Yogacara
Encyclopedia
Yogācāra is an influential school of Buddhist philosophy
and psychology
emphasizing phenomenology and (some argue) ontology
through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. It developed within India
n Mahāyāna
Buddhism
in about the 4th century CE. Yogācāra discourse is founded on the existential truth of the human condition
: there is nothing that humans experience that is not mediated by mind.
Yogācāra is also transliterated (using standard English alphabet) as "yogachara". Another name for the school is Vijñānavāda (Sanskrit). Vāda means "doctrine" and "way"; vijñāna
means "consciousness" and "discernment". Hence, "Vijñānavāda" may be rendered as "Consciousness Doctrine" or "Discernment Way"; though it is commonly rendered as "Knowledge Way".
, one of the two principal schools of Nepalese and Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism.
, the first Yogācāra text, the Buddha set the 'wheel of the doctrine
' (Dharmacakra) in motion three times." Hence, the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, as the doctrinal trailblazer of Yogācāra, inaugurated the paradigm of the three turnings of the wheel of Dharma, with its own tenets in the "third turning". The Yogācāra texts are generally considered part of the third turning along with the relevant sutra
. Moreover, Yogācāra discourse surveys and synthesizes all three turnings.
The origins of the scholarly Indian Yogācāra tradition were rooted in the syncretic scholasticism of Nālandā
University, where the doctrine of consciousness-only (vijñapti-mātra or cittamātra) was first extensively propagated. Doctrines, tenets and derivatives of this school have influenced and become well-established in China, Korea, Tibet, Japan and Mongolia and throughout the world via the dissemination and dialogue wrought by the Buddhist diaspora.
The orientation of the Yogācāra school is largely consistent with the thinking of the Pāli Nikāyas. It frequently treats later developments in a way that realigns them with earlier versions of Buddhist doctrines. Dan Lusthaus concludes that one of the agendas of the Yogācāra school was to reorient the complexity of later refinements in Buddhist philosophy to accord with early Buddhist doctrine.
born half-brothers Vasubandhu
and Asaṅga
(who was said to be inspired by the quasihistorical Maitreya-nātha
, or the divine Maitreya
). This school held a prominent position in the Indian scholastic tradition for several centuries due to its lauded pedigree and propagation at Nālandā.
with the Mādhyamaka
. However, there is disagreement among contemporary Western and traditional Buddhist scholars about the degree to which they were opposed, if at all. To summarize the main difference in a way so brief as to risk the accusation of inaccuracy, while the Mādhyamaka held that asserting the existence or non-existence of any ultimately real thing was inappropriate, some exponents of Yogācāra asserted that the mind (or in the more sophisticated variations, primordial wisdom) and only the mind is ultimately real. Not all Yogācārins, however, asserted that mind was truly existent. According to some interpretations, Vasubandhu and Asaṅga in particular did not.
Later Yogācāra exponents synthesized the two views, particularly Śāntarakṣita
, whose view was later called "Yogācāra-Svatantrika-Mādhyamaka" by the Tibetan tradition. In his view the Mādhyamika position is ultimately true and at the same time the mind-only view is a useful way to relate to conventionalities and progress students more skillfully toward the ultimate. This synthesized view between the two positions, which also incorporated views of valid cognition from Dignāga
and Dharmakīrti
, was one of the last developments of Indian Buddhism before it was extinguished in the 11th century during the Muslim
incursion. It was also expounded by Xuanzang
, who after a suite of debates with exponents of the Mādhyamaka School, composed in Sanskrit the no longer extant three-thousand verse treatise The Non-difference of Mādhyamaka and Yogācāra.
Later Yogācāra teachings are especially important in tantric Buddhism, which evolved along with their development in India.
by Śāntarakṣita and later by Atiśa
; it was thereafter integral to Tibetan Buddhism
although the prevailing Geluk-dominated view held that it was less definitive than Mādhyamaka. Yogācāra terminology (but not view) is used by the Nyingmapa and its zenith, Dzogchen
. Yogācāra also became central to East Asia
n Buddhism. The teachings of Yogācāra became the Chinese Wei Shi school of Buddhism.
Current debates among Tibetan schools between the shentong
(empty of other) and rangtong (empty of self) views appear similar to earlier debates between Yogācāra and Mādhyamaka, but the issues and distinctions have evolved further. Though the later Tibetan views could be said to have evolved from the earlier Indian positions, the distinctions between the views became increasingly subtle, especially after Yogācāra incorporated the Mādhyamika view of the ultimate. Ju Mipham, the 19th century rime movement
commenter, wrote in his commentary on Śāntarakṣita's synthesis, that the ultimate view in both schools is the same and each path also leads to the same ultimate state of abiding.
(589-618), Buddhism in China had developed many distinct schools and traditions. Xuanzang, in the words of Dan Lusthaus
:
Moreover, Dan Lusthaus
charts the different dialectic
and divergent traditions of Buddhism within India and China discovered by Xuanzang and mentions the Buddha-nature
, Awakening of Faith, and Tathāgatagarbha:
(Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, 2nd century CE) was the seminal Yogācāra sutra and continued to be a primary referent for the tradition. Also containing Yogācāra elements were the Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra
(1st century CE) and Daśabhūmika Sūtra
(pre-3rd century CE). The later Descent into Laṅkā Sūtra
(Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, 4th century CE) also assumed considerable importance. Other prominent Yogācāra sutras include the Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanāda Sūtra and the Ghanavyūha Sūtra.
. They are as follows:
A commentary on the Ornament for Clear Realization called "Clarifying the Meaning" by Haribhadra
is also often used, as is one by Vimuktisena.
Most of these texts were also incorporated into the Chinese tradition, which was established several centuries earlier than the Tibetan. However, the Ornament for Clear Realization is not mentioned by Chinese translators up to the 7th century, including Xuanzang, who was an expert in this field. This suggests it may possibly have emerged from a later period than is generally ascribed to it.
Authorship of critical Yogācāra texts is also ascribed to Asaṅga personally (in contrast to the Five Treatises of Maitreya). Among them are the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha
and the Abhidharma-samuccaya. Sometimes also ascribed to him is the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra
, a massive encyclopedic work considered the definitive statement of Yogācāra, but most scholars believe it was compiled a century later, in the 5th century.
