Is Altruism beyond Good and Evil? Comparing Yogācārabhūmi and Vimalakīrtinirdeśa

One way to define the complex movement of Mahāyāna Buddhism is to identify its shared teleology: becoming an altruistic bodhisattva. The Yogācārabhūmi (YBh) has long been considered the foundational text for Yogācārin ethics. But does it present a different theory of ethics, especially on altruism, compared to non-Yogācāra Mahāyāna texts? Comparing the Śīla chapter in the Bodhisattvabhūmi of the YBh etc. with the Contemplation on Sentient Beings chapter in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa etc., this paper argues that Yogācāra indeed developed a unique progressive approach to ethics. The YBh ethical scheme is defined by the threefold bodhisattva precepts. Vinaya precepts are included in the first division of saṃvaraśīla. The second division, kuśaladharmasaṃgrāhakaśīla, provides a modified version to virtue ethics based on an early model. Attention is drawn to the third division, sattvārthakriyāśīla, through which the altruistic imperative is taken to several “extreme cases” compared with the supramundane tendency found in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa.