who was probably Candragupta I. This identification depends
on the hypothesis that Vasubandhu lived from about 280 to 360 A.D.
which, as already mentioned, seems to me to have been proved by M.
Peri.[219] The earlier Gupta kings though not Buddhists were tolerant,
as is shown by the fact that the king of Ceylon[220] was allowed to
erect a magnificent monastery at Nalanda in the reign of Samudragupta
(_c_. 330-375 A.D.).

Asanga founded the school known as Yogacara and many authorities
ascribe to him the introduction of magical practices and Tantrism. But
though he is a considerable figure in the history of Buddhism, I doubt
if his importance or culpability is so great as this. For if tradition
can be trusted, earlier teachers especially Nagarjuna dealt in spells
and invocations and the works of Asanga[221] known to us are
characterized by a somewhat scholastic piety and are chiefly occupied
in defining and describing the various stages in the spiritual
development of a Bodhisattva. It is true that he admits the use of
magical formulae[222] as an aid in this evolution but they form only a
slight part of his system and it does not appear that the Chen-yen or
Shingon sect of the Far East (the Sanskrit Mantrayana) traced its
lineage back to him.

Our estimate of his position in the history of Buddhism must depend on
our opinion as to the authorship of _The Awakening of Faith_. If this
treatise was composed by Asvaghosha then doctrines respecting the
three bodies of Buddha, the Tathagatagarbha and the Alaya-vijnana
were not only known but scientifically formulated considerably before
Asanga. The conclusion cannot be rejected as absurd--for Asvaghosha
might speak differently in poems and in philosophical treatises--but
it is surprising, and it is probable that the treatise is not his. If
so, Asanga may have been the first to elaborate systematically (though
not to originate) the idea that thought is the one and only reality.
Nagarjuna's nihilism was probably the older theory. It sounds late and
elaborate but still it follows easily if the dialectic of Gotama is
applied uncompromisingly not only to our mental processes but to the
external world. Yet even in India the result was felt to be fantastic
and sophistical and it is not surprising if after the lapse of a few
generations a new system of idealism became fashionable which,
although none too intelligible, was abstruse rather than paradoxical.

Asanga was alleged to have