Description
Madhyamaka and Yogacara are the two principal schools of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. While Madhyamaka asserts the ultimate emptiness and conventional reality of all phenomena, Yogacara is usually considered to be idealistic. This collection of essays addresses the degree to which these philosophical approaches are consistent or complementary.Indian and Tibetan doxographies often take these two schools to be philosophical rivals. They are grounded in distinct bodies of sutra literature and adopt what appear to be very different positions regarding the analysis of emptiness and the status of mind. Madhyamaka-Yogacara polemics abound in Indian Buddhist literature, and Tibetan doxographies regard them as distinct systems. Nonetheless, scholars have tried to synthesize the two positions for centuries. This volume offers new essays by prominent experts on both these traditions, who address the question of the degree to which these philosophical approaches should be seen as rivals or as allies. In answering the question of whether Madhyamaka and Yogacara can be considered compatible, contributors engage with a broad range of canonical literature, and relate the texts to contemporary philosophical problems.
Table of Contents
AcknowledgmentsContributorsIntroduction: Madhyamaka and Yogacara: Allies or Rivals? - Jay L. Garfield, Jan Westerhoff1) Pratityasamutpada and Dharmadhatu in Early Mahayana Buddhism - Chaisit Suwanvarangkul2) Language and existence in Madhyamaka and Yogacara: Preliminary reflections - Mattia Salvini3) Reification and Nihilism: The Three Nature Theory and Its Implications - Sonam Thakchöe4) The Case for Discontinuity - Mark Siderits5) "Undigested Pride": Bhaviveka on the Dispute Between Madhyamaka and Yogacara - David Eckel6) Xuanzang and Kuiji on Madhyamaka - Dan Lusthaus7) Nagarjuna's Yogaaa - Jan Westerhoff 8) Nagarjuna the Yogacarin? Vasubandhu the Madhyamika? On the Middle-way between Realism and Anti-Realism - Eviatar Shulman9) Without Karma and Nirvana, Buddhism is Nihilism: The Yogacara Contribution to the Doctrine of Emptiness - Jonathan C. Gold10) Two Topics Concerning Consciousness in Santaraksita's Yogacara-Madhyamaka Syncretism - James Blumenthal11) I am a Brain in a Vat (Or Perhaps a Pile of Sticks By the Side of the Road) - Jay L. GarfieldIndex
