dynamic liberation in yogācāra buddhism

7/28/2019 Dynamic Liberation in Yogcra Buddhism

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THE JOURNAL OF THEINTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OFBUDDHIST STUDIESE D I T O R - I N - C H I E F

A . K. NarainUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

E D I T O R SHeinz Bechert Leon Hurvitz

Universitat Gottingen FRG University of British ColumbiaVancouver, Canada

Lewis Lancaster A . W . MacDonaldUniversity of California, Berkeley, USA Universiti de Paris X, Nanterre, France

B. J. Stavisky Alex WaymanWCNILKR, Moscow, USSR Columbia University, New York, USA

A S S O C I A T E E D I T O R

Stephen BeyerUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

Volume 2 1979 Number 1


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T A BL E O F C O N T E N T S

I . A R T I C L E S1. T he Mongo l K ha ns a nd Ch ine s e Buddh i s m a nd T a o i s m , bySechin Jagchid2. From Madhyamika to Yogacara , an Analys is of MMK,XX IV. 18 an d MV, 1.1-2, by Gadjin m. Nagao3 . Dynamic L ibe ra t ion in Yogaca ra Buddhism, by AlanSponberg4 . Yogacara and the Buddhis t Logic ians , by A lex Wayman

I I . S H O R T P A P E R S1. Sambodhi in ASoka 's 8th Rock Edict , by A . L. Basham2 . Can Medi ta t iona l Prac t ice be Measured? A Repor t on aQuant i t a t ive Survey , by Jacques Maquet3 . Nirvana and Me taphys ica l Expe r ience , by Ismael Qu iles

I I I . B O O K R E V IE W S A N D N O T I C E SReviews:

1. W o r l d C o n q u e r o r a n d W o r l d R e n o u n c e r , by S.J. Tambiah2 . Com pa r a t ive E th i c s i n H indu a nd Buddh i s t T r a d i t i ons , byRoderick Hindery.3 . Mahayana Buddhis t Medi ta t ion : Theory and Prac t ice , byMinoru Kiyota, assisted by Elvin W. Jones4. C h a n d i B o r o b u d u r : A M o n u m e n t o f M a n k i n d , by Dr.Soekmono

Obituary:1. Paul Demieville, by A lexander W. Macdonald

818491

99103106108

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DYNAMIC LIBERATIONIN Y O G A C A R A BUDDHISMby A lan Sponberg

I. IntroductionWhy d id Sakyamuni Buddha , hav ing rea l i zed l ibe ra t ionfrom the world, choose to give up the seclusion of his enl ightenment and go for th again in to tha t same world? Why did hetake on the task of preaching the content of his real izat ion to

all th e being s stil l en sn ar ed in the net of de ath a nd re-b ir th?The ear ly Buddhis ts seem to have had some di f f icul ty accounting for the apparent paradox in th is dec is ion . In the Ariyapa-riyesana-sutta of the Majjhima-nikaya, one of the earl iest accountsof the B ud dh a 's en l ig ht en m en t , we f ind the fo llowing ref lect ions a t t r ibu ted to Sakyamuni :Th e n I t h o u g h t , n o w I h a v e g a in e d t h e d o c t r i n e , p ro fo u n d ,ha rd to pe rce ive , ha rd to know, t r anqu i l , t r anscenden t , be yond the sphere of reasoning, subt le , to be known by thew ise. . . .But i f I were to teach the Doctr ine , and o thers d id notunders tand i t , i t would be a wear iness to me, a vexat ion .Then a l so the re na tu ra l ly occur red to me these ve rses unh e a rd b e fo re :

T h ro u g h p ainful s t r iv ing have I ga ine d it,Awav with now proclaiming i t ;By those beset with lust and hateNot easi ly is this Doctr ine learnt .This Doctr ine , f ine , agains t the s t ream,Subt le , p ro found , and ha rd to see ,They wil l not see i t , lust- inflamed,Beneath the mass of darkness ve i led .

Thus , m on ks , as 1 ref lec ted , my m ind tu rn ed to inac t ion ,no t to t each in g the Do c t r ine . Then Brah m a Saham pat i44


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knowing the de l ibera t ion of my mind thought , "ver i ly thewo rld is bein g des tro ye d, veri ly the w orld is goin g to de stru ct ion, in that the mind of the Tathagata , the arahat , the ful lyenl ightened , tu rns to inac t ion and not to teaching the Doct r ine . " Then Br ah m a Sah am pa t i , ju s t as a s t rong man migh ts t re tch out h is bent a rm, or bend h is s t re tched-out a rm, sod id he d i sa pp ea r from the Brah ma -wo r ld and ap pe a r be fo rem e . And a r r ang ing h i s uppe r robe on one shou lde r he ben tdow n h is c lasped n an ds to me and sa id, "may the rev eren dLord teach the Doctr ine , may the Suga ta teach the Doctrine. . . ." 'What was i t then that f inal ly overcame Sakyamuni ' s ini t ia lhesi ta t ion? In this and other vers ions of the incident we aretold that the fa teful decis ion was made only a t the behest of thegod Brahma, who, in the in te res t o f the be ings , descendedf rom h i s Brahma Heaven to in te r cede in a dens ex machina m a n ner .Th is exp lana t io n was app a ren t ly no t ad eq ua t e fo r some

however . With the Mahayana innovat ion tha t made expl ic i t thein tegra l l ink be tw een compa ss ion and w isdom , an add i t iona lmeans of reso lv ing th is puzz l ing ques t ion was provided . Theen l igh tenment r ea l i zed by Sakyamuni was seen to compr i seb o th Gr e a t W is d o m {mahdprajnd) a n d Gr e a t Co m p a s s io n(mahdkarund); w h e r e u p o n h is p r e a c h in g c a r e e r b e c a m e p e r fectly con sis tent with the very n a tu re of his en l ig h te nm en t. I twould thus have been inconce ivablewith or wi thout the inte r ces s ion o f Brahmafor Sakyamuni not to have sought thel iberat ion of other beings as well . This solut ion was one par to f a b r oa de r un ive rsa li st ic t endency in Mahayana B ud dh ism ,a deve lopment wh ich r a i sed add i t iona l p rob lems tha t were tobecome the focus of fur ther soter iological innovations in thela te r Madhyamika and Yogacara schools . Once the idea l of un i ve r sa l s a lva t ion th rough the agency o f en l igh tened Buddhasan d bodh isa t tvas was asser ted , the proble m re m ain ed of account ingboth theore t ica l ly and prac t ica l lyfor the re la t ions h i p b e t w e e n t h e s u p r a m u n d a n e a n d t h e m u n d a n e , b e t w e e nthe Abso lu te and the ind iv idua l . How can the t r anscenden ta linte ract with th e wo rldly? H ow is the bodh isat tva to functionat the same t ime in two mutually exclusive realms? In what waydoes the bodhisa t tva a f te r rea l iz ing the t ranspersona l Absolu testil l retain some individual personality active in the relativeworld for the sa lvat ion of other beings?4 5


