Inside Vasubandhu's Yogacara: A Practitioner's Guide

by Ben Connelly

A practical guide to Vasubandhu's classic work "Thirty Verses of Consciousness Only" that can transform modern life and change how you see the world.

In this down-to-earth book, Ben Connelly sure-handedly guides us through the intricacies of Yogacara and the richness of the “Thirty Verses.” Dedicating a chapter of the book to each line of the poem, he lets us thoroughly lose ourselves in its depths. His warm and wise voice unpacks and contextualizes its wisdom, showing us how we can apply its ancient insights to our own modern lives, to create a life of engaged peace, harmony, compassion, and joy.

In fourth-century India one of the great geniuses of Buddhism, Vasubandhu, sought to reconcile the diverse ideas and forms of Buddhism practiced at the time and demonstrate how they could be effectively integrated into a single system. This was the Yogacara movement, and it continues to have great influence in modern Tibetan and Zen Buddhism. “Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only,” or “Trimshika,” is the most concise, comprehensive, and accessible work by this revered figure.

Vasubandhu’s “Thirty Verses” lay out a path of practice that integrates the most powerful of Buddhism’s psychological and mystical Early Buddhism’s practices for shedding afflictive emotional habit and the Mahayana emphasis on shedding divisive concepts, the path of individual liberation and the path of freeing all beings, the path to nirvana and the path of enlightenment as the very ground of being right now. Although Yogacara has a reputation for being extremely complex, the “Thirty Verses” distills the principles of these traditions to their most practical forms, and this book follows that sense of focus; it goes to the heart of the matter—how do we alleviate suffering through shedding our emotional knots and our sense of alienation?

This is a great introduction to a philosophy, a master, and a work whose influence reverberates throughout modern Buddhism.

Genres: Buddhism, Zen, Spirituality, Philosophy, Religion, Nonfiction

248 pages, Paperback

Published December 6, 2016

About the author

Ben Connelly is a Soto Zen teacher and Dharma heir in the Katagiri lineage. He also teaches mindfulness in a wide variety of secular contexts including police and corporate training, correctional facilities, and addiction recovery and wellness groups. Ben is based at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center and travels to teach across the United States. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Reviews

[Naomi Ayala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This stunningly clear, insightful book is masterfully written and organized. It exemplifies the teachings of YogaCara in practice. The "Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only" are presented in their entirety at the beginning of the book, then each perfectly brief chapter takes on each of the verses, presenting just the right balance in background and context along with real-life applicability. In this book, Connelly does what every good teacher does best, finding the right form to befit the student. The book closes with a marvelous epilogue, that is a summary of the book, a version of The Thirty Verses in Devanagari and Romanized script, and an English-to-Sanskrit glossary. One of a handful of books I plan to reread.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book, for free, in exchange for an honest review.

I tend to enjoy reading spiritual books of a certain tone. That tone might be described as high/loving/hippyish. I tend to be drawn to authors who write in that fashion like Ram Dass. I also like books that are dense and down to earth.

It's hard to tell exactly how good this book is as it falls so far from my template. The author seems to care about the material and goes into great depth to explain it. However, his interest didn't carry over to me and I found myself skipping through the academic description to get to the point.

I think other readers might appreciate this book, especially as its source material is rarely used. As such readers with more patience for sparse text might find one of a kind gems that I did not have the patience to excavate.

[Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

The subtitle says it well. While unpacking the dense "Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only", Ben Connelly maintains practice as a constant reminder, avoiding philosophical detours or metaphysical entanglements. As an Insight/Vipassana practitioner, I appreciated his deep understanding of "Early Buddhism" while benefitting from his deep knowledge of the Yogacara and Zen traditions as a Zen priest and student of the Dharma. He makes a conscious effort "to make differing ideas harmonize in practice." The Foreword by Norman Fischer is also valuable. Highly recommended for meditation practitioners in any Buddhist tradition, or no tradition at all. May all beings be free!

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book did a great job of making the Yogacara school of Buddhist thought easy to get somewhat of a handle on. I have tried reading Vasubandhu's and his brother Asanga's Yogacara writings and found them difficult to understand, so I appreciated Connelly's work in writing this commentary.

[beasyy · Rating 4 out of 5]

didn’t quiteee read the full thing but enough to gather the gist

[Joseph Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accessible, but often the author gives more down to earth examples than needed. I did a little speed reading through superfluous examples once I got the point.

