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Yogachara
Yogachara ( sa, योगाचार, IAST: '; literally "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga") is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. It is also variously termed ''Vijñānavāda'' (the doctrine of consciousness), ''Vijñaptivāda'' (the doctrine of ideas or percepts) or ''Vijñaptimātratā-vāda'' (the doctrine of 'mere representation'), which is also the name given to its major epistemic theory. There are several interpretations of this main theory; while often regarded as a kind of Idealism, critical scholars argue that it is closer to a kind of phenomenology or representationalism, aimed at deconstructing the reification of our perceptions. According to Dan Lusthaus, this tradition developed "an elaborate psychological therapeutic system that mapped out the problems in cognition along with the antidotes to correct ...
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Mahayana
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing branches of Buddhism (the other being ''Theravāda'' and Vajrayana).Harvey (2013), p. 189. Mahāyāna accepts the main scriptures and teachings of early Buddhism but also recognizes various doctrines and texts that are not accepted by Theravada Buddhism as original. These include the Mahāyāna Sūtras and their emphasis on the ''bodhisattva'' path and ''Prajñāpāramitā''. ''Vajrayāna'' or Mantra traditions are a subset of Mahāyāna, which make use of numerous tantric methods considered to be faster and more powerful at achieving Buddhahood by Vajrayānists. "Mahāyāna" also refers to the path of the bodhisattva striving to become a fully awakened Buddha (''samyaksaṃbuddha'') for the benefit of all sentient beings, and is thus als ...
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Śūnyatā
''Śūnyatā'' ( sa, wikt:शून्यता#Sanskrit, शून्यता, śūnyatā; pi, suññatā) pronounced in English as (shoon-ya-ta), translated most often as ''emptiness'', ''vacuity'', and sometimes ''voidness'', is a Buddhism, Buddhist concept which has multiple meanings depending on its doctrinal context. It is either an ontological feature of reality, a meditative state, or a phenomenological analysis of experience. In Theravada, Theravāda Buddhism, ''Suññatā'' often refers to the Anatta, non-self (Pāli: ''anattā'', Sanskrit: ''anātman'') nature of the Skandha, five aggregates of experience and the Āyatana, six sense spheres. ''Suññatā'' is also often used to refer to a Buddhist meditation, meditative state or experience. In Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism, ''śūnyatā'' refers to the tenet that "all things are empty of intrinsic existence and nature (''svabhava'')", but may also refer to the Buddha-nature teachings and primordial or empty awar ...
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Yoga
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciousness untouched by the mind ('' Chitta'') and mundane suffering (''Duḥkha''). There is a wide variety of schools of yoga, practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism,Stuart Ray Sarbacker, ''Samādhi: The Numinous and Cessative in Indo-Tibetan Yoga''. SUNY Press, 2005, pp. 1–2.Tattvarthasutra .1 see Manu Doshi (2007) Translation of Tattvarthasutra, Ahmedabad: Shrut Ratnakar p. 102. and traditional and modern yoga is practiced worldwide. Two general theories exist on the origins of yoga. The linear model holds that yoga originated in the Vedic period, as reflected in the Vedic textual corpus, and influenced Buddhism; according to author Edward Fitzpatrick Crangle, this model is mainly supported by Hindu scholars. According ...
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Bhūmi (Buddhism)
In Buddhism, ''Bhūmi'' (Sanskrit: '' भूमि'' 'foundation', Chinese: 地 'land' ) is the 32nd and 33rd place (10th and 11th in simple count) on the outgoing's process of Mahayana awakening. Each stage represents a level of attainment in that case, and serves as a basis for the next one. Each level marks a definite advancement in one's training that is accompanied by progressively greater power and wisdom. Buddhist monks who arrived at ''Bhūmi'' were originally called śrāvakas, in opposition to Brahminism. Śakro devānām and Trāyastriṃśa are together called "Bhūmi nivāsin". The ten bodhisattva stages are also called ''vihara'' ('dwelling'). Ten bhūmis of the ''Daśabhūmika Sūtra'' The '' Daśabhūmika Sūtra'' refers to the following ten bhūmis. #''The first bhūmi, the Very Joyous.'' (Skt. ''pramuditā''), in which one rejoices at realizing a partial aspect of the truth; #''The second bhūmi, the Stainless.'' (Skt. ''vimalā''), in which one is free f ...
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Buddhist Meditation
Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism. The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are '' bhāvanā'' ("mental development") and '' jhāna/dhyāna'' (mental training resulting in a calm and luminous mind). Buddhists pursue meditation as part of the path toward liberation from defilements ('' kleshas'') and clinging and craving (''upādāna''), also called awakening, which results in the attainment of Nirvana, and includes a variety of meditation techniques, most notably '' anapanasati'' (mindfulness of breathing). Other techniques include '' asubha bhavana'' ("reflections on repulsiveness");Deleanu, Florin (1992)Mindfulness of Breathing in the Dhyāna Sūtras Transactions of the International Conference of Orientalists in Japan (TICOJ) 37, 42-57. reflection on '' pratityasamutpada'' (dependent origination); ''anussati'' (recollections, including ''anapanasati'') and ''sati'' (mindfulness), culminating in ''dhyana'' (develop ...