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The two pr inc ip le schools of Mahayana Buddhism eachsought to work out answers to these basic quest ions , answerstha t a re probab ly best seen as co m ple m en tary ra t he r tha n cont rad ic tory . Both schools shared a good dea l o f common groundan d cer ta inly a co m m on basic pro blem at ic . I t is in this co nte xtthat the doctr inal di f ferences between the two schools must beexamined . The thes i s upon which the present a r t i c le hopes toshed some l ight can be stated simply as the view thatM adh yam ika and Y ogacara repre sen t two d i f fe ren t , yet para l le l , approaches to the same se t o f p roblems: Madhyamika focus ing its a t te nt i on pr im ari ly on the logical an d phi loso phicalissues involved and Yogacara concerning i tse l f more with thepract ical and psychological i ssues .The s ign i f icance of th i s common problemat ic and of the subsequent di f ferences between the two schools can most c lear lybe seen in the contras t in the formulat ions of the ni rvana doct r ine in the two schools . Unfor tunate ly , th is has not as yet beenful ly apprecia ted. While a great deal has been wri t ten in theWest on the Madhyamika concept ion of ni rvana, very l i t t le hasbeen sa id about the cor responding Yogacara doc t r ines of unf ixed nirvana (apratisthita-nirvdna) and non-d i sc r imina t ing cogni t ion (nirvikalpaka-jndna), a ra th er s t r iking ref lect ion of the c urrent s ta te of Yogacara s tudies .2 We are still a long way from acomprehens ive account of the p lace of Yogacara in Buddhis tth ou gh t ; ce r ta in ly on e necessary s tep is a pre l im inary exam inat ion of these two key doctr ines .

/ / . Soteriological Innovation in Y ogacara Buddh ismIt is these two do ctr ine s that repr es en t th e major soter iological innovat ion of Class ical Yogacara Buddhism: M i a dynamicconcept ion of l iberat ion formulated to br idge, in pract ice , the

ap pa re nt g ap be tw een the ind iv idua l an d the Ab solu te . TheYogacarins fel t the need for a formulation of nirvana thatwould shed l ight on the practical aspects of the psychologicalt ransi t ion in the individual to the Absolute . The doctr ine ofunf ixed n i rvana {apratisthita-nirvdna) expressed the Yogacaraunders tanding of l ibera t ion as a s ta te of en l igh tenment inwhich the prac t i t ion er is no t perm an en t ly es tab li shed in e i therthe Abso lu t e o r t he mundane human r ea lm, and the concomi tan t doc t r ine of in tu i t ive or non-d isc r imina t ing cogni t ion (nir-46


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vikalpaka-jnana) elucidates the special cognit ive process involved in that dynamic state of l iberation.T h e Mahayana-samgraha as a SourceThe bes t p r imary source for a pre l iminary s tudy of these twodoctr ines is the Mahayana-samgraha of Asanga,4 best because i tp rovides an in t roduc t ion to the mos t impor tan t fea tures of thetwo tha t is bo th deta i led a n d systemat ic . R efere nce to the twoterms can be found, a t leas t impl ic i t ly , in a number of otherYogacara works: in somee.g. , the Abhisamayalahhdra, th e Rat-nagotravibhdga, th e Sandhinirmocana-sutra and the Lahkavatara-sutrathat m ost l ikely p re d at e the Mahayana-samgraha, and alsoin o therse.g . , the Mahdyana-sutralahkdra, th e Madhyanta-vibhdga, th e Trims'ika and the Ch'eng-wei-shih-lunthat a re m o rec lose ly contemporaneous wi th , o r o f l a te r compos i t ion than ,th e Mahayana-samgraha.5 For the most par t however , theseother re fe rences a re e i ther very cursory or a l ready presuppose

a basic familiari ty with the doctrines. Thus, as is generally thecase with Yoga cara stud ies, o n e is well advised to beg in w ith th eMahayana-samgraha.Before consider ing the two doctr ines individual ly i t wi l l beuseful to review the organizat ion of the Yogacara system presented in the Mahayana-samgraha. This wil l give us some ideaof the place and the significance of these two doctrines in thebroader contex t o f Yogacara so te r io logy . The a r rangement ofthe ten chapters of th is work provides us wi th a concise out l ineof c lass ic Yogacara thought . Extrapolat ing f rom the l is t of topics in the in t ro du c t io n a nd f rom the con ten t o f each cha pte rwe can devise the fol lowing summary:

I . The Base of th e Know able" {jneydsraya), i.e., thes tore -cogni t ion {alaya-vijnana), eighth of the e ightmodes of mental activi ty and the basis for tnatwhich can be known.I I . The Characteristics of the Knowable {jneyataksarui),i .e . , the three naturesthe Imaginary, the Dependent , and the Absolu tethat charac te r izethat which can be known.I I I . The Entrance to the Character is t ics of the Know-able {jnnalaksana-pravesa), i .e . , conceptualization-onlv-ness (vijnaptt-malrata), the ph i losophic pr inciple asser t ing tnat the world , as we exper ience i t ,is no th in g but concep tua l iza tion .

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IV. The Cause and the Fru i t o f the Entrance (tat-pravesahetuphala), i .e . , the six vir tues or perfect ions (pdramitd) of the bodhisa t tva .V. The Var ious Degrees of Cult ivat ion of the Causeand Fru i t o f tha t Entrance (taddhetuphala-bhdvanaprabheda), i .e . , the ten lands or stages(dasabhumi) of the bodhisa t tva .V I . The Tra in ing o f Supe r io r Mora l i ty (adhisilamsiksa), i .e . , the bodhisattva discipline (samddhi) in volved in the above cultivation.V I I . T h e T r a i n i n g o f S u p e r i o r T h o u g h t (adhicittamsiksa), i .e . , the var ious medita t ive trances or con

c e n t r a t i o n s (samddhi) involved in the cultivation.VI I I . T h e T r a in in g o f S u p e r io r W is d o m (adhiprajnamsiksa), i .e . , the intui t ive or non-discr iminating cognit ion (nirvikalpaka-jndna) involved in the cultiva t ion .IX. The Sever ing which cons t i tu tes the Fru i t {phala-prahdna), i .e . , the unfixed {apratisthita) nirvana ofthe bodhisat tva character ized by a basic revolution (dsrayapardvrtti) in which he rejects all defilem e n t s (samklesa) and ye t does not abandon them u n d a n e rea lm subjec t to de a th and re -b i r th(samsdra).X. Cogni t ion of the Fru i t (phalajndna), i .e . , the tr iplebody (trikdya) o f t h e B u d d h a .

T h u s , Chapters I and I I discuss what is to be known andhow we ar e to know i t; C ha pt ers I I I , IV an d V treat the ent rance to and the progress ion of the prac t ice ; Chapters VI , VI I ,VIII discuss the types of t ra ining involved in the pract ice; whileC h a p te r IX trea ts th e decis ive tu rn in g- po in t tha t is the frui t ofthe above act ivi ty , and Chapter X discusses the var ious modesin which the f ru i t is exp er ien ced or kno w n. T h e im po r tan tchapters for the present s tudy are the IXth, which is complete lydevoted to the Yogacara notion of l iberat ion, i .e . , unf ixednirvana , and the VHIth , which presents the spec ia l form ofcognit ion that leads to and const i tutes that l iberat ion.

