The Theravada Abhidhamma On Consciousness

The ultimate purpose of Buddhist teaching is to achieve the release from samsara. By accomplishing it, clinging to ‘self ’must be removed. The substrata for clinging are the five aggregates in which consciousness forms the most familiar and most mysterious aspect. The aim of the article is to unveil the

various approaches about the delineation of the process of consciousness within lifetime and between lifetime so as to facilitate the purification of consciousness.

(B) The Definition of Consciousness

The dictionary meaning of the word consciousness stretches through several centuries. One formal definition indicating the range of cognate meanings of consciousness is given in Webster's Third New International Dictionary stating that consciousness is: "(1) a. awareness or perception of an inward

psychological or spiritual fact: intuitively perceived knowledge of something in one's inner self. b. inward awareness of an external object, state, or fact. c: concerned awareness: INTEREST, CONCERN -- often used with an attributive noun. (2): the state or activity that is characterized by sensation,

emotion, volition, or thought: mind in the broadest possible sense: something in nature that is distinguished from the physical. (3): the totality in psychology of sensations, perceptions, ideas, attitudes and feelings of which an individual or a group is aware at any given time or within a particular time span. [1]

((C) Western Approaches of Consciousness

The first influential philosopher to discuss consciousness specifically was Descartes who proposed that consciousness resides within an immaterial domain he called res cogitans (the realm of thought), in contrast to the domain of material things, which he called res extensa (the realm of extension).[2] He suggested that the interaction between these two domains occurs inside the brain, perhaps in the pineal gland. [3]

Alternative solutions, provided by later philosophers, have been very diverse. They can be divided broadly into two categories: dualist solutions that maintain the rigid distinction of Descartes between the realm of consciousness and the realm of matter but give different ways for how the two realms

relate to each other; and monist solutions that maintain that there is really only one realm of being, of which consciousness and matter are both aspects. The two main types of dualism are firstly, substance dualism which holds that the mind is formed of a distinct type of substance not governed by the laws

of physics and secondly, property dualism which holds that the laws of physics are universally valid but cannot be used to explain the mind. The three main types of monism are firstly, physicalism which holds that the mind consists of matter organized in a particular way, secondly, idealism which holds that

only thought or experience truly exists, and matter is merely an illusion, and thirdly, neutral monism which holds that both mind and matter are aspects of a distinct essence that is itself identical to neither of them. There are also many other peculiar theories that cannot be assigned to any of these camps. [4]

((D) Consciousness in Early Buddhism

Consciousness is described as one of the five aggregates in the sutras. "Consciousness" or "discernment"[a] (Skt. vijñāna, Pāli viññāṇa, [b] Tib. rnam-par-shes-pa) means cognizance, [5] [c] that which discerns[6] [d] in the Nikayas/Āgamas. The relationship of consciousness with the other four aggregates is shown in the following diagram :  

(The Five Aggregates (pañca khandha) according to the Pali Canon

 

 
form (rūpa)
 
4 elements

(mahābhūta)

contact

(phassa)

consciousness

(viññāna)

mental factors (cetasika)

feeling

(vedanā)

perception

(sañña)

formation

(saṅkhāra)
- 

    • Form is derived from the Four Great Elements.

    • Consciousness arises from other aggregates.

    • Mental Factors arise from the Contact of

Consciousness and other aggregates

Source: MN 109 (Thanissaro, 2001)  |  diagram details

(E) Concepts Related to Consciousness in Theravāda Abhidhamma

The teaching of the eighteen dhātus provides an alternative to the five aggregates as a description of the workings of the mind. In this teaching, the Six External Bases, the Six Internal Bases, and the Six Consciousnesses function through the five aggregates. The suttas themselves don't describe this alternative. It is in the Abhidhamma, striving to "a single all-inclusive system" that the five aggregates and the eighteen dhātus are explicitly connected.

