Conceptualization and ‘World-Making’: A Study on Prapañca as an Imprint in Yogācāra Treatises *

: The ontological reality of the world has been a controversial topic among different Buddhist schools. Specifically, the Yogācāra school interprets the question of world-making from an epistemo-logical perspective. In the view of Yogācāra, the so-called world is not a substantial entity but rather a mental construct of the perceiver, where the process of conceptualization plays an essential role. The term prapañca , usually translated as ‘conceptual proliferation’ by scholars, refers to a proliferating process that constructs the perceptual world through discrimination and verbalization. It appears repeatedly in descriptions of defiled mentalities throughout Early to Mahāyāna Buddhist doctrines. However, its meanings do not remain consistent but change along with the philosophical development. Centring on this significant term, this paper starts with a preliminary investigation of the transformation of the connotations of prapañca in Mahāyāna. Then, it examines the occurrences of the term in a


BEIER WANG 王蓓兒 Leipzig University
Abstract: The ontological reality of the world has been a controversial topic among different Buddhist schools. Specifically, the Yogācāra school interprets the question of world-making from an epistemological perspective. In the view of Yogācāra, the so-called world is not a substantial entity but rather a mental construct of the perceiver, where the process of conceptualization plays an essential role. The term prapañca, usually translated as 'conceptual proliferation' by scholars, refers to a proliferating process that constructs the perceptual world through discrimination and verbalization. It appears repeatedly in descriptions of defiled mentalities throughout Early to Mahāyāna Buddhist doctrines. However, its meanings do not remain consistent but change along with the philosophical development. Centring on this significant term, this paper starts with a preliminary investigation of the transformation of the connotations of prapañca in Mahāyāna. Then, it examines the occurrences of the term in a Conceptualization and 'World-Making': A Study on Prapañca as an Imprint in Yogācāra Treatises *

Introduction
T he Yogācāra school is widely known as the school of 'mind-only' (Skt. citta-mātratā; Ch. wei shi 唯識; Tib. sems tsam pa) or 'manifestation-only ' (Skt. vijñapti-mātratā), in which the existence of an external world is radically contested. Given the premised unreality of an outer world, the ontological discussion of world-making becomes groundless. Neverthesless, the Yogācāra school distinctively provides the answer to the topic from an epistemological perspective.
In the view of Yogācāra, the so-called world is not a substantial entity but rather a mental construct of the perceiver. Among a number of different accounts of the cognitive process, conceptualization is an essential step in forming the mental construct making up the 'world'. The term prapañca, usually translated as 'conceptual proliferation' by many modern scholars, refers to a proliferating process that creates the perceptual world through discrimination and verbalization. This paper deals with this term, which was already extensively used in the Early Buddhist canons, and focuses on its main connotational developments in Mahāyāna. This paper then taps into the functions of prapañca in the form of an imprint (vāsanā), as described in the Yogācāra treatises, in making a subjective world; and based on that, it examines the construction of an intersubjective world which has shared aspects among different individuals. In short, the paper aims to demonstrate that, according to the Yogācāra account, the making of a 'world' is closely related to conceptualization and language.
The term prapañca (Pāli. papañca; Ch. xi lun 戲論; Tib. spros pa, rnam par spros pa) occurs throughout Buddhist doctrinal systems. Etymologically speaking, the term carries the meaning of 'spreading out ' and 'manifoldness'. 1 In the Buddhist context, the term more frequently denotes a defiled mental state where conceptual activities set out and elaborate themselves without control. Ñāṇananda suggests understanding prapañca as a process of 'conceptual proliferation' or 'prolific conceptualization' 2 , which has become the most widely adopted rendering of the term among later scholars.
A significant occurrence of the term in Early Buddhism can be found in the Madhupiṇḍika Sutta in Majjhima Nikāya, in which the cognitive process is expounded to be of seven stages: 1. eye-consciousness (cakkhu-viññāṇa) arises upon the eye and the visible; 2. the sensory contact (phassa) of the three; 3. feeling (vedanā); 4. perception (saññā); 5. examining (vitakka); 6. conceptual proliferation (papañca); 7. the overwhelming impact of conceptual proliferation (papañca-saññā-saṇkhā remarkable importance to defile a bare and impersonal perception. As mentioned above, conceptual proliferation means an automatic process that sets off a variety of mental activities elaborating the bare sensation into concepts, perceptions, and objectifications based on memories from the past and imaginations for the future. It is the climax of two ripening pathways in the previous stages, i.e. ego-notion and verbal construction, leading to the mental suffering of swaying between past and future without seeing the present. 4 As introduced above, prapañca expounded in the Majjhima Nikāya is a stage in the cognitive process that diversifies the simple sensory inputs into self-centred perception and experience, which causes suffering. This is an early account of conceptualization in the Buddhist teachings. It is particularly noteworthy that language, or verbal construction, plays an important role in the arising of prapañca. According to Ñāṇananda, conceptual activities presuppose the existence of language to the extent that thoughts can be regarded as sub-vocal speech. 5 Such emphasis on language in the conceptualization process is inherited and even more explicitly expressed in the Mahāyāna traditions.

