Does Yogachara contradict the Pali canon?
I was watching a video about Yogachara and the speaker was saying the Canon is a good source but incomplete. I was wondering if there are any glaring contradiction besides the Suttas insistence that the Dhamma is well proclaimed, good in the beginning middle and end. In which I would take as meaning not needing later additions or interpretations.
The link is the " three natures:
(1) a “constructed” or “imagined nature” (parikalpita-svabhāva);
(2) a “dependent nature” (paratantra-svabhāva); and
(3) a “perfected nature” (pariniṣpanna-svabhāva)."
There you have Absolute Truth beyond constructed cognition… Nibanna.
Relitive Truth which is Samsara
But the Yogacarans accept a middle Truth, the Para-Tantra, which is ordinary percieved reality → … in which you can distinguish choices which lead deeper into Samsara from choices that lead out of Samsara … in other words carry you on the 8 fold Path.
The Emptiness Only propounders reject this innovation as a compromise.
This is seeing the evidence of purity in inpurity.
The Yogacara folks made a loophole that brought traditional practice back into validity.
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It’s not too far removed from the pali canon. The ālayavijñāna is similar to the bhavaṅga, although with some differences. On their scheme of 8 consciousnesses it can be broken down as follows:
Viññāṇa: the 6 sensory consciousnesses
Mano: The 7th consciousness of Manas
Citta: the Ālāyavijñāna
Yogācāra uses the theory of the ālayavijñāna to explain how one can leave nirodha-samāpatti when consciousness is said to cease, or how the non-percipient beings get reborn despite being unconscious. It’s because there is this subliminal consciousness flowing in the background. This is different to the bhavaṅga which ceases and starts again during those examples, in fact many times a day. You see a similar idea to both of these with the Mahīśāsaka’s theory of a consciousness that lasts as long as Saṃsāra, or the Mahāsāṃghika theory of a root consciousness (mūlavijñāna). It’s in the ālayavijñāna where the underlying tendencies, or the āsava, reside.
Saying the Pali Canon is incomplete is like saying Gautama Buddha’s hand is incomplete. Well, it can be hurt by some demon, though we hope that does not happen. Yet incomplete as it is, even handled for a body of a Buddha, if well cared for by others as well, it can serve Lord Buddha for His entire life. Besides, this goes to show that “incomplete” is just a temporary perception. But Dhamma, like all things, has an end, though good, it’s meant to be abandoned once we reach the Other Shore. All things are temporary, much like the body and it’s elements.