The eighteen dhātus can be arranged into six triads, where each triad is composed of a sense object, a sense organ, and sense consciousness.


The Eighteen Dhātus

Six External Bases (bāhya-āyatana)

Six Internal Bases (adhyātma-āyatana)

Six Consciousnesses (vijñāna)



(1) Visual Objects (rūpa-āyatana)

(2) Eye Faculty (cakṣur-indriya-āyatana)

(3) Visual Consciousness (cakṣur-vijñāna

(4) Auditory Objects (śabda-āyatana)

(5) Ear Faculty (śrota-indriya-āyatana)

(6) Aural Consciousness (śrota-vijñāna)

(7) Olfactory Objects (gandha-āyatana)

(8) Nose Faculty (ghrāṇa-indriya-āyatana)

(9) Olfactory Consciousness (ghrāṇa-vijñāna)

(10) Gustatory Objects (rasa-āyatana)

(11) Tongue Faculty (jihvā-indriya-āyatana)

(12) Gustatory Consciousness (jihvā-vijñāna)

(13) Tactile Objects (spraṣṭavya-āyatana)

(14) Body Faculty (kaya-indriya-āyatana)

(15) Touch Consciousness (kaya-vijñāna)

(16) Mental Objects (dharma-āyatana)

(17) Mental Faculty (mano-indriya-āyatana)

(18) Mental Consciousness (mano-vijñāna)

In regards to the aggregates:

• The first five sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body) are derivates of form.
 

1. The sixth sense organ (mind) is part of consciousness.
   

• The first five sense objects (visible forms, sound, smell, taste, touch) are also derivatives of form.

1. The sixth sense object (mental object) includes form, feeling, perception and mental formations.
   

• The six sense consciousness are the basis for consciousness. [7]

The Abhidhamma and post-canonical Pali texts create a meta-scheme for the Sutta Pitaka's conceptions of aggregates, sense bases, dhattus (elements)[8] and Nibbāna. This meta-scheme is called the four paramatthas or four ultimate realities.

The four paramatthas with the first three as conditioned and the last one as unconditioned are shown as followed:

• Material phenomena (rūpa, form)

• Mind or Consciousness (Citta)


• Mental factors (Cetasikas: the nama-factors sensation, perception and formation)

• Nibbāna

The mapping between the aggregates, the twelve sense bases, and the ultimate realities is represented in the following chart:

aggregate
external
sense base
internal
sense base
ultimate reality
form
visible form,
sound,
smell,
taste,
touch
eye,
ear,
nose,
tongue,
body
material phenomena
mentalobjects
(dharma)
sensation
mental factors
perception
formation
consciousness
(vinnana) 
mind
(mana)
consciousness
(citta) 
Nibbāna


The Twelve Nidanas describe twelve phenomenal links by which suffering is perpetuated between and within lives. According to Schumann, the nidānas are a later synthesis of Buddhist teachings meant to make them more comprehensible. Schumann also proposes that the twelve-fold is extended over three

existences, and illustrates the succession of rebirths. While Buddhaghosa in Vasubandhu maintains a 2-8-2 schema, Schumann maintains a 3-6-3 scheme, putting the five skandhas alongside the twelve nidānas. [9]


Schumann

The 12-fold chain

the 5 skandhas

First existence

1. Body

2. Sensation

3. Perception

1. Ignorance

2. Formations

4. Formations

3. Consciousness

5. Consciousness

Second existence

4. Nāma-rūpa

1. Body

5. The six senses


6. Touch

7. Sensation

2. Sensation

3. Perception

4. Formations

5. Consciousness

8. Craving

9. Clinging

Third existence

10. Becoming


1. Body

11. Birth

2. Sensation

3. Perception

4. Formations

5. Consciousness

12. Old age and death

All potential energy for the mental (mana) and physical (rupa) manifestation of one's existence (namarupa) in the fourth fold is accumulated in the consciousness in the third fold which induces transmigration or rebirth, causing the origination of a new existence. [10]

((F) Traditional Version of Consciousness in Yogacara

A detailed explanation of the workings of the mind and the way it constructs the reality we experience are delineated by Yogacara. In the Triṃśikaikā-kārikā (Treatise in Thirty Stanzas),[11] Vasubandhu elaborated the concept of the six consciousnesses.

