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AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF STOREHOUSE CONSCIOUSNESS (ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA) IN YOGĀCĀRA MAHĀYĀNA BUDDHISM

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AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF STOREHOUSE CONSCIOUSNESS (ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA) IN YOGĀCĀRA MAHĀYĀNA BUDDHISM

PHAM THI TUYET TAM

A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Buddhist Studies)

Graduate School Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University C.E. 2017

An Analytical Study of Storehouse Consciousness (Ālayavijñāna) in Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism

Pham Thi Tuyet Tam


Abstract


This qualitative research is an analytical study of storehouse consciousness (ālayavijñāna) in Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism. The research has three objectives: (1) To study the origin and development of storehouse consciousness concept; (2) to analyze the idea of storehouse consciousness in the light of Yogacāra school; and (3) To study the influence of Ālayavijñāna to other schools.

The findings show that the concept of storehouse consciousness points to something like basement of a house. It contains all kinds of qualifiable products of mind. This “basement” is a place in which impressionable karma habitually that leads one to all destinies is kept. Based on the teaching of Buddha, Yogācāra practitioners adopted and developed ālayavijñāna as a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. In the light of new ideas, the concept was adapted to highlight all the basic features of mind required to nourish one’s mind to attain the Buddhahood. The concept of ālayavijñāna influences almost all of the other Mahāyāna Buddhist school in a practical way and also describes and guides the social practices and good behavior of people. One significant strategy that iii emerges from the study of storehouse consciousness is that people can, with mindful practice, actively reduce defilements that arise in daily life, so they can enjoy a better life now and hereafter. In general, this thesis successfully addresses the three objectives, and opens up a new angle of study on the concept of storehouse consciousness in Yogācāra tradition and on its influence to three schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism in this present practice. Finally, the thesis offers further suggestions for relevant researches.


Acknowledgement


To accomplish my thesis, helps and supports of many people spiritually and materially must be mentioned. Without their kindness and assistance, it is impossible to finish this research writing. Therefore, my heartfelt thanks should go to them.

I am greatly indebted to Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University to give me such a wonderful opportunity to do my MA Degree in Buddhist Studies in Thailand, which is such a fabulous Buddhist country. My profound gratitude is no limitation to the Most Venerable Professor Pra Brahmapundit, Rector and President of Academic council of Mahachualalonkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU), for his kind maintaining and development of this Buddhist University in the present world. And I would like to express my special gratitude to the officers of the University as a whole.

My special appreciation is also due to Dean Graduate School as well as my supervisor the Most Venerable Doctor Pra Maha Somboon Vu hikaro, for his kind approval and important of my thesis title and for his useful guidance and advice.

I am would like to express my deepest gratitude to Director of IBSC Most Venerable Associate Professor Doctor Pra Maha Hansa Dhammahaso, who has encouraged me to complete my thesis as soon as possible.

I would like to extend my deep gratitude to my supervisor Assistant Professor Doctor Sanu Mahatthanadull, who has encouraged me to study this topic and has given advices and valuable suggestions from time to time.

I am also grateful to the most Dharma teachers and Dharma friends, lay devotees, for their respectable guidance, spiritual encouragement and financial support during my study of Dharma in my country and abroad.

Last but not least, I also would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my parents, relatives, and benefactors for their kind generosity and encouragement; to Dharmma brothers and sisters who’s v

named are not described but lastingly kept in my heart for their inspired companion and help in one way and another. This is all I can say, but I definitely know that their kindness and support to me are so great that words cannot convey.

I alone am responsible for any mistake or missions.

November 17, 2017 


List of Abbreviations

Pāl. Pāli

Skr. Sanskrit

Ed. Edited by


Chapter I Introduction


1. 1 Background and Significance of the Problems


Yogācāra Buddhism presents the most systematic and the most detailed version of the Buddhist theory of mind and Buddhist psychology within the Buddhist tradition. It started from the fourth century in India and came the two major Mahāyāna Buddhist schools established by Nāgārjuna in the second century. After the Buddha entered into Nibbāna, there were divided into eighteen schools that are separated to group and departed according to their directions. Some are they were not accepted the idea of the origin Buddha dharma, the school of Yogācāra is one of these Buddhist development ideas is existing until now. The early Buddhist model of consciousness consists of five senses and the mind whose object is mental. The Yogācāra theory of consciousness significantly revises and expands this tradition model.

Actually, there are five senses consciousness in the theory of Theravāda tradition but māna, defiled mind which attached to oneself and Ālayavijñāna, the storehouse consciousness have been developed into

Mahāyāna view especially Yogācāra school. Mahāyāna tradition introduces to the world two more consciousness so that clarify functional Mahāyāna view especially Yogācāra school. Mahāyāna tradition introduces to the world two more consciousness so that clarify functional the mind obviously. Similarly, Ālayavijñānā appeared new aspect of Abhidhamma doctrine which is sufficient to role as the underlying layer for the three realms, the six paths of existence, and the four forms of birth. Because it is universal, is constantly continuing in a series. And it is the fruit of the maturation causes. There is no need to cling to a separate vital principle. Storehouse consciousness roles as the basic seeds and resultant mind for all bases is functioning in all aspects of one’s mind.

The Ālaya is also retribution and holder of all seeds. That a which it grasps and holds, its location, and its perceptions are imperceptible. It is always associated with mental contact, attention, feeling, perception and volition. In it undefiled and morally neutral, and the same is true of mental contact, etc. It always evolves like a flowing stream and is abandoned in the stage of Arahantship or at the eighth stage of Bodhisattva stages. In fact, when the mind is thought whether good or bad situation which makes clearing result of what thought, immediately storehouse consciousness is collected into nutshell automatically without any reaction, that is why storehouse consciousness associated with indifferent feeling. Through the body performs good or bad action and talking what its thought that brings suffering or happy dependent on one’s own mind thought. Thus, Ālaya consciousness appearing at the moment of it occurs.

According to Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism because the seed feeds one every day through out circle of death and birth establishing in the repository consciousness.

However, the sense faculties and their supporting physical body evolve from the non-universal and unique bījas of Ālaya, needs clarification. Various types of consciousness are also set forth in detail, as they arise through the six sense doors. Modern psychology has begun to acknowledge that it comes within the scope of Abhidhamma for the reason that it deals with the mind, with thought, thought processes, and mental states. It is said that in the Dhammapada: “If one thinks, speaks or acts with an evil mind, misery follows him just as the wheel follows the hoofs of the ox that draws the cart. If one thinks, speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows him like his shadow that never leaves him”. Belonging to the mind it take beings go up to the heaven and down to deep hell where surrounding suffer always.

It is true that the mind is need carefully care especially the storehouse consciousness which mush nourishment and risks lives in over asceticism or rigidity. Bringing awareness to renew the mind to discover what its activities from sorrow, lamentation, pain, joyful, happy, and etc. The nature of mind is pure and clear even though its numerous circle of birth and death through out this life but because of defilements which bring many obstacles to the path of awakening. Timelessness the consciousness is be free and empty without any dust. If one’s mind is more consciously or know oneself more fully, or wake up from the nightmare of one’s personal or collective past, it is essential to look at the nature of one’s mind.

Hence, the mind essential to early Buddhism is the understanding that the mind has a natural radiance which can be discovered through the practice of meditation. In the discourse on the four foundation of mindfulness consists with awareness method that showed how to lead one’s mind to be free from the world of suffering such as the contemplation of the body, the contemplation of feeling, the contemplation of mind and the contemplation of dhamma. Beings react what they unexpected and happy with them satisfy then suffering dwell in the mind deeply wherever. Nourishing all seeds that associated with good behaviour one’s mind is trained not only smooth, subtle and peace but also knowing everything will appear in right way of practicing insight meditation which taught by the Blessed One. Its power could cure all defilements to go beyond planning and to recognize a new pattern and its usefulness ones should have higher mental capability. Implementing such an idea requires not only mental capacity but also organizational power.

Based on these above issue the writer found that the Buddha’s teaching which basically and development trains the mind to cultivate beauty conscious along the path of power of mindfulness to escape the mental suffering with observe and understand vividly Ālaya mind in other to increase the power of mind. Thus the researcher choose this research work title as follows: An analytical study of storehouse consciousness (Ālayavijñāna) in the light of Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism.

1.2. Objectives of the Research

1.2.1 To study origin and development of storehouse consciousness (Ālayavijñāna) in Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism.

1.2.2 To analyse storehouse consciousness in Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism.

1.2.3 To study the influence of storehouse consciousness in Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism to other schools.

1.3 Statement of the Problem Desire to Know

1.3.1 How does Ālayavijāñāna originate and develop in Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism?

1.3.2 How does the storehouse consciousness explain in Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism?

1.3.3 How does Storehouse consciousness in Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism influence to other schools?

1.4 Scope of the Research

The scope of the research can be divided into dimensions which are following:

1.4.1 Scope of scriptures: The researcher will examine from the primary source. In Mahāyāna Buddhism will use and cite from the translation sources as the Lankavatāra Sūtra, Samdhinirmocana Sūtra,

Sūraṇgama sutra. And the secondary sources as the

Mahāyānasūtralaṃkāra, Abhidharmakosabhāyam, Three Tests on Consciousness, well books, Mahāyāna sutras and the commentaries, subcommentaries also be cited respectively.


1.4.2 Scope of content: This research work will limit study of Ālayavijñāna, the storehouse consciousness. In the chapter two will scope in to the origin and development of storehouse consciousness. Chapter three limits the analyze storehouse consciousness in Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism that will study in the Mahāyāna sutras and Abhidharma Commentary. In the last chapter come to know an influence of storehouse consciousness to others school, and the application of Ālayavijñānā in daily life.

1.5 Definition of the Terms in Used in Research

1.5.1 Storehouse Consciousness (Ālayavijñāna) means the most fundamental of the eight consciousnesses of Yogācāra Mahāyāna school. 1.5.2 Yogācāra means a Mahāyāna school of Buddhism that classified the storehouse consciousness as the basic in the Eight consciousnesses.

1.5.3 Mahāyāna is a great, superior path to religious fulfilment or perhaps the path to the greatest spiritual fulfilment which is religious and metaphysical, being a later phase of Buddhism in the second or first century B.C.

1.6 Survey of Related Literature

1.6.1 Francis H. Cook. (tr.). Three Texts On Consciousness Only. BTR: Numata Center. 1999.

In this book has translated as “Demonstration of Consciousness Only” is Ch’eng-wei-shih-lun, which presented simply as a translation of Vasubandhu’s “Verses” and the commentaries, but in fact Hsüan-tsang was selective in his use of the commentaries. He seems to have decided that Dharmapala’s interpretation of the verses was the correct one. The book has given great big benefit for next generations who want to study about Yogācāra School. 1.6.2 William S. Waldron. The Buddhist Unconscious: The Ālayavijñāna in The Context of Indian Buddhist Thought. London and New York: Routlege Curzor, 2003. The book describes storehouse consciousness in the early Buddhist which the notion of unconscious mind formulated by Yogācāra school of Indian Buddhism. And the Abhidharma Mahāyāna context mention the Ālayavijñāna and its mental factors primarily represents this persisting locus of habituated yet unconscious reifications of self and world and hence constitutes the main obstacle to liberation from the bonds of cyclic existence.

1.6.3 Paul William. Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition. London and New York: Routlege Curzon. 2000. The author argues his thought about Yogācāra school deprived from Indian Buddhist philosophy the view of self-existence and other afflictions are not abandoned until the state of an Aryan is attained, yet they must persist in a continuous chain of dharmas from each moment of mind to the next throughout these multiple lifetimes. But if they were active in each of those moments, karmically skill-full states free of such afflictions could never arise, and liberation would therefore be impossible.

It seems to me that Yogācāra was probably one way or another the most popular and influential of philosophical schools in India associated with Mahāyāna without mention specified of the name of Zen school, etc. Within the Yogācāra tradition we find extensive discussions of Mahāyāna religious ideas and ideals the status of the Buddha or the bodhisattva path, and meditation practice, for example as well as issues relating to philosophical ontology. There is also I would argue not surprisingly a whole Yogācāra Abhidharma system. However, at this point it is the Yogācāra approach to issues of ontology and the mind that interests us.

1.6.4 Tao Jiang. “Storehouse Consciousness and the Unconscious: A Comparative Study of Xuan Zang and Freud on the Subliminal Mind”. Journal of the American Academy of Religion. Vol.

72. No. 1. 2004. In this article mentioned the Ālayavijñāna was developed in a radically different cultural, historical, and philosophical milieu from the modern notion of the unconscious. Through a comparative study this article addresses several fundamental difference between them and explores some possible reasons behind such differences by revealing certain basic operative presuppositions embedded in the two formulations of the subliminal consciousness. Thus Xuan Zang and Freud are working within two different rules and address different concerns to different audiences. Yogācāra addresses the problematic of the possibility of awakening, primarily to Buddhist practitioners, whereas Freud addresses the issue of depression, primarily to his neurotic patients. When the theories are stretched outside their applicable domains, problems are bound to arise. Thus the comparative between store consciousness and the unconscious make a valuable contribution to science.

1.6.5 Polly Young-Eisedrath and Shoji Muramoto. (ed). Awakening and Insight: Zen Buddhism and Psychotherapy. UK: Brunner-Routledge. 2002.

The Yogācāra School offers stages of transformation from the eight consciousnesses into the four types of wisdom and the ten stages of developing the Buddha-wisdom and the five groups. This corresponds to the theory of consciousness development in modern psychology.

The Ālaya-consciousness is transformed into the great mirror wisdom, which reflects the world as it is in which all beings are connected with each other, forming a unity. Correspondingly, the māna consciousness becomes equality wisdom, which makes us realize that the self and others are essentially equal and one. Consciousness turns into the profound contemplation wisdom that observes this wonderful state of the world. Finally, the five consciousnesses change to the perfect achievement wisdom, and thus, the eight consciousnesses are transformed into the four types of wisdom.

As is clear from these explanations, then, the psychological transformation from vexing passions to Enlightenment is in the Yogācāra School reformulated in a far more refined way. In this respect, the

Consciousness-only School seems similar to Ken Wilber’s psychological system in which human development does not end with the establishment of the ego, but may include stages of self-realization and even selftranscendence. From this perspective, we may regard Yogācāra psychology as a therapy with the goal of self-transcendence.

1.6.6 Tay Thong Hai (Succino Bhikkhu). “An Analytical Study of the Doctrine of Vijñāptimātratā as Appearing in the Ch’eng Wei-ShihLun Scripture”. Master’s Degree Thesis. Graduate School: MCU. 2011.

This thesis had researched the concept of Vijñaptimātratā, Ālayavijñāna, and Trisvabhāva doctrines which are mentioned in the Ch’eng Wei-Shih-Lun Scripture. The system of eight types of consciousness explains why all persons in the past, present and future perceive things largely in the same way, the Ālaya consciousness explains the seeds of past experience that is stored up in the Ālaya consciousness, they will be put forth shoots in the present when they are influenced by outside stimuli, similarly, the present experiences are being stored away in the consciousness to become the shoot of the future.

1.6.7 Folin Giripescu Sutton, Existence and Enlightenment in the Lankavatara Sutra: A Study in the Ontology and Epistemology of the Yogācara School of Mahāyāna Buddhism, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991.

This book has proved the storehouse consciousness with the Tathāgata-garbha that is its generic, inherited, original form of consciousness, referred to here as jati-vijiñāna, and elsewhere as having the mark of one's own lineage, or racial, genetic, originally pure form, which is the equivalent of both Ālāya-vijiñāna and Tathagata-garbha when taken with the meaning of womb, or matrix. Without further insistence upon the complex intricacies of the theory of the Eight Vijiñānas, let us say that the alaya can neither originate, nor disappear, but can only be purified and tranquillized. For to allow its complete cessation would be the theoretical equivalent of nihilism, one of the two extreme views the Buddha warned against, in no uncertain terms. From these above issue mentioned literature, there are still no significant work that study “An Analytical study of Storehouse Consciousness (Ālayaviñāna) in Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism on Other Schools”. For this reason, the researcher would like to study intensively about this matter.


1.7 Research Methodology This is a documentary research by way of investigation and analysis as following: 1.7.1 Collecting all data related to storehouse consciousness from the primary sources in perspective of Mahāyāna Buddhism will use issue and cite from Lankavatāra sutra, Ābhidharmakosabhāyam. And the secondary sources from the Mahāyānasūtrala kāra, the Three Text on Consciousness, and Mahāyāna sutras, well books also respectively.

1.7.2 Systematizing the collected data on the origin and development of the eight, storehouse consciousness from Yogācāra Buddhism as well as analysing the meaning of Ālayavijñāna in the light of Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism. And the influence of storehouse consciousness to other schools.

1.7.3 Discussing the problem encountered 1.7.4 Conclusion and suggestion for further research. 1.8 Advantages Expected to Obtain the Research

After doing the research, the advantages may be obtained as the following: 1.8.1 Having clearer understanding on the origin and developments of storehouse consciousness. 1.8.2 Having clearer understanding series worked function of storehouse consciousness on the human behaviour in this presence life. 1.8.3 Having clearer understanding the influence of storehouse consciousness in Yogācāra Buddhism to other schools.


Chapter II The Origin and Development of Storehouse Consciousness in Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism

The original Buddha’s teaching is core of mind, there is nothing passes the mind’s work in the field of various directions. It is the householder of one’s destinies. Derived from consciousness, there are six kinds of mind in the original theory. However, according to the development of Buddhist survival, there was two kinds of consciousness which were adopted. Below describes the storehouse consciousness from pre-schools of the Yogācāca, that made a steadfast foundation for the development of ālayavijñāna. Later on, it generated Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism. In this chapter, the sixth-fold following topic will be signified, namely, (1) The origin of storehouse consciousness’s notion; (2) Development of storehouse consciousness; (3) Definition of storehouse consciousness; (4) The path connection with mental state and (5) its characteristics; and (6) Function of storehouse consciousness. 2.1 The Origin of Storehouse Consciousness’s Concept

The concept of store consciousness in original Buddhist school brings to the new concept of Ālayavijñāna as Bhavanga and Anussaya. Its origin and development under the prosperous transmission of times and countries received this conception, it will mention obviously. 2.1.1 The Concept of Consciousness in Early Buddhism

The Blessed One taught the consciousness on many discourses. “Whether pure or impure, mind always precedes as chief of all destinies”. This notion appeared in nikāya obviously. Apparently, in the A guttara nikāya the Buddha says there is suffering because the mind is not cultivating and training but also due to mind’s training, it brings happiness in this life and next.

No other thing do I know, O monks, that brings so much suffering as an undeveloped and uncultivated mind. An undeveloped and uncultivated mind truly brings suffering. That brings so much happiness as a developed and cultivated mind. A developed and cultivated mind truly brings happiness. In the origin discourse, the Blessed One pointed out six consciousnesses while sentient beings would be able to cognize six modes of mind through those actives. That means men are able to aware those consciousnesses that function appears or disappears. Because of cognizable so it is called consciousness. Characteristic of mind is cognized differentiated objects such as form, sound, odour, flavor, tangible, and mind-object corresponding to the function of a physical base and its consciousness. The consciousness of sight, consciousness of hearing, consciousness of smell, consciousness of taste, the tactile consciousness, and mental consciousness or central sense consciousness (manovijñāna).

Vijñāna (consciousness) was one of the five heaps (skandhas) that make up all existence and figures as the third member in the twelvefold chain of causation. The Abhidharma followers were interested in the workings of the mind, and among the sectarian Buddhists, the idealistic trend can be traced to be Vibhajyada and the Sautrāntika. Consciousness has two aspects named awareness of the objects and the householder that leads human to samsara (saṃsāric vijñāna). Whenever the mind arises, we have to undergo responsibility by this actions by means of its resultants, the mind is an action of an attention which that arising with the performance of body or not, but the mind is the essential intention of all actions, “from consciousness comes feeling and so on.” That is to say, without the consciousness serving as a substratum to uphold the views and impressions which effects the senseorgan complex, no feeling could possibly arise. a. Concept of Anusaya

In the Cūḷlavedalla Sutta the Buddha teaches thus a latent tendency (Anussaya) is a karmically potent act which is habitually reinforced so that we find it hard to resist such an action. Literally, this meant “outflows” that resided in the unconscious and represented latent tendencies or dispositions that affect our lives. There were seven identified: lust, hostility, speculative views, doubt, pride, craving for existence, and ignorance. When they were uncontrolled they influented our behavior in this life, and they were carried over to rebirth in the next mode of existence. They were eradicated on the path to liberation.

William S. Waldron in his article “How Innovative Is the Ālayavjiñāna” states that “the latent disposition or tendencies
for it was the persistence of these latent tendencies that became the focus of debate during the Abhidharma period and which eventually led Yogacā rins to ̄ postulate a distinct aspect or mode of mind representing them, i.e. the kliṣṭa manas, and Alaya consciousness.” Thus, merely store concept of consciousness in the Orthodox doctrine related to Anusaya, latent tendencies where they remain as tendencies ready to surface through the impact of sensory stimuli.

b. Concept of Bhava ga

Moreover, the Bhava ga Citta is developed by Vibhajyavāda school which is also called Abhidharmic school. According to Nyanatiloka, is so-called sub-conscious life stream or undercurrent of life is that by which might be explained the faculty of memory, paranormal psychic phenomena, mental and physical growth, karma and rebirth.

