[Buddha-l] Photographs of buddha-l regulars

[Richard Hayes]

On Thursday 02 November 2006 03:59, Dan Lusthaus wrote:

> Dharmakirti, of course, was a Yogacara.

I have never seen any compelling evidence for that view. I think the project 
of putting the names on schools onto Buddhists a thousand years after they 
lived is ludicrous.

Incidentally, if you claim that Dharmakirti is a Yogacarin, and if you know 
that I have done some work on Dharmakirti, do you not find it odd that you 
also suggest that I have never read a Yogacara text? Or do you not have a 
hang-up about consistency?

> Was he a "real idealist"?

I think he may have been. I'm not sure. The textual evidence is too difficult 
for me to interpret. So I remain agnostic.

> (Asanga,  
> Vasubandhu, Dignaga, Sthiramati, Dharmapala, Xuanzang, et al. weren't, but
> then they obviously didn't understand as well as Richard what being a
> Yogacara should entail.)

You may well be begging the question. The very question on the floor is 
whether the folks you mentioned are idealists. From what I can gather, 
Vasubandhu and Dignaga most probably were idealists, although I am not sure 
that the Yogacara label should be pinned on Dignaga. I have not read the 
other folks you mention. 

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico