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Conceptuality in question: teaching and pure cognition in Yogācāra-Madhyamaka

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 October 2000

C. RAM-PRASAD
C. RAM-PRASAD
Affiliation:
Department of Religious Studies, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YG
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Abstract

For Yogācāra-Madhyamaka, enlightenment is free of the mistaken conceptual construction of subject and objects of desire. The Buddha's awakening was a state purified of concepts, without desire and suffering. But, subsequently, he compassionately taught of awakening, and teaching is conceptual. Can enlightenment be both cognitively pure and concept-utilizing? To secure cognitive purity while teaching, the philosophers argue that the enlightened person is cleansed of desire for subject and objects, rather than strictly free of concepts of subject and objects. To secure teaching after the attainment of pure cognition, they allow conceptuality, so long as it is free of desire.

Type
Research Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 36 , Issue 3 , September 2000 , pp. 277 - 291
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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