Principal Yogacara Texts (Rodney P. Devenish)
A Recommended Yogacara Text
[My 4-star Amazon review of “Principal Yogacara Texts: Indo-Tibetan Sources of Dzogchen Mahamudra†by Rodney P. Devenish.]
Because I eventually plan to write a book that revolutionizes Buddhism--turning the Dharma Wheel a final time--I recently devoted myself to studying Yogacara Buddhism, the Indian school of Buddhism which I needed more insight into in order to fully develop my book’s thesis. With this in my mind, I purchased three texts--“The Lankavatara Sutra,†by Red Pine, “Existence and Enlightenment in the Lankavatara Sutra,†by Florin Giripescu Sutton, and “Principal Yogacara Texts,†by Rodney P. Devenish. In due course, I’ll complement this review with ones of the other two texts.
“Principal Yogacara Texts†is a well-organized text consisting of four distinct sections: 1) A lengthy foreward (entitled “A Brief Introduction to Yogacara Metaphysics and Practiceâ€), 2) “The “Yogacara School†(a history and philosophical analysis of Yogacara), 3) “The Ten Texts†(a presentation of various Yogacara, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen writings), and 4) the “Conclusion†(wherein the author focuses on considering  Yogacara relative to Madhyamika, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen).
In the first section of the book, author Devenish describes Yogacara metaphysics and practice within a Tibetan Buddhist framework. He describes the path to Buddhahood as a fourfold one—the Path of Accumulation, the Path of Endeavor, the Path of Development, and the Path of Non-seeking. In brief, I don’t find Devenish’s description of the Enlightenment path to be clear or deep. Rather, it is unnecessarily convoluted, exhibiting no real understanding of the essential “mechanics†involved in the Buddhahood (or Bodhicitta) project. Plenty of Dzogchen texts do a much better job describing the path to Enlightenment than Devenish.
Devenesh talks about the uncreated Clear Light on the path, but has no understanding of it and its role in en-Light-enment. The Clear Light is not static radiance; it really Clear Light-energy--Shakti in Hinduism, the Holy Spirit in Christianity and the Sambhogakaya in Buddhism. And it is this dynamic Light-energy, or †or “Dharma Cloud,†or Higher Kundalini, that cuts the yogis’s Heart-knot and allows him to recognize himself as a Tathagata in the Tathagata-garba (or Hridayam). Devesh, seemingly influenced by Freud, defines “kundalini†as the forceful psychic energy of the libido.†This represents a gross misunderstanding of spiritual energy and explains why Devenesh cannot describe the highest yoga (Mahamudra) in simple terms—uniting one’s individual consciousness (contracted Dharmakaya, the son “Lightâ€) with down-poured Clear-Light-energy (the Sambhogakaya, the Mother Light), in the Heart-center, or Heart-cave (Hridayam, or Tatagata-garba), and awakening as a Buddha who is at-one with the universal Dharmakaya (the Father, all-pervading timeless Awareness).
The book’s second section, “The Yogacara School,†is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the history and development of Yogacara. I personally found it interesting and informative.
The book’s third section, “The Ten Texts,†makes this book a buy for Truth-seekers. Most of the writings in this section were new to me, and some of them are very good, supporting my own core thesis regarding Yogacara ontology and epistemology.  The Text I found of particular interest was The Rosary of Views, by Padmasambhava. This Text shed new light on Padmasambhava’s metaphysics, clarifying my understanding of his canonical “Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness: an Introduction to the Nature of One’s Own Mind.â€
The books fourth and final section, “The Conclusion,†was disappointing to me. Instead of coming to the conclusion I would have--that Yogacara Buddhism is a kissing cousin of Hindu Raja Yoga, Advaita Yoga, and Kashmir Shaivism—Devenish instead focuses on considering Yogacara relative to Nagarjuna’s Madhyamika. Unlike, Devenish, who reveres Nagarjuna, I have next to zero regard for the legendary Indian philosopher, who, in my opinion, was an apophatic idiot rather than a seminal metaphysician.
Some final thoughts on the book: Because it is a quasi-academic book, the author should consider adding an index to future editions. The text suffers without one. Devenish’s writing is somewhat stilted and not particularly descriptive. Devenesh resorts to hyper-intellectual terms, such as ataraxia, ipseity, apodictic, and quiddity, when simpler, more visceral, language would work better. What’s most amazing to me is Devenesh’s failure to identify the essential sameness of Buddhist and Hindu Yoga. For example, in the “Conclusion,†he writes, “In this sense the doctrine is concerned with finding out and realizing who one really is. This is referred to as ‘recognition’ (pratyabhijna) of the true nature of one’s mind. Understandably, the term ‘doctrine of recognition’ is considered a description of how the teaching method (upaya) designated amongst the masters of Yoga.†One of the canonical texts in Hindu Kashmir Shaivism is “The Doctrine of Recognition†(aka Pratyabhijnahridyam, The Secret of Self-Recognition), and yet Devenesh fails to mention this important fact, which ties together Buddhist and Hindu yoga.
