Talk:Yogachara

Removed:

But as the Western understanding of Buddhism matures, it will be very useful for us if we can round out our theoretical understanding of Buddhism by studying a bit about Yogācāra.

Since it's unneccessary and very POV. Simon 81.229.85.178 23:38, 27 Feb 2004 (UTC)

re Where the karma is stored?

When reading about complex yogacarin concepts, I recalled this: Once a monk asked the Buddha (Shakyamuni) about something, saying that if he won't fulfill his curiosity immediately, he will leave the sangha (he probably was a very smart and scholarly monk). Buddha then asked him whether he ever promised him that he will be given answers to such questions when he asked permission to join sangha. The monk replied that no, he did not indeed. Buddha then told him a story about the poisoned arrow ("please do not remove this poisoned arrow until you tell me who exactly fired it, with what bow, from what angle" etc). It is interesting to know where exactly karma is stored before it manifests but I heard a good answer to similar question once: "when (if) you attain enlightement, you will see it yourself". This is indeed a rare piece of humor, IMO. The said monk had an advantage, to be honest: he was able to ask the Buddha himself.

translations of rangtong and shentong

in the article are translated as 'noble conduct' and 'noble view' in actuality, they literally mean 'emptiness of self' and 'emptiness of other', respectively

I'm not familiar with the 'conduct/view' interpretation of these concepts.

Yogacara in English

I don't think it's accurate to say, as the conclusion of this article does, that "there are really no good, accessible books on the topic [of yogacara] in English." To mention just one, there is William Waldron's book on the Alayavijnana, a thoroughgoing and eminently readable examination of this basic Yogacara concept, which also compares it to the concept of the unconscious as explicated by Jung and Freud. Indeedy, the book is a revision of Waldron's Ph.D. thesis.

That's just one example of a very good book on Yogacara in English. There are others.