Transformations of the Connotations of Prapañca in Mahāyāna
Though it is clear that prapañca depicts a prolific process, the connotations and usages of the term transform along with the philosophical development from Early Buddhism to Mahāyāna. In the Mahāyāna context, the connotations of prapañca alter following two trends, as far as I observe. The first is an explicit inclination of the verbal-linguistic aspect over the mental aspect. The second is an expansion of the term prapañca's scope, extending from individual mentality to the so-called 'world'.
Firstly, according to Wan, the connotation of prapañca in Early Buddhism is mainly focused on mental action while in Mahāyāna 6 Wan, 'Tan zhonglun bensong zhong "xilun" zhi sanyi (yi)', 6. 7 Yujia shidi lun, T no. 1579, 30: 91.815a27-28: 當知此中能引無義思惟分 別所發語言, 名為戲論; D 4039, sems tsam, zi 220a7: de la don dang ldan pa ma yin pa sems shing rtog la smra ba gang yin pa de ni spros pa zhes bya'o. D 4035, sems tsam, tshi 257b7-258a1: rtog pa de yang rnam pa gsum du rig par bya ste / bsnyad pa'i gzhi gsum po dag la yang rtog pa zhes bya'o / tha snyad bzhi brjod pa la yang rtog pa zhes bya'o / tshig 'byung bar byed pa'i rtog pa la yang rtog pa zhes bya'o. Notably, in Tibetan, the subject under discussion is rtog pa, normally corresponding to vikalpa or vitarka, but not prapañca; such discrepancies among Chinese and Tibetan translations will be discussed in my future research. 9 Schmithausen, Ālayavijñāna, 509-10. it is more on the speech act. 6 This argument can find its backing in the Vastusaṃgrahaṇī section of the Yogācārabhūmi (YBh), where prapañca is explicitly defined as a type of non-beneficial verbalization: One should know that the utterance with regard to thinking about and conceptualizing non-beneficial [things] is called prapañca. 7 Another passage from the Cintāmayībhūmi in the Basic Section of YBh also shows a close connection between prapañca and language: One should know that there are three kinds of prapañca, which are: three types of discourse-bases are called prapañca; talking about four types of conventional expressions is also called prapañca; the investigations that give rise to words are also called prapañca. 8 Secondly, as argued by Schmithausen after examining the Yogācāra treatises from a philological approach, the term prapañca can be understood in both subjective and objective ways. On one hand, it indicates the action of diversification or elaboration; on the other hand, it can also be understood as the resultant product of the elaborating process per se. 9 That is to say, in Yogācāra texts, the connotational scope which the term prapañca covers is broadened: it is not only a proliferating action but also the proliferated outcome. Against the backdrop of mind-only, the outcome of diversified perception can be appreciated as the whole world that is perceived and experienced. In this sense, conceptual proliferation is to be regarded as the very generator of a subjective world of perception and experience.
From the connotational development of prapañca in Mahāyāna, it can be observed that prapañca mediates language and the perceptual world. In Mahāyāna, the term is no longer confined to the domain of mental activities; instead, it is more frequently used concerning its verbal-linguistic aspects. Moreover, in the Yogācāra treatises, it also gains a broader meaning as being the product of conceptual proliferation, i.e. the world, which implies the significance of linguistic functions in making the experiential world. In the next section, we will take a step further and investigate a particular term to advance our understanding of the relationship between conceptualization, language, and world-making.

