Misplaced Pages

#29970

115-472: The compound Yogācāra literally means "practitioner of yoga ", or "one whose practice is yoga", hence the name of the school is literally "the school of the yogins". Yogācāra was 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 theory of mind which seeks to deconstruct how we perceive

230-427: A collection of changing mindsets, and some will occur regularly. While these mindsets determine the personality, they do not control themselves but fluctuate and alternate. There is thus the need for the meditative integration of personality to provide a greater, more wholesome consistency. Regarding volitions, there is a similarity between viññāna and chitta; they are both associated with the qualitative condition of

345-489: A common body of practices, including Vedic elements. Yoga-like practices are mentioned in the Rigveda and a number of early Upanishads , but systematic yoga concepts emerge during the fifth and sixth centuries BCE in ancient India's ascetic and Śramaṇa movements, including Jainism and Buddhism. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali , the classical text on Hindu yoga, samkhya -based but influenced by Buddhism, dates to

460-631: A composite model in which a pre-Aryan yoga prototype existed in the pre-Vedic period and was refined during the Vedic period. According to Gavin D. Flood, the Upanishads differ fundamentally from the Vedic ritual tradition and indicate non-Vedic influences. However, the traditions may be connected: [T]his dichotomization is too simplistic, for continuities can undoubtedly be found between renunciation and vedic Brahmanism, while elements from non-Brahmanical, Sramana traditions also played an important part in

575-428: A degree of personal identity and to explain why it is that certain karmic results pertain to this particular individual. The seeds are momentary, but they give rise to a perfumed series which eventually culminates in the result including, from seeds of a particular type, the whole ‘inter-subjective’ phenomenal world." Also, Asanga and Vasubandhu write that the ālaya-vijñāna ‘ceases’ at awakening, becoming transformed into

690-546: A dream there appear, even without a thing/object ( artha ), just in the mind alone, forms/images of all kinds of things/objects like visibles, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, houses, forests, land, and mountains, and yet there are no [such] things/objects at all in that [place]. MSg II.6 Another classic statement of the doctrine appears in Dharmakīrti's Pramānaṿārttika ( Commentary on Epistemology ) which states: "cognition experiences itself, and nothing else whatsoever. Even

805-453: A dual self. What is its nonexistence? That by which the nondual reality is there. In detail, three natures ( trisvabhāva ) are: The central meaning of emptiness ( śūnyatā ) in Yogācāra is a twofold " absence of duality ." The first element of this is the unreality of any conceptual duality such as "physical" and "non-physical", "self" and "other". To define something conceptually is to divide

920-525: A form of idealism (as supported by Garfield, Hopkins, and others) or whether it is definitely not idealist (Anacker, Lusthaus, Wayman). According to Lambert Schmithausen , the earliest surviving appearance of this term is in chapter 8 of the Saṅdhinirmocana Sūtra , which has only survived in Tibetan and Chinese translations that differ in syntax and meaning. The passage is depicted as a response by

1035-539: A human being. Viññāna provides awareness and continuity by which one knows one's moral condition, and citta is an abstraction representing that condition. Citta is closely related to volitions; this connection is also etymological, as chitta comes from the same verbal root in Pali as the active terms meaning "to will". Citta also reflects one's cognitive condition/progress. Citta as a mindset can become "contracted" (i.e. unworkable), "distracted", "grown great", "composed", or

1150-458: A nihilistic position which only affirms emptiness as the ultimate. Schmithausen notes that philological study of Yogacara texts shows that they clearly reject the independent existence of mind and the external world. He also notes that the current trend in rejecting the idealistic interpretation might be related to the unpopularity of idealism among Western academics. Florin Delenau likewise affirms

1265-434: A perception must resemble the perceived object ( ālambana ) and have been caused by the object. According to this argument, since atoms are not extended, they do not resemble the object of perception (which appears as spatially extended). Furthermore, collections of atoms might resemble the object of perception, but they cannot have caused it. This is because collections of things are unreal in classic Buddhist thought (thus it

SECTION 10

#1732764967030

1380-417: A person astray or, if properly controlled, directed and integrated, ennobling one. One may "make citta turn according to" his wishes most effectively by developing skill in meditative concentration , which brings mental calm and clarity. An individual undergoes many different states of mind; M.II.27 asks: "Which citta? for citta is manifold, various, and diverse." Generally speaking, a person will operate with

1495-502: A pot. Since we can be aware of a pot even when we are not "linked" to the potter's intentions (even after the potter is dead), a more complex series of mental interactions must be posited. Nevertheless, not all interpretations of Yogācāra's view of the external world rely on multiple relations between individual minds. Some interpretations in Chinese Buddhism defended the view of a single shared external world (bhājanaloka) which

1610-540: A pure consciousness. According to Waldron, while there were various similar concepts in other Buddhist Abhidharma schools which sought to explain karmic continuity, the ālaya-vijñāna is the most comprehensive and systematic. Waldron notes that the ālaya-vijñāna concept was probably influenced by these theories, particularly the Sautrantika theory of seeds and Vasumitra's theory of a subtle form of mind (suksma-citta) . Yogācāra sources do not necessarily describe

1725-591: A self-less construction and thus vijñapti-mātra is not the ultimate truth ( paramārtha-satya ) in Yogācāra. Thus according to Gold, while Vasubandhu's vijñapti-mātra can be said to be a “conventionalist idealism”, it is to be seen as unique and different from Western forms, especially Hegelian Absolute Idealism . The interpretation of Yogācāra as a type of idealism was standard until recently, when it began to be challenged by scholars such as Kochumuttom, Anacker, Kalupahana , Dunne, Lusthaus, Powers, and Wayman . Some scholars like David Kalupahana argue that it

