Teaching Those of Shared Karma: Vasubandhu on How the Buddha’s Teachings are Made

Based on Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti, this paper delves into the debate on the proper way to interpret the narratives detailing the karmic connections between the Buddha’s past and present lives. On one side of this debate is a realist interpretation, which views events in Śākyamuni’s past lives as real causes that lead to tangible effects in his present life. Conversely, an anti-realist interpretation, advocated by Vasubandhu, contends that the narratives of the Buddha’s lives do not posit real doers and real karmic actions and results. Examining the realist and anti-realist interpretations, the paper focuses on Vasubandhu’s anti-realist stance, grounded in the Mahāyāna concept of Śākyamuni as an emanation. The paper argues that, according to Vasubandhu’s anti-realist interpretation, the narratives of the Buddha’s lives are not descriptions of real events and individuals, but teachings crafted for specific audiences with shared karma which predisposes them to perceive buddhahood as a temporal progression.