According to the traditional interpretation, Vasubandhu states that there are eight consciousnesses: the five sense-consciousnesses, mind (perception), manas (self-consciousness),[12] and the storehouse-consciousness[13] The theory of the consciousness attempted to explain all the phenomena of cyclic existence, including how rebirth occurs and precisely how karma functions on an individual basis. It addressed questions that had long vexed Buddhist philosophers, such as,

• 'If one carries out a good or evil act, why and how is it that the effects of that act do not appear immediately?' • 'Insofar as they do not appear immediately, where is this karma waiting for its opportunity to play out?'

The answer given by later Yogācārins was the store consciousness (Sanskrit: ālayavijñāna), also known as the basal, or eighth consciousness. It simultaneously acts as a storage place for karmic latencies and as a fertile matrix of predispositions that bring karma to a state of fruition.

The likeness of this process to the cultivation of plants led to the creation of the metaphor of seeds (Sanskrit: bīja) to explain the way karma is stored in the eighth consciousness. In the Yogācāra formulation, all experience without exception is said to result from the ripening of karma.[14]The seemingly

external world is merely a "by-product" (adhipati-phala) of karma. The term vāsanā ("perfuming") is also used, and Yogācārins debated whether vāsāna and bija were essentially the same, the seeds were the effect of the perfuming, or whether the perfuming simply affected the seeds. [15] The type, quantity,

quality and strength of the seeds determine where and how a sentient being will be reborn: one's race, gender, social status, proclivities, bodily appearance and so forth. There is the conditioning of the mind resulting from karma which is called saṃskāra. [16]

The subject of karma is treated in detail from the Yogācāra perspective by Vasubandhu in the Treatise on Action (Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa) . [17] The Yogācāra eightfold network of primary consciousnesses – aṣṭavijñāna in Sanskrit (from compounding aṣṭa, "eight", with vijñāna, "primary consciousness") – is roughly sketched out in the following table.

Name of Consciousness

Associated Nonstatic Phœnomena in terms of Three Circles of Action

English

Sanskrit


Physical Form

Type of

Cognition

Cognitive

Sensor
I.
Eye Consciousness

cakṣur-vijñāna


Sight(s)

Seeing

Eyes

II.

Ear Consciousness

śrotra-vijñāna


Sound(s)

Hearing

Ears

III.

Nose Consciousness

Smell(s)

Smell

Nose

IV.

Tongue Consciousness

Taste(s)

Taste

Tongue

V.

Body Consciousness



Feeling(s)

Touch

Body

VI.

Mental Consciousness

mano-vijñāna

Thought(s)

Ideation

Mind

VII.

Deluded awareness

Manas,
kliṣṭa-manas



Self-grasping

Disturbing emotion or attitude (Skt.:klesha)

Mind

VIII.

All-encompassing foundation consciousness

ālāya-vijñāna, bīja-vijñāna


Memory

Reflexive awareness

Mind

Subgroups I – VI

Each of these Six Common Consciousnesses –  referred to in Sanskrit as pravṛtti-vijñāna[g] – are posited on the basis of valid straightforward cognition, on any individual practitioner's part, of sensory data input experienced solely by means of their bodily sense faculties.

The derivation of this particular dual classification schema for these first six, so-called "common" consciousnesses has its origins in the first fourNikāyas of the Sutta Pitaka – the second division of the Tipitaka in the Pali Canon – as first committed to writing during the Theravada school's fourth council at Sri Lanka in 83 (BCE). [19]

Both individually and collectively: these first six, so-called "common" consciousnesses are posited – in common – by all surviving buddhist tenet systems.

