Store consciousness
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The Eight Consciousnesses (Sanskrit: Aṣṭavijñāna, from aṣṭa "eight" and 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: ālayavijñāna, from ālaya "abode, dwelling"; Tibetan: kun gzhi rnam shes; Chinese: 阿賴耶識 Japanese: araya-shiki), which is the basis of the other seven.
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[edit] The Eight Consciousnesses (Aṣṭa Vijñāna)
All Eight Consciousness (Tibetan: rnam-shes tshogs-brgyad)[1] 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.[2] The seven prior consciousnesses are based and founded upon the eighth. It is the aggregate which administers and yields rebirth.
[edit] Store 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 (種子識) 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.[3]
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. [4] In this analysis, mental and physical manifestations are nothing but discriminations of Mind and all aspects of the first seven enumerated conscoiusnesses are just the reflections of the store consciousness (Alaya) also known as the Tathagatagarba. [5]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Berzin, Alexander (2002, 2006 revised). Mind and Mental Factors: The Fifty-one Types of Subsidiary Awareness. Source: [1] (accessed: January 9, 2008)
- ^ Nhat Hanh (2001), pp. 1 ff.
- ^ 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
- ^ The Lankavatara Sutra, A Mahayana Text, Suzuki's introduction at p. xxvi.
- ^ Id. at p. xxv.
[edit] 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: [2] (accessed: October 19, 2007)
[edit] External links
- 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".
