The Ālayavijñāna in the Context of Indian Buddhist Thought: The Yogācāra Conception of an Unconscious

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Dissertation

Abstract

The thesis focuses on the relations between mind and karma and the continuity of life in saṃsāra based upon a concept of mind, the ālayavijñāna, as presented in the texts of Asaṅga and Vasubandhu of the Yogācāra school of Indian Buddhism, A.D. 4-5th centuries. It has been the topic of many sectarian disputes as well as the springboard for several far-reaching doctrinal developments, so it is desirable to examine it within its early Indian Buddhist context.
      The first section presents the multivalent viññāṇa of the Pali Canon and related concepts. It demonstrates that the major characteristics later predicated of the ālayavijñāna were present in an unsystematized but implicit form in the viññāṇa of the early discourses.
      The next section describes the systematic psychological analysis developed by the Abhidharma and its consequent problematics. It argues that the incongruity of Abhidharmic analysis with the older unsystematized doctrines led to major theoretical problems concerning the key concepts of kleśa and karma, to which the Sautrāntika school offered the concept of seeds (bija).
      The third section, based primarily upon the texts translated herein, depicts the origination and gradual development of the ālayavijñāna within the Yogācāra school from a somatic "life principle", to an explicitly unconscious mind, to its final bifurcation into an unconscious afflicted mind (kliṣṭa-manas) and a passive respository of karmic seeds, the latent loci of kleśa and karma, respectively.
      The last section compares the ālayavijñāna systematically with Freud's and Jung's concepts of the unconscious, concluding that their respective philosophical milieus led both traditions to conceptions of unconscious mental processes as necessary compensations for strictly intentional epistemological models.
      In the appendix the major texts presenting the ālayavijñāna, Chaps. V and VIII.37 of the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, part of the Viniścaya-saṃgrahaṇī of the Yogācārabhūmi, and Ch. 1 of the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha, are translated and extensively annotated in order to contextualize the minutiae of this concept of mind with its canonical precursors and its Abhidharmic contemporaries. (Source: ProQuest)

Citation	Waldron, William S. "The Ālayavijñāna in the Context of Indian Buddhist Thought: The Yogācāra Conception of an Unconscious." PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1990.

Acknowledgementsii
Prefaceiii
Introduction1>br>

CHAPTER ONE: CANONICAL BUDDHIST THOUGHT26
- The Three Marks of Existence28
- The Formula of Dependent Co-origination32
- A Short Commentary on paṭicca-samuppāda35
- Karma44
- Reciprocity of Name-and-Form and Consciousness47
- Consciousness Conditions Name-and-Form49
- Craving and the Support of Consciousness50
- Name-and-form Conditions Consciousness52
- Sankhārā59
- Viññāṇa65
- Viññāṇa and Perception66
- Viññāṇa and Rebirth68
- Citta and Mano75
- A Note on Saññā80
- Saññā and Papañca83
- Anusaya86
- The Unconscious in Early Buddhism99
- āsava103
- Asampajāno mano-sankhārā105
- Mind-reading107
- Remarks on the "Concept of the Unconscious"113
- Notes to Chapter One120

CHAPTER TWO: THE ABHIDHARMA CONTEXT133
- Background of the Abhidharma135
- The Abhidharma System of Mind142
- Citta-caitta152
- The caittas154
- Citta-viprayuktā-saṃskārā157
- The Six hetus, Five phalas, and Four pratyayas161
- Karma and Kleśa in the Kośa172
- The Problematics of Abhidharma Analysis183
- The Sarvāstivādin Concepts189
- The kleśa/anuśaya Controversy196
- The Sautrāntika Concept of Seeds (bīja )204
- The Problematics Generated by the Concept of Seeds210
- Notes to Chapter Two229
CHAPTER THREE: THE ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA IN THE YOGĀCĀRA248
- Introduction to the Yogācāra Chapter249
- The Yogācāra conception of the ālayavijñāna
  - Review of Chapters 1 and 2253
- The Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, the Yogācārabhūmi and the Origins of the ālayavijñāna268
- The Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra's New Model of the Mind273
- The ālaya Treatise of the Yogācārabhūmi281
- The Proof Portion of the ālaya Treatise281
- The Introduction of the Afflicted Mind (kliṣṭa-manas)291
- The ālayavijñāna in the Pravṛtti/Nivṛtti Portions297
- The Pravṛtti Portion300
- The Nivṛtti Portion307
- The ālayavijñāna in the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha312
- Idealism and Yogācāra312
- The Mahāyāna-saṃgraha319
- The Synonyms of the ālayavijñāna in the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha319
- The Afflicted Mind in the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha324
- The Characteristics of the ālayavijñāna in the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha332
- Infusing and Seeding the ālayavijñāna335
- The Demonstration of the ālayavijñāna in the Mahāyāna-saṃgraha342
- Logical Arguments for the ālayavijñāna343
- Canonical Interludes348
- Rebirth and the ālayavijñāna in Yogācāra354
- Supramundane Purification358
- The ālayavijñāna, Language and Society368
- Notes to Chapter Three377