1840-578: A sequential growth from an Aryan genesis"; traditional Hinduism regards the Vedas as the source of all spiritual knowledge. Edwin Bryant wrote that authors who support Indigenous Aryanism also tend to support the linear model. The twentieth-century scholars Karel Werner , Thomas McEvilley , and Mircea Eliade believe that the central figure of the Pashupati seal is in a Mulabandhasana posture, and

1955-481: A specific tradition: According to Knut A. Jacobsen , yoga has five principal meanings: David Gordon White writes that yoga's core principles were more or less in place in the 5th century CE, and variations of the principles developed over time: According to White, the last principle relates to legendary goals of yoga practice; it differs from yoga's practical goals in South Asian thought and practice since

2070-408: A true Self." The eighth consciousness, ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse or repository consciousness), was defined as the storehouse of all karmic seeds ( bīja ), where they gradually matured until ripe, at which point they manifested as karmic consequences. Because of this, it is also called the "mind which has all the seeds" ( sarvabījakam cittam ), as well as the "basis consciousness" ( mūla-vijñāna ) and

2185-460: A very subtle way of believing in an 'I'... once we see why physical objects can't exist we will lose all temptation to think there is a true ' me' within. There are really just impressions, but we superimpose on these the false constructions of object and subject. Seeing this will free us from the false conception of an 'I'. Siderits notes how Kant had a similar notion, that is, without the idea of an objective mind independent world, one cannot derive

2300-415: A view which states "that the world as it appears to the unenlightened ones is mere representation of consciousness". Furthermore, according to Kochumuttom, in Yogācāra "the absolute state is defined simply as emptiness, namely the emptiness of subject-object distinction. Once thus defined as emptiness ( sunyata ), it receives a number of synonyms, none of which betray idealism." According to Dan Lusthaus ,

2415-432: Is soteriologically important to get rid of the idea of really existing external objects. According to Siderits, this is because: When we wrongly imagine there to be external objects we are led to think in terms of the duality of 'grasped and grasper', of what is 'out there' and what is ' in here' - in short, of external world and self. Coming to see that there is no external world is a means, Vasubandhu thinks, of overcoming

SECTION 20

#1732764967030

2530-630: Is a mereological nihilism ), since they are composites and composites made of parts do not have any causal efficacy (only individual atoms do). In disproving the possibility of external objects, Vasubandhu's Vimśatikā similarly attacks Indian theories of atomism and property particulars as incoherent on mereological grounds. This argument was defended by Dharmakīrti in his Ascertainment of Epistemology ( Pramāṇaviniścaya ), which calls it "the necessity of things only ever being experienced together with experience" (Sanskrit: sahopalambhaniyama ) . According to Dharmakīrti: Because [something blue]

2645-471: Is a group of physical , mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated in ancient India , aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as practiced in the Hindu , Jain , and Buddhist traditions. Yoga may have pre- Vedic origins, but is first attested in the early first millennium BCE. It developed as various traditions in the eastern Ganges basin drew from

2760-506: Is a kind of trick built into consciousness which "projects and constructs a cognitive object in such a way that it disowns its own creation - pretending the object is "out there" - in order to render that object capable of being appropriated." This reification of cognition aids in constructing the notion of a permanent and independent self, which is believed to appropriate and possess external 'things'. Yogācāra offers an analysis and meditative means to negate this reification, thereby also negating

2875-575: Is a mistake to conflate the terms citta-mātra (which is sometimes seen as a different, more metaphysical position) with vijñapti-mātra (which need not be idealist). However, Delenau points out that Vasubandhu clearly states in his Twenty Verses and Abhidharmakosha that vijñapti and citta are synonymous. Nevertheless, different alternative translations for vijñapti-mātra have been proposed, such as representation-only, ideation-only, impressions-only and perception-only . Alex Wayman notes that one's interpretation of Yogācāra will depend on how

2990-454: Is also supported by Stefan Anacker. According to Thomas Kochumuttom, Yogācāra is a realistic pluralism which does not deny the existence of individual beings. Kochumuttom argues that Yogācāra is not idealism since it denies that absolute reality is a consciousness, that individual beings are transformations or illusory appearances of an absolute consciousness. Thus, for Kochumuttom, vijñapti-mātra means "mere representation of consciousness,"

3105-682: Is available in the Vedas themselves is scanty and indirect. Nevertheless the indirect evidence is strong enough not to allow any doubt about the existence of spiritually highly advanced wanderers. According to Whicher (1998), scholarship frequently fails to see the connection between the contemplative practices of the rishis and later yoga practices: "The proto-Yoga of the Vedic rishis is an early form of sacrificial mysticism and contains many elements characteristic of later Yoga that include: concentration, meditative observation, ascetic forms of practice ( tapas ), breath control practiced in conjunction with

3220-434: Is created. By creating these concepts human beings become "susceptible to grasping after the object" as if it were a real object ( sad artha ) even though it is just a conception ( vijñapti ). A similar perspective which emphasizes Yogācāra's continuity with early Buddhism is given by Walpola Rahula . According to Rahula, all the elements of this theory of consciousness with its three layers of vijñāna are already found in

3335-413: Is derived from the root yuj, “to yoke,” probably because the early practice concentrated on restraining or “yoking in” the senses. Later the name was also seen as a metaphor for “linking” or “yoking to” God or the divine." Buswell and Lopez translate "yoga" as "'bond', 'restraint', and by extension "spiritual discipline." Flood refers to restraining the mind as yoking the mind. Yoga is a cognate of