Bhava ga is a function of our being, it makes the passive side of our existence possible. It denotes a functional state of sub-consciousness. The subconscious state of consciousness flows on without interruption. It is obviously Bhava ga, the subliminal consciousness which immediately succeeds the patisandhi and reproduces its object as a result of voluntary action, performed in the preceding existence and memorized immediately before death. These two consciousnesses are the main point to show the proof of store consciousness. A new mode of consciousness related to the original doctrine, is not out of essential from the golden mouth of the Buddha, these renew what the Blessed One taught.

In the early days of Buddhism, the flow of consciousness is considered to be an important link between rebirths, and a modified state of consciousness is related to Nirvāna. The cognitive spirit explains experiences and creates a “world”, and may be the basis for the experience of the world beyond Nirvāna. According to the Yogārāra, the role of the mind is the structure of the world, which is reinforced by the concepts of a material reality that is rejected such as the perceived world is regarded as “only manifestation” (Vijñaptimātra) or "mere thought" (cittamātra), or the storehouse consciousness (Ālayavijñāna). Therefore, the Yogācārā's establishing is based on the suttas of earlier schools such as mind is chief in all directions, the latent defilement (Anussaya), Subconscious life continuum (Bhavanga) of the Theravadins.

In order to continue to fight with such questions, the Yogāgāra developed a new literature within the Mahāyāna domain which is Store consciousness. Where objects are considered real, but they are only perceived by reasoning from the manifests. The effect they create in the spirit with the doctrines is applied in the Yoga meditation traditionally to complete the way attain to enlightenment.

2.1.2 The Concept of Storehouse Consciousness from Other Schools

With the appearance of storehouse consciousness, in previous schools as Madhyamika and Sautrāntika have some concepts that similarly generate the new notion of ālayavijñāna in Yogācāra. The bellowing will be mentioned these ideas of two schools that appeared earlier than Yogācāra school.

a. Sautrāntika School

The theories of seed and the subtle thought of sautrantika. It is held to contain not just the seeds laid down by our intentions but also seeds for the emergence of the whole phenomenal world, implicated as it is in mental construction. Possibly too there are even innate seeds for wholesome activity. These theories contributed to the Yogacara doctrine of the substratum consciousness (ālayavijñana). Its nature is either maturation or continues in a serious from the time human being appears until death, and continues to other existence until Nirvāna when it is destroyed completely. In reality, according to Sautrantika’s seeds (b ja) theory, the seed is merely confined within the bound of karma. For Sautrantika, the seeds are regarded as all the efficacies, successive and immediate, of the psycho-physical complex, in generating their own effects, it is a distinctive transformation of the serial continuity. It can be thus seen that what it amounts to is a person’s serial continuity, and there is no mentioning about the external world.

The reproductive seed chain is reproducible on the point of view of Sautrāntikas. Lamotte states in History of Indian Buddhism that “the subtle thought of the Sautrātikas is close to the Store consciousness as it was later to be conceived by the idealist scholars of Mahāyāna. There is, however, more difference namely that Sautrātikas still believe in the reality of an external object, while the Vijñānavādin only accepts the existence of thought alone”. Sautrāntika represented theory of perception brings us naturally to the subjectivism of the Yogācāra. The idea of subtle thought as well as the fruit of maturation endowed with all the seeds of the phenomenal world of Sautrāntika sect, is closer to the theory of store consciousness.

b. Madhyamika School

Yogacāra school is said to have developed the idea of Suchness

(Tathāta) in the Madhyāmika school to the storehouse consciousness (Ālayavijñāna) but the reality of mind should at least be admitted in order to make correct thinking possible. That is the thought while appeared in the doctrine of void (śūnya) which is the positive of aspect of the void. This doctrine lead the yogi destroys these permanent things because Yogacāra appeared after Madhyamika school and drew out continuity of thought. Thus some scholars state the Storehouse consciousness is based on the “Suchnesstheory.

Heinrich Zimmer explains:

“If the Yogacāra is later than the Madhyāmika theory we can see easily understand the logic of the development. An intellectual account of Nāgārjuna’s absolute will lead us to the theory of Ālayavijñāna…. Ālayavijñāna is spirituality, vijñāna, objectifying itself in the object world. The highest way in which thought can envisage the absolute is by looking at it as consciousness.”

The comprehensive explication of the notion of emptiness as found in the philosophical literature of the Madhaymika school provides a doctrinal key to unlock the abstruse meanings of the Prajñāpāramitā sutras. As Mahāyāna school, the Yogacara developed as a response to the insights of those same sutras. Under such circumstances, it would have been difficult indeed to have ignored the centrality of the notion of sunyata to these texts. In fact, the idea that the early classical Yogacara of

Asanga and Vasubandhu found any difficulty whatever in embracing the basic insights of the Madhaymika school disregards both the historical and textual evidence, which on the contrary, displays a spirit of underlying continuity and acceptance. On the contrary to theory of voidness in Madhyamika school, Yogacāra is established on consciousness which seems permanent to lead destroying the soul of being to suchness or nonself. These arguments have been made ālayavijñāna standing firmly on Yogācāra theory.

Ālayavijñāna has no evidence at the beginning of the Blessed One’s teachings, base on the concept of Anusaya (underlying tendencies), Bhava ga-Citta (life-constituent mind), the essence of Buddha’s teachings it appeared in the Indian philosophy. Vasubandhu is a recipient of this splendid thought, Mind-only school has been flourished in the fourth century thoroughly in the transmission of development of Buddhism.

At the end, these two defends had been supported to understand when and where ālayavijñāna was established consistently, though its appearance was uncleare. That is the evidence to help Yogacāra still alive in a solidifiable way.

Table 1: The Origin Concept of Ālayavijñāna

Early Buddhism 1. Anusaya: the “outflows” resided in the unconscious. Represented latent tendencies that effect our lives

2. Bhava ga: sub-conscious life stream. The faculty of memory, paranormal psychic phenomena, mental and physical growth, karma and rebirth. Other Schools 1. Sautrāntika: The theories of seeds and subtle thought.

2. Madhayamika: The idea of Suchness (Tathāta)

2.2 Development of Storehouse Consciousness

From the Mahāyāna tradition, Consciousness-only school pointed out eight consciousnesses which their functions such as eyes, ear, nose, tough, body and mind consciousness, manas consciousness, and store consciousness. Based on the eighth consciousness consists of all phenomena dharma at the beginning of the round rebirth which may lead samsara infinitely. Which that led Yogācāra surveys differently in the field of both theory and practice.

2.2.1 Concept of Ālayavijñāna in Yogācāra Buddhism

Yogacāra was probably one of the most popular and influential of philosophical schools in India associated with Mahāyāna. In the modern scientific world, psychology and philosophy possess firmly foundation of Indian Buddhist theory especially Yogacāra Mahāyāna Buddhism. Maitreyanātha was the founder and established in the fourth century C.E., who was born in a Bramin family of Peshawar, an important Buddhist centre since the days of Kaniśka. Seemly he is forgetable and unknowable for most of information about his life as well as his contributions.

Authentically it has been maintained by his disciples who was Vasubandhu, an Indian philosopher lived in 300 A.D the developer and maintainer of Yogacāra school was well known as Mind Only

(Cittamātra) or the doctrine of ideation (Vijñaptimātatra) together with his elder brother Asa ga had appeared most likely to have during the early part of this Gupta period. They are both intelligent and smart in the field of philosophy, is established this concept on the peak of encompassment of Mahāyāna Buddhism throughout the world presently.

The Yogācāra supported Vijñānavāda, the “Sermon on Consciousness” has this potential presence. “The theory has the support of early Buddhism, which holds that all that happens is the result of thought and is made up of it”. Since it regards mere mental representations as for the sole existence. Yogacāra insists four doctrines namely the existence of mere idea (vijñapti-mātatra) of the store consciousness (Ālayavijñāna), the three kinds of own being

(Trisvabhāva), and the triple body (Trikāya) of the Enlightened One. These theories organize to live in the ideal of Bodhisatta in Mahāyana. The Yogacārins, therefore, laid very great emphasis on the practice of meditation, in particular as regards the attainment of states of superconsciousness. It emphasizes the name of this school, and the practice of yoga.

Sangharakshita states in “A Survey of Buddhism” that the Yogacāra is like the Madhyāmikavāda, a development of one aspect of the original teaching, can be demonstrated from the Pali canon. Mindonly school derived from the dependent origination of dharma. Both Therarvāda and Mahāyāna believe and faithful deeply in this theory, because of this mind, store consciousness arising and manifesting everything in the world happening by its manners. The notion of karma which performs by body, verbal, and mind. When this exists, that comes to be, with the arising of this, that arises. When this does not exist, that does not come to be.

And since everything else is but contingent consciousness, this pure consciousness is the ultimate reality, the abstract quintessence of all that is. The dependence origination is based on the store consciousness, the Ālaya consciousness is called causation by ideation-store (Ālayavijñāna).

The Yogacāra tradition points out two types of consciousness. There are the normal five sensory consciousnesses, the mental consciousness (manovijñāna) that among things, experiences mental events and synthesizes the data from the senses, tainted mind (klistamanas) and the substratum consciousness is the eighth (ālayavijñāna). Later on Ālayavijñāna roles a part important point in the method of psychology and meditation which influence by Western psychologists. Furthermore, D.T. Suzuki states that although the Buddha has been taught this consciousness in discourses, it did not denominate obviously. It teaches an immanent existence of all things in the

Ālayavijñāna or All-Conserving Soul. The conception of an AllConserving Soul, it is claimed, was suggested by Buddha in the socalled Theravāda sutras, but on account of its deep meaning and of the liability of its being confounded with the ego-soul conception, he did not disclose its full significance in their sutras, but made it known only in the Mahāyāna sūtras. The notion of repository consciousness appears perhaps for the first time in Asaṅga’s encyclopedic work, the new type of consciousness, closely connected with the living body, retains much of the original use of vijñāna to designate both consciousness and cognition. Asaṇga, in Mahāyānasamgraha had proved about the original source of store consciousness.

At the very beginning, it was said that the storeconsciousness (ālayavijñāna) is the support of the knowable. The Bhagavat has spoken of the store-consciousness. Where did he speak of the store-consciousness? In the Abhidharmasūtra Bhagavat spoke this verse: “It is the beginningless element; it is the common support of all dharmas. Given this consciousness, there exists every destiny and entry into nirvāṇa. At the very beginning, alaya consciousness is proofed mind only arriving at this world as the foundation of concept by the seed that is call “beginningless element”. We human being is unable to know which is the element of no beginning so that the Buddha had shown the seed (bīja). Which that seed called the element is making the circle of life turning endlessly, cannot recognize where is beginning that seed grow up the tree then arises fruits when the time is possible. It makes a circle of rebirth concurrently.

However, men are able to know anything happens is support of all dharma, signal transformation that which basis common dharma supports this consciousness human may turn his suffering to happiness. Because of that reason, the Buddha taught many sutras only based on the mind, by this consciousness is appear every destiny presently. But the only consciousness is exerted to practice the dharma being able to overcome all defilements attain the stage of super happiness. 2.2.2 Development of Storehouse Consciousness After Yogācāra

Depending impermanence phenomena, Yogacāra was also annihilated under the social of Indian. However, the time to survival mission other country, then the development of this school, according to Junjirō Takakusu, in India there seem to have been there three lines of transmission of Yogacāra Idealism after the death of Vasubandhu. The first was the line of Dgnāga (fifth century), Agotra, and Dharmapāla whose center of transmission was Nālandā University. Śīlabhadra of Nālandā and his Chinese pupil Hiuen-Tsang belong to this time. The second was the line of Guṇamati and Sthiramati whose seat of transmission seems to have been Valabhī University, Paramārtha the founder of the Shē-lun School in China belongs to it. The third was the line of Nanda, whose tenet was followed by Paramātha, and Jayasena, who instructed Hiuen-Tsang on certain questions. This last line of transmission did not flourish extendensive in India and soon disappeared.

When Yogacāra school transmissed into China which called Dharmalaskana school. Asanga in his MahāyānaSamgraha wrote in the fifth century and Vasubandhu has done commentary on this, and Buddhaśanta was translated into Chinese in 524. After that Paramartha was re-translated in 563, then Hiuen-Tsang translated on this edited. So it is said that the Paramartha’s translation is basically of Dharmalaskana in China and Hosso in Japan were brought by Chitsū and Chidatsu. In Korea, the master named Daehyeon, Sinhaeng (704-779), Weonchuk (631-696) and Weonhyo (617 - 686) who have missioned Yogacāra to Korea and in Tibet by Dolpopa, Taranatha, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, and Ju Mipham. And finally in Mongolia also.

Hiuen-Tsang, while still at home in China, heard lectures on the Saṃparigraha doctrine from more than seven different teachers. Then he composed serious books and commentaries about Madhyamika and Yogacāra idealism. He moreover developed the school of Weih-Shih with Ch’eng-Wei-Shi-Lun, the treatise on the achievement of the insight that everything is nothing but idea which is still the classical text book of the school in the East. Later on, his students maintained this theory of mind to Japan which is called as the Hosso sect. This Mind-only school is also flourish to Tibet, and finally, Vietnam in which many translation books from Chinese for Buddhist followers till now study presently. Table 2: The Development of Ālayavijñāna Founder 4th century Meitrayanāthā, Asanga Developer Vasubandhu


Three lines of transmission 1. 5th century, Nālandā university:

Dgnāga, Agotra, and Dharmapāla

2. Valabhī university: Gu amati,

Sthiramati, Paramatha.

Shēlun school (China): Paramatha founder.

3. Nanda: followed Paramatha and Jayasena.


Flourishing China: Dharmalasksa a school by HiuenTsan

Japan: Hosso by students of Hiuen-Tsan

Korea: by Daehyeon Sinhaeng (704-779)

Tibet: Dolpopa


2.3 Definition of Storehouse Consciousness


In all direction of abodes, Ālayavijñāna defined in various manners. Which are insist dictionary, from various sutras, as well as some scholars started from Asanga. It will be interpreted below.


2.3.1 Storehouse consciousness in Various Sutras


Ālayavijñāna is a fundamental concept of Yogacāra Mahāyāna school base on the Buddha’s teaching. It is a kind of Buddhist Brahma, which is to be realized by pure mental yoga absolutely pure consciousness. Indeed, pure consciousness is itself identical with the ālayavijñāna. This seems to mean that from fundamental consciousness the forerunner of the concept of storehouse consciousness, all feelings, or sensations, can rise. When base consciousness appears in the field of Indian philosophy certainly the authors of this school also point out sutras which are proved that the concept of alaya consciousness is survived since the time of Buddha. Of those sutras, in Lankavatara Sutra, the Buddha defines: The world as we see it exists not, pluralities of things rise from the mind being seen externally, body, property, the abode are manifested to us as of the Ālayavijñāna. Ālaya is the chief of consciousness in the three abodes, nines realms, and ten stages. In this world, it is manifested the mind and mindobjects. It is also called fundamental consciousness that stores all kinds of seed in the present, and previous lives because its subject to have seeds storing and it is stored the subject of attachment. According to Samdhinirmocana sutra, Ālayavijñāna has mentioned three names appropriating consciousness, receptacle consciousness or the mind. The Buddha taught to Visalamati: Visalamati, this consciousness is also termed the appropriating consciousness, because it is taken up together with the body. It is also termed the receptacle consciousness because this consciousness joins itself to and lies hidden in that body in a common security and risk. It is also termed mind, because of this consciousness mines and accumulates material forms, sounds, odors, tastes, and touches. 


At the beginning of human life, it is the very first consciousness enters into mother’s womb in order to function and maintain initial body. So it appropriated this body according to its karma. Receptacle mind is when it collects all the activities of mind in the past, present and even though which is the foundation for future existence by accumulation from first five physical consciousnesses.

However, in the Sūra gama sutra , the Buddha taught that the eighth consciousness is “the essence of perception” which is reflecting the five senses and perceiving surrounding objects. When it first contacts things externally. This is direct inference which belongs to the eighth consciousness or essence of seeing (ālayavijñāna). If the first contact is followed by a thought which stimulate s the central sense (manovijñāna) and causes it to discriminate. This is comparative inference which pertains to the sixth consciousness. Ānanda, the great variety of things, far and near, when beheld by the essence of your seeing, appeared different whereas the nature of your seeing in uniform. This wondrous bright essence is really the nature of your perception. Furthermore, Ālayavijñāna is of twofold mainly meaning enlightenment and non -enlightenment according to the sutras. In the Mahāyāna-Sraddhotpada Shastra, Asvaghosa was defined Ālayavijñāna is the fundamental mind for Buddhahood or the Buddha-nature. The mind as phenomena (samsara) is grounded on the Tathgatagarbha. What is called the storehouse consciousness is that in which “neither birth or death (nirvana)” diffuses harmoniously with giving “birth and death (samsara)”, and yet in which both are neither identical nor different. For the benefit of human being, the Blessed One only preached

this theory to the great vehicle, Mahāyānist, because it is very difficult to understand the profound meaning of Ālayavijñāna’s concept. In Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra on verse eighteen says that:

“If a being who has inferior belief, who is of an inferior dhātu, who is surrounded by poor friends, does not have a belief in this dharma which preaches very well the sublime generosity and profound seriousness, for him liberation etc., is not established”

One whose liberation is of an inferior dhātu, he has a feeling of full knowledge of Ālayavijñāna, same is the case with one who is surrounded by friends who have inferior belief and dhātu. If this being has no belief in the dharma of great vehicle, which preaches well the sublime generosity and profound seriousness, there is no liberation. Thus it is established that the Great Vehicle is the best.

Contemporary with Madhyamika, Ālaya consciousness is described in the Samdhinirmocana, Lankavatara Sutra, MahāyānaSraddhotpada Shastra, and Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra which its function and manifestation by One mind only, is depicts as beyond all words and beyond all expressions. This ultimate mystery is ineffable, all pervasive, imperishable and beyond human comprehension. Only a mind which has freed itself from all though can ever approach it. It is also describing the Suchness Mind, the follows a Mahāyāna tradition that declares its teaching to be esoteric and intelligible only to the Buddha describes its own mystery of the Ālayavijñāna when it manifested to Tathagatagarbha.

Table 3: The Concept of Ālayavijñāna from Various Sutras

Sutra Definition

(1). Mahāratnakūṭa sutra

(Sutra of the Heap of Jewels) Pure consciousness.

(2). Lakavātara sutra

(Scripture of the Descent into Laṅkā) Repository Consciousness

(3). Samdinirmocana sutra

(The Scripture on the Explication of underlying Meaning ) Mind, Appropriating consciousness, Receptacle mind

(4). Sūraṇgama Sūtra Essence of Perception

(5). Mahāyāna-Sraddhotpada Shastra (The awakening of faith in Mahāyana) Tathgatagarbha,

Neither birth or death (nirvana), Neither identical nor different.

2.3.2 Definition in Dictionaries


The term ālayavijñāna literally has two component parts Ālaya and Vijñāna. Ālaya means place (Ālayah sthānamiti paryāyau). And Vijñāna stands for the knowledge or mind consciousness (vijānātiti vijñānam).

The term Ālaya in Sanskrit, which prefix “ā” means “to, toward or from”, and derived from the root the root “√lī” meaning “store, receptacle, or place”. In Pali-English Dictionary, Ālaya is defined as “roosting place, perch, or abode setting place, or hanging on, attachment, desire, clinging, or lust”. From another interpretation, ālaya has two meaning which habitation, fundamental base, dwelling or nest (ālayaka), also the fundamental basis, underlying vijnana, or the proper mental state. Secondly, it is attachment, clinging, the mankind takes pleasure, joy, delight in attachment, and also the rooting out of attachment

(ālayasamudhāto), ultimate basis, identifies sometimes with citta.

And Vijñāna (Skr) or Viññāna with prefix “vi” and derived from the root “√jñā” meaning “consciousness, mind, life-force, or discernment”.53 In several doctrine of the Buddha always defines mind (citta), this consciousness is also called mind (citta). Thus the Bhagavat said: “Mind (citta), thought (manas) and consciousness (vijñana).”

Ālayavijñāna thus means storehouse consciousness, neverperishing consciousness, or maintaining consciousness or fundamental consciousness. In Tibet, Ālayavijāna is called as Mind-basis-of-all (Tib. Kunzhinamshay), or Universal Ground. Located below the realms of conscious awareness, it is called storehouse consciousness, because all karma created in the present and previous lifetimes is stored there. It is called never-perishing or seed consciousness when karmic seeds preserve and continue there even after death, and fundamental consciousness is called because based on this consciousness the first seven consciousnesses evolve with it would be able to arise or transform. It is the storehouse consciousness which rebirth or causing the origination of a new existence. In sum, ālayavijñāna, according to dictionaries means storehouse consciousness, fundamental base, seed consciousness, maintaining consciousness, or never perishing consciousness.


