Buddhism As Philosophy: Yogācāra and Madhyamaka

Dive into the idealist interpretation of the Buddha’s teachings with Mark Siderits. In your first lesson, you’ll discover how the Mind-Only School challenges conventional views of existence and reframes perception through the lens of consciousness-only metaphysics. Mark Siderits investigates the fascinating philosophy of Yogācāra, a major Mahāyāna Buddhist school, juxtaposing its idealist tenets with those of the realist Abhidharma schools, analysing the strength of four key pieces of evidence for an external world, and introducing Vasubandhu’s counter-explanations for such evidence.

Traverse the various hurdles to accepting the Yogācāra system. In this lesson, you’ll learn about how Mind-Only proponents try to deconstruct the subject–object duality, something central to Buddhist liberation, using karma and mental causation to explain perception. Mark explores Vasubandhu’s defense of Yogācāra philosophy and explores a major problem with atomism, the infinite divisibility argument against external objects. But he also discusses the solipsism dilemma that arises if we deny the existence of external objects.

Immerse yourself in the Mind-Only School’s extraordinary “three natures” theory. In this lesson, you’ll learn about how Yogacara tries to resolve the paradox of emptiness’ inexpressible character, the role of nondual cognition in overcoming the subject–object dichotomy, and why this Yogācāra philosophy resonates with meditative practices aimed at transcending the illusion of self. Mark discusses the three levels of reality—the merely imagined (parikalpita), the dependent (paratantra), and the perfected (pariṇiṣpanna) natures—and how going from one layer to the next reveals progressively deeper truths about emptiness for the Mind-Only proponent.

Explore the Yogācāra school’s fascinating take on reflexive cognition (svasaṃvedana). In this lesson, you’ll learn how Dignāga and his Mind-Only successors navigated the paradoxical notion of self-aware cognition, why reflexivity might be a way to overcome the subject–object dichotomy, and how these ideas connect abstract philosophical ideas to the lived experience of mindfulness. Mark unpacks the doctrine of reflexive cognition in which every act of awareness inherently illuminates itself, both presenting and critically evaluating Dignāga’s memory argument as well as Dharmakīrti’s fixed-rule argument for reflexivity.

Navigate the Madhyamaka paradox of asserting emptiness while not positing a definitive truth. In this lesson, you’ll discover the Middle Way school’s critiques of Abhidharma and Yogācāra, as well as its philosophical efforts to avoid falling into the extremes of either eternalism or nihilism. Mark demonstrates how Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka followers use prasaṅga (reductio ad absurdum) arguments to dismantle opposing views. He also discusses Nāgārjuna’s specific positions on time, the interplay between conventional and ultimate truths, and the implications of the Madhyamaka assertion that all dharmas are empty.

Enhance your understanding of key ontological themes in Madhyamaka philosophy. In this lesson, you’ll learn about Nāgārjuna’s refutations of the four possible explanations for how things come into existence—origination from self, other, both, or without cause—while also examining whether Nāgārjuna’s arguments fully account for alternative theories such as the Humean view of causation. He discusses specific issues that arise in connection with this argument for emptiness, such as the allegation that cause and effect are interdependent, the problem of anthropomorphism in metaphysics, and the unresolved tension between Madhyamaka’s emptiness doctrine and the need for a coherent account of origination.

Delve into Candrakīrti’s use of presentism and the contact–noncontact argument to dismantle opposing views on causation. In this lesson, you’ll learn about Candrakīrti’s attempts to refine Nāgārjuna’s arguments for emptiness, particularly his formulation of the argument from origination as well as the Madhyamaka rejection of the reflexivity of consciousness (svasaṃvedana) proposed by Yogācāra thinkers. Mark summarizes Candrakīrti’s specific positions on topics such as the flaws in the “distinctness” hypothesis, the paradoxes of simultaneity in cause-and-effect relationships, and the broader implications of Madhyamaka’s rejection of ultimate truth.

Go deeper into the philosophical debates between Madhyamaka and Yogācāra schools on the nature of consciousness. Where Yogācāra claims that the external world is just an illusion, Madhyamaka suggests that the inner world of consciousness is as well. In this lesson, you’ll refine your understanding of the distinction between conventional and ultimate reality as well as the role of cognition in Buddhist practice. Employing Śāntideva’s example of a hibernating bear to illustrate abductive reasoning, Mark breaks down key arguments from Nāgārjuna, Candrakīrti, and Śāntideva that are meant to refute Dignāga and Dharmakīrti’s assertion that consciousness is reflexive, while also raising deeper questions about the paradox of ineffability and the limits of metaphysical claims in Madhyamaka thought.

Learn to understand how Madhyamaka can be seen as a “middle way” system straddling two extremes. In this lesson, you’ll discover how Madhyamaka proponents posit a system that avoids the pitfalls of both eternalism and nihilism. Mark discusses Nāgārjuna’s and Candrakīrti’s contextualist approach to intrinsic natures, the unresolved tension between thesislessness and the demand for a definitive argument to establish emptiness, the analogy of the serpent of emptiness, and the case of the rickety bridge, to illustrate the challenges of defining ultimate reality without falling into contradictions.

Examine what the deeper meaning of all this philosophical disputation might be for Madhyamaka. In your final lesson, you’ll learn about the enduring value of philosophical inquiry in Buddhism while avoiding the trap of becoming entrenched in debate just for debate’s sake. Mark delves more deeply into the interplay between philosophy and meditation, the paradoxes associated with emptiness, and how the Madhyamaka dialectic might help practitioners move beyond theoretical disputes to achieve liberation.