Other important commentaries on various Yogācāra texts were written by Sthiramati (6th century) and Dharmapāla (7th century), and an influential Yogācāra-Mādhyamaka synthesis was formulated by Śāntarakṣita (8th century).
Hattori Masaaki (2005) states:
Keenan, et al. (2003) states:
Yogācārins developed an Abhidharma
literature set within a Mahāyāna framework.
Also, regarding perception, the Yogācārins emphasized that our everyday understanding of the existence of external objects is problematic, since in order to perceive any object (and thus, for all practical purposes, for the object to "exist"), there must be a sensory organ as well as a correlative type of consciousness to allow the process of cognition to occur.
functions on an individual basis. It addressed questions that had long vexed Buddhist philosophers, such as, if one carries out a good or evil act, why and how is it that the effects of that act do not appear immediately? Inasfar as they do not appear immediately, where is this karma waiting for its opportunity to play out?
The answer given by the Yogācārins, those that hold to the tenets of Yogācāra, was the store consciousness
(Sanskrit: ālayavijñāna), also known as the basal, or eighth consciousness. It simultaneously acts as a storage place for karmic latencies and as a fertile matrix of predispositions that bring karma to a state of fruition. It may be ultimately traceable to the "luminous mind
" mentioned once in the Āgamas. The likeness of this process to the cultivation of plants led to the creation of the metaphor of seeds (Sanskrit: bīja
) to explain the way karma is stored in the eighth consciousness. In the Yogācāra formulation, all experience without exception is said to result from the ripening of karma--the seemingly external world is merely a "by-product" (adhipati-phala) of karma. The term vāsanā
("perfuming") is also used, and Yogācārins debated whether vāsāna and bija were essentially the same, the seeds were the effect of the perfuming, or whether the perfuming simply affected the seeds. The type, quantity, quality and strength of the seeds determine where and how a sentient
being will be reborn: one's race, sex, social status, proclivities, bodily appearance and so forth. The conditioning of the mind resulting from karma is called saṃskāra
. The store consciousness concept developed along with the Buddha nature doctrine and resolved into the concept of mindstream
or the "consciousness-continuity" (Sanskrit: citta-santāna) to avoid being denounced as running counter to the doctrine of emptiness
(śūnyatā) and the tenets of selflessness (anātman).
The Treatise on Action (Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa), also by Vasubandhu, treats the subject of karma in detail from the Yogācāra perspective.
According to Walpola Rahula
, all the elements of the Yogācāra storehouse-consciousness are already found in the Pāli Canon. He writes that the three layers of the mind (citta, manas, and vijñana) as presented by Asaṅga are also mentioned in the Pāli Canon: "Thus we can see that 'Vijñāna' represents the simple reaction or response of the sense organs when they come in contact with external objects. This is the uppermost or superficial aspect or layer of the 'Vijñāna-skandha
'. 'Manas' represents the aspect of its mental functioning, thinking, reasoning, conceiving ideas, etc. 'Citta' which is here called 'Ālayavijñāna', represents the deepest, finest and subtlest aspect or layer of the Aggregate of consciousness. It contains all the traces or impressions of the past actions and all good and bad future possibilities."
Additionally, according to scholar Roger R. Jackson, a "'fundamental unconstructed awareness' (mūla-nirvikalpa-jñāna)" is "described . . . frequently in Yogacara literature."
) is central to Yogācāra, as to any Mahāyāna school. Early Yogācāra texts, such as the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra and the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, often act as explanations of the Prajñāpāramitā
sūtras. Keenan (2003) holds that emptiness, dependent arising
(pratītyasamutpāda) and the doctrine of two truths
are central in Yogācāra thought and meditation.
As one Buddhologist puts it, "Although meaning 'absence of inherent existence' in Mādhyamaka, to the Yogācārins[emptiness] means 'absence of duality between perceiving subject [grāhaka, 'dzin-pa] and the perceived object [grāhya, bzhung-ba].'"
This is not the full story however, as each of the three natures (above), has its corresponding "absence of nature". i.e.:
Each of these "absences" is a form of emptiness, i.e. the nature is "empty" of the particular qualified quality.
Yogācāra
gave special significance to the Lesser Discourse on Emptiness of the Āgamas. A passage there (which the discourse itself emphasizes) is often quoted in later Yogācāra texts as a true definition of emptiness
.
, Étienne Lamotte
, a famous student of Louis de La Vallée-Poussin
, "...profoundly advanced Yogācāra studies, and his efforts remain unrivaled among Western scholars."
, or more specifically subjective idealism
. This equation was standard until recently, when it began to be challenged by scholars such as Kochumuttom, Anacker, Kalupahana, Dunne, Lusthaus, Powers, and Wayman. Buddhist scholar Jay Garfield continues to uphold the equation of Yogācāra and idealism, however. Yogācāra has also been aligned with phenomenalism
. In modern western philosophical discourse
, Edmund Husserl
and Maurice Merleau-Ponty
have approached what western scholarship generally concedes to be a standard Yogācāra position.
schools. For example, the early Zen tradition in China was sometimes referred to simply as the " school" (Ch. 楞伽宗, Léngqié Zōng), due to their strong association with the . This sūtra draws heavily upon Yogācāra theories of the eight consciousnesses, especially the . Accounts recording the history of this early period are preserved in Records of the Masters (Ch. 楞伽師資記, Léngqié Shīzī Jì).
That the scriptural tradition of Yogācāra is not yet well-known among the community of western practitioners is perhaps attributable to the fact that most of the initial transmission of Buddhism to the west has been directly concerned with meditation and basic doctrines. However, within Tibetan Buddhism more and more western students are becoming acquainted with this school. Very little research in English has been carried out on the Chinese Yogācāra traditions.
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
emphasizing phenomenology and (some argue) ontology
Ontology
Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. It developed within India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n Mahāyāna
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
in about the 4th century CE. Yogācāra discourse is founded on the existential truth of the human condition
Human condition
The human condition encompasses the experiences of being human in a social, cultural, and personal context. It can be described as the irreducible part of humanity that is inherent and not connected to gender, race, class, etc. — a search for purpose, sense of curiosity, the inevitability of...
: there is nothing that humans experience that is not mediated by mind.
