Store consciousness

The Eight Consciousnesses (Sanskrit: "IAST|Aṣṭavijñāna", from "IAST|aṣṭa" "eight" and "IAST|vijñāna" "consciousness") are a concept in the doctrine of the Yogacara school of Buddhism. They enumerate the five senses, supplemented by the mind (manas), the "obscuration" of the mind (klesha), and finally the fundamental store-house consciousness (Sanskrit: "IAST|ālayavijñāna", from "IAST|ālaya" "abode, dwelling"; Tibetan: " _bo. kun gzhi rnam shes"; Chinese: _zh. 阿賴耶 Japanese: " _ja. araya-shiki"), which is the basis of the other seven.

The Eight Consciousnesses (IAST|Aṣṭa Vijñāna)

All Eight Consciousness (Tibetan: "rnam-shes tshogs-brgyad") [Berzin, Alexander (2002, 2006 revised). "Mind and Mental Factors: The Fifty-one Types of Subsidiary Awareness". Source: [http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/sutra/level4_deepening_understanding_path/mind_mental_factors/mind_mental_factors_51.html] (accessed: January 9, 2008)] are "aggregates" or skandha.

The first five are the sensate "consciousnesses":
* "First consciousness": "Eye-consciousness" (Tibetan: "mig-gi rnam-shes"); "seeing" apprehended by the visual sense organs;
* "Second consciousness": "Ear-consciousness" (Tibetan: "rna’i rnam-shes"); "hearing" apprehended by the auditory sense organs;
* "Third consciousness": "Nose-consciousness" (Tibetan: "sna’i rnam-shes"), "smelling" apprehended through the olfactory organs;
* "Fourth consciousness": "Tongue-consciousness" (Tibetan: "lce’i rnam-shes"); "tasting" perceived through the gustatory organs;
* "Fifth consciousness": "Body-consciousness" (Tibetan: "lus-kyi rnam-shes"); "tactile feeling" apprehended through skin contact, touch.

These first five along with the sixth are identified in the Sutta Pitaka:
*"Sixth consciousness": "Ideation-consciousness" (Tibetan: "yid-kyi rnam-shes"); the aspect of mind known in Sanskrit as "manas" or the "mind monkey"; the consciousness of ideation.

The Yogacara School that espoused the Cittamatra Doctrine proffer two more consciousnesses:
* "Seventh consciousness": "Obscuration-consciousness" (Tibetan: "nyon-yid rnam-shes"); (Sanskrit: "klistamanas" = "klesha" "obscuration", "poison", "enemy"; "manas" "ideation", "moving mind", "mind monkey" (volition?); a consciousness which through apprehension, gathers the hindrances, the poisons, the karmic formations (c.f. samskara).
* "Eighth consciousness": "store-house consciousness" (Tibetan: "kun-gzhi rnam-shes"; Sanskrit: ālāyavijñāna); the consciousness which is the basis of the other seven. [Nhat Hanh (2001), pp. 1 "ff".] The seven prior consciousnesses are based and founded upon the eighth. It is the aggregate which administers and yields rebirth; this idea may be ultimately traceable to the "luminous mind" of the agamas.

tore consciousness

Store consciousness accumulates all potential energy for the aggregate of the 'bodymind' (Sanskrit: "namarupa"), the mental ("nama") and physical ("rupa") manifestation of one's existence, and supplies the substance to all existences. It also receives impressions from all functions of the other consciousnesses and retains them as potential energy for their further manifestations and activities. Since it serves as the basis for the production of the other seven consciousnesses (called the "evolving" or "transforming" consciousnesses), it is also known as the base consciousness ("mūla-vijñāna") or causal consciousness. Since it serves as the container for all experiential impressions (termed metaphorically as "bija" or "seeds") - referred to as samskaras in Indian religions - it is also called the seed consciousness (識) or container consciousness.

In distinction to the Yogacara teachings, the Lankavatara Sutra and the schools of Chan/Zen Buddhism, teach that the store consciousness ("alayavjnana") is identical with the "tathagatagarbha" (i.e., the womb or matrix of the Thus-come-one, the Buddha).

