ASAṄGA (c. 315–390 CE) was the founder of the Yogācāra school of Mahāyāna Buddhism in India. Asaṅga was born as a son of a brahman in Puruṣapura (Peshawar in Pakistan). His younger brother was the famous Yogācāra thinker Vasubandhu. Originally Asaṅga belonged to the Mahīśāsaka school of Hīnayāna Buddhism, but later converted to the Mahāyāna. According to Paramārtha's biography of Vasubandhu, Asaṅga's conversion took place after an ascent to Tuṣita Heaven, where he received religious instruction from Maitreya, a bodhisattva who is worshiped as the future Buddha. Later, Asaṅga composed a treatise dealing with the seventeen stages (bhūmi) of yoga practice based on the teachings he had received from Maitreya. The same account is recorded by Xuanzang in his Da Tang xiyu ji...