The Yogācāra Idealism

The Yogācāra Idealism
Author: Ashok Kumar Chatterjee
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
Total Pages: 264
Release: 1987
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9788120803152

The Yogacana-Vijnanavada Idealism was the last great creative synthesis of Buddhism and its position in that tradition is comparable to that of the Advaita Vedanta. In this present book the author deals with the Yogacara-Vijnanavada in all its aspects and bearings, historically, analytically and comparatively. The first two chapters show, with great clarity and sufficient detail, the origin and development of the Yogacara idealism as an outcome of those fruitful and dynamic ideas associated with the previous schools of Buddhism, especially with the Sautrantika and the Madhyamika. The originality of the Yogacara synthesis of Buddhist teachings has been clearly brought out, and the individual contributions made by the philosophers of this school, such as Asanga, Vasubandhu, Sthiramati, Dignaga, Dharmakirti and Santaraksita, have received adequate attention. The subsequent chapters, which form the core of the work, represent a constructive and critical exposition of the Yogacara metaphysics, its idealism and absolutism as well as its spiritual discipline. This reprint after a lapse of ten years fills the need of the researchers.

The Yogācāra Idealism

The Yogācāra Idealism
Author: Ashok Kumar Chatterjee
Publisher: Lawrence Verry Incorporated
Total Pages: 264
Release: 1975
Genre: Yoga
ISBN:

On the Yogacara school of Buddhist philosophy.

A Yogācāra Buddhist Theory of Metaphor

A Yogācāra Buddhist Theory of Metaphor
Author: Roy Tzohar
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2018-04-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 019066441X

Buddhist philosophy is fundamentally ambivalent toward language. Language is paradoxically seen as both obstructive and necessary for liberation. In this book, Roy Tzohar delves into the ingenious response to this tension from the Yogacara school of Indian Buddhism: that all language-use is metaphorical. Exploring the profound implications of this claim, Tzohar makes the case for viewing the Yogacara account as a full-fledged theory of meaning, one that is not merely linguistic, but also applicable both in the world as well as in texts. Despite the overwhelming visibility of figurative language in Buddhist philosophical texts, this is the first sustained and systematic attempt to present an indigenous Buddhist theory of metaphor. By grounding the Yogacara pan-metaphorical claim in a broader intellectual context, of both Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools, the book uncovers an intense philosophical conversation about metaphor and language that reaches across sectarian lines. Tzohar's analysis radically reframes the Yogacara controversy with the Madhyamaka school of philosophy, sheds light on the Yogacara application of particular metaphors, and explicates the school's unique understanding of experience.

Madhyamaka and Yogacara

Madhyamaka and Yogacara
Author: Jay L. Garfield
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2015
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0190231297

Madhyamaka and Yogacara are the two principal schools of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. While Madhyamaka asserts the ultimate emptiness and conventional reality of all phenomena, Yogacara is usually considered to be idealistic. This collection of essays addresses the degree to which these philosophical approaches are consistent or complementary. Indian and Tibetan doxographies often take these two schools to be philosophical rivals. They are grounded in distinct bodies of sutra literature and adopt what appear to be very different positions regarding the analysis of emptiness and the status of mind. Madhyamaka-Yogacara polemics abound in Indian Buddhist literature, and Tibetan doxographies regard them as distinct systems. Nonetheless, scholars have tried to synthesize the two positions for centuries. This volume offers new essays by prominent experts on both these traditions, who address the question of the degree to which these philosophical approaches should be seen as rivals or as allies. In answering the question of whether Madhyamaka and Yogacara can be considered compatible, contributors engage with a broad range of canonical literature, and relate the texts to contemporary philosophical problems.

Buddhist Phenomenology

Buddhist Phenomenology
Author: Dan Lusthaus
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 634
Release: 2014-02-04
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1317973429

A richly complex study of the Yogacara tradition of Buddhism, divided into five parts: the first on Buddhism and phenomenology, the second on the four basic models of Indian Buddhist thought, the third on karma, meditation and epistemology, the fourth on the Trimsika and its translations, and finally the fifth on the Ch'eng Wei-shih Lun and Yogacara in China.