Nomenclature, orthography and etymology
- SanskritSanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
: Yogācāra (योगाचार), Vijñānavāda (विज्ञानवाद), Vijñapti-mātra, Vijñapti-mātratā, or Cittamātra - TibetanTibetan languageThe Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
: sems-tsam - MongolianMongolian languageThe Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
: егүзэр, yeguzer - ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
: Wéishì 唯識 ("Consciousness-Only"), Yújiaxíng pài 瑜伽行派 ("Yoga Practice School") - JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
: Yugagyō 瑜伽行, Yuishiki 唯識 - EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
: Way of Yoga School, Yoga Practice School, Knowledge Way, Consciousness-Only School, Subjective Realism, Mind Only School - VietnameseVietnamese languageVietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
: Du-già (Yoga) Hành Tông, Duy Thức Tông
Yogācāra is also transliterated (using standard English alphabet) as "yogachara". Another name for the school is Vijñānavāda (Sanskrit). Vāda means "doctrine" and "way"; vijñāna
Vijnana
Vijñāna or viññāa is translated as "consciousness," "life force," "mind," or "discernment."...
means "consciousness" and "discernment". Hence, "Vijñānavāda" may be rendered as "Consciousness Doctrine" or "Discernment Way"; though it is commonly rendered as "Knowledge Way".
History
The Yogācāra is, along with the MādhyamakaMadhyamaka
Madhyamaka refers primarily to a Mahāyāna Buddhist school of Buddhist philosophy systematized by Nāgārjuna. Nāgārjuna may have arrived at his positions from a desire to achieve a consistent exegesis of the Buddha's doctrine as recorded in the āgamas...
, one of the two principal schools of Nepalese and Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism.
Origination
Masaaki (2005) states: "[a]ccording to the Saṃdhinirmocana SūtraSandhinirmocana Sutra
The Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra or the Sutra of the Explanation of the Profound Secrets is a Buddhist scripture classified as belonging to the Yogācāra or Consciousness-only school of Buddhist thought. This sūtra was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese four times, the most complete and reliable of...
, the first Yogācāra text, the Buddha set the 'wheel of the doctrine
Dharmacakra
The Dharmachakra , lit. "Wheel of Dharma" or "Wheel of Life" is a symbol that has represented dharma, the Buddha's teaching of the path to enlightenment, since the early period of Indian Buddhism. A similar symbol is also in use in Jainism...
' (Dharmacakra) in motion three times." Hence, the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, as the doctrinal trailblazer of Yogācāra, inaugurated the paradigm of the three turnings of the wheel of Dharma, with its own tenets in the "third turning". The Yogācāra texts are generally considered part of the third turning along with the relevant sutra
Sutra
Sūtra is an aphorism or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Literally it means a thread or line that holds things together and is derived from the verbal root siv-, meaning to sew , as does the medical term...
. Moreover, Yogācāra discourse surveys and synthesizes all three turnings.
The origins of the scholarly Indian Yogācāra tradition were rooted in the syncretic scholasticism of Nālandā
Nalanda
Nālandā is the name of an ancient center of higher learning in Bihar, India.The site of Nalanda is located in the Indian state of Bihar, about 55 miles south east of Patna, and was a Buddhist center of learning from the fifth or sixth century CE to 1197 CE. It has been called "one of the...
University, where the doctrine of consciousness-only (vijñapti-mātra or cittamātra) was first extensively propagated. Doctrines, tenets and derivatives of this school have influenced and become well-established in China, Korea, Tibet, Japan and Mongolia and throughout the world via the dissemination and dialogue wrought by the Buddhist diaspora.
The orientation of the Yogācāra school is largely consistent with the thinking of the Pāli Nikāyas. It frequently treats later developments in a way that realigns them with earlier versions of Buddhist doctrines. Dan Lusthaus concludes that one of the agendas of the Yogācāra school was to reorient the complexity of later refinements in Buddhist philosophy to accord with early Buddhist doctrine.
Vasubandhu, Asaṅga and Maitreya-nātha
Yogācāra, which had its genesis in the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, was largely formulated by the brahminBrahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
born half-brothers Vasubandhu
Vasubandhu
Vasubandhu was an Indian Buddhist monk, and along with his half-brother Asanga, one of the main founders of the Indian Yogācāra school. However, some scholars consider Vasubandhu to be two distinct people. Vasubandhu is one of the most influential figures in the entire history of Buddhism...
and Asaṅga
Asanga
Asaṅga was a major exponent of the Yogācāra tradition in India, also called Vijñānavāda. Traditionally, he and his half-brother Vasubandhu are regarded as the founders of this school...
(who was said to be inspired by the quasihistorical Maitreya-nātha
Maitreya-natha
Maitreya-nātha is a name whose use was pioneered by Buddhist scholars Erich Frauwallner, Giuseppe Tucci, and Hakiju Ui to distinguish one of the three founders of the Yogācāra school of Buddhist philosophy, along with Asaṅga and Vasubandhu. Some scholars believe this "Maitreya" to be a historical...
, or the divine Maitreya
Maitreya
Maitreya , Metteyya , or Jampa , is foretold as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he or she is referred to as Ajita Bodhisattva.Maitreya is a bodhisattva who in the Buddhist tradition is to appear on...
). This school held a prominent position in the Indian scholastic tradition for several centuries due to its lauded pedigree and propagation at Nālandā.
Yogācāra and Mādhyamaka
As evidenced by Tibetan sources, this school was in protracted dialecticDialectic
Dialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...
with the Mādhyamaka
Madhyamaka
Madhyamaka refers primarily to a Mahāyāna Buddhist school of Buddhist philosophy systematized by Nāgārjuna. Nāgārjuna may have arrived at his positions from a desire to achieve a consistent exegesis of the Buddha's doctrine as recorded in the āgamas...
. However, there is disagreement among contemporary Western and traditional Buddhist scholars about the degree to which they were opposed, if at all. To summarize the main difference in a way so brief as to risk the accusation of inaccuracy, while the Mādhyamaka held that asserting the existence or non-existence of any ultimately real thing was inappropriate, some exponents of Yogācāra asserted that the mind (or in the more sophisticated variations, primordial wisdom) and only the mind is ultimately real. Not all Yogācārins, however, asserted that mind was truly existent. According to some interpretations, Vasubandhu and Asaṅga in particular did not.