In sum, despite Devenish’s less-than-profound “Foreword “(first section) and “Conclusion†(fourth section), this book is worth getting just for the “The Ten Texts†(third section), which includes some first-rate spiritual writings.â€
[My 4-star Amazon review of “Principal Yogacara Texts: Indo-Tibetan Sources of Dzogchen Mahamudra†by Rodney P. Devenish.]
Because I eventually plan to write a book that revolutionizes Buddhism--turning the Dharma Wheel a final time--I recently devoted myself to studying Yogacara Buddhism, the Indian school of Buddhism which I needed more insight into in order to fully develop my book’s thesis. With this in my mind, I purchased three texts--“The Lankavatara Sutra,†by Red Pine, “Existence and Enlightenment in the Lankavatara Sutra,†by Florin Giripescu Sutton, and “Principal Yogacara Texts,†by Rodney P. Devenish. In due course, I’ll complement this review with ones of the other two texts.
“Principal Yogacara Texts†is a well-organized text consisting of four distinct sections: 1) A lengthy foreward (entitled “A Brief Introduction to Yogacara Metaphysics and Practiceâ€), 2) “The “Yogacara School†(a history and philosophical analysis of Yogacara), 3) “The Ten Texts†(a presentation of various Yogacara, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen writings), and 4) the “Conclusion†(wherein the author focuses on considering  Yogacara relative to Madhyamika, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen).
In the first section of the book, author Devenish describes Yogacara metaphysics and practice within a Tibetan Buddhist framework. He describes the path to Buddhahood as a fourfold one—the Path of Accumulation, the Path of Endeavor, the Path of Development, and the Path of Non-seeking. In brief, I don’t find Devenish’s description of the Enlightenment path to be clear or deep. Rather, it is unnecessarily convoluted, exhibiting no real understanding of the essential “mechanics†involved in the Buddhahood (or Bodhicitta) project. Plenty of Dzogchen texts do a much better job describing the path to Enlightenment than Devenish.
Devenesh talks about the uncreated Clear Light on the path, but has no understanding of it and its role in en-Light-enment. The Clear Light is not static radiance; it really Clear Light-energy--Shakti in Hinduism, the Holy Spirit in Christianity and the Sambhogakaya in Buddhism. And it is this dynamic Light-energy, or †or “Dharma Cloud,†or Higher Kundalini, that cuts the yogis’s Heart-knot and allows him to recognize himself as a Tathagata in the Tathagata-garba (or Hridayam). Devesh, seemingly influenced by Freud, defines “kundalini†as the forceful psychic energy of the libido.†This represents a gross misunderstanding of spiritual energy and explains why Devenesh cannot describe the highest yoga (Mahamudra) in simple terms—uniting one’s individual consciousness (contracted Dharmakaya, the son “Lightâ€) with down-poured Clear-Light-energy (the Sambhogakaya, the Mother Light), in the Heart-center, or Heart-cave (Hridayam, or Tatagata-garba), and awakening as a Buddha who is at-one with the universal Dharmakaya (the Father, all-pervading timeless Awareness).
The book’s second section, “The Yogacara School,†is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the history and development of Yogacara. I personally found it interesting and informative.
The book’s third section, “The Ten Texts,†makes this book a buy for Truth-seekers. Most of the writings in this section were new to me, and some of them are very good, supporting my own core thesis regarding Yogacara ontology and epistemology.  The Text I found of particular interest was The Rosary of Views, by Padmasambhava. This Text shed new light on Padmasambhava’s metaphysics, clarifying my understanding of his canonical “Self-Liberation through Seeing with Naked Awareness: an Introduction to the Nature of One’s Own Mind.â€
The books fourth and final section, “The Conclusion,†was disappointing to me. Instead of coming to the conclusion I would have--that Yogacara Buddhism is a kissing cousin of Hindu Raja Yoga, Advaita Yoga, and Kashmir Shaivism—Devenish instead focuses on considering Yogacara relative to Nagarjuna’s Madhyamika. Unlike, Devenish, who reveres Nagarjuna, I have next to zero regard for the legendary Indian philosopher, who, in my opinion, was an apophatic idiot rather than a seminal metaphysician.
Some final thoughts on the book: Because it is a quasi-academic book, the author should consider adding an index to future editions. The text suffers without one. Devenish’s writing is somewhat stilted and not particularly descriptive. Devenesh resorts to hyper-intellectual terms, such as ataraxia, ipseity, apodictic, and quiddity, when simpler, more visceral, language would work better. What’s most amazing to me is Devenesh’s failure to identify the essential sameness of Buddhist and Hindu Yoga. For example, in the “Conclusion,†he writes, “In this sense the doctrine is concerned with finding out and realizing who one really is. This is referred to as ‘recognition’ (pratyabhijna) of the true nature of one’s mind. Understandably, the term ‘doctrine of recognition’ is considered a description of how the teaching method (upaya) designated amongst the masters of Yoga.†One of the canonical texts in Hindu Kashmir Shaivism is “The Doctrine of Recognition†(aka Pratyabhijnahridyam, The Secret of Self-Recognition), and yet Devenesh fails to mention this important fact, which ties together Buddhist and Hindu yoga.
In sum, despite Devenish’s less-than-profound “Foreword “(first section) and “Conclusion†(fourth section), this book is worth getting just for the “The Ten Texts†(third section), which includes some first-rate spiritual writings.â€
