Eight Consciousnesses

Consciousness is used exclusively in the sense of distinction-making activities of the mind, which include both the making of the distinctions and the distinctions made. Conscious awareness and what is normally unconscious are both considered aspects of consciousness in the Buddhist sense of the word.

The Consciousness-Only School describes the mind as a system of seven active consciousnesses () which all develop out of the eighth, or storehouse, consciousness. The latter is passive and contains the potentials, or "seeds" (), for the development and activity of the first seven consciousnesses. The seventh consciousness acts as a communication link between the eighth consciousness and the first six consciousnesses. It contains the sense of self, of ego individuality, with which it defiles the communications to the first six consciousnesses. The sixth consciousness is a perceptual and cognitive processing center, while the first five consciousnesses are the perceptual awarenesses of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body.

Formal division is made among these seven consciousnesses after their emanation from the eighth, but division is totally based upon mental distinction. The eight are still basically "one". To use a simple analogy, let us think of a room with seven light-bulbs. You flick on the light switch and seven distinct lights shine. Turn the switch off and the lights disappear. Yet there is just one electric current; the electrical source is comparable to the storehouse consciousness, or, as it is understood after the transformation of consciousness, to the enlightened mind.

The system for describing the eight consciousnesses, and the mental dharmas () which arise out of them and are dependent upon them, was developed as an important part of a pragmatic psychology of mind. The system can be used to describe, in a manner that is accurate and practical, both mental functioning and the specific techniques employed on the Path to the enlightenment that is Buddhahood. It provides a way to account for mental processes without recourse to the notions of a real, permanent self () or of real, permanent external (and also internal) objects (dharmas). All actual and potential realms of experience are shown to be contained within the transformations of consciousness and appear as manifestations of the distinction-making mind.

Nevertheless, because of our attachment to and belief in the reality of self and the reality of the "objects" () which we perceive and understand to be the external world, the true nature of ourselves and the world is obscured so that we are unaware of it.

"I. The Eye Consciousness. We say that eyes see, but it's not actually the eyes themselves that see. It is the eye consciousness which sees. II. The Ear Consciousness. We say the ears can hear, but if you sliced off your ears and laid them aside, would they be able to hear of themselves? If you gouged out your eyes and set them aside, would they be able to see? Could you say, 'I'm not going to the movies, but I'll send my eyes along, and they can take in the show?' Obviously not. The eyes cannot see by themselves. It is the eye consciousness which does the seeing. And where does the eye consciousness come from? From the mind--the Mind King. The same is true for all the other consciousnesses as well. III. The Nose Consciousness, IV. The Tongue Consciousness, V. The Body Consciousness, And VI. The Mind Consciousness. . . .

"The mind consciousness, the sixth or 'intellectual' consciousness, is not really the mind, properly speaking. The sixth consciousness is the function of the mind whose substance is the seventh consciousness, the Manas Consciousness, also called the 'transmitting' consciousness or the 'defiling' consciousness. It is the substance of the mind. It continually transmits the functions of the sixth consciousness to the eighth consciousness, The Alaya Consciousness. The eighth consciousness is called the , which means 'storehouse', because it stores all information transmitted to it by the seventh. . . ." (HD 31-32)

"The human mind is an ever-spinning whirlpool in which mental activities never cease. There are four stages of production, dwelling, change, and decay in thought after thought. Often the seventh consciousness is described as a sea in which the currents of thought surge and seethe; meanwhile, the eighth consciousness is likened to a sea in which the apparent movement of waves has subsided, but underlying the placid surface is an uninterrupted rush of mental activity. The seventh consciousness is the 'transmitting' consciousness'; it relays sensory information from the sixth consciousness to the eighth (the Storehouse or Alaya Consciousness) and from the eighth back to the sixth and so forth. It takes for a self that which basically is devoid of a self. Because of a fixation to a false reckoning, thought movements rage on without stop. The wave patterns within the seventh consciousness are more apparent and forceful, whereas the movements of the eighth consciousness are still and imperceptible. Within the eighth consciousness are stored the seeds of all habit energies and impressions from beginningless time, and there are very subtle movements and a constant state of flux in that sphere." (EDR IV 27-28)

1) Chinese Mandarin: , 2) Sanskrit: Asta Vijnana, , 3) Pali: , 4) Alternate Translations: awareness, knowledge.

