Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogacara Buddhism and the Ch'eng Wei-shih Lun

A richly complex study of the Yogacara tradition of Buddhism in India and China, divided into five parts. Part 1 is on Buddhism and phenomenology, with close attention to elements in Husserl and Merleau-Ponty that are helpful for understanding Yogacara. Part 2 details the four basic models of Indian Buddhist thought - the five skandhas, conditioned co-arising, the triple world, and the interplay of behaviour/meditation/understanding. A chapter on the attainment of cessation nirodha- sam patti illustrates some of the intricate ways in which these models were deployed. Part 3 discusses karma, meditation, and epistemology, from Pali Abhidhamma and Nagarjuna to Yogacara. Part 4 presents texts, translations, and comparative analysis of Vasubandhu’s Trimsika with the Chinese versions by Paramartha and Hsuan-tsang. Part 5 deals with the Ch'eng wei-shih lun and Yogacara in China.