The Yogacara is essentially psychological standing in contrast in this respect to the Madhyamaka school which is epistemological. But the Alayavijnana of the Yogacara is not the same as that of Lanka and the Awakening of Faith. The former conceives the Alaya to be purity itself with nothing defiled in it whereas the Lanka and the Awakening make it the cause of purity and defilement. ["The Lankavatara Sutra, A Mahayana Text", by D.T. Suzuki, 1932, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London, introduction p. xi. Online at http://lirs.ru/do/lanka_eng/lanka-nondiacritical.htm ]

From the point of view of the mind-only perspective, it is because the store consciousness, while being originally immaculate in itself, contains a "mysterious mixture of purity and defilement, good and evil" that the transformation of consciousness can take place and enlightenment can be experienced. ["The Lankavatara Sutra, A Mahayana Text," Suzuki's introduction at p. xxvi.] In this analysis, mental and physical manifestations are nothing but discriminations of Mind and all aspects of the first seven enumerated consciousnesses are just the reflections of the store consciousness (Alaya) also known as the Tathagatagarba. [Id. at p. xxv.]

Later Developments of the doctrine of Ālaya-vijñāna

Although Vasu-bandhu had postulated numerous ālaya-vijñāna-s ('storehouse-consciousnesses'), a separate one for each individual person in the para-kalpita, this multiplicity was, according to Philosopher Thomas McEvilley, later eliminated in the "Fa Hsiang" and "Hua Yen" metaphysics, which inculcated instead the doctrine of a single universal and eternal ālaya-vijñāna. This exalted enstatement of the ālaya-vijñāna is described in the Fa Hsiang as " [http://books.google.com/books?id=vTfm8KHn900C&pg=PA574&lpg=PA574&dq=Fa-hsiang+Storehouse+McEvilley&source=web&ots=I92PoQErVo&sig=_ueayedFHrmyNbKIjqjxOhJ8Ojw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result primordial unity] ". McEvilley also concluded that the presentation of the three natures by Vasu-bandhu as " [http://books.google.com/books?id=vTfm8KHn900C&pg=PA572&lpg=PA572&dq=Plotinian+Neoplatonism+Consciousness-Only+Storehouse+McEvilley&source=web&ots=I92PoQysSt&sig=37KFY-9Sv6RKj-EmdXMpNxniNpc&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result consistent with the Neo-platonist views] " of Plōtinos and his universal 'One', 'mind', and 'soul'.

Muller (1995: unpaginated) in discussing Wonhyo (元曉) and the "Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith" ("AMF"; "Ta-ch'eng ch'i-hsin lun"; 大乘起信論) holds that:

The "AMF" was a text that was perfect for utilization by someone of Wŏnhyo's inclinations, since it was written to clarify issues about the nature of human consciousness and the proper course toward enlightenment which had hitherto been interpreted divergently by different schools of East Asian Buddhism. The author of the "AMF" was deeply concerned with the question of the respective origins of ignorance and enlightenment. If enlightenment is originally existent, how do we become submerged in ignorance? If ignorance is originally existent, how is it possible to overcome it? And finally, at the most basic level of mind, the "alaya" consciousness (藏識), is there originally purity or taint? The "AMF" dealt with these questions in a systematic and thorough fashion, working through the Yogacāra concept of the "alaya" consciousness. The technical term used in the "AMF" which functions as a metaphorical synonym for interpenetration is "permeation" or "perfumation (薫)," referring to the fact that defilement (煩惱) "perfumates" suchness (眞如), and suchness perfumates defilement, depending on the current condition of the mind. [Muller, Charles A. (1995). "The Key Operative Concepts in Korean Buddhist Syncretic Philosophy: Interpenetration (通達) and Essence-Function (體用) in Wŏnhyo, Chinul and Kihwa" cited in "Bulletin of Toyo Gakuen University" No. 3, March 1995, pp 33-48.Source: [http://www.acmuller.net/budkor/wonhyo-chinul-kihwa.htm] (accessed: September 18, 2008)]

See also

* Three kinds of objects
* Brahmavihara
* Mindstream

Notes

References

* Norbu, Namkhai (2001). "The Precious Vase: Instructions on the Base of Santi Maha Sangha". Shang Shung Edizioni. Second revised edition. (Translated from the Tibetan, edited and annotated by Adriano Clemente with the help of the author. Translated from Italian into English by Andy Lukianowicz.)
* Epstein, Ronald (undated). "Verses Delineating the Eight Consciousnesses". A translation and explanation of the "Verses Delineating the Eight Consciousnesses by Tripitaka Master Hsuan-Tsang of the Tang Dynasty. Source: [http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/Yogacara/BasicVersessontents.htm] (accessed: October 19, 2007)

External links

* [http://www.budsas.org/ebud/ebdha195.htm Alayavijnana - Storehouse Consciousness] , Walpola Rahula, not dated; quotes the Pali Canon's use of "alaya" and compares the Mahayana "asrayaparavrtti" and "bijaparavrtti" with Nikaya Buddhism's "alayasamugghata", the "uprooting of "alaya", and "khinabija", one whose "seeds of defilement are destroyed".