Subgroup VII

This Seventh Consciousness, posited on the basis of straightforward cognition in combination with inferential cognition, is asserted, uncommonly, in Yogācāra.

Subgroup VIII

This Eighth Consciousness, posited on the basis of inferential cognition, is asserted, uncommonly, in Yogācāra.

((G) Transformational Version of Consciousness in Yogacara

The traditional interpretation of the eight consciousnesses may be discarded on the ground of a reinterpretation of Vasubandhu's works. According to Kalupahana, instead of positing such an consciousnesses, the Triṃśikaikā-kārikā describes the transformations of this consciousness: Taking vipaka, manana and vijnapti as three different kinds of functions, rather than characteristics, and understanding vijnana itself as a function (vijnanatiti vijnanam), Vasubandhu seems to be avoiding any form of substantialist thinking in relation to consciousness. [20]

These transformations are threefold: [20]

Whatever, indeed, is the variety of ideas of self and elements that prevails, it occurs in the transformation of consciousness. Such transformation is threefold, [namely,] [21]

The first transformation results in the alaya:

the resultant, what is called mentation, as well as the concept of the object. Herein, the consciousness called alaya, with all its seeds, is the resultant. [22]

The alaya-vijnana therefore is not an eighth consciousness, but the resultant of the transformation of consciousness:

Instead of being a completely distinct category, alaya-vijnana merely represents the normal flow of the stream of consciousness uninterrupted by the appearance of reflective self-awareness. It is no more than the unbroken stream of consciousness called the life-process by the Buddha. It is the cognitive process, containing both emotive and co-native aspects of human experience, but without the enlarged egoistic emotions and dogmatic graspings characteristic of the next two transformations. [23]

The second transformation is manana, self-consciousness or "Self-view, self-confusion, self-esteem and self-love". [24] According to the Lankavatara and later interpreters it is the seventh consciousness. [25] It is "thinking" about the various perceptions occurring in the stream of consciousness". [25] The alaya is defiled by this self-interest;

[I]t can be purified by adopting a non-substantialist (anatman) perspective and thereby allowing the alaya-part (i.e. attachment) to dissipate, leaving consciousness or the function of being intact. [24]

The third transformation is visaya-vijnapti, the "concept of the object". [26] In this transformation the concept of objects is created. By creating these concepts human beings become "susceptible to grasping after the object": [26]

Vasubandhu is critical of the third transformation, not because it relates to the conception of an object, but because it generates grasping after a "real object" (sad artha), even when it is no more than a conception (vijnapti) that combines experience and reflection. [27]

A similar perspective is give by Walpola Rahula. According to Walpola Rahula, all the elements of the Yogācāra storehouse-consciousness are already found in the Pāli Canon. [28] He writes that the three layers of the mind (citta, manas, and vijñana) as presented by Asaṅga are also mentioned in the Pāli Canon:

Thus we can see that 'Vijñāna' 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 'Vijñāna-skandha'. 'Manas' represents the aspect of its mental functioning, thinking, reasoning, conceiving ideas, etc. 'Citta' which is here called 'Ālayavijñāna', 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 possibilities. [29]

In the Sutta Pitaka, the first five sense-consciousnesses along with the sixth consciousness are identified, especially the Salayatana Vagga subsection of the Samyutta Nikaya:

"Monks, I will teach you the All. Listen & pay close attention. I will speak."

"As you say, lord," the monks responded.