3450-411: Is difficult to distinguish between the early Jain school and elements derived from other schools. Most of the other contemporary yoga systems alluded to in the Upanishads and some Buddhist texts have been lost. The Upanishads, composed in the late Vedic period , contain the first references to practices recognizable as classical yoga. The first known appearance of the word "yoga" in the modern sense

3565-472: Is falsely divided up. An important difference between the Yogācāra conception of emptiness and the Madhyamaka conception is that in classical Yogācāra, emptiness does exist (as a real absence) and so does consciousness (which is that which is empty, the referent of emptiness), while Madhyamaka refuses to endorse such existential statements. The Madhyāntavibhāga for example, states "the imagination of

Yogachara - Misplaced Pages Continue

3680-500: Is in the Katha Upanishad (probably composed between the fifth and third centuries BCE), where it is defined as steady control of the senses which – with cessation of mental activity – leads to a supreme state. The Katha Upanishad integrates the monism of the early Upanishads with concepts of samkhya and yoga. It defines levels of existence by their proximity to one's innermost being . Yoga

3795-493: Is included in descriptions of the dependent origination ( paticcasamuppada ) formula in several suttas of the Pali Canon's Majjhima Nikāya and Saṃyutta Nikāya. In Indian Psychology, chitta is the seat and organ of thought. The complex causal nexus of volitions (or intentions) that one experiences continuously conditions one's thoughts, speech, and actions. At any given time, one's state of mind reflects that complex; thus,

3910-514: Is just as good at explaining the relevant phenomena of experience as any theory of realism that posits external objects. Therefore, he then applies the Indian philosophical principle termed the "Principle of Lightness" (Sanskrit: lāghava, which is similar to Occam's Razor ) to rule out realism since vijñapti-mātra is the simpler and "lighter" theory which "posits the least number of unobservable entities." Another objection that Vasubandhu answers

4025-523: Is no physical medium or object in existence, since a suitably strong enough intention in one mind stream can have effects on another mind stream. From the mind-only position, it is easier to posit a mind to mind causation than to have to explain mind to body causation, which the realist must do. However, Siderits then goes on to question whether Vasubandhu's position is indeed "lighter" since he must make use of multiple interactions between different minds to take into account an intentionally created artifact, like

4140-486: Is not apprehended without the additional qualification of consciousness, [and] because [blue] is apprehended when this [qualification of consciousness] is apprehended, consciousness [itself] has the appearance of blue. There is no external object by itself. (PV 3.335) According this argument, any object of consciousness, like blue, cannot be differentiated from the conscious awareness of blue since both are always experienced as one thing. Since we never experience blue without

4255-412: Is often used interchangeably with the term citta-mātra in modern and ancient Yogacara sources. The standard translation of both terms is "consciousness-only" or "mind-only." Several modern researchers object to this translation in favor of alternative like representation-only . The meaning of this term is at the heart of the modern scholarly disagreement about whether Yogacara Buddhism can be said to be

4370-490: Is one of three overlapping terms used in the Nikaya to refer to the mind, the others being manas and viññāṇa . Each is sometimes used in the generic and non-technical sense of "mind" in general, and the three are sometimes used in sequence to refer to one's mental processes as a whole. However, their primary uses are distinct. The Pali–English Dictionary translates citta as heart or heart-mind, emphasizing it as more

4485-591: Is primarily meant to aid in the practice of yoga and meditation and thus it also sets forth a systematic analysis of the Mahayana path of mental training (see five paths pañcamārga ). Yogācārins made use of ideas from previous traditions, such as Prajñāpāramitā and the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma tradition, to develop a novel analysis of conscious experience and a corresponding schema for Mahāyāna spiritual practice. In its analysis, Yogācāra works like

4600-401: Is similar to Idealism (and they compare it to the idealisms of Kant and Berkeley ), though they note that it is its own unique form and that it might be confusing to categorize it as such. The German scholar and philologist Lambert Schmithausen affirms that Yogacara sources teach a type of idealism which is supposed to be a middle way between Abhidharma realism and what it often considered

4715-516: Is sometimes used as a synonym with citta-mātra (mere citta ), which is also used as a name for the school that suggests Idealism . Schmithausen writes that the first appearance of this term is in the Pratyupanna samadhi sutra , which states "this (or: whatever belongs to this) triple world is nothing but mind (or thought: * cittamatra ). Why? Because however I imagine things, that is how they appear." Regarding existing Sanskrit sources,

Yogachara - Misplaced Pages Continue

4830-427: Is that of how one person can influence another's experiences, if everything arises from mental karmic seeds in one's mind stream. Vasubandhu argues that "impressions can also be caused in a mental stream by the occurrence of a distinct impression in another suitably linked mental stream." As Siderits notes, this account can explain how it is possible to influence or even totally disrupt (murder) another mind, even if there

4945-548: Is that we are only ever aware of mental images or impressions which manifest themselves as external objects, but "there is actually no such thing outside the mind." The term also appears in Asaṅga's classic work, the Mahāyānasaṃgraha (no Sanskrit original, trans. from Tibetan) : These representations ( vijñapti ) are mere representations ( vijñapti-mātra ), because there is no [corresponding] thing/object ( artha )...Just as in

5060-606: Is upright, the breath is restrained and the mind is meditatively focused, preferably in a cave or a place that is simple and quiet. The Maitrayaniya Upanishad , probably composed later than the Katha and Shvetashvatara Upanishads but before the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali , mentions a sixfold yoga method: breath control, introspective withdrawal of the senses, meditation ( dhyana ), mental concentration , logic and reasoning , and spiritual union . In addition to discussions in

