Yogācārabhūmi — Stages of the Yogi
Asaṅga/Maitreya's encyclopedia, 100 fascicles — Yogācāra compendium.
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An Exposition of the Yogācārabhūmi
Background
The Yogācārabhūmi, that is, “The Stages of the Practitioner,” is one of the greatest treatises of the Mahāyāna Yogācāra tradition, compiled in the fourth to fifth centuries CE. According to the Northern Tibetan tradition, its author is Maitreya Bodhisattva, the one who is to become the future Buddha, with recording by Asaṅga, the greatest master of Yogācāra. This treatise consists of one hundred fascicles and is an encyclopedia of Buddhist theory and practice in the Mahāyāna tradition.
The title “Yogācārabhūmi” bears profound meaning: “Yogācāra” means “the practice of yoga” or “the practice of mind,” while “bhūmi” indicates the stages of practice of a bodhisattva from the beginner level to near Buddhahood. Thus, this treatise is a detailed map of the Mahāyāna path of practice.
Main Content
The Yogācārabhūmi is divided into many major sections, encompassing the whole of Buddhism from theory to practice. The first section presents five objects of practice, or five Dharma gates: Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, discipline, and faith. Next comes the largest section, which describes in detail the “bhūmis,” the subtle stages of bodhisattva practice.
This treatise constructs a very profound theoretical system of consciousness. According to Yogācāra, the entire objective universe is the result of transformations of consciousness (vijñapti-mātra, mere representation of mind). The eight layers of consciousness are explained in detail: the six sense consciousnesses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and mind), together with mano-vijñāna, mental consciousness, which functions to determine objects, and ālaya-vijñāna, the storehouse consciousness, the repository of all seeds of action and knowledge.
The treatise also especially emphasizes bodhisattva conduct (bodhisattva-caryā), the path that a bodhisattva must practice in order to liberate all sentient beings.
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