other minds; Buddha’s wisdom; Xuanzang; Kui-ji; Śāntarakṣita
摘要
The Chinese Yogācāra scholars, such as Xuanzang and Kuiji, adopt a positive strategy of cognition model to solve the problem of “other minds”. They consider other minds indirect objects of our cognition. What we perceive directly in our consciousness is the images of the archetypes (i.e., other minds). This cognition model is not contrary to the doctrines of Yogācāra school because other minds are not real material substances. Moreover, Kuiji apply this cognition model to Buddha’s wisdom of other minds. He explains that Buddha’s wisdom cognizes ordinary peoples’ minds as the images of nonexistence (“Wu”). This explanation is understandable to ordinary people in the conventional sense. However, Śāntarakṣita negates the knowledge of other minds, especially in the situation of Buddha’s Omniscience (sarvajña). He denotes that Buddha’s Omniscience cannot perceive ordinary people’s minds because they are conflict in nature. Therefore, he defines Buddha’s Omniscience as the achievement of all benefits without any real action in the ultimate sense.
