This highly original work explores the concept of self-awareness or self-consciousness in Buddhist thought. Within the Buddhist doctrinal system, the Sanskrit word svasamvedana or svasamvitti (self-cognition, self-awareness, self-consciousness) signifies a form of reflexive awareness. It is one of the key concepts in the Buddhist epistemological system developed by Dignaga (ca. 480-540 CE) and his followers. The discussion on whether the mind knows itself also had a long history in the Buddhist schools of Mahasamghika, Sarvastivada, Sautrantika, and early Yogacara. The same issue was debated later among the Mahamadhyamaka and Yogacara schools. This work is the first to study systematically the Buddhist theory of self-cognition originated in a soteriological discussion of omniscience among Mahasamghikas, and then evolved into a topic of epistemological inquiry among the Yogacarins. To illustrate this central theme, the author draws on a large body of primary sourses in Chinese, Pali, Sanskrit and Tibetan, most of which are being presented to an English readership for the first time. This work makes available imporatant resources for the study of the Buddhist philosophy of mind.
Buddhist Theory of Self - Cognition, Zhihua Yao, RoutledgeCurzon, Hardcover, 2005, 208 pages, $105.00
Zhihua Yao received his PhD from Boston University. He is Research Assistant Professor at the Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong. He specializes in Buddhist Philosophy and Philosophy of Religion
Preface
Abbreviations
1 Introduction
2 Origin: Mahasaaghika
2.1 The Origin of Self-Cognition
2.2 The Mahasaaghika Theory of Self-Cognition
2.2.1 Mahasamghika and Its Abhidharma
2.2.2 All-Knowing Awareness
2.2.3 The Self-Cognition of the Mind and Mental Activities
2.2.4 ¿Rang rig pa yin no¿
2.2.5 Influence on Yogacara
2.3 The Andhakas¿ Arguments for Self-Cognition
2.3.1 The Andhakas
2.3.2 Awareness of the Present
2.3.3 Attending to All at Once
3 Refutation: Sarvastivada
3.1 Sarvastivada Abhidharma
3.2 Awareness of Single Moment
3.3 Refutation of Self-Awareness
3.3.1 Causality
3.3.2 The Similes
3.3.3 Epistemology
3.3.4 Soteriology
3.3.5 Self and Other
3.3.6 The Particular and Universal
3.4 Discussion of Self-Consciousness
3.4.1 Consciousness and Awareness
3.4.2 Can Consciousness Know Itself?
3.5 Two Minds and Memory
3.5.1 Can Two Minds Function Simultaneously?
3.5.2 How is Memory Possible?
3.6 The Problem of Self-Feeling
3.6.1 Awareness of Feeling
3.6.2 Self-Feeling and Self-Cognition
3.6.3 Three Types of Perception
4 Synthesis: Sautrantika
4.1 Sautrantika: Sources
4.2 Multiple Minds
4.2.1 Minds Arising Successively
4.2.2 How Does the Mind Know Itself?
4.3 Mental Consciousness
4.3.1 ¿Mental Consciousness is Self-Cognizant¿
4.3.2 Cessation of Self-Cognition
4.4 Proof of Self-Cognition
5 Systematization: Yogacara
5.1 Yogacara and Its Two Schools
5.2 Self-Cognition in Early Yogacara
5.2.1 Self-Realization
5.2.2 The Self-Knowledge of Consciousness
5.3 Self-Cognition: Dignaga
5.3.1 Self-Cognition as a Type of Perception
5.3.2 Self-Cognition and Other Types of Perception
5.3.3 Self-Cognition and the Dual Appearance of Cognition
5.4 Cognition of Self-Cognition: Dharmapala
5.5 Later Development
6 Conclusion
Appendix: Dates of Important Authors
Bibliography
