Within the Yogācāra tradition, several sūtras are regarded as foundational because they articulate the vision of “mind-only” in a scriptural key. Chief among these are the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra and the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, which present core themes such as the interpretation of the Buddha’s teachings and the emphasis on consciousness as the basis of experience. The Daśabhūmika Sūtra is also counted among the important sources, especially for its detailed account of the bodhisattva stages, which Yogācāra thinkers read through the lens of transformed consciousness. Together, these sūtras offer a scriptural horizon within which later Yogācāra philosophers worked out their more systematic doctrines.

Alongside these scriptural sources stand the great śāstras and treatises that give Yogācāra its philosophical profile. The Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, attributed to Maitreya/Asaṅga, is a vast compendium that maps out the stages of practice and the structure of consciousness in remarkable detail. Asaṅga’s Mahāyānasaṃgraha and Abhidharmasamuccaya further distill and organize Mahāyāna doctrine from a Yogācāra standpoint, shaping how concepts such as consciousness and its transformations are understood. These works do not merely comment on scripture; they systematize a path in which the analysis of mind and the cultivation of insight are inseparable.

The tradition also treasures a set of concise yet profound verse treatises that refine key Yogācāra ideas. Vasubandhu’s Viṃśatikā and Triṃśikā, both on vijñaptimātratā (“consciousness-only”), offer tightly argued presentations of how appearances arise in dependence upon mind. Texts such as the Madhyāntavibhāga, Dharmadharmatāvibhāga, and Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, traditionally linked to Maitreya, explore the subtle distinction between deluded constructions and the middle way, as well as the adornment of Mahāyāna sūtras through philosophical reflection. These works collectively clarify how Yogācāra understands the three natures and the transformation of consciousness on the path.

Later generations received and rearticulated this heritage through extensive commentarial activity. Xuanzang’s Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi, for example, gathers and systematizes earlier Indian interpretations of Vasubandhu’s thought, becoming a central reference for East Asian Yogācāra. Commentators such as Dharmapāla and Sthiramati further elaborated the nuances of these doctrines, ensuring that the vision of “mind-only” remained a living, interpretive tradition rather than a closed system. In this way, the main Yogācāra texts form not just a canon of writings, but a continuous conversation about the nature of consciousness and the possibility of its complete transformation.