jdoskow@spiff.Tymnet.COM (Jonathan Doskow) (12/14/90)
[The original article was really long and so I split it into 2 long parts.
The first part is the main text and the second part contains footnotes.]
Dinesh
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This is the text of an article published in the Friday, July 24, 1987
issue of the World Tribune, the weekly journal of NSA, the American
association of lay practitioners of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism. I've
searched the entire paper for a copyright notice and can't find one.
My apologies if I've overlooked some well known convention for newspapers.
The relevance to various discussions on this news group will, I think,
be evident.
The footnotes were prepared with the aid of A Dictionary of Buddhist
Terms and Concepts, NSIC, Tokyo, 1983.
jd
Jon Doskow
jdoskow@Tymnet.COM
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Probing the depths of life,
The nine consciousnesses - a look into the reality of life
The theory of the nine consciousnesses is an important Buddhist doctrine
which analyzes the various strata of life and also clarifies its totality.
While it has its origins in the consciousness-Only thought of Indian
Mahayana Buddhism, the actual doctrine of the nine consciousnesses was
formulated later in China by the Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai[1], who
incorporated it into his philosophical system. In the Latter Day of the
Law[2], Nichiren Daishonin[3] manifested the entity of the ninth
consciousness as the Gohonzon[4] of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo[5].
As is well known, efforts to pursue the various strata of mind extending
beneath the conscious realm have been made in the West since the beginning
of this century, through the development of depth psychology and
psychoanalysis. In this respect, we may say that many of the notions
represented by the principle of the nine consciousnesses are now drawing
worldwide interest.
"Consciousness" in the expression "nine consciousnesses" has been defined
since the time of early Buddhism as one of the five components (form,
perception, conception, volition, and consciousness) which, coming together,
form the individual human being. As suggested by the original Sanskrit
word, Vijnana, meaning discerning, comprehending or understanding, it
indicates the functions of cognition and judgement (that is, the act of
distinguishing or discerning, as well as the subject who performs these
functions. The Abhidharma (doctrinal commentary) literature of early
Hinayana Buddhism defines six consciousnesses which belong respectively
to the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, and which function with
respect to the "six objects" - forms, sounds, scents, tastes, textures,
and dharmas (mental or spiritual elements). These six objects indicate
everything which can be perceived by the senses, while the six
consciousnesses indicate the functions which perceive these objects as
well as the subject who perceives them.
The Conscious Workings of the Mind:
We can easily understand the workings of these six consciousnesses in
terms of our daily experience. We receive information about the external
world through the five sense organs-the eye, ear, nose, tongue and body.
Based on the integration of this data by the sixth consciousness, or
"mind" here indicates the ordinary workings of the human mind which
consider things on the basis of general notions and distinguish among
objects. In other words, we can view the first six consciousnesses as
functions emerging in response to the everyday world of human affairs.
In terms of the theory of the Ten Worlds[6], we might say that these
consciousnesses correspond to the realm of the first six worlds, from
Hell through Heaven. In these "six paths" from Hell to Heaven, one is
continually responding with joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, etc. to various
external stimuli. Completely caught up in his reactions to everyday
existence, he is unable to see it objectively.
Because everyone can clearly recognize the function of the six
consciousnesses, we may say that they function on the "outer surface"
of consciousness; they provide an analysis of the conscious workings of
the mind. Even though they operate through the physical senses, the six
consciousnesses are regarded as "mind." This reflects the fact that, of
the two aspects of body and mind, early Buddhism or Abhidharma Buddhism
was far more concerned with the mind.
In this connection, we may note that the Kusha Ron
(Skt. Abhidharma-kosha-shastra) and other works representative of
Abhidharma Buddhism define the sixth consciousness as the ultimate
basis of life and the other five consciousnesses as the specific
functions of life. Early Buddhism did not advance its inquiry beyond
this point.
However, if one posits the sixth consciousness as the ultimate basis
in life, one invariably encounters certain logical difficulties. First
of all, because the functions of the six consciousnesses by nature arise
and subside in response to circumstances, we have the problem of
wherein we should seek the subject who undergoes the cycle of birth
and death.
