Mind Only: A Philosophical and Doctrinal Analysis of the Vijnanavada

309 Pages·1991·9.76 MB·English

by  Thomas E. Wood

The Society for Asian and Comparative Philos
ophy Monograph Series was started in 1974.
Works are published in the series that deal with
any area of Asian philosophy, or in any other
field of philosophy examined from a comparative
perspective. The aim of the series is to make avail
able scholarly works that exceed article length,
but may be too specialized for the general reading
public, and to make these works available in inex
pensive editions without sacrificing the orthogra
phy of non-Western languages.
MIND ONLY
A PHILOSOPHICAL
AND DOCTRINAL ANALYSIS
OF THE VUNANAVADA
Thomas E. Wood
MONOGRAPH NO. 9
SOCIETY FOR ASIAN AND COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY
University of Hawaii Press
Honolulu
© 1991 University of Hawaii Press
All Rights Reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wood, Thomas E., 1946-
Mind only a philosophical and doctrinal analysis of the
Vijfianavada/Thomas E. Wood.
p. cm.-(Monograph no. 9 of the Society for Asian and
Comparative Philosophy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8248-1356-1
1. Yogacara (Buddhism) 2. Vijfiaptimatrata. I. Title.
II. Series: Monograph ... of the Society for Asian and
Comparative Philosophy no. 9.
BQ7496.W66 1991
294.3'42-dc 20 90-41660
CIP
Camera-ready copy was prepared by the author.
University of Hawaii Press books are printed
on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines
for permanence and durability of the Council
on Library Resources
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction ix
Part I:
Silnyatti and the Doctrine of the Three Self Natures
Ch 1 Madhyanta-vibhaga (la~a~a-pariccheda) 1
Ch2 Tri -svabhava-nirdda 31
Ch3 Triq1sika 49
Part II:
Nilvti!Ja and Buddhahood
Ch4 Triq1sika and Tri-svabhava-nirdda 63
Part III:
The Existence of Other Minds
and the Omniscience of the Buddha
Ch5 Viq1satika and Cheng wei shilun 93
Ch6 Saq1 tanantara -siddhi 107
Ch 7 Tattva-saq1graha-(pafijika) 133
Ch8 Saq1tanantara-du~a~a 149
Part IV:
The Doctrine of Collective Hallucination
Ch9 Viq1satika and Cheng wei shilun 163
Ch 10 A Critique of the Doctrine of Collective 171
Hallucination
Conclusion 191
Appendixes:
Appl Authors and Texts 199
Appii The Saq1tanantara-siddhi 207
App III A Note on the Tattva-saq1graha-(panjika) 219
as a Vijfianavada Text
ApplY The Saq1tanantara-dii~a~a 223
v
Mind Only
VI
Notes 233
Bibliography 269
Index 289
ABBREVIATIONS
AA AbhisamayalaJ11kara
AK Abhidharma-kosa
AKB Abhidharma-kosa-bha~ya
AKSV Sphutartha Abhidharma-kosa-vyakhya
AN Anguttara-nikaya
CWSL Cheng wei shilun
JNA Jfianasrimitra-nibandhavalil:t
MBh Vyakarm:wmahabha~ya (Patafijali)
MMK Mula-madhyamaka-karika
MMKV Mula-madhyamaka-karika-vrtti (Prasannapada)
MN Majjhima-nikaya
MV Madhyanta-vibhaga
MVB Madhyanta-vibhaga-bha~ya
MVBT Madhyanta-vibhaga-bha~ya-t~ka
NB Nyaya-bindu
NET Nyaya-bindu-pka
PS Prama~a-samuccaya
PSV Prama~a -sam uccaya -( sva )-vrtti
PV Pramal)a-varttika
PVB Pramal)a-varttika-bha~ya (Prajfiakaragupta)
PVin. Prama~a-viniscaya
RNA Ratnakirti-nibandhavalil:t
SD
SaJ11Uinantara-du~al)a
SN SaJ11yutta-nikaya
ss
SaJ11 Uinan tara -siddhi
TB Tarka-bha~a (Mo~akaragupta)
TS Tattva-saJTlgraha
TSN Tri-svabhava-nirdesa
TSP Tattva-saJTlgraha -pafij ika
vii
viii Mind Only
Trirp.s. Trirp.sika
n
Trirp.sika-tlka
Virp.s. Virp.satika
vv
Virp.sa tika-( sva )-vrtti
Introduction
The VijiUinavada was one of the two major schools of
Mahayana Buddhism. It flourished in India from the 4th to the 12th
century C.E., when it disappeared - along with all the other
Buddhist schools in India - during the period of the Muslim
conquests.
The adherents of this school (called Vijiianavadins or
Yogacarins) held that the world is nothing but mind or conscious
ness (vijfiiina-miitra, citta-miitra, vijfiapti-miitra). Since the
