Professor William Waldron discusses Yogacara Buddhism, highlighting its constructivist nature and emphasis on interdependence. He explains the liberational concepts of the three natures, storehouse consciousness, and mere perception. Waldron challenges misconceptions about Yogacara and explores how its insights can aid in understanding liberation in modern times.
Yogacara emphasizes interdependence over emptiness for liberation.
Understanding Yogacara as constructivist is more faithful than Mind Only.
Storehouse consciousness and mere perception lead to liberation from fixed views.
Deep dives
Overview of Yoga Chara Tradition
Yoga Chara tradition emerged around the second or third century, focusing on understanding the mind's operations at conscious and unconscious levels. It collected practices from early Buddhism and Abhidharma, emphasizing a cognitive unconscious concept called Alaya Vijnana. The later interpretation of idealism in Yoga Chara arose after the development of Madhyamaka and Yoga Chara schools, highlighting the centrality of mind over matter.
Challenging the Notion of Mind-Only in Yoga Chara
The term 'mind-only' in Yoga Chara, known as Chitta Madra, was anachronistically attributed to the tradition. Historically, the focus was on understanding the mind's relationship with the environment without asserting the exclusive existence of mind. Doctrinally, Yoga Chara avoids the dichotomy of idealism and realism by emphasizing the interdependent nature of cognitive events. Textually, the tradition's analysis aligns with the concept of dependent arising, challenging the concept of mind-only.
Constructivism and Interdependence in Yoga Chara
Yoga Chara builds upon early Buddhist texts by exploring constructivism and interdependence. It views the world as a construct shaped by our faculties and understanding, emphasizing the non-duality of subject-object relationships. The tradition incorporates the idea of 'loka,' implying the world arises based on the structuring of our faculties, paralleling contemporary cognitive science insights. By recognizing the relational nature of consciousness and the interpenetration of self and world, Yoga Chara transcends subject-object duality.
The Three Natures in Yoga Chara Philosophy
Yoga Chara philosophy introduces the concept of the three natures: the imagined nature, the dependent nature, and the perfected nature. The imagined nature involves attributing essential characteristics to entities, stemming from cognitive processes. The dependent nature explains how illusions arise through cognitive processes like reification of subject and object. Recognizing these illusions leads to liberation, awakening individuals to perceive things as they truly are.
The Significance of Storehouse Consciousness and Mere Perception
Storehouse consciousness, a form of dependent awareness in Yoga Chara philosophy, reflects latent tendencies to categorize and preconfigure experiences for quick understanding. This concept explains why individuals tend to attribute essences to objects. Mere perception challenges the naive realism by revealing that our perceptions are constructed and influenced, leading to liberation from fixed views. It serves as a critical concept to dismantle misconceptions about reality and aids in understanding the illusory nature of our experiences.
Professor William Waldron teaches courses on the South Asian religious traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, Tibetan religion and history, comparative psychologies and philosophies of mind, and theory and method in the study of religion at Middlebury College. His publications focus on the Yogacara school of Indian Buddhism and its dialogue with modern thought. He is the author ofMaking Sense of Mind Only: Why Yogacara Buddhism Matters (Wisdom Publications, 2023).
In this conversation, we look at Yogacara thought, idealism, constructivism and the impact on the practitioner and tackle the following;
Why thinking of Yogacara as Mind Only is deeply problematic
Why seeing Yogacara as essentially constructivist is more accurate
Why seeing constructivism in dualistic terms is to miss the point
Why interdependence is central to Yogacara rather than the doctrine of emptiness
Why the signature concepts of; the three natures, the storehouse consciousness, and mere perception are liberational and key to understanding Yogacara’s ethics
Why Madhyamaka became dominant and a mistaken view of Yogacara developed as a consequence
How the insights of Yogacara can help us to understand concepts of liberation today
