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Buddhism: Origin and Development of Vijnanvada
The Spiritual Bookstore Online World Religion Library
Vijnanavada
The origin and development of Vijnanvada
The development of the Vijnanavada began around 150 C.E. with the
Sandhinirmochana Sutra. In the next few centuries this was followed by the
very important Lankavatara sutra in the early 4th century, and the
Abhisamayalankara (a Prajnaparamita commentary) and Avatamsaka sutras later
in the century [Edward Conze, Buddhism, its Essence and Development, p.164].
The Sandhinirmochana and Lankavatara sutras were especially influential in
the formulation of the doctrines of the Yogachara school, founded by two
brothers, Asanga and Vasubandu (the latter, because of his great learning,
was given the singular honour of being called "the second Buddha"), natives
of North-West India, in the 4th or 5th century. Another source of Yogachara
teachings was Asanga's little-known teacher Maitreyanatha, who has been
called the true founder of the school [Chandradhar Sharma, A Critical Survey
of Indian Philosophy, p.108]. Asanga and Vasubandu were encyclopaedic
systematisers, who developed ideas already established in older writings,
such as the Abhidharma, the Prajnaparamita, and the Lankavatara, and gave
definitive form to earlier Mahayanist concepts like the ten stages (bhumis)
of development of the Bodhisattva, the three "bodies" of the Buddha (trikaya),
the three states or levels of self-being (swabhava), and the theory that
reality is consciousness-only [Edward Conze, Buddhist Thought in India,
p.250; and Buddhism, its Essence and Development, p.164]. This last is the
most important aspect of Vijnanavada/Yogachara, for this school differs from
the Prajnaparamita and the anti-metaphysical Madhyamika approach in that it
gives a positive, qualitative description of the Absolute Reality, which is
described as being of the nature of pure Consciousness (vijnana);
"consciousness-only" (vijnanamatrata, vijnaptimatrata); or "Mind-only" (Chittamatra).
Vijnanavada Buddhism contributed two important emanationist ideas: the
metaphysical idea of emanation from an original universal consciousness (the
Alaya-vijnana), and the theological idea of the Trikaya, the Three Bodies of
the Buddha. As a philosophical school, Yogacara argues that all that exists
are minds and their experiences. If there are no mind-independent things,
why do people seem to have similar experiences (e.g., why do you and I both
see the candle flame, and we both feel pain when we touch it)? The
explanation offered is that previous experiences create a storehouse
consciousness (alaya-vijnana, sometimes identified with the tathagatagarbha)
which encourages people to have similar experiences in the future.
Late Yogacarins (Dignaga and especially, Dharmakirti, Shantarakshita,
Kamalashila and Ratnakirti) were not only logicians but experts in
epistemology, theory of consciousness and the Tantric yogins as well. The
Mahasiddhas (Great Perfect Ones) in some aspects were also adherents of the
Yogacara school.
Chinese Vijnanvada
The Yogachara metaphysic, thus formulated in India, was further developed in
China, where, due to an artifact of translation and interpretation, the
Tathagata-garbha (in Chinese fo-hsing - "Buddha-womb" - the womb of the
Buddha or storehouse of the Buddha, the potential for Buddhahood which all
beings possess.), was distinguished from the Alaya-vijnana. In Indian texts
such as the Lankavatara and the Mahaparinirvana sutras the Tathagata-garbha
was specifically identified with the Alayavijnana, and referred to the
potential or cause leading or pointing towards enlightenment, rather than an
actual state or reality. In Chinese, due to Mencian Confucian and Chuang-tze
Taoist preconceptions, it came to mean "Buddha-nature", an ontological
reality or essence, like the Vedantic Atman [Whalen Lai, "The Meaning of
"mind-only" (wei-hsin): An analysis of a sinitic Mahayana phenomenon",
Philosophy East and West 27, no 1; p.73-74]. The Alayavijnana then came to
be seen as a lower or impure level of Consciousness, the "tainted
consciousness" (shih) relative to the Tathagatagarbha or innately pure
Absolute Buddha Mind (hsin) or Buddha-nature. Tathagatagarbha or Mind or
hsin thus became a "ninth consciousness" or original principle over and
above the other eight. This idea of the superiority of Mind (hsin) over
consciousness (shih) was used by the Mind-Only schools of Hua-yen and Ch'an
to claim superiority over the consciousness-only school of Wei-shih (Chinese
Yogachara) [Ibid, pp.65, 79]. In all this we see the development of an
emanationist cosmology more like Neoplatonism or Kashmir Shaivism than
original Yogachara Mahayana. But the anti-metaphysical emphasis of even the
most elaborate Buddhist schools prevented this modified Yogachara from ever
becoming as sophisticated as those other two systems.
Vijnanvada and the West
In the Nineteenth century, elements of Vijnanavada, such as the Alayavijnana
and the Manas, were adopted in modified from by H. P. Blavatsky, the founder
of Theosophy. As was mentioned earlier, Blavatsky was also influenced by the
Vedantic idea of koshas, so Yogachara can be seen to be a second source of
inspiriation. More recently, young Buddhist-orientated Westerners have made
much of the parallel between the Alaya-vijnana and the Collective
Unconscious of the psychologist-mystic Carl Jung. Certainly there are many
parallels (e.g. in both there is a universal substratum, a sort of Un- or
Super-consciousness, behind the surface consciousness; and the repository of
subconscious impulses to manifestation). But there are also important
differences too. Jung's archetypes are universal transpersonal religious or
mythological motifs, more equivalent to the "gods" of polytheism then to the
karmic seeds or vasanas; and Jung's positive assessment of the ego - the ego
being a necessary state in the development of self - and higher
consciousness, is diametrically opposed to the ego-transcending perception
of the various Indian philosophies.
from: http://www.kheper.net/topics/Buddhism/Buddhism.htm
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