Madhyamaka and Yogacara

Jed Forman, Reading Religion [The] authors collectively demonstrate that both Madhyamaka and Yogcra can be construed under myriad permutations of the two truths and the three natures, dissolving any possible monolithic characterization of either school, along with any coherent answer to whether they are allies or rivals.


Tom Tillemans, Professor Emeritus, University of Lausanne This is an important work on an issue that is surely amongst the most complex in Buddhist Studies. Garfield and Westerhoff have brought together eleven contributions whose mix of philology, history, and philosophical analysis advances our understanding significantly.

Jay L. Garfield is Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Professor of Humanities and Head of Studies in Philosophy at Yale-NUS College, Professor of Philosophy at the National University of Singapore, Recurrent Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy at Smith College, Professor of Philosophy at Melbourne University and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the Central University of Tibetan Studies. Professor Garfield teaches and pursues research in the philosophy of mind, foundations of cognitive science, logic, philosophy of language, Buddhist philosophy, cross-cultural hermeneutics, theoretical and applied ethics and epistemology. Jan Westerhoff is a University Lecturer in Religious Ethics, University of Oxford, a Fellow and Tutor in Theology and Religion, Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford and a Research Associate, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His research concentrates on systematic aspects of ancient Indian philosophy, especially on Madhyamaka.

Acknowledgments ; Contributors ; Introduction: Madhyamaka and Yogacara: Allies or Rivals? - Jay L. Garfield, Jan Westerhoff ; 1) Pratityasamutpada and Dharmadhatu in Early Mahayana Buddhism - Chaisit Suwanvarangkul ; 2) Language and existence in Madhyamaka and Yogacara: Preliminary reflections - Mattia Salvini ; 3) Reification and Nihilism: The Three Nature Theory and Its Implications - Sonam Thakchoe ; 4) The Case for Discontinuity - Mark Siderits ; 5) "Undigested Pride": Bhaviveka on the Dispute Between Madhyamaka and Yogacara - David Eckel ; 6) Xuanzang and Kuiji on Madhyamaka - Dan Lusthaus ; 7) Nagarjuna's Yogaaa - Jan Westerhoff ; 8) Nagarjuna the Yogacarin? Vasubandhu the Madhyamika? On the Middle-way between Realism and Anti-Realism - Eviatar Shulman ; 9) Without Karma and Nirvana, Buddhism is Nihilism: The Yogacara Contribution to the Doctrine of Emptiness - Jonathan C. Gold ; 10) Two Topics Concerning Consciousness in Santaraksita's Yogacara-Madhyamaka Syncretism - James Blumenthal ; 11) I am a Brain in a Vat (Or Perhaps a Pile of Sticks By the Side of the Road) - Jay L. Garfield ; Index