Mind consciousness is the root of all actions of body and speech.
Its nature is to manifest mental formations, but its existence is not continuous.
Mind consciousness gives rise to actions that lead to ripening.
It plays the role of gardener, sowing all the seeds.
Volition or will is the process of making a decision to act. Volition can be a conscious process or automated habit. All actions of the body and speech are preceded with volitional action that takes places in the mind. This makes the mind consciousness the progenitor of all actions.
All mental formations manifest in the mind consciousness. There are fifty-one mental formations - five universal, five particular, eleven wholesome, twenty-six unwholesome and four indeterminate.
The five universal mental formations are contact, feeling, attention, perception and volition.
The five particular mental formations are zeal, determination, mindfulness, concentration and understanding.
Mental formations like compassion and faith are wholesome whereas greed and anger are unwholesome. Mental formations like regret and sleepiness are indeterminate.
The store consciousness and manas work continuously but the mind consciousness does not function when we are asleep or in a faint or coma.
Two kind of actions originate in the mind consciousness - leading actions and ripening actions. Leading actions lead us towards a particular direction. Ripening actions are the result of manifestation of seeds from the store consciousness. Leading actions lead to ripening actions.
In verse twelve we studied that formations produce formations and seeds. If someone waters the seed of anger in us, the mental formation, anger manifests. The more the seed is watered, the stronger it will be. Using mindfulness we can transform our habits to prevent unwholesome seeds from gaining strength. Since the formations manifest in the mind, it is the mind consciousness that we need to train.
The important takeaway from the verses on mind consciousness is that all actions originate in the mind consciousness and all mental formations manifest in the mind consciousness so by training the mind it is possible to transform the seeds in the store consciousness.
In a garden, the gardener is the active participant. He needs to sow the right seeds, water the right seeds. The job of a seed is to manifest when watered. The job of the soil is to accept any seed that is sown and allow it to transform into a plant when watered. They do not make decisions. The gardener makes the decisions. Hence, the mind consciousness is compared to a gardener. Through mindfulness we can transform the mind consciousness and in turn the quality of our life.
(Based on the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh.)
#विज्ञप्तिमात्र #Vijñaptimātra #VijñaptimatraBuddhism #ThichNhatHanh #Vasubandhu #50Verses #50VersesOnVijñaptimātra #Vimshatika #Trimshika #VimshatikaKarika #TrimshikaKarika #Asanga #Yogacāra #Yogacara #ManifestationOnly #Vigyaptimatra #Xuanzang #India #Linji #Rinzai #Zen #Bodhidharma #Hinduism #Buddhism #Buddha #Mahayana #Prajñapāramitā #Vijnaptimatra #IndianBuddhism #IndianPhilosophy #UttarPradesh #StoreConsciousness #Alayavijñana #Manas
No comments:
Post a Comment