The pivotal posi t ion of these two doctr ines in the system isapparent f rom the p lace of the i r respec t ive chapte rs in theabove out l ine . I t i s a lso impor tan t to note the concomitan t re la t ionship between the two. Asvabhava indicates this in hisUpanibandhana; comment ing on the t rans i t ion in the Mahdydna-samgraha f rom C ha p te r V I I I , on non-d i sc r imina t ing cogn i t ion ,to C ha pt er IX, on the sever ing br ou gh t abou t in unf ixed4 8


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ni rvan a , he says , " T h e n on-d isc r im ina t ing cogni t ion [ top ic ofChapter VII I ] i s ab le to counter every th ing tha t i s to be count ered [ i .e . , i t is the antidote {pratipaksa) for every instance ofoppos i t i on (vipaksa)]. I t necessari ly implies the severing [thatcons t i tu tes n i rvana] , and so the au thor [Asahga] immedia te lyco nt i nu es [in C h ap te r IX] to discuss the dis t inct ions of th is seve rance . " 7Asahga ' s p resenta t ion in the Mahdydna-samgraha is thus sequent ia l . The present ana lys i s wi l l employ a more heur i s t i c appr oa ch , be gi nn in g with a discussion of the features of unf ixed

ni rvana and then proceeding to cons ider the par t icu la r , i f no tto say peculiar , type of cognit ion that leads up to and constitutes i t . I t wi l l remain necessary to bear in mind, throughout ,the connect ion between the two, the s ta te of l iberat ion and thetype of cogni t ion that makes i t possible .

Apratisthita-nirvdnaWhat then i s meant by apratisthita-nirvdna* the unfixed l ibe ra t ion of the Yogacar ins , and what i s the dynamic e lement ofth i s doc t r ine? Apratisthita is bes t un de rs to od as re fe r r ing to an i rva na tha t is no t pe rm an en t ly es tab li shed in , o r bo un d to ,any one realm or sphere of act ivi ty .9 The impl ic i t contras t i s tothe n i rvana of the s ravakas and pra tyeka-buddhas who a re c r i t

ic ized in several ear ly Mahayana works 10 fo r r ema in ing pe r manent ly es tabl ished or f ixed (pratisthita) i n t he t r anscenden ts t a t e o f n i rvana -wi thou t - r ema inde r {nirupadhisesa-nirvdna), anot ion of l iberat ion that was the ideal of the ear l ierAbhidharmikas , who saw in i t the f inal ext inct ion of both menta l and physical aff l ic t ions . The dynamic not ion of apratisthita-nirvdna gradua l ly deve loped a s t he l a t e r Yogaca r inAbhidharmikas came to re ject the ear l ier view as inconsis tentwith the Mahayana ideal of the sa lvat ion of a l l beings."W hi le th is do c t r in e of unf ixed n i rvan a is m en t ion ed in theMahdydnasutrdlahkdra, i ts soteriological implications are developed much more ful ly in the Mahdydna-samgraha. I n C h a p t e rIX of the la t te r work , Asanga in t roduces the doc t r ine in thecontext of his discussion of the severing of al l obstacles(dvarana)12 that comes as the f rui t of the three types of t ra iningdiscussed in Chapters VI , VII and VII I . He then goes on to4 9


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present the fol lowing concise defini t ion:This sever ing is the unf ixed n i rvana of the bodhisa t tva . I thas as i ts characteristic (laksana) the revolut ion of the dualbase in which one re l inquishes a l l def i lements , but does notabandon the wor ld o f dea th and reb i r th (samsara)."

Thus the essential features of this Yogacara notion of l iberat ionare that i t is a radical reorientat ion of the base of al l cognit ion,an d tha t it a l lows the bo dh isat tva to enjoy em an cip at io n fromall defi lements (samklesa) without losing any salvific efficacy inthe rea lm of be ings who have not ye t achieved l ibera t ion . Thisis the dynamic aspect , the aspect that resolves, a t least a t thelevel of prac t ice , the apparent dual i ty of Absolute and individual , o f n i rvana and samsara .

Asai iga cont inues in the Mahay dna-samgraha to gloss each ofthe key te rms in the above def in i t ion:The wor ld of dea th and re-b i r th (samsara) is the defiled com

p o n e n t o f t h e d e p e n d e n t n a t u r e (paratantrasvabhdva-samklesabhaga), [ i .e . , the Imaginary] .Ni rv a n a is t h e p u r e c o m p o n e n t of t h e d e p e n d e n t n a tu r e(paratantrasvaohdvavyavaddnabfidga), [i .e. , the Absolute].1 4Th e d u a l b a se (asraya) is the de pe nd en t na tu r e wi th bo thc o m p o n e n t s c o m b i n e d .Th e r e v o lu t i o n (pardvrtti) takes place when, on the ar is ing ofth e d e p e n d e n t n a tu r e ' s a n t i d o t e (pratipaksa) one rejects

f lU the de fi led co m po ne n t and red eem s flfft the p ur ec o m p o n e n t .1 5In h is commentary to th is passage , Asvabhava develops two impor tant connect ions . F i rs t , he points out tha t the ant idote (pratipaksa) tha t in it ia tes the revolut ion is the non -disc r im inat in gcogn i t ion (nirvikalpaka-jndna). u' He then goes on to i l lustratethe ro le of the two key Mahayana v i r tues , wisdom (prajnd) a n dc o mp a ss io n (karund), in this process:The bodhisat tva dwells in this revolut ion of the base as i f inan immate r ia l r ea lm (arupyadhdtu). O n th e o n e h a n d wi threspect to h is own personal in teres ts (svakartham)he is fullyendowed wi th super io r wisdom (adhipraind) an d is thu s notsubject to th e afflictions (klesa)\ whi le on the o th e r hand withrespect to the in teres ts of o ther be ings (pardrtham)he isfu l ly endowed wi th grea t compass ion (mahdkarund) a n d t h u snever ceases to dwell in the world of death and re-bir th(samsara).

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world, with its inevitable frustration and woe. I t is a negativeactivity, always with the implicit connotation of false discr imina t ion o r vain im ag inin g, because it is w hat prev en ts us f romrea l iz ing the t rue Thus-ness of a l l th ings , the Absolu te .Nirvakalpaka-jndna is , for the Yogacarins, the antidote to thiswor ld-cons t ruc t ing ac t iv i ty . When rendered l i te ra l ly as 'nond isc r imina t ing cogni t ion or awareness , '1 9 the negative aspect ofits m ea ni ng is readily ap p a re n t: it is a kind of cognit ion oraw aren ess tha t is f ree of th e discr im inatio n tha t bind s us to th ewor ld of dea th and re -b i r th . A good dea l more than a s implelack-of-something is implied by the term, however . In this cognit ion there is not only the lack of discr imination; there is a lsoa more posi t ive aspect : the direct and intui t ive cognit ion of theA bso lute . T h is is an essentia l featu re a nd sug gests som e f reertransla t ion such as ' in tui t ive wisdom. '2 0While cor rec t in the broades t sense , th is render ing does nothave the d i sadvan tage o f obscur ing the somewha t pa radox ica laspec t tha t becomes apparent in the Sanskr i t te rm when wereach the ful ly developed form of nirvikalpaka-jnana, t h e m o d ewhich a l lows par t ic ipat ion in both nirvana and samsara , in thes u p r a m u n d a n e Ab s o lu te a n d in t h e m u n d a n e r e a lm o f d is c rim ina t ion . In th is mode of nirvikalpaka-jnana we shall find a nond i sc r imina t ing cogn i t ion tha t , subsequen t to en l igh tenment , i ssti l l able to function in the world of discrimination, the char

acteristic that allows the crucial dynamic aspect of unfixedn i rvana . Th is in te rpene t r a t ion o f the appa ren t dua l i ty o fnirvana and samsara must a lso be an essentia l feature of thenon-d i sc r imina t ing cogn i t ion .T h u s , for the Yogacar ins , nirvikalpaka-jnana has a t once anega t ive , a pos i t ive , and a dynamic connota t ion : nega t ive , inthat i t is non-discr iminating cognit ion; posi t ive , in that i t is in

tuitive wisdom; and dynamic, in that i t gives access to the Absolute without yielding eff icacy in the relative.A survey of the M ahay dna-samgraha chapter tha t i s devotedto the nirvikalpaka-jnana21 will make these three features moreclear . There we f ind that there are three var ie t ies or degreeso f non-d i sc r imina t ing cogn i t ion :1 . pre l iminary non-discr imina t ing cogni t ion {prayogika-nir-

vikalpaka-jnana).2 . fundamenta l non-d i sc r imina t ing cogn i t ion {mula-"), a n d52


