Post #1173

"The eight consciousnesses are the ālaya-consciousness, the afflicted mind (Skt. kliṣṭamanas, Tib. nyon yid), the mental consciousness (Skt. manovijñāna, Tib. yid kyi rnam shes), and the five sense consciousnesses. The ālaya-consciousness is nothing but the sum of the virtuous, unvirtuous, and neutral tendencies that make up the continuum of a sentient being. Thus, it is not like a container that is different from its contents, but more like the constant flow of the water that is called a river. In other words, there is no other underlying, permanent substratum or entity apart from the momentary mental impulses that constitute this everchanging flow. Due to various conditions — mainly the stirring of the afflicted mind (comparable to wind or a strong current) — the various appearances of the five sense consciousnesses and the (mainly conceptual) mental consciousness together with their seemingly external and conceptual objects emerge from the ālaya-consciousness in every moment. Right after each moment of this dualistic interaction of subjects and objects, the imprints created by them merge back into — or are “stored” — in the ālaya, just like waves on the surface of a river. In this way, the ālaya-consciousness is both a cause for saṃsāric appearances and a result, that is, their imprints. This does not mean that the ālaya actively creates anything, it is just the sum of the dynamic process of various causes and conditions interacting, otherwise known as dependent origination. In this way, it is equivalent to fundamental ignorance and the karma accumulated by it, serving as the basis for all saṃsāric appearances and representing the sum of all factors to be relinquished in order to attain liberation. Thus, it ceases upon the attainment of buddhahood." Karl Brunnhölzl