唯識學的現代思路──以唯識實證方法整合佛教思想

A Modern Approach to the Consciousness-only Doctrine: Reintegrate the Buddhist Thought thr ough Yogacara Empiricism

本文以佛教心理分析為基礎，試圖對唯識學上的一些重要爭論、誤解和說理不清的地方作一番釐清和辨正，冀以現代的概念思維重新解讀和詮釋唯識學，並且透過唯識實證的洞見來理解大乘佛法的精義。本文從中英文獻分析和心理分析兩方面，詳論有關阿賴耶識是真識抑或妄識的長期爭議涉及諸多謬誤，根本原因是不了解「識」的真妄辯證同一性。從種子及「細心」（最微細心識）的現象／心理分析洞悉「識」的本質和功能，有助於釐清漢傳唯識學偏離現象／意識心理原理的若干重要問題。由此進一步申論「一切法無自性」和「唯識無境」的真正意涵，闡明早期瑜伽唯識學的「諸法勝義」（唯識實性＝真如），跟大乘空宗的真空妙有、空有不二的勝義諦並無二致，都是以真妄和合、性相不二的中道佛理為依歸。然而瑜伽唯識學注重意識／現象原理的實證分析，從意識轉化和超越的立場論證空性，這種實證分析方法是大乘空宗所欠缺的。唯識學的重新整理和詮釋應可提供一個新典範，藉由唯識實證的方法把歷史上涇渭分明的空宗與有宗的鴻溝彌合起來，把瑜伽學和般若學的思想整合起來，為佛學研究開拓新的視野和路向。

Based on the studies of Buddhist psychology, this article attempts to address some major controversies, misunderstandings and vagueness in the Buddhist Yogacara (Consciousness-only) doctrine, hoping to reinterpret and comprehend that doctrine in terms of modern concepts and thinking, and, through empirical insights thus gained, to appreciate the quintessence of Mahayana Buddhism. By means of Chinese and English literature analysis and phenomenological-psychological analysis, this article discusses at length the fallacies involved in the long-standing controversy as to whether Alaya-vijnana (the Buddhist Unconscious) refers to the Absolute Mind or the mundane defiled mind, pointing out that the controversy has originated from a lack of understanding that Consciousness in the Buddhist context is characterized by a dialectical identity between these two aspects of the Mind. From a phenomenological-psychological analysis of “seeds,” the deepest and subtlest level of Mind, we gain new insights into the essential nature and functions of Consciousness, making it possible to scrutinize how the Chinese Yogacara School has deviated from the fundamental principles of phenomenology and the psychology of Consciousness with regard to several major issues. These insights also shed light on the true meanings of “non-substantiality of all existence” and “the negation of sense-objects as Consciousness only,” leading to the conclusion that the Absolute Truth of all phenomena, also called “the Ultimate Nature of Consciousness-only,” as expounded in the early Yogacara doctrine, is essentially the same as the non-duality of Absolute Emptiness and Absolute Being as expounded by the Mahayana schools of Emptiness, having in common the Middle Way tenet of the aforesaid dialectical identity of the Mind. The early Yogacara School, however, excels in its empirical approach of phenomenological-psychological analysis to elucidate the ultimate reality of Emptiness from the perspective of the transformation and transcendence of Consciousness - an approach lacking in the schools of Emptiness. The reinterpretation of the Yogacara doctrine can, therefore, provide a new paradigm of Yogacara empiricism to bridge the gap between the Madhyamaka (Emptiness) School and the latter-day Yogacara School, which were split in India and China during the 6th and 7th centuries, and to reintegrate the thought of Yogacara and that of Prajna (wisdom of Emptiness), thereby opening up a brand-new horizon and direction for Buddhist Studies.