Cheng weishi baosheng lun 成唯識寶生論, extant only in Chinese, is Dharmapāla's (530-561 C.E.) commentary on Vasubandhu's (4th to 5th century C.E.) classic Viṃśikā and its Vṛtti. In his commentary, Dharmapāla explicitly uses Buddhist logic (hetuvidyā) to interpret and to argue for the doctrine of Consciousness-only and against his opponents. However, unlike Viṃśikā, which is very popular, this work has been not well explored and even neglected. The reasons might be that there is no Sanskrit or Tibetan version, and many passages in the Chinese translation by Yijing 義淨 are difficult to be understood. Even though this text is obscure and sometimes ambiguous, it is still worthy of our effort not only because of its complicated argumentation but also because of Dharmapāla's significance in the history of Buddhist thought, especially in East Asia. This paper focuses on Dharmapāla's application of Buddhist logic in his Cheng weishi baosheng lun. Dharmapāla's commentary, very different from Vinītadeva's, specifically uses Buddhist logic (three-membered Indian syllogism) to interpret Vasubandhu's arguments, and furthermore he summarizes the points with that same tool. After establishing the thesis, by pointing out that his opponents have fallacious means of refutation (dūṣaṇābhāsa) or fallacious means of proof (sādhanābhāsa), which means that their statements of proof are defective in respect of the thesis (pakṣa), the reason (hetu), or the example (dṛṣṭānta), Dharmapāla formulates his effective rebuttal to the counterarguments. Case by case, this paper explores Dharmapāla's style of argumentation in his own text. And in the end, with respect to hetuvidyā, a reading of Viṃśikā in Dharmapāla's eyes, contrary to Birgit Kellner and Johan Taber's (2014), is tentatively addressed. It is hoped that this paper will contribute to the study of Dharmapāla and show the value of his works.
