Thinker · TH-0070
Asaṅga
Asaṅga was an Indian Buddhist monk of the fourth century CE, traditionally from Gandhāra and the elder brother of Vasubandhu. With his brother he…
On the Coordinates: 1.3 Philosophy of Mind
असङ्ग
Also known as Asanga
fl. 4th century CE · Gandhāra (Puruṣapura)
Traditions: Buddhist
Schools: Yogacara
Asaṅga was an Indian Buddhist monk of the fourth century CE, traditionally from Gandhāra and the elder brother of Vasubandhu. With his brother he is regarded as a founding systematiser of the Yogācāra school. Its teaching of mind-only (cittamātra) holds that what we take to be external objects are given only in consciousness; scholars disagree whether this is ontological idealism or an epistemological or phenomenological claim. Tradition links some works ascribed to him with revelations from the bodhisattva Maitreya, and attributions are debated.
Key ideas
- What appears as an external world is given only in consciousness (vijñapti-mātra).
- Experience has three natures: imagined, dependent and perfected.
- A storehouse consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) carries the seeds of past action and experience.
- Liberation involves a transformation of the basis of consciousness.
Major works
- Mahāyānasaṃgraha (Compendium of the Mahāyāna)
- Abhidharmasamuccaya
- Yogācārabhūmi (attribution to Asaṅga is traditional and debated)
In the conversation
In the Coordinates
The questions of philosophy where Asaṅga takes a place, from The Coordinates of Thought.
- 1.3 Philosophy of Mind What is a mind, and how does it relate to the body and the world?