Joy Brennan

The proposed book offers a new account of central doctrines of the early Yogacara school by situating them within a medical-therapeutic model analogous to that of the four noble truths. This book shows that the much contested "mind only" claim should be understood primarily as a diagnosis, or a description of the condition that afflicts living beings, parallel to the traditional diagnosis of suffering. The book also situates the theories of the three natures, the storehouse consciousness and the concept of no-mind into this therapeutic model. Finally, the project engages with contemporary philosophical concerns by using this new interpretation of early Yogacara to both critique recent efforts to naturalize Buddhist philosophy and engage ethical questions of agency and responsibility.