5175-472: Is viewed as a process of interiorization, or ascent of consciousness. The upanishad is the earliest literary work which highlights the fundamentals of yoga. According to White, The earliest extant systematic account of yoga and a bridge from the earlier Vedic uses of the term is found in the Hindu Katha Upanisad (Ku), a scripture dating from about the third century BCE ... [I]t describes

5290-673: The Satipatthana Sutta (the four foundations of mindfulness sutta) and the Anapanasati Sutta (the mindfulness of breathing sutta). The chronology of these yoga-related early Buddhist texts, like the ancient Hindu texts, is unclear. Early Buddhist sources such as the Majjhima Nikāya mention meditation; the Aṅguttara Nikāya describes jhāyins (meditators) who resemble early Hindu descriptions of muni ,

5405-425: The Saṅdhinirmocana Sūtra , developing various core concepts such as vijñapti-mātra , the ālaya-vijñāna (store consciousness), the turning of the basis ( āśraya-parāvṛtti), the three natures ( trisvabhāva ), and emptiness . They form a complex system, and each can be taken as a point of departure for understanding Yogācāra. One of the main features of Yogācāra philosophy is the concept of vijñapti-mātra . It

5520-762: The Atharvaveda and in the Brahmanas (the second layer of the Vedas, composed c. 1000–800 BCE). According to Flood, "The Samhitas [the mantras of the Vedas] contain some references ... to ascetics, namely the Munis or Keśins and the Vratyas." Werner wrote in 1977 that the Rigveda does not describe yoga, and there is little evidence of practices. The earliest description of "an outsider who does not belong to

5635-496: The English word "yoke," since both are derived from an Indo-European root. According to Mikel Burley , the first use of the root of the word "yoga" is in hymn 5.81.1 of the Rigveda , a dedication to the rising Sun-god, where it has been interpreted as "yoke" or "control". Pāṇini (4th c. BCE) wrote that the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots: yujir yoga (to yoke) or yuj samādhau ("to concentrate"). In

5750-471: The Katha Upanishad , dated to the fifth to first centuries BCE. Systematic yoga concepts begin to emerge in texts dating to c. 500–200 BCE, such as the early Buddhist texts , the middle Upanishads, and the Mahabharata 's Bhagavad Gita and Shanti Parva . According to Geoffrey Samuel , the "best evidence to date" suggests that yogic practices "developed in the same ascetic circles as

5865-591: The Mahabharata contains no uniform yogic goal, the separation of self from matter and perception of Brahman everywhere are described as goals of yoga. Samkhya and yoga are conflated , and some verses describe them as identical. Mokshadharma also describes an early practice of elemental meditation. The Mahabharata defines the purpose of yoga as uniting the individual ātman with the universal Brahman pervading all things. Citta Citta ( Pali and Sanskrit : 𑀘𑀺𑀢𑁆𑀢 , pronounced chitta )

SECTION 50

#1732764967030

5980-509: The Pāli Canon , corresponding to the terms viññāna (sense cognition), manas (mental function, thinking, reasoning, conception) and citta (the deepest layer of the aggregate of consciousness which retains karmic impressions and the defilements ). Yogācāra works often define three basic modes or "natures" ( svabhāva ) of experience. Jonathan Gold explains that "the three natures are all one reality viewed from three distinct angles. They are

6095-442: The jnana yoga of Vedanta . While yoga is often conflated with the "classical yoga" of Patanjali's yoga sutras, Karen O'Brien-Kop notes that "classical yoga" is informed by, and includes, Buddhist yoga. Regarding Buddhist yoga, James Buswell in his Encyclopedia of Buddhism treats yoga in his entry on meditation, stating that the aim of meditation is to attain samadhi, which serves as the foundation for vipasyana , "discerning

6210-498: The vijñapti-mātra theory is closer in some ways to Western Phenomenological theories and Epistemological Idealism . However, it is not a form of metaphysical idealism because Yogācāra rejects the construction of any type of metaphysical or ontological theories. Moreover, Western idealism lacks any counterpart to karma, samsara or awakening, all of which are central for Yogācāra. Regarding vijñapti-mātra, Lusthaus translates it as "nothing but conscious construction" and states it

6325-499: The ālaya-vijñāna, being a kind of vijñāna, has an object as well (as all vijñāna has intentionality ). That object is the sentient being's surrounding world, that is to say, the "receptable" or "container" ( bhājana ) world. This is stated in the 8th chapter of the Saṅdhinirmocana Sūtra, which states that the ādānavijñāna is characterized by "an unconscious (or not fully conscious?) steady perception (or "representation") of

6440-561: The "appropriating consciousness" ( ādānavijñāna ). According to the Saṅdhinirmocana Sūtra , this kind of consciousness underlies and supports the six types of manifest awareness, all of which occur simultaneously with the ālaya. William S. Waldron sees this "simultaneity of all the modes of cognitive awareness" as the most significant departure of Yogācāra theory from traditional Buddhist models of vijñāna, which were "thought to occur solely in conjunction with their respective sense bases and epistemic objects". As noted by Schmithausen ,

6555-507: The Brahminic establishment" is found in the Keśin hymn 10.136, the Rigveda 's youngest book, which was codified around 1000 BCE. Werner wrote that there were ... individuals who were active outside the trend of Vedic mythological creativity and the Brahminic religious orthodoxy and therefore little evidence of their existence, practices and achievements has survived. And such evidence as

6670-547: The Buddha borrowed from the śramaṇa tradition. The Pāli Canon contains three passages in which the Buddha describes pressing the tongue against the palate to control hunger or the mind, depending on the passage. There is no mention of the tongue inserted into the nasopharynx , as in khecarī mudrā . The Buddha used a posture in which pressure is put on the perineum with the heel, similar to modern postures used to evoke Kundalini . Suttas which discuss yogic practice include

