Madhyamaka and Yogācāra

Madhyamaka and Yogacara are the two principal schools of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. While Madhyamaka asserts the ultimate emptiness and conventional reality of all phenomena, Yogacara is usually considered to be idealistic. This collection of essays addresses the degree to which these philosophical approaches are consistent or complementary.

Indian and Tibetan doxographies often take these two schools to be philosophical rivals. They are grounded in distinct bodies of sutra literature and adopt what appear to be very different positions regarding the analysis of emptiness and the status of mind. Madhyamaka-Yogacara polemics abound in Indian Buddhist literature, and Tibetan doxographies regard them as distinct systems. Nonetheless, scholars have tried to synthesize the two positions for centuries. This volume offers new essays by prominent experts on both these traditions, who address the question of the degree to which these philosophical approaches should be seen as rivals or as allies. In answering the question of whether Madhyamaka and Yogacara can be considered compatible, contributors engage with a broad range of canonical literature, and relate the texts to contemporary philosophical problems.

中观与唯识（瑜伽行）是大乘佛教义理的两大宗派。中观持万法胜义空而世俗有之见，唯识则通常被视作是唯心的。这部文集叙说了这两派宗见共通与互补的程度。

印度与西藏的哲学著作通常将这两派视作义理上的敌手。它们以迥异的经论部类为基础，并且采用了看似截然不同的分析空性与心识状态的立场。中观唯识之争在印度佛教著作中如影随形，西藏的哲学著作也将它们看做全然不同的系统。尽管如此，学者们已经在几个世纪内试图综合这二者的立场。本书呈现了研究这两种传统的杰出专家的最新文章，他们提出了这样的问题：这两种宗见在何种程度上为敌，又在何种程度上为友？为了回答是否中观与唯识可被视作是相容的这一问题，作者们利用了广泛的佛典文献，并且把这些文献与同时代的哲学问题联系起来。