Page 41 - 加拿大佛教会湛山精舍杂志季刊第74期

i.e. eye; ear; tongue; nose; body; as well as the brain. Where does the ego’s counterpart dwell? It resides
Every mind-contact or piece of information results in in the eighth consciousness called Alaya and con-
guna or dust, resulting in form; sound; smell; taste; stitutes the foundation for the other seven kinds of
touch; idea. Each of sense corresponds to its specific consciousness. It acts as the storehouse for all kar-
kind of consciousness within its specialized field and mas as well as their transmutations. “Alaya” is a
is not interchangeable with any of the other kinds; Sanskrit term, literally meaning “non-dissolution”. It
its task is to know. The mind-consciousness has the conveys that there is no annihilation, only variation
capacity to rise simultaneously with any one of the on what preceded. The Alaya is at times referred to
seven components, and/or assist its functions: The as “store consciousness” because it enshrines all the
eye sees form and knows it as form. Whether the seeds, including the good; the bad; the mundane; and
seen is green, small, beautiful or shiny is discerned the supramundane ones. What is meant by “seeds”?
or decided by mind-consciousness. Any one of the It is just another term for the latent control the three
five kinds of consciousness related to the five senses karmas by body, speech and mind exercise over the
must have, at the time of its arising, the mind-con- store consciousness. The action of the karmas’ la-
sciousness arise at the same time in order to function. tent power is known as the “perfume of the store con-
When mind-consciousness rises by itself it generates sciousness”. Remaining latent until the opportunity
thought. It is known as the single mind conscious- arises, the perfume then becomes outwardly manifest
ness. Psychology usually stops here, with the sixth in the process called “manifested action”. Manifest-
consciousness. ed action re-perfumes the store consciousness and be-
comes a seed. The sequence from seed to perfume, to
Textual Buddhism recognizes two additional kinds of manifested action, to perfume and to seed moves on
consciousness. The seventh is named Manah and it in that order. The process of one changing into the
functions as the root of the sixth kind of conscious- next never stops. This is how karma and store con-
ness. Mind-consciousness rests at times, but Manah sciousness are interdependent and how they interact.
does not. It is the agency of ego-grasping that func-
tions without interruption. It is present in all sentient The karmic seeds contained in the store conscious-
beings. Whatever is perceived by us as existing, we ness are countless. As they ripen, they produce birth
apprehend and retain because of ego. This teaching is after birth, death after death in a never ending process.
referred to as the Dharma of Ego Clinging. Ego-pro- Wholesome seeds result in good birth, unwholesome
jections constitute what is held as reality by the unin- seeds, in an unwholesome one. Their wholesome
formed; misconstrued as lasting, it is tenaciously held quality or the lack of it depend entirely on karmic
on to. This holding on to things is known in the con- causes from a previous life. When sentient beings
text of Buddhadharma as the Dharma of Grasping. have produced birth in the six realms, the cycle is
Delusory thought, rooted in a misconstrued notion of then termed “one round of impermanence”. Karmic
self and its objects as lasting and as independently seeds are rooted in time and, therefore, impermanent,
existing, brings in its wake selfish concerns in their meaning they come into being from non-being only to
countless variations. Karmas and the concomitant vanish again, ripening one at a time. These countless
suffering are the inevitable results. Because of the in- karmic seeds contain the complete range of possibil-
cessant activity of the Manah, consciousness as such ities or, in other words, the full potential and there-
is obstructed in delivering its pure, clear message. fore any sentient being may be a human being in the
Therefore the great sages of the past referred to Man- present life, deva in the next, and a horse in the one
ah as defiled or defilement consciousness. that will follow. The order in which karma ripens is
very clear. It cannot remain the same under changing

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