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3. subsequently-acquired non-discriminating cognition (prstha-labdha-")22The order of the three degrees or modes is progressive, andthe text discusses first the preliminary or preparatory stage ofnon-discriminating cognition, the stage which according to Va-subandhu's commentary is also known as conjectural wisdom# H & vitarka/paritarkaf-prajnd) or investigative wisdom (par-yesand-)P Vasubandhu says also that this first stage arises byvirtue of faith {Sraddha) and resolute conviction (adhimukti),

which is to say tha t initially a bodh isattva in tra ining hears fromothers about the principle of being free from false discrimination (nirvikalpa-naya)', though he is as yet unable to realize itfo r himself, hearin g of it does p rod uce a resolute conviction onthe basis of which he p roceeds to investigate the principle.24 Byvirtue of that investigation, non-discriminating cognition doeseventually arise, and thus the first stage is said to be the cause(hetu) of the second.25It is with the second stage that we are dealing with nirvikal-paka-jndna proper, and hence it is known as the root or fundamental stage of non-discriminating cognition. Vasubandhuadds that it is also known as introspective wisdom (pratydtmavedya-prajna) or the wisdom of realization (sdksdtkdra-").2B It is with thiscogn ition that on e realizes the Ab solute, and we are in fact toldthat it is identical (sama) with Thus-ness (tathatd)27 With the

fundamental cognition, one is thus liberated from all obstacles(dvarana); one becomes fully accomplished and perfected.28This being the case, why did the Yogacarins add yet a thirdstage? In the second, fundamental stage we can see both thenegative, non-discriminating aspect and the positive, intuitive-identification-with-Thus-ness aspect; the third essential feature, however, is still undeveloped.It is in the third or subsequently-acquired {prslha-labdha)stage of non-discriminating cognition that we again see thecharacteristic Yogacara innovation of an explicitly dynamic notion of liberation. This third stage is 'subsequently-acquired' inthat it is the result or fruit of the fundamental cognition. It isalso known as th e active or practical wisdom ^ffl3H : kriydf-prajnd) or as the sustaining wisdom (samdhdrana-")29 In his commentary on the Mahdydna-samgraha passage discussing the advantage of the three degrees, Vasubandhu tells us:53


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By vir tue of the power of this [subsequent ly acquired] cogni t ion of the bodhisat tvas, out of considerat ion for the wealof al l sent ient beings, decide to be reborn in the world. Whenthey are reborn, however , they are no longer subjec t to defilement by worldly cont in ge ncie s , viz ., the eig ht lok ad ha r-m a s : g a i n ' (Idbha), loss {alabha), pra ise (prasamsd), c e n s u r e{nindd), h o n o r (yasas), d i s h o n o r (ayasas), f rus t ra t ion (dufykha)a nd ha pp i ne s s (sukha). Because th i s [ subsequent ly-acqui red]cogn i t ion is bo rn of the [ fun da m enta l ] no n-d iscr im inat ingcognit ion, i t is also called non-discriminating.* 1That last s tatement raises a provocat ive quest ion. I f the subsequent ly-acquired cogni t ion al lows the bodhisat tva to be act ivein the world, is i t st i l l non-discriminating (nirvikalpaka)? J u s thow does non-discr iminat ing awareness funct ion effect ively inthe w orld of disc r im inat io n? T hi s is a var iat ion of th e cen tralsoter iological i ssue for th e Yog acar ins . As V asu ba nd hu himselfputs i t , " I f non-discr iminat ing cogni t ion thus succeeds in re

a l iz ing Buddha-hood, having become f ree of e f for t (dbhoga)and menta l d i sc r imina t ion {manasikdravikalpa), how then doesi t accompl i sh the mat ter of br inging benef i t and pleasure to thebeings?"" The Yogacara masters had no doubt tha t th i s can inprac t ice be done , tha t non-discr iminat ing cogni t ion can funct ion act ively in the world of discr iminat ion without being discr im ina t ing ; they recog nized , however , tha t it do es seem para doxica lat leas t to the d i scr iminat ing mind. To s ide-s tep theapparen t pa radox inheren t i n the t e rminology , t hey employeda metaphor i ca l exp lana t ion which Asahga expresses in oneconcise verse:

Jus t as the prec ious gem 3 2 and the d ivinemusical inst rumentPerform the i r respect ive ro les wi thoutany conscious thought , , wSo are all the various activities oft h e B u d d h a p e r f o r m e d ,Also thus, qui te f ree of any consciousthought .* '

In exp lana t ion Vasubandhu says :The metaphors o f t he p rec ious gem and the d iv ine mus ica lin s t r um en t in th i s verse de m on st r a te tha t ju s t as the wish-fulfi l l ing gem, though devoid of discrimination, is st i l l capab le of fulf il ling w ha teve r it is tha t beings desi re , an d m or e-

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over tha t ju s t as the d iv ine musica l ins t ru m en t , w i thout anyone to play it , produces all varieties of sound in accord withth e as pi ra tio ns of" th e be ing s in its pro xim ity, ju st so youshou la know tha t the non-d i sc r imina t ing cogn i t ion o f thebuddhas and bodhisa t tvas , whi le f ree of d iscr iminat ion , i snonetheless able to carry out all sorts of activity.To th i s Asvabhava adds :

The wish-fu l f i l l ing gem and the d iv ine musica l ins t rumentdo not have the thought , "I shal l now radiate bri l l iancy!" or"I sha ll now give for th so un d!" because they are both w i thoutany conscious thought ; never the less , by the power of themer i tor ious ac t ions and aspi ra t ions of the be ings in the i rproximity and wi thout wai t ing to be p layed [etc.], they emital l sorts of radiance and give forth al l variet ies of sound. Youshou ld know the non-d i sc r imina t ing cogn i t ion o f the buddhas and bodhisa t tvas to be jus t l ike th is : though comple te lyfree of d iscr iminat ion and wi thout making any ef for t , theyare nonetheless capable of producing a l l var ie t ies of benef i tand service in accord with the meri t and aspirat ions of thebe ings conver ted by them. ' 7T hi s is a crucial p assag e, for it was this ana logy tha t conv eyedfor the Yogacarins the inner workings of the special type ofcognit ive act ivi ty that made their notion of dynamic or unfixednirva na v iable. I t is the i r exp lana t ion of how non -discr im inat ing cognit ion can, a t the highest level , be act ive within discrim

ina t ion .These then a re the th ree degrees o f non-d i sc r imina t ing cogni t ion as presented in the Mahdydna-samgraha.^'lo i l lustrate thed i f fe rences be tween them, and the sequence wi th in , Asahgasummarizes the three in a ser ies of brief verses:1. Like a m ut e seeking to co m pr eh en d som e objec t,Like a mute who has succeeded in comprehend ing the

object,L ik e a n o n -mu te wh o h a s c o mp re h e n d e d t h e o b j e c t ,The th ree cogn i t ions a re ana logous to these .2 . Like a fool , seeking to comprehend some objec t ,Like a foo l who has succeeded in comprehend ing the object,Like a non- foo l who has comprehended the ob jec t ,Th e t h r e e ' " c o g n i t i o n s a r e a n a lo g o u s t o t h e se .

