Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume One A -L Robert E. Buswell

Y OGA
Linji’s teaching. When this gem of a Chan text was
published, Linji’s reputation was already established as
the founder of one of Chan’s Five Houses, and his life
story had become thoroughly embellished with colorful
details.
Bibliography
Demiéville, Paul, trans. and ed. Entretiens de Lin-tsi. Paris: Fayard,
1972.
Miura, Isshu, and Sasaki, Ruth Fuller. Zen Dust. Kyoto: First
Zen Institute of America in Japan, 1966.
Sasaki, Ruth Fuller, trans. The Record of Lin-chi. Kyoto: Institute
for Zen Studies, 1975.
Watson, Burton, trans. The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-chi.
Boston: Shambhala, 1993.
Yanagida, Seizan. “The Life of Lin-chi I-hsüan.” Eastern Buddhist
vol. V, no. 2 (1972): 70–94.
YOGA. See Meditation
YOGA CA RA SCHOOL
URS APP
The Yogacara school, whose name is taken from one
of its foundational texts, the Yogacarabhu mi (Stages of
Yoga Practice), provided perhaps the most sophisticated
examination and description in all of Buddhism
of how the mind works—in psychological, epistemological,
logical, emotional, cognitive, meditative, developmental,
and soteriological modes. At once a
rigorous, rational philosophy and an elaborate system
of practice, it provided methods by which one could
identify and correct the cognitive errors inherent in the
way the mind works, since enlightenment meant direct,
immediate, correct cognition.
The founding of Yogacara, one of the two major Indian
MAHAYANA schools, is usually attributed to the
half-brothers ASAṄGA and VASUBANDHU (fourth to
fifth century C.E.), but most of its unique concepts had
been introduced at least a century earlier in scriptures
such as the SAM DHINIRMOCANA-SU TRA (Su tra Elucidating
the Hidden Connections or Su tra Setting Free the
[Buddha’s] Intent). Yogacara forged novel concepts
and methods that synthesized prior Buddhist teachings
into a coherent antidote (pratipaksa) for eliminating
the cognitive problems that prevented liberation from
the karmic cycles of birth and death.
Historical overview
Key Yogacara notions such as only-cognition
(vijñaptimatra), three self-natures (trisvabhava), the
ALAYAVIJNANA (warehouse consciousness), overturning
the basis (aśrayaparavrtti), and the theory of eight consciousnesses
were introduced in the Sam dhinirmocanasu
tra and received more detailed, systematic treatment
in the writings of Asaṅga and Vasubandhu. Born Brahmans
in Purusapura (present-day Peshawar, Pakistan)
to the same mother but different fathers, Asaṅga and
his half-brother Vasubandhu became Buddhists,
Asaṅga entering the MAHIŚASAKA school, while Vasubandhu
joined the Vaibhasikas in their stronghold
in Kashmir. The literary core of Mahśasaka practice
was the A GAMA/NIKAYA corpus of the MAINSTREAM
BUDDHIST SCHOOLS, while the Vaibhasikas excelled at
ABHIDHARMA. The brothers’ later writings reflect these
backgrounds, since even Asaṅga’s book on abhidharma,
the Abhidharmasamuccaya (Abhidharma Compilation),
cites only agamas, not abhidharma texts.
According to tradition, after many years of fruitless
practice and solitary meditation, in a moment of
utter despair, Asaṅga began receiving instruction from
the future Buddha, MAITREYA, who resides in the
Tusita heaven. Maitreya dictated new texts for Asaṅga
to disseminate. Asaṅga also composed works under
his own name, though the Chinese and Tibetan traditions
disagree about the attribution of these texts.
For instance, both ascribe the Mahayanasam graha
(Mahayana Compendium), Abhidharmasamuccaya, and
Mahayanasu tralam kara (Ornament of Mahayana Su tras)
to Asaṅga, and Madhyantavibhaga (Distinguishing the
Middle and Extremes) to Maitreya, but Chinese tradition
attributes the Yogacarabhu mi to Maitreya, whereas
Tibetans credit Asaṅga with this text. What gave the
Maitreya-Asaṅga texts their lasting importance was not
their mode of composition—receiving sacred scriptures
from nonhuman sources is not uncommon in
Asian traditions—but their content, that is, how they
rethought Buddhism on a grand scale, as well as in its
most minute details.
Vasubandhu grew dissatisfied with Vaibhasika doctrine
and, after exploring other forms of Buddhism, became
a Yogacara through Asaṅga’s influence. Asaṅga’s
magnum opus, the Yogacarabhu mi, is a comprehensive
encyclopedia of Buddhist terms and models mapped
according to a Yogacara view of how one progresses
along the stages of the path to enlightenment. Vasubandhu’s
pre-Yogacara magnum opus, the ABHI-
DHARMAKOŚABHASYA (Treasury of Abhidharma), also
provides a comprehensive, detailed overview of the
914 E NCYCLOPEDIA OF B UDDHISM