Linji’s teaching. When this gem of a Chan text was
published, Linji’s reputation was already established as
the founder of one of Chan’s Five Houses, and his life
story had become thoroughly embellished with color-
ful details.
Bibliography
Demiéville, Paul, trans. and ed. Entretiens de Lin-tsi.Paris: Fa-
yard, 1972.
Miura, Isshu, and Sasaki, Ruth Fuller. Zen Dust.Kyoto: First
Zen Institute of America in Japan, 1966.
Sasaki, Ruth Fuller, trans. The Record of Lin-chi.Kyoto: Insti-
tute for Zen Studies, 1975.
Watson, Burton, trans. The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-chi.
Boston: Shambhala, 1993.
Yanagida, Seizan. “The Life of Lin-chi I-hsüan.” Eastern Bud-
dhistvol. V, no. 2 (1972): 70–94.
URSAPP
YOGA. SeeMeditation
YOGACARA SCHOOL
The Yogacara school, whose name is taken from one
of its foundational texts, the Yogacarabhumi(Stages of
Yoga Practice), provided perhaps the most sophisti-
cated examination and description in all of Buddhism
of how the mind works—in psychological, epistemo-
logical, logical, emotional, cognitive, meditative, de-
velopmental, and soteriological modes. At once a
rigorous, rational philosophy and an elaborate system
of practice, it provided methods by which one could
identify and correct the cognitive errors inherent in the
way the mind works, since enlightenment meant di-
rect, immediate, correct cognition.
The founding of Yogacara, one of the two major In-
dian MAHAYANAschools, is usually attributed to the
half-brothers ASAN ̇GAand VASUBANDHU(fourth to
fifth century C.E.), but most of its unique concepts had
been introduced at least a century earlier in scriptures
such as the SAMDHINIRMOCANA-SUTRA(Sutra Eluci-
dating the Hidden Connectionsor Sutra Setting Free the
[Buddha’s] Intent). Yogacara forged novel concepts
and methods that synthesized prior Buddhist teachings
into a coherent antidote (pratipaksa) for eliminating
the cognitive problems that prevented liberation from
the karmic cycles of birth and death.
Historical overview
Key Yogacara notions such as only-cognition
(vijñaptimatra), three self-natures (trisvabhava), the
ALAYAVIJN
ANA(warehouse consciousness), overturning
the basis (as ́rayaparavrtti), and the theory of eight con-
sciousnesses were introduced in the Samdhinirmocana-
sutraand received more detailed, systematic treatment
in the writings of Asan ̇ga and Vasubandhu. Born Brah-
mans in Purusapura (present-day Peshawar, Pakistan)
to the same mother but different fathers, Asan ̇ga and
his half-brother Vasubandhu became Buddhists,
Asan ̇ga entering the MAHIS ́ASAKAschool, while Va-
subandhu joined the Vaibhasikas in their stronghold
in Kashmir. The literary core of Mahs ́asaka practice
was the AGAMA/NIKAYAcorpus of the MAINSTREAM
BUDDHIST SCHOOLS, while the Vaibhasikas excelled at
ABHIDHARMA. The brothers’ later writings reflect these
backgrounds, since even Asan ̇ga’s book on abhi-
dharma,the Abhidharmasamuccaya(Abhidharma Com-
pilation), cites only agamas,not abhidharmatexts.
According to tradition, after many years of fruit-
less practice and solitary meditation, in a moment of
utter despair, Asan ̇ga began receiving instruction from
the future Buddha, MAITREYA, who resides in the
Tusita heaven. Maitreya dictated new texts for Asan ̇ga
to disseminate. Asan ̇ga also composed works under
his own name, though the Chinese and Tibetan tra-
ditions disagree about the attribution of these texts.
For instance, both ascribe the Mahayanasamgraha
(Mahayana Compendium), Abhidharmasamuccaya,and
Mahayanasutralamkara(Ornament of Mahayana Sutras)
to Asan ̇ga, and Madhyantavibhaga(Distinguishing the
Middle and Extremes) to Maitreya, but Chinese tradi-
tion attributes the Yogacarabhumito Maitreya, whereas
Tibetans credit Asan ̇ga with this text. What gave the
Maitreya-Asan ̇ga texts their lasting importance was not
their mode of composition—receiving sacred scrip-
tures from nonhuman sources is not uncommon in
Asian traditions—but their content, that is, how they
rethought Buddhism on a grand scale, as well as in its
most minute details.
Vasubandhu grew dissatisfied with Vaibhasika doc-
trine and, after exploring other forms of Buddhism, be-
came a Yogacara through Asan ̇ga’s influence. Asan ̇ga’s
magnum opus, the Yogacarabhumi,is a comprehensive
encyclopedia of Buddhist terms and models mapped
according to a Yogacara view of how one progresses
along the stages of the path to enlightenment. Va-
subandhu’s pre-Yogacara magnum opus, the ABHI-
DHARMAKOS ́ABHASYA(Treasury of Abhidharma), also
provides a comprehensive, detailed overview of theYOGA