World of Philosophy

Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan

Page 923

and unreal ultimately. Pure consciousness is the sole Reality and it is one only. He questions the very foundation of Sautrantika's logic that if Vaibhāşika's seventy-five real dnarmas can be reduced into forty-three rejecting others as subjective and unreal, why not on the basis of same logic other dharmas are also be discarded? Other ones also can be turned as subjective and unreal on the basis of same logic. On the basis of theory of causation, i.e., dependent origination (Pratityasamutpăda) he proves the unreality of dharmas (elements). 20 He, thus, proclaims pudgalanairātmya as well as dharmanairātma. This criticism of realism of Hinayānist led him to accept Idealism. He accepts ideal Reality, i.e., pure consciousness.
Asanga's main attack against Nāgārjuna is his extremism. As far as the conception of Reality is concerned, he differs from Nāgārjuna. For Nāgārjuna, we have already seen that, Reality is indescribable, transcendental and cannot even be called as pure consciousness. Asanga, a speculative thinker, is not satisfied with such type of negative attitude of Nāgārjuna. He identifies this Absolute with pure consciousness which is also free from subject - object duality, indescribable, beyond determination of thought categories and non-dual. He is not ready to accept the claim of Nāgārjuna that phenomenal world is merely conceptual and lacks any basis. His aim was to reach the ground of phenomena, the apparent world. Unlike the Mādhyamika he thought that phenomena though unreal, must be rooted in some reality. There must be some basis for this worldly appearence. It must not be baseless. Asanga, thinking on this line, came to the conclusion, that the base or the ground for this phenomenal world is nothing but pure consciousness. Consciousness itself appears as subject - object duality, this appearance is on account of transcendental illusion. The appearance of a form of consciousness as something objective and independent is illusary. But that which is ground for this appearance is real, it is the Reality, i.e., Pure consciousness.
Asanga's view is not only idealism but it is Absolutism. He was aware that mere idealistic position will not be the final goal for ‘speculative system'. Nāgārjuna has already shown through his rigorous logic that Absolutism can only be reached through dialectical apdroach. Nāgārjuna has mentioned that the subject and the object are relative dependent and thus unreal. The subject and the object both are co-relative categories and that one cannot be had without the other. Consciousness without an object is un-thinkable Thus, Reality cannot be called as Pure Consciousness. The Reality is above all these thought categories and inexpressible. For Asanga, Consciousness is the only Reality, true existence. This is idealistic standpoint. Reality is ideal and it is pure onsciousnass. But he does not stop here. For him, from the ultimate
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