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3 . Like the f ive modes of sensory percept ion, seeking to app rehend an ob jec t ,L ike the f ive when they have succeeded in apprehendingthe object ,Like manasw when it has co m pr eh en de d th e ob jec t,The th ree cogn i t ions a re ana logous to these .4 . Like one who has not yet understood a t reat iseBu t seeks to unders t and i t , even tua l ly comprehend ing[now the letter of] the doctrine and [finally] them e a n i n g ,

This sequ enc e is a m et ap ho r fo r the th r ee cog n i t ions :Thus shou ld you know the p re l iminary , e tc . 41Accord ing to Asvabhava ' s commentary , the p re l iminarystage of non-d iscr im ina t ing c ogni t ion is l ike a m ut e or a foolseek ing to comprehend some ob jec t , because they can ne i thercomprehend i t nor ta lk abou t i tthe mute lack ing the verbalabi l i ty and the fool lacking the conceptual abi l i ty . Fundamental

co gnitio n is l ike the case of a m ut e or fool w ho has m an ag edto comprehend the object but is s t i l l unable to communicate h iscomprehension . F ina l ly , the subsequen t ly -acqu i red cogn i t ion i sl ike on e with full verbal an d co nce ptua l po we rs who has com p rehended the ob jec t and can a l so communica te h i s under s t and ing .4 2Regard ing the th i rd verse , he exp la ins tha t even when onehas apprehended an ob jec t by means o f the f ive modes o f sensory percep t ion one nonetheless lacks the concep tual iza t ion o rd iscr iminat ion (vikalpa) which is ad d e d by the sixth or c oo rdi na t ing mode of percep t ion ca l led mano-vijnana."In Vasubandhu ' s exp lanat ion o f the four th verse he comments tha t f i r s t one seeks to unders tand the t rea t i se , then onecomes to unders t and the words ; and f ina l ly one unders t andsthe words and the mean ing . In the same way one p rogresses

th rough the th ree cogn i t ions .4 4The analog ies employed in these four verses re i te ra te andsummarize the most bas ic theme invo lved in the doct r ine o f theth ree deg rees o f non -d i sc r imina t ing cogn i t ion : tha t under standing must be coupled with act iv i ty , that wisdom must inc lude compass ion . The subsequen t ly acqu i red cogn i t ion i s no tto be seen as a re lapse f rom the funda m enta l cogn i t ion oreven as a voluntary retreat . Rather, i t is the fruit ion, the fulfillment, of that real izat ion . The verses make clear that both of56


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the la t te r two degrees are necessary . According to th is doct r ine ,the en l ig h te nm en t o f the b ud dh as an d bodh isa t tvas is in fu llf lower only when the subsequent ly-acquired cogni t ion has deve loped in addition to the fun dam enta l cogn i t ion .4 5

/ / / . Some Broader ImplicationsThe p reced ing ana lys i s o f the doc t r ines o f unf ixed n i rvanaand non-d i sc r imina t ing cogn i t ion in the Mahdydna-samgrahasuggests several observat ions on the place of these Yogacarainnova t ions in the b roader con tex t o f Buddhis t so te r io logy andalso , more par t icular ly , on the re la t ionship be tween Yogacaraand Madhyamaka. In order to br ing these in to focus i t i s necessary f i rs t to review the common ground shared by the twoschools .Two main themes charac te r ize the rev i t a l i za t ion movementin i t ia ted in the ear ly Mahayana scr ip tures :

1) a m ark ed t ende ncy tow ards ph i losoph ic abso lu t ism;a n d2) a co nc ern for the salvat ion of all sen t ient bein gs in con trast to the earl ier focus on individual l iberat ion.These two deve lopments a re , o f course , no t unre la ted . Bo thmay be seen as ins tances of a broader theme of universa l iza-t ion . Ju s t as the B u d d h a was universa l ized f rom an h is tor ica lindividual to an abstract pr inciple , so also was the concept ofl ibera t ion universa l ized , in both content and extens ion.The bas ic d i f ference tha t the Mahayana conver ts saw between the i r not ion of l ibera t ion and tha t of the i r Hinayanaanta go nis ts is e loqu ent ly ex pre sse d in the Prajndpdramitd Scriptures and in the Lotus Sutra. The n i rvana sough t by thes ravakas and p ra tyekabuddhas was c r i t i c ized as the a t t a inmento f a t r a n sc e n d e n t (lokottara o r aparydpanna) state , i r revocablyse p a ra t e d f ro m th e mu n d a n e sp h e re o f h u ma n e x i s t e n c e .Nirvana and samsara were thus seen as total ly dist inct , an asser t ion ant i the t ica l to the emerging not ion of Mahayana absolu t ism. A pr imary objec t ive of the ear ly Mahayana scr ip tureswas to counter that view with a universal ized notion of l iberat ion tha t recognized no u l t imate d is t inc t ion be tween samsaraand ni rvana , and tha t encompassed the sa lva t ion of a l l be ingsas i t s u l t imate goal . This was the common ground shared bya d h e re n t s t o t h e Ma h a y a n a .57


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The task of working out the implicat ions of these new ideas,both in theory and in pract ice, was subsequent ly taken up bythe later Mahayana masters. What was init ially a division of labor and inc l ina t ion among these Mahayan is t s even tual ly resulted in the division into the two main Mahayana schools. Following the epistemological criticism implicit in the PrajnaparamitaScriptures, the Madhyamikas focused the i r in teres t on the abstract a nd logical issues of th e basic M aha yan a th em es ; on e maysay the i r ap pr oa ch was p r imar i ly ph i losophica l . T h e Yogacar inshad no quarrel with the cri t ical philosophy of the Madhyamikas;indeed, they assumed i t , while going on to take a rather different approach. Fol lowing the systematic soter io logy of theear ly Abhidharmikas , the Yogacar ins focused the i r in teres t onthe pract ical and technical issues of the common Mahayanathemes; thus, their approach may be seen as basical ly psycholog ica l. T h e two schools sha red a co m m on prob lem at ic ; the i rd ifference was one of method and point of v iew.

This d i f ference in approach between the two schools resul ted in two paral lel formulat ions of n irvana. 4 7 C o n c e r n e dwith the logical refutat ion of dual i ty , the Madhyamika discussions of n irvana are character is t ical ly negat ive in expression.In one o f the bes t known summaries o f the Madhyamika concep t ion o f n i rvana , Nagar juna s ta tes :W hat is no t ab an do ne d a nd no t a t t a ined ,Not cut off and not eternal ,W hat is no t supp ressed a nd no t p ro du ced ,T h a t is cal led n irv ana .