Buddhist Text Translation Society (http://www.BTTSonline.org) References: HD 30-33; EDR IV 26-28; "Verses Delineating the Eight Consciousnesses", T.S.

Store consciousness

Store consciousness (Sanskrit: ālayavijñāna आलयविज्ञान; Tibetan: kun gzhi rnam shes; Chinese: 阿賴耶識 Japanese: araya-shiki) is the eighth and the most fundamental of the eight consciousnesses established in the doctrine of the Yogacara school of Buddhism.

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

See also

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Alayavijnana - Store Consciousness

Venerable Dr. Walpola Rahula

In the Yogacara (Vijnanavada) School of Buddhism, alayavijnana is one of the most important doctrines developed by Asanga (fourth century A.C.). He divides the vijnanaskandha (Aggregate of Conciousness) the fifth of the five skandhas, into three different aspects or layers, namely, citta, manas and vijnana. In the Theravada Tipitaka as well as in the Pali Commentaries, these three terms - citta, manas, vijnana - are considered as synonyms denoting the same thing. The Sarvistivada also takes them as synonyms. Even the Lankavatarasutra, which is purely a Mahayana text, calls them synonyms although their separate functions are mentioned elsewhere in the same sutra. Vasubandhu, too, in his Vimsatikavijnapti-matratasiddhi considers them as synonyms. Since any one of these three terms - citta, manas, vijnanas - represents some aspect, even though not all aspects, of the fifth Aggregate vijnanaskandha, they may roughly be considered as synonyms.

However, for Asanga, citta, manas and vijnana are three different and distinct aspects of the vyjnanaskandha. He defines this Aggregate as follows:

Thus we can see that vijnana represents the simple reaction or response of the sense-organs when they come in contact with external objects. This is the uppermost or superficial aspect or layer of the vijnanaskandha. Manas represents the aspect of its mental functioning, thinking, reasoning, conceiving ideas, etc. Citta, which is here called alayavijnana, represents the deepest, finest and subtlest aspect or layer of the Aggregate of Consciousness. It contains all the traces or impressions of the past actions and all good and bad future potentialities. The Sandhinirmocana-sutra also says that alayavijnana is called citta (Tibetan sems).

It is generally believed that alayavijnana is purely a Mahayana doctrine and that nothing about it is found in Hinayana. But in the Mahayanasangraha, Asanga himself says that in the Sravakayana (= Hinayana) it is mentioned by synonyms (paryaya) and refers to a passage in the Ekottaragama which reads: 'People (praja) like the alaya (alayarata), are fond of the alaya (alayarama), are delighted in the alaya (alayasammudita), are attached to the alaya (alayabhirata). When the Dharma is preached for the destruction of the alaya, they wish to listen (susrusanti) and lend their ears (srotram avadadhanti), they put forth a will for the perfect knowledge (ajnacittam upasthapayanti) and follow the path of Truth (dharmanudharma-pratipanna). When the Tathagata appears in the world (pradurbhava), this marvellous (ascarya) and extraordinary (adbhuta) Dharma appears in the world.'

Lamotte identifies this Ekottaragama passage with the following passage in the Pali Anguttaranikaya (A II, p.131): Alayarama bhikkhave paja alayarata alayasammudita, sa Tathagatena analaye dhamme desiyamane sussuyati sotam odahati annacittam upattapeti. Tathagatassa bhikkhave arahato sammasambuddhassa patubhava ayam pathamo acchariyo abbhuto dhammo patubhavati.

Besides this Anguttara passage, the term alaya in the same sense is found in several other places of the Pali Canon. The Pali Commentaries explain this term as 'attachment to the five sense-pleasures", and do not go deeper than that. But this also is an aspect of the alayavijnana.