The Blessed One said, "What is the All? Simply the eye & forms, ear & sounds, nose & aromas, tongue & flavors, body & tactile sensations, intellect & ideas. This, monks, is called the All. Anyone who would say, 'Repudiating this All, I will describe another,' if questioned on what exactly might be the grounds for his statement, would be unable to explain, and furthermore, would be put to grief. Why? Because it lies beyond range." [30]

((H) Mindstream Approaches of Consciousness

The notion of citta-santāna developed in later Yogacara-thought, where citta-santāna replaced the notion of ālayavijñāna,[31] the store-house consciousness in which the karmic seeds were stored. It is not a "permanent, unchanging, transmigrating entity", like the atman, but a series of momentary consciousnesses. [32]

Lusthaus describes the development and doctrinal relationships of the store consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) and Buddha nature (tathāgatagarbha) in Yogācāra. To avoid reification of the ālaya-vijñāna,

The logico-epistemological wing in part sidestepped the critique by using the term citta-santāna, "mind-stream", instead of ālaya-vijñāna, for what amounted to roughly the same idea. It was easier to deny that a "stream" represented a reified self. [33]

Dharmakīrti (fl. 7th century) wrote a treatise on the nature of the mindstream in his Substantiation of Other Mindstreams (Saṃtãnãntarasiddhi). [34]According to Dharmakirti the mindstream was beginningless temporal sequence. [35]

The notion of mindstream was further developed in Vajrayāna (tantric Buddhism), where "mindstream" (sems-rgyud) may be understood as a stream of succeeding moments, [36] within a lifetime, but also in-between lifetimes. The 14th Dalai Lama holds it to be a continuum of consciousness, extending over succeeding lifetimes, though without a self or soul. [37]

hree centuries after the death of the Buddha (c. 150 BCE) the Abhidharma in several contending Buddhist schools became well developed. In the Abdhidharmic analysis of mind, it is shown that the ordinary thought is subject to conceptual proliferation (prapañca) in the presence of expectations, judgments and desires. This proliferation of conceptualizations form our illusory superimposition of concepts like self and objects upon an ever changing stream of aggregate phenomena. [38]

In this conception of mind no strict distinction is made between the conscious faculty and the actual sense perception of various phenomena. Consciousness is instead said to be divided into six sense modalities, five for the five senses and sixth for perception of mental phenomena. [38]The arising of

cognitive awareness is said to depend on sense perception, awareness of the mental faculty itself which is termed mental or 'introspective awareness' (manovijñāna) and attention (āvartana), the picking out of objects out of the constantly changing stream of sensory impressions.

Rejection of a permanent agent eventually led to the philosophical problems of the seeming continuity of mind and also of explaining how rebirth and karma continue to be relevant doctrines without an eternal mind. This challenge was met by the Theravāda school by introducing the concept of mind as a factor of

existence. This "life-stream" (Bhavanga-sota) is an undercurrent forming the condition of being. The continuity of a karmic "person" is therefore assured in the form of a mindstream (citta-santana), a series of flowing mental moments arising from the subliminal life-continuum mind (Bhavanga-citta), mental content, and attention. [38]

The mindstream provides a continuity from one life to another, akin to the flame of a candle which may be passed from one candle to another: [h]

((I) the Eight-Circuit Model of Consciousness

Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson proposed the Eight-Circuit Model of Consciousness, a psychologically based theory that unifies various interpretations of main altered states of awareness into a single meta-theory, or a hypothesis about an already existing hypothesis. In this case, Leary and Wilson state that the altered levels of consciousness defined in medical fields are products of eight differing brain structures within the human nervous system. [39]

Leary's 8-Circuit Model of Consciousness

Circuit

Title

Imprinting Stage

Description

Biosurvival

The Breath of Consciousness

Infancy

Suckling, nourishment, cuddling, trust versus suspicion

Emotional-Territorial

Freud's Ego

Toddling

Emotions, domination, submission strategies, territory

Symbolic (Neuro-Semantic- Dexterity)

The Rational Mind

From human artifacts and symbol systems

Handling the environment, invention, calculation, prediction

Domestic (Socio-Sexual)

The "Adult" Personality

First mating experiences

Pleasure, reproduction, nurture

Neurosomatic

Zen-Yoga Mind-Body Connection

Neurological-somatic feedback and reprogramming

Consciousness of the body

Neuroelectric (Metaprogramming)

