In Buddhism, consciousness-only (Sanskrit:
vijñapti-mātratā, vijñapti-mātra,
citta-mātra; Chinese:
唯識; Pinyin: wei shi;
Japanese: yuishiki) is a theory
according to which all existence is nothing but
consciousness, and therefore there is nothing that lies
outside of the mind. This means that conscious-experience is
nothing but false discriminations or imaginations; a
provisional antidote; thus, the notion of consciousness-only is
an indictment of the problems engendered by the activities of
consciousness. This was a major component of the thought of
the school of Yogācāra, which had a major impact
on subsequent schools after its introdution in East Asia.
Doctrine
According to the Vijñānavādins, embedded at the heart
of Buddhism lies a seeming paradox. In constrast to the
Brahmanic teachings of the Upanishads, the Buddha
stated quite clearly that the self (atman) is an
illusion and that man thus has no soul
(anatman). However, there is transmigration
(samsara) from one body to another. This poses a
difficult question: "If there is no soul, what is it that
reincarnates?"
The theory of consciousness-only starts by explaining the
regularity and coherence of sense impressions as due to an
underlying store of perceptions
(ālaya-vijñāna) evolving from the
accumulation of traces of earlier sense perceptions. These are
active, and produce "seeds" (bija) similar to
themselves, according to a regular pattern, as seeds produce
plants. Each being possesses a store of perceptions and beings
which are generically alike will produce similar perceptions
from their stores at the same time. The external world is
created when the store consciousness (ālaya)
is "perfumed" (薰) by seeds, i.e. the effects of good and
evil deeds.
To summarize, the seeds interact in three ways:
- Seeds produce the external world.
- Seeds are perfumed by the external world.
- Seeds produce seeds.
And this gives the solution to the original paradox. The
conception of "self", the false atman, is produced from seeds.
Actions in this world, good, bad and neutral deeds, perfume (or
mutate) these seeds. The seeds then produce new seeds, with
some seeds tainted by your actions, and others unaffected.
Even after death, the impressions of deeds — their
karma — linger on in the seeds of alaya
consciousness. Since the seeds have a natural affinity to join
together (pratisamdhi ), reincarnation occurs when seeds
fuse and new states of seventh consciousness (delusions of
"self") form. A Buddha is someone who has managed to
obliterate all impressions of himself, all his perfumings of
the seeds, and escape the wheel of samsara. Such alaya
consciousness fully cleansed of karmic sediment is known as
amalavijñâna, or "pure consciousness".
The doctrine of consciousness-only thus reduces all
existence to one hundred dharmas (法 factors) in five
divisions 五位, namely, mind, mental function,
material, not associated with mind and unconditioned, dharmas.
The consciousness-only school thus sets out to enumerate and
describe all these dharmas in detail.
Another important contribution of the consciousness-only
thinkers was that of the three natures of imaginary,
provisional and real. See three natures for details.
History
The major framework of Yogācāra theory was developed
by the two brothers Vasubandhu 世親 and
Asaṅga 無著 in such treatises as the
Abdhidharma-kośa-bhāsya
倶舍論, the
Triṃśikā Vijñaptimātratāsiddhiḥ
(Thirty Verses on consciousness-only )
唯識三十頌,
Mahāyāna-saṃgraha 攝大乘論,
and the
Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra瑜伽師地論.
Dharmapala's Vijñaptimâtratâsiddhi-shâstra is an
important commentary that resolved several doctrinal disputes
that had risen out of the original texts.
Consciousness-only doctrine was also defined in sutras such as
the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra and
Śrīmālā-sūtra
勝鬘經. The
Mahāyāna-saṃgraha , for example, says,
"All conscious objects are only constructs of consciousness
because there are no external objects. They are like a dream."
(如此衆識唯識
以無塵等故
譬如夢等)
〔攝大乘論T 1593.31.118b12
〕.
See also
