East Asian Yog?c?ra (traditional Chinese: ???; pinyin: Wéishí-z?ng; Japanese: Yuishiki-sh? "'Consciousness Only' school" or traditional Chinese: ???; ; pinyin: F?xiàng-z?ng, "'Dharma Characteristics' school") refers to the traditions in East Asia which represent the Indian Yogacara system of thought.
Video East Asian Yog?c?ra
Etymology
The term F?xiàng itself was first applied to this tradition by the Huayan teacher Fazang (Chinese: ??), who used it to characterize Consciousness Only teachings as provisional, dealing with the phenomenal appearances of the dharmas. Chinese proponents preferred the title Wéishí (??), meaning "Consciousness Only" (Sanskrit Vijñaptim?tra).
This school may also be called Wéishí Yúji?xíng Pài (?????? "Consciousness-Only Yog?c?ra School") or Y?u Z?ng (?? "School of Existence"). Yin Shun also introduced a threefold classification for Buddhist teachings which designates this school as X?wàng Wéishí Xì (????? "False Imagination Mere Consciousness System").</ref>
Maps East Asian Yog?c?ra
Characteristics
Like the parent Yog?c?ra school, the Faxiang school teaches that our understanding of reality comes from our own mind, rather than actual empirical experience. The mind distorts reality and projects it as reality itself. In keeping with Yog?c?ra tradition, the mind is divided into the Eight Consciousnesses and the Four Aspects of Cognition, which produce what we view as reality.
Faxiang Buddhism also maintained the Five Natures Doctrine (Chinese: ????; pinyin: w?xìng gèbié; Wade-Giles: wu-hsing ko-pieh) which brought it into doctrinal conflict with the Tiantai school in China.
History in China
Early history and teachers
Translations of Indian Yog?c?ra texts were first introduced to China in the early fifth century. Among these was Gu?abhadra's translation of the La?k?vat?ra S?tra in four fascicles, which would also become important in the early history of Chan Buddhism.
During the sixth century CE, the Indian monk and translator Param?rtha widely propagated Yog?c?ra teachings in China. His translations include the Sa?dhinirmocana S?tra, the Madhy?ntavibh?ga-k?rik?, the Tri??ik?-vijñaptim?trat?, and the Mah?y?nasa?graha. Param?rtha also taught widely on the principles of Consciousness Only, and developed a large following in southern China. Many monks and laypeople traveled long distances to hear his teachings, especially those on the Mah?y?nasa?graha.
Xuanzang and Kuiji
Although Yog?c?ra teachings had been propagated widely, most look to Xuanzang as the most important founder of East Asian Yog?c?ra. At the age of 33, Xuanzang made a dangerous journey to India in order to study Buddhism there and to procure Buddhist texts for translation into Chinese. This journey was later the subject of legend and eventually fictionalized as the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, a major component of East Asian popular culture from Chinese opera to Japanese television (Monkey Magic). Xuanzang spent over ten years in India traveling and studying under various Buddhist masters. These masters included ??labhadra, the abbot of the N?land? Mah?vih?ra, who was then 106 years old. Xuanzang was tutored in the Yog?c?ra teachings by ??labhadra for several years at N?land?. Upon his return from India, Xuanzang brought with him a wagon-load of Buddhist texts, including important Yog?c?ra works such as the Yog?c?rabh?mi-?astra. In total, Xuanzang had procured 657 Buddhist texts from India. Upon his return to China, he was given government support and many assistants for the purpose of translating these texts into Chinese.
As an important contribution to East Asian Yog?c?ra, Xuanzang composed the treatise Cheng Weishi Lun, or "Discourse on the Establishment of Consciousness Only." This work is framed around Vasubandhu's Tri??ik?-vijñaptim?trat?, or "Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only." Xuanzang upheld Dharmapala of Nalanda's commentary on this work as being the correct one, and provided his own explanations of these as well as other views in the Cheng Weishi Lun. This work was composed at the behest of Xuanzang's disciple Kuiji, and became a central representation of East Asian Yog?c?ra. Xuanzang also promoted devotional meditative practices toward Maitreya Bodhisattva. Xuanzang's disciple Kuiji wrote a number of important commentaries on the Yog?c?ra texts and further developed the influence of this doctrine in China, and was recognized by later adherents as the first true patriarch of the school.
Later history and the modern era
In time, Chinese Yog?c?ra was weakened due to competition with other Chinese Buddhist traditions such as Tiantai, Huayan, Chan and Pure Land Buddhism. Nevertheless, it continued to exert an influence, and Chinese Buddhists relied on its translations, commentaries, and concepts heavily, absorbing Yog?c?ra teachings into the other traditions.