Later Yogācāra exponents synthesized the two views, particularly Śāntarakṣita
Shantarakshita
' was a renowned 8th century Indian Buddhist Brahmin and abbot of Nalanda University. Śāntarakṣita founded the philosophical school known as Yogacara-Svatantrika-Madhyamaka, which united the Madhyamaka tradition of Nagarjuna, the Yogacara tradition of Asanga and the logical and epistemological...
, whose view was later called "Yogācāra-Svatantrika-Mādhyamaka" by the Tibetan tradition. In his view the Mādhyamika position is ultimately true and at the same time the mind-only view is a useful way to relate to conventionalities and progress students more skillfully toward the ultimate. This synthesized view between the two positions, which also incorporated views of valid cognition from Dignāga
Dignaga
Dignāga was an Indian scholar and one of the Buddhist founders of Indian logic.He was born into a Brahmin family in Simhavakta near Kanchi Kanchipuram), and very little is known of his early years, except that he took as his spiritual preceptor Nagadatta of the Vatsiputriya school, before being...
and Dharmakīrti
Dharmakirti
Dharmakīrti , was an Indian scholar and one of the Buddhist founders of Indian philosophical logic. He was one of the primary theorists of Buddhist atomism, according to which the only items considered to exist are momentary states of consciousness.-History:Born around the turn of the 7th century,...
, was one of the last developments of Indian Buddhism before it was extinguished in the 11th century during the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
incursion. It was also expounded by Xuanzang
Xuanzang
Xuanzang was a famous Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator who described the interaction between China and India in the early Tang period...
, who after a suite of debates with exponents of the Mādhyamaka School, composed in Sanskrit the no longer extant three-thousand verse treatise The Non-difference of Mādhyamaka and Yogācāra.
Later Yogācāra teachings are especially important in tantric Buddhism, which evolved along with their development in India.
Yogācāra in Tibet
Yogācāra was transmitted to TibetTibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
by Śāntarakṣita and later by Atiśa
Atisha
Atiśa Dipankara Shrijnana was a Buddhist teacher from the Pala Empire who, along with Konchog Gyalpo and Marpa, was one of the major figures in the establishment of the Sarma lineages in Tibet after the repression of Buddhism by King Langdarma .- Birth :Atisha is most commonly said to have been...
; it was thereafter integral to Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
although the prevailing Geluk-dominated view held that it was less definitive than Mādhyamaka. Yogācāra terminology (but not view) is used by the Nyingmapa and its zenith, Dzogchen
Dzogchen
According to Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by...
. Yogācāra also became central to East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
n Buddhism. The teachings of Yogācāra became the Chinese Wei Shi school of Buddhism.
Current debates among Tibetan schools between the shentong
Shentong
Shentong is a philosophical sub-school found in Tibetan Buddhism. Its adherents generally hold that the nature of mind, the substratum of the mindstream, is "empty" of 'other' , i.e., empty of all qualities other than an inherent, ineffable nature...
(empty of other) and rangtong (empty of self) views appear similar to earlier debates between Yogācāra and Mādhyamaka, but the issues and distinctions have evolved further. Though the later Tibetan views could be said to have evolved from the earlier Indian positions, the distinctions between the views became increasingly subtle, especially after Yogācāra incorporated the Mādhyamika view of the ultimate. Ju Mipham, the 19th century rime movement
Rime movement
Rimé is a Tibetan word which means "no sides", "non-partisan" or "non-sectarian". In a religious context, the word ri-mé is usually used to refer to the "Eclectic Movement" between the Buddhist Nyingma, Sakya, and Kagyu traditions, along with the non-Buddhist Bön religion, wherein practitioners...
commenter, wrote in his commentary on Śāntarakṣita's synthesis, that the ultimate view in both schools is the same and each path also leads to the same ultimate state of abiding.
Yogācāra in East Asia
By the closure of the Sui DynastySui Dynasty
The Sui Dynasty was a powerful, but short-lived Imperial Chinese dynasty. Preceded by the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes. It was followed by the Tang Dynasty....
(589-618), Buddhism in China had developed many distinct schools and traditions. Xuanzang, in the words of Dan Lusthaus
Dan Lusthaus
Dan Lusthaus, a graduate of Temple University's Department of Religion, is a specialist in Yogācāra Buddhism. The author of several articles and books on the topic, Lusthaus has taught at UCLA, Florida State University, the University of Missouri, and in the Spring of 2005 he was a professor at...
:
...came to the conclusion that the many disputes and interpretational conflicts permeating Chinese Buddhism were the result of the unavailability of crucial texts in Chinese translation. In particular, he [Xuanzang] thought that a complete version of the Yogācārabhūmi ŚāstraYogacarabhumi-sastraYogācārabhūmi-śāstra, also known as"Discourse on the Stages of Yogic Practice" is the encyclopaedic and definitive text of the Yogācāra school of Buddhism...
, an encyclopedic description of the stages of the Yogācāra path to Buddhahood written by Asaṅga, would resolve all the conflicts. In the 6th century an Indian missionary named Paramārtha (another major translator) had made a partial translation of it. Xuanzang resolved to procure the full text in India and introduce it to China.
Moreover, Dan Lusthaus
Dan Lusthaus
Dan Lusthaus, a graduate of Temple University's Department of Religion, is a specialist in Yogācāra Buddhism. The author of several articles and books on the topic, Lusthaus has taught at UCLA, Florida State University, the University of Missouri, and in the Spring of 2005 he was a professor at...
charts the different dialectic
Dialectic
Dialectic is a method of argument for resolving disagreement that has been central to Indic and European philosophy since antiquity. The word dialectic originated in Ancient Greece, and was made popular by Plato in the Socratic dialogues...
and divergent traditions of Buddhism within India and China discovered by Xuanzang and mentions the Buddha-nature
Buddha-nature
Buddha-nature, Buddha-dhatu or Buddha Principle , is taught differently in various Mahayana Buddhism traditions. Broadly speaking Buddha-nature is concerned with ascertaining what allows sentient beings to become Buddhas...
