The History of Buddhist Thought c26.33

c26.33

The home of Asanga and Vasubandhu was Peshawar in Gandhāra, and they are said to have lived in the second half of the fifth century A.D.¹ They wrote a number of works which are now the foundation of *vijñānavāda*, the doctrine of consciousness only. As is shown by the title of the school, *Yogācāra*, “the practice of yoga,” there was a strong mystical side. The list of their works as given by the Tibetan author Bu-ston (cf. *Muséon*, 1905, p. 144) includes five by a teacher called Maitreya, on which Asanga wrote commentaries. The view that there really was such a teacher can now be accepted as correct. It is not philosophically important, but it shows that there was a well established Vijñānavāda doctrine before Asanga.