Yogachara

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Yogacara)
Part of a series on
Mahayana Buddhism
Buddha inside lotus
Transmission[show]
Teachings[show]
Mahayana sutras[show]
Mahayana schools[show]
Other traditions[show]
F.png Mahayana Buddhism portal
v t e
Yogachara (IAST Yogacara; literally yoga practice; one whose practice is yoga)[1]
is an influential school of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing
phenomenology and ontology[2] through the interior lens of meditative and yogic
practices. It was associated with Indian Mahayana Buddhism in about the fourth
century,[3] but also included non-Mahayana practitioners of the Dar??antika school.
[4]

Yogacara discourse explains how our human experience is constructed by the mind.

Contents [hide]
1 Nomenclature, orthography and etymology
2 History
2.1 Origination
2.2 Asa?ga and Vasubandhu
2.3 Yogacara and Madhyamaka
2.4 Yogacara in East Asia
2.5 Yogacara in Tibet
2.6 Principal exponents of Yogacara
3 Textual corpus
3.1 Sutras
3.2 Five treatises of Maitreya
3.3 Asanga
3.4 Vasubandhu
3.5 Later texts
4 Tenets
4.1 Vijapti-matra
4.2 Consciousness
4.2.1 Karma, seeds and storehouse-consciousness
4.2.2 Transformations of consciousness
4.2.3 Tathagata-garba thought
4.3 The Three Natures
4.4 Emptiness in Yogacara
5 Meditation and awakening
5.1 Meditation
5.2 Five Categories of Beings
6 Contemporary scholarship
6.1 Philosophical dialogue Yogacara, idealism and phenomenology
7 Legacy
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
11 Sources
12 External links
Nomenclature, orthography and etymology[edit]

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding
citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
(January 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Sanskrit Yogacara, Vijanavada, Vijapti-matra, Vijapti-matrata, or Cittamatra
Chinese ???; pinyin Wish Zong Consciousness-Only School), Wish Yqiexng Pi
(?????? Consciousness-Only Yogacara School), Faxing Zong (???, Dharmalak?a?a
School), C'en Zong (??? Ci'en School)
Japanese Yuishiki (?? Consciousness-Only), Yugagyo (??? Yogacara School)
Korean Yusik-jong (??? Consciousness-Only School), Yugahaeng-pa (???? Yogacara
School), Yusik-Yugahaeng-pa (?????? Consciousness-Only Yogacara School)
Vietnamese Duy Th?c Tng (Consciousness-Only School), Du-gi Hnh Tng (Yogacara
School)
Tibetan ??????????????????, Wylie rnal 'byor spyod pa, THL Nenjor Chpa Yogacara,
Tibetan ????????, Wylie sems tsam, THL Semtsam Cittamatra
Mongolian ??????
English Yoga Practice School, Consciousness-Only School, Subjective Realism, Mind-
Only School
History[edit]
The Yogacara, along with the Madhyamaka, is one of the two principal philosophical
schools of Indian Mahayana Buddhism.[5]

Origination[edit]
The earliest text of this tradition is the Sa?dhinirmocana Sutra which might be as
early as the first or second century CE.[6] It includes new theories such as the
basis-consciousness (alaya-vijana), and the doctrine of cognition-only (vijapti-
matra) and the three natures (trisvabhava). However, these theories were not
completely new, as they have predecessors in older theories held by previous
Buddhist schools, such as the Sautrantika theory of seeds (bija) and the Sthavira
nikaya's abhidharma theory of an unconscious Bhavanga.[7] Richard King has also
noted the similarity of the Sautantrika representationalism and the Yogacara

The Sautrantika accept that it is only the form (akara) or representation

(vijapti) of an object which is perceived. Where the schools differ is in the
Yogacara refusal to accept the validity of discussing external objects as causes
(nimitta) given that an external object is never (directly) perceived.[8]

The Sa?dhinirmocana Sutra, as the doctrinal trailblazer of the Yogacara,

inaugurated the paradigm of the Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma, with its own
tenets in the third turning.[5] The Yogacara texts are generally considered part of
the third turning along with the relevant sutra. (Some traditions categorize this
teaching as within the fourth turning of the wheel of Dharma.) Moreover, Yogacara
discourse surveys and synthesizes all three turnings and considers itself as the
final definitive explanation of Buddhism.

The orientation of the Yogacara school is largely consistent with the thinking of
the Pali nikayas. It frequently treats later developments in a way that realigns
them with earlier versions of Buddhist doctrines. One of the agendas of the
Yogacara school was to reorient the complexity of later refinements in Buddhist
philosophy to accord with early Buddhist doctrine.[9]

Asa?ga and Vasubandhu[edit]

Maitreya and disciples. Gandhara, 3rd century CE

Statue of Vasubandhu (jp. Seshin), Kofuku-ji, Nara, Nara Japan.

Yogacara, which had its genesis in the Sa?dhinirmocana Sut