The Ālayavijñāna is the True Mind of All Beings

Quote:

“The minds of all sentient beings arise as the graspers and the grasped; their grasped objects are all signless, [but] ignorant individuals create false distinctions. Being revealing and exhibiting, the ālaya-consciousness [ālayavijñāna] is a wondrous storehouse consciousness, that which is beyond the grasper and the grasped. I proclaim it to be the reality-suchness.”  The Lankavatara Sutra, Vol. 6

「眾生心所起，能取及所取；所見皆無相，愚夫妄分別。 顯示阿賴耶，殊勝之藏識；離於能所取，我說為真如。」《大乘入楞伽經》卷 6

Remarks:

The Buddha expounded that the various states perceived by sentient beings are not separate from the minds that can grasp and the grasped objects. These are all falsely perceived phenomena that arise from the True Mind depending on the conditions, and do not have a true nature by themselves. Because sentient beings do not understand that the grasper and the grasped are both manifested/transformed by the True Mind (tathāgatagarbha), they engage in various good and evil deeds in the illusory discrimination.

Nonetheless, bodhisattvas do not depart from the worldly dharmas to realize the True Mind, the ālaya-consciousness, which can be distinctly perceived within all sentient beings at all times. The alternative name for ālaya-consciousness is supreme storehouse consciousness. It can be directly observed (by enlightened bodhisattvas) that it is without the grasper and the grasped and does not discriminate among the six sense objects. Therefore, the ālaya-consciousness, the storehouse consciousness taught by Buddha Shakyamuni, is the reality-suchness.

From the Buddha’s teachings, it can be understood that the ālaya-consciousness, the storehouse consciousness, is essentially the True Mind of all sentient beings, possessing a true and suchness nature, thus also known as the reality-suchness mind. Therefore, sentient beings cannot exist without the ālaya-consciousness and will become powerless once they depart from it.

Moreover, once the bodhisattvas have personally realized the ālaya-consciousness, they gain the wisdom of fundamental awareness[1] (of the eighth consciousness) by aligning themselves with it. Consequently, they become bodhisattvas, as taught in the Heart Sutra, and become part of the sangha group. This proves that the ālaya-consciousness is the true and undisputed True Mind of all sentient beings.

[1]本智覺

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