In the Lankavatarasutra the term tathagatagarbha is used as a synonym for alayavijnana and is described as 'luminous by nature' (prakrtiprabhasvara) and 'pure by nature' (prakrtiparisuddha) but appearing as impure 'because it is sullied by adventitious defilements' (agantuklesopaklistataya). In the Anguttaranikaya, citta is described as 'luminous' (pabhassara), but it is 'sullied by adventitious minor defilements' (agantukehi upakkilesehi upakkilittham). One may notice here that alaya-vijnana (or tathagatgarbha) and citta are described almost by the same terms. We have seen earlier that the Sandhi-nirmocana-sutra says that alayavijnana is also called citta. Asanga too mentions that it is named citta.

It is this alayavijnana or citta that is considered by men as their "Soul', 'Self', 'Ego' or 'Atman'. It should be remembered as a concrete example, that Sati, one of the Buddha's disciples, took vinnan (vijnana) in this sense and that the Buddha reprimanded him for this wrong view.

The attainment of Nirvana is achieved by 'the revolution of alayavijnana' which is called asrayaparavrtti. The same idea is conveyed by the expression alayasamugghata - 'uprooting of alaya' - which is used in the Pali Canon as a synonym for Nirvana. Here it should be remembered, too, that analaya, 'no-alaya', is another synonym for Nirvana.

The alayavijnanaparavrtti is sometimes called bijaparavrtti - 'revolution of the seeds' - as well. Bija here signifies the 'seeds' of defilements (samklesikadharmabija) which cause the continuity of samsara. By the 'revolution of these seeds' one attains Nirvana. Again the Pali term khinabija, which is used to denote an arahant whose seeds of defilements are destroyed', expresses the same idea.

Thus one may see that, although not developed as in the Mahayana, the original idea of alayavijnana was already there in the Pali Canon of the Theravada./.

Cause and Effect and the Nine Consciousnesses

Cause and Effect

As we go about our daily lives, in every single moment, we make causes in the things that we think and say and do. Buddhism teaches the existence of a law of cause and effect which explains that when we make a cause, the anticipated effect of that cause is stored deep in our lives, and when the right circumstances appear then we experience the effect. This concept of cause and effect is at the heart of Buddhism, and the characters for 'renge' in Nam-myoho-renge-kyo mean the simultaneity of the internal cause and the internal effect. This means that, through chanting, we have made the cause for our Buddhahood, and the effect of it exists simultaneously with that cause. By chanting we are directly causing our Buddhahood to appear.

Renge literally means 'lotus flower', which is a beautiful plant that floats on the surface of water and its beauty is nourished through its roots in the mud. This is a metaphor for our lives. Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo uses the `mud` in our lives to enable us to reveal our highest life state.

But the Lotus flower is significant for a second reason. It is a plant that flowers and seeds at the same time. It beautifully illustrates the profound working of life where the effect is simultaneous with the cause.

An example of the way Buddhism views cause and effect might be of a young person going home to spend a weekend with their parents. They have a blazing row before the end of the weekend and the young person leaves. In Western society we tend to see the blazing row as the cause and the young person leaving the effect. But Buddhism focuses attention on the internal cause and effect. So it may be that the internal cause turns out to be that the young person disrespects their parents, at quite a deep level, perhaps without realising it. The effect which is simultaneous with this cause is the state of hell, and it is this that is triggering the arguing. This example could equally be the other way round, with the parents doing the disrespecting. It is the internal cause and effect which a person who chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo can change, replacing their internal feelings with respect.

Through the simultaneity of cause and effect we can cause our Buddhahood to appear. To help us gain a clearer understanding of what Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is we need to appreciate the nine consciousnesses. The nine consciousnesses can be thought of as different layers of consciousness which are constantly operating together to create our lives. And as we progress through explanations of these consciousnesses the significance of the principle of the simultaneity of cause and effect should become apparent.

The Nine Consciousnesses

The first five `consciousnesses' are our basic senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste, which we use to take in information from outside ourselves in order to understand what is going on in the world. Imagine the moment of birth. The baby, at that moment is aware of sound, of smell, touch, taste, and sight. Like the baby we become attached to the world to such a degree that, for many, the world in all its complexities continues to hold our attention and we remain ignorant of the working of the deeper `layers` of consciousness.

