Ch’eng Wei-Shih Lun: The Doctrine of Mere-Consciousness

The volume opens with acknowledgments, two forewords, the translator’s preface, an extensive introduction, Sanskrit and Chinese-English presentations of Vasubandhu’s Thirty Stanzas, and the main text of the Ch’eng Wei-Shih Lun. The table of contents shows that the work begins with homage and the purpose of the treatise, then proceeds to the analysis of ātmagrāha and dharmagrāha, meaning attachment to self and attachment to dharmas. It then discusses consciousness, the two truths, the refutation of non-Buddhist and other Buddhist views, and the doctrinal foundation of mere-consciousness. The text explains vijñaptimātratā as the principle that perceived objects are manifestations based on consciousness rather than independently existing realities. It further develops the Yogācāra system through detailed discussions of mental functions, karmic causation, the storehouse consciousness, the transformation of consciousness, and the path toward realization. The translator notes that the Ch’eng Wei-Shih Lun is a profound and fundamental treatise of the Yogācāra or Vijñaptimātratā school.