Prapañca as an Imprint and its Relation with Ālayavijñāna
Now, we will focus on a specific case in Yogācāra where prapañca appears in the form of an imprint (Skt. vāsanā; Ch. xiqi 習氣; Tib. bag chags). Our discussion will centre a 'core passage' from the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra (SNS) which indicates an intimate interaction between the imprint of prapañca and the storehouse consciousness (ālayavijñāna). Investigating this imprint will proffer us further insight into how conceptualization and language facilitate the formation of a subjective world.
…there is first a twofold appropriation: 1) the appropriation of the physical sense faculties together with their supports, and 2) the appropriation of mental imprints producing the elaboration of conventional expressions with regard to phenomenal appearances, names, and conceptualizations (*nimitta-nāma-vikalpa-vyavahāra-prapañca-vāsanā). In dependence upon this twofold appropriation, the mind containing all the seeds matures, merges [with the embryo], grows, increases, and expands. 10 In this 'core passage', the NNVVP-Imprint, along with the sense faculties with supports, constitute the two appropriations that ālayavijñāna holds throughout its evolving and transforming. Given the Yogācāra presumption that ālayavijñāna is the substratum of the faculties ensuring life-continuity, it can be implied that the NNVVP-Imprint, on which ālayavijñāna depends, plays an indispensable role in supporting the continuity and development of the life-stream.
As an extreme example of a long-winded Sanskrit compound noun, *nimitta-nāma-vikalpa-vyavahāra-prapañca-vāsanā demonstrates a term list of which the grammatical hierarchy is unclear. The same situation happens in the Chinese translation, which is simply a verbatim rendering of its Sanskrit counterpart. On the other hand, the Tibetan translation attempted to make clear its grammatical structure by inserting certain particles. As a result, modern scholars render the compound in various ways, relying on the different sources that they use. To avoid the potential misunderstanding caused by the ambiguity of its grammatical structure, I collect different ways of segmentation that appear in the modern translations of the expression. By comparing these translations, I aim to figure out the most plausible interpretation of the compound.
Segmentation 1: NN-V-VP-Imprint The first segmentation of the term is found in a modern translation from Chinese. Keenan: 'the propensity (vāsanā) toward verbal (vyavahāra) fabrication (prapañca) in discriminating (vikalpa) images (nimitta) and words (nāman) '. 11 This segmentation takes vikalpa as the action of discriminating towards nimitta and nāman. It also combines vyavahāra and prapañca together as 'verbal fabrication'.
(prapañca)'i bag chags (vāsanā). The particle 'dang' linking up nimitta, nāman, and vikalpa shows the equivalence of the three in their grammatical hierarchy. Moreover, the genitive particle ''i' inserted between vyavahāra, prapañca, and vāsanā allows space for diverse interpretations. Below are several modern translations based on the Tibetan canon which show a homogenous understanding of the structure. Schmithausen: 'the impression of the diversity (/proliferous involvement in) the everyday usage of phenomena, names, and conceptions'. 12 84000: 'mental imprints producing the elaboration of conventional expressions with regard to phenomenal appearances, names, and conceptualizations'. 13 Powers: 'the appropriation of predispositions which proliferate conventional designations with respect to signs, names, and concepts'. 14 Segmentation 3: NNV-VP-Imprint The following example agrees with the above translations concerning the parallel structure among nimitta, nāman, and vikalpa, but suggests the grammatical equivalence of vyavahāra and prapañca.

Notes on Other Possibilities
Lastly, a passage from the Mahāyānasaṃgraha (MSg) describing parikalpa (illusion, imagination) might suggest another possibility: It imagines [in the sense of conceiving the] object by means of the name (ming, nāman), of grasping the characteristics (mtshan ma, nimitta) in the dependent nature, of sticking to them by means of wrong views, of activating speech by means of vikalpas (rnam par rtog pa), of applying conventional expressions (tha snyad 'dogs pa, vyavahāra) by means of the four kinds of conventions regarding seeing[, hearing, thinking and perceiving] and of superimposing existence on a non-existent object. 18 In this passage, nimitta, nāman, vikalpa, and vyavahāra are equally expounded as the functions of parikalpa. We will introduce in Section 3.2 that the NNVVP-Imprint is also known as parikalpita-svabhāvābhiniveśa-vāsanā, which implies that parikalpa embodies the characteristics of nimitta, nāman, vikalpa, and vyavahāra. This possibility then suggests a fourth way of segmentation: NNVV-P-Imprint, and the corresponding translation would be: 'the imprint of the proliferation of sign, names, concepts, and conventional expressions'. A study on the connotational relation between prapañca and abhiniveśa might provide clues for the symmetry of *nimitta-nāma-vikalpa-vyavahāra-prapañca-vāsanā and parikalpita-svabhāvābhiniveśa-vāsanā. This will be preliminarily examined in Section 3.3.
The problem of the fourth segmentation is that it does not coincide with the Tibetan translation perfectly and that the other two functions of parikalpa, namely 'wrong views' and 'superimposing existence', are not taken into account. However, considering the forthcoming 'prapañca' in the compound, we can probably make a deduction in this way: prapañca contains the connotations of 'wrong views' and 'superimposing existence', and this calls up a fifth possible way to segment, i.e. N-N-V-V-P-Imprint ('the imprint of sign, names, concepts, conventional expressions, and proliferation'), where the first five elements are evenly listed. More terminological evidence is nonetheless needed to support this conjecture.
Despite the abovementioned possibilities, the second segmentation still has the strongest justification from the Tibetan canon. Therefore, I will mainly adopt the second segmentation for further analysis while considering the other possibilities when appropriate.