2.3.3 Definition According to Contemporary Buddhist Scholars


According to the Buddhist philosophy views, the wordĀlayavijñāna” is translated from different terms such as parināma (hetu) and sarba bījaka (the holder of all seed), store house consciousness, repository consciousness, or pure consciousness (amalayavijñāna), and some books translated as receptacle, base consciousness, container consciousness. It calls sub-consciousness or unconscious mind when it compared to the theory of Sigmund Freud and later Jung, those who famous in Western psychologist.


The ālaya consciousness is capitalized of the divided produces of knowledge. On the other hand, Etienne Lamotte explained Kamasiddhiprakarana that: In the sūtras of the Tāṃraparṇiyanikāya, this consciousness is called limb-of-existence consciousness (bhāvaṇgavijñāna), in the sūtras of the Mahasamghikanikāya, root consciousness (mūlavijñāna), and the Mahīśāsakanikāya call it the aggregate lasting until the end of samsara.” Again, in Three Text On Consciousness Only, Vasubandhu named it under threefold kind. Firstly, the eighth consciousness is the storer of seeds , is the consciousness collected all kinds of minds that without intention or intention by neither happiness nor suffering but only neutral feeling automatically, if there is no alaya being would not be alive, so is the maintaining base for human life. And if as there was no alaya human cannot turn around in the circle of birth and death.

Secondly, Vasubhandhu called maintaining consciousness (ādānavijñāna), because all impure and pure consciousness is born from this root. basic consciousness (mūlavijñāna). Yogacāra calls this function is preserving every seed. Thanks to this possibility, the Dharma is never lost but always exists, either in the state of the seed or in the state of the present. Likewise, the karma we create never ceases, and they will survive and await favorable conditions to detect the result. What kind of panic is that of the total value of the karma? Alaya is the whole of karma. In other words, Alaya is the self of karma inherence, it is also called karma.

Ālayavijñāna is also called appropriating consciousness. In Mahāyānasamgraha, Asanga states that: It is called appropriates consciousness because it appropriates all the material organs and because it the support of the grasping of all the existences. Which that appropriated by this consciousness, do not perish as long as life lasts. Furthermore, at the moment of reincarnation, because it grasps their production, this consciousness appropriates the states of existence. That also is why called appropriating consciousness.

This consciousness is understood as the ego somehow, it always grasped whatever its possession in the present life is resultant of many lives after. This consciousness is sufficient to act the substratum for the three realms, the six paths of existence, and the four forms of birth. This is the seat and ultimate subject of ignorance (avidyā), the keeper of the karmic seeds, and the subconscious reservoir of potentialities, or “vital principle”. When store consciousness has transformed all defilements and releases of objects, it is now called ninth consciousness named

Amalayavijñāna which pure in the mind, there is nothing soil anymore, it is like the mirror that has cleaned and lightning seeing things as they really are so that it called Tathagatagarbha (Buddha nature). At this period is great mirror wisdom only the Buddha attained perfectly though it is abandoned in the stage of Arahanship. Moreover, the store consciousness is the perception, abiding in, and grasping of what is unperceived. It is always associated with touch, attentiveness, knowledge, conception, and willing.

Although ālayavijñāna has different name, but in summary it has three meanings, named, it is called the appropriating consciousness (adānavijñāna) because it appropriates to itself the body. Secondly, since the seeds of all the dharmas lie therein, it is called the receptacle consciousness (ālayavijñāna). And the last name since it is the retribution of actions laid down in past lives, it is also called retribution consciousness (vipākaphalavijñāna). Later improvement of this school, storehouse consciousness is purity in itself, which named amalavijñāna (unstained consciousness), that is the wisdom of Tathāgatagarbha or Buddha nature. The Buddhists learned call Alaya consciousness. The psychologists call Alaya subconscious, unconscious, life momentum. And nomal people called soul.

The researcher finds that the notion of ālayavijñāna has many names according to its fields of ocean consciousness and depending on the way it appears. Although it is named for many but in sum, “storehouse consciousness”, and “fundamental consciousness” most present using by scholars and researchers in general.

Table 4: The Conclusion of Notion of Ālayavijñāna

Meaning of Ālayavijñāna

Sutras 1. Mahāratnakūta Pure consciousness

2. Lankavātara Repository consciousness

3. Samdinirmocana consciousness

4. Sūra gama Essence of Perception

5. Mahāyānasraddhotpada Buddha nature Dictionaries Storehouse consciousness, maintain consciousness, fundamental consciousness, ultimate basic.

Scholars Asanga Basic consciousness, appropriating consciousness

Vasubandhu Holder of all seeds, maintaining consciousness

The Researcher Storehouse and Fundamental consciousness


2.4 The Path Connection with Mental State (caitasika)


Ālaya consciousness is unobstructed mind without cover by anything else and it is undetermined consciousness which always flows and transforms neither interrupt nor loss because of any reasons arising. And it is undermined with wholesome, unwholesome, only associated with neutral or indifferent feeling. It is the water in the still river, indeed it is flowing to the sea. Similarly, store consciousness is primary mind always associated with five universal mental formations named contact, attention, feeling, perception, and volition. The river is the store consciousness and five universals are the drop of water that support and maintain store consciousness in way directly. These five universal mental consciousnesses are not separate from Ālaya consciousness; it is the content of the mind.

And what is the difference between the primary mind and its associated mental states? The factor that observes the mere essence of an object is called “primary mind” or “consciousness,” whereas the particular way of apprehending in which one observes the distinct features of an object is referred to as a “mental state.”

It is said that the nature of the store consciousness is also the nature of these five universal mental formations of that consciousness, both object and subject are all unobstructed and indeterminate, changing and constantly flowing. Every seed, every object, every perception are like the drop of water in the river of store consciousness, and they take the nature of that consciousness. Thus the alaya consciousness connects with five universal formations in order to uphold, to maintain, and to support each other in its way.

In summary, the eight consciousness is the first consciousness that comes to descent at the mother’s womb and is always connected with five universal mental formations which corporation to pre-seven consciousnesses in other to govern life of human being for its survival.


2.5 Characteristics of Storehouse Consciousness


There are threefold characteristics of knowable objects as dependent characteristic is the basic for designations, the imagination characteristic and the consummate characteristic, the pervade. In MahāyānaSamgraha, Asanga called those characteristics are the nature of ālayavijñāna, but by the same meaning. It bases on the cause and effect theory. The characteristics of the Ālaya are as described in the Abhidharma sutra: “the expanse of the beginningless time is the source of all phenomena. Since it exists, there are beings and the attainment of nirvā a.” According to “Dialectical Aspects in Buddhism Thought” Alfonso Verdu has pointed out that there are three main characteristics of the Ālaya70 as follows


2.5.1 Self Characteristic


It is an individual principle and, furthermore, the very basis of the dependent nature (paratantra) as given in human existence. It is the imagination of what is unreal, appearing through the force of habitual tendencies. It does not remain for an instant and is governed by what precedes it. Without this characteristic, human beings would not remain in this life. It is called, therefore, the base of consciousness that stores all kind of mind’s working in daily life.


2.5.2 Characteristic as a Cause:


It exercises an active role in developing the illusory projection of the phenomenal world from within itself, and thus it is considered to be of an intrinsically deceptive and polluting character. What is designated on top of that substantially existent basis for designations, a self, “mine”, and so forth are mistakenly imagined.


2.5.3 Characteristic as a Result:


The Ālaya, still individual and delusive in character, demands an ultimate consciousness as the transcendental recess for all finite knowledge. The consummate is the unconditioned, empty of the object of negation imputed existence. It is non-conceptual cognition, empty of duality, ultimately existent. It is the pure basis of undifferentiated thought, namely the amlavijñāna. Since the Ālaya consciousness, on the basis of the habitual tendencies for all affective phenomena, hold the seeds for such phenomena, it is the cause for the arising of all affective phenomena. Since it can become anything, it is also not obscured. It is indeterminate, because it is neither virtuous nor non-virtuous.


2.6 Function of Storehouse Consciousness


Store consciousness functions is of two kinds general function and inter-relative function towards seven modes of consciousness which divided into two paths to six senses consciousness and to seventh consciousness.


2.6.1 General Function


The function of store consciousness is to receive and maintain seeds and their habits energies, so they can manifest in the world, or remain dormant. Along with sentient being’s storehouse consciousness which uphold the seeds that receive and nourish in daily life, alaya consciousness functioning as the latent sub-consciousness in behavior of actions through six senses. Of each performs together with their consciousness by observing with intention or without intention. Automatically that seeds laid deeply on latent alaya consciousness without any happiness, sadness but only by neutral it works very smooth and secret spontaneously.


The function of receiving of all seeds in present life, when a fetus enters into the mother’s womb, being lives there for several nine months, he is influented by his mother when his mother activities or eats food. With her up and down action that makes her child feels both uncomfortable and comfortable. The general function of ālyavijñāna influents to other previous seven consciousnesses. The function of the rest which is the fundamental root and the repository of impressions for common seeds in past and present life as well as it is also the storage place for karma latencies throughout circle of birth and death.


2.6.2 Inter-relative Function Towards Seven Modes of Consciousness


With strong influences to other seven consciousness ālaya consciousness is like as if it is imagined as a vast ocean, then other seven consciousnesses are the waves on its surface. The first seven consciousnesses are neither separate from storehouse consciousness, nor do they disturb the stillness of its depths. The function of Storehouse consciousness is of twofold, function to the six sense consciousnesses and to the seventh consciousness, defiled mind.


a. Inter-relative Function Towards Six Senses Consciousness


The store consciousness is the base of all six others consciousness. In accordance with the six sense organs and its objects corresponding rightly with its senses. They are the visual consciousness as sense center, and the five senses are sight, hearing, smell, taste, and tough, which that unifies and coordinates the ideas derived from the five senses occasionally.


The five sense objects do not exist as external objects because they are produced within the substantial entity of an internal consciousness through the power of predisposing latencies established by common and uncommon actions in the mind basic of all (ālayavijñāna). The Followers of Scripture assert that a mind-basic-of-all observes the five senses, the five objects and the internal latencies.


The actual objects of observation of a mind basic of all are the five senses and the five types of objects which are apprehended by the five senses consciousness. The mind basic of all does not observe the latencies, but it is said to observe them because all perceptions are produced by the latencies. Just as the waves reply on the water ocean then it might flow and without water the waves would not be able to flow. The six senses cognize objects when the visual sight appears and immediately visual consciousness evolve to take the object. Thus the Buddha teaches in the Samdhinirmocana sutra: Visalamati, the appropriating consciousness is similar to those rushing waters, for it is the support and ground. When the conditions for the arising of a single visual consciousness are present, then a single visual consciousness develops. When the conditions for the arising of the five sense consciousnesses, or however many, are present, then those consciousnesses develop.


Through the function of store consciousness toward sixth-sense and five mental organs, simultaneously they operate not at usual. Similarly, the waves depend on the condition, whenever condition arises then they use their function smoothly. Otherwise, as the ground of wholesome and unwholesome of the other six manifestable consciousnesses, manas continues discriminating. Its nature is both indeterminate and obscured. Based on six consciousnesses, human being discriminates the objects as like, dislike, or neutral and the seventh consciousness (manas) accumulates their karma according to their views, their attachments to the objects. The Buddha teaches:


Visalamati, when a single visual consciousness evolves, at that very instant a discriminative thinking consciousness arises in synergy with that visual consciousness. When two, three, four, or five consciousnesses develop, at that very instant a discriminative thinking consciousness arises in synergy with those same five consciousnesses.


Thus six senses consciousness evolve this basic consciousness (Ālayavijñāna) as their common and immediate support. They are like the waves on water in accordance which with the conditioning factors, are sometimes numerous, sometime few. And six consciousnesses are crude and unstable because the conditioning factors on which they depend are often incomplete. Therefore, they act only sometimes and often do not act at all.

Symbol 1: Showing the Inter-relation of Storehouse Consciousness and Six Senses Consciousness


b. Inter-relative Function Towards the Seventh Consciousness


Store consciousness functions toward the seventh consciousness or afflicted (manas) is another name. As the slave of householder, it always grasps the soul itself as me, mine or that is me possesses, my relatives, and it takes alaya as the self ego, and so on. And the object of afflicted mind observable is storehouse consciousness. With store consciousness as its support, manas arises. Its function is mentation, grasping the seeds its considers to be a self. This manas consciousness perpetually thinks about the ego to which it clings. As a result, it has close relationship with the four fundamental kleśas (defilements), defilements or the sources of affliction and delusion.


The manas links itself with the alaya consciousness which spontaneously and perpetually. An afflicted mind has nine accompanying mental factors, the five omnipresent mental factors, and four mental factors that defile it. They are ego-ignorance, ego belief, together with self conceit and self love. These four kinds of defilement are always cling to the self which disturb and pollute the storehouse consciousness and cause the remaining seven senses consciousness perpetually to produce defiling elements directing itself to the eighth consciousness, produces from this an individualized mental image to which cling as a real ego. Asanga in the Mahāyānasamgraha has stated that:


The store consciousness and the defiled dharmas are simultaneously mutual causes. It is like the case of a lamp the arising of the flame and the combustion of the wick are mutual and simultaneous… In the same way, here too it is a matter of mutual causes: the store-consciousness is the cause of the defiled dharmas. The defiled dharmas are the cause of the storeconsciousness.


Moreover, the operation of the alaya and manas consciousness are subtle and fine, and the conditioning factors on which they depend are at the present time. And without adverse factors that can ever prevent them from its acting. This is the reason why it causes sentient being to produce their own karma that up and down from three abodes, six ways to circ

le of birth and death endlessly. It is called the afflictions defilement, seventh and eighth consciousness never fail to manifest their activities. The relationship between six senses and seventh consciousness


(manas) as analogy Dzogchen views that: “the mind is the husband and mana (emotions) is the wife, kunzhi (ālayavijñāna) is the storehouse from the outside”. If husband and wife are supposed stay together, otherwise they also need foods, material things, and so on from the outside world. That is a beautiful example from meditation master. These connections of eight consciousnesses, we will recognize human’s characteristics as Asanga in the Followers of Scripture points out that: “when the person sought among his or her bases of designation, one finds the mind-basic- of- all, and thus the mind-basic-of-all is posited as the illustration of a person”.83


In sum, seven consciousnesses (prav itti-vijñāna) evolved eighth consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) in the field of inter-relation working. The store consciousness is the evolving perception placed. The later sevenfold, the five senses, central sense, and manas. The two are like a body of water and the waves are like mirror and a reflected image. In that way, this establishment of supreme method establishes the place and placed. They are inter-relative function, to support and maintain to each other.

Symbol 2: Showing the Inter-relative Function of Storehouse Consciousness to Māna Consciousness


Symbol 3: Showing Two Functions of Alayavijñana

Ocean of Ālayavijñāna

2.7 Concluding Remarks


Asa ga and Vasubandhu established the Yogācāra school which is completed by many ideas of pre-schools. The notion of the Storehouse consciousness is developed in the field of original doctrine and Mahāyāna phylosophy that brought to China and other countries steadfastly. Anusaya’s concept in the Buddha’s doctrine is a latent tendency. The Vibhājvādins states the subconscious (bhavanga) is an uninterrupted consciousness even in asleep without dreaming. The Yogācāra’s answer is based on the sutras of earlier schools. With two schools, the Sautrāntikas claim a short-lived reproductive seed chain is reproducible and the theory of Suchness in Madhyamika school is proved for this sustain school appears completely. In order to continue to fight with such questions, the Yogāgāra developed a new literature within the Mahāyāna domain.


The storehouse consciousness has many names, which calls amalavijnana or unstained consciousness, sabvabījā (containing all kinds of seed) or adānavijñāna (fundamental consciousness). The storehouse consciousness possesses three characteristics and three which supports suvival itself and other seven consciousnesses. These are inter-connection each other when they are cooperating an objective appearance.

Chapter III


An Analysis of Storehouse Consciousness (Ālayavijñāna) in the Light of Yogācāra School

From consciousness is born the whole universal. The Alaya consciousness (nāma) is product of physical body (rūpa) which planted seeds of karma. It understands as Tathāgatagarbha (Buddha nature) when one’s realize non-self within (Anatta). Those whose wish to fulfill paramitas in thousands of eons, the Storehouse consciousness composes entailedment of the Enlightened Mind and Bodhisattavas vows. This chapter will mention six points following (1) storehouse consciousness products of physical body; (2) storehouse consciousness as planed seeds to karma; (3) ālayavijñāna with Tathāgatagarbha and atta; (4) the fulfillment of bodhicitta; (5) nourishing the Bodhisattva’s vows; and (6) four perfective stages of transformative consciousness.


3.1 Storehouse Consciousness Produce of Physical Body At the beginning of becoming, ālayavijñāna is the consciousness firstly entrance to the mother’s womb that early visitor comes and nourishes of his body. To collect four conditions earth, heat, water, and airs, it is inviting the remain seventh consciousnesses that are joining together on conjunctive road to the circle of becoming. Initially, the eighth consciousness enters into the mother’s womb to present the fetus. The storehouse consciousness matures the body of baby at very first he enters into mother’s womb until nine months ten days perfectly. Fetus is nourishes by mother’s nutrient requirements conditioning to fulfil baby’s organs, during this time eyes, ears, noses tongue, are completed. The fetus gradually grows together with his mind. If there is no accident and with perfect condition, it is time to take birth and lives his own life. The Blessed One in the Samdhinirmocana states:


From the very first instant of their births, the maturation, evolution, unification, increase, and growth of their minds, together with all their seeds, depend upon two appropriations. The first is their appropriation of the material senses in the body. The second is their appropriation of the propensity toward verbal fabrication in discriminating images and words. In the worlds of form, sentient beings have these two appropriations, but not in the world of no-form. The Buddha mentioned eighth consciousness which has two appropriations that mature not only the fetus’s body but also his consciousness, five senses faculties and the sense-center (Manovjiñāna) discriminating images and words. The evolution here means ālaya conscious consisting which is of two aspects perceived and perceiving. Dharmapala and Sthiramati explained:


Evolution” (parinama) indicates that what essentially constitutes consciousness that is to say, its substance, the samvittibhaga, when it is born, manifests itself under two seeming aspects or divisions, namely, the image-aspect and the perception aspect, i.e., the object perceived and the perceiving faculty. These divisions arise out of a third division called the “selfcorroboratory division” (samvittibhaga) which constitutes their “essential substance”. It is on the basis of these two functional divisions that Atman and dharmas are established, for they have on other.


Those who are reborn, the grasping of the material organs (rupindriya) is impossible without a retributive consciousness (vipakavijña na), for the consciousnesses other than this last one have their specific support (aśraya, organ) and are not stable (dhruva). On the other hand, “there is no material organ without a consciousness”.88 On “Verses Delineating the Eight Consciousness”, Hsuan Tsang explains: “Eighth consciousness is capable of nourishing the bodily life of sentient beings. Life feeds off the eighth consciousness, the basic life force or life energy. When that life energy is exhausted, death occurs.”


In the Tibetan tradition, ālayavijñāna is called the “Universal


Ground” or “mind-basic-of-all”. The appearance of human body is the beginning of all karma that presented in desire world. The verse in “Distinguishing the View and Philosophies” says:


When appearances are asserted as mind,

The universal ground and reflexive awareness are indispensable;

In the assertion of appearances as merely self-appearance,

No deliberate refutation or affirmation is made.

Moreover, Lama Botrul expains the following concerns in the distinction between the universal ground and reflexive awareness are accepted in the Great Middle Way tradition in general: “As it is stated in commentary on the Madhyamakālaṃkāra, in the tradition of the great scholar Śāntaraksika, the universal ground and reflexive awareness are indispensables when appearances are asserted as mind. As is stated in commentary of Wisdom, in the Great Prāsaṇgika tradition’s assertion as merely self-appearance, no deliberate refutation or affirmation is made of the universal ground or reflexive awareness.”


Therefore, whether one accepts the existence of storehouse consciousness or not this ālayavijñāna is made this body, its appearance is never lost at one’s birth. Its presence had fulfilled of human being. When all factors of parents have been fully completed, the appearance of being is asserted from universal ground and reflexive awareness are indispensable. The universal ground is indispensable when the appearances are accepted as mind leading.


3.2 Storehouse Consciousness as Planed Seeds to Karma


The mind is the field, in which all kinds of seeds are sown, what the mind called field is, it is also the totally of these seeds. Seed is a maintainable function of the Dharma. If we are looking deeply into life in order to see there are many kind of seeds in different ways as seed to karma and reincarnation. There are two meaning of ālayavijñāna mūlavijñāna (base consciousness) and vipākavijñāna (resultant consciousness) will explain vividly.


