Ālayavijñāna as the Seventh Consciousness

Abstract

Although the Yogācāra school is renowned for the doctrine of eight consciousnesses, the notions of kliṣṭamanas and ālayavijnāna do not seem to have appeared at once. Most likely the concept of ālayavijnāna preceded that of kliṣṭamanas, and, before the addition of kliṣṭamanas, the Yogācāra school advocated just seven consciousnesses: the six consciousnesses and ālayavijnāna. Although the ālayavijnāna is widely accepted as the eighth consciousness in Chinese Buddhism, it thus must have first appeared in Indian Buddhism as a seventh consciousness newly added to the traditional six consciousnesses. In this paper I will trace the evolution of the doctrine of seven consciousnesses in the Indian Buddhist tradition, and will clarify the fact that even after the doctrine of eight consciousnesses was established, kliṣṭamanas was sometimes still omitted or even ignored by some thinkers of this school. My suggestions in this paper are as follows:(1) In the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra, only seven consciousnesses are enumerated, i.e., the traditional six consciousnesses and ādānavijnāna (ālayavijnāna). The notion of kliṣṭamanas is not found in this sūtra. (2) In the Kāśyapaparivarta Commentary, manas is regarded as the possessor or locus of karmic impressions, i.e., one of the two aspects of ādānavijnāna (ālayavijnāna). The notion of kliṣṭamanas is not found in this commentary either. (3) In some of his works that introduce the ādānavijnāna (ālayavijnāna) to mainstream Buddhist schools, Vasubandhu intentionally omits the concept of kliṣṭamanas. Guṇamati calls ādānavijnāna (ālayavijnāna) “the seventh consciousness” in his commentary on Vasubandhu’s Pratītyasamutpāda-vyākhyā. (4) Bodhiruci, translator of the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra and the Kāśyapaparivarta Commentary, regards ādānavijnāna and emptiness as the seventh and eight consciousnesses respectively. He calls ādānavijnāna and emptiness equally ālayavijnāna. Thus, before the addition of kliṣṭamanas, the Yogācāra school advocated the doctrine of seven consciousnesses. Even after the doctrine of eight consciousnesses was established, some Yogācāra thinkers omitted or even ignored kliṣṭamanas in their consciousness system.