The Consciousness-Only School of Chinese Buddhism

The Consciousness-Only (vijñapti-mātra) School of Chinese Buddhism is a transmission and development of the Consciousness-Only School of Indian Buddhism. Controversies exist regarding to what extent the Indian version was reshaped in China. Historically speaking, there were three major phases of the transmission of Indian Consciousness-Only doctrines: (1) early 6th century, represented by Bodhiruci; (2) mid-6th century, represented by Paramārtha (499-569); (3) mid-7th century, represented by Xuanzang (602?-664) and his disciples, who compiled the Cheng weishi lun (*Vijñapti-mātratā-siddhi) and were later regarded as orthodox. One of the major differences between the Consciousness-Only doctrine transmitted by Paramārtha and that by Xuanzang lies in their reception of Tathāgatagarbha thought. According to Paramārtha, all sentient beings share the Dharma-body of the Buddha and can be properly designated as “Buddha-containing” (tathāgata-garbha), but Xuanzang recognizes the existence of the icchantika-s, namely, a group of sentient beings who will never be enlightened and become Buddhas.