CHAPTER FOUR: A COMPARISON OF THE ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA WITH

FREUD'S AND JUNG'S THEORIES OF THE UNCONSCIOUS400

- Common Problematics Between the ālayavijñāna and the Unconscious404
- Common Characteristics408
- Latency408
- Latent Causal Efficacy415
- Simultaneity and Reciprocal Conditionality420
- Cognitive Processes427
- Matrix of All Conscious Acts430
- Conclusion to Common Characteristics433
- Divergences437
- Rebirth438
- Repression439
- Energetics and Hermeneutics444
- Instinctual Drives459
- Conclusion463
- The Collective Unconscious and the ālayavijñāna468

Did a Common P r o b l e m a t i c Lead to the S l ay a v i jflSna and t he Unconscious ? 474 Notes t o C h a p t er Four 482 CONCLUSION 495 APPENDIX 503 T r a n s l a t i o n of t he Saipdh in irmocana SUtra Ch a p t er V and V I 1 1 . 37 504 Notes 516 T i b e t a n Text 520 T r a n s l a t i o n of t he Pr oof P o r t i o n of t he YogScSrabhUmi -Vin i Scaya-saqigrahaoT 526 Notes 537 T r a n s l a t i o n of t he P r a v r t t i / N i v r t t i P o r t i o n s of t he YogScSrabhUmi-Vin iicaya-sajpgrahanT 539 Notes 563 T i b e t a n Text 571 T r a n s l a t i o n of Ch. l of the MahSySna-samgraha 583 Notes 635 O u t l i n e of t he Te x t s 716 BIBLIOGRAPHY 721

@@ Line 73: / Line 73: @@
 **{{i|Notes to Chapter Three|377}}
-CHAPTER FOUk: a CuMpAkISON OF THE ALAYAVIJNANA WITH
+*{{i|CHAPTER FOUR: A COMPARISON OF THE ''ĀLAYAVIJÑĀNA'' WITH
-FREUD'S AND JUNG'S THEORIES OF THE UNCONSCIOUS 400
+FREUD'S AND JUNG'S THEORIES OF THE UNCONSCIOUS|400}}
-Common P r o b l m a t i c s Between t he S l a y a v i jTiSna
+**{{i|Common Problematics Between the ''ālayavijñāna'' and the Unconscious|404}}
-and t he Unconsci ous 404
+**{{i|Common Characteristics|408}}
-Common C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s 408
+**{{i|Latency|408}}
-La t e nc y 408
+**{{i|Latent Causal Efficacy|415}}
-L a t e n t Causal E f f i c a c y 415
+**{{i|Simultaneity and Reciprocal Conditionality|420}}
-S i m u l t a n e i t y and R e c i p r o c a l C o n d i t i o n a l i t y 420
+**{{i|Cognitive Processes|427}}
-C o g n i t i v e P r o c e s s e s 427
+**{{i|Matrix of All Conscious Acts|430}}
-Ma t r i x of All Cons ci ous Acts 430
+**{{i|Conclusion to Common Characteristics|433}}
-Co n c l u s i o n to Common C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s 433
+**{{i|Divergences|437}}
-Di v e r g e n c e s 437
+**{{i|Rebirth|438}}
-R e b i r t h 438
+**{{i|Repression|439}}
-R e p r e s s i o n 439
+**{{i|Energetics and Hermeneutics|444}}
-E n e r g e t i c s and Her meneut i cs 444
+**{{i|Instinctual Drives|459}}
-I n s t i n c u a l D r i v e s 459
+**{{i|Conclusion|463}}
-C o n c l u s i o n 463
+**{{i|The Collective Unconscious and the ''ālayavijñāna''|468}}
-The C o l l e c t i v e Uncons ci ous and t he S l a y a v i jflSna 468
 Did a Common P r o b l e m a t i c Lead to the
 S l ay a v i jflSna and t he Unconscious ? 474