An Investigation into the Meaning of Vijñapti Mātratā of Yogācāra Buddhism

Abstract

It is prime import fact to emphasize at the very beginning that the Yogācāra Buddhist School is predominant in the history of Buddhist thought inasmuch as it adopts a precise view of the world and being, who live therein, which widely concerned in early Buddhism. According to some Buddhist scholars, their teaching of Vijñapti Mātratā, it also identifies as Cittamātratā, contradicts with the early Buddhism as they accept that the world is ‘mind only’. On the other hand, Venerable Walpola Rahula insists that the English meaning which given to the concept cannot be accepted. According to him, some recent Buddhist scholars have misled in translating this term, Vijñapti Mātratā, into English and this concept can obviously be justified with the early Buddhism. Therefore, this paper is aimed to iron out and distinguish the exact meaning of the term as occurred in their literary works while paying attention at modern scholastic views on it. The result of the paper would be that the translation of ‘mind only’ contrasts to the meaning expected by the Yogācārins