Bloomsbury Academic Toward a New Image of Paramartha: Yogacara and Tathagatagarbha Buddhism Revisited (Bloomsbury Studies in World Philosophies)

Product Description Yogacara and Tathagatagarbha are often regarded as antagonistic Indian Buddhist traditions. Paramartha (499-569) is traditionally credited with amalgamating these philosophies by translating one of the most influential Tathagatagarbha texts in East Asia, the Awakening of Faith in Mahayana, and introducing Tathagatagarbha notions into his translations of Yogacara texts. Engaging with the digitalised Chinese Buddhist canon, Ching Keng draws on clues from a long-lost Dunhuang fragment and considers its striking similarities with Paramartha’s corpus with respect to terminology, style of phrasing and doctrines. In this new, cutting-edge interpretation and exploration of the concept of jiexing, Keng makes the case that the fragment in fact preserves Paramartha’s original teachings. This volume serves to demystify the image of Paramartha and reassesses the relationship between Paramartha and Xuanzang (602-664), Yogacara and Tathagatagarbha, and the Awakening of Faith in Mahayana and the indigenous school in China. Review "Prosecuting the case that the traditional image of Paramartha is inaccurate, in this articulate and innovative monograph Keng Ching combines philological, historical and doctrinal analyses in order to recover Paramartha's authentic teachings. To that end, Keng also boldly challenges the view that Yogacara and Tathagatagarbha were antagonistic traditions in India. " -- John Makeham Emeritus, Professor, La Trobe University and The Australian National University, Australia About the Author Ching Keng is Assistant Professor of Buddhist Philosophy at the National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.