(gra ̄hakagra ̄hyadvaya) is of imagined nature (parikal-
pitasvabha ̄va) and is ultimately nonexistent. However, this
dualistic concept is constructed based on the transformation
of consciousness (vijña ̄naparin:a ̄ma) or cognition-only
(vijnaptima ̄tra), which is of a dependent nature (paratan-
trasvabha ̄va). To see that realities are cognition-only and free
from the superimposition of the duality of persons and
phenomena is to realize their true nature (parins:pan-
nasvhabha ̄va). Because the knowledge of the selflessness of
persons is an antidote to the false view of self and because
the knowledge of the selflessness of phenomena is an anti-
dote to cognitive obstructions, to remove afflictive and cog-
nitive obstructions is to achieve liberation and omniscience
or buddhahood.
According to Sthiramati, the teaching of vijñaptima ̄tra
(i.e., things do not exist with intrinsic natures but are only
the transformations of consciousness) is to refute the errors
of the two extreme views: (1) that the objects, like conscious-
ness (vijña ̄na), are real; and (2) that, like the objects, con-
sciousness only exists conventionally but not ultimately.
Due to the lack of translation of his works into Chinese,
Sthiramati did not get as much appreciation as Dharmapa ̄la
in the Chinese tradition. Chinese Buddhists’ interpretations
of Sthiramati’s views on Yoga ̄ca ̄ra tend to be fragmentary and
at times unfounded, and his more important contributions
went unknown.
SEE ALSO Buddhism, overview article; Enlightenment; Vasu-
bandhu; Yoga ̄ca ̄ra.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Frauwallner, Erich. “Landmarks in the History of Indian Logic.”
Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Süd und Ostasiens 5 (1961):
125–148.
Friedman, David Lasar, trans. Madhya ̄ntavibha ̄gat: ̄ıka ̄: Analysis of
the Middle Path and the Extremes. Utrecht, 1937. A transla-
tion of the first chapter.
Jacobi, Hermann, trans. Trim: ́ssikavijñapti des Vasubandhu mit
bha ̄s:ya des a ̄ca ̄rya Sthiramati. Stuttgart, 1932.
Lévi, Sylvain. Une systéme de philosophie bouddhique. matériaux
pour l’étude du systéme Vijñaptima ̄tra. Paris, 1932.
O’Brien, Paul Wilfred, trans. “A Chapter on Reality from the
Madhya ̄ntavibha ̄ga ́sa ̄stra ̄.” Monumentica Nipponica 9 & 10
(1953–54): 277–303; 227–269.
Tekin, Sina ̧si, ed. Abhidharma-Ko ́sabha ̄s:yat: ̄ıka ̄ Tattva ̄rtha-na ̄ma.
The Uigur Translation of Sthiramati’s Commentary on Vasu-
bandhu’s Abhidharmako ́sa ́sa ̄stra. New York, 1970.
Ui Hakuju. Anne Goho ̄ yuishiki sanjussho shakuron. Tokyo, 1953.
Yamaguchi, Susumu. Sthiramati, Madhya ̄ntavibha ̄gat: ̄ıka ̄: Exposi-
tion systématique du Yoga ̄ca ̄ravijñaptiva ̄da. 3 vols. Nagoya,
Japan, 1934–1937.
CUONG TU NGUYEN (2005)
STIGMATA SEE BODILY MARKS
STOICISM is a philosophy related to the ancient Greek
Stoic school, which took its name from the painted “porch”
(stoa) on the northern side of the Athenian Agora (now ruins
partially excavated along Hadrianos Street), where teachers
and students of the school initially met. Later, however, les-
sons were also held in more suitable public buildings (cf. Di-
ogenes Laertius, 7.184).
HISTORICAL SURVEY. The founder of the Stoic school was
Zenon (c. 335–263 BCE). Born in Cithium, Cyprus, he trav-
eled for business to Athens in his thirties and came in contact
with Socratic circles there. Zenon devoted himself to philos-
ophy and worked out a comprehensive and ethically oriented
world vision, entirely different in its ontological framework
from those Plato and Aristotle had produced a few decades
earlier. Having lived a successful life in Athens, whose mu-
nicipality honored him with a statue, Zenon committed sui-
cide. According to Stoic doctrine, suicide is a proper way to
end one’s life when circumstances (chronic illness, external
pressure, etc.) prevent one from continuing to live as a wise
person.
Cleanthes (c. 331–232 BCE), a student of Zenon’s from
Assos (not far from ancient Troy), led the school until he let
himself starve to death, having reached almost one hundred
years of age. Cleanthes is believed to have been interested in
religion, an opinion due apparently to his famous “Hymn
to Zeus” (Stoicorum veterum fragmenta [SVF] 1.537). In fact,
Cleanthes occupied himself with a wide range of philosophi-
cal topics, including logic as well as psychology.
The third head of the Stoa was Chrysippus (c. 280–208
BCE), who came from Soli, near modern Mersin, in Cilicia
(southwestern Anatolia, bordering Syria). Chrysippus was a
natural scholar who wrote numerous books (only fragments
are extant) by which he improved the Stoic system in all
branches of philosophy. Most of what is known as Stoicism
comes from him. After his death the Stoa was directed by Di-
ogenes of Seleucia-on-the-Tigris and, later, by Antipater of
Tarsus. These Stoic leaders of the first half of the second cen-
tury BCE left the system set up by Chrysippus unchanged, for
they were occupied in rebuking critics from rival schools,
such as the Epicureans, the Peripatetics (Aristotle’s follow-
ers), and especially Carneades of Cyrene, the director of the
Academy (Plato’s former school).
The two major Stoic figures of the following period,
which August Schmekel labeled the Middle Stoa, are Panae-
tius of Rhodes (c. 185–c. 109 BCE) and Posidonius of
Apamea, Syria (c. 135–c. 50 BCE). Both were worldly philos-
ophers who developed friendly ties with high-ranking politi-
cians and intellectuals in Rome. Panaetius was mainly con-
cerned with issues of a moral and social nature; in religious
matters he seems to have expressed agnostic views. Posidoni-
us, who was endowed with an encyclopedic mind, wrote
books on cosmology, geography, and history, and he restyled
the Stoic system. Several tenets of Posidonius’s system dif-
fered from Chrysippean “orthodoxy.” For example, Posi-
donius accepted the existence of an “irrational” part of the8740 STIGMATA