6785-422: The Buddha to a question which asks "whether the images or replicas ( *pratibimba ) which are the object ( *gocara ) of meditative concentration (* samadhi ), are different/separate ( *bhinna ) from the contemplating mind ( *citta ) or not." The Buddha says they are not different, "Because these images are vijñapti-mātra." The text goes on to affirm that the same is true for objects of ordinary perception. The term

6900-508: The Kesin and meditating ascetics, but the meditation practices are not called "yoga" in these texts. The earliest known discussions of yoga in Buddhist literature, as understood in a modern context, are from the later Buddhist Yogācāra and Theravada schools. Jain meditation is a yoga system which predated the Buddhist school. Since Jain sources are later than Buddhist ones, however, it

7015-683: The Principal Upanishads, the twenty Yoga Upanishads and related texts (such as Yoga Vasistha , composed between the sixth and 14th centuries CE) discuss yoga methods. Alexander the Great reached India in the 4th century BCE. In addition to his army, he brought Greek academics who wrote memoirs about its geography, people, and customs. One of Alexander's companions was Onesicritus (quoted in Book 15, Sections 63–65 by Strabo in his Geography ), who describes yogis. Onesicritus says that

SECTION 60

#1732764967030

7130-546: The Receptacle ( *asaṃvidita-sthira-bhājana-vijñapti )." The ālaya-vijñāna is also what experiences rebirth into future lives and what descents into the womb to appropriate the fetal material. Therefore, the ālaya-vijñāna's holding on to the body's sense faculties and "profuse imaginings" ( prapañca ) are the two appropriations which make up the "kindling" or "fuel" (lit. upādāna ) that samsaric existence depends upon. Yogācāra thought thus holds that being unaware of

7245-480: The Three Natures ) gives a brief definition of these three natures: What appears is the dependent. How it appears is the fabricated. Because of being dependent on conditions. Because of being only fabrication. The eternal non-existence of the appearance as it is appears: That is known to be the perfected nature, because of being always the same. What appears there? The unreal fabrication. How does it appear? As

7360-758: The Upanishads (composed during the late Vedic period ). Alexander Wynne agrees that formless, elemental meditation might have originated in the Upanishadic tradition. An early reference to meditation is made in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (c. 900 BCE), one of the Principal Upanishads . The Chandogya Upanishad (c. 800–700 BCE) describes the five vital energies ( prana ), and concepts of later yoga traditions (such as blood vessels and an internal sound) are also described in this upanishad. The practice of pranayama (focusing on

7475-438: The Yogācāra school was the doctrine of eight consciousnesses. These "eight bodies of consciousnesses" ( aṣṭa vijñānakāyāḥ ) are: the five sense -consciousnesses (of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and bodily sense), mentation (mano or citta ), the defiled self-consciousness ( kliṣṭamanovijñāna ), and the storehouse or substratum consciousness ( Skt: ālayavijñāna ). Traditional Buddhist descriptions of consciousness taught just

7590-465: The analysis, understanding and cultivation of those altered states of awareness that lead one to the experience of spiritual liberation." Another classic understanding sees yoga as union or connection with the highest Self ( paramatman ), Brahman, or God, a "union, a linking of the individual to the divine." This definition is based on the devotionalism ( bhakti ) of the Bhagavad Gita, and

7705-427: The appearance, the process, and the emptiness of that same apparent entity." According to Paul Williams , "all things which can be known can be subsumed under these Three Natures." Since this schema is Yogācāra's systematic explanation of the Buddhist doctrine of emptiness ( śūnyatā ), each of the three natures are also explained as having a lack of own-nature ( niḥsvabhāvatā ). The Trisvabhāva-nirdeśa ( Exposition of

7820-545: The beginning of the Common Era in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophical schools. James Mallinson disagrees with the inclusion of supernatural accomplishments, and suggests that such fringe practices are far removed from the mainstream Yoga's goal as meditation-driven means to liberation in Indian religions. A classic definition of yoga comes from Patanjali Yoga Sutras 1.2 and 1.3, which define yoga as "the stilling of

7935-399: The body for toil in order that his opinions may be strengthened", that "there is no shame in life on frugal fare", and that "the best place to inhabit is one with scantiest equipment or outfit". According to Charles Rockwell Lanman , these principles are significant in the history of yoga's spiritual side and may reflect the roots of "undisturbed calmness" and "mindfulness through balance" in

8050-518: The breath) is mentioned in hymn 1.5.23 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, and pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses) is mentioned in hymn 8.15 of Chandogya Upanishad. The Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana (probably before the 6th c. BCE) teaches breath control and repetition of a mantra . The 6th-c. BCE Taittiriya Upanishad defines yoga as the mastery of body and senses. According to Flood, "[T]he actual term yoga first appears in

8165-419: The broad array of definitions and usage in Indian religions, scholars have warned that yoga is hard, if not impossible, to define exactly. David Gordon White notes that "'Yoga' has a wider range of meanings than nearly any other word in the entire Sanskrit lexicon." In its broadest sense, yoga is a generic term for techniques aimed at controlling body and mind and attaining a soteriological goal as specified by

8280-413: The causal origin of actions, speech, and thoughts is sometimes associated with the state of mind in a manner of speaking. This does not mean that it is that causal nexus; it is better understood as an abstract reflection. One's mindset can be out of tune with one's desires or aspirations. In that it reflects the volitions, the citta is said to go off with its own will if not properly controlled. It may lead

