Problems on Traditional Bifurcation between Tathāgatagarbha and Yogācāra in East Asia

Article

Citation:	Lee, Sumi. "Problems on Traditional Bifurcation between Tathāgatagarbha and Yogācāra in East Asia." [In Korean.] Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies 45 (2015): 85–108.

Abstract

East Asian Yogācāra Buddhism has been explained through traditional bifurcations, such as “Old” and “New” Yogācāra Buddhism, Tathāgatagarbha and Yogācāra, One Vehicle (一乘, S. eka-yana) and Three Vehicles (三乘, S. tri-yana), or Dharma Nature School (法性宗) and Dharma Characteristics School (法相宗). These conceptual pairs have served as useful tools in explaining the historical development and doctrinal evolvement of East Asian Yogācāra tradition. These simplistic binary frames, however, contain historical and/or doctrinal problems in understanding the complicated aspects of the development of the Yogācāra tradition in East Asia. In this regards, this paper critically reflects on theoretical implications of the traditional bifurcations by analyzing previous studies related to this subject, thereby disclosing fundamental problems of the binary frame. The paper finally discusses the prospect of studies on East Asian Yogācāra Buddhism.