3.2.1 Theory of Karma


The role of karma theory plays most important parts in the history of Buddhist thought. In Early Buddhism the emphasis puts on the human mind (cetanā). Mind precedes all actions and serves as the principle element both in performing and assessing deeds. It is mind of the rules and shapes action. The Buddha declares:

“It is volition, monks, that I call kamma, for having willed, one performs an action through body, speech or mind. All volitional action, except that of a Buddha or an Arahant, constitutes kamma”.


Karma (Skr) or kamma (Pal), is a performing of an action through out body, verbal, and intention. Literally, karma means actions or doing, make, or perform. By doing an action with intentions, karma beco

mes karmaphala which means the result of actions or karmavipāka is also similar to that its term leads to endless circle of birth and death (saṃsara). In Culakammavibhaga sutta (the Shorter Exposition of Action) the Buddha teaches how karma accounts for the fortune and misfortune of beings. The theory of karma accounts for the continuity of personality through death, or unconsciousness. Once a seed produces its fruit, it is used up. According to “the seed that is sown, so is the fruit that one reaps there from. Doer of good will gather good, doer of evil, evil reaps, sown is the seed and thou shalt taste the fruit”.

The new seeds come to fruition in each moment until the time of enlightenment while we continue to believe in the reality of perceptual framework. This process creates seeds that will ripen into further delusion.


All karma created in the present and previous lifetimes is stored in the Alaya Consciousness. This is regarded as that which undergoes the cycle of birth and death ... All the actions and experiences of life that take place through the first seven consciousness are accumulated as karma in this Alaya Consciousness, which at the same time exerts an influence on the workings of the seven consciousnesses.


An incense sticks will smell good. Similarly, people are conditioned by the spirit and activity what they had experienced. This condition creates a business case. However, as the scent can be cleansed out from the cloth, the human condition can also be purified by the habit. Naturally, there are three types of habit mentioned:


a. Habitual speech is a habit of language and cognition.

b. Self-attachment belief in self and what belongs to the self.

c. Possessing habitual that is long karmic effects are derived from special actions (from the three realms).


The habit energies come from ignorance (avidyā) which stored under un-observation with mindfulness observing, the mana (seventh consciousness) misled sense-center performing as the kammic causes to results of next generation. It is the original teaching of twelve chains or the theory of dependence origination pre-lead by ignorance. Because of ignorance condition formations, formations cause consciousness, and so on.


Yogacāra’s literature argued about the relationship between the seed and the habit. Some authors argue that the seed and the habit are essentially two terms for one problem that is collection of karma. Other authors consider that the seed is only the result of the collection, that is all karmic conditions are acquired through experience. Others claim that seeds are related to the series of conditions that produce the habitual that one has acquired whether in this life, in the past, or from the beginningless.


The exercise demonstrates that human experience changes or affects one's seed development. Beginningless can be understood as Husserl’s transcendental term which is a causal element that constitutes a present experience of the underlying cause hidden in this very experience. Some people think that human enlightenment capacity depends entirely on the seed they have inherited.


The habit only plays a catalytic role that cannot provide good seed if it does not inherit them. The absolute refusal of the good seed is called the most radical. This person is never enlightened. Some other Mahāyāna Buddhists find this to be contrary to the maxim of salvation for all of their species, so it is against the most popular theory.


In the Theravāda doctrine, there are six roots of consciousness that produce good or bad karma, namely kusala and akusala consciousness. In the kusala (good) consciousness, is of threefold noncraving (alobha), non-hatred (adosa), and non-delusion (amoha). Akusala is of also threefold, craving (lobha), hatred (dosa), and delusion (moha). These roots exert the mind goes to the heaven or to the hell.


Being performs good karma is associated with kusala consciousness which are non-craving, non-hatred, and non-delusion. These three kinds of consciousness are called good mind which produce good actions in the sukha states of three realms. The rest akusala consciousnesses are preform to achieve bad karma which bring to suffering and lamentation states. When one does good or bad actions, mental consciousness function always collects in the Vasāna (impression or pre-depository).


Karma is due to suffering (dukkha) measured as greed expressed through action, speech and mind. Yogacaric focus on the cognizable and mental process in its collaboration that actions of thought process. The suffering thus attainment concentrates on perception and mental activity in relation to their intentions, that is the operation of consciousness, because the problem lies in this place.


Buddhism always recognizes ignorance and craving as the primary cause of suffering and reincarnation. The travelers emphasize the activities of the mind to control it. Since this cognitive deduction is also the creation of the mind, it ultimately must be excluded in the process of transformation, but the value of the cure is to be fulfilled to achieve enlightenment. The concept of temporal advantage of the Buddha can be found at the very life of the Buddha. The yogis practice that enlightenment is the result of the transformation, that is the transformation of all thoughts and that act as our basis of consciousness. This is called transitive discernment (jñāna). Disjunction, disengagement, and disconnection mean split. Directness is defined as intuition without the involvement of consciousness (indefinite knowledge), i.e. knowledge without being covered by representations.


Ālayavijñāna serves as the basis or container for karmaphalasaṃbandha (the connection between the action and the result) , which plays the role of twofold condition relative to the active consciousnesses.


“It is both their seed (bīja) and their support. It is their seed


at the moment when the wholesome (kuśala), unwholesome (akuśala) or indeterminate active consciousnesses are actualized, the store-consciousness is seed for all of them. It is their support, for the store consciousness takes over the material organs.” The ālayavijñāna is a concept or discovery that arouse to account for the working of karma, and counter to a major criticism of Buddhist doctrine posited by various Hindu schools and critics. In addition, if human being is only a stream of mental events without any substantive connection between them, what accounts for memory? The answer was the existence of a storehouse consciousness, a repository of karmic volition and a vehicle to make memory possible. Traleg Rinpoche explains: “a latently present, at an unconscious level of consciousness, it is a repository of all our karmic traces and dispositions.”


3.2.2 The Seed (Bīja)


On the perspective of Karma, Ālaya consciousness is unenlightenment espect. The alayavijñāna which contains all the dispositions or determinations accummulated from all time lying dorman in the form of seeds which create agitation. From performents collect seeds and habitual actions which produce karma. Storeage as emotion, memories in the present performents by habit energy.


“The seed of establishment and enjoyment is the cause of bondage. The mind, order of intellect or storehouse of knowledge, with their base and with their seed are bound by it”.


The resultants or the power to produce an effect is called seed


(bīja) or habit energy because it contains in the store of seed. Through out the time of sprout when a cause of condition from this store the seed which universal discovers correspond to recognize manifestation and past action. So, it is said that seeds are born present, from the present moment collects seeds, seeds are born seeds, that is why cause and effect are neither differentiated nor sameness.


When one does good or bad actions always collect in the Vāsanā which means “perfumation”. But here it is defined as impression or predepository. The impression is a behavioral tendency or karmic imprint which influences the present behavior of a person. Thus it is a place where all actions or behaviors that impress in our mind become karma.


The seeds are divided into two types good and bad seeds. Bad seeds will take on perceptual habits that obstruct the process of enlightenment. Good seeds also called “pure”, or “unpolluted”, will produce more pure seeds, which will lead to closer enlightenment. In short, Yogacāra school distinguishes inner seeds, depending on the individual and outside seeds, depending on other factors. All seed have their own characteristics and fruitions. According to Mahāyānasamgraha, Asanga explains:


The seeds are considering to have six characteristics, such as momentary, simultaneous, continue in an interupted stream, karmically determinate, require condition, and are completed by their own fruits.


A person’s genus can be manipulated or influenced through intercourse, which can be beneficial or detrimental. Communication with pollution causes the growth of unwholesome seed, while in contact with the “pure” charms, such as listening to sutra teaching (saddharma), can cause good seed to grow. The bad seed is reduced and rooted. All the seeds have six characteristics momentary, simultaneous with their fruit, proceed in continuity, determinate, depend on conditions, the authors of an appropriate fruit.


In the Trimsika, Vasubandhu says:


The consciousness contains all seeds. Its such and such transformations. Proceed by mutual influence,
On account of which such and such subject- object discriminations arise.


The theory of dependent arising of twelve chains in the wheel of rebirth, deluded mind is roles an important part of this wheel. Otherwise, according to Sarvātivāda school views, the distinguished hetupratyaya (effect conditions) were represented in the theory every dharma has become a seed, namely, six causes and four conditions which seed that could be sown in every direction.


(a). Six Causes (Saḍhetavaḥ)

- Active cause Kāraṇahetu

- Accompanied cause Sahabhūhetu

- Corresponding cause Sabhāgahetu

- Associated cause Samprayuktahetu

- Common cause Sarvatragahetu

- Resultant cause Vipākahetu


Of them the first four causes are belong to simultaneity working. The rest are belonging to continuity performing. These causes are corresponding with six characteristics of a seed as Asanga explained.


(b). Four Conditions (Caturpratyaya)


The arising of any single existent requires the grouping of conditions. Without the necessary conditions no existent can come into being. These are primary condition (hetupratyaya), immediate conditions (samantarapratyaya), the object as conditions (ālamba apratyaya), and eminent conditions (adhipatipratyaya). Unless the active cause of six, the rest are performing as the effect condition (hetupratyaya) that means the four conditions and the six causes are working and support together each other.


Ālayavijñāna receives all kinds of new seeds or new thoughts from the pre-six consciousnesses and collect them according to fourfold conditions and threefold intrinsic nature. The function of these conditions, the very first is a scent which is the surrounding objects observed by five senses consciousness, secondly, the volition of sense central that transcendent by first five consciousnesses, manovijñāna considers carefully, discriminates, determinates and transfers to other.

Thirdly, the māna (seventh consciousness) is a base or also called transitional mind, which transfers into ālayavijñāna but he himself revises all information first. However, it becomes distorting whenever arrives to storehouse consciousness, the fourfold new seeds then received. Therefore, a seed or new thought arises first sixth consciousnesses which mean by transferring to storehouse consciousness gradually as scent, volition, base, and seed. This is a process of fourfold condition of ālayavijñāna.


(c). Threefold Self-nature (Trisabhāva) of Ālayavijñāna


This kind of seed bases on its nature marks with the present waves, so that it can be produced a new seed. This nature is called Parikalpita (the image nature) which characteristic of dependent origination of all phenomena, when it collects all conditions then transfers into another, and producing a new process but it has its own characters. In other words, when this is because of that is. When it arises because of that appears. To be recognized, sort type, set the name, the new seed to the given, it evaluates all kinds of present seeds so that determinates. This nature is called paratantra (other dependent nature), which discriminating of phenomenal was ruled and described by words, then following languish appearing. A new born seed is established by habitual collective of present base on the nature of seeing, hearing and the nature of recognizing of six senses consciousness which is called parinispanna (perfectly accomplished nature) that arises from Buddhahood, the purely nature of mind, and the intrinsic nature of phenomena.


3.2.3 The Threefold Stages of Transformation

The stages of transformation are thus the stages of the transformation of the storehouse consciousness, corresponding to the way which the other seven forms of consciousness are generated from it. The threefold transformations are fruition, thinking, and representations of object. The first, which is also known as the store consciousness


(ālayavijñāna), is the fruition (vipāka) of all the seeds. Three stages of the transformation of consciousness are perform to eight forms of consciousness can be further divided into three categories:


a. The transformation contains a multitude of seeds for the future development and is therefore the source of worldly phenomena. This is the eighth (storehouse) consciousness belong to this kind.

b. The transformation that constantly in the process of deliberation is the seven intellective consciousness belong to this kind.


c. The kind that discriminates gross spheres of objects. All the first six forms of consciousness belong to this category.


All of these only the eighth (storehouse) consciousness is the ontological basis for the whole world, it alone contains the potentials the seed for everything’s existence and future development. By transformation, the Consciousness-only school means the proceeds of outward manifestations of something internal. The internal consciousness would be considered external since nothing exists outside of consciousness. Therefore, the distinction between internal and external should be understood as drawing a line between a sentient being’s mind and what it considers to be outside its mind.


A Treatise on the Establishment of Consciousness Only says “the wordtransform” means that the various inner consciousness transform and manifest the characters which seem to be the external spheres of the self and the dhamma”.


From the total transmutation of the seed, there is the transmuta

tion of the appearance of places, objects, and bodies; this is the uncontaminated realm, and it has a universal basis. By habitual, the habit of mind by virtue of which it constructs diversities and arranges them through the false habit of taking the unreal as real, five skandhas appear. If these were to appear all together we could not speak of any kind of cause or relation, and if they appear in succession there can be no connection between them as there is nothing to combine them together. In reality there is nothing which is produced or destroyed. It is only our constructive imagination that builds up things as perceived by us and ourselves as perceivers.


3.3 Storehouse Consciousness with Tathāgatagarbha and Atta The relationship between Ālaya consciousness with the Buddha nature and the Self will be described under this circumstance of the theory of ālayavijñāna. It is the connection with Buddha nature but nor an atta (self) which is non-self in its perspective nature.


3.3.1 Storehouse Consciousness and Tathāgatagarbha


Tathāgatagarbha notion appeared in the Buddhist Sanskrit literature which means the womb, or embryo of tathāgata or the Buddhanature, Nirvana, or Buddhahood. Living beings contain a tathāgata as an embryo or they have the Tathāgata as their nature. The term “garbha” is understood as the womb, embryo, or essence, core. According to Tibetan tradition, “garbha” also means “the inside of flower”.


Tathāgatagarbha is of threefold meaning according to Lankavatara sutra, it is the essential, supra-mundane, or pure dharma. Secondly, it means womb of the Buddhahood or the Buddha nature within in living beings, whether or not tathāgatas appear in the world, all these sentient beings contain at all time a tathāgata. And thirdly, tathāgatagarbha as the womb of tathāgata, when identified with Ālayavijñāna on account of its peaceful and receptive qualities, in sharp construct to the constant turmoil of the other evolving consciousnesses (prav ttivijñanas), if sentient beings are said to contain a tathāgata, they should function as receptacles or stores as store of tathāgata or containing of tathāgata.


Human beings have a great deal of ignorance conceal on their mind so they would not be able to manifest the Buddha nature in their mind. Though we are could not recognized the Buddha within in ourselves but potentially we have tathāgata as a good seed in order to attain Buddhahood. But the mind is essential pure as Zen master Dzogchen states:


“Every person has the potential to achieve enlightenment. You already have a certain level of intelligence, insight, and compassion that you can develop further, all the way to realization.”


However, the all-pervading mind (ālayavijñāna) is also called the absolute self which remains a relative aspect by its self-affirmation. It contains two factors namely enlightenment and non-enlightenment that function samsara and Nirvana. Tathagata’s womb is a case of storage where all the seeds of the past deeds and psychical activities are preserved as its nature corresponding to storehouse consciousness. This eighth consciousness grasped by seventh consciousness


(māna) then it become the ego but it is call Tathagatagarbha when it frees from the ego, because the defiled consciousness grasps its ego, then it named Ālayavijñāna, as long as seventh consciousness does not grasp store consciousness so it calls tathagatagarbha or Buddhahood. All the Buddhas and Tathagatas are independent of the senses, and omniscient. The real soul is the nature of all things. This soul shines forth on all minds. Do it is call the seed of all wisdoms.


Non-enlightenment is when ālayavijnana consists of passions that lead to samsara, from this world to another abode. When it contains all kinds of seeds make karma up to arise, which behavior that human beings perform and collect actions call karma. It is the base or ground of enlightenment. In the Vimalakīti Sutra, Mañjuśrī explains “all defilements are the seeds of the Tathagata”. Based on this afflictions seeds the Tathagata is born on the account of numerous unwholesome consciousness. Before enlightenment one must face to face with defilements, understands the nature of suffering and all afflicted mind. Moreover, storehouse consciousness is call enlightenment, when the mind is eradicated and transformed all latent defilements, understands memories, habits energies become pure actions, frees from grasping of oneself. It penetrates all, self-illumination or self-realization and is also the unity, because ignorance is no longer prevails that Ālayavijñāna is called Tathagatagarbha and tathāgatagarbha is Ālayavijñāna. The Tathāgatagarbha holds within it the cause for both good and evil, and by it all the forms of existence are produced. Like an actor takes on a variety of forms, and in itself is devoid of an ego-soul and what belong to it.


Storehouse consciousness becomes the body of dharma which manifested and purified those latent defilements. Thus from now on it is become the dharma body and “the dharma body of the tathagata is called the tathagatagarba when it is separable from the store of defilement”.


The Mind-only doctrine of Chinese given more another mind that is called pure mind (Buddha nature) or the ninth consciousness (amalavijñāna). Chan master Linji refers there are four minds, first of them are five viscera in the body, second is the pondering of objective support mind, third is eight consciousness that accumulates karmic seeds and produces the seven active consciousness, the last one is the real mind, states:


“Beyond the red-meatball mind, there is the one true person, true mind or Buddha-nature who cannot be ranked”. He has impressed with the Buddha nature is the nature of the mind. In his view, the eight kinds of consciousness

are called characteristic of mind, and the ninth one is the nature of mind which call real mind, (jianshi xin), or true mind (zhenshi xin). That is the Buddha within ourselves which not recognize.


When conception discernment is realization, the seven discernments are also destroyed. The mirror like wisdom (ādarśa-jñāna) sees one’s own reflection in a mirror. It resembles a great mine of intuitive wisdoms since it is the cause of all intuitions. It is beatific


Buddhahood itself called “mirroring intuition” since the other intuitions arise as reflections within it. This wisdom only attains by the Buddha. The ālayavjñāna and the Tathāgatagarbha dharma, therefore, have been developed and resolved into the citta santāna (the consciousness continuity or mind stream doctrine). To avoid being understood as the tenets of Anātman, these developments make Yogacāra school strengthen in right direction.

3.3.2 Storehouse Consciousness and Atta (Ego).


The theory of Atta was not appeared in Buddhism which there was not any concept of ego (atta). In common Atta is a permanent self as the underlying ground of personal existence a self which, in classical Indian thought, transmigrates from one life to the next while retaining its individual identity. There is a non-self of this body which consists of five formations and non-ego because the mind is changes every moment. In the world, it is out of our possesses and all the things work as its nature. The atta is comes from an ignorance, from ignorance create thought formation (Saṇkhara) is born ego which is a misunderstood what the Buddha’s taught. The Buddha, in Samyutta Nikāya interpretes:


Here, bhikkhus, the uninstructed worldling ... assumes form as self (attato). That assumption, bhikkhus, is a formation (saṅkhāro). That formation, what is its source, what is its origin, from what is it born and produced? When the uninstructed worldling is contacted by a feeling born of ignorance-contact, craving arises, thence that formation of self is born.


Through ignorance, the past history of an individual in the form of root-potencies of unconscious memory is retained, and it is through this that the thatness is made dynamic into the state of ālayavijñāna. It is through ālayavijñāna that the appearance of the egos or perceivers and a false creation of an external world (the entire existence of which depends on the perception of these perceivers) are possible.


The ālayavijñāna is a stream of consciousness. It is the sole substratum of the transmigration in the circle of birth and death. The ālayavijñāna of the Buddhist has its counterpart in the atman of the orthodox Hindu system of philosophy, with this difference that “the atma is immutable while ālayavjñāna is continuous changing”.


Alaya consciousness is known as the “repository of impressions” which arises all our ideas of self, ego, and their respective functions in the external world. Because the self must be made the ground of all bondage and liberation. Indeed, it was not show the function as ego, because one of Ālavijñāna’s function is holder (ālīyante), but it is always keep on moving. It is not a self but non-self, however its meaning is very confusion for those who is not steadfastly knowledge and wisdom. The Buddha, in the Samdinirmocana Sutra states:


The appropriating consciousness is profound and subtle indeed All its seeds are like a rushing torrent.


Fearing that they would imagine and cling to it as to a self,


I have not revealed it to the foolish.


Why the foolish image that it is a soul? E. Lamotte explained:


“Because this consciousness has no beginning and lasts until the end of samsara. Because very subtle in its aspect, it does not change. But the six consciousnesses, in their points of support, object, aspect and modality, are gross and easy to know, as they are associated with the defilements and with the path which opposes them, as they are included within the categories of defilement and purification, their nature is that of a caused consciousness (phalavijñāna)”.


Based on the principle of causality (sankhara anicca), whenever the object arises, it appears and release in every object. Those things are impermanence that appear and disappear in tremendous rate more than a thousand billion times per eye-wink. The eight consciousnesses, thus, is established on the principle non-self but not a self existed in samsara. The central sense does not endure beyond the time of a moment which is called momentary. Besides, momentary is the alayavijñāna, which is connected with the manas, here the seventh form of consciousness consisting in the notion of “I” and “mine”.


The ālayavijñāna is called momentary because of the impressions (vāsāna) of the five ordinary forms of consciousness and the mind manifesting themselves in cognitive acts because of the undefiled impressions, because ālayavijñāna is non-momentary. The foolish common people are attached to the doctrine of momentariness and do not realize this momentariness and non-momentariness of all phenomena because they do not realize this, they even do away with the unconditioned entities by their position of utter destruction.


Because all are impermanent, mutilated, and moved, store consciousness also changes in its way, the condition of the seed grown and cultivated, the seed is grown in the internal and external forces. It consists of all, good and evil, but when it is reborn, it changes according to the new circumstances. There is nothing exists as a self through the universal ground (ālayavijñāna). Candrakīrti therefore states: A yogi sees in his mind that the afflictions and the faults Arise from the false view of a transitory collection.


Having understood that the object of this is self, He negates self.


The ālayavijñāna, therefore, itself is not the permanence entity, it always transforms in every moment, and collected habitual energies or cognized impression by aware and action, it becomes habit tendencies and the result of manifestations in the outside world. The Ālaya consciousness similarly the waves of river always flowing without eased at one point between two times connection. Continuously this point of waves we can say about the river.


3.4 The Fulfilment of the Bodhicitta


Bodhicitta is the word which comes from Mahāyāna school. It related to spiritual practice of the Bodhisattva for his accomplishment of Enlightenment. The perfect mind of a virtuous one completes all paramitas or meritorious deeds. The Bodhisattva takes his Boddhicitta vows because of the benefit of all sentient beings and his aspiration to fulfill his paramitas tirelessly in the samsara.


The consciousness of the enlightenment, the mind of wakening, or a wakened mind, enlightened mind, desire for awakening or mind turned to enlightenment. Suzuki defined Bodhicitta as the supreme and most perfect is intelligent heart. And similar to Dharmakāya is essentially love and intelligence (karuna and prajñā). It is the essential mind within Buddhas.


The vow of Bodhicitta is two kinds namely, the absolute truth and the relative truth. The Absolute Bodhicitta is a wisdom mind motivate by relative Bodhicitta directly realizing emptiness. This is the Bodhicitta of the mind of the Buddha. The Relative Bodhicitta means the mind spontaneously wishing to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all living sentient beings.


However, the aspiring bodhicitta has two stages merely wishing to become a Buddha for the benefit of others and pledging never to abandon this air until it is achieved. The bodhisattva has to promisepractice with his bodhicitta vows for the fulfillment of the paramitas until he would attain fully enlightenment Buddha. Whenever he vows never giving up trying to help anyone, or at least wishing to be able to do so, no matter how difficult he or she may be. The place where Bodhicitta exists where it exists a little warmth of the heart, there it unfailing glorifies itself in its best as circumstances permit. The dormant of Bodhicitta in our heart be awakened to its full sense. Bodhicitta, the intelligent heart is awakened in us (1) by thinking of the Buddhas, (2) by reflecting on the faults of material existence, (3) by observing the deplorable state in which sentient beings are living, and finally (4) by aspiring after those virtues which are acquired by Tathāgata in the highest enlightenment.


Bodhicitta is understood as a form of the Tathagatagarbha (Buddha womb) or ālayavijñāna (substratum consciousness). As much, bodhicitta is hidden in each being and constitutes its essential nature. It is something which, similar to the Buddha-nature or Buddha essence, one ought to be awakened to. Many Mahāyāna sutras and Buddhist philosophers in general confirmed this connection between bodhicitta and the description of metaphysical realities. According to the Tantrāyāna tradition, Gareth Sparham, in the Ocean of Eloquence notes:


“In the standard description of ultimate meditative praxis, the term Kun gzhi (Ālaya) at best only partially corresponds to the Yogacara Ālayavijñāna. It is intimately connected with tantric bodhicitta. The Yogacara ālayavijñāna creates only samsara, while the meditative praxis Kun gzhi incorporates the creative potential of the Tathāgata-garbha and partakes of a reality that extends to and in that sense create nirvana as well”.


The trainings of a bodhicitta aim not to be declined in this life and not to be losed in the future. The seeds of vow potential store in eighth consciousness to maintain and keep good seeds in his mind. To perform eight kinds of vow of bodhicitta it is therefore he practices to engage it with intention to serve for human beings.


Karmic seeds of enlightenment lie in the storehouse consciousness. It needs the right time for causes and conditions bring forth. The possibility of continuing in the deluded views is there too. The storehouse is passive, and it remains inactive unless it touches by some activity or by karma. “All Buddha arise from the storehouse, and the enlightenment stated can be awakened all of the sudden, but until the causes and conditions bring it out, it is accessible”.


The general process of this conversion of the Ālayavijñāna is associated with the development of the Buddha’s mind (the Sambhogakāya Flower) contained within it. This also incorporates the entire evolutionary milieu of the personal I’s rayed into manifestation to gather base information that develops the loves and wisdom (bodhicitta).


It is the basis to the higher identifications with the all. “If the ālayavijñāna did not evolve in such a way then enlightenment could not occur, as the ālayavjāna would remain in a state of stasis, no transmogrification of consciousness being possible”.


The streams of bījas to be dealt whith are chosen so that bodhicitta can be developed by the evolving personal I’s. The Buddhahood is attained in the end. Once karma for the greater patterning of lives has been selected, then free will must be allowed to reign for any individual life. The consequences can then be factored into the karmic process. Consequently, there is both a moralizing and non-moralizing effect for the Sambhogakāya Flower (Tathāgatagarbha). However, it must be truly impartial as to concepts of suffering or joy, opinions, religiosity or atheistic bias, type of sexuality, etc.., a personal I may process. It does not moralise on these grounds all forms of gaining wisdom are beneficent and every type of experience is needed. It simply directs the available karma so that inevitably bodhicitta is produced, because bodhicitta is the major energy qualification of the Sambhogakāya Flower (Tathāgatagarbha). The path to enlightenment has many facets, but the Mind- Training tells us that “the essential nature of the path is resting in the universal ground (ālayavijñāna).” In this state of quiescence, the mind is vivid and clear. Quiescence is spacious, serene, without form and substance. The problem is that quiescence in itself is not transformative. Once we have achieved quiescence, we have disengaged from whatever tendencies we have for anger, craving, jealousy but that is all.


The relation between storehouse consciousness with seventh consciousness as Bodo Balsys states in Mandalas that: because the Ālayavijñāna has implicit within it the pure substance of manas it represents the mechanism of the expression of mind that enlightened Ones working from the pure state of the dharmakāya can use to impress the personal I. Manas then functions in a dual manner:


1. Looking downwards and fused with the vijñānas, in which case it is productive of the intellect, the concrete mind (manovijñāna)


2. Looking up wards and integrated with the ālaya, in which case it becomes the repository of all images pertaining to future possibilities and of the nature of enlightenment. This then becomes the expression of the Bodhicitta that leads to Buddhahood.


When manas and ālayavijñāna are unity in the second case, the expression of Enlightenment consciousness is leading to the natural Buddha that conveys all wholesome consciosciousness combining into water within an ocean but not separately sole individual wind of consciousness. It is the time to recognize those mind upon its intrinsic pure nature. Thus the Tibetan Mandala pointed out the place of heart center is enlightened mind that converted by eight consciousness especially in a Bodhi mind.


The eight vijñānas attributes the mind can be converted to bodhicitta. This necessitates ālayavijñāna (the triple circle) to be placed upon the eastern position of the fixed cross. The heart center’s potency is then ultilised to bring about the necessary conversion from mind to mind.


The manasic samskāras can be utilized in the transformation process, by virtue of ālayavijñāna being store of all such prā as (energy). According to Tulku Thondup, this vow to help others have a power to ignite “the flame of passion and commitment in oneself, lasting not only for this lifetime but for all successive lives until the attainment of Buddhahood”. The universal ground of this saying of the MindTraining is the ultimate universal ground, the Great Emptiness, which is the foundation of both samsara and nirvana.


This universal ground is the one taste which pervades the entire phenomenal world and absolute reality. This is the realization of complete openness, natural perfection, and absolute spontaneity, which one fathoms the falsity of one’s previous reification of such dualistic constructs as subject and object.


3.5 Nourishing the Bodhisattva’s Vows


Boddhisattva is a sentient being truly in the present world, a human whether as a girl, or a man with his vows coming to the world for saving all suffering of being whom is in remembrance his name and reciting when he meets suffer. A bodhisattva is someone who motivated by compassion progresses along the path to enlightenment for the benefit of all living beings attain Buddhahood.


The compile of word Bodhisattva consists of “Bodhi” which means enlightened, and “Sattva” is a being, a human. Such a sentient being with his enlightenment and his vows that comes to the dust world to fulfill his Paramitas (merits) in order to achieve Boddhahood but is not entering to blessedly states. As Asanga in the Mahāyānasūtralaṃkāra has been stated that:


One is called “bodhisattva” for this reason: for understanding the self, for understanding subtle views (to understanding the fundamental consciousness), for recognizing the variousness of ideas, and for realizing the unreal construction of everything.


A Bodhisattva understands in the combining of fourfold understanding, which he understands the mind, the mentality and the consciousness; through the subtle views that means he really observing what is the storehouse consciousness or fundamental mind in his subtle mind by the way of its functions, its characteristics, and its manifestation. Thirdly, He is also recognizing the variousness of ideas in the Mind Only school that means he have been fulfilled in the field of knowledge of Buddha’s teaching especially Cittamāra in storehouse consciousness which takes store consciousness as the objects to grasp the self endowed with passions such as the self-conviction. Base on this knowledge, the fourth one he realizes the unreal construction of everything that creates by the imaging of mind which through six kinds of consciousness.


The Pratyāmagati consists in realising this originally abiding dharma, which is variously described as Tathāgatagarbha, the ālaya, suchness of things. It is beyond the signs of speech, analysis, and description, and in it all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and sentient beings are united, and have an ever-enduring community nirvana. But the function of the Bodhisattva is not to stay forever in this happy society but to come into a world of particulars. His vows are to be fulfilled, and in this he is said truly to a bodhisattva. When the triple world is surveyed by the Bodhisattva, he perceives that this existence is due to memory (vāsanā) that has been accumulated since the beginningless past but wrongly interpreted. He recognizes that Buddhahood is a state imageless, unborn, and to be inwardly experienced by oneself, when the mind becomes fully controlled and purposeless deeds are accomplished.


The aspiration of serving human kinds, a Bodhisattva observes the impression (vasanas) stored in the eighth consciousness is not be lost at the time a bodhisattva is on his way to salvation human beings in this circleless. Based on this storehouse, his vows are complete due to practice on the way to recognize the Tathāgatagarbha. Those good seeds generate his compassion toward beings to sufferless of them, those who have suffered and reciting his name, with Bodhisattva’s power, he will be arrived to give him a chance to be free from his miseries. So every Bodhisattva have his own vows and with differentiated performance due to human beings are suffer with different ways and different situations.


The Blessed One exhorted all Boddhisattva that like the Cintamani, wish germ, he will now manifest himself in a variety of forms according to the needs of sentient beings and lead them to the view that only Mind is, and then gradually compel them to ascend the stages, therefore, Mahāmati, let the Bodhisattva discipline himself well in the work of self-realisation (svasiddhānta). In Ocean of Eloquence quotes


In the Guhyārtha-vyākhyā in regard to the statement, it applies to maturation consciousness. It does not necessarily follows that this refers to ālayavijñāna, because, though that ālaya dose not exist in the continuum of Bodhisattvas who are on the eighth level, etc. nor in the continuum of Arhants and Pratyekabuddhas, the maturation consciousness does


The ālayavijñāna is eliminated when a bodhisattava at the eighth level (bhūmi), he just be compared to an Arahant at that bhūmi. His performance is fulfilled of paramis. The alayavijnana is eliminated when a bodhisattava at the eighth level (bhūmi), he just be compared to an Arahant at that bhūmi. His performance is fulfilled of paramis. By causing a revulsion in the continuous development of the graded stages, the Bodhisattva may not be led astray in the path of enlightenment by those philosophers who hold different views. Thus he stability in the Samadhi to perform his salvation. Establishing himself at the Bodhisattva stage of Acalā (immovable), he obtains the path leading to the happiness of the ten samādhi. Supported by the Buddha in samādhi, observing the truths of the Buddha which go beyond thought and his original vows, not entering into the happiness of the samadhi which is the limit of reality, but by the paths of disciplines which belong to the noble family, and the knowledge body created by the will which is removed from the premeditated workings of Samadhi.


Bodhisatta, a being totally dedicated to the attainment of the perfect enlightenment of a Buddha, for which one has to develop the perfections for many eons. Though, Bodhisattva vows is not only effecting in this present life of a yogi but also which was taken in the past time. Mind is keeping and storing in circle of birth and death of thousands of lives, just only store consciousness as function to receive and maintain the seeds, it would not be lost along the human who have aspirated vows to work for the benefits of all sentient beings. For this reason, those bodhisattva-mahasattvas who are seeking after the exalted truth effect the purification of the tathāgata-garbha which is known as ālayavijñāna. 3.6 Four Perfective Stages of Transformative Consciousness


Vijñānavādin theory states that, when the transformation of consciousness gradually breakthrough all of defilements, wisdom appears on the aspect of luminous mind. This transformation known as the transformation into Wisdom. There are four stages of transformed consciousness are attainable.


3.6.1 K tyānusthāna-jñāna


The first stage is elimination of first four sense organ is transformed into wisdom of perfect performance or duty fulfillment wisdom (k tyānusthāna-jñāna). The stream of consciousness is always flowing non-stop, invisible and inexhaustible in time and rolling in endless space. The stream of consciousness is present in the past, even now and in the future, it is not always absent. In outer world or inner mind, there is no place where the stream of consciousness is not affected. Six Consciousness into the Six sense faculties, which is engaged in the creation of the evil because of ignorance, obscuring the innate nature. Due to the three unwholesome roots greed, hatred, ignorance, and six enemies of six sense doors, we are fascinated and disturbed body and mind, wandering in samsara, rolled in six directions, and hold on suffering. Karmic as a gravitational force, grasping our verbal, body and mind to follow our monkey mind. Through out time collecting our stream consciousness converges which is governed by duality or the continuing of consciousness. Consciousness is the ignorance of mindlessness. In order to free the circle from consciousness of ignorance, we inquire to have the light of wisdom as we want to get out of the darkness ignorance, there must be light of enlightenment.


3.6.2 Pratya-veksanā-jñāna



The second stage investigates mind consciousness

(manovijñāna) become wisdom of wonderful contemplation or discernment wisdom (pratya-veksanā-jñāna).


Because if we do not immediately recognize the essence of Consciousness, the consciousness of the object that we have recorded illuminates and then passes through. So can not grasp a point other than the watershed. Duality is one when the subject and the object are one, that consciousness has been conceptualized mind is the object of knowledge of the mind. That knowing is called mind consciousness.


The cognition of knowledge based on sense central consciousness (sixth consciousness), which have been stored in the ālayavijñāna and the knowing of consciousness is also the only one mind, stays together in a house, in a space of mind within, non-duality of subject and object. There is no space within this knowledge alternately, that is waters in an ocean, so the knowledge that overcome all consciousness and ignorance. That is the way to trends but this will also illusory by the time. Therefore, the Enlightened Being is flowing into Thought, or the Self-consciousness is also bound by the illusion of Time. Enlightenment is the principle of Relativity


3.6.3 Samatā-jñāna


The third wisdom is destroyed of mānas (affliction) the ideation of ego by clinging to the storehouse consciousness that free from the views of I, mine, and what is possession of atta now then becomes wisdom of equanimity (samatā-jñāna). The Buddhist methods of practice are transforming birth into Nirvana. Removing the snake's perception becomes the rope rightly. From the distinction of all is just conflicting waves transmutes into all waves are oceans of peace. Transfer the frozen hardness back to water. Turned the image of hatred become a mirror. Seeing the irregular flowering flowers in the middle of nowhere is the same as nowhere. Changing forms into its nature, and see all the phenomena as its really are.


Knowledge hindrance is purified when the the egolessness of things is distinctly perceived, but passion hindrance is destroyed when first the egolessness of person is perceived and acted upon. Then manovijñāna ceses to function. Furthere, dharma hindrance is given up because of the disappearance of the habit energy accumulated in the ālayavijñāna, it is now thoroughly purified. The consciousness flowed down continuously in the present we can not grasp. Even if one grasped the stream of consciousness, it is flowing only one point of consciousness. Even though a point is not three space dimensions, the consciousness becomes the One Mind but also in the duality. These knowledge is stored in the universal consciousness and the Manas consciousness. Then, it is necessary to wake the sense central mind (manovijñāna) awakening in the reality of the time as it really is.


3.6.4 Ādarśa-jñāna


The last stage is ālayavijñāna become tathāgatagarbha is called the great mirror wisdom (ādarśa-jñāna). As the immense blackness of the storehouse consciousness, the fundamental consciousness that lies at the deepest ground of the mind and is the basic source of the afflicting passions. When a student achieves the breakthrough into enlightenment, this storehouse consciousness is said to be abruptly inverted, instantaneously becoming the great perfect mirror wisdom of enlightenment, suddenly flashing out and illuminating all things with blinding brightness.


And the stage is ālaya-vijñāna transfers to ālaya-jñāna which is called become tathāgatagarbha, the great mirror wisdom (ādaśa-jñāna). In this stage storehouse consciousness is at ease with an Arhant, the Empowered One and the state of the cessation of ālayavijñāna. These two placers will not presented at all. Because of that, therefore empowered Bodhisttvas, those of the eighth level and above, and Śrāvaka and Pratyeka-Buddha Arhants are specifically, free of the seed part of ālaya-vijñāna. This is because, having eliminated all afflictive emotion (kleśa), neither of the two placers are there at all.


When the three residual impressions are removed. The residual impression-seeds that are braches of existence are there until the resultant maturation come about. The seeds of satkāyadrsti and the residual impression-seed left by harmful elaboration (prapañanca) are there until their antidote is achieved. The residual impression-seeds left by the virtuous and neutral elaboration (prapañca) are there until Śrāvakas and Pratyeka-buddhas pass completely into nirvā a, in the sense of their merely having a presence, remains until the diamondlike (samādhi).

This last wisdom is described in the time to abandon of egoless, the store consciousness transforms into the maturation of the Buddhas, Arahants, and the Bodhisattva attained at the tenth bhūmi. The realization of ground “wisdom of mirrorseeing the things as it really is, and not to follow its images on the mirror but the essence of it. This is the fulfillment of all paramitas (meritorious deeds) from thousands eons. From now on, there is no birth, no death, and no sorrow of changing.


3.7 Concluding Remarks.


Under the light of Yogācāra, the Alaya consciousness leads one to take a new birth with his own karma to endless circle of birth and death. Otherwise, it is the mind which brings sentient beings to Nirvāna. The storehouse consciousess somtimes is called the Tathagatagarbha or womb of the Tathagata while the completely ninth consciousness is pure and devoid of any defilements. One’s perfect mind purifies through four stages of transformative consciousness. Supporting to the perfect Bodhicitta storehouse consciousness lies an important role to sustain and generate the good quality of mind within oneself. A Bodhisattva based on this mind to fulfill his paramis in thousands of eaons to become a


Buddha. The explaination of Ālayavijñāna clears in main power of Mahāyāna school that still exists in the present world.


Chapter IV


The Influence of Storehouse Consciousness (Ālayavijñāna)


on Other Schools


Zen is a method to communicate with our mind that is looking directly into the nature of mind’s function due to its impurity, and finding a way out to purify our consciousness. Ālaya consciousness encompasses the whole teaching of the Mahāyāna school in its many directions. Below describes the influence of store consciousness to the threefold school: Zen, Pure Land school, and Tibetan reincarnation. These threefold school also influence the present Mahāyāna practice. Furthermore, the popularly practical way of Zen practiced in Plum Village also influences the present scientific world.


4.1 The Influence of Storehouse Consciousness to Zen School


A mirror reflects all things in front of it, as the consciousness also watches its objects. However, the mind comes from defilements, though there are many methods of practice in order to purify our mind. This section will describe the influence of store consciousness to Zen school by its methodology, including the existence of Ālayavijñāna in Arūpa and Sa apatti states.


Yogacāra school emphasizes on spiritual meditative practice. This school shows the importance of the consciousness that encompasses and creates not only wholesome planes but also unwholesome abodes. Consciousness knows the ultimate reality, because reality is beyond the senses to which consciousness is bound. In order to transcend this bondage, one needs to acquire spiritual states by refining one’s mind by means of meditation. However, it is a choice, one is able to choose what one should do to collect good karma. Because of this mind, human beings should practice the best dharma to avoid states of misery. Dzogchen holds many aspects in common with cittamatra. In Dzongchen, the natural state is pure from the beginning and is always present. There is nothing to purify and nothing to reach. In the “Heart Drops of Dharmakaya”, Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen explains about five methods of practice for the mind. Of them, the fifth one, explains “looking to where the reflections come”:


The visions come to the mind, but where do they appear and who understands them? Who tastes sadness and happiness? If you look back to the mind’s situation you will see that everything is made by the mind…. The mind must exist, and everything else exists in dependence on mind. Nothing exists independently of mind. He notes that the use of the mind is referenced to Cittamatatra concerns to “kunzhi” (store consciousness). On his view, it is where all the karmic traces are kept, and if we purify it, we achieve Buddhahood. Although this term is used in Dzogchen, this means the natural state, the base, and there is no concept of purification. The base is primordially pure. Practice is not purification but recognition of that state. The mind plays an important role in meditative practice in which three feeling appear, that leads a yogi to happiness, suffering or indifferent state. The mind untrained is dangerous, this is why guiding one’s mind through practice of Zen is iportant. Moreover, the science affirms good health by one who practices meditation that taught by the Buddha.