A Buddhist Doctrine of Experience

A Buddhist Doctrine of Experience
Author: Thomas A. Kochumuttom
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishe
Total Pages: 316
Release: 1982
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9788120806627

Giving a new translation and interpretation of the basic works of Vasubandhu the yogacarin, the author shows that Yogacara metaphysics is basically the same as that of the early Buddhism. He contends that the Yogacara writings are open to interpretation in terms of realistic pluralism, and thus challenges their traditional interpretation in terms of idealistic monism. His translation is faithful to the original, arguments convincing and consistent, and presentation clear and readable. The texts translated and interpreted are (i) Madhyanta-vibhago-karika-bhasya, (ii) Trisvabhava-nirdesa, (iii) Trimsatika and (iv) Vimsatika. The doctrine of experience presented by these texts may be summarised in the words of the author as follow: The experience of samsara consists basically in one's being forced to view oneself as the grasper (grahaka), the enjoyer (bhoktr), knower (jnatr) of all beings, which are then viewed as the graspable (grahya), the enjoyable (bhojya), the knowable (jneya). There one cannot help mentally constructing the distinction between the subject and the object, the grasper and the graspable, the enjoyer and the enjoyable...

The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy

The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy
Author: Jan Westerhoff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2018-05-12
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 019104704X

Jan Westerhoff unfolds the story of one of the richest episodes in the history of Indian thought, the development of Buddhist philosophy in the first millennium CE. He starts from the composition of the Abhidharma works before the beginning of the common era and continues up to the time of Dharmakirti in the sixth century. This period was characterized by the development of a variety of philosophical schools and approaches that have shaped Buddhist thought up to the present day: the scholasticism of the Abhidharma, the Madhyamaka's theory of emptiness, Yogacara idealism, and the logical and epistemological works of Dinnaga and Dharmakirti. The book attempts to describe the historical development of these schools in their intellectual and cultural context, with particular emphasis on three factors that shaped the development of Buddhist philosophical thought: the need to spell out the contents of canonical texts, the discourses of the historical Buddha and the Mahayana sutras; the desire to defend their positions by sophisticated arguments against criticisms from fellow Buddhists and from non-Buddhist thinkers of classical Indian philosophy; and the need to account for insights gained through the application of specific meditative techniques. While the main focus is the period up to the sixth century CE, Westerhoff also discusses some important thinkers who influenced Buddhist thought between this time and the decline of Buddhist scholastic philosophy in India at the beginning of the thirteenth century. His aim is that the historical presentation will also allow the reader to get a better systematic grasp of key Buddhist concepts such as non-self, suffering, reincarnation, karma, and nirvana.

Studies in Buddhist Philosophy

Studies in Buddhist Philosophy
Author: Mark Siderits
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2016-03-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0191070998

This volume brings together nineteen of Mark Siderits's most important essays on Buddhist philosophy. Together they cover a wide range of topics, from metaphysics, logic, philosophy of language, epistemology, and ethics, to the specific discussions of the interaction between Buddhist and classical Indian philosophy. Each of the essays is followed by a postscript that Siderits has written specifically for this volume. The postscripts connect essays of the volume with each other, show thematic interrelations, and locate them relative to the development of Siderits's thought. In addition, they provide the opportunity to bring the discussion of the essays up to date by acquainting the reader with the development of research in the field since the publication of the essays. Siderits's work is based on an investigation of Indian sources in their original language, nevertheless the focus of the essays is primarily systematic, not historical or philological. The idea of 'fusion philosophy' (a term coined by Siderits) embodies precisely the assumption that by bringing a Western and an Eastern tradition together, both can benefit by learning from each other about new ways of tackling old philosophical problems.

Living Yogacara

Living Yogacara
Author: Tagawa Shun'ei
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2014-05-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 086171895X

Yogacara is an influential school of Buddhist philosophy and psychology that stems from the early Indian Mahayana Buddhist tradition. The Yogacara view is based on the fundamental truth that there is nothing in the realm of human experience that is not interpreted by and dependent upon the mind. Yogacara Buddhism was unable to sustain the same level of popularity as other Buddhist schools in India, Tibet, and East Asia, but its teachings on the nature of consciousness profoundly impacted the successive developments of Buddhism. Yogacara served as the basis for the development of the doctrines of karma and liberation in many other schools. In this refreshingly accessible study, Tagawa Shun'ei makes sense of Yogacara's subtleties and complexities with insight and clarity. He shows us that Yogacara masters comprehend and express everyday experiences that we all take for granted, yet struggle to explain. Eloquent and approachable, Living Yogacara deepens the reader's understanding of the development of Buddhism's interpretation of the human psyche.