Yogachara

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Yogachara

Yogachara (Sanskrit: योगाचार, IAST: Yogācāra; literally “yoga practice”; “one whose practice is yoga”) is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. Yogachara was one of the two most influential traditions of Mahayana Buddhism in India, the other being Madhyamaka.

Yogācāra is also variously termed Vijñānavāda (the doctrine of consciousness), Vijñaptivāda (the doctrine of ideas or percepts) or Vijñaptimātratā-vāda (the doctrine of ‘mere representation’), which is also the name given to its major epistemic theory. There are several interpretations of this main theory: various forms of Idealism, as well as a phenomenology or representationalism, aimed at deconstructing the reification of our perceptions.

According to Dan Lusthaus, this tradition developed “an elaborate psychological therapeutic system that mapped out the problems in cognition along with the antidotes to correct them, and an earnest epistemological endeavor that led to some of the most sophisticated work on perception and logic ever engaged in by Buddhists or Indians.”While Yogācāra was mainly associated with Indian Mahayana Buddhism from about the fourth century CE onwards, it also included non-Mahayana practitioners of the Sautrāntika school. The 4th-century Gandharan brothers, Asaṅga and Vasubandhu, are considered the classic philosophers and systematizers of this school, along with the figure of Maitreya. Yogācāra continues to be influential in Tibetan Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism. However, the uniformity of a single assumed “Yogācāra school” has been put into question.

wikipedia/en/Yogachara

Yogacara, also known as Vijnanavada, is a major school of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy and psychology that emphasizes the primacy of consciousness in understanding reality. It is often referred to as the “mind-only” or “consciousness-only” school because it posits that the external world, as we perceive it, is a construction of the mind. While not as widely popular as some other Buddhist schools, Yogacara’s teachings on consciousness profoundly influenced later Buddhist developments, particularly in Tibet and East Asia.

Core Concepts:

Mind-Only (Citta-matra): Yogacara’s central tenet is that all phenomena, including the external world, are ultimately mind-dependent. This doesn’t mean there’s no external reality, but rather that our experience of that reality is filtered and constructed by our consciousness.
Eight Consciousnesses: Yogacara proposes a system of eight consciousnesses, including the five senses, mind consciousness, manas (a self-referential consciousness), and the alaya-vijñana (storehouse consciousness), which is the foundation of all other consciousnesses and where karmic seeds are stored.
Three Self-Natures: Yogacara identifies three aspects of reality: the imaginary nature (parikalpita), the dependent nature (paratantra), and the perfected nature (pariniṣpanna).
Vijñaptimātra (Only-Cognition): This concept emphasizes that what we perceive are not external objects, but rather modifications of consciousness.
Ālaya-vijñāna (Storehouse Consciousness): This is a foundational concept in Yogacara, a repository of karmic seeds and impressions that shape our experiences.
Reversal of the Basis (Āśraya-parāvṛtti): This refers to the process of transforming the ālaya-vijñāna, leading to liberation from karmic cycles.

Influence and Significance:

Yogacara’s detailed analysis of consciousness influenced the development of Abhidharma and Mahayana Buddhist thought.
It provided a framework for understanding the relationship between mind and reality, and influenced meditation practices.
Its concepts, particularly the idea of ālaya-vijñāna, became central to various Buddhist traditions, including Zen and Tibetan Buddhism.
Yogacara’s focus on consciousness continues to be relevant to contemporary discussions about the nature of reality and the mind.

Comparison with Madhyamaka:

While both Yogacara and Madhyamaka are major schools of Mahayana Buddhism, they differ in their approach to emptiness. Madhyamaka emphasizes the emptiness of all phenomena, including consciousness, while Yogacara focuses on the role of consciousness in constructing experience. Some scholars suggest that Yogacara can be seen as a more elaborate analysis of Madhyamaka’s concept of emptiness, while others see them as complementary approaches.

AI responses may include mistakes.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Living-Yogacara-Introduction-Consciousness-Only-Buddhism/dp/0861715896

[2] https://www.mnzencenter.org/uploads/2/9/5/8/29581455/yogacara_buddhism.pdf

[3] youtube/v=-NevWRKk3jk

[4] https://www.lionsroar.com/dharma-dictionary-yogacara/

[5] https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/buddhism-yogacara-school-of/v-1

[6] https://buddhism-thewayofemptiness.blog.nomagic.uk/yogacara-consciousness-teaching/

[7] http://www.acmuller.net/yogacara/articles/intro.html

[8] wikipedia/en/Yogachara

[9] https://wisdomexperience.org/yogacara-madhayamaka/

[10] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42240-025-00200-8

[11] https://iep.utm.edu/xuanzang/