The Importance of Alayavijnana in Mahayana Buddhism

 

The way to Buddhahood can be found only in the Great Vehicle. It is absent in the Two Vehicles and is unknown to the noble persons of the Two Vehicles. The Two Vehicles are limited to the observation and contemplation of phenomenal existence—the aggregates, sense fields, and elements. Their cultivation primarily uses the Four Foundations of Mindfulness to realize the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination. The Buddha implicitly touches upon the ultimate reality (the essence of the remainderless nirvana) underlying this phenomenal existence in his teachings on the Two Vehicles. However, the disciples of the Two Vehicles—whether learners or adepts—have no insight into it. Only when they decide to pursue the Great Vehicle will the Buddha help them realize the ultimate reality, through which they can become great bodhisattvas in the Great Vehicle.

The cultivation central to the attainment of Buddhahood concerns the knowledge-of-all-aspects (一切種智), the knowledge of the myriad functional seeds stored within the fundamental mind. This fundamental mind and the immeasurable seeds it contains bring into existence the five aggregates, the twelve sense fields, and the eighteen elements that constitute a sentient being. When a sentient being’s eighteen elements have been fully generated, they will further interact with the seeds in the fundamental mind to directly and indirectly produce all ordinary or noble phenomena within the ten dharma realms of reality, which will enable the manifestation of all kinds of unconditioned supramundane dharmas. Thus, it is said that the ultimate reality of all phenomena is this inherently self-existing fundamental mind called the alaya-vijnana (alaya-consciousness) or tathagatagarbha. All sentient beings owe their existence to their own tathagatagarbha, which before awakening is given the name “alaya-consciousness.” The alaya-consciousness is precisely the eighth consciousness or the reality-suchness (真如), to which all enlightened Chan practitioners have awakened.

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