To elaborate, suppose, for example, that one looks at a flower and forms
the judgment, "it is red." However, unless one has previously learned
what the notion of, "red" refers to (and in that sense, unless there is
some persisting subject), that cognition will not arise. However, since
the workings of the six consciousnesses are interrupted from time to time,
within their framework, we cannot assume a continuing subject who performs
cognition.
The Subjective "Self" Below the Conscious Level
This difficulty was resolved by the Consciousness-Only[7] school of
Mahayana Buddhism, which postulated a continuing subject below the
conscious level of mind. Consciousness-Only thought, which was
systematized by Asanga, Vasubandhu and others, defines two more realms
of mind beneath the six consciousnesses-the seventh, or
mano-consciousness, and the eighth, or alaya-consciousness.
The word mano- of "mano-consciousness" is a phonetic change of manas and
originally meant mind, intellect or thought. The sixth consciousness or
"mind" also indicates a function of thought, but the sixth consciousness
is limited to thoughts and judgments concerning the ordinary, external
matters of daily life. In contrast, the mano-consciousness represents a
deeper and more powerful function of thought. Unlike the sixth
consciousness, which takes as its object the various circumstances of daily
life, functioning in response to them, the mano-consciousness is a function
of thought which operates from within of its own accord, regardless of
external conditions. The Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai writes in his Konkomyo
Gengi (Profound Meaning of the Konkomyo Sutra), "The seventh discriminative
consciousness abhors and detests birth and death, and rejoices in and longs
for nirvana. This is the consciousness of the two vehicles." As this
passage indicates, the mano-consciousness may be said to indicate the
functions of thought of the life-states of people of the two vehicles
(Learning and Realization), who are no longer at the mercy of immediate
affairs but view everyday the world with cool detachment and seek to
grasp the truth which permeates all changing phenomena.
A further characteristic of the mano-consciousness is a strong attachment
to self. The basic function of this consciousness, in addition to carrying
on thought, is that of attachment to one's personal ego. Therefore, the
mano-consciousness is said to be always accompanied by four types of
illusions: illusion that the self is absolute and unchanging, illusion
leading to the theories that the self is absolute and unchanging, illusion
leading to self-conceit, and illusion leading to self-attachment. It is
well known that people of the two vehicles, although they have grasped a
portion of the truth, are nevertheless still capable of falling into
egotism and arrogance. We may say that this is because they become
prisoners of the strong tendency towards self-attachment which accompanies
the mano-consciousness.
However, the sense of self arising from this seventh consciousness differs
from the everyday ego-awareness which stems from perception of one's body
or mind and consciously employs the notion of "myself." In that the
functions of the mano-consciousness are considered to proceed uninterrupted,
they differ from those operating on the outer surface of the mind which are
subject to interruption. They are, for example, like those functions at
work in the life of someone reduced by an accident to a vegetable-like state,
who nevertheless breathes and makes efforts to sustain himself. The
mano-consciousness represents a very deep, unconscious awareness of self.
Thus with the mano-consciousness we begin to enter the realm beneath
conscious awareness. However, the workings of the mano-consciousness are
not entirely subconscious. Its functions of thought, like those of the
sixth consciousness, operate on the conscious surface of the mind. In
other words, it is appropriate to view the mano-consciousness as a
transitional realm, spanning both conscious and subconscious dimensions.
Clarification of the subconscious realm of human beings has advanced in the
West to some extent through the insights of depth psychology. Freud, for
example, advanced the concept of the individual unconscious, and
demonstrated that repressed libidinal and aggressive drives give rise to
hysteria and other neuroses. On the other hand-for example, in works like
the Joyuishiki ron - Buddhism defines aggressive or sexual impulses or other
instinctual drives operating via the mano-consciousness as "earthly desires"
(bonno), such as greed, anger, and stupidity. In this sense, we may say
that what depth psychology clarifies as the individual unconscious
roughly corresponds to the realm of the mano-consciousness.
