What is the difference between Yogacara Buddhism and Idealism?
3
votes
6
answers
2219
views
I've often heard the Yogacara school of Buddhism being described as 'Mind Only'. To my untutored mind this seems reminiscent of the western philosophy of Idealism.
So there is a description of Yogacara which goes
> the reality we think we perceive does not exist except as as a process
> of knowing. Phenomena, anything that can be experienced, have no
> reality in themselves.
And a description from Idealism which goes
> [..] reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally
> constructed, or otherwise immaterial.
To me they seem similar but actually my feeling is in reality the two philosophies are very different. Can someone help me understand how they are different?
**Note:** I know the two quotes are from sources that have been identified as potentially unreliable (Barbara O'Brien and Wikipedia) but really I'm just want to use them as an illustration of how similar the two philosophies appear to me. I'm not claiming accuracy - in fact they could well lack it.
Asked by Crab Bucket
(21181 rep)
Aug 21, 2015, 10:25 AM
Last activity: May 11, 2021, 03:04 PM
Last activity: May 11, 2021, 03:04 PM