Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s1.t3.6

v1.c7.s1.t3.6

With its deep level in theory and thought, Faxian School is one of the most closely connected sects with the Indian Buddhism. It advocates the ideology of “Consciousness Only” believing that all kinds of things and phenomena in the world are gained by subjective consciousness of human. The central doctrine of the School is that of eight consciousnesses, that is, five sense consciousnesses including eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body, the sixth or sense-center consciousness which forms conceptions, the seventh or thought-center consciousness (*manasvijnana*) which wills and reasons on a self-centered basis and the eighth or storehouse consciousness (*alaya*). The last one is the most important as it is the source of all phenomena, and can produce manifestation of the world which is named as the “seed consciousness”. Besides emphasising “consciousness” as the universal noumenon, the system of the school also constructs five *dharma* and hundreds of changes, proposing in the final analysis that matters in the world rest on five *dharma* and its hundreds of manifestations. Five *dharmas* include: (1) *Citta* (2) *Cetasa* (3) *Rūpa* (4) *Citta-viprayukta-dharma* and (5) *Asamskrta-dharma*. *Citta-dharma* has eight types of changes, and belongs to brain thinking phenomenon. *Caitasika-dharma* refers to 51 kinds of changes generated in concert with heart such as all annoyances. *Rūpa* refers to matter; however, it generates from heart consciousness, and has 11 types of changes. *Citta-viprayukta-dharma* has 24 types of changes, that is, phantasm of universal changes which are not influenced by *Citta* and *Caitasika-dharma* such as time, space, quantity, scale, gain and loss, birth and death, character and so on. *Asamskrta-dharma* has six changes, that is the still and permanent stage of dharma without birth, death and changes. This is the truth shown in the Buddha *dharma*, and the fundamental of the Consciousness-Only School. Five dharma and hundreds of manifestations are the perspectives of *Vijnaptimātratā* School on the whole world, with *Citta* and *Cetasa* belong to mental phenomena, *Rūpa* and *Citta-viprayukta-dharma* to natural phenomena and *Asamskrta-dharma* to realm pursued by philosophy and religion. They form various kinds of relationships. Among these relationships, heart consciousness is the highest, without which all matters in the universe cannot exist. *Tri-svabhava* is the epistemology in Yoyacara for observing the creation of all things in the world. The so-called *Tri-svabhava* refers to *parikalpitah-svabhava*, *paratantra-svabhava* and *parinispanna-svabhava*. *Parikalpitah-svabhava* insists that the cognitions on the world of all living creatures are the cognitions generating from *abhuta-kalpana* and acquisitive instinct. *Paratantra-svabhava* states that since all things on earth are dependent arising from others, relationships of dependent co-arising exist between all things on earth and without