14763881 Functions of the Eight Kinds of Consciousness in Yogacara

8/13/2019 14763881 Functions of the Eight Kinds of Consciousness in Yogacara

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FUNCTIONS OF EIGHT KINDS OF

CONSCIOUSNESS IN YOGCRA

ANKUR BARUA

Introduction

The Yogcra school of Buddhist thought was founded by the two brothers, Asanga

and Vasubandhu in the fifth century. Origins before this could be traced only through

traditions where Asanga was believed to be mentored by a man known as aitreya

who might not be historical.!Yogcra was already hundreds of years old by the

time of Asanga."#owever, the $foundational scri%ture& of Yogcra considered to be

Asanga's te(t entitled, $The )cri%ture on the *(%lication of +nderlying eaning

)amdhinirmocanasutra-&.!, The original te(ts of Yogcra no longer e(ist in their

original )anskrit version. But only /hinese and Tibetan translations are available at

%resent. The ga% between the original teachers and the written tradition has

fostered misunderstanding about Yogcra %hiloso%hy.,0

Evolution of Yogcr!

Yogcra y12gk3r"- 4)anskrit 5 yoga %ractice6, is a %hiloso%hical school of

ahayana Buddhism, also known as the Vijnavadaor /onsciousness )chool.0,7

The founders of this school in 8ndia were thought to be aitreya's disci%le Asanga

c.97:0;- and Asanga2s younger half#ere, we

Functions of Eight Kinds of Consciousness in Yogcra ?age !


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must remember that though the aitreya Bodhisatta or Buddha was not a historical

figure, but there is a %ossibility of historical e(istence of an Arahant named aitreya

who is believed to be the teacher of Asanga. 8f this is true then the historical

aitreya should be dated during c."9;:7;-. Vasubandhu also systemati@ed the

Abhidhamma of Buddhist %hiloso%hy. Before being introduced to the Yogcra

%hiloso%hy by his brother Asanga, he was a )autrantika thinker and an e(%ert in

Abhidhamma.0,7,>

The Yogcra school held that consciousness vijna- is real, but its obects of

constructions are unreal. The school2s teachings are thus often characteri@ed by the

%hrase $consciousness


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Yogcra is influenced by the ?rana%aramita sutras, scri%tures of adhyamaka

Buddhism or the iddle Day. Eagaruna, the first


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Buddhist traditions and made an attem%t to resolve the %roblems that most of them

were facing. The key e%istemological and meta%hysical insights of Yogcra evolved

from the common Buddhist belief that knowledge comes only from the senses

vina%ti-.0,7,> Dith a new insight, Yogcra %ro%osed that the mind, itself, was an

as%ect of vina%ti. Asanga further recogni@ed that though the mind can sense its

own obects, which are known as thoughts a%%erce%tion-, but it cannot verify its

own inter%retation. As the senses are constantly misinter%reted, our thoughts

a%%erce%tions- are also misinter%reted in the same way. These misconce%tions are

instinctive and nearly universal because they are caused by the desires, fears and

an(ieties that come with animal survival. This results in an automatic assum%tion of

substance for self and obects atman and dharma- which are created to su%%ress

our fears.0,>

Yogcra de%arts from the common Buddhist understanding not only in its view of

the %roblem, but also in its view of the solution. De cannot %erceive correctly the

%erce%tion that we do not %erceive reality correctly. )o, we never can actually verify

our a%%erce%tion with %erfect accuracy.0,>Yogcra talks about $gras%erFgras%ed&

rather than $subectFobect& res%ectively and also introduces a causal relationshi%.

De gras% because we desireG desire comes from a sense of need. Dhat we

fundamentally lack is a self, thus we seek to %reserve what we do not have.

Because we strive to survive, we do not naturally challenge the assum%tion of our

own being. The solution is to disown the %henomena within our minds as our own.

)ensations of %leasure and %ain, belief, ignorance, language and reason are the

strategies em%loyed to %reserve the self which come at the e(%ense of our

unending sense of need.0,>

Functions of Eight Kinds of Consciousness in Yogcra ?age 0


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(!riou) T'&$) of Con)ciou)n$)) in Yogcr!

The most famous innovation of the Yogcra )chool was the doctrine of eight

consciousnesses. *arly Buddhism and Abhidhamma described si( consciousnesses,

each %roduced by the contact between its s%ecific sense organ and a corres%onding

sense obect. Thus, when a functioning eye comes into contact with a color or

sha%e, visual consciousness is %roduced. /onsciousness does not create the

sensory s%here, but is an effect of the interaction of a sense organ and its true

obect. 8f an eye does not function but an obect is %resent, visual consciousness

does not arise. The same is true if a functional eye fails to encounter a visual

obect.!;,!!,!"

Arising of consciousness is de%endent on sensation. There are altogether si( sense

organs eye, ear, nose, mouth, body, and mind- which interact with their res%ective

sensory obect domains like visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, and

mental s%heres. #ere, the mind is considered to be another sense organ as it

functions like the other senses. 8t involves the activity of a sense organ manas-, its

domain mano


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eighteen com%onents of e(%erience and are known as the eighteen dhtus.

According to Buddhism, these eighteen dhtus are the com%rehensive sensorium of

everything in the universe.!;,!!,!",!

As Abhidhamma grew more com%le(, dis%utes intensified between different

Buddhist schools along a range of issues. 8n order to avoid the idea of a %ermanent

self, Buddhists said citta is momentary. )ince a new citta a%%erceives a new

cognitive field each moment, the a%%arent continuity of mental states was

e(%lained causally by claiming each citta, in the moment it ceased, also acted as

cause for the arising of its successor. This was fine for continuous %erce%tions and

thought %rocesses, but difficulties arose since Buddhists identified a number of

situations in which no citta at all was %resent or o%erative, such as dee% slee%,

unconsciousness, and certain meditative conditions e(%licitly defined as devoid of

citta saIHJ


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The eighth consciousness, laya


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Und$r)t!nding our *ind+Eig%t ,ind) of con)ciou)n$)) !nd t%$ir

function)!!,!",!0

T%$ Eig%t Kind)ofCon)ciou)n$))

Tr!n)for*!tion into fourt'&$) of-i)do*

Function) of

t%$)$ Eig%tCon)ciou)n$))$)

Co*&!ri)on .it%t%$ Co*&ut$r

D!t! /roc$))ingS')t$*

Fir)t fiv$con)ciou)n$))$) 0

!. eye < visual

". ear < auditory. nose . Yogcra BuddhismL A sym%athetic descri%tion and

suggestion for use in Destern theology and %hiloso%hy of religion. )!*' !7LC0. A defense of Yogcra Buddhism. &hilosophy East 0 est

0>0-L 009.

Functions of Eight Kinds of Consciousness in Yogcra ?age !0

14763881 Functions of the Eight Kinds of Consciousness in Yogacara

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