Overview
The Yogacara, or Yoga Practice, school is one of the two schools of Mahayana Buddhism that developed in the early centuries of the common era. Though it arose in India, Mahayana Buddhism now flourishes in China, Tibet, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. While the other major Mahayana tradition, the Madhyamaka (Middle Way), focuses on the concept of emptinessāthat all phenomena lack an intrinsic essenceāthe Yogacara school focuses on the cognitive processes whereby we impute such essences. Through everyday examples and analogues in cognitive science, author William Waldron makes Yogacaraās core teachingsāon the three turnings of the Dharma wheel, the three natures, the storehouse consciousness, and mere perceptionāaccessible to a broad audience. In contrast to the common characterization of Yogacara as philosophical idealism, Waldron presents Yogacara Buddhism on its own terms, as a coherent system of ideas and practices, with dependent arising its guiding principle.
The first half of Making Sense of Mind Only explores the historical context for Yogacaraās development. Waldron examines early Buddhist texts that show how our affective and cognitive processes shape the way objects and worlds appear to us, and how we erroneously grasp onto them as essentially realāperpetuating the habits that bind us to samsara. He then analyzes the early Madhyamaka critique of essences.
This context sets the stage for the bookās second half, an examination of how Yogacara texts such as the Samdhinirmocana Sutra and Asangaās Stages of Yogic Practice (Yogacarabhumi) build upon these earlier ideas by arguing that our constructive processes also occur unconsciously. Not only do we collectively, yet mostly unknowingly, construct shared realities or cultures, our shared worlds are also mediated through the storehouse consciousness (alayavijƱana) functioning as a cultural unconscious. Vasubandhuās Twenty Verses argues that we can learn to recognize such objects and worlds as āmere perceptionsā (vijƱaptimatra) and thereby abandon our enchantment with the products of our own cognitive processes. Finally, Maitreyaās Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Ultimate Nature (Dharmadharmatavibhaga) elegantly lays out the Mahayana path to this transformation.
In Waldronās hands, Yogacara is no mere view but a practical system of transformation. His presentation of its key texts and ideas illuminates how religion can remain urgent and vital in our scientific and pluralistic age.
This book title, Making Sense of Mind Only (Why Yogacara Buddhism Matters), ISBN: 9781614297260, by William S. Waldron, published by Wisdom Publications (November 7, 2023) is available in paperback. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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