8395-705: The common era and seems to have developed as some yogis of the Sarvāstivāda and Sautrāntika traditions in north India adopted Mahayana Buddhism . The brothers Asaṅga and Vasubandhu (both c. 4-5th century CE), are considered the classic philosophers and systematizers of this school, along with the figure of Maitreya . Yogācāra was later imported to Tibet and East Asia by figures like Shantaraksita (8th century) and Xuanzang (7th-century). Today, Yogācāra ideas and texts continue to be influential subjects of study for Tibetan Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism . [REDACTED] Religion portal Yogācāra philosophy

8510-405: The concept of a subjective "I". But Kant drew the opposite conclusion to Vasubandhu, since he held that we must believe in an enduring subject, and thus, also believe in external objects. Yogācāra gives a detailed explanation of the workings of the mind and the way it constructs the reality we experience. The central Yogācāra theory of mind is that of the eight consciousnesses. A key innovation of

8625-712: The constant co-cognition argument. This argument is found in Vasubandhu's Vimśatikā ( Twenty Verses ) and is an inference to the best explanation . It argues that consciousness-only can provide an account of the various features of experience which are explained by the existence of mind-independent material objects. This is coupled with a principle of ontological parsimony to argue in favor of idealism. Vasubandhu mentions three key features of experience which are supposed to be explained by matter and refutes them: According to Mark Siderits, after disposing of these objections, Vasubandhu believes he has shown that mere cognizance

8740-567: The context of the Yoga Sutras , the root yuj samādhau (to concentrate) is considered the correct etymology by traditional commentators. In accordance with Pāṇini, Vyasa (who wrote the first commentary on the Yoga Sutras ) says that yoga means samadhi (concentration). Larson notes that in the Vyāsa Bhāsy the term "samadhi" refers to "all levels of mental life" (sārvabhauma), that is, "all possible states of awareness, whether ordinary or extraordinary." A person who practices yoga, or follows

8855-449: The cosmology and anthropology of a much older pre-Aryan upper class of northeastern India [Bihar] – being rooted in the same subsoil of archaic metaphysical speculation as Yoga, Sankhya , and Buddhism, the other non-Vedic Indian systems." More recently, Richard Gombrich and Geoffrey Samuel also argue that the śramaṇa movement originated in the non-Vedic eastern Ganges basin, specifically Greater Magadha . Thomas McEvilley favors

8970-554: The development of a number of yoga satellite traditions. It and other aspects of Indian philosophy came to the attention of the educated Western public during the mid-19th century. Heinrich Zimmer was an exponent of the synthesis model, arguing for non-Vedic eastern states of India . According to Zimmer, yoga is part of a non-Vedic system which includes the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy , Jainism and Buddhism : "[Jainism] does not derive from Brahman-Aryan sources, but reflects

9085-425: The early śramaṇa movements ( Buddhists , Jainas and Ajivikas ), probably in around the sixth and fifth centuries BCE." This occurred during India's second urbanisation period. According to Mallinson and Singleton, these traditions were the first to use mind-body techniques (known as Dhyāna and tapas ) but later described as yoga, to strive for liberation from the round of rebirth. Werner writes, "The Buddha

9200-464: The early Upanishads of the first half of the first millennium BCE, with expositions also appearing in Jain and Buddhist texts c.  500  – c.  200 BCE . Between 200 BCE and 500 CE, traditions of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophy were taking shape; teachings were collected as sutras , and a philosophical system of Patanjaliyogasastra began to emerge. The Middle Ages saw

9315-426: The early Vedic period and codified between c. 1200 and 900 BCE, contain references to yogic practices primarily related to ascetics outside, or on the fringes of Brahmanism . The earliest yoga-practices may have come from the Jain tradition at ca. 900 BCE. The Rigveda 's Nasadiya Sukta suggests an early Brahmanic contemplative tradition. Techniques for controlling breath and vital energies are mentioned in

9430-586: The early centuries of the Common Era . Hatha yoga texts began to emerge between the ninth and 11th centuries, originating in tantra . Yoga is practiced worldwide, but "yoga" in the Western world often entails a modern form of Hatha yoga and a posture-based physical fitness, stress-relief and relaxation technique , consisting largely of asanas ; this differs from traditional yoga, which focuses on meditation and release from worldly attachments. It

9545-452: The eight consciousnesses as absolutely separate or substantial phenomena. For example, Kalupahana notes that the Triṃśika describes the various forms of consciousness as transformations and functions of a being's stream of consciousness. These transformations are threefold according to Kalupahana. The first is the ālaya and its seeds, which is the flow or stream of consciousness, without any of

9660-467: The experience of blue, they cannot be differentiated empirically . Furthermore, we cannot differentiate them through an inference either, since this would need to be based on a pattern of past experiences which included the absence or presence of the two elements. Thus, this is a type of epistemological argument for idealism which attempts to show there is no good reason to accept the existence of mind-independent objects. Vasubandhu also explains why it

9775-468: The eye, ear, etc.), and six consciousnesses "exhaust the full extent of everything in the universe, or more accurately, the sensorium ." The six consciousnesses are also not substantial entities, but a series or stream of events (dharmas), which arise and vanish very rapidly moment by moment. This is the Abhidharma doctrine of "momentariness" (kṣaṇavada), which Yogācāra also accepts. Yogācāra expanded

9890-473: The first six vijñānas , each corresponding to a sense base ( ayatana ) and having their own sense objects (sounds etc). Five are based on the five senses, while the sixth ( mano-vijñāna), was seen as the surveyor of the content of the five senses as well as of mental content like thoughts and ideas. Standard Buddhist doctrine held that these eighteen "elements" (dhatus), i.e. six external sense bases (smells, sounds etc.), six internal bases (sense organs like

