Consciousness-Only Meaning (唯識義)

About 唯識義

Japan · by 釋真興撰

161,428 · about 538 min

The Meaning of Consciousness-Only is a Buddhist treatise composed by the Japanese monk Shaku Shinkō during the Heian period. This work emerged at a time when Japanese Buddhism was engaging in profound study of the Dharma-characteristics and Consciousness-Only school, systematically elucidating the core tenets of the Consciousness-Only tradition. Its primary content revolves around the fundamental viewpoint that all phenomena are consciousness-only, delving deeply into theories such as the ālaya-vijñāna-dependent origination and the three natures and three natureless, aiming to demonstrate that all external objects are transformations of inner consciousness, thereby guiding practitioners to contemplate the mind and realize reality. As an early significant text of Consciousness-Only studies in Japanese Buddhism, this work not only demonstrates the precise grasp of Consciousness-Only doctrine by Japanese monastics but also provides crucial intellectual resources for the transmission and development of East Asian Consciousness-Only studies, holding an academically pivotal role in the history of Japanese Buddhist thought, bridging earlier and later developments.