Is “Vijñaptimātra” ontological or epistemological idealism?

Abstract

There has been no academic agreement on whether “Vijñaptimātra”(Consciousness-only) should be understood to advocate ontological\nidealism or epistemological idealism. What is amusing and confusing is that there are several occasions that both sides of the debate are reading same texts or even referring to the same paragraph but interpreting it in totally different way. This article is intended to draw attention to those texts and paragraphs from Vimśatikāvijñaptimātratāsiddhi, Triṃśikāvijñaptimātratā, Cheng Wei Shi Lun (CWSL), Sandhinirmocanasūtra, Yogācārabhūmi, Mahāyāna-samgraha where both sides of the debate confront each other with their competing arguments. The purpose is to understand better where the possible differences are coming from in the hope to reduce some confusion/bias and to find common denominator if any. Discussion finds the debates might be attributed to several factors: the deep-rooted equivocal relationship between cosmology and psychology in Buddhist tradition; different translations of the key term “vijñānapariṇāma”; how to understand the generalization from meditation practice experience to ordinary experience; and what to expect regarding the coherence among Yogācāra texts and within Yogācāra lineage and whether and where the interoperation should be applied. Last, it is suggested that whether ontological idealist theory is making perfect sense and whether “Vijñaptimātra” be understood as ontological idealism should be decoupled and addressed as different topics.