10005-438: The formation of the renunciate ideal. The ascetic traditions of the eastern Ganges plain are thought to drew from a common body of practices and philosophies, with proto-samkhya concepts of purusha and prakriti as a common denominator. According to Edward Fitzpatrick Crangle, Hindu researchers have favoured a linear theory which attempts "to interpret the origin and early development of Indian contemplative practices as

10120-536: The hierarchy of mind-body constituents—the senses, mind, intellect, etc.—that comprise the foundational categories of Sāmkhya philosophy, whose metaphysical system grounds the yoga of the Yogasutras, Bhagavad Gita, and other texts and schools (Ku3.10–11; 6.7–8). The hymns in book two of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad (another late-first-millennium BCE text) describe a procedure in which the body

10235-405: The idealist nature of Yogācāra texts, while also underscoring how Yogācāra retains a strong orientation to a soteriology which aims at contemplative realization of an ultimate reality that is an ‘inexpressible essence’ (nirabhilāpyasvabhāva) beyond any subject-object duality. Similarly, Jonathan Gold writes that the Yogācāra thinker Vasubandhu can be said to be an idealist (similar to Kant ), in

10350-589: The later works of Patanjali and Buddhaghosa . Nirodhayoga (yoga of cessation), an early form of yoga, is described in the Mokshadharma section of the 12th chapter ( Shanti Parva ) of the third-century BCE Mahabharata . Nirodhayoga emphasizes progressive withdrawal from empirical consciousness, including thoughts and sensations, until purusha (self) is realized. Terms such as vichara (subtle reflection) and viveka (discrimination) similar to Patanjali's terminology are used, but not described. Although

10465-465: The movements of the mind," and the recognition of Purusha, the witness-consciousness, as different from Prakriti, mind and matter. According to Larson, in the context of the Yoga Sutras , yoga has two meanings. The first meaning is yoga "as a general term to be translated as "disciplined meditation" that focuses on any of the many levels of ordinary awareness." In the second meaning yoga is "that specific system of thought (sāstra) that has for its focus

10580-475: The nonexistent [ abhūta-parikalpa ] exists. In it duality does not exist. Emptiness, however, exists in it," which indicates that even though that which is dualistically imagined (subjects and objects), is unreal and empty, their basis does exist (i.e. the dependently arisen conscious manifestation). Yoga Traditional Yoga ( / ˈ j oʊ ɡ ə / ; Sanskrit : योग , Sanskrit pronunciation: [joːɡɐ] , lit. "yoke" or "union")

10695-470: The notion of a solid self. According to Lusthaus, this analysis is not a rejection of external phenomena, and it does not grant foundational or transcendent status to consciousness. In this interpretation, instead of offering an ontological theory, Yogācāra focuses on understanding and eliminating the underlying tendencies ( anuśaya ) that lead to clinging concepts and theories, which are just cognitive projections ( pratibimba , parikalpita ). Thus, for Lusthaus,

10810-544: The opposite of such qualities ( M .I.59). It can be dominated by a certain emotion, to be "terrified", "astonished", or "tranquil." It can be "taken hold of" by pleasant or unpleasant impressions (M.I.423). A host of negative emotionally charged states can pertain to it, or it may be free of such states, so it is vital to develop or purify it: "For a long time this chitta has been defiled by attachment, hatred, and delusion. By defilement of chitta, beings are defiled; by purity of chitta, beings are purified" ( S .III.152). Attaining

10925-474: The orientation of the Yogācāra school is largely consistent with the thinking of the Pāli nikāyas and seeks to realign Mahayana with early Buddhist theory. According to the contemporary philosopher Jan Westerhoff, Yogācāra philosophers came up with various arguments in defense of the consciousness-only view. He outlines three main arguments: the explanatory equivalence argument, the causation-resemblance argument, and

11040-464: The origins of yoga. The linear model holds that yoga has Vedic origins (as reflected in Vedic texts), and influenced Buddhism. This model is mainly supported by Hindu scholars. According to the synthesis model, yoga is a synthesis of indigenous, non-Vedic practices with Vedic elements. This model is favoured in Western scholarship. The earliest yoga-practices may have appeared in the Jain tradition at ca. 900 BCE. Speculations about yoga are documented in

11155-468: The particular objects of perception, are by nature just consciousness itself." According to Bruce Cameron Hall, the interpretation of this doctrine as a form of subjective or absolute idealism has been "the most common "outside" interpretation of Vijñānavāda , not only by modern writers, but by its ancient opponents, both Hindu and Buddhist." Scholars such as Jay Garfield , Saam Trivedi, Nobuyoshi Yamabe, Paul Williams, and Sean Butler argue that Yogācāra

11270-536: The passionate side of the mind, as opposed to manas as the intellect that grasps mental objects ( dhamma ). Citta is the object of meditation in the third part of Satipatthana , also called Four Foundations of Mindfulness. Citta primarily represents one's mindset, or state of mind. It is the term used to refer to the quality of mental processes as a whole. Citta is classified as a khandha (or skandha ), specifically as one of three types of saṅkhārā (kāyasaṅkhāro, vacīsaṅkhāro, cittasaṅkhāro; body, speech, mind) and

11385-523: The performance of the sacrifice " may be precursors of yoga. "The ecstatic practice of enigmatic longhaired muni in Rgveda 10.136 and the ascetic performance of the vratya-s in the Atharvaveda outside of or on the fringe of the Brahmanical ritual order, have probably contributed more to the ascetic practices of yoga." According to Bryant, practices recognizable as classical yoga first appear in

11500-442: The processes going on in the ālaya-vijñāna is an important element of ignorance ( avidya ). The ālaya is also individual, so that each person has their own ālaya-vijñāna, which is an ever changing process and therefore not a permanent self. According to Williams, this consciousness "seen as a defiled form of consciousness (or perhaps sub- or unconsciousness), is personal, individual, continually changing and yet serving to give