, Awakening of Faith, and Tathāgatagarbha:
Xuanzang also discovered that the intellectual context in which Buddhists disputed and interpreted texts was much vaster and more varied than the Chinese materials had indicated: Buddhist positions were forged in earnest debate with a range of Buddhist and non-Buddhist doctrines unknown in China, and the terminology of these debates drew their significance and connotations from this rich context. While in China Yogācāra thought and Tathāgata-garbha thought were becoming inseparable, in India orthodox Yogācāra seemed to ignore if not outright reject Tathāgata-garbha thought. Many of the pivotal notions in Chinese Buddhism (e.g., Buddha-nature) and their cardinal texts (e.g., The Awakening of Faith) were completely unknown in India.
Principal exponents of Yogācāra
Principal exponents of Yogācāra categorized and alphabetized according to location:- China: ParamārthaParamarthaParamārtha was an Indian monk from Ujjain in central India, who is best known for his prolific Chinese translations which include Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośa...
真諦(499 – 569), XuanzangXuanzangXuanzang was a famous Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator who described the interaction between China and India in the early Tang period...
玄奘(602 – 664) and KuijiKuijiKuiji 窺基 , an exponent of Yogācāra, was a Chinese monk and a prominent disciple of Xuanzang.Kuiji's commentaries on the Cheng weishi lun and his original treatise on Yogācāra, the Fayuan yilin chang 大乘法苑義林章 Kuiji 窺基 (632–682 CE), an exponent of Yogācāra, was a Chinese monk and a prominent disciple...
窺基 (K'uei-chi; 632 – 682); - India: the half-brothers Asaṅga and Vasubandhu; SthiramatiSthiramatiSthiramati or Sāramati was a 6th century Indian Buddhist scholar-monk. He was based primarily in Valābhi , although he is thought to have spent some time at Nālandā...
安慧 and DharmapālaDharmapala of NalandaDharmapāla A Brahmin Buddhist scholar, he was one of the main teachers of the Yogacara school in India. He was a contemporary of Bhavaviveka , with whom he debated....
護法 - Japan: ChitsūChitsu-Exegesis:The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism in mentioning Chitatsu, Hsyan-tsang, Tz'u-en, Dosho, Yamato Province, states that Chitsū was:...
智通 and ChidatsuChidatsu-Exegesis:The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism mentions Hsyan-tsang, Tz'u-en, Dosho of Gango-ji, Nara, Gango-ji, Chitsuare in reference to elucidating that Chitatsu was:A priest of the Dharma Characteristics school in Japan...
智達 (NB: both these people are mentioned in Kusha (Buddhism)Kusha (Buddhism)Kusha was one of the 13 Chinese Buddhist schools and one of the 6 Japanese Buddhism schools , introduced to Japan during Asuka and Nara period. Along with Jōjitsu and Ritsu, it was initially based on Nikaya schools, sometimes known derisively as Hinayana. Kusha was never considered to be an...
) - Korea: Daehyeon 大賢, Sinhaeng (神行 ;704-779), Wonch'ukWonch'ukWonch'uk was a Korean Buddhist monk who did most of his writing in China though his legacy was transmitted by a disciple to Silla. One of the two star pupils of Xuanzang, his works and devotion to the translation projects was revered throughout China and Korea, even his fame reached Chinese rulers...
(圓測 ; 631-696) and WonhyoWonhyoWonhyo was one of the leading thinkers, writers and commentators of the Korean Buddhist tradition. Essence-Function , a key concept in East Asian Buddhism and particularly that of Korean Buddhism, was refined in the syncretic philosophy and worldview of Wonhyo.As one of the most eminent...
(zh: 元曉 ; 원효; 617 - 686) - Tibet: Dolpopa, TāranāthaTaranathaTāranātha was a Lama of the Jonang school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is widely considered its most remarkable scholar and exponent....
, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, Ju Mipham
Sutras
The Unravelling the Mystery of Thought SutraSandhinirmocana Sutra
The Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra or the Sutra of the Explanation of the Profound Secrets is a Buddhist scripture classified as belonging to the Yogācāra or Consciousness-only school of Buddhist thought. This sūtra was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese four times, the most complete and reliable of...
(Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, 2nd century CE) was the seminal Yogācāra sutra and continued to be a primary referent for the tradition. Also containing Yogācāra elements were the Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra
Pratyutpanna Sutra
The Pratyutpanna Sutra is an early Mahayana Buddhist scripture, which probably originated around the 1st century BCE in the Gandhara area of northwestern India.The Pratyutpanna Sutra was first translated into Chinese by the Kushan Buddhist monk Lokaksema...
(1st century CE) and Daśabhūmika Sūtra
Ten Stages Sutra
The Ten Stages Sutra also known as the Daśabhūmika Sūtra, is an early, influential Mahayana Buddhist scripture...
(pre-3rd century CE). The later Descent into Laṅkā Sūtra
Lankavatara Sutra
The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra is a sutra of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The sūtra recounts a teaching primarily between the Buddha and a bodhisattva named Mahāmati...
(Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, 4th century CE) also assumed considerable importance. Other prominent Yogācāra sutras include the Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanāda Sūtra and the Ghanavyūha Sūtra.
Five treatises of Maitreya
Among the most important texts to the Yogācāra tradition to be the Five Treatises of Maitreya. These texts are said to have been related to Asaṅga by the Bodhisattva MaitreyaMaitreya
Maitreya , Metteyya , or Jampa , is foretold as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he or she is referred to as Ajita Bodhisattva.Maitreya is a bodhisattva who in the Buddhist tradition is to appear on...
. They are as follows:
- Ornament for Clear Realization (Abhisamaya-alaṅkāra, Tib. mngon-par rtogs-pa'i rgyan)
- Ornament for the Mahāyāna Sutras (Mahāyāna-sūtra-alaṅkāraMahayana-sutra-alamkara-karikaMahāyāna-sūtrālamkāra-kārikā is a major work of Buddhist philosophy attributed to Maitreya-nātha as dictated to Asanga. The text, written in verse, presents the Mahāyāna path from the Yogācāra perspective...
, Tib. theg-pa chen-po'i mdo-sde'i rgyan) - Sublime Continuum of the Mahāyāna (Ratna-gotra-vibhāgaRatna-gotra-vibhagaRatnagotravibhāga and its vyākhyā commentary are important Buddhist texts of the tathāgatagarbha literature which expound the Buddhist philosophy doctrine known as Buddha-nature which is generally understood as belonging to the Third Turning of the Dharmacakra...