Eventually the baby grows and learns that what it is seeing is, say `blue` or what it is feeling is `hot`. This is the sixth consciousness or the mind as we are used to thinking of it, which functions to enable us to make sense of what is coming to us through our senses. It is primarily through the interaction of these first 6 consciousnesses that we perform our daily activities.

The seventh consciousness is directed towards our inner, spiritual world. It is in the 7th consciousness that the conditioning we experience as we grow up is stored. It is through this consciousness that we have our sense of who we are, our gender, our national identity and so on. Attachment to a self distinct and separate from others has its basis in this consciousness as does our sense of right and wrong. We might see the appearance of various therapies and counselling in the West as a response to the desire on the part of many to free themselves from some of the conditioning that has taken place in life and which is stored in the 7th consciousness.

Western culture really only has an understanding of the first 7 consciousnesses. The concept of an eighth consciousness storing all our internal causes and internal effects (our karma) is generally not in use in daily life. And the concept of a ninth consciousness being the fundamental workings of life itself throughout the universe is definitely not part of our culture! The ninth consciousness in Buddhism is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo or the Law of life.

1	Touch
2	Taste
3	Sight
4	Hearing
5	Smell
6	Conscious Mind
7	Sub Conscious / Limited Egoistic Self
8	Karma

The eighth and ninth consciousnesses are operating at the level of the fundamental interconnectedness of all of life. If our eyes could see our karma and the 9th consciousness we would see all of life as deeply interconnected. The perception created in the 7th consciousness of a fixed and isolated self is thus false. This is one of the deep seated delusions regarding the nature of the self. The narrow ego of the 7th consciousness resists life expansion. A human life which is `touching` the eighth consciousness is cracking the shell of the limited ego and becoming open to its greater self. The seventh consciousness is also the seat of the fear of death. Locked in the 7th consciousness the narrow ego assumes it will perish and cease to exist at death. Such a life is unable to see that the eighth consciousness is an enduring flow of life energy that will migrate between life times.

The delusion that the 7th consciousness is ones true self is fundamental ignorance, a turning away from the interconnectedness of all being. It is this sense of oneself as separate that gives rise to discrimination, destructive arrogance, and the acquisition of material possessions and wealth that far surpass what any one human being could possibly need.

The eighth consciousness is a vast storehouse of all the causes and effects which affect the way that the world comes to us. It is where we accumulate our karma, both positive and negative. It accounts for our looks, our circumstances, our reactions, our good or bad fortune, our work, our relationships, our health, in fact, every aspect of living. As causes are made in thought or word or deed, so internal effects are stored in this level of consciousness.

Because the internal cause and effect exists deep inside, on a level of life which is interconnecting with all of life, eventually external causes and effects appear in response to the karma in the eighth consciousness. It is the existence of the eighth consciousness that explains the great differences which exist between say `identical` twins in their experiences of life. It explains how things that happen to a young child appear to have no cause in this lifetime. It is this eighth consciousness or karma which migrates between lifetimes. It is our karma from previous lifetimes which we are born with and which then causes the world to come to us on the basis of our internal causes in all the different aspects of life.

If life were only these eight consciousnesses things would be fatalistic and bleak. One cause would create its effect which would condition all future causes and their effects and so on, leaving us stuck on a particular path with particular tendencies. We cannot gain access to this 8th karmic consciousness with our minds, which are too shallow. Will-power and effort alone will not enable us to change deep seated karmic tendencies.

The Ninth Consciousness

Buddhism teaches that there is a ninth consciousness which Nichiren Daishonin identified as the Buddha nature, or Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. It is the basis of all life's functions and is known as the 'amala' or 'fundamentally pure' consciousness, shared at the most profound level with all life. As we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, so life force comes from the ninth consciousness, purifying the
internal causes and effects that lie in the eighth, and improving the way our sixth and seventh consciousnesses function. We start to create new causes in the eighth consciousness, based not on the tendencies that we have developed after making many different causes, but on the life state of the Buddha, and therefore filled with courage, compassion and wisdom. Another benefit of this process is that we start to see our lives with the eyes of the Buddha, enabling us to see our karma in its true light. As we see it, so it becomes easier to challenge it and change it.

