Monday, April 15, 2013

Idealism in the Viṃśatikā and Idealism in the Triṃśikā


It has been pointed out in Schmithausen 1967 (i.e. “Sautrāntika-Voraussetzungen in Viṃśatikā und  Triṃśikā”) that the idealism in Vasubandhu’s Viṃśatikā has not been developed on the basis of the Yogācāra’s concept of the “eightfold complex of mental series” (i.e. rnam shes tshogs brgyad) but on the basis of the Sautrāntika concept of the “one-layered mental series.” Such an idealism developed on the basis of the “one-layered mental series” of the Sautrāntikas can also be found in Dignāga’s Ālambanaparīkṣā and Dharmakīrti’s writings. The idealism in Vasubandhu’s Triṃśikā, however, has been developed on the basis of the Yogācāra’s concept of the eightfold complex of mental series.