, Tib. theg-pa chen-po rgyud bla-ma'i bstan) - Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being (Dharma-dharmatā-vibhāgaDharma-dharmata-vibhagaDharma-dharmatā-vibhāga is a short Yogācāra work, attributed to Maitreya-nātha, which discusses the distinction and correlation between phenomena and reality ; the work exists in both a prose and a verse version and survives only in Tibetan translation...
, Tib. chos-dang chos-nyid rnam-par 'byed-pa) - Distinguishing the Middle and the Extremes (Madhyānta-vibhāgaMadhyanta-vibhaga-karikaMadhyānta-vibhāga-kārikā is a key work in Yogācāra Buddhist philosophy, which was written by Maitreya-nātha...
, Tib. dbus-dang mtha' rnam-par 'byed-pa)
A commentary on the Ornament for Clear Realization called "Clarifying the Meaning" by Haribhadra
Haribhadra (Seng-ge Bzang-po)
Haribhadra was an 8th-century Buddhist philosopher, and a disciple of Shantarakshita, an early Indian Buddhist missionary to Tibet. Haribhadra's commentary on the Abhisamayalankara was one of the most influential of the twenty-one Indian commentaries on that text, perhaps because of its author's...
is also often used, as is one by Vimuktisena.
Most of these texts were also incorporated into the Chinese tradition, which was established several centuries earlier than the Tibetan. However, the Ornament for Clear Realization is not mentioned by Chinese translators up to the 7th century, including Xuanzang, who was an expert in this field. This suggests it may possibly have emerged from a later period than is generally ascribed to it.
Other texts
Vasubandhu wrote three foundational texts of the Yogācāra: the Treatise on the Three Natures (Sanskrit: Trisvabhāva-nirdeśa, Tib. Rang-bzhin gsum nges-par bstan), the Treatise in Twenty Stanzas (Skt: Viṃśaṭikā-kārikā) and the Treatise in Thirty Stanzas (S: Triṃśikaikā-kārikā). He also wrote an important commentary on the Madhyantavibhaṅga. According to Buddhist scholar Jay Garfield:
While the Trisvabhāva-nirdeśa is arguably the most philosophically detailed and comprehensive of the three short works on this topic composed by Vasubandu, as well as the clearest, it is almost never read or taught in contemporary traditional cultures or centers of learning. The reason may be simply that this is the only one of Vasubandhu’s root texts for which no autocommmentary exists. For this reason, none of Vasubandhu’s students composed commentaries on the text and hence there is no recognized lineage of transmission for the text. So nobody within the Tibetan tradition (the only extant Mahāyāna scholarly tradition) could consider him or herself authorized to teach the text. It is therefore simply not studied, a great pity. It is a beautiful and deep philosophical essay and an unparalleled introduction to the Cittamatra system.
Authorship of critical Yogācāra texts is also ascribed to Asaṅga personally (in contrast to the Five Treatises of Maitreya). Among them are the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha
Mahayana-samgraha
' is a key work of the Yogācāra school of Buddhist philosophy, attributed to Asanga. It introduces various Yogacārā concepts such as the ālaya-vijñāna, the three natures , the fivefold path , and the fruits of enlightenment...
and the Abhidharma-samuccaya. Sometimes also ascribed to him is the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra
Yogacarabhumi-sastra
Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, also known as"Discourse on the Stages of Yogic Practice" is the encyclopaedic and definitive text of the Yogācāra school of Buddhism...
, a massive encyclopedic work considered the definitive statement of Yogācāra, but most scholars believe it was compiled a century later, in the 5th century.
Other important commentaries on various Yogācāra texts were written by Sthiramati (6th century) and Dharmapāla (7th century), and an influential Yogācāra-Mādhyamaka synthesis was formulated by Śāntarakṣita (8th century).
Yogācāra Tenets
Charles Muller, a contemporary Yogācāra scholar, remarks that "when Yogācāra specialists take on the task of trying to introduce the tradition to newcomers and non-specialists, whether it be in a book-length project, or an article in a reference work, they inevitably choose different points of departure, depending on their particular approach to understanding Yogācāra, and Buddhism in general. Some will start with the explanation of the eight consciousnesses; some will start with the four parts of cognition; some will start with the three natures; others will start with the doctrine of no-self, and so on. There is no special need to try to assess whether one of these approaches is better than the other, for indeed, in the vast and complex system that is known as Yogācāra, all of these different approaches and categories are ultimately tied into each other, and thus, starting with any one of them, one can eventually enter into all of the rest."Hattori Masaaki (2005) states:
[Yogācāra] attaches importance to the religious practice of yoga as a means for attaining final emancipation from the bondage of the phenomenal world. The stages of yoga are systematically set forth in the treatises associated with this tradition.
Keenan, et al. (2003) states:
...the Yogācāra thinkers did not simply comment on Mādhyamika thought. They attempted to ground insight into emptiness in a critical understanding of the mind, articulated in a sophisticated theoretical discourse.
Yogācārins developed an Abhidharma
Abhidharma
Abhidharma or Abhidhamma are ancient Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic and scientific reworkings of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist Sutras, according to schematic classifications...
literature set within a Mahāyāna framework.
Consciousness-only
One of the main features of Yogācāra philosophy is the concept of consciousness-only (cittamātra or vijñapti-mātra). That term was used in Tibet and East Asia interchangeably with "Yogācāra", although modern scholars believe it is inaccurate to conflate the two terms.The Three Natures
The Yogācārins defined three basic modes by which we perceive our world. These are referred to in Yogācāra as the three natures of perception. They are:- Parikalpita (literally, "fully conceptualized"): "imaginary nature", wherein things are incorrectly apprehended based on conceptual construction, through attachment and erroneous discrimination.
- Paratantra (literally, "other dependent"): "dependent nature", by which the correct understanding of the dependently originated nature of things is understood.
- Pariniṣpanna (literally, "fully accomplished"): "absolute nature", through which one apprehends things as they are in themselves, uninfluenced by any conceptualization at all.