Yog?c?ra teachings and concepts remained popular in Chinese Buddhism, including visions of the bodhisattva Maitreya and teachings given from him in Tu?ita, usually observed by advanced meditators. One such example is that of Hanshan Deqing during the Ming dynasty. In his autobiography, Hanshan describes the palace of Maitreya in Tu?ita, and hearing a lecture given by Maitreya to a large group of his disciples.
In a moment I saw that tall, dignified monks were standing in line before the throne. Suddenly, a bhik?u, holding a sutra in his hands, came down from behind the throne and handed the sutra to me, saying, "Master is going to talk about this sutra. He asked me to give it to you." I received it with joy but when I opened it I saw that it was written in gold Sanskrit letters which I could not read. I put it inside my robe and asked, "Who is the Master?" The bhiksu replied, "Maitreya."
Hanshan recalls the teaching given as the following:
Maitreya said, "Discrimination is consciousness. Nondiscrimination is wisdom. Clinging to consciousness will bring disgrace but clinging to wisdom will bring purity. Disgrace leads to birth and death but purity leads to Nirvana." I listened to him as if I were in a dream within the dream. His voice, like the sound of tinkling crystal, floated on the air. I could hear him so clearly that even when I awoke his words kept on repeating in my mind. Now I realized the difference between consciousness and wisdom. Now I realized also that the place where I had been in my dream was Maitreya Buddha's Chamber in Tushita Heaven.
In the early part of the 20th century, the laymen Yang Wenhui and Ouyang Jian (???) (1871-1943) promoted Buddhist learning in China, and the general trend was for an increase in studies of Buddhist traditions such as Yog?c?ra, Sanlun, and Huayan. In his 1929 book on the history of Chinese Buddhism, Jiang Weiqiao wrote:
In modern times, there are few ?rama?a who research [Faxiang]. Various laypeople, however, take this field of study to be rigorous, systematic and clear, and close to science. For this reason, there are now many people researching it. Preeminent among those writing on the topic are those at Nanjing's Inner Studies Academy, headed by Ouyang Jian.
Ouyang Jian founded the Chinese Institute of Inner Studies (Chinese: ?????), which provided education in Yog?c?ra teachings and the Mah?y?na prajñ? class of s?tras, given to both monastics and laypeople. Many modern Chinese Buddhist scholars are second-generation descendants of this school or have been influenced by it indirectly.
History in Japan
The Consciousness-Only teachings were transmitted to Japan as Hoss?, and they made considerable impact. One of the founders of the Hoss? sect in Japan was Kuiji. Although a relatively small Hoss? sect exists in Japan to this day, the sect has survived long after it died out in Korea and China, though its influence has diminished as the center of Buddhist authority moved away from Nara, and with the rise of the Ekay?na schools of Buddhism. During its height, scholars of the Hoss? school frequently debated with other emerging schools. Both the founder of Shingon Buddhism, K?kai, and the founder of Tendai, Saich?, exchanged letters of debate with Hoss? scholar Tokuitsu, which became particularly heated in the case of Saich?. Nevertheless, the Hoss? maintained amicable relations with the Shingon esoteric sect, and adopted its practices while providing further scholarship on Yogacara philosophy.
H?nen, founder of the J?do-sh? Pure Land sect, likewise sought advice from Hoss? scholars of his time as a novice monk, and later debated with them after establishing his sect. Another Hoss? scholar, J?kei was among H?nen's toughest critics, and frequently sought to refute his teachings, while simultaneously striving, as H?nen did, to make Buddhism accessible to a wider audience by reviving devotion to the bodhisattva Maitreya and teaching followers the benefits of rebirth in the Tu?ita rather than the pure land of Amit?bha. J?kei is also a leading figure in the efforts to revive monastic discipline at places like T?sh?dai-ji, K?fuku-ji and counted other notable monks among his disciples, including Eison, who founded the Shingon Risshu sect.
During the Meiji period, as tourism became more common, the Hoss? sect was the owner of several famous temples, notably H?ry?-ji and Kiyomizu-dera. However, as the Hoss? sect had ceased Buddhist study centuries prior, the head priests were not content with giving part of their tourism income to the sect's organization. Following the end of World War II, the owners of these popular temples broke away from the Hoss? sect, in 1950 and 1965, respectively. The sect still maintains K?fuku-ji and Yakushi-ji.
History in Korea
The Consciousness Only teachings were transmitted to Korea as Beopsang. The most well known Korean figure of these teachings was Woncheuk, who studied under the Chinese monk Xuanzang. Woncheuk is well-known amongst scholars of Tibetan Buddhism for his Commentary on the Sa?dhinirmocana S?tra. While in China, Woncheuk took as a disciple a Korean-born monk named Dojeung (traditional Chinese: ??), who travelled to Silla in 692 and propounded and propagated Woncheuk's exegetical tradition there where it flourished.
In Korea, Beopsang teachings did not endure long as a distinct school, but as with China, its teachings were frequently included in later schools of thought.
Notes
Bibliography
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