A practitioner is exhorted to acquire three kind of wisdom:


śrutamayī (wisdom by learning), cintāmayī (wisdom by investigation), and bhāvanāmayī (wisdom by meditation). Meditation is based on the third kind of wisdom. The process of the practice of Mahāyāna Buddhism is as following:


Mastering Samatha or the tranquilization of mind through the observation of moral and yogic rules. This includes nine stages of Samatha: Four dhyānas of Rūpa states, four dhyāna in Arūpa states, and the last state is the cessation of ideas and feelings (Śamatha-vipaśyanāyuganaddha). The importance of vipaśyanā has been stressed especially by Mahāyānists. Mahāyāna Buddhists believe that obstructions to emancipation consisting of moral defilements and false knowledge cannot be annihilated merely by tranquilization, that analysis is also necessary. When a pratitioner succeeds in mastering both tranquilization and analysis, he proceeds to practice both simultaneously.


The perfective stage is call Śamatha-vipaśyanā-yuganaddha (cessation of ideas and feelings). When he succeeds in this last meditaion, he is placed in the preliminary stage called adhimukticaryābhūmi. He repeats śamatha, vipaśyanā, and yuganaddha to annihilate his defilements more completely and to attain the wisdom regarding various doctrines and supernatural powers. After completing these ten stages of a bodhisattva, he finally attains Buddhahood. Then surpassing this theory, he arrives into that of the Yogacāra school and sees the world as the representations of his own mind. In the Mahāyāna tradition, Zen describes a difference within Orthodox doctrine. The four concentrations described by

The Buddha in the Lankāvātara sutra are described by Suzuki that: “The first dhyāna is the practice by unlearned (balopacarika), such as the Sarvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and the devotees of the yoga. The second dhyana is designated “statement-receiving” (artha-pravicaya). The third dhyana is called “attaching oneself to Thatness” (Tathatalambana). The last is “Tathagata-dhyana” which one enters into the stage of Buddhahood where he enjoys a threefold beatitude belonging to the understanding of self realization and performs wonderful deeds for the sake of all sentient beings. Following the Elders school, Zen also uses Samatha meditation as the basis for beginner then converts to Vipaśyana investigating one’s mind to attain such wisdom. That is the reason why masters of Zen using Zen technique called sudden enlightenment Zen, or Kōan Zen.


The Yogācāra grasps Tatha (suchness) ultimate reality in Mindonly (Cittamatra). The consciousness in each human, contains storehouse consciousness or Buddha nature, which we can discover through meditation. To explain the quality of this storehouse consciousness some Buddhists point to the ocean as the universal consciousness of Nirvana and that the Buddha nature is a person like a drop in this ocean. In the sense of characteristics and functions of storehouse consciousness the writer would interprete them based on its manifestations. The Buddhist is seeking the path of enlightenment, whom strives hard in study as well as practice the Dharma towards final liberation.


Learning the Buddha’s teaching to collect and remember so that one can tranquil the mind is the manner of nourishing the Ālaya consciousness into the right path. When one enters into the gate of practice there is no need to read books anymore, but he only observes his mind as Ālaya consciousness becomes aware of the six senses consciousness. To understand the inner perception, one obtains inner realization when he enters upon the path of enlightenment. D.T Suzuki stated thus:


In the deepest recesses of consciousness known as Ālayavijñāna. To gain this inner perception, a man retires into a solitary spot all by himself and by applying himself assiduously to abstract meditations and deep reflections, his inner sense (prajñā) or selfknowledge (svabuddhi) begins to shine out from underneath the residual accumulation (vāsanā) of the past thoughts, affections, and deeds since time immemorial”


To gain inner perception of the deepest recesses of consciousness (Ālayavijñāna) one must stay apart from home to retreat in solitary. When we meditate, we are using the sixth consciousness, the mind or central sense. It is this sixth consciousness that becomes familiar with the Four Seals of the Dharma as we meditate on them. Not only does this consciousness come into play when you meditate but the ten neutral mental factors, particularly focused concentration, are also present.


Since the yogi departs to normal life into solitary living, he determines himself to practice to gain the inner peace in this present life. To keep mindful in the present moment, he must attain deep reflection of phenomenal things, he is the gate keeper of his mind. The yogi accumulates understanding of his mind into the Ālaya consciousness to make the way clearer.


As Ch’an Master Han Shan has commented in the Sūra gama Sūtra : “Though the saintly and the worldly differ, and the field of vision is either large or limited, all this pertains to the Direct Perception of the eighth consciousness (ālayavijñāna).” The vast variety of phenomena, such as heaven, earth and all that is therein, appears in the field of vision and shows that appearances differ. If we recognize this, we will be able to leap over it to realize the True Nature within ourselves.


Moreover, the Buddha teaches Ānanda about the investigation and knowledge of the mind thus Ānanda, when you see things, this seeing is yours and not mine, and its nature penetrates everywhere; if it is not you, what is it? Why do you still doubt about your real nature and ask me to confirm that is not false?


Collective seeds in daily practice is based on active consciousness of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and central sense consciousness. An active consciousness that understands six consciousnesses, and the unconscious mind as neutral store consciousness, is on the right path.


Because of habitual tendencies, one usually sees things as the thing that appeares in front of one’s view. That is the manner seeing things through a stream of consciousness. Firstly, the seen happens, and one has to distinguish things that are seen, at last one can know that the thing he has seen before. This shows the function of storehouse consciousnessas it interacts to six senses. This is conventional understading of phenomena but not ultimate truth. Master Hakuin teachs that “lower your sword right into the middle of the eighth consciousness field.” By saying so, Master Hakuin must have meant that we should stop the operation of the eighth consciousness in order to realize its emptiness and selflessness.


Looking forward to another aspect of seeing, the ālayavijñāna is seen in every appearance of the world, the nature of seeing, seeing in ultimate truth. The distinguishing and reflection of mind is really difficult for a yogi. It is only through the study and the practice of Zen that one is able to understand and pertain towards wisdom. It is seeing an object but not seeing that it is the arising of wisdom. Seeing and recognizing the nature of seeing is not for beginner.


When we see something, this is our own seeing that has nothing to do with us. This is not our seeing that penetrates throughout the real nature. The seeing of true perception appears when one possesses concentration at certain stages. The stage of seeing is not seeing, hearing is not hearing, such as a Zen proverb stated “at the beginning of practice Zen, he sees mountain which is a mountain. In the middle, mountains are not mountains. And at the result, the mountains are mountains”. The seeing is changing in different stages of practice, this means the wisdom is also gradually attains at the certain stages. In the Śūra gama the Blessed one pointed out as following:


A knot must be untied according to a certain sequence,
 And when the six have been untied, the one will vanish too.

Choose one perceiving faculty and realize your breakthrough.

Enter the current. Realize the true enlightenment.

From subtle ādāna, storehouse consciousness

The energy of habits can burst forth into the torrent

Lest you confuse the true with what is untrue

I rarely speak of this.

Mindfulness is needed when one comes to practice, one

gradually cognizes objects again in order to realize the nature within the things (object seen) as they really are. The seeing is only seeing, it is not to distinguish the surface of things, but to see the true nature of the thing as it is. Practicing must take long time without interruption of mindfulness. Day by day one will realize the thing in its own nature really.

The methods developed by Ch’an were aimed at enabling a person to directly intuit his true nature. To do this, the mind must be free of old habits, prejudices, restrictive thought processes, and even ordinary conceptual thought. In this way a person can cultivate a naturalness and spontaneity which comes from deep within the pure depths of the storehouse consciousness

Removing the old habitual tendencies and adapting new habits is done through mindfulness. The new habit will be kept in the storehouse consciousness from the pure energies. When one is awakened, the storehouse consciousness that operates with the other six faculties, will breakthrough and give great knowledge. Thus, the Buddha emphases “The energy of habits can burst forth into the torrent. Lest you confuse the true with what is untrue” The fearless hero can experience the serene mind, but he will not become aware of it by discerning it through the empirical consciousness. The serene mind actual takes it place within the absolute storehouse consciousness that holds no conditional thought. The serene mind can tell the difference, however, between good and bad as well as right and wrong. The serene mind engages the thinking process in making a distinction between them in its potential state within the empirical, self and relative storehouse consciousness.

Ālayavijñāna instigates the restlessness, drowsiness, and the subconscious picturing, or subconscious gossip. The experience of the eighth consciousness is the general sense of being in contact with what is happening, but without a reference point. Coming for practice, the Buddha had advised to choose one faculty, such as seeing through eyes, so the practitioners can choose new Karma with new habits by keeping mindfulness through six senses doors in order to collect new information into the Ālaya mind.

When the mind is contemplating the storing in alaya in the deepest consciousness we open the eyes and look at it, like the infinite sky. When we observe the whole universe, within and without, with the the eye of Zen, the entire universe, including our mind, will become very rich, very beautiful, and very great. It is a long lived being. This is how we must observe our life. The sixth patriarch said, “if you are able to look into your own nature, that itself will be the cause of realizing Buddhahood and awakening to enlightenment

Suzuki has argued, “the cleansing is one sense gradual but in another abrupt or instantaneous. When it is comparable to a mirror reflecting objects, or to the Alaya reproducing, all mental images, the cleansing of mind takes place instantaneously.” Therefore, the Sutra recognizes two types of minds: with some, the cleansing to a state of enlightenment can be obtained gradually after a long practice of meditation, perhaps through many successive lives; but to others, it may come all of a sudden, even without previous conscious efforts.

These graduations of realizing the truth depends on the kind of being which is of five natures according to Yogācāra school (or two kinds of mind). These are the nature predetermined for Śrāvaka, the nature predetermined for Pratyekabuddha, the nature predetermined for Bodhisattva, the indeterminate nature, and the so called icchantika (an exceedingly evil person, considered devoid of seeds of Buddhahood)

Central consciousness as the cause of this false construction is to be extinguished. Mind consciousness arises through being attached to the distinguishing of the external objects and it nourishes the store consciousness by its perfumes or the result of its activities. Seventh mind (māna) then follows with its attachment to the idea of me and mine and its reflection thereon.

The māna consciousness is inwardly focused and has as its object the store consciousness. In ordinary human beings, this klesha grasping is the I, me, mine, the mind afflicted without the ego clinging. The storehouse consciousness, which is not clear but aware, serves as the place for storing the seeds of our karmic actions. This ālaya consciousness is the repository of all our habitual patterns and karmic impressions of past actions. It has no separate body or mark of its own, and it has the storeconsciousness as its cause and support. Through its attachment to objects, which are really manifestations of its own thought (citta), all systems of thought constructions arise mutually conditioned. The Buddha, in the sutra of Perfect Enlightenment pointed out:

Due to their inherent desire, sentient beings generate ignorance and manifest the distinctions and inequalities. Due to two hindrances they manifest deep and shallow (afflictions).” These two hindrances are of twofold meaning. The first is the noetic hindrance, which obstructs correct awareness. It is a kind of attaching to the knowledge of the Dharma which had be learned before coming to practice. The other is the phenomenal hindrance, which enables the continuation of samsara. Then the Blessed One continues emphasizing that:

“Good sons, these sentient beings of the degenerate age who are practicing Bodhi regard the ego’s infinitesimal perceptions as their own purity, and are therefore unable to penetrate to the root of the self-trace…If these practitioners of the way do not remove the trace of self, they will be unable to enter pure

enlightenment…It is the same with sentient being and life.”

This message shows the attachment of self. The māna grasps his soul, his ego, his practice is based on the storehouse consciousness as its ground. “It is concealed in the storehouse consciousness and is playing freely thorough the faculties without interruption”.

The meditative experiences, then, are enabling the ordinary mind of an ordinary being to disappear, to unravel and dissolve back into the substrate consciousness. Consequently, compulsive thinking subsides, and roving thoughts vanish into the space of awareness. Here space of awareness refers to the space of the mind, the substrate.

Then one slips into the vacuity of the substrate, in which self, others, and objects disappear. The substrate is the alaya, substrate consciousness is the ālayavijñāna. When one slips into the substrate consciousness, one is attending to the object appearing to one’s mind, to the substrate consciousness. The alaya is a vacuity in which self, others, and objects disappear. There are no appearances except for an occasional “bubble”. The substrate is luminous but empty.

The dynamic in question is self-reflective awareness, the subtle essence of mind from whence consciousness and all lived-experience emerges in the first place. In truth, this unrecognized awareness resonant within the psyche is referred to as the Buddha nature, the Luminous Core; what we call the Jewel within the lotus of the heart, the holy Grail (cittamani) of meditation, a precious treasure hidden within the depth of each and every sentient entity. 4.1.1 Ālayavijñana in the Arūpa State

The formless realms (Arūpabhūmi) are only formless to considerations by the human intellect, because of the relative density of the substance of mind utilized. However, if that substances were refined to a great extent, and elevated to a high rate of energisation then that which was once formless begins to appear formed, like the formless wind around one that is shown to have form at a great elevation. Such refinement of thought is what happens in samāpatti, abstract meditation, before actual samādhi is reached.

The first stage of Arūpa abode is the unlimited of space that consists in a state of union with the bare continuum of space time itself. The second is called infinite consciousness (vijñānantya), wherein the practitioner experiences oneness with the universal mind, the very base of consciousness (ālayavijñāna) and the cosmic ground of all. The third experience is called nothingness (ākiṃcanya), or blank, consisting of a psychic quantum-leap; a literal leap-over from the highest dimensional plane to the non-dimensional. Ārya Asanga explains that this is the crossing over point to a mind without outflow (anaśrava-citta). The fourth and highest level of all is named peak of existence. It is an experience of Samadhi so deep, it is called “Neither Conceivable nor Inconceivable” (naivasaṃhḥā-nasaṇjñā). That is the final golden crown on the whole path of interior development.

Ārūpadhātu are the worlds without form, that are the causal planes. The causal plane is the source of the lower mental, astral, and physical bodies during each lifetime with the storehouse of their experiences. It is the seat of deep habits (vasana). Thus, here lies their attractions and aversions that carry over from one lifetime to the next and that prevent them from the experiencing the higher levels of beings. The grasped portions of the ālayavijñana are observed by the five consciousnesses of body, then in considering to the sixth (thinking mind or manas), consciousness senses and external objects. Later, the senses and external objects are exclusive to the two lower realms of desire and form. However, it is not the case in the formless realms. Thought processes supported by the body in the desire world, or in the form realms, are in a level of consciousness that has forms. This is because there is nothing external, only physical appearances in consciousness.


The Daśabhūmika states “All the existences of the threefold world and all the destinies are the result of this consciousness.” In the formless realms the mental series do not cease. The theory of Ālayavijñāna in Yogacāra school is proved for this situation, because it is the world in the certain places of formless realms, though the realms has no form, it still insists in the three worlds. In the formless realm, the main form of consciousness is onepointed tranquility. This dwells within the ongoing state of the storehouse of all dualistic experience while other aspects of consciousness exist as latent potential. There is no flaw in this. When consciousness of the past, dreams, and the two kinds of images, those which appear in certain samādhis and in a mirror there is no actual objective support but still one is conscious of them. Therefore, since one can be conscious of these, consciousness does not need an actual objective support.

The mode of activity of the alayavijnana is perception or discrimination. Its objects of perception are of the receptacle world. The receptacle world is believed to be the three worlds of desire, form, and formless realm. From this we can understand that the object of the alaya consciousness is not defined to by spatial limitation. Therefore, Asanga, in his MahāyānaSa graha has pointed out: In certain places and at certain world, at a certain time, at certain moments. In the formless world (ārūpyadhātu), all matter is interrupted. Among the gods without identification and in the two meditative attainments, every mind is interrupted. By contrast, the seeds of matter and of mind contain in the storehouse consciousness can never be interrupted as long as the path that counteracts them do not arise.

It is the force of meditation on formless absorption (samāpatti) that incapacitates the seeds that produces appearances of form in the alayavijñāna. For as long as the person remains in the formless realm, nothing which has form can appear. It is like the force of the meditation on the absorption of the thought process which incapacitates the seeds of the six consciousnesses in the ālayavijñāna. For as long as the absorption does not wane, the six consciousnesses cannot arise. The absorption in formless absorption realm (samāpatti) is really absorped in energy fields and patterns. The energy fields are an “objective support” for the existence of consciousness in the arūpa realms. The highest of the formless realms represents entering into the Śūnyatā Eye. With manifestation latent deep withiunconscious ālaya, being in the arūpa is very powerful in his mind.


4.1.2 The Sa apatti Stages


Sa apatti is a steady state of “No-mind” which refers to the absence of all state of mind. The essence of suchness is unmoving like wood or stone within and unhindered like space without. It is without subject and object, without location, without characteristic, without gain or loss. In The Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only, Vasubandhu mentioned the states without thinking conditions the Mano-vijñāna. This verse proved the existence of storehouse consciousness in these states:

The thinking mind co-arises all the time, except in the state of non-ideation, in the two cessation, in states of stupor, fainting, or when there is no consciousness The thinking mind (Manovijñāna) accompanies the other five sense consciousnesses and so never occurs on its own. This mind is dualistic and prone to generate concepts. At the time, sixth consciousness is not available in the arupa state. The Yogacāra traditional thus opposed Storehouse Consciousness exists in Samapatti. There are five states in which mano-vijñāna is interrupted:

The first is non-ideation (asa jñi): the mere absence of conceptual thoughts. This is not in a yogic sense where he does not like perception, that is why he is reborn in this non-perception heaven. There are two cessations (Samāpatti), asa jñi-sa āpatti (no conceptual thoughts) and nirodha-sa āpatti (the cessation of perception and feeling). Thirdly, the stupor state plastered, spaced out states resulting from physical causes like substance abuse as drunken intoxication, drugs etc. Fainting is the fourth special mental state like fainting or dreamless sleep. The last stage of non-conscious (acitta) is no consciousness that is absent of any awareness.

Concerning the twofold Samapattis, the yogi is totally ceasing consciousness and mental consciousness when both mano-vijñāna (thinking mind) and manas (afflictive mind) have stopped but ālayavijñāna continues to operate, it never stops. Both samāpattis generate an obstructive dharma, like a dam. The first acts on the thinking mind, the second on the afflictive mind. These sa āpattis are powerful wholesome actions purifying base-mind, allowing ālaya-vijñāna to become ālaya-jñāna, the living wisdom of a Buddha.


a. Asaṃjñā-saṃapatti (Absorption of Non-identification)


Āsaṃjñā-samāpatti in Sanskrit means “the equipoise of nonperception” or unconscious state, a meditative state wherein no perceptual activity remains. It is a form of meditation with varying, even contradictory, interpretations. Some account for entering into this type of meditation in order to rest himself, others recover from illness.


The āsaṃjñā-māpatti interprets temporary suppression of mental activities brings respire from tension, which in some accounts, means that the perception (saṃjñā) aggregate (skhandha) is no longer functioning, while in other accounts, it implies the cessation of all conscious thought. The yogi has aversion to thought arising so he strives to attain this concentrative mind. That is why one who enters into Āsaṃjñi-samāpatti state, has neither belief in a self nor pride in a self for the entire duration of his absorptive existence. This stage is absent of seventh consciousness.


In this stage, he is able to enjoy the stilling peace of mind. That is why sometimes it is not from Buddhist practice. According to Yogacāra school, asaṃjāsa-māpatti is the attainment of fourth dhyāna, and is reborn in the Asaṃjñika heaven, the corresponding abode of this state after death located in the realms of subtle materiality.


b. Nirodha-saṃapatti (Absorption of Cessation) Nirodhasamāpatti in Sanskrit and Pāli means equipoise of cessation,182 also known as the cessation of perception and sensation (saṃjñāvedayitanirodha). The process of citta-vṛttis dwindling or being suppressed has the end result of the citta-vṛttis ceasing. One who has cognitive events has gone down the comparative way of the setting sun. There is both the process of diminishing light and the arrival of the night which is absent of light. Pra Theyanmongkol defines “extraordinary achievement” or a form of happiness of freedom (vimuttisukha).


Nirodhasamāpatti is accessible only to the saints and constitutes the ninth and highest level of meditative attainment in the mainstream Buddhist schools. This is achieved after the fourth meditative absorption of the immaterial realm absorptions (rūpavacaradhyāna) and four inmmaterial absorptions (ārūpāvacaradhyāna). In “The Manual of Abhidhamma”, Narada explains:


“An Anāgāmi or an Arahant who has developed the rūpa and arūpa jhānas could, by will power, temporarily arrest the ordinary flow of consciousness even for seven days continuously. When one attains to this state all mental activities cease although there exist heat and life, devoid of any breathing and his body cannot be harmed.”