Also, regarding perception, the Yogācārins emphasized that our everyday understanding of the existence of external objects is problematic, since in order to perceive any object (and thus, for all practical purposes, for the object to "exist"), there must be a sensory organ as well as a correlative type of consciousness to allow the process of cognition to occur.
The eight consciousnesses
Perhaps the best known teaching of the Yogācāra system is that of the eight types of consciousness (Sanskrit: aṣṭa-vijñāna). This theory of the consciousnesses attempted to explain all the phenomena of cyclic existence, including how rebirth occurs and precisely how karmaKarma
Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
functions on an individual basis. It addressed questions that had long vexed Buddhist philosophers, such as, if one carries out a good or evil act, why and how is it that the effects of that act do not appear immediately? Inasfar as they do not appear immediately, where is this karma waiting for its opportunity to play out?
The answer given by the Yogācārins, those that hold to the tenets of Yogācāra, was the store consciousness
Store consciousness
The Eight Consciousnesses are concepts developed in the tradition of the Yogacara school of Buddhism...
(Sanskrit: ālayavijñāna), also known as the basal, or eighth consciousness. It simultaneously acts as a storage place for karmic latencies and as a fertile matrix of predispositions that bring karma to a state of fruition. It may be ultimately traceable to the "luminous mind
Luminous mind
Luminous mind is a term attributed to the Buddha in the Nikayas...
" mentioned once in the Āgamas. The likeness of this process to the cultivation of plants led to the creation of the metaphor of seeds (Sanskrit: bīja
Bija
In Hinduism and Buddhism, the Sanskrit term बीज bīja , literally seed, is used as a metaphor for the origin or cause of things and cognate with bindu....
) to explain the way karma is stored in the eighth consciousness. In the Yogācāra formulation, all experience without exception is said to result from the ripening of karma--the seemingly external world is merely a "by-product" (adhipati-phala) of karma. The term vāsanā
Vāsanā
Vāsanā is a technical term in Dharmic Traditions, particularly Buddhist philosophy and Advaita Vedanta and developed in dialogue...
("perfuming") is also used, and Yogācārins debated whether vāsāna and bija were essentially the same, the seeds were the effect of the perfuming, or whether the perfuming simply affected the seeds. The type, quantity, quality and strength of the seeds determine where and how a sentient
Sentience
Sentience is the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. Eighteenth century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think from the ability to feel . In modern western philosophy, sentience is the ability to have sensations or experiences...
being will be reborn: one's race, sex, social status, proclivities, bodily appearance and so forth. The conditioning of the mind resulting from karma is called saṃskāra
Sankhara
' or ' is a term figuring prominently in the teaching of the Buddha. The word means "that which has been put together" and "that which puts together". In the first sense, refers to conditioned phenomena generally but specifically to all mental "dispositions"...
. The store consciousness concept developed along with the Buddha nature doctrine and resolved into the concept of mindstream
Mindstream
Mindstream in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment "continuum" of awareness. There are a number of terms in the Buddhist literature that may well be rendered "mindstream"...
or the "consciousness-continuity" (Sanskrit: citta-santāna) to avoid being denounced as running counter to the doctrine of emptiness
Shunyata
Śūnyatā, शून्यता , Suññatā , stong-pa nyid , Kòng/Kū, 空 , Gong-seong, 공성 , qoγusun is frequently translated into English as emptiness...
(śūnyatā) and the tenets of selflessness (anātman).
The Treatise on Action (Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa), also by Vasubandhu, treats the subject of karma in detail from the Yogācāra perspective.
According to Walpola Rahula
Walpola Rahula
The venerable Prof Walpola Sri Rahula Maha Thera was a Buddhist monk, scholar and writer. He is considered to be one of the top Sri Lankan intellectuals of the 20th century. In 1964, he became the Professor of History and Religions at Northwestern University, thus becoming the first bhikkhu to...
, all the elements of the Yogācāra storehouse-consciousness are already found in the Pāli Canon. He writes that the three layers of the mind (citta, manas, and vijñana) as presented by Asaṅga are also mentioned in the Pāli Canon: "Thus we can see that 'Vijñāna' represents the simple reaction or response of the sense organs when they come in contact with external objects. This is the uppermost or superficial aspect or layer of the 'Vijñāna-skandha
Skandha
In Buddhist phenomenology and soteriology, the skandhas or khandhas are any of five types of phenomena that serve as objects of clinging and bases for a sense of self...
'. 'Manas' represents the aspect of its mental functioning, thinking, reasoning, conceiving ideas, etc. 'Citta' which is here called 'Ālayavijñāna', represents the deepest, finest and subtlest aspect or layer of the Aggregate of consciousness. It contains all the traces or impressions of the past actions and all good and bad future possibilities."
Additionally, according to scholar Roger R. Jackson, a "'fundamental unconstructed awareness' (mūla-nirvikalpa-jñāna)" is "described . . . frequently in Yogacara literature."
Emptiness in Yogācāra
The doctrine of emptiness (Sanskrit: śūnyatāShunyata
Śūnyatā, शून्यता , Suññatā , stong-pa nyid , Kòng/Kū, 空 , Gong-seong, 공성 , qoγusun is frequently translated into English as emptiness...
) is central to Yogācāra, as to any Mahāyāna school. Early Yogācāra texts, such as the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra and the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, often act as explanations of the Prajñāpāramitā
Prajnaparamita
Prajñāpāramitā in Buddhism, means "the Perfection of Wisdom." The word Prajñāpāramitā combines the Sanskrit words prajñā with pāramitā . Prajñāpāramitā is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism and its practice and understanding are taken to be indispensable elements of the Bodhisattva Path...
sūtras. Keenan (2003) holds that emptiness, dependent arising
Pratitya-samutpada
Dependent origination or dependent arising is a cardinal doctrine of Buddhism, and arguably the only thing that holds every Buddhist teaching together from Theravada to Dzogchen to the extinct schools. As a concept and a doctrine it has a general and a specific application, both being integral to...
(pratītyasamutpāda) and the doctrine of two truths
Two truths doctrine
The Buddhist doctrine of the two truths differentiates between two levels of truth in Buddhist discourse: a "relative" or commonsense truth , and an "ultimate" or absolute, spiritual truth...
are central in Yogācāra thought and meditation.
