East Asian Yogācāra

East Asian Yogācāra refers to the Mahayana Buddhist traditions in East Asia which developed out of the Indian Buddhist Yogācāra (lit. "yogic practice") systems (also known as Vijñānavāda, "the doctrine of consciousness" or Cittamātra, "mind-only"). In East Asian Buddhism, this school of Buddhist idealism was known as the "Consciousness-Only school" (traditional Chinese: 唯識宗; ; pinyin: Wéishí-zōng; Japanese pronunciation: Yuishiki-shū; Korean: 유식종).

The 4th-century Gandharan brothers, Asaṅga and Vasubandhu, are considered the classic founders of Indian Yogacara school. The East Asian tradition developed through the work of numerous Buddhist thinkers working in Chinese. They include Bodhiruci, Ratnamati, Huiguang, Paramārtha, Jingying Huiyuan, Zhiyan, Xuanzang and his students Kuiji, Woncheuk and Dōshō.

The East Asian consciousness only school is traditionally seen as being divided into two main branches. There is the Dharma nature schools (Fǎxìng zōng, 法性), which refers to the earliest traditions to develop in China, like Dilun and Shelun, as well as to their specific doctrinal position which often blends buddha-nature thought with Yogācāra. The other branch is the "Dharma Characteristics school" (Fǎxiàng-zōng), which is mostly used to refer specifically to the tradition of Xuanzang and tends to focus much more strictly on mainstream Yogācāra philosophy.