The Yoga^ca^ra （"yoga practice"） school of Indian Buddhism. The founders of this school， Maitreyana^tha 弥勒， Asan%ga 无著， and Vasubandhu 世亲， explained a course of practice wherein hindrances were removed according to a sequence of stages， from which it gets its name. Yoga^ca^ra becomes much better known， however， not for its practices， but for its rich development in metaphysical and psychological theory. The Yoga^ca^ra thinkers took the theories of the body-mind aggregate of sentient beings that had been under development in earlier Indian schools such as the Sarva^stiva^da 有部， and worked them into a more fully articulated scheme of eight consciousnesses 八识， the most important of which was the eighth， or a^laya （store） consciousness 阿赖耶识. The store consciousness was explained as the container for the karmic impressions （called "seeds" 种子）， received and created by sentient beings in the course of their existence. These seeds， maturing in the course of future circumstances， show much parallel to modern understandings of genes. Thus， the thinkers of this school attempted to explain in detail how karma actually operates on a concrete， personal level. Included in this development of consciousness theory， is the notion of conscious construction--that phenomena that are supposedly external to us cannot exist but in association with consciousness itself. This notion is commonly referred to as "consciousness-only" 唯识.
The Yoga^ca^ra school is also known for the development of other key concepts that would hold great influence not only within their system， but within all forms of later Maha^ya^na. These include the theory of the three natures 三性 of the completely real， dependently originated， and imaginary， which are understood as a Yoga^ca^ra response to the Ma^dhyamika 中观派 two truths 二谛. Yoga^ca^ra is also the original source for the theory of the three bodies 三身 of the Buddha， and depending on precedents in Abhidharma literature， also helped to greatly develop the notions of categories of elemental constructs 百法， path theory 五位， and the two hindrances to liberation 二障.
The most fundamental early canonical texts that explain Yoga^ca^ra doctrine are scriptures such as the S/ri^ma^la^-su^tra 胜鬘经， the Sam!dhinirmocana-su^tra 解深密经， and treatises such as the Yoga^ca^rabhu^mi-/sa^stra 瑜伽论， Maha^ya^na-sam!graha 摄大乘论 and Prakarana^ryava^ca-/sa^stra 显扬论. Yoga^ca^ra was transmitted to East Asia， where it received the somewhat pejorative appellation of "Dharma-characteristic 法相 school."