To which CandrakTr t i comments :That which cannot be abandoned l ike g reed and the o ther[affl ictions] and also cannot be attained l ike the fruits of renunciat ion , that which cannot be cut off l ike the aggregates ,etc. and a lso i s no t permanent l ike non-empty [p r inc ip les] ,tha t which by its na tu re is no t supp resse d a nd no t p ro du ce d ,that which has as i ts characterist ic the cessation of all vaindiscourse, that is what is called nirvana. 4 8

The in ten t ion o f the Madhyamika no t ion o f n i rvana i s tobreak down, by means o f the via negativa, the dua li ty implicitin al l conceptual formulat ion . The Absolute is inexpressib le;ult imately, one must realize that there can be no duality, that58


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there can be neither samsa ra nor n i rvana .The above ana lys is of the doc t r ines of unf ixed n i rvana andnon-discr imina t ing cogni t ion has shown the Yogacara conception of l iberation to be characteristically more positive inex pre ss io n. T h e de lusio n of duali ty is s till to be resolved, bu tin the i r f ram ew ork the em ph as is is d i f fe ren t : the Ab solu temus t be shown to encompass o r in te rpene t r a te both n i rvana andsamsara a t one and the same t ime . 4 9The Madhyamikas were pr imar i ly concerned wi th c r i t ica l ly

examin ing the ph i losoph ic na tu re o f bondage . By examin ingthe log ica l inadequac ies of language and d iscurs ive thought ,they sought to expla in why we a re t rapped by the dua l i ty ofsamsara and n i rvana . The Yogacar ins , accept ing tha t c r i t ique ,tu rn ed away f rom the pure ly phi loso phic i ssues to ad dres s them o re im m ed ia te ques t io n of how one is to rea lize tha t non -duali ty in pract ice . By analyzing the psychological s tructures bywhich be ings become t rapped in the dua l i t ies of d iscurs ivethought , they sought to char t the pa th by which one may, inp rac t i ce , e scape bondage .

Bo th schools reco gn ized tha t we are bo un d to the w orld ofour exper ience and that this inevitably leads to f rus tra t ion andsuf fe r ing . M ad hy am aka sou gh t to expla in logica lly how th isexper ience was u l t imate ly a de lus ion; i t genera ted thereby acr i t ica l and soter iologic philosophy of language. On the basisof that cr i t ica l analysis of delusion combined with their owninteres t in medita t ive pract ice , the Yogacar ins sought to examine the menta l process by which we perpe tua te the wor ld-con s t ruc t ing de lu s ion , an d to expla in in prac tica l te rm s howone is to escape f rom tha t process . They , in turn , genera ted aspeculat ive and soter iologic psychology.In this sense , we may see Yogacara as the old Abhidharmic

ente rpr ise car r ied on in the new l igh t of Madhyamika c r i t ica lep is temology, an en te rpr ise tha t requirednow in i t s Yogacaraguisean innovat ive and dynamic re formula t ion of the not ionof l iberat ion, one that would go beyond the s ta t ic duali ty of theHTnayana nirupadhisesa-nirvana and one tha t would a lso complement the pract ical auster i ty of the r igorously negativeM adh yam ika n i rvan a . An d, ind eed , th is is p rec ise ly what wesee in the doctr ines of nirvikalpaka-jfidna a n d apratisthita-nimana.59


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N O T E SA summary of this ar t icle was presented under the t i t le "Soter iological

Innovat ions in Yogacara Buddhism" at the Asian Studies Paci f ic Area Conference (ASPAC) held at Evergreen State Univers i ty, Olvmpia, Washington.J u n e 1 9 7 9 .Al l t rans lat ions are those of the author unless otherwise noted. In the caseof passages from the Mah dydnu-sa n igra ha and i t s commentar ies (see n. 4 he-low), t r ans la t ions are f rom the Chinese ver s ion of Hs i i an- t sang (1 :1594 .X X X I. 132c-l .r>2a) unless otherwise noted. References to the C.iieng-ivei-shdi-lun ar e ci ted from th e ed it ion of SA EK I Jo in fefS^ilt Shindd Jo-yuishiki-ron$T#$.!$alislhita-ni)vdna doctr ine in the mostcommonly used surveys of Buddhi sm, e .g . . E . Thomas ' History of BuddhistThought, E. Conze 's Buddhism: Its Essence and D evelopment an d Buddhist Thought

in India, A. K. Warder ' s Indian Buddhism, David Kalupahaua ' s Buddhist Philosophy, etc. More surprising is the omission of the doctr ine in A. K. Chat-terjee's The Yogdcdra Idealism atul also the very summary and inadequatet r ea tment in Th. S tcherbat sky ' s Conception of Buddhist \'in>dna (pp. 185)1 He204 n) wh ere it is m en t ion ed only parenth et ical ly as an ins tance of Yogacarahavin g "dev iated f rom s t rict M ahi iyanism."Some discussion of apiatisthita-nitvdna in western- language sources i sfound in the ann ota t ion to the app ro pr ia te sect ions (see below) of L. de laVallee-Poussin's t ranslat ion of the (Ji'eng-wei-shih-lun (Vijhaptimdttatd-siddhi)and E. Lamot te ' s t rans lat ion of (he Mahdydna-samgraha, also in I). T. Suzuki'sOutlines of Mahdydna Buddhism (London: Luzac and Co. , 1907) , pp . 345-340;A. B. Keith's Buddhist Philosophy (Oxford: Clarendon Press . 1923) , pp . 257-25 9 ; J. Masuda's Per individualistiscli Idealismus (Heid e lberg , 1920), pp . 49ff.,J . Ki tayama's Metaphysik des Buddhismus (Stut tga r t : W. K ohlh am m er , 1934) .p p . 104-105; H. von Glasenapp ' s Unsterhlichkeit and Krliisung in den indischenHeligionen (Halle, 1938), p. 02; N. Dutt 's Mahdydnu Buddhism, new ed. (Delhi:Moti lal Banarsidass, 1977). p. 250, n. 3 . These lat ter secondary works for themost par t s imply pa ra ph ra se the on e shor t passage from th e Ch'eng-wei-shih-lun t ranslated below in this ar t icle.60


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3 . The his tor ical development of Yogacara doctr ine is s t i l l a very controversial subject. Provisionally, I would suggest a division of the Yogacara li tera ture in to (a t least) three main his tor ical per iods: Karly Yogacara (pre-Asanga) , Classical Yogacara {Asanga and Vasubandhu, esp. the Mahdydna-samgraha), and Late or Scholast ic Yogacara (post-Vasubandhu); more ref inement mus t awai t fu r ther tex tua l s tud iesthe Yogdcdrabhumi and the Abhid-harmasa-muccaya, for example, should go in the first period in spite of then-associa t ion with Asanga. Contrast Jacques May's proposal for a Vijnanavadaper iod iza t ion in "La ph i losophie bouddhique idea l i s te , " Asiatische Studien(Etudes asialique), 25 (1971) : 26 5-3 23 ; and see a lso Lam ber t Schm i lhausen ,"Zur L i te ra tu rgesch ich te der a l te ren Yogacara -schu le , " Zeilschrift derDeutschen Morgenldndischen (ieselhclmft, Supplementum I, Vol. 2 (19r>8), pp.8 1 1 - 8 2 3 . 1 ag re e w ith S chm itha use n (p . 81 In) that , as a generic ter m ,Yogacara is pre fera ble to Vijn anav ada.

