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Dictionary definition: Vijñānavāda
- Article from:
- The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
- Author:
Copyright© The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions 1997, originally published by Oxford University Press 1997. (Hide copyright information)
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Vijñānavāda.
Buddhist school of idealism, also known as Yogācāra (‘yoga-practice’) or the doctrine of ‘Mind-Only’ (
citta-mātra
). The school developed in the 4th cent. CE, and its leading exponents were Maitreyanātha, Asaṅga, and his brother
Vasubandhu
. Its literature is extensive and includes the
Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, Samdhinirmocana Sūtra
, and the
Avataṃsaka Sūtra
, as well as many treatises composed by its followers.
The basic postulate of the school is that consciousness itself is the fundamental and only reality, and that the apparent diversity of the empirical world is the ...