In fact, Nirodhasamāpatti engenders a state of suspended animation: the meditator remains alive, but all physical and mental activities cease for a fixed, but temporary, period of time.


Nirodhasamāpatti is classified as a conditioned force dissociated from thought (cittaviprayutasaṃskāra). Thought processes of the nine mahagagata-vipāka cittas (great wholesome resultant consciousness) are called door-freed (dvāra-vimutti) consciousness are not evolved in the cognitive series. The Yogacāra school accepts that the storehouse consciousness, all consciousness, including the klisṭamanas, stops in nirodhasamāpatti, it is only the presence of the ālayavijñāna that keeps the meditator alive. Buddhaghosa explains in The Path of Purification:


Understanding that is mastery, owing to possession of two powers, to the tranquilization of three formations, to sixteen kinds of exercise of knowledge, and to nine kinds of exercise of concentration, is knowledge of the attainment of cessation


According to Abhidhamma of the Theravādin tradition, in the Buddha Abhidhamma Ultimate Science, Mehm Tin Mon descries the state of attainment of cessation in the cognitive process. The thought process (vīthi) of the attainment of extinction is developed to suspend temporarily all conscious and mental states. This follows upon the semi conscious state of fourth arūpa nevasaññānāsaññā yatana jhāna (state of neither perception nor non-perception). The instruction of this stage as follows:


Firstly, having attained and has been mastery in the phala samāpatti he enters and eliminates from the first to fourth rūpa jhāna, emerges and comes out from first to the third arūpa jhāna, nothingness state. Then he must be performed fourfold resolutions, may I remain in nirodha-samāpatti for one hour, till seven days as providing the period of time as he wishes to stay in this absorption.


The second solution as may my body, the things I am using and the place I am living, he can limit the area as much as he likes not be harmed nor destroyed by any means. Next, may I come out of the nirodha-samāpatti as soon as The Blessed One wishes to see me in the present Buddha’s time. The last in best wish thus may I come out of the nirodha-samāpatti as soon as the Sangha order wishes to see me.


Now then, he develops the fourth arūpa absorption and accesses appanā-javana (the jhāna of attainment state) with the vīthi citta is running as bellowing for two consciousnesses moment, the stream of consciousness is cut of, and there is no consciousness, mental formation, corporeality formed by citta arise anymore. The jhāna-nirodha-samāpatti Vīthis:


Na-Da- “Ma-U-Nu-Vo-Jha” Bha-bha

Explanation of attainment of cessation thought process

Na: Bhavanga-calana, Vibrating life-continuum

Da: Bhavangupaccheda, arresting life-continuum

Ma: Manodvāravajjāna, Mind-door adverts the consciousness stream toward the sense object, observes the object and decides entering to jhāna.

U: Upacāra, proximity of nirodha-samapatti jhāna.

Nu: Anuloma, connection between fourth arūpajhāna to attainment of extinction

Vo: Vodāna, purification.

Jha: this is the attainment of nirodha-samāpatti jhāna

Bha: Bhavanga, the unconscious moment, life-continuum.


When the object of neva-saññā-nasaññāyatana kusala citta appears at the mind-door, the bhavanga stream vibrates two times and becomes arrested (Na-Da). The mind door as mano-dvāravajjana then observes the object. Then one of the two great wholesome consciousness associated with neutral feeling and with knowledge functions as upacāra (U), anuloma (Nu). For two conscious moments, the stream of consciousness is cut off, there is no consciousness. Mental formation and corporeality formed by citta arise no more.

The flow of consciousness then ceases until it emerges as determined by the meditator. Motionless he abides in this ecstasy. His body will remain in this state of extinction of consciousness, its associates and corporeality formed by citta till the end of the period he has resolved to remain in nirodha-samāpatti. Books relate an incident of a Pacceka Buddha whose body was set a fire while in this state. However, he was not affected.


In the case of maintaining the body during nirodha-samāpatti, the Vijñānavādin believe there is a sustaining by nutriment of consciousness that resides in the storehouse (ālayavijñāna). The body matures by nutriments. An impression of this statement is taught by the Buddha in the Four Nutriments of life, as there are four kinds of food that maintain the body: edible food, sense-impression, volition, and consciousness. The Buddha, in the Samyutta nikāya teaches: Bhikkhus, the four nutriments are edible food, contact, mental volition, and consciousness. These are four kinds of nutriments for the maintenance of beings that have already come to be and for the assistance of those about come to be.

Edible foods only exist in the desire world (kāmaloka). Although, contact and mental volition are present in three worlds, they depend on the cooperation of the sixth consciousness. In the stage of samapatti (attainment), the first of three nutriments are not supported, because during the time of access to dhyāna a yogi has been prepared to stay away from the outside world and hold a determination to take time to enters into nirodha-samapatti during seven days to one month, this duty in the Sangha Order must be fulfilled to honor the Buddha must not be missed. In this state the yogi is in cessation of thought in order to attain peace in thoughtlessness, so volitional nutriment is excepted.


The characteristic of the nutriment of consciousness

(vijñānavihāra) is maintenance. It is the only nutriment maturing the body of one who enters into āsa jñi-sa apatti and nidrodha-sampatti. Because of ceasing the mind and its mental states the presence of store consciousness is permitted for maintaining the body. In the attainment of cessation, there is still an awareness, this awareness can only be the storehouse consciousness. Only the presence of ālayavijñāna serves as the conscious nutrition that supports and matures the body keeping the yogi alive.

Furthermore, one who enters into Nirodha sampatti halts all formations (sankhāra) of feeling and perception. According to Asanga, in those who dwell in the absorption of cessation, the vijñāna does not leave the body. According to these words of the Buddha, we know that the retributive consciousness (vipākavijñāna) does not leave the body, the production of the nirodhasamāpatti dose not counteract this retributive consciousness but it does counteract all the other consciousnesses.

Due to the three characteristic of ālayavijñāna as a vipākaviñāna, it is a retributive consciousness. Thus, The Bhagavat said: “when the body factors are suppressed, there is still another cause for the subsistence of the body: food (āhāra), drink (pāna), the vital organ (jivitendriya), consciousness (vijñāna), etc. thanks to these, although the in breath and outbreath may have disappeared, the body persists.” But it is not the same for the mind. If the mental factors are suppressed, there is no further particular cause supporting the mind. Thus, since the absorption of cessation would not have a mental consciousness, it would be necessary to call it absorption without mind (acittakasamāpatti).

In “The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to Tantra”, Choying Tobden Dorje pointed out the Bodhisattva’s stages of Awakening: “A state without thoughts, which is unrelated to sensory fields, is the experiential context of the storehouse of all dualities experience itself. A state without thoughts, which is related to sensory fields, is the experiential context of the storehouse consciousness.” These statements show how Yogacāra traditional idealism allows the presence of ālayavijñāna in subtle mental consciousness states as in the formless realms, or the attainment of the two samapattis. Thus, the mind (ālayavijñāna) can be included in the three worlds. But since the retributive consciousness (vipākavijñāna) remains in this absorption, the Bhagavat has stated that the vijñāna does not leave the body and it is from this vijñāna supplied with all the seeds that the coming out of absorption (pravṛttivijñāna) arises. This is why the store consciousness necessarily exists in this state of attainment of extinction, nirodha-samāpatti.

Ālayavijñāna plays an influential role in the state of no-mind absorption such as the the attainment of unconscious (Āsaṃjñāsamāpatti) and the attainment of extinction (Nirodha-samāpatti) latent in deep subliminal unconscious. As the seeds that lie in the earth, waiting for the right time, it sprouts as a tree appearing in conjoin with the earth.

This attainment can neither be said to be a state or not a state, nor can it be said to be purely a concentration attainment or an insight attainment as it lacks a basis for analysis because there is no experience that can be analyzed. Therefore, this is the state of the Blessed One or Arahant accessing during lifetime after being tired in daily works, it is the trance of Nirvāna.


4.2 The Influence of Storehouse Consciousness to Pure Land School The Pure Land (Skt. Buddhakśetra) is one Mahāyāna Buddhism school that offers a respite from karmic transmigration. Amida Buddha’s pure land of sukhāvatī is in the western direction, the Amida Buddha is the head of Pure Land whom is endowed with special immeasurable light, infinite life, and infinite meritorious deeds. In this section, the storehouse consciousness influents to both the Pure abode of the Amita’s land and also in the way of reciting Buddha’s name in order to achieve Pure Land on the next vehicle.


4.2.1 Influence in Pure Land Perspective


The pure land is inhabited by many gods, men, flowers, fruits, and adorned with wish granting trees where rare birds come to rest. The Pure land tradition is popularly equivalent to the attainment of enlightenment. The practitioner enters this land under the direction of Amida Buddha and numerous bodhisattvas until he is fulfilled enlightenment.

The Amida Buddha in the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha sutra is described as the land of beauty that surpasses all other realms with eighteen kinds of perfection. He also has choice to return to the six realms to perform his salvation toward all sentient beings in samasara or to stay the whole duration till he achieves Buddhahood.

The ocean of Amida’s vows of wisdom is so deep and wide, it has no shore nor bottom. Amida Buddha, during the time of the Bodhisattva, aspired with forty-eight vows together with Faith, Aspiration, and Practice. These dedications to the liberation of others, is precisely what the Buddha meant. If those who believe in Amita Buddha

Pure land strive to be reborn in the happy abode, they must practice the “recollection of the Buddha” (Buddhanusmṛṭi) in which a practitioner would systematically recall the excellent qualities of the Buddha: His virtues, conduct, and character as an example for inspiration.

Ālayavijnana is a consciousness that is not destroyed by any condition whether in hell or a subtle mind not enlightened yet. From the Pure Land view, one’s faith is never lost from the moment he takes the Vows to be reborn in the Buddha’s Pure land. The influence of Ālayavijñāna encompasses in two ways: The power creation of the Buddha land and recollection of Buddha’s name.

The Western Pure Land is a magical creation of the Amita Buddha. The storehouse consciousness is a source of powerful consciousness, due to this universal mind, the Buddha and Bodhisattvas can create the Pure land in excellent qualities. Thus, it converts into the pure and innate nature of the people who are born in there. In “The Interpretation of the Buddha Land”, Bandhuprabha explains:

Concerning the eighth perfection of the Buddha land. The commentary says:

In the case of a pure land which is a conversion of the container consciousness (ālayavijñāna). Then, it characteristics are pure and wondrous, yet it does consist in the contaminated truth of suffering, because it is a image of a contaminated consciousness, and because it is supported by a contaminated body. Likewise, those Pure Lands which are manifested by intense effort are also contaminated. But in the case where those images of the pure lands are magical creations of the contaminated mind, which is realized after the attainment of non-discriminative wisdom, there is the truth of the uncontaminated path, because they consist in an uncontaminated image and arise from uncontaminated seeds. This is the perfection that confreres in the pure land.

The consciousness converted by each wisdom is the sixth theme in this land. By the conversion of the aggregate of consciousness, one attains the mind associated with the four uncontaminated wisdoms. This refers to the wisdom of mind of mirror. By the conversion of the container consciousness, one attains the mind associated with mirror wisdom because it is able to support the seeds of all good qualities and to engender images of all bodies and lands.

The sixth mark is the transformation of bodies: “it manifests itself according to the dispositions of all sentient beings, because the reality nature of equality is full perfected.” In this way, it identifies universal equality with reality. The commentary explains that the earnest desires of sentient beings be converted in common by many Buddhas. All Tathāgata make visible the appearance of transformed bodies, for each manifests the same appearance at the same place and at the same time, thus causing the mind of sentient beings to be transformed and thus bringing benefit and happiness to them.

It is just like the descriptive marks of the container consciousness which are common to all sentient beings. When they mature, then each sentient being individually perceives the descriptive marks of the world as common to all. And yet there is no contradiction here between that common nature of those descriptive marks and the individual perception of beings, for these descriptive marks occur at the same place and time for individuals. “The Tathagata’s discernment wisdom is the direct cause for consciousness that simultaneously engenders immeasurable image of all knowables of wondrous wisdoms without obstacle.” This means that the discernment of all Tathāgatas is able to understand all objects and has a multitude of images that appear as those knowable objects.

Just as a multicoloured painting has a multitude of images, in its insight aspect the nature of this wisdom is to be the generative cause for consciousness with these images; and it is said to be their generative cause precisely because it can manifest them. It is not, however, their direct cause, for those images arise directly from the seeds in the converted container consciousness.

The fifth cause is an experiencing comparable to the following:

“Just as the world is extensively experienced by sentient beings, just so the Tathagata’s discernment wisdom manifests itself to all Buddha assemblies and pours down the rain of the dharma to lead sentient beings to experience the joy of that great dharma.” The commentary explains the discernment wisdom as the cause for experiencing. Due to the enabling power of the karmic actions of sentient beings, the seeds common to their individual container consciousness evolve and engender the various prerequisites that make them able extensively experience the physical world. The sixth cause is examining destinies:

“Just as in the world the five destinies of the hells, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, and gods are all possible, just so in the tathagata’s discernment wisdom the examining of the unlimited causes and results associated with these five destinies comes to be manifested.” This passage explains the cause of the examination of the destinies. Due to the enabling power of the karmic actions of sentient beings, the patterns of their own container consciousness evolve and engender the possibilities of differences in the causes and results of the five destinies. The seventh cause is examining realms:

“Just as in the world all the realms of desire, form, and no form are all possible, just so in the Tathagat’s discernment wisdom the difference associated with the unlimited causes and results of these three realms come to be manifested.”

The discernment wisdom is the cause of the examination of the realm. Due to the power of their actions in the world, the general and individual patterns of the container consciousness of beings develop and create a distinct possibility of the cause and effect of the three realms. In the dimensions of the three bodies such a body encompasses the dharma realm and is called the true pure land. But in transmigration its actions do have limitations. The dimensions of this body, which is a creative transformation of the container consciousness, are not determined as to size. In the Korean tradition of Pure land school, Soga argued a new understanding of the bodhisattva dharmākara who according to the sutra of immeasurable life had become Amida through the fulfillment of his bodhisattva vows, as a representation of the deepest layer of one’s own consciousness, the ālayavijāna. Soga emphasizes that Dharmākara Bodhisattva of Pure land doctrine is synonymous with the storehouse consciousness of the

Vijñānavāda, the ālayavijñāna of traditional Mahāyāna Buddhism. Furthermore, not only is dharmākara or Amida the personification of the storehouse consciousness, but that the storehouse consciousness is itself the Buddha nature.


4.2.2 Influence in Pure Land Practice


Reciting Amita Buddha’s name is very influential. This was practiced in some form by virtually all schools. The recollection of the Buddha completes confidence, mindfulness, understanding, and merit, are that the practitioner comes to feel as if he were living in the Master's presence. And his body becomes as worthy of veneration as a shrine room. His mind tends toward the plane of the Buddhas.

Explicating the relevance of the consequent nature of god in the theology to Amida Buddha in Shin Buddhism, Yokota states: “As the Buddhist tradition develops, one encounters the notion of ālayavijñāna or the storehouse consciousness that is comparable to the collective unconscious”.

It is the storehouse of all karma. It is interesting to note that the Shin Buddhist scholar Soga Ryōjin equated Amida with this storehouse consciousness. This too could be understood as simply an imaginative exercise that is both comforting and inspiring, and not transgressive of the orthodox position on the post parinirvana status of the Buddha. Nevertheless, such activities were precedents for practices designed specifically to evoke not only the memory and example of a Buddha, but also his living presence.

Spiritually, the Pure land’s theory and belief is based on the theories of Mind-only school. There are three sects of the Pure Land schools. The T’ien T’ai school believed in the three truths as being of the one-mind. Hea-yen explained about the Three realms as being created by the One Mind. And Chin-tu groug taught about the Three-Mind, the attainment of the mind of faith in One Recitation of Amida’s name, or the mind of peace (the pure land school). All accepted the association of mind with the universality of Buddha nature. Paul William states:

“This association was so axiomatic that the Fa-hsiang school since, for disclaiming the doctrine of the universality of Buddha-nature and for speaking of deluded ālayavijñāna (storehouse consciousenss), has the misfortune of being labeled as crypto-Mahāyāna or pro-Hīnayāna”. Chih-I founded the ’ien-t’ai school in China. The notion of Chih-kuan, which was attained simultaneously, formed a harmonious tension between reality correctly understood and Buddhahood. His doctrine of the 3000 realms elaborated the idea that all things form a unity. Habitual recitation of the Buddha’s name guined a completely empty mind. Because one moment of thought contains 3000 realms immanent within it, it was thus possible to know 3000 realms in one instant of consciousness.

And since all existent things interpenetrated, phenomena were identical with conscious action. He called this unity absolute mind, which in turn was called Thusness or Suchness, storehouse consciousness, triple body (trikāya) and Buddha nature. This is common in Mahayanists practice. So there it is influence of those schools which believe there is a mind that encompasses the three worlds, that is ālayavijñāna.

As the tradition develops, one encounters the notion of storehouse consciousness or alayavijnana that is comparable to the collective unconsciousness. It is the storehouse of all karma and a vital pulse of creativity. It is interesting to note that Shin Buddhist scholar Soga Ryōjin equated Amida with this storehouse consciousness. If one awakens to the deep wellspring of the One Mind, the lotus terrace (blossoms) of the nine kinds of mind and the nine consciousness of the pure mind are all laid open.

The traditional of recollecting the name of Amita Buddha is using the mind and training it in the collective good. Reciting the name of the Buddha thus stops the mind from wandering with one pointedness of the Amita Buddha’s name. Storehouse consciousness is the storer of all habitual activities, thus thanks to the stored, one’s mind gradually purifies by living firmly in deep concentration and attaining a higher state in a blooming beauty lotus with vast shining light. 4.3 The Influence of Storehouse Consciousness to Some of Tibetan Concepts (Death and Reincarnation)

In the Tibetan tradition, rebirth is understood as reincarnation, humans from this world take on another life. However, it is not the soul through his reincarnation as was described last chapter. This emphasis the importance role of storehouse consciousness in taking a new life. 4.3.1 Last Long Mind on Human’s Death

Human being at the stage of death, is out of energy, as a lamp is said to be out of oil. There is nothing but attachment of this body, at that time, māna or the seventh consciousness is said to grasp this body, so that storehouse consciousness follows and supports that grasping, so it is states that: At the moment of death, beings who have accomplished good actions and beings who have committed bad actions experience a gradual cold feeling in the lower or the upper part respectively of the body which, without a store-consciousness, would be impossible.

Everyday our minds are wandering, jumping up and down as the vast sea of store consciousness. We talk to a friend who has everything in mind after the conversation, but at some point in time there are sounds around behind the scene when the talk is over. Every word, every action is recollection in our mind. Similarly, everyday life until death.

The eighth consciousness functions as a recycle bin so that it stores everything in our life. At the time death is close it represents what we have experiences and possessions. According to that, waves of consciousness leads to reincarnation, birth and death endlessly, ever ceasing. It is therefore the last consciousness of being that faces death grasping the soul.

If the Alaya mind is the last consciousness of a human being’s death however, it is the first forerunner to get in touch with at the time of taking birth. It is the time of bad and good karma present in his reincarnation. It is the process of “impregnation coming from first speech (abhilapa) is called species-projection because this projection projects the birth.”

These Four Signs of karma appear before death decide where one is reborn: potential karma (Garuka karma), common karma (Asanna karma), habitual karma (Acinna karma), and collective karma (Kattata karma). Deciding one’s destiny follows due to one of four karmas at the time of the destruction of his body, leading to be reborn in a state determined for his karma.

4.3.2 Reincarnation of Tulkus (Holy Person)


At the time of death storehose consciousness is released from the physical body. Then it takes Bardo as to immediate state. The transition from a purely physical to a predominantly psychic survival and continuity is the next step, which so far has only been achieved by the most highly developed individuals. “It is the step from the unconscious to the conscious. And finally to the consciously directed survival through the art of spiritual project.” If the ground of his holy mind is completely purified, it is as if he had shattered the storehouse of his karma and so emptied the karmic supply for future rebirths. However, if he has not been able to completely purify his mind, there will still be remnants of past habits and karmic tendencies resting in this storehouse of karma. Whenever suitable conditions materialize, they will manifest, propelling him into new rebirths. Karma is a neutral system of cause and effect and can be understood to be an inherent property of the space time continuum.

Karma is not excluding in this situation because this is a Tulku reincarnation, an accomplishment of his duty toward sentient being. Thus, now then on, the great wholesome actions from the past positive lives are seeds of positive deeds. Thoughts, words, and physical actions of love and wisdom will produce peaceful, happy, and enlightening results that are stored in universal ground of consciousness:

The habit energy of good actions that collected in the storehouse consciousness become good or liberated karma in the next reincarnation. The bodhisattvas are said to be reincarnated in his next life, because of energy of prayer and compassion toward human beings. The compassion seeds are the root of wholesome actions into his performance to all beings… In this way, the owner of wholesome karmas spiritually benefits others and might become a Tulku This role of habituation makes it possible for someone with certain mental tendencies, or connection to a situation or certain religious position in the case of a Tulku, to be reborn in that situation. Yet, one should not forget the non-linear nature of causality from the Buddhist viewpoint. In Buddhism, certain qualities have been purported for Karma which makes it difficult to exactly predict its fruit.