4 . T h e M aha yan a-sam grah a d oes no t su rv ive in Sanskr i t , bu t we do havefour t ransla t ions in to Chinese and two into Tibetan, h t ienne Lamotte ' s LaSom m e du Gr an d Vehicu le d 'Asan ga (Louva in : Bu reau x du M useon , 1938 ;rpt Louvain: Universi te de Louvain, Inst i tu te Orienta l is te , 1973) includes anedi t ion of the Tibetan text and an excel lent French t ransla t ion from theTibe tan wi th annota t ions f rom the two pr inc ip le commenta r ies . Vasuban-d h u ' s Mahdydnasamgraha-bhdsya and Asvabhava(?) ' s Mahdydsamgraha-upani-bandhana. For deta ils of th e diffe ren t version s of th e origi nal work an d itscommentaries, see Lamotte, Vol. 1, pp. v-viii . In this article references willbe given to the Taisho edition of the Chinese translations; this allows easyrefe ren ce to Lam otte ' s t ransla t ion of the Tibetan which gives the cor res po nd ing Taisho page numbers a f te r each sec t ion .5. For de ta i l s on these re fe rences and o thers see Lamot te . La Somme. p p .*45-4() and *47-48.(). In Sanskri t jneya, the passive future or opta t ive par t ic iple of Vjiid: "toknow," means both "that which is knowable" as well as "that which is to beknown." Hsi ian-tsang expresses both aspects in his rendering of Vasuban-dh u 's gloss fWIPj*nj!ffc] (T :X X X I.3 2 2 b2 9- cl ).7. T:XXX1.434cl6-17.8. The ge rm at least of this idea is to be fou nd alr ea dy in th e Aslasdhasrikd-pdram itd; cf. apratisthilamdnaso hi lalhdgato 'than samyak-sambuddhah/ sa naiva samsktle dhdtaii slliilo ndpy asamskrle dhdtau sthito na ca latovyutthituhl (ed. of R. M itra, Ca lcu tta, 1888, p. 3 7). The earliest occ ur ren ce ina Yogacara context seems to be in the Sillidlankdra where i t is mentioned

several t imes (see Lamotte , La Somme, p. *48 for the references) .9 . The term has been var iously re nd er ed in to W estern lang uag es: " thenirvana that has no abode" (Suzuki) , "nirvana without basis or s tav" (Keith) ,"das absolut f re ie Nirvana" (Kitayama). "a l t ruis t ic n irvana" (Stcherbatskv) ."Timmortel e t ac l i f Nirvana" (La Vallee- l 'oussin) , and " le Nirvana instable"(L a mo t t e ) . Nirvana, of course , means l i tera l lv "ext inct ion" and represents inthe broadest sense the Buddhist concept ion of l i l>erat ion, del iverance, sa lvation, etc.19. See fo r example Mahdydiiasulralankdm X V I I . 4 2 :

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avistanam krpaya na t is that i manah same krpalCinamkuta eva lokasaukhye svaj lvi te va bhavet snehahhsarvasya hi lokasya laukike saukhye svajlvite ca snehah/ tatrapi can i h s n e h a n a m s r a v a k a p r a t y e k a b u d d h a n a i n s a r v a d u h k h o p a s a m e n i r v a n e

pra t i s th i tam manah/ bodhisa t tvanam tu karuna-vis ta tvan n i rvane ' | ) i manona pra t i s th i tam/ /

Which S. Levi (Mahayannsfihalankaw. Vol. I I , p . 217) t ranslates:Les C om pa t i s san t s , t ou t pene t r e s de C om pass ion ,n 'arretent pas leur espri t c lans la Suppression.C o m m e nt d on e se p rend ra i en t - i l s t l 'a i l ec tion po urle h o n he u r mon da in on pout leur v ie?Le moncle entier, i l est vrai, aime le honheur mondain et t ient a sa vie.Les Audi teurs e t les Bouddhas-pour-soi . qui ne t iennenl n i a I 'un n i aPaul re , ar re ten t clu m oins leu r espri t d an s le Nirv ana, qui est le sous-Apaisement de toute douleur . Mais les Bodhisa t tvas , penet res qu ' i l s sontde Compass ion, n 'a r re tent pas leur espr i t menie dans le Nirvana .

11. Lam ber t Schm i thausen has p resen ted a ve ry im po r t an t doc um ent inthe development of the Yogacara concept ion of l ibera t ion in Der Nitvana-absdmitt in der Viniscayasumfryahanidcr Yogaahabhiitnih (W ien : Herm ann B oh-laus , 1969, pub. as Oster re ichische Akademie der Wissenschaf ten: Sitzungs-bnidilc, 264.2) . Whi le the te rm apxttisthiiu-nnvana is ap pa ren t ly not to befound in the Yogacumbhitmi, the doctr ine is foreshadowed in this sect ionwhich ref lects a dist inct ion between the stat ic nirvana of (he arhats and thedy na m ic nirv an a of the lath ag ata (see esp . I. 9-1 L pp . 53 -59; and also no te159, p. 159-160 ). The dist inct ion is ex pla ine d with refe ren ce {oniiupadliisiyi-nirvuna: a l t e r en te r ing the t r anscenden ta l n i rvana -wi thou t - r em a inde r thela thag ata , in cont ras t to the arh a t , chooses to re tu rn . As Sch mitha usen suggests (p. 7) this very l ikely represents an earl ier and t ransi t ional s tage in thedeve lopm ent o f t he apratisthita-nirvana do ctr i ne that is found in later w orkslike the Mahayumisutmltniknm and the Maliayainisawgraha.

12. V asu ban dhu (T :X X X I.3 22 c2 0-2 I ) identi fies these as the obs tac le ofthe afflictions or passions (klcsdvmmin) and the obstacle blocking what is lobek n o w n (jfwyCivamna). For a summary account of the impor tant Yogacara doctr ine of the two obstacles see Ch't'iig-wi-shilt-lun ix.5b-8b along with LaVallee-I 'oussin 's an no tat io ns . N ote especial ly the different m ea nin g ol' jneyavmmmin a Yogacara as opposed to a Madhyamika context .13 . T : X X X I . 1 4 8 c l 4 - 1 5 .14. In C ha p. I I (T:XX X1 .140c 7- l 1) Asang a has a l ready ex pla in ed th a tthe def iled com po ne nt i s the Imag inary (parikalpita) a n d t h e p u r e c o m p o n e n tis the Absolute (parinispanna), whi le the Dependen t (paralantra) c o m p r i s e sbo th .15. T : X X X I . 1 4 8 c l 5 - 1 8 .16. T : X X X I . 4 3 5 a 6 - 7 .