11615-417: The qualifier mātra is to be understood in this context, and he objects to interpretations which claim that Yogācāra rejects the external world altogether, preferring translations such as "amounting to mind" or "mirroring mind" for citta-mātra . For Wayman, what this doctrine means is that "the mind has only a report or representation of what the sense organ had sensed." The representationalist interpretation

11730-612: The real from the unreal," liberating insight into true reality. Buswell & Lopez state that "in Buddhism, [yoga is] a generic term for soteriological training or contemplative practice, including tantric practice." O'Brien-Kop further notes that "classical yoga" is not an independent category, but "was informed by the European colonialist project." There is no consensus on yoga's chronology or origins other than its development in ancient India. There are two broad theories explaining

11845-472: The recitation of sacred hymns during the ritual, the notion of self-sacrifice, impeccably accurate recitation of sacred words (prefiguring mantra-yoga ), mystical experience, and the engagement with a reality far greater than our psychological identity or the ego." Jacobsen wrote in 2018, "Bodily postures are closely related to the tradition of ( tapas ), ascetic practices in the Vedic tradition"; ascetic practices used by Vedic priests "in their preparations for

11960-508: The roots of yoga are in the Indus Valley civilisation . This is rejected by more recent scholarship; for example, Geoffrey Samuel , Andrea R. Jain, and Wendy Doniger describe the identification as speculative; the meaning of the figure will remain unknown until Harappan script is deciphered, and the roots of yoga cannot be linked to the IVC. The Vedas , the only texts preserved from

12075-492: The sense that for him, everything in experience as well as its causal support is mental, and thus he gives causal priority to the mental. At the same time however, this is only in the conventional realm, since "mind" is just another concept and true reality for Vasubandhu is ineffable, "an inconceivable 'thusness' ( tathatā )." Indeed, the Vimśatikā states that the very idea of vijñapti-mātra must also be understood to be itself

12190-409: The six vijñāna schema into a new system which with two new categories. The seventh consciousness developed from the early Buddhist concept of manas , and was seen as the defiled mentation ( kliṣṭa-manas ) which is obsessed with notions of "self". According to Paul Williams , this consciousness "takes the substratum consciousness as its object and mistakenly considers the substratum consciousness to be

12305-428: The term appears in the first verse of Vasubandhu's Vimśatikā ( Twenty Verses ), which states: This [world] is vijñaptimātra , since it manifests itself as an unreal object ( artha ), just like the case of those with cataracts seeing unreal hairs in the moon and the like ( vijñaptimātram evaitad asad arthāvabhāsanāt yathā taimirikasyāsat keśa candrādi darśanam ). According to Mark Siderits, what Vasubandhu means here

12420-414: The usual projections on top of it. The second transformation is manana , self-consciousness or "Self-view, self-confusion, self-esteem and self-love". It is "thinking" about the various perceptions occurring in the stream of consciousness". The ālaya is defiled by this self-interest. The third transformation is visaya-vijñapti , the " concept of the object". In this transformation the concept of objects

12535-499: The world into what it is and what it is not, but the world is a causal flux that does not accord with conceptual constructs. The second element of this is a perceptual duality between the sensorium and its objects, between what is "external" and "internal", between subject ( grāhaka, literally "grasper") and object ( grāhya, "grasped"). This is also an unreal superimposition, since there is really no such separation of inner and outer, but an interconnected causal stream of mentality which

12650-406: The world. There are several interpretations of this main theory: various forms of Idealism , as well as a phenomenology or representationalism . Aside from this, Yogācāra also developed an elaborate analysis of consciousness ( vijñana ) and mental phenomena ( dharmas ), as well as an extensive system of Buddhist spiritual practice, i.e. yoga. The movement has been traced to the first centuries of

12765-403: The yoga philosophy with a high level of commitment, is called a yogi ; a female yogi may also be known as a yogini . The term " yoga " has been defined in different ways in Indian philosophical and religious traditions. "Yoga is skill in action" (2.50) "Know that which is called yoga to be separation from contact with suffering" (6.23) Due to its complicated historical development, and

12880-457: The yogis were aloof and adopted "different postures – standing or sitting or lying naked – and motionless". Onesicritus also mentions attempts by his colleague, Calanus , to meet them. Initially denied an audience, he was later invited because he was sent by a "king curious of wisdom and philosophy". Onesicritus and Calanus learn that the yogis consider life's best doctrines to "rid the spirit of not only pain, but also pleasure", that "man trains

12995-506: Was introduced by gurus from India after the success of Swami Vivekananda 's adaptation of yoga without asanas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Vivekananda introduced the Yoga Sutras to the West, and they became prominent after the 20th-century success of hatha yoga. The Sanskrit noun योग yoga is derived from the root yuj ( युज् ) "to attach, join, harness, yoke". According to Jones and Ryan, "The word yoga

13110-501: Was still made of consciousness, while some later Indian thinkers like Ratnakīrti (11th century CE) defended a type of non-dual monism. This argument was famously defended in Dignāga's Ālambanaparīkṣā ( Examination of the Object of Consciousness ) and its main target is Indian atomism , which was the main theory of matter in the 5th century. The argument is based on the premise that

13225-566: Was the founder of his [Yoga] system, even though, admittedly, he made use of some of the experiences he had previously gained under various Yoga teachers of his time." He notes: But it is only with Buddhism itself as expounded in the Pali Canon that we can speak about a systematic and comprehensive or even integral school of Yoga practice, which is thus the first and oldest to have been preserved for us in its entirety. Early Buddhist texts describe yogic and meditative practices, some of which

#29970