Psionic Electronic-Interface Mind

Re-imprinting and reprogramming earlier circuits

Perceived "realities",cybernetic  consciousness

Neurogenetic (Morphogenetic)

Buddha-Monad "Mind"

Consciousness maturation

Evolutionary consciousness, DNA-RNA brain feedbacks

Psychoatomic (Quantum Non-Local)

Overmind

Consciousness maturity

Out-of-body experiences involving information beyond normal space-time awareness

(J) Conclusion : Process-consciousness, Process-free Consciousness and the Purification of Consciousness

In conclusion, there are two streams of consciousness. One is known as process-consciousness, or vīthi-citta which refers to the stream of consciousness occurring in a cognitive process. Another one is called process-free consciousness, or vīthi-mutta which refers to the stream of consciousness when it is free from cognitive process.

Three different functions are taken by the process-free consciousness. Whenever a cognitive process subsides, the first function as bhavanga-consciousness supervenes to prevent the possibility of any gap in the continuity of consciousness. Furthermore, the second and the third function are as death-consciousness (cuti-citta) and rebirth-linking consciousness (patisandhi-citta) respectively. [40]

Three levels of consciousness are worthwhile to be distinguished in the process of purification of consciousness. The first is called Simple Consciousness which is the awareness of the body, possessed by many animals; the second is called Self Consciousness which is the awareness of being aware, possessed only by humans; while the third is called Cosmic Consciousness which is the awareness of the life and order of the universe, possessed only by humans who are enlightened.[155]

    (K) Notes

    a. Peter Harvey, The Selfless Mind. Curzon Press 1995, page 143-146.

b. According to the Visuddhimagga XIV.82, the Pali terms viññāṇa, citta and mano are synonymous (Buddhaghosa, 1999, p. 453). However, Trungpa (2001, p. 73) distinguishes between viññāṇa and citta, stating that viññāṇa (consciousness) is "articulated and intelligent" while citta (mind) is a "simple instinctive function .... very direct, simple and subtle at the same time."

c. In commenting on the use of "consciousness" in SN 22.3 [1], Bodhi (2000b), pp. 1046-7, n. 18, states: "The passage confirms the privileged status of consciousness among the five aggregates. While all the aggregates are conditioned phenomena marked by the three characteristics, consciousness serves as the connecting thread of personal continuity through the sequence of rebirths.... The other four aggregates serve as the 'stations for consciousness' (vinnanatthitiyo: see [SN] 22:53-54). Even consciousness, however, is not a self-identical entity but a sequence of dependently arisen occasions of cognizing; see MN I 256-60."

d. Harvey writes, "This is in contrast to saññā, which knows by grouping things together, labeling them. This contrast can be seen in terms of the typical objects of these states: colours for saññā (S.III.87), but tastes (S.III.87) or feelings (M.I.292) for viññāṇa. While colours usually be immediately identified, tastes and feelings often need careful consideration to properly identify them: discernment and analysis are needed."

e. These are not physical components, but rather an agglomeration or coming together of subliminal inclinations or tendencies.

f. The Pali canon universally identifies that vedana involves the sensing or feeling of something as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral (see, for instance, SN 22). When contemporary authors elaborate on vedana, they define it similarly (see, for instance, Nhat Hanh, 1999, p. 178; Trungpa, 2001, p. 21; and, Trungpa, 2002, p. 126). The one exception is in Trungpa (1976), pp. 20-23, where he states that the "strategies or impluses" of "indifference, passion and aggression" are "part of the third stage [[[aggregate]]]," "guided by perception." (This section of Trungpa, 1976, is anthologized in Trungpa, 1999, pp. 55-58.)

g. Sanskrit pravṛtti-vijñāna refers to the first six consciousnesses which derive from direct sensory (including mental) cognition.

h. Compare the analogies in the Milinda Panha

L) References

    2. Dy, Jr., Manuel B. (2001). Philosophy of Man: selected readings. Goodwill Trading Co. p. 97. ISBN 971-12-0245-X.

    3. "Descartes and the Pineal Gland". Stanford University. November 5, 2008. Retrieved 2010-08-22.

