East Asian Yogācāra
East Asian Yogācāra in China and Japan
East Asian Yogācāra refers to the Mahayana Buddhist traditions in East Asia which developed out of the Indian Buddhist Yogācāra (lit. "yogic practice") systems (also known as Vijñānavāda, "the doctrine of consciousness" or Cittamātra, "mind-only"). In East Asian Buddhism, this school of Buddhist idealism was known as the "Consciousness-Only school" (traditional Chinese: 唯識宗; ; pinyin: Wéishí-zōng; Japanese pronunciation: Yuishiki-shū; Korean: 유식종).
The 4th-century brothers, Asaṅga and Vasubandhu, are considered the classic founders of Indian Yogacara school. The East Asian tradition developed through the work of numerous Buddhist thinkers working in Chinese. They include Bodhiruci, Ratnamati, Huiguang, Paramārtha, Jingying Huiyuan, Zhiyan, Xuanzang and his students Kuiji, Woncheuk and Dōshō.
The East Asian consciousness only school is traditionally seen as being divided into two main groups. There are the "Old Translation 舊譯 (Jiù yì)" or "Ancient Vijnaptimatra 唯識古學 (Wéishí gǔxué)" schools, which refers to the earliest traditions to develop in China prior to Xuanzang, primarily the Dilun and Shelun, which heavily blends buddha-nature thought with Yogācāra. The other branch is the "New Translation 新譯 (Xīn yì)" or "Contemporary Vijnaptimatra 唯識今學 (Wéishí jīnxué)" Schools, which refers specifically to the tradition of Xuanzang and tends to focus much more strictly on mainstream Yogācāra philosophy following the Indian master Dharmapala.
Names
In Chinese Buddhism, the overall Yogācāra tradition is mostly called Wéishí-zōng (traditional Chinese: 唯識宗; ; Japanese pronunciation: Yuishiki-shū; Korean: 유식종, yusik) which is a translation of the Sanskrit Vijñānavādin ("cognition only", "mere consciousness").
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