Vasubandhu’s Viṃśatikā (hereafter VS) has three classical Chinese translations. The last one was translated by Xuanzang in 661 A.D. and subsequently commented by his disciple, Kuiji (632-682). However, no further commentary and sub-commentary on VS had been found in East Asia until Kuiji’s Weishi Ershi lun Shuji was rediscovered and published in 1702 in Japan. As a result, there was a boom on the studies of VS and Shuji. Approximately forty commentaries were composed during the Edo period. This study focuses on Kaijou (1750-1805)’s Yuishiki nijuron chohiroku, one of the most influential commentaries, and examines the hermeneutics as displayed in this text. A special attention will be also paid to the legacy of Kaijou in the modern Japanese scholarship on Yogācāra-Vijñaptimātra Buddhism.
