What is the meaning of yogacara?

What is the meaning of yogacara?

Definition of Yogacara 1 : one of the two major philosophical systems of Mahayana Buddhism agreeing with Madhyamika that external objects are unreal but holding that mind is real and that objects which appear to be external and material are in fact ideas or states of consciousness — compare vijnanavada.

What is the main basis of madhyamaka philosophy in Buddhism?

Central to madhyamaka philosophy is śūnyatā, “emptiness”, and this refers to the central idea that dharmas are empty of svabhāva. This term has been translated variously as essence, intrinsic nature, inherent existence, own being and substance.

What is Sautrantika and Sammitiya?

Sautrantika and Sammitiya were the sects of Jainism. Sarvastivadin held that the constituents of phenomena were not wholly momentary, but existed forever in a latent form.

Who is the founder of madhyamaka?

Nagarjuna
Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna, (flourished 2nd century ce), Indian Buddhist philosopher who articulated the doctrine of emptiness (shunyata) and is traditionally regarded as the founder of the Madhyamika (“Middle Way”) school, an important tradition of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy.

Is yogacara a Mahayana?

The Yogācāra (practitioners of yoga) school, also known as citta-mātra (mind-only), or vijñānavāda (consciousness school), is one of two major schools of Indian Mahayana Buddhist thought, which flourished in classical India from the 3rd–4th century CE to the 9th century CE.

Is yogacara an idealism?

Yogācāra is not idealism, claims Koller, but rather a middle path between idealism and realism.

When was madhyamaka founded?

150 C.E.
Madhyamaka refers to the Indian Buddhist school of thought that develops in the form of commentaries on the works of Nāgārjuna, who flourished around 150 C.E. Nāgārjuna figures in the traditional accounts developed to authenticate the literature of the self-styled “Mahāyāna” stream of Buddhist thought.

Who is the exponent of madhyamika school?

Nagarjuna, (flourished 2nd century ce), Indian Buddhist philosopher who articulated the doctrine of emptiness (shunyata) and is traditionally regarded as the founder of the Madhyamika (“Middle Way”) school, an important tradition of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy.

What is the meaning of abhidhamma?

Abhidharma (Sanskrit) or Abhidhamma (Pali) are ancient (3rd century BCE and later) Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist sutras. It also refers to the scholastic method itself as well as the field of knowledge that this method is said to study.

Who are regarded as the founders of the yogacara philosophical tradition?

The Yogacara school was founded by Maitreya, who lived around 300 AD. Important members of this school were Asanga (315–390) and his brother Vasubandhu, and Sthiramati (6th century). Happily, many works written by them in Sanskrit have been preserved.

Is Nagarjuna a Hindu?

Nagarjuna was born a “Hindu,” which in his time connoted religious allegiance to the Vedas, probably into an upper-caste Brahmin family and probably in the southern Andhra region of India. The dates of his life are just as amorphous, but two texts which may well have been authored by him offer some help.

Why is yogacara view called Vijnanavada?

The other name of this school is the Yogācāra (see Yogācāra). It is also, at times, called the Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda. Thus, the term “vijñāna,” as it is understood in the entire Buddhist corpus, means “consciousness,” and the doctrine (vāda) that upholds the theory of consciousness (vjñāna) is vijñānavāda.

How did the Yogacara relate to the Madhyamaka school?

The comprehensive explication of the notion of ’emptiness’, as found in the philosophical literature (sastra) of the Madhyamaka school, provides a doctrinal key to unlock the abstruse meanings of the Prajnaparamita sutras. As a Mahayana school, the Yogacara developed as a response to the insights of those same sutras.

What are the Five Dharmas of Yogacara school?

Indeed, the Yogacara school seems to have accepted the traditional Sarvastivada division of dharmas into five categories: mind (citta), mental concomitants (caitasika), form (rupa), compounded factors independent of the mind (citta-viprayukta-samskara-dharmas), and the uncompounded factors (asamskrta).[13]

Is the Yogacara school part of the Buddhist path?

This work, however, far from being a sectarian exposition of Yogacara ideas, is a large-scale compendium of the stages of the Buddhist path, of which only a small part is devoted to the specific interests of the Yogacara school.