    4. William Jaworski (2011). Philosophy of Mind: A Comprehensive Introduction. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 5–11. ISBN 978-1-4443-3367-1.

    5. See, for instance, SN 22.79, "Being Devoured" (Bodhi, 2000b, p. 915).

    6. Peter Harvey, The Selfless Mind. Curzon Press 1995, page 143-146

    7. Skandha, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, p.9,10.

    8. Bodhi, Bhikkhu (ed.) (2000a). A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma: The Abhidhammattha Sangaha of Ācariya Anuruddha. Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti Editions. ISBN 1-928706-02-9, p.6.

    9. Schumann, Hans Wolfgang (1974), Buddhism: an outline of its teachings and schools, Theosophical Pub. House

    10. Eight Consciousnesses, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, p.7.

    11. Kalupahana, David J. (1992), The Principles of Buddhist Psychology, Delhi: ri Satguru Publications, p.135-143.

    12. Kalupahana, David J. (1992), The Principles of Buddhist Psychology, Delhi: ri Satguru Publications, p. 138-140.

    13. Kalupahana, David J. (1992), The Principles of Buddhist Psychology, Delhi: ri Satguru Publications, p. 137-139.

    14. Harvey, Brian Peter (2000). An Introduction to Buddhist ethics: Foundations, Values, and Issues. Cambridge University Press. p. 297. ISBN 0-521-55640-6.

    15. Lusthaus, Dan (2002). Buddhist Phenomenology: A philosophical Investigation of Yogācāra Buddhism and the Ch'eng Wei-shih lun. RoutledgeCurzon. p. 194. ISBN 0-415-40610-2

    16. Lusthaus, Dan (2002). Buddhist Phenomenology: A philosophical Investigation of Yogācāra Buddhism and the Ch'eng Wei-shih lun. RoutledgeCurzon. p. 48. ISBN 0-415-40610-2.

    17. Karmasiddhiprakarana: The Treatise on Action by Vasubandhu. translated by Etienne Lamotte and Leo M. Pruden. Asian Humanities Press: 2001 ISBN 0-89581-908-2. pg 13, 35

18. Berzin, Alexander. "Mind and Mental Factors: the Fifty-one Types of Subsidiary Awareness". Berlin, Germany; June 2002; revised July, 2006: The Berzin Archives. Retrieved 14 February 2013. Unlike the Western view of consciousness as a general faculty that can be aware of all sensory and mental objects,

Buddhism differentiates six types of consciousness, each of which is specific to one sensory field or to the mental field. A primary consciousness cognizes merely the essential nature (ngo-bo) of an object, which means the category of phenomenon to which something belongs. For example, eye consciousness cognizes a sight as merely a sight. The Chittamatra schools add two more types of primary consciousness to make their list of an eightfold network of

primary consciousnesses (rnam-shes tshogs-brgyad): deluded awareness (nyon-yid), alayavijnana (kun-gzhi rnam-shes, all-encompassing foundation consciousness, storehouse consciousness). Alayavijnana is an individual consciousness, not a universal one, underlying all moments of cognition. It

cognizes the same objects as the cognitions it underlies, but is a nondetermining cognition of what appears to it (snang-la ma-nges-pa, inattentive cognition) and lacks clarity of its objects. It carries karmic legacies (sa-bon) and the mental impressions of memories, in the sense that both are nonstatic abstractions imputed on the alayavijnana. The continuity of an individual alayavijnana ceases with the attainment of enlightenment.

