbaly expressed supposition about the existence of a thing which is not "really") regarding atman and dharma [=object of cognition (parikalpita-svabhava)] indeed manifests (itself) in the (flow of) transformation of consciousness [=subject of cognition (paratantra-svabhava)]. This transformation is threefold.
