There has been no academic agreement on whether “Vijñaptimātra” (Consciousness-only) should be understood to advocate ontological idealism or epistemological idealism. What is amusing and confusing is that there are several occasions that both sides of the debate are reading same texts or even referring to the same paragraph but interpreting it in totally different way. This article is intended to draw attention to those texts and paragraphs from Vimśatikāvijñaptimātratāsiddhi, Triṃśikāvijñaptimātratā, Cheng Wei Shi Lun (CWSL), Sandhinirmocanasūtra, Yogācārabhūmi, Mahāyāna-samgraha where both sides of the debate confront each other with their competing arguments. The purpose is to understand better where the possible differences are coming from in the hope to reduce some confusion/bias and to find common denominator if any. Discussion finds the debates might be attributed to several factors: the deep-rooted equivocal relationship between cosmology and psychology in Buddhist tradition; different translations of the key term “vijñānapariṇāma”; how to understand the generalization from meditation practice experience to ordinary experience; and what to expect regarding the coherence among Yogācāra texts and within Yogācāra lineage and whether and where the interoperation should be applied. Last, it is suggested that whether ontological idealist theory is making perfect sense and whether “Vijñaptimātra” be understood as ontological idealism should be decoupled and addressed as different topics.
目次
Abstract 113 Introduction 115 Vimsatikavijnaptimatratasiddhi 1. Support for ontological idealism 118 2. Refutation against ontological idealism 125 Trimsikavijnaptimatrata 1. Support for ontological idealism 130 2. Refutation against ontological idealism 132 Cheng Wei Shi Lun (CWSL) 1. Support for ontological idealism 137 2. Refutation against ontological idealism 143 Sandhinirmocanasutra, Yogacarabhumi, Mahayana-samgraha 1. Refutation against ontological idealism 148 2. Support for ontological idealism 150 Discussion 155 Reference 162
