Unitatea funcțional-organică (a conștiinței) ca alternativă la unitatea substanțială, în budhismul Yogācāra
Ovidiu Cristian Nedu
The Annals of "Dunărea de Jos" University of Galaţi. Fascicle XVIII, Philosophy July 2, 2026 DOI: doi.org/10.35219/philosophy.2024.05 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism |
| Keywords | Vijñănavăda Yogācāra Consciousness Karmic potency Serial continuity |
| Key points | Argues that Yogācāra's store-house consciousness provides continuity to manifestation without introducing any persistent entity, representing a middle way between permanence and nihilism. |
Abstract
Yogācāra Buddhism, the idealistic branch of Mahāyāna, features a moderate ontology, more inclined to realism, which gives a certain degree of reality to manifestation. According to this ontology, Yogācāra's view of universal unity is organic-functional rather than substantial. The cosmos is unitary not because of an alleged ontological reduction to a single substance, as in primary Mahāyāna or Brahmanism, but rather because of a unitary functioning, in close inter-relation, of all its components. The approach to universal unity in Yogācāra is cosmological rather than metaphysical, with unity residing in the manifesting pattern of plurality. For Yogācāra, the entire manifestation represents the ideation of a cosmic consciousness, known as the „store-house consciousness” (layavijna). The main aspect of the store-house consciousness is to unify in a single causal flow the whole experience, be it in an actual, manifested form, of factors (dharma), or only in a potential form, of karmic seeds (bja). The continuity and stability provided by the store-house consciousness is not a substantial continuity or stability, but only one consisting in the regularity of succession. The store-house consciousness is, in respect of its content, substance, nothing more than the elements that compose it. Since all factors are momentary flashes, the store-house consciousness equally shares their momentary character. The ontological status of the store-house consciousness represents a middle way between the extreme of permanence (vata) and the nihilistic one, of „destruction” (uccheda). The nature of the store-house consciousness provides continuity, regular succession to manifestation, but without introducing any persistent entity. Its function is the one ascribed by Mahyna to the series of conditioned coproduction (prattyasamutpda), that is to represent a middle way between non-existence and reality.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience | 1995 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From self to nonself: The Nonself Theory | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |