Yogâcāra became known for its rich development of soteriological theory through an epistemological approach. The Yogâcāra thinkers took the theories of the body-mind aggregate of sentient beings that had been under development in earlier Indian schools such as Sarvâstivāda 有部, and worked them into a more fully articulated scheme of eight consciousnesses 八識, the most important of which was the eighth, or ālaya (store) consciousness 阿賴耶識. The store consciousness was explained as the container for the karmic impressions (called 'seeds'  種子), received and created by sentient beings in the course of their existence. The thinkers of this school attempted to explain in detail how karma operates in an individuated manner. 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, 'consciousness-only' (Skt. vijñapti-mātratā), is generally taken to be the central tenet of Yogâcāra, and thus the manifestations of the Yogâcāra school that developed in East Asia are more commonly referred to by this term—唯識 (Ch. weishi; Ko. yusik; Jp. yuishiki)—than as Yogâcāra. The main implication of this notion is that the problems human beings experience in terms of ignorance and affliction are all due to the erroneous closure of consciousness brought about by our imagining consciousness, which actually serves to make it impossible for us to have a direct experience of reality.

The Yogâcāra school is known for the development of other key concepts that would hold great influence not only within their system, but within all forms of later Mahāyāna. These include the theory of the three natures 三性 of the completely real, dependently originated, and imaginary, which are understood as a Yogâcāra response to the Mādhyamika 中觀派 two truths 二諦. Yogâcāra 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 dharmas 百法, path theory 五位, and the two hindrances to liberation 二障.

The most fundamental early canonical texts that explain Yogâcāra doctrine are scriptures such as the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra 解深密經, and treatises such as the Yogâcārabhūmi-śāstra 瑜伽論, Mahāyāna-saṃgraha 攝大乘論 and Prakaranâryavāca-śāstra 顯揚論. Yogâcāra was transmitted to East Asia, where it continued to develop. The most important text of east Asian Yogâcāra was the Cheng weishi lun 成唯識論. In East Asia this school functioned under the appellation of 'Dharma-characteristic'  法相 school.

Yogâcāra eventually died out as a distinct school in East Asia, along with other scholastic traditions. One reason for this was the evaporation of the state patronage that was essential to the survival of scholastic traditions like Yogâcāra. Another was the overwhelming competition from more readily understandable, practice-oriented traditions like Chan and Pure Land. Yet although it would eventually die out as a distinct school, the teachings of Yogâcāra brought a deep and lasting influence on the basic technical vocabulary of all forms of Buddhism that developed in Tibet and East Asia. This is because it was the Yogâcāras who took it upon themselves to provide a detailed analysis of the functions of consciousness, as well as the effects that Buddhist practices such as morality, concentration and wisdom have on the consciousness, and how those effects bring one to the Buddhist goal of enlightenment.