Other Occurrences of the Prapañca-Imprint in Yogācāra Treatises
The same framework of the twofold appropriations, i.e. the physical faculties with their corresponding supports in the physical organs of the body and the imprint of prapañca, reappears in the Viniścayasaṃgrahaṇī (VinSg) section of YBh. The NNVVP-Imprint is remarkably renamed into parikalpita-svabhāvābhiniveśa-vāsanā (PSA-Imprint for short). Here, instead of being the basis of the reincarnation and thriving of ālayavijñāna as indicated in SNS, the twofold appropriations are described as cognitive objects of the storehouse consciousness: …ālayavijñāna processes due to two kinds of cognitive objects: the first is inwardly cognizing the appropriations, and the second is outwardly cognizing the non-delineated receptacle world. Inwardly cognizing the appropriations means that In this passage, ālayavijñāna is explicated to cognize objects inwardly as well as outwardly. The twofold appropriations, i.e. the sense faculties with supports and the PSA-Imprint, are the inner cognitive objects. Notably, the outward cognition of the receptacle world is said to be based on the two inner appropriations in the way that the light of a candle relies on the wick and fat. In other words, perception of an external world is not possible without the two appropriations. Along with the sense faculties and their supports, the imprint of falsely attaching to the imagined nature of reality implements a mundane cognition of a 'world'. Two questions can be derived from this quotation: First, in what way can NNVVP-Imprint be renamed into PSA-Imprint? Second, why is the role of the twofold appropriations with regard to ālayavijñāna expounded differently, being the basis and the cognitive objects of the latter, respectively, in SNS and VinSg? We will come back to these questions in Section 3.3.
Within the later Yogācāra treatises, the expression NNVVP-Imprint sporadically appears wholly or partially, either as a simple quotation-such as in the Mahāyānasaṃgrahabhāṣya, or being further elaborated-such as in the Cheng weishi lun 成唯識論. Specifically, the passage in the Cheng weishi lun sheds light on the understanding of the NNVVP-Imprint in relation to ālayavijñāna: There are two kinds of appropriations: 1) the seeds and 2) the body with sense faculties. The seeds refer to the imprint of phenomenal appearances, names, and conceptualizations (*nimitta-nāma-vikalpa-vāsanā). The body with sense faculties refers to the sense faculties and their supports. 20 In the above passage, one can easily detect the framework of the twofold appropriations, where the NNVVP-Imprint is succinctly brought up as *nimitta-nāma-vikalpa-vāsanā. It is noteworthy that Xuanzang explicitly equates the NNVVP-Imprint with 'the seeds', which corresponds with the description of prapañca as the synonym of 'seeds' in the Basic Section of YBh. 21 If the equation between the 'imprint of prapañca' and the 'seeds' is established, then it can be implied with certainty that conceptualization and language play a fundamental and dominant role in forming the individual consciousness of sentient beings as well as their perceptual world. 21 Yujia shidi lun, T no. 1579, 30: 2.284c10-14: 又諸種子, 乃有多種差別 . 如是 等類, 差別應知; English translation: Moreover, seed (bīja) has a variety of different names, which are element (dhātu), spiritual affinity (gotra), self-nature (prakṛti), cause (hetu), satkāya, prapañca, ālaya, grasping (upādāna), suffering (duḥkha), the basis of satkāya (satkāyadṛṣṭyadhiṣṭhāna), the basis of self-conceit (asmimānādhiṣṭhāna), and such variety should be known. 22 P 5229, dbu ma, tsa 82a1-2; D 3829, dbu ma, tsa 70a4-5: rnam par rtog pa de dag ni spros pa las 'byung ste / tha snyad kyi bden pa la mngon par zhen pa'i mtshan nyid kyi spros pa las 'byung ba'i phyir ro; translated by Saito, 'Prapañca in the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā', 3.

