Dialectics in early Yogācāra and bodhisattva ideal

Abstract

The article covers several aspects of Buddhist dialectics, as recorded in the last section of the “Abhidharma Compendium” (Abhidharma-samuccaya). It was compiled by Asanga (4^th cent. AD) who was one of the founders of the Mahayana Buddhist school of Yogacara. Based on the Sanskrit text, the author gives a detailed account of Asanga's perception of the phenomenon of dialectics. He highlights the aspects as follows: the doctrine of reasoning methods, which provide the student with true knowledge, and the evidence of the reliability of this knowledge. The first part of dialectics comprises the essence of Buddhist teachings, which according to Asanga sees in the idea of three natures - the imagined, the dependent and the absolute (parikalpita, paratantra, pariniṣpanna) one. The second part covers the principles of rhetorics and the argumentation theory. Common principles lying in the basis of Buddhist rhetoric are determined by the bodhisattva ideal, or the ideal of an enlightened person who rises above the difference between samsara and nirvana, thus achieving the force to save other sentient beings from the ocean of saṃsāra. The author also points to the paradox that is immanent in Buddhist rhetoric: a preacher must show the emptiness of any conceptual construction by using the same constructions to enable the audience to get through them and to reach the non-conceptual reality. The article is an original study on the history of ancient and medieval Indian philosophy and rhetoric and will be of interest to everyone who deals with this problem.