Karma Storage: The Alaya-Consciousness
The mano-consciousness thus combines both those functions of thought which
have broken the confines of reaction to immediate affairs, and a strong
subconscious awareness of self. In terms of the Ten Worlds, it
corresponds to the life-states of the two vehicles. As we have seen, the
definition of this consciousness resolves the problem of where we should
seek the continuing subject who thinks, perceives, etc. It does not,
however, provide us with a solution to the problem of how karma is
transmitted and how it continues to operate from past to present to future.
To answer this question, the Consciousness-Only school proposed, below the
mano-consciousness, the presence of a still deeper stratum of mind called
the eighth or alaya-consciousness
The word alaya generally means "abode" or "receptacle." As this term
suggests, all one's actions (karma) from the infinite past are stored as
potential influences, called "seeds," in this subconscious realm.
Therefore, the alaya-consciousness is also sometimes called the
"storehouse consciousness," or "repository of seeds." This concept of
"seeds"-likened to the seeds of a plant which sprout to produce branches
and leaves - originated with the Consciousness-Only school and represents
the latent power of one's actions to produce further influences.
For example, it has been noted that someone who has trained in sports for
a certain period, even if he stops training for a while, can quickly
regain his former skill when he resumes training, or at least, much more
quickly than someone who has never trained in the first place. In this
case, we may say that the action of training in sports (karma) has
imprinted its influence as "seeds" in the life of that individual.
Whether good or evil, the influence of all our experiences and actions
accumulates as "seeds" in the alaya-consciousness, and those seeds in
turn influence further actions. Since these karmic seeds are not
governed by the external world but persist without interruption, needless
to say, the lie at an extremely deep level of life. However, an unceasing
reciprocal influence takes place between these seeds in the deep stratum
called the alaya- consciousness and the surface levels where actions
transpire.
This alaya realm, a veritable whirlpool of various karma both good and bad,
can never be transformed by the powers of thought belonging to those of the
two vehicles. The Konkomyo Gengi states, "The eighth consciousness
contains all impressions without loss and combines with delusion and
ignorance. This is the consciousness of bodhisattvas." As this passage
indicates, among the Ten Worlds, that one which corresponds to the
alaya-consciousness is the life-state of the bodhisattva, who battles the
evil within through his practice for the sake of others. In other words,
Bodhisattva is the state in which one arouses the power of compassion,
and, by forming the good karma of altruistic action, strives to subdue the
evil karma that has been imprinted in the inner realm of life, thus working
towards self reformation. Only the bodhisattva state, in which one breaks
through the walls of egotism and dedicates one's life for the sake of
others, can affect the alaya-consciousness.
The Alaya-Consciousness and Shared Karma
The Alaya consciousness, where karma is stored, has an aspect which
transcends the individual life and is linked to the lives of others.
Karma is formed not only by the individual acting alone, but also by
his acts performed in cooperation or association with others. In
Buddhism, karma which is experienced by a number of individuals is
called shared or general karma.
For example, the ninth volume of Nagarjuna's Jujubibasha Ron states,
"Sentient beings are born by virtue of individual karma, insentient
beings, by virtue of shared karma." Individual lives come into existence
by virtue of their individual actions, while insentient life forms (such
as mountains, rivers, the earth, etc.) are what shared or group karma
produces.
"Insentient life" here in broad terms indicates the insentient environment,
which includes not only the world of nature but also the culture of human
society. We may say that what sort of country or culture a people have
is attributable to their shared karma.
Accordingly, the alaya-consciousness contains not only individual karma,
but karma common to one's family, race, and even to humanity as a whole.
The realm of the alaya-consciousness, which is thus broadly linked to
others, may in this sense be regarded as encompassing the collective
unconscious postulated by Carl Jung and similar concepts from depth
psychology.
The nature of the alaya-consciousness is not definable as being solely
either good or evil. It is, so to speak, like the proverbial piece of
blank paper: The potential effects of all one's actions, whether good
or evil, are deposited there just as they are, as karmic seeds.