Questions concerning the Prapañca-Imprint
In this section, I attempt to address the questions that arise.
More interestingly, a passage from a Madhyamaka commentary, Mūlamadhyamakavṛttyakutobhayā, sheds light on the relation between prapañca, vyavahāra, and abhiniveśa: These conceptions (vikalpa) arise from conceptualization (prapañca), because they arise from conceptualization (prapañca) characterized by adherence (abhiniveśa) to the truth of verbal habits (vyavahāra-satya). 22 Thus, it is indicated that the characteristic of prapañca is the abhiniveśa towards vyavahāra-satya which is also known as the conventional truth. In that sense, a link between VP and A can be drawn. 23 *bījasamāsavyavasthānaṃ katamat | yālayavijñāne sarvadharmāṇāṃ pari kalpitasvabhāvābhiniveśavāsanā; reconstructed and translated by Yamabe, 'Position of Conceptualization', 480. Thereupon, the connotation of the NNVVP-Imprint turns out to be symmetric to that of the PSA-Imprint.
Question 2: The relation between NNVVP-Imprint, PSA-Imprint, and Seeds It has been introduced that NNVVP-Imprint is renamed into PSA-Imprint in VinSg under the framework of twofold appropriations. Moreover, the Cheng weishi lun explicitly explicates seeds as the *nimitta-nāma-vikalpa-vāsanā. This is not an innovative interpretation of Xuanzang, since, in VinSg, it is also expounded that: What is the concise description of bīja? It is the vāsanā of the attachment to parikalpita-svabhāva of all dharmas. 23 This passage fills in the final piece of the puzzle and completes an equation: NNVVP-Imprint = PSA-Imprint = Seeds

Question 3: The interactions between the twofold appropriations and ālayavijñāna
In SNS, the twofold appropriations are described as the basis of ālayavijñāna for reincarnation and further thriving, while in VinSg, the appropriations work as the cognitive objects of ālayavijñāna when it processes. In which sense are these two functions, i.e. the basis and the cognitive objectives, compatible with each other?
A passage from the Cheng weishi lun, which appears right after the quotation in Section 3.2, provides an answer: …Appropriations and perceptual fields are both [ālayavijñāna's] as the sense faculties with supports, perception of an outer world is constructed. Given the background of mind-only, the world-making process has been established epistemologically on an individual level.
However, different individuals have diverse imprints of conceptualization. In that case, why is there commonness in the receptacle world that we perceive? To answer this question, it is pertinent to touch on the concept of collective karma (Skt. sādhāraṇa-karman; Ch. gong ye 共業; Tib. las thun mong ba). According to the Abhidharmasamuccaya, What is collective karma? It is the karma which can diversify the receptacle world. 25 The features that are commonly experienced can also be understood from the perspective of seeds, as it is said in MSg: The conspecific characteristics [of ālayavijñāna] are the seeds [that produce] the receptacle world. 26 Collective karma is the cause of the receptacle world which is instantiated in geographical features such as mountains and rivers that are perceived in common by different individuals. One may further ask: how does the collective karma arise? An interesting argument made by Waldron is that collective karma is shaped by the conceptual and linguistic aspects embodied in the imprint of prapañca. 27 According to Waldron, intersubjectivity is due to collective karma, when collective karma is influenced by the imprint of conceptualization and language. As previously discussed, the imprint of prapañca facilitates the construction of a subjective world. To take a step further, this linguistic and conceptual imprint can permeate among different individuals through the communicative power of language, thus generating similar karma among them. Based on this collective karma, an intersubjective world is created by those sentient beings. This hypothesis may also explain why the world is differently experienced among beings in different realms: it is because they do not share the same way of conceptualization.

Conclusion
In conclusion, Yogācāra provides a world-making model from the perspective of conceptualization and language. On a subjective level, the imprint of prapañca, the tendency to diversify and conceptualize, accompanies a being throughout the processing of ālayavijñāna, enabling it to perceive an external world. On an intersubjective level, conceptualization and language connect among different individuals and generate collective karma among them; as a result, a commonly shared receptacle world is made.