As one Buddhologist puts it, "Although meaning 'absence of inherent existence' in Mādhyamaka, to the Yogācārins
This is not the full story however, as each of the three natures (above), has its corresponding "absence of nature". i.e.:
- parikalpita => lakṣana-niḥsvabhāvatā, the "absence of inherent characteristic"
- paratantra => utpatti-niḥsvabhāvatā, the "absence of inherent arising"
- pariniṣpanna => paramārtha-niḥsvabhāvatā, the "absence of inherent ultimacy"
Each of these "absences" is a form of emptiness, i.e. the nature is "empty" of the particular qualified quality.
Yogācāra
Yogacara
Yogācāra is an influential school of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing phenomenology and ontology through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. It developed within Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism in about the 4th century CE...
gave special significance to the Lesser Discourse on Emptiness of the Āgamas. A passage there (which the discourse itself emphasizes) is often quoted in later Yogācāra texts as a true definition of emptiness
Emptiness
Emptiness as a human condition is a sense of generalized boredom, social alienation and apathy. Feelings of emptiness often accompany dysthymia, depression, loneliness, despair, or other mental/emotional disorders such as borderline personality disorder...
.
Meditation in the Yogācāra tradition
As the name of the school suggests, meditation practice is central to the Yogācāra tradition. Practice manuals prescribe the practice of mindfulness of body, feelings, thoughts and dharmas in oneself and others, out of which an understanding of the non-differentiation of self and other is said to arise. This process is referred to in the Yogācāra tradition as "turning about in the basis" (Sanskrit: āśraya-parāvṛtti), the basis being the storehouse consciousness.Contemporary scholarship
Accordiny to LusthausDan Lusthaus
Dan Lusthaus, a graduate of Temple University's Department of Religion, is a specialist in Yogācāra Buddhism. The author of several articles and books on the topic, Lusthaus has taught at UCLA, Florida State University, the University of Missouri, and in the Spring of 2005 he was a professor at...
, Étienne Lamotte
Étienne Lamotte
Étienne Paul Marie Lamotte was a Belgian priest and Professor of Greek at the Catholic University of Louvain, but was better known as an Indologist and the greatest authority on Buddhism in the West in his time...
, a famous student of Louis de La Vallée-Poussin
Louis de La Vallée-Poussin
Louis de La Vallée Poussin — Birth full name Louis Étienne Joseph Marie de La Vallée-Poussin — was a Belgian Indologist and scholar of Buddhist Studies.-Education:...
, "...profoundly advanced Yogācāra studies, and his efforts remain unrivaled among Western scholars."
Philosophical dialogue: Yogācāra, idealism and phenomenology
Yogācāra has also been identified in the western philosophical tradition as idealismIdealism
In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...
, or more specifically subjective idealism
Subjective idealism
Subjective idealism, or empirical idealism, is the monistic metaphysical doctrine that only minds and mental contents exist. It entails and is generally identified or associated with immaterialism, the doctrine that physical things do not exist...
. This equation was standard until recently, when it began to be challenged by scholars such as Kochumuttom, Anacker, Kalupahana, Dunne, Lusthaus, Powers, and Wayman. Buddhist scholar Jay Garfield continues to uphold the equation of Yogācāra and idealism, however. Yogācāra has also been aligned with phenomenalism
Phenomenalism
Phenomenalism is the view that physical objects do not exist as things in themselves but only as perceptual phenomena or sensory stimuli situated in time and in space...
. In modern western philosophical discourse
Discourse
Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication". The following are three more specific definitions:...
, Edmund Husserl
Edmund Husserl
Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl was a philosopher and mathematician and the founder of the 20th century philosophical school of phenomenology. He broke with the positivist orientation of the science and philosophy of his day, yet he elaborated critiques of historicism and of psychologism in logic...
and Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Maurice Merleau-Ponty was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Karl Marx, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger in addition to being closely associated with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir...
have approached what western scholarship generally concedes to be a standard Yogācāra position.
The Legacy of the Yogācāra
There are two important aspects of the Yogācāra schemata that are of special interest to modern-day practitioners. One is that virtually all schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism came to rely on these Yogācāra explanations as they created their own doctrinal systems, including the ZenZen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
schools. For example, the early Zen tradition in China was sometimes referred to simply as the " school" (Ch. 楞伽宗, Léngqié Zōng), due to their strong association with the . This sūtra draws heavily upon Yogācāra theories of the eight consciousnesses, especially the . Accounts recording the history of this early period are preserved in Records of the Masters (Ch. 楞伽師資記, Léngqié Shīzī Jì).
That the scriptural tradition of Yogācāra is not yet well-known among the community of western practitioners is perhaps attributable to the fact that most of the initial transmission of Buddhism to the west has been directly concerned with meditation and basic doctrines. However, within Tibetan Buddhism more and more western students are becoming acquainted with this school. Very little research in English has been carried out on the Chinese Yogācāra traditions.
See also
- Thirty Verses on Consciousness-onlyThirty Verses on Consciousness-onlyThe Thirty Verses on Consciousness-only is a brief poetic treatise by the Indian Buddhist scholar Vasubandhu. It was composed in the 4th century CE and is one of the core texts of the Yogacara school...
- Cheng Weishi LunCheng Weishi LunThe Cheng Weishi Lun , or Discourse on the Perfection of Consciousness-only is a comprehensive discourse on the central teachings of Yogacara, framed around Vasubandhu's seminal Yogacara work Triṃśikā-vijñaptimātratā . It was written by the Chinese monk Xuanzang in the 7th century CE...
( Doctrine of Mere-Consciousness )
External links
- "Early Yogaacaara and Its Relationship with the Madhyamaka School", Richard King, Philosophy East & West, vol. 44 no. 4, October 1994, pp. 659–683
- "Vijnaptimatrata and the Abhidharma context of early Yogacara", Richard King, Asian Philosophy, vol. 8 no. 1, March 1998, pp. 5–18
- "The mind-only teaching of Ching-ying Hui-Yuan" (subtitle) "An early interpretation of Yogaacaara thought in China", Ming-Wood Liu, Philosophy East & West, vol. 35 no. 4, October 1985, pp. 351–375
- Yogacara Buddhism Research Association; articles, bibliographies, and links to other relevant sites.