19. Berzin, Alexander. "A Brief History of Buddhism in India before the Thirteenth-Century Invasions". Berlin, Germany; January, 2002; revised April, 2007: The Berzin Archives. Retrieved 7 February 2013. The Theravada and Sarvastivada Schools each held their own fourth councils. The Theravada School held its

fourth council in 83 BCE in Sri Lanka. In the face of various groups having splintered off from Theravada over differences in interpretation of Buddha words (sic.), Maharakkhita and five hundred Theravada elders met to recite and write down Buddha’s words in order to preserve their authenticity. This was

the first time Buddha’s teachings were put into written form and, in this case, they were rendered into the Pali language. This version of The Three Basket-like Collections, The Tipitaka, is commonly known as The Pali Canon. The other Hinayana Schools, however, continued to transmit the teachings in oral form.

    20. Kalupahana, David J. (1992), The Principles of Buddhist Psychology, Delhi: ri Satguru Publications, p.137

    21. Kalupahana, David J. (1992), The Principles of Buddhist Psychology, Delhi: ri Satguru Publications, p. 192, Trimsika verse 1.

    22. Kalupahana, David J. (1992), The Principles of Buddhist Psychology, Delhi: ri Satguru Publications, p. 194, Trimsika verse 2.

    23. Kalupahana, David J. (1992), The Principles of Buddhist Psychology, Delhi: ri Satguru Publications, p. 139.

    24. Kalupahana, David J. (1992), The Principles of Buddhist Psychology, Delhi: ri Satguru Publications, p. 138

    25. Kalupahana, David J. (1992), The Principles of Buddhist Psychology, Delhi: ri Satguru Publications, p. 140.

    26. Kalupahana, David J. (1992), The Principles of Buddhist Psychology, Delhi: ri Satguru Publications, p. 141.

    27. Kalupahana, David J. (1992), The Principles of Buddhist Psychology, Delhi: ri Satguru Publications, p. 141-142.

    28. Padmasiri De Silva, Robert Henry Thouless, Buddhist and Freudian Psychology. Third revised edition published by NUS Press, 1992 page 66.

    29. Walpola Rahula, quoted in Padmasiri De Silva, Robert Henry Thouless, Buddhist and Freudian Psychology. Third revised edition published by NUS Press, 1992 page 66,

    30. SN 35.23 Sabba Sutta: The All

    31. Lusthaus, Dan (2014), Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogacara Buddhism and the Ch'eng Wei-shih Lun, Routledge, p.7.

    32. Davids, C.A.F. Rhys (1903). "The Soul-Theory in Buddhism" in The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Source: [8] (accessed: Sunday 1 February 2009), pp. 587-588

    33. Lusthaus, Dan (undated). What is and isn't Yogācāra. Source: [9] (accessed: 4 December 2007)

    34. Source: [10] (accessed: Wednesday 28 October 2009). There is an English translation of this work by Gupta (1969: pp.81-121) which is a rendering of Stcherbatsky's work from the Russian: Gupta, Harish C. (1969). Papers of Th. Stcherbatsky. Calcutta: Indian Studies Past and Present. (translated from Russian by Harish C. Gupta).

    35. Dunne, John D. (2004). Foundations of Dharmakīrti's philosophy. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-184-X, 9780861711840. Source: [11] (accessed: Monday 4 May 2010), p.1

    36. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche (2002). Healing with Form, Energy, and Light. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications. ISBN 1-55939-176-6. p.82

    37. Lama, Dalai (1997). Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective. Translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa. Snow Lion Publications. Source: [12] (accessed: Sunday 25 March 2007)


    38. Coseru, Christian, "Mind in Indian Buddhist Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)

    39. Wilson, Robert Anton (2008). Cosmic Trigger: Final Secret of the Illuminati. Las Vegas, NV: New Falcon Publications. pp. 1–269. ISBN 978-1561840038.

    40. Professor Y. Karunadasa (Summer 2015). ME02 Theravāda Abhidharma: Origins and Development – Lecture 11, p.1.