Buddhism shares the idea of rebirth or samsara, the belief that a life does not end
with death but repeats life and death. The alaya-consciousness is the agent of samsara;
every deed leaves behind a consequence that has a power or influence over later events.
Karma (literally, ‘action’) involves both a deed and its influence. The
alaya-consciousness is the storehouse for seeds of karma. Owing to the functioning
of this consciousness, we humans both maintain and attach to our life. It is the mind
that discriminates life and non-life and excessively sticks to the former.
The manas- and alaya-consciousnesses and their interaction result in excessive
attachment to the self and life. The alaya-consciousness produces the
manas-consciousness, which clings to the self, and the manas-consciousness sees the
alaya-consciousness through its attachment to the ego, and so it seems to us that life
is in the ego’s possession and therefore at its disposal. The vicious circle of the
interaction between the manas-consciousness and the alaya-consciousness is the
source of all other vexing passions.
However, the alaya-consciousness is in itself neither good nor bad, but neutral.
Indeed, ordinary humans repeat the vicious circle that the seeds stored there, going
through the manas-consciousness, are transformed into vexing passions, leaving
behind seeds of karma that are, in turn, stored in the alaya-consciousness. Seeds of
Enlightenment are also sown in the alaya-consciousness, to bloom sometime in the
future.
The Consciousness-only School does not believe in a sudden leap from vexing
passions to freedom through Enlightenment, but rather holds that this transition
takes a long time. In this view, only the discipline of many years makes possible the
transformation of the eight consciousnesses from vexing passions into wisdom.
The Alaya-consciousness is then transformed into the great mirror wisdom
(mahadarĞanajñƗna), which reflects the world as it is in which all beings are connected
with each other, forming a unity. Correspondingly, the manas-consciousness becomes
equality wisdom (samatƗjnana), which makes us realize that the self and others are
essentially equal and one. Consciousness turns into the profound contemplation
wisdom (pratyaveka a-jñƗna) that observes this wonderful state of the world.
Finally, the five consciousnesses change to the perfect achievement wisdom (k
tyƗnusthƗna-jñƗna), and thus, the eight consciousnesses are transformed into the four
types of wisdom (catvari-jñƗnƗni).
As is clear from these explanations, then, the psychological transformation from
vexing passions to Enlightenment is in the Yogacara School reformulated in a far
more refined way. In this respect, the Consciousness-only School seems similar to
Ken Wilber’s psychological system in which human development does not end with
the establishment of the ego, but may include stages of self-realization and even
self-transcendence. From this perspective, we may regard Yogacara psychology as a
therapy with the goal of self-transcendence.
224 THE CONSCIOUSNESS-ONLY
SCHOOL