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Buddhist Philosophy
Buddhist philosophy refers to the philosophical investigations and systems of inquiry that developed among various schools of Buddhism in India following the parinirvana of The Buddha and later spread throughout Asia. The Buddhist path combines both philosophical reasoning and meditation.Siderits, Mark. Buddhism as philosophy, 2007, p. 6 The Buddhist traditions present a multitude of Buddhist paths to liberation, and Buddhist thinkers in India and subsequently in East Asia have covered topics as varied as phenomenology, ethics, ontology, epistemology, logic and philosophy of time in their analysis of these paths. Pre-sectarian Buddhism was based on empirical evidence gained by the sense organs ('' ayatana'') and the Buddha seems to have retained a skeptical distance from certain metaphysical questions, refusing to answer them because they were not conducive to liberation but led instead to further speculation. A recurrent theme in Buddhist philosophy has been the reificatio ...
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Abhidharma
The Abhidharma are ancient (third century BCE and later) Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist ''sutras''. It also refers to the scholastic method itself as well as the field of knowledge that this method is said to study. Bhikkhu Bodhi calls it "an abstract and highly technical systemization of the uddhistdoctrine," which is "simultaneously a philosophy, a psychology and an ethics, all integrated into the framework of a program for liberation." According to Peter Harvey, the Abhidharma method seeks "to avoid the inexactitudes of colloquial conventional language, as is sometimes found in the Suttas, and state everything in psycho-philosophically exact language." In this sense, it is an attempt to best express the Buddhist view of "ultimate reality" (''paramartha-satya''). There are different types of Abhidharma literature. The early canonical Abhidharma works (like the '' Abhidhamma Pitaka'') are not phi ...
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Sarvastivada
The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (Sanskrit and Pali: 𑀲𑀩𑁆𑀩𑀢𑁆𑀣𑀺𑀯𑀸𑀤, ) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (3rd century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy in the First Millennium CE, 2018, p. 60. It was particularly known as an Abhidharma tradition, with a unique set of seven Abhidharma works.Westerhoff, 2018, p. 61. The Sarvāstivādins were one of the most influential Buddhist monastic groups, flourishing throughout North India (especially Kashmir) and Central Asia until the 7th century. The orthodox Kashmiri branch of the school composed the large and encyclopedic ''Mahāvibhāṣa'' ''Śāstra'' around the time of the reign of Kanishka (c. 127–150 CE). Because of this, orthodox Sarvāstivādins who upheld the doctrines in the ''Mahāvibhāṣa'' were called ''Vaibhāṣikas.'' According to the Theravādin '' Dipavamsa'', the Sarvastivada emerged from the older Mahīśāsaka school; ...
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Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majority regions surrounding the Himalayan areas of India (such as Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and a minority in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), in much of Central Asia, in the southern Siberian regions such as Tuva, and in Mongolia. Tibetan Buddhism evolved as a form of Mahāyāna Buddhism stemming from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism (which also included many Vajrayāna elements). It thus preserves many Indian Buddhist tantric practices of the post-Gupta early medieval period (500 to 1200 CE), along with numerous native Tibetan developments. In the pre-modern era, Tibetan Buddhism spread outside of Tibet primarily due to the influence of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), founded by Kublai Khan, which had ruled China, ...
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Gandhara
Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Valley and Swat river valley, though the cultural influence of "Greater Gandhara" extended across the Indus river to the Taxila region in Potohar Plateau and westwards into the Kabul Valley in Afghanistan, and northwards up to the Karakoram range. Gandhara has a deep rooted history of Hinduism mentioned in Indian scripts and epics including Rig Veda, Ramayana and Mahabharata. Famed for its unique Gandharan style of art which is influenced by the classical Hellenistic styles, Gandhara attained its height from the 1st century to the 5th century CE under the Kushan Empire, who had their capital at Peshawar (''Puruṣapura''). Gandhara "flourished at the crossroads of India, Central Asia, and the Middle East," connecting trade routes and absor ...
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Asanga
Asaṅga (, ; Romaji: ''Mujaku'') ( fl. 4th century C.E.) was "one of the most important spiritual figures" of Mahayana Buddhism and the "founder of the Yogachara school".Engle, Artemus (translator), Asanga, ''The Bodhisattva Path to Unsurpassed Enlightenment: A Complete Translation of the Bodhisattvabhumi,'' Shambhala Publications, 2016, Translator's introduction.Rahula, Walpola; Boin-Webb, Sara (translators); Asanga, ''Abhidharmasamuccaya: The Compendium of the Higher Teaching,'' Jain Publishing Company, 2015, p. xiii. He was born in ''Puruṣapura'', modern day Peshawar, Pakistan. Traditionally, he and his half-brother Vasubandhu are regarded as the major classical Indian Sanskrit exponents of Mahayana Abhidharma, ''Vijñanavada'' (awareness only; also called ''Vijñaptivāda'', the doctrine of ideas or percepts, and ''Vijñaptimātratā-vāda'', the doctrine of 'mere representation)) thought and Mahayana teachings on the bodhisattva path. Biography According to later hagiogra ...
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Trisvabhāva
Trisvabhāva (Sanskrit; Chinese characters, Chinese: 三性 or 三自性) or the three natures, is one of the key doctrines of the Yogachara, Yogācāra school of Buddhism. The concept of the three natures describes the three qualities that all phenomena possess, and can be found in several Mahayana sutras, such as Sandhinirmocana Sutra, Samdhinirmocana Sūtra. The three natures are: ''Parikalpita-svabhava'' (the imaginary nature of things)'', Paratantra-svabhava'' (the dependent nature of things) and ''Parinishpanna-svabhava'' (the consummate or perfected nature of things). Meaning and interpretations ''Parikalpita'' (Sanskrit; Traditional Chinese characters, Traditional Chinese: 遍計所執性): the "impure" or "imaginary" nature refers to the falsely perceived nature of objects as entities that exists separate from the consciousness that perceives them. Note that in the Yogācāra analysis, objects do not exist separately from the perceiving subject, they come into existence ...
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