This paper examines the topic of Yogācāra idealism through a little studied Buddhist meditation manual, the so-called ‘Yogalehrbuch’ or ‘Qizil Yoga Manual’, a primarily Buddhist Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma text with Mahāyāna Yogācāra strands. What does this unique Central Asian text say about Buddhist meditation practices called yogācāra or yoga? It centres on methods of vivid visualization that are somewhat specific to the Central Asian region of Kucha on the Silk Road. To understand the Manual’s practice and definition of yogic meditation, this (...) paper considers how some of the hyper-real visualizations in the dhātuprayoga section relate the mind to reality and whether Yogācāra meditation can be said to propose idealism as a metaphysical theory about the nature of reality. The paper also asks whether neurocognitive research insights can be useful in understanding what some regard as a ‘hallucination-like’ quality of some visualizations, which destabilise distinctions between appearances and reality. Furthermore, it argues that analyzing the materiality of meditation, particularly the environment of the cave, helps us to better understand the text’s techniques of yogic visualization. The paper concludes that the ‘Qizil Yoga Manual’ facilitates soteriological idealism and suggests that factoring in the material contexts of meditation is useful, both in deciphering the text’s meditation methods and in discussing the metaphysical theory of idealism. (shrink)

The paper looks for the similarities between illusionism—a contemporary theory of phenomenal consciousness—and the Yogācāra´s philosophy of consciousness presented in Vasubandhu´s Treatise on the Three Natures. Despite substantial divergences in writing style, the commonalities between East and West regarding phenomenal consciousness are considerable. I claim that a particular reading of Vasubandhu´s Treatise on the Three Natures reflects, in many respects, the contemporary illusionist program. Furthermore, I argue that there is not only a meeting point between their postulates about the illusory (...) nature of phenomenal consciousness but also a strong coincidence in the proposed solutions to the most pressing problems that threaten the illusionist paradigm. (shrink)