Sanskrit Noun
Cittamātra
Mind-Only
चित्तमात्र
སེམས་ཙམ་
Basic Meaning
Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna.
| Term Variations | |
|---|---|
| Key Term | Cittamātra |
| Topic Variation | Cittamātra |
| Tibetan | སེམས་ཙམ་ ( sem tsam) |
| Wylie Tibetan Transliteration | sems tsam ( sem tsam) |
| Devanagari Sanskrit | चित्तमात्र ( chittamatra) |
| Romanized Sanskrit | cittamātra ( chittamatra) |
| Chinese Pinyin | weixin |
| Japanese Transliteration | yuishin |
| Korean | yusim |
| Buddha-nature Site Standard English | Mind-Only |
| Karl Brunnhölzl's English Term | mere mind, Mere Mentalism |
| Richard Barron's English Term | Mind Only |
| Term Information | |
| Source Language | Sanskrit |
| Basic Meaning | Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna. |
| Did you know? | In Sanskrit sources it is more common to see this theory articulated as vijñaptimātra or consciousness only. Western scholars have associate this philosophy with a form of Idealism. In Tibet, the followers of zhentong made great efforts to distance themselves from this concept, while still utilizing many of the Yogācāra terms associated with it. |
| Related Terms | Yogācāra, ālayavijñāna |
| Term Type | Noun |
| Definitions | |
| Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism | See page 195: In Sanskrit, lit. “mind-only”; a term used in the Laṅkāvatārasūtra to describe the notion that the external world of the senses does not exist independently of the mind and that all phenomena are mere projections of consciousness. Because this doctrine is espoused by the Yogācāra, that school is sometimes referred to as cittamātra. The doctrine is closely associated with the eight consciousness (vijñāna) theory set forth in the Viniścayasaṃgrahaṇī of the Yogācārabhūmiśāstra and in the Mahāyānasaṃgraha and Abhidharmasamuccaya that are supplemental to that work. |
