Burmistrov S.L. The Concept of Dravya in Yogācāra and Vaiśeṣika: a Comparative
Philosophical Analysis // Written Monuments of the Orient. 1(7), 2018. P. 55–77.
The concept of dravya is used both in Buddhism and Brāhmaṇical systems of
philosophy, but its meanings there are quite different. According to Vaiśeṣika as one of
the Brāhmaṇical systems dravya is a real substance independent of any knowing subject
and reality is constituted by relations between substances. In Yogācāra Buddhism, on the
opposite, substances are regarded as mere designations existing only in dependence of a
knowing subject. Any entity may be treated as a substance or a mere conceptualization
depending on a concrete situation with the perspective of nirvāṇa.
The Annual IOM Academic Session “The Written Heritage of the Orient as the Basis for Classical Tradition of Oriental Studies” will be held on December 2–4, 2024.
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