Gradual and Sudden Enlightenment: The Attainment of yogipratyaksa in the Later Indian Yogacara School

In the later Indian Yog(1)a pound, the cognition of yogins is a key concept used to explain the Buddhist goal of enlightenment. It arises through the practice of meditation upon the Four Noble Truths. The method of the practice is to contemplate their aspects with attention (s&Aumlautdara), without interruption (nairantarya), and over a long period of time (d&Aumlaut << rghak&Aumlautla). A problem occurs in this position since Buddhists hold the theory of momentariness: how is possible that a yogin attains yogipratyakaa(1)a pound even when everything arises and perishes moment by moment. It is not possible for the momentary mind to fix on the object. Neither is the intensification of the practice possible in a stream composed of cognitions different at each moment. To provide a solution of this problem, a renown eleventh century Buddhist logician, JA +/-> r&Aumlaut << mitra, assures us that momentariness is incompatible with duration (sth(1)>angstrom > otp&Aumlautda). Even if cognitions are momentary, the vividness of an object continues to intensify in the course of each preceding cognition-moment producing, in turn, its following moment. JA +/-> r(1)a pound in terms of Buddhist ontological distinctions of moment (kaa(1)aaa(1) pound double dagger a) and continuum (sant&Aumlautna). At the level of the continuum, the process of enlightenment is considered gradual. By retaining a strict adherence to the final moment of the practice, on the other hand, the process is considered sudden.