Vijiianavadins held that the world is mind only, there are many
similarities between the Vijfianavada and other idealist
philosophies, both Eastern and Western. Nevertheless, the
Vijfianavada was very much a Buddhist formulation of idealism, and
it is as a specifically Buddhist idealism that the Vijiianavada is
unique.
(1) One thing that makes the Buddhist idealism of the
Vijiianavada different from most other forms of idealism is the
doctrine of illusion (miiyii). According to the Buddhist schools, all
things are unstable, insubstantial, and impermanent (anitya). The
Mahayanists went even further than this, however, and maintained
that the world is actually unreal (asat, miiyii). The Vijiianavadin
interpretation of this doctrine was that the mind, under the
influence of a beginningless delusion or ignorance (avidyii), believes
that it apprehends, in both the waking and dreaming states, objects
which are external to it, when in fact it is only the mind itself which
is projecting, or appearing, as something external. Hence, although
mind is real, the world (i.e. what is thought to be perceived by the
mind) is unreal.1
(2) The Vijiianavada is also of interest because it docs not fit
neatly into any of the categories of either solipsism, theistic idealism
or monism. First of all, the Vijiianavadins - as I shall later argue at
some length -were not solipsists. Secondly, the Vijiianavadins did
not believe that the world was in God's mind, nor did they believe it
was in the mind of an Absolute. In this respect, the Vijiianavadins
were simply orthodox Buddhists, for, though the Buddhists believed
lX
Mind Only
X
in the existence of a rather large number of deities (devas),
Buddhism is an atheistic religion (an-isvara-viida), in the sense that
it does not believe in a God or Absolute which is infinite, omni
potent, omniscient etc. Consequently, the VijiUinavada doctrine
that the world is "nothing but mind" does not mean that the world is
the manifestation or creation of some infinite or absolute mind.
If the world is mind only, and if the Vijfianavadins were neither
solipsists, theists, nor absolutists, whose mind did they think the
world was in? The answer, as I shall argue at some length in the
text, is as follows:
The world exists (at least at the level of relative truth) in a multi
plicity of independent minds. The impression that these minds
have of an external world which is public (i.e. perceived by other
minds as well as their own) is entirely false. However, the
experiences of these minds - or at least the experiences they
have in the normal waking state - are coordinated with each
other because these minds are in immediate, mind-to-mind
contact. It is this coordination of normal waking experiences
which gives rise to the erroneous impression of an external world.
The world we seem to see in our waking state is in fact just as
unreal as the things we dream about at night. The only difference
is that objects seen in the normal, waking state are collectively
hallucinated, whereas the things seen in dreams are not.
(3) Another important difference between the Vijnanavada and
other forms of idealism (both Eastern and Western) is that the
Vijfianavadins, as Buddhists, were principally interested in the
cessation of the mind (pratisarrzkhyii-nirodha). The Buddhist
analysis of mind or consciousness, which makes this wholly negative
evaluation of mind understandable, may be be described briefly as
follows.
Buddhist philosophy, which holds that there is no self or soul
(iitman), analyzes a person into the following five components or
groups: form (rflpa), feeling (vedanii), impulses (sarrzskiiras),
conception (sarrzjiiii) and consciousness ( vijiiiina ). These five
groups (skandhas), in turn, are broken down into a number of
different constituent elements called dhannas.2 The constituent
elements of the mental group (vijiiiina-skandha) were the various