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

After I read Thich Nhat Hanh's Understanding Our Mind: 50 Verses on Buddhist Psychology a few years ago, my Buddhist cousin suggested this book, which covers some of the same territory from a slightly different angle. Ben Connelly takes 5th century Buddhist Vasubandhu's "Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only" and explores them for a modern reader with one chapter dedicated to each verse. Like Understanding Your Mind, this detailed look into the human mind is pretty heady stuff but Connelly provides clear examples and a good sense of humor and humility to the endeavor. As a non-Buddhist, there is a lot here that I didn't totally get, but I really gravitate to the idea of a "store consciousness" with seeds that determine how we may react to a given situation that are influenced by our past actions and patterns (and that can evolve and change if we deliberately work to cultivate more healthy seeds). Probably not the very first book an interested person might want to read on Buddhism, but this is a good one for someone who has dipped in and out of these philosophies a bit or a more serious student looking to learn more about the origins of Mahayana Buddhism.

[Hope Gale-Hendry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a sincere analysis of Vasubandus 30 verses, but more than that It’s a practitioners guide to living a wakeful life, free of the delusion of a desperate independent self. I will be returning to this one again and again.

[Arvind · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is classic of Yogachara school of Buddhism. Yogacharis believe that outer world doesn't exist, the only truth is 'vigyan' (Conciousness). And Vasubandhu proves this beautifully in thirty verses.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent

[Sawyer Lavelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this over 3.5 months with the support of my 1:1 teacher and it helped me grow significantly in my understanding and sense of humor with my own consciousness.

[Sofia Perez-Dietz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long for a short book
Helpful in understanding

[kiik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to Mahayana Buddhist psychology through a verse-by-verse commentary on Vasubandhu's Thirty Verses.

The foreword is less felicitous.

[Ionia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whilst I think just about anyone could get something useful out of this book, I also felt like the author lost himself in the descriptions of practise, rather than connecting with his audience, which, is what I have come to expect from this kind of spiritual book.

The information contained in this book is useful and easy to put into your daily routine. I liked the that the organisation was so well-presented and that it wasn't difficult to understand, regardless of how much experience you have with the subject matter.

I think if I could have felt a stronger connection with the author, then I would have felt a stronger connection with the over all book.

This review is based on a complementary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

[Wyldrabbit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the way this book was put together. It poses interesting points. Many pieces of literature surrounding yoga mindfulness aim us in directions of passive meditation. This book seems to share the concept, but at the same time allow you to continue to live your everyday life enjoying a zen state of mind. So rather than sitting on a pillow and doing nothing, sharing concepts such as balance and ritual behaviors while taking care of oneself is its chief concern.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was previously unaware of Vasubandhu & the Yogacara school of Buddhism. This is a congenial, informative, and (perhaps most importantly) practical approach to complex dharma. Just did my third read. Highly recommended.

[Amer Cuco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, clear, systematic and understandable. It is not a self-help book and it requires basic knowledge on the subject of Buddhism and Buddhist practice, so it may not be a beginner book.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intro text for a very specific strain of Buddhism which preceeded Zen.

[Bartosz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book a lot. Its value might be greater for those who with an already established interest and practice in Buddhist meditation than for beginners. The author, a recognized teacher himself, presents Yogacara, "consciousness only", a philosophy hardly to be found as a separate school nowadays, but an integral part of such traditions as Chan/Zen and Vajrayana. One that is known of by many practicioners, but rarely in depth. Ben Connelly's comment to Vasubandhu's Thirty Verses offers such an in-depth glimpse into Yogacara. The Verses themselves are really, not unlike many of the Mahayana sutras, a treatise on how reality is perceived into being and how the sense of "I" appeares and is uphold in the game of mind. A Yogacarin's goal is to get rid of deluded interpretations of reality and oneself and free oneself and others around of their consequences.

[Carrie]

Things I IM'ed my friend about this book:

Supposedly back then they made lists and lists of lists all about organizing consciousness.

something on right effort: having the idea that well-being is possible, and thinking that thought make me feel the well-being feeling!

right effort yeah is something about your thoughts i think

and not necessarily that everything is perfect tho but that the possibility exists and thinking about that possibility