Ryōhen on bimba and pratibimba – an analysis of primary sources

Ryōhen (1194-1252) was a monk of the Japanese Hossō tradition – the continuation of Yogâcāra on the Japanese Isles – who authored numerous treatises on the doctrine of his school, many of which are considered by contemporary scholarship to be an attempt to breathe new life into the stagnant Hossō philosophy by entering into a dialogue with ideas of other schools.

Among the core philosophical ideas of the Consciousness-Only tradition he was part of is the bimba (本質 honzetsu) – pratibimba (影像 eizō) pair of concepts. It is a dichotomy that exists somewhere between ontology and epistemology, an attempt to explain the mechanism of appearances of what we perceive, their effect on our senses and the true reality that underpins them. Pratibimba, that which is perceived, and bimba – that which is the basis of what appears in this way – both feature in Ryōhen’s work, as is expected from someone trying to explain the most esoteric elements of his school’s doctrine. In my paper I’d like to present Ryōhen’s understanding of the subject matter and analyse it in order to answer the following questions:

• How does Ryōhen’s explanation of bimba and pratibimba differ from those offered by other Yogâcāra scholars, if at all?
• Is his commentary of this complex topic aimed at a less advanced student of the doctrine, as is the case with many other concepts he explains in his works?
• Does he draw on the influence of other Buddhist schools of thought in his understanding of bimba and pratibimba?

The main primary sources that are the target of this investigation are the Hossō nikan shō and Kanjin kakumu shō, doctrinal compendia written by Ryōhen in the later part of his life, near the end of the first half of the 13th century. I've been studying those texts in my PhD project centered around Ryōhen's corpus and the influence other Buddhist schools had on his thought and attempts to revitalise Hossō doctrine and practice.