Encompassing "the two aspects of purity and impurity," the
alaya-consciousness is a realm where the powers of good and evil
compete furiously.
Thus, when we deeply consider the matter, unless both good and evil in
the realm of the alaya-consciousness are subsumed in a more profound
dimension, they will be incessantly locked in combat. Even the
bodhisattva, who aims at conquering evil karma through altruistic conduct,
will in the end remain locked in combat with ineradicable evil, with
no practical hope of attaining the absolute state of Buddhahood.
Thus the Consciousness-Only school, which postulates the
alaya-consciousness as the ultimate basis of life, does not, in the
final analysis, open the way to Buddhahood. Therein lies the rationale
for positing the ninth, amala-consciousness, as the original reality of
the universe and the foundation for attaining Buddhahood.
The word amala means spotless, pure, or undefiled. For this reason, the
ninth consciousness is also sometimes referred to as the "fundamental
pure consciousness." T'ien-t'ai states, "The ninth is the
Buddha-consciousness" (Konkomyo Gengi). As this statement indicates,
the amala-consciousness is itself the life of Buddha, the greater self
which is eternal and unchanging. Only on the basis of this greater self
which is pure and undefiled can put an end to the incessant strife of the
good and evil represented by the alaya-consciousness, and the other
consciousnesses as well all come to shine with a brilliance unaffected by
karma.
The Gohonzon: Entity of the Ninth Consciousness
T'ien-t'ai attempted to reach this ninth consciousness with his practice
of the "meditation on the life-moment and the Law" (kan-ken kampo).
However, this was an extremely difficult practice which only a handful
of individuals were capable of carrying out. In the Latter Day of the
Law, when Shakyamuni's Buddhism becomes lost and obscured, the
T'ien-t'ai method becomes inappropriate. For the sake of this age,
Nichiren Daishonin declared that the ninth consciousness indicated by
T'ien-t'ai as the fundamental reality of the universe is
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. He also manifested this original cosmic life in
concrete form as the Gohonzon, opening the great path to Buddhahood,
whereby all people can manifest the greater self latent within. In the
Gosho[7] entitled "The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon," the Daishonin states,
"Never seek this Gohonzon outside yourself. The Gohonzon exists only
within the mortal flesh of us ordinary people who embrace the Lotus
Sutra and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. The body is the palace of the
ninth consciousness, the unchanging reality which reigns over all life's
functions."
In other words, the great life of the ninth consciousness, the ultimate
reality, exists absolutely within the lives of us who believe in the
Mystic Law and devote ourselves to chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Moreover, the Gohonzon of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo which the Daishonin
inscribed is itself the concrete embodiment of the ultimate reality of
the ninth consciousness, as this passage clearly indicates.
By believing in and embracing the Gohonzon - the embodiment of the ninth
consciousness, the unchanging reality which reigns over all life's
functions- and by chanting daimoku to it, we can manifest the great life
of the ninth consciousness from within ourselves, and in this way freely
use the workings of the first eight consciousnesses to further our
enlightenment.
However, it goes without saying that even Buddhist practice must, at the
level of concrete action, expand into the realities of the everyday
world. Event the life and enlightenment of Buddha must have some
connection to the phenomenal world; otherwise, they would be merely an
idealistic, fanciful abstraction. The state of Buddhahood which the
Buddha speaks of is inseparable from the ordinary world, and at the same
time, makes the ordinary world enlightened.
In the Gosho called "Hell and Buddhahood," Nichiren Daishonin states,
"Base your mind on the ninth consciousness and your practice on the six
consciousnesses." We can read this passage as teaching us that the
practice for attaining Buddhahood lies in coming to grips with the
realities of daily life on the basis of the Mystic Law. That is, we do
not dwell peacefully in an "enlightenment" divorced from the real world.
Rather, through unceasing communication between the ultimate basis of
life and the everyday world, the establishment of an unshakable
self-identity becomes possible. Bearing this principle of Buddhist
practice in mind, we can, by grappling with reality on the basis of
daily gongyo and daimoku, achieve a fundamental revolution of our
life-state.