The store consciousness 'ālaya viññāṇa' and it's relation to early Buddhism. (With reference to Ārya Lankāvatāra sūtra)

Abstract

Glancing back at the Buddhist history it is evident that the early Buddhist teachings developed in a more descriptive and logical manner. As a result four great Buddhist philosophical traditions were born; Sarvāstivada, Sautrāntika, Yogācāra viññānavāda and Mādhyamika śunyatāvāda. Among these Buddhist philosophical schools, Yogācāra viññānavāda is very prominent as it directly deals with the individual's mind. Among the early Buddhist teachings, it pays the major attention to the mind which will lead to one's salvation or inferno. It clearly elaborates how come the world we perceive is just a result of our own mental process. Buddhism believes the transmigration of an individual in the circle of Saṃsāra birth to birth and the resultants of one's action simultaneously runs with the individual himself/herself in the saṃsāra. Even though early Buddhism rejects the concept of a permanent soul the cycle of saṃsara is explained as a chain of actions and reactions that transmigrate continuously, which are deliberately ssubject to change, therefore the impermanence is universal.According to this phenomena it has being somewhat problematic to explain the transmigration of individual's from birth to birth simultaneously as the resultant of actions, perfections etc. As a solution for this dilemma viññānavādians introduce the concept of store consciousness or store-house of pure consciousness called asālayaviññāna or tathāgatagarbha. Ārya Lankāvatāra sūtra, a major teaching of Yogācāra viññānavāda describes the function and the characteristic of store consciousness. In this research paper we hope to Performa critic investigation regarding these phenomena of store consciousness, whether it complies with the core teachings of early Buddhism or not.