To use an analogy, the emergence of the world of Buddhahood is like the rising of the sun. When the sun dawns in the east, the stars that had shone so vividly in the night sky immediately fade into seeming non-existence. If they disappeared, it would go against the principle of causality. But just as the light of the stars and the moon seems to vanish when the sun rises, when we bring forth the state of Buddhahood in our lives we cease to suffer negative effects for each individual past negative cause made. In other words, this does not deny or contradict general causality. General causality remains an underlying premise of Buddhism. But it is subsumed by what might be termed a 'greater causality'. This greater causality is the causality of attaining Buddhahood. It is the causality of the Lotus Sutra and the Mystic Law.

Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo then liberates us from our negative or unhappy karma, and enables us to make causes and create lives that accord with our greatest dreams both for ourselves and for the society in which we live. The best causes we can make are those that contribute to kosen-rufu, and help people to establish Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in their own lives, enabling them to reveal their own Buddha nature.

Primary Original Source: The Tripitaka Sutra, Shastra and Vinaya teachings
(as found in the scripture storehouse of the Indian Sanskrit-Siddham, Chinese, Tibetan and Japanese traditions of the Nalanda Tradition of ancient Nalanda University) of Shakyamuni Buddha, and his Arya Sagely Bodhisattva Bhikshu Monk and Upasaka disciples.

Secondary Compilation Source: The Seeker’s Glossary of Buddhism, 2nd ed., San Francisco, California: Sutra Translation Committee of the United States and Canada, 1998: www.budaedu.org.tw

Secondary Compilation Source: Muller, Charles, editor, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism [DDB], Toyo Gakuen University, Japan, 2007: Username is "guest", with no password.
http://buddhism-dict.net/ddb - Based in large part on the Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms with Sanskrit and English Equivalents (by Soothill and Hodous) Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass, 1997.

The rights to textual segments ("quoted, paraphrased, or excerpted") of the are owned by the author-publisher indicated in the brackets next to each segment and are make available and commented on (under the "shastra tradition") under Fair Use. For rights regarding the Buddhist "Encyclopaedia - Glossary - Dictionary" compilation as a whole, please know that it is offered under this Creative Commons License.

Increasing Effect Mantra:
Om Sambhara Sambhara (These Bhikshu Bodhisattva Bodhichitta Vows) Bimana Sara (Spread) Maha (Greatly) Java (Rapidly) Hum (recited 7x)

To increase by 100,000 times the merit created:
Tadyatha Om Pancha Griya (five offerings or five faces) Ava Bodhani Svaha (7x)

Om Dhuru Dhuru Jaya (Victory) Mukhe (Face or Mouth) Svaha (7x)

I Now Universally Transfer the Merit and Virtue of to All Beings to realize Anuttara-Samyak-Sam-Bodhi
(“Unsurpassed Proper and Equal Right Enlightenment”)

Sarva Mangalam.
May all be Auspicious.

Arya Bhikshu Shantideva’s Bodhisattvacharyavatara says:
Just as Manjushri works
To fulfill the aims of all limited beings
To the far reaches of space in the ten directions,
May my behavior become just like that.

For as long as space remains,
And for as long as wandering beings remain,
May I too remain for that long,
Dispelling the sufferings of wandering beings.

(Like Ananda says in the Shurangama Sutra introduction to the Shurangama Mantra,
"And even could the nature of shunyata melt away, my vajra-like Supreme Resolve would still remain unmoved.)

Whatever sufferings wandering beings might have,
May all of them ripen on me,
And through the Bodhisattva assembly,
May wandering beings enjoy happiness.

May the teachings,
the sole medicine for the sufferings of wandering beings
And the source of all happiness,
Continue to endure for a very long time,
With material support and shows of respect.