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 4th International Academic Conference “The Written Heritage of the Orient” dedicated to the 220th anniversary of B.A. Dorn (1805–1881) will be held at the IOM RAS on April 14–16, 2025.
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