By this manner, B. Becker Carl emphasizes that Mahāyāna Buddhism has always rehabilitated the soul, the ālayavijñāna, which was thought to continue from one body to another. So it was natural that

Vajrayānists should also welcome the concept of an intermediate state between incarnations called bardo in Tibetan. Reincarnation is representing an essential step in the endless cycle of samsara. Rebirth or reincarnation is the philosophical or religious concept that an aspect of a living being begins a new life in a different physical body or form after each biological death. The Buddhist theory of dependence origination that Jāti is the new reincarnation, starting on the new chain of circle is also called rebirth or transmigration.

Damian Flanagan, a Japanese scholar described the open way of theoretical Mahāyāna Buddhist reincarnation as follows: The theory of reincarnation divided the mind into eight layers, the five senses plus consciousness, added to which were the depth psychologies of manashiki and areayashiki, alaya consciousness, and argued that it was the last which contained the karmic seeds for all the objects in the world. What was being reincarnated then was alaya consciousness, constantly being born and destroyed in the depths of consciousness.

The five Skandhas at the moment when reincarnation takes place after death is jāti. The part that receives the name of consciousness in a present existence is called Jāti in a future existence. There are two kinds of rebirth after the end of life: the one who takes rebirth according to his or her determinates, because of Buddhasasana persisting in this world, or one dependend on his vows to complete his path to all human kind. Reincarnation, however, according to Mahayanists theory is twofold: the lower and higher level. In the “Elucidate of Consciousness sutra”, it notes emphatically that:

Consciousness can transmigrate without being considered as an eternal and indestructible self. Furthermore, the problem of transmigration and reincarnation can be treated on two different levels. On the mundane level, the existence of a consciousness which transmigration can be admitted. However, on a higher level, even this consciousness is without substance or entity” 224

The Bodhisattvas generally practice four vows in his life. David Aaron Holmes translates the Four bodhisattva vows as they are chanted in the Soto Zen and almost all Mahayanist traditional monasteries

Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them

Delusions are numberless, I vow to end them

Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them

Buddha’s way is unsurpassable, I vow to become it.225

Human beings go up and down for their rebirth within six realms and three abodes due to their corresponding karma that has been imprinted in habitual manner from life to life. But the kinds of reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism follow another way to achieve their

by Louis de La Vallee Poussin English Version by Leo M. Pruden, (Taiwan: Asia Humanity Press, 1991), p. 404. 224Zhenji Zheng, (ed.), A Treasure of Mahāyāna Sūtra: Selections from the Mahāratnakū a Sūtra, (London: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1983), p. 238. 225David Aaron Holmes, Psyche's Palace: How the Brain Generates the Light of the Soul, op.cit., p.64.

path and fruition of dharma. That is called “Tulku” which is of three kinds: The Buddha’s emanation body, emanation bodies; or the monks have attained the eighth stage which follows the Bodhisattas; or reincarnation of lamas for the benefits of all human beings. Tulkus are great because they are at the pinnacle of power and virtue as defined by Tibetan Buddhism. Because they are tremendously spiritually powerful, their rituals and blessings are more effective, and donations given to them produce greater amounts of merit than donation given to lesser religious figures. One of the signs and manifestations of their great spiritual power is that they are said to know everything. To learn religious work easily because they knew it all in past lives.

Chogyam Thrungpa explains that the tulku incarnates before the previous incarnation has died, several months or even years earlier. A blessed tulku is called in which the previous person chooses the person who is closest to him or blesses some passing Bodhisattva who has not quite attained the highest bhūmis. He takes certain types of energy, which transcends ego, and transfers it to the chosen person. That person then comes back as the incarnation of the previous person. Actually, it is a different kind of ego but at the same time there is a spiritual continuity which takes place.

A “Tulku” determinates where he takes rebirth, the parents, and the place of his new life. A superior Bodhisattva is not reborn due to the wind of forcing of karma. In contrary, he is a saver taking his birth through the power of prayer and compassion in order to serve all beings in freeing them from their suffering. That is the second type of tulku.

The third one holds bodhisattva reincarnation is a virtuous one, he does not abandon his previous negative karmic effects and the three roots of greed, hatred, and ignorance would not be eliminated yet. The degree of his effectiveness depends on the level of his own enlightened power and the karmic openness of the beings to whom he is offering his service. This is the kind of bodhisattva equal to the first path or second path. Evidently, there are many legends of the past lives of Shakyamuni Buddha before He completed Buddhahood. Through many incarnations, the Blessed One was a sparrow, a tiger, a serpent, a pigeon, and slowly he beccme a man. Finally, the Buddha became the Enlightened One. The innate quality of Buddhahood is in the sparrow, the serpent, the pigeon but it is not only in sentient beings. It is in water, fire, everywhere in the universe. It is in the sky, the mountain and river, in the stars, in the sun and in the moon. When it is concentrated in this existing alaya-consciousness, Buddha-nature awakens. It awakens to its own existence.

4.3.3 Acknowledgement of an Tulku (Holy Person)


There is a unique tradition of finding the reincarnation of great masters who have passed away. They are choose a child that is recognized and given a special education to train them to become future masters. As soon as important lamas die, Tibetans fully expect that they will find the rebirths, the Tulkus, of their teachers without any question. If the deceased lamas are the manifestation of Buddha or highly accomplished adepts, then they will not take rebirth due to their karma, rather solely care for and serve others.

Moreover, if the deceased lamas were simple adepts or virtuous lamas, then they will take beneficial rebirths according to their past virtuous deeds since they have not yet transcended the circle of karmic effects, but will have committed no or few unvirtuous deeds. They will be sources of great benefit, as they are the products of love, wisdom, and serve with virtuous deeds.

Due to this belief, Tibetans always take refuge in the Tulkus and look for the future lives of their masters. The method to test their tulkus are various and it is not easy to recognize a Tulku. Monks spread out before him various monastic articles, like rosaries, bells, teacups, wooden bowls, and other things which are in daily use in religious rituals to the child. He immediately picke out those objects which had belonged to him in his previous life, rejecting all those which had been deliberately mixed up with them.

Supporting his tulku condition as if he wished to turn his round to the new existence, he decides the place where he will be reborn and even his parents. This is a special moment and condition to protect and preserve his decision in ālayavijñāna. As the time he reincarnates, his storehouse consciousness does its duty automatically but no one can interrupt it.

Peter Schwieger points out that the events that found the sixth Dalai Lama were not easy: At the time when my personal root lama, the great all knowing lord of the victorious ones himself, was with regard to his ordinary outward appearance about to enjoy himself in the sphere of the universal ground, he submitted the plane that his rebirth would take place in the area of Tsona. Politics were attached to the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation and the student was searching for his new born body only based on his characteristic. This is a mark of his last life to show which was his belongings and he chose his possession in the previous live correctly.

Generally, Buddhist do not believe in the soul, but in the storehouse consciousness the implantable cause for one’s future existence and reincarnations of compassion of the Bodhisattavas dwell according on their stages. Thus it is a sort of mind continuum which is reborn. However, this only exists relatively, ultimately it is also empty of truth. From the ultimate point of view, it is not real, but because of different vows a person on the bodhisattva path makes he comes back. This means he has vowed to come back again and again until all sentient beings gain liberation. Due to this vow, the force of compassion and his realization of the relative and ultimate truths cause rebirth. For him it is a spontaneous arising, it is not an effort.


4.4 The Practical Way of Storehouse Consciousness in Plum Village Zen Monastery


Plum village is a series of Zen monasteries in over the world. The most venerable meditative master Thich Nhat Hanh established the first central one in France in 1982s. The method of practice here is


Mahāyāna Bodhisattva idealism. A being very smart in Mahayanist practice, Thich Nhat Ha

nh not only teaches Dharma but renews the Buddha’s teaching in the modern scientific world. His teaching always emphasizes on Ālayavijñāna store consciousness in various practical ways of mindful practice in daily life In order to realize the seeds of anger, hatred, seeds of love, compassion within the mind. The application of the Buddhist way by his manner make people understand easily. Following the old scriptures, a Zen Master applies the four foundation of mindfulness training in His Zen monastic. The first application is mindfulness of body (kāyānupassati) keeing the breath to return to our mind and to take good care of feeling mindfulness (vedanānupassana), mind awareness (cittānupassana), and objects of mind (dharmanupassana).


4.4.1 Mindful Practice


Practicing mindfulness is the main method of his teaching, “we have the ability to choose which seeds we water and to transform latent tendencies, which cause certain seeds to arise, without training and the right environment it is very difficult or impossible to do this.” He teaches that “the Buddha said that when you experience something with your senses, not one of these experiences is ever lost, they are all logged in your store consciousness.” Thus, our potential lies deep in our mind. Habit energy is the old patterns, patterns of rushing, patterns of responding out of violence or fear, patterns of judging. Habit energy pulls us back to the old ways of doing things. These ways can be transformed through acknowledging them and speaking to them. But without engaging the old patterns or habit energy it is not possible to create the response of mindful living.235 Zen Masters taught that with practicing mindful breathing the meditator is “making your unwanted gests feel at home.” Storehouse consciousness offers us enlightenment and transformation. This possibility is contained in its third meaning, its always flowing nature. Store consciousness is like the garden where we can plant the seeds of flowers, fruits, and vegetables, and the flowers, fruits, and vegetables will grow.


The active mind is only a gardener. A gardener can help the land and take care of the land, but the gardener has to believe in the land, believe that it can offer fruits, flowers, and vegetables. Practicing mindfulness helps us get strong enough to open the door to our living room and let the pain come up. Every time our pain is immersed in mindfulness, it will lose some of its strength, and later, when it returns to the store consciousness, it will be weak As practitioners, we cannot rely on our mind consciousness alone, we have to rely on our store consciousness as well. Decisions are being made there. That is why in practicing, the gardener is most active to preserve his garden.


Practicing mindfulness, we have the ability to choose which seeds we water and transform to latent tendencies, which cause certain seeds to arise, without training and the right environment it is very difficult or impossible to do this. Therefore, if the tendencies of mindfulness become natural in us, the mind can observe its workings even when we are not meditating. If we remain focused, the works of our mind still has the energy to cook the koan in our store consciousness.


4.4.2 Nourishing Storehouse Consciousness by Eating


A principle tenet of Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings, for instance, is that through the gentleness and appreciation that arises through mindfulness we can “plant good seeds” in the storehouse consciousness. We have to practice this everyday. Any seed that manifests in our mind consciousness always returns to our store consciousness stronger. If we water our wholesome seeds carefully, we can trust that our store consciousness will do the work of healing. In the Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, Thich Nhat Hanh states that the source of our perception, our way of seeing, lies in our store consciousness. If ten people look at a cloud, there will be ten different perceptions of it. Whether it is perceived as a dog, a hammer, or a coat

depends on our mind, our sadness, our memories, our anger. Our perceptions carry with them all the errors of subjectivity Thich Nhat Hanh in the “Energy of Prayer” pointed out the way of nourishing the mind and unconscious mind in the way of prayer for oneself and others. If they pray to change others, the individual consciousness will change the store consciousness. Howerver, the collective consciousness cannot necessarily be cured, but it can be in touch with a wholesome collective consciousness, the waters that deepest seeds in our store consciousness is the true dharma Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches about reflecting deeply on the four nutriments in his guided mediation practice, sense contacts, intentions, and desires contact, and the fourth kind of food is consciousness nutriment. Of them, the consciousness is the important one to practice in meditation and in daily life. The consciousness nutriment is explained as follows:

Aware of the collective consciousness that nourishes me everyday, I breath in

Determined to be nourished by what

In wholesome in that consciousness, I breath out.

Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh compares the store consciousness to basement in a house and mind consciousness to a living room. That is two levels of consciousness the bottom consciousness being greater. Store consciousness stores everything in the form of seeds, And just like in the earth, if you water those seeds, they sprout.

The underneath consciousness always collects and contains strong seeds of fear and discrimination but it also contains the good seeds in beautiful aspects. Both wholesome and unwholesome seeds are in there but we can choose the way to nourish the good seeds that benefit us and others: Dear one, let’s be careful not to water the unwholesome seeds in each other. Let’s water only the wholesome seeds in each other and then we can have nourishing food for our consciousness.

He says do not let your fear or unwholesome seeds come up, one just needs to recognize and smile with it and then we can return to our breath. In this way, we can understand how mind works. We can assist our store consciousness to do the work of healing. If we touch what is peaceful and healing in us and around us, we help our store consciousness do the work of transformation. We let ourselves be healed by the trees, the birds, and the beautiful children. Storehouse consciousness is made of the totality of the seed, and it is also the soil that preservers and maintains all the seeds. The seeds stay there until we hear, see, read, or think of something that touches a seed and makes us feel anger, joy, or sorrow. These seeds manifest on the level of mind consciousness. Good spiritual friends are needed in order to nourish the wholesome elements of collective consciousness. As we meditate, we can look deeply at these forms of nutriment that play an important role in our physical and mental health.


4.4.3 Sustaining the Power of Love


Consciousness can be found in every cell of our body, scientists have discovered that to be true. When we send loving, compassionate, peaceful energy to our loved one who is in a coma, all the cells of the body can receive it because the store consciousness and manas continue to receive and transform. Engage Buddhism in the 1990s had offered a new tradition of Buddhist teaching and practice. Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh offered a new practice of mindfulness called “hugging meditation”. This methodology has brought much success to Western countries. This method makes for engaged practice in contemporary societies: The new form of “hugging meditation” all include reminders of contemporary society concerns, plating and watering seeds in the storehouse of consciousness. Hugging meditation is healing practice for one’s family. It makes them face their problems in order to solve them. They can sit down together, and give mindful hugs to each other even though they have not seen talked to each other for a long time.

Our ancestors are within in ourselves. This is a deep looking practice of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. We are here because of the previous appearance of our ancestors who passed away, but somehow they are present with the roots of anger and sorrow which were not eliminated. He says that when our mind is not at peace, it may be because of the desires and feelings in our store consciousness. To live in peace we have to be aware of our tendencies our habit energies, so we can exercise some self-control. This is the practice of preventive health care. We look deeply into the nature of our feelings to find their roots, to see which feelings bring about peace, joy and well being.252 In the modern world, under his guidance of mindful practice, a yogi can easily understand and practice to prevent bad behaviour and generates good behavior to our beloved ones.


4.5 Concluding Remarks


The underlying foundation of Ālayavijñāna is the domain of consciousness. It is the base of all meritorious minds arising and also the main base of almost all Mahāyāna schools such as Zen practice, Pure Land, and the traditional reincarnation of Tibetan Tantrāyānist school. In the modern social life, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh pointed out many ways to practice in order to generate good seeds in storehouse consciousness and also planning many mindful practice in daily life. Thus, the influence of storehouse consciousness is in all direction of the world. We are sentient beings that can collect the way to happiness in this very life and nourish the next in our storehouse consciousness until we achieve a higher goal.

252Thich Nhat Hanh, Teaching on Love, (US: ReadHowYouWant, 2008), p. 25.


Chapter V Conclusion and Suggestions


5.1 Conclusion

The main contribution of this thesis to Buddhist accademia is to publish an English language work of an analytical study of Storehouse Consciousness (Ālayavijāñna) in Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism. This is the result of a qualitative research focus on the concept of storehouse consciousness in three domains:


1. To study of the origin and development of storehouse consciousness.

2. To study an analysis of this consciousness in the light of

Yogācāra school.

3. To study the influential of storehouse consciousness to other schools.

Chapter I of this thesis introduces the background and objective of this reserach. It points out that there has been a lot of research of the texts involved with Storehouse Consciousness. The main aim of this research is to analyse an influence of Storehouse Consciousness on other schools within Mahāyāna domain. On the whole, this aim has been acheived, which will concluded as follow:


In Chapter II, “The origin and development of storehouse consciousness” firstly reviewed the sutras and commentaries about Ālayavijñāna in the Yogācāra school. The Lankavātāra sutra MahāyānaSa graha Commentary are mainly focused on the concept of Ālayavijñāna as its appeared in Yogācāra Buddhism in the fourth century that remains until now. With contributions of Asanga and Vasubandhu, this theory opened a new manner in the field of consciousness. Based on original doctrine, the Yogācāra steadfastly affirms its possition at the time the Buddha’s passing. One who believes the mind leads to all directions in the three worlds, six paths, and nine abodes, its characteristics, functions, and manifestations will make one vividly understand how storehouse consciousness works and how it is inter-relative to the other seven consciousnesses.

Chaper III of this thesis studies “An analysis of Storehouse consciousness in the light of Yogācāra school”. The Store consciousness stores all karma which is produce in the present life that lies in this consciousness. The Enlightened Mind and Bodhisattvas vows appear to manifest in this consciousness. When it has been delivered and released from one’s mind, the innate pure mind called Tathāgatagarbha appears in the world, which is sometimes know as Āmala-vijñāna in the state of Ārahanship or the Bodhisttvas eighth level.

Chapter IV is an influence of Ālayavijñāna to other schools. Zen School shows the way how to guide and train one’s mind with mindful pratice to reduce unwholesome seeds in the storehouse consciousness’s working in daily life practice. However, in the other planes, storehouse consciousness exists to nurture of this body while the practitioner is practicing to attain higher states. Furthermore, in the pratical way of Mahāyāna Buddhist schools, the storehouse consciousness encompasses all his merits from thousands of eons until when one’s achieve Buddhahood. The Pure land school takes Amita’s reciting to attain samadhi. Then one is reborn in his Pure Land where he continually pratices to realse all defilements with the help of Bodhisattvas. Then rebirth is appearing coressponding to its good or bad karma that has beed stored. However, the reincarnation of a Tulku who is Bodhisattva is not depennt on this karma because his karma is almost pure and he is returning for salvation by compassion to all sentient being who need his helps.

In conclusion, the teaching of the Blessed One are nothing more than one mind. The recognition of role of ālayavijñāna is important in training one’s mind. Nousishing the seeds in our daily life is an importance thing to do, with good seeds nurtured, there will be a good life. Thus, we try to keep mindful so that the storehouse consciousness is unders our control to have a happy life.


5.2 Suggestion


The research has been completed through an analytical study of storehouse consciousness in Yogācāra Mahāyāna Buddhism in both theory and practical influence to other school. This research helps to have a clear idea about how storehouse consciousness appeared in Theravada doctrine as well as developed by Mahāyānists follower, to study the theory of ālayavijñāna defined of Yogācāra school. And its influence to almost mainly famous Mahāyāna schools. However, because of the limited time for this research and the researcher’s capacity, there is some further research needed:

1. An analysis of three natures of storehouse consciousness in Yogācāra.

2. A study of the unconscious mind in Freudian theory.

3. A comparative study of the storehouse consciousness and the unconscious mind of Freudian theory.

Bibliography

I. Primary Source

1. Sutras

Aṇguttara Nikāya: The Discourse of the Buddha an Anthology, Part I. Nyanaponika, Bhikkhu and Bodhi, Bhikkhu (Tr.), Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 2010. Samdhinirmocana sutra: The Scripture on The Explication of

Underlying Meaning, Taisho Volume 16 Number 676, John, P. Keenan. (US: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2000. The Connected Discourse of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Bodhi, Bhikkhu, USA: Wisdom Publication, 2000. The Lankāvatāra Sutra: A Mahāyāna Text. Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro (Tr.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1999. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (Majjhima Nikāya). Ñāṇmoli, Bhikkhu and Bodhi, Bhikkhu (Tr.), Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1995. Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta: The Great Discourse on the Establishing of

Awareness. Goenka, S. N., USA: Vipassana Research Publications, 1996.

2. Commentaries

Asanga. MahāyānaSamgraha. Vol II. Translation and Commentary by Étienne Lamotte. Translated from the French 
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Asaṇga. Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra. A Sanskrit Text and Translated by Dr. (Mrs) Suekha Vijay Limaye. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1992. Francis, H. Cook. (Tr.). Three Texts On Consciousness Only. BTR: Numata Center, 1999.

Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro. Studies in The La kavatāra Sūtra: One of The Most Important Texts of Mahāyāna Buddhism, in Which Almost all Its Principal Tenets Are Presented, Including The Teaching of Zen. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass,1999. Vasubandhu, Abhidharmakosabhasyam. Vol. II. Translated into French by Louis de La Vallee Poussin English Version by Leo M. Pruden, (Taiwan: Asia Humanity Press, 1991)


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Biography Name: Pham Thi Tuyet Tam Dharma Name: Hue Hanh Date of Birth: 17 Jul 1989 Place of Birth: Binh Thuan Province, Phan Thiet City, Vietnam Education: Graduated Bachelor of Arts (BA) in The International Theravāda Buddhist Missionary University (ITBMU), 2014, Yangon-Myanmar.


Graduation Master of Arts (MA), 2018 at Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU), Thailand.



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