The Difference between Old and New Yogācāras: Focusing on Huiyuan’s Shengmanjing yiji 勝鬘経義記 and Kuiji’s Shengmanjing shuji 勝鬘経述記

Abstract

Although Tathāgatagarbha thought and Consciousness-only thought belong to different lineages, there is certainly a close relationship between them in the history of Buddhist thought. Jingyingsi Huiyuan 浄影寺慧遠 and Kuiji 窺基 belong to the Dilun and the Faxiang School, respectively. They are the inheritors of the old Yogācāra and new Yogācāra thought. Since their commentaries on the Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanāda-sūtra ― Huiyuan’s Shengmanjing yiji 勝鬘経義記 and Kuiji’s Shengmanjing shuji 勝鬘経述記 ― are extant, we can systematically compare their interpretations of concepts such as tathāgatagarbha, mind-nature and śūnyatā. By comparing their commentaries, we will see how Chinese Buddhist thinkers started from their respective theoretical backgrounds and completed the digestion and absorption of tathāgatagarbha thought, while at the same time also clarifying the difference between the old and the new ideas of the Yogācāras.