Weishi sanshi song 唯識三十頌

Weishi sanshi song 唯識三十頌 "Thirty verses on Consciousness-Only" is a significant treatise of the Buddhist Yogācāra School (Ch. Yujia xing pai 瑜伽行派) in India, which belongs to the Mahāyāna tradition. It serves as one of the fundamental texts of the Chinese Faxiang School (Faxiang Zong 法相宗). It is also referred to as the Wei shanshi lun song 唯識三十論頌 or Gaojian fachuang lun 高建法幢論.

The work, titled Triṃśikā-vijñaptimātratā or Triṃśaka-kārikā, was composed by Vasubandhu (Ch. Shiqin 世親, c. 400) and translated into Chinese in one juan by Xuanzang 玄奘 (602-664) during the Tang period 唐 (618-907).

The treatise comprises thirty verses that elucidate the doctrine that the three realms are "consciousness-only" (sanjie wei shi 三界唯識). The first twenty-four verses describe the characteristics of consciousness-only (weishi xiang 唯識相). The twenty-fifth verse clarifies its nature (weishi xing 唯識性), and the final five verses outline the stages of practice and realisation (weishi xingwei 唯識行位).

Focusing on the theory of the transformation of consciousness (shi zhuanbian 識轉變), the text describes how the eight consciousnesses (bashi 八識), rooted in the ālaya-vijñāna (in Chinese rendered as alaiye shi 阿賴耶識) or "storehouse consciousness", evolve into the experiential world of sentient beings. Based on this, it develops a comprehensive theory of dependent origination centred around the ālaya-vijñāna.

It further explores important Yogācāra doctrines such as the trisvabhāva or three natures (sanxingy 三性) and the three non-natures (san wuxing 三無性), as well as various issues related to Consciousness-Only practice. In doing so, it systematically presents the doctrine that "there are no external objects, only consciousness" (wei shi wu jing 唯識無境).

The treatise had a significant influence in India. It was successively commented upon by scholars such as Sthiramati (Ch. Anhui 安慧, 6th cent.), Dharmapāla (Hufa 護法, 530–561), Nanda (Nantuo 難陀), Bandhuśri (Qinsheng 親勝), Citrabhāna (Huobian 火辨, c. 400-c. 480), Guṇamati (Dehui 德慧, 5th cent.), Śuddhacandra (Jingyue 淨月, 6th cent.), Viśeṣamitra (Shengyou 勝友), Jinaputra (Shengzi 勝子) and Jñānacandra (Zhiyue 智月), who were collectively known as the "Ten Great Commentators" (shi da lun shi 十大論師). Xuanzang later regarded Dharmapāla's commentary as the primary source, synthesising it with the interpretations of the other masters to compile the Cheng weishi lun 成唯識論.