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17. T : X X X I . 4 3 4 c 2 1 - 2 3 .18. S : x . 9 b ; T : X X X I . 5 5 b l 6 - I 9 .19 . The Sanskr i t ve rba l -noun jnana (cf. vijndna) should require as anequivalent an Engl ish word express ing an act ra ther than a s ta te ; hence 'cog

ni t ion. ' In Buddhis t Chinese , however , jnana is consis tently re n de re d w ith f}which is general ly translated into English as 'knowledge' or 'wisdom.' Also,the equat ion of "-jtldna a n d -prajnd in this context as indicated below shouldbe borne in mind .2 0 . Cf. Lamotte's "le savoir intuitif."2 1 . The e igh th chap te r on the "Tra in ing o f Super io r Wisdom"(T :XXX1.147bl9-148c l 1 ) : E r i ch F rauwal lner ' s Die Philosuphie des Buddhismus(Berl in: Akademie-Verlag, 1969) includes a translat ion of some brief select ions from this chapter (pp. 345-347) and also a discussion in which he draws

attention to the key posi t ion of nirvikalpaka-jndna a n d prsthalabdha-jnana inAsanga ' s thought .2 2 . The text d iscusses the di f ference between the three modes a t somelength before the speci f ic terms are actual ly in t roduced a t T:XXXI.148a23-

2 8 . Later scholast ic works in Chinese refer to the three also as the ini t ial &J,the mid d le ^ . and the subsequen t f .2 3 . T : X X X I . 3 6 3 c l 5 - 2 0 .2 4 . T : X X X I . 3 6 5 b 2 3 - 2 6 .2 5 . T : X X X 1 . 3 6 3 c 2 I .2 6 . T : X X X 1 . 3 6 3 c I 5 - 2 0 .2 7 . T : X X X I . 3 6 4 b 2 4 - 2 5 .2 8 . Mahay ana-samgraha T : X X X I .1 4 8 a l - 2 a n d V a s u b a n d h u ' s BhdsyaT : X X X 1 .36 5 c 2 - 5 .2 9 . Hsu an- t s ang t r ansla t es $8J$ (T :XX X1 .36 3c l9 ) ; Lam ot te r econs t ruc t sddhdra-0, but that seems less likely since samdhdrana ("holding together") i sused specifically in the sense of "s up po rt in g l ife," etc. Also $ 5 $ forsamdhdrana is attested in H siian-tsang's tran slation of the Kosa, T : X X I X . l l c l O .3 0 . T : X X X I . 3 6 5 c l O - 1 4 .3 1 . T : X X X I . 3 6 6 a 2 8 - 2 9 .3 2 . This i s the cintdmani, the wish-fulf i l l ing gem or philosopher 's s tonethat fulfills its possessor's every wish.3 3 . This i s a mus ical ins t rument (turya) t ha t p roduces wi thou t be ingplayed jus t w hat the po ssessor wishes to hear . Hsiian -tsang's X^ is probablyelliptic for ^^ gg (or %.) P a r a m a r t h a ' s X$ .3 4 . In Hs i i an- ts ang ' s Ch inese ^g J normal ly r en der s acetanam, " u n c o n scious ly ," "wi thout conscious in tent ," e tc . Paramar tha (T:XXXI.128c3) says"wi thout d iscr iminat ing" in the second hal f of the verse; Buddhasanta

(T:XXXI.109a6-7) speaks of "non-discr iminat ion" in the case of the gem andmusical ins t ru m ent a nd of the Bu dd ha 's "unf ixed [ni rva na]" in the secondhalf. D ha rm ag up ta (T :XX XI .30 8a7-8) has " fr ee from d i sc r imina t ion" inboth cases .

3 5 . T : X X X I . 1 4 8 a l 7 - 1 8 . L a m o t t e , La Somme, p. 245, points out that thisverse is very close to Mahdydnasutrdlankdra IX. 18-19.3 6 . T : X X X I . 3 6 6 b 4 - 7 .3 7 . T : X X X I . 4 3 1 c 2 3 - 2 8 .

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3 8. Each of these is fur th er analyzed in the text (T: X X X I. 148a23 -28) in tovarious sub-speciesthree, three , and f ive respect ively . These fur ther dist inc t ions a re exp la ined in Vasubandhu ' s and Asvabhava ' s commenta r ies ( seeL a m o t t e , La Somme, pp . 248-250) .3 9 . Fol lowing the var ian t g iven in the no tes T :XXXI.148 .4 0 . Va su b a n d h u (T :XXXI . 36 6 a 5 ) a n d Asv a b h a v a (T :XXXI . 4 31 b 27 -28 )both specify the "manas t ranscr ibed in the text to be mano-vijndna, the sixthmode of mental act iv i ty (vijnana).

4 1 . T : X X X I . 1 4 8 a 5 - 1 2 .4 2 . T : X X X I . 4 3 1 b l 5 - 2 3 .4 3 . T : X X X 1 . 4 3 1 b 2 3 - 2 9 .44 . T :XXXI . 36 6 a 7 -1 2 . T h e c o mme n ta ry e x p la in s t h e th i rd l i n e o f t h e

v e r se, s a y in g th a t " th e d o c t r in e ( & :d h a rm a )" me a n s " th e wo rd s ( i ^ ) ,"i .e. , what i t says as opposed to what i t means.4 5 . T h e re is an unf or tu na te e rr o r in La Vallee-Poussin 's d iscussion-of theth ree cogni t ions tha t obscures th i s impor tan t po in t (La Siddhi, p. 634) . In aparaphrase of the f i rs t of these same four verses f rom the Mahdyana-samgrahahe says that the prel iminary cognit ion corresponds to " le muet qui ne sa i tpas" ; the fundamental cognit ion, to " le muet qui sa i t" ; and the subsequently-acqu i red cogni t ion , to " le non-muet qu i ne sait pas" ( e mp h a s i s a d d e d ) . T h ewho le point of the analogy, howev er , is that the subseq uently -acq uired cog

n i t ion is a s tep beyo nd the fun dam enta l : i t co r resp ond s to som eon e who bo thknows and can act, in th is case , ta lk about or preach his real izat ion to others .4 6 . Perhaps the best s tudy contrast ing the differences between the var iousnotions of n irvana in the Hinayana as opposed to the Mahayana schools isfound in Nal inaksha Dut t , Mahayana Buddhism (see above , n . 2) , pp . 178-25 4.4 7 . I t is surely no coincidence that , of the pr incipal adversar ies in themodern deba te over the meaning of Buddhis t n i rvana , S tcherba tsky , whoadvoca ted a more nega t ive concep t ion , worked espec ia l ly wi th Madhyamikaworks in Tibetan, while La Vallee-Poussin , who advocated a more posi t iveunders tand ing of the te rm, worked espec ia l ly wi th Yogacara works inChinese . Consider a lso in th is l ight Stcherbatsky 's evaluat ion of apratisthita-nirvana as a Yogacara deviat ion from "str ic t Mahayanism" (see n . 2 above) .

4 8 . This is verse XXV.3 of the Mulamadhyamakakarikd a long wi th Can-drak l r t i ' s Prasannapadd c o m m e n t a r y .aprahinam asamprdptam anucchinnam as'ds'vatam/aniruddham anutpannam etan nirv&nam ucyatellVr t t i : yad dhi naiva prahiyate rdgddivat ndpi prdpyate srdmanyaphalavatndpyucchidyate skandhadivat yac cdpi nanityam aiunyavat tat svabhdvato 'niruddhamanutpannam ca sarvaprapancopas'ama-laksanam nirvdnam uktamlT h e Sanskri t text is fou nd in the revised an d enlar ge d edi t ion of Stche rbatsky 's The Conception of Buddhist Nirvana (ed. by Jaid eva Singh , V aranasi :Bhara t iya Vidya Prakash am ) , p . 40 o f the app end ix . For S tcherba tsky ' s som ewhat different t ransla t ion of the same passage, see pp. 288-289 of the Singhed. or pp. 186-187 of the or iginal ed.4 9 . The s ignif icance and prominence of th is 'posi t ive ' e lement inYogacara thou gh t is too qu ick ly d is re gard ed by those who would rep res en tInd ian Buddhism as nega t ive and wor ld -denying in con t ras t to Chinese Buddhis m which is posi t ive and world-aff i rm ing.

dynamic liberation in yogācāra buddhism

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