Conception of Māyā (illusion) In Asaṅga's Vijnañāvāda Buddhism

Asanga (circa 290-360AD) is one of the outstanding philosophical personalities in the history of Mahayana Buddhism. His contribution to Vijñānavāda School of thought is unparalleled in the annals of Buddhist history. There is no Buddhist topic which is left untouched by him in his works. In fact, one of his works namely Mahayanasutralankara' is a

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शास्त्री असंग (लगभग २९०-३६० ई.) की माया-विभावना की परीक्षा करते हैं। नागार्जुन ने परमार्थ को केवल शून्य कहकर प्रपंच से उसका सम्बन्ध अव्याख्यात छोड़ दिया था; विज्ञानवादियों ने तत्त्व को शुद्ध विज्ञान माना, और महायानसूत्रालंकार उस विज्ञान तथा दृश्य जगत् के बीच माया को सेतु बनाता है। Shastri examines how Asaṅga (c. 290-360) uses māyā. Nāgārjuna had defined the Absolute only negatively as śūnya and left its relation to appearance unexplained; the Vijñānavādins answered by identifying reality with pure consciousness, and the Mahāyānasūtrālaṅkāra then makes illusion the link between that consciousness and the phenomenal world.

Written by the archive’s cataloguers, not by the author.