Seeing Through The Illusion: Part One

So,

Today's teaching is on the eight consciousness.

So,

These eight consciousness come from the Yogacara school of Buddhism,

And this is a school of Buddhism sometimes called mere consciousness school or mind only school,

But actually it's the Yogacara school,

And for me it makes so much sense,

And it has helped me so much on my journey to understand these eight consciousnesses and then try to work with them.

So,

When we understand these,

They're like different layers of awareness of our human experience.

So,

They're not trying to explain reality.

They're a way of explaining how we experience or how the world is experienced.

So,

They help to explain your perceptions,

Your cognition,

So your thought process,

And how karma operates.

So,

Here we need to understand that when I talk about karma,

I'm not talking about things coming from past lives.

I'm talking about the actions,

The intentional actions that we do in this life that are stored,

And those what we have stored in our mind,

Are what make us act in a certain way now.

So,

We're not talking about past lives here.

So,

Let's just look at the first five.

So,

The first five are the physical consciousness.

So,

These are easy to understand because these are what we use on a daily basis.

So,

It's nose,

Smell,

It's taste,

It's seeing,

It's hearing,

And it's touching.

So,

Those are five physical consciousness that we use on a daily basis.

So,

These are based in the present moment.

So,

For each of those,

For that consciousness to be activated,

We need two other things.

So,

If we take eye consciousness,

We need an object,

Then we need the eye faculty,

And then we need the eye consciousness.

So,

When there's an object and your eye picks up that object,

All it does is pick up the object.

It doesn't know what it's looking at.

There is no consciousness in your eye.

The eye is just something that picks up that object.

It's when it gets to activate your eye consciousness,

Then your eye consciousness says that this is a phone,

Or a car,

Or whatever.

And the same for all the other five consciousness.

There has to be a sound,

And then that sound has to be picked up by the ear,

And then it activates your ear consciousness.

And then you say that's a dog barking,

A motorbike going by,

Or music.

So,

And it's the same for taste,

And for smell,

And for touch.

So,

There has to be these three different things for that consciousness to activate.

If one of those three are not working,

Then it means that we have no consciousness.

So,

I say there's no object,

So then the eye can't pick anything up.

So,

Then the eye consciousness can't do its job.

Or maybe there is an object,

But your eye faculty doesn't work.

You're blind,

Or your eyes are closed.

So,

Again,

It won't work.

Or maybe that you have some sort of problem in your brain,

So there's an object.

Your eye picks it up,

But because you have a problem in your brain,

The eye consciousness doesn't work.

So,

All three of those things have to be in place,

So we get that consciousness.

So,

Whether we get a sight,

A smell,

A taste,

A sound,

Or touch,

Those three things have to be in place.

There has to be an object.

There has to be some faculty,

Like your eyes,

Your nose,

Your tongue,

And there has to be a corresponding consciousness.

So,

I think that is easy for us to understand.

So,

These are the five physical consciousness.

So,

Remember,

The only way that we can experience the world is through these five consciousness.

There is no other way that we can experience the world.

We can either see it,

Smell it,

Taste it,

Touch it,

Or hear it.

There is no other way.

So,

These five consciousnesses are really important,

But if any of those faculties are missing,

Then we can't have that consciousness.

So,

I think that is pretty clear,

Or I hope that is pretty clear.

So,

Then in Buddhism,

We say our sixth consciousness is our thinking mind.

So,

Our mind is the sixth consciousness.

So,

Remember,

Your mind is just a process of your brain.

So,

Your mind is about discrimination,

About looking at good and bad self and other.

It's about your judgments.

It's about the concepts you've been given,

And it also is about trying to process those five consciousnesses.

So,

Whatever we take in through those five consciousnesses is processed in the sixth consciousness,

Which is your mind.

So,

Your mind is your thoughts,

Your feelings,

Your emotions,

And that mind is a process of the brain.

So,

Again,

If we have problems with our brain,

Then that consciousness doesn't work.

And if we can't pick up any of those five consciousnesses,

Again,

It doesn't work.

But unlike the first five consciousnesses,

This consciousness can think about the past,

The future,

And the abstract concepts.

So,

It can be about our imagination.

So,

The first five consciousnesses are in the present moment,

Only in the present moment.

Those five consciousnesses are not in the future.

So,

You can't see anything in the future,

And you can't see anything in the past.

So,

Those five consciousnesses are only in the present moment.

But the sixth consciousness,

Our thinking mind,

Are in the past,

In the present,

In the future,

And in abstract thinking.

So,

Your imagination,

Your fantasies.

So,

That's why this consciousness is different to the other five consciousnesses.

But this one,

The sixth,

Processes everything that comes in from those five consciousnesses.

So,

Up to now,

I hope this is clear.

So,

Now we'll just look at the seventh consciousness.

So,

This is where,

When we look at the seventh and eighth consciousness,

We really have to reflect.

We really have to be able to think clearly about this,

Because it's not going to come natural to us.

So,

What I said before,

Listen to this again,

And then really think about it.

So,

Your seventh consciousness is what we,

In Buddhism,

Would call the defiled mental consciousness.

This is your ego mind,

And this is why it's important for us to understand,

Because this ego mind consciousness is what gives us this sense of self.

It gives us that sense of I,

Me,

Mine,

That self-grasping mind.

It's also from this seventh consciousness that we get attached to things,

We get pride,

We have these selfish,

Self-centered thoughts.

And it's also from this seventh consciousness that we have this continuum self-reference.

So,

This is our ego.

So,

You know when we get attacked,

Somebody says something to us,

And we feel like we have to be attacked back.

That is your seventh consciousness.

It is that consciousness that is giving you this sense of self,

Sense of I am a solid,

Permanent thing.

It comes from this seventh consciousness.

So,

As I say,

I'm going to go much deeper into that,

But at the moment,

This is enough for us to think about,

That the seventh consciousness is your ego mind.

It's your selfish,

Self-grasping,

Self-centered mind that is going to give you the sense of attachment.

Because we have that ego,

It makes us get attached to things,

Because that ego gives us the idea that I am here,

And everything is outside of me.

So,

There's me,

And there's other,

Where in reality,

There isn't me and other.

So,

This is where we need to understand non-self.

But just think about this for a moment,

That this seventh consciousness is your ego-driven consciousness.

It is the consciousness that makes you feel that you are a permanent self,

That this really is I,

This is me,

When,

You know,

As we say in Buddhism,

There is no self.

So,

This seventh consciousness mistakes the eighth consciousness as a true self.

So,

It believes that the seventh consciousness doesn't believe that it is the self,

It believes that the eighth consciousness is the self.

So,

This eighth consciousness is what we call the alaya consciousness,

Or the storeroom,

Or storehouse consciousness.

So,

This is the consciousness where we plant all of our seeds.

So,

You would say,

You could say,

Karmic seeds.

So,

Remember,

I'm talking about this life.

So,

All the seeds we're planting in this life.

So,

This consciousness stores your past actions,

Your habits,

Your tendencies.

Whatever we take in through those first five senses are stored in your eighth consciousness.

So,

This eighth consciousness projects them into future experiences.

So,

Karma is just the experience that we have,

Or the actions,

The intentions,

Or those mental defilements that we have,

Are stored in that eighth consciousness.

And that is what fires up our way of thinking,

Our way of acting in the present moment.

So,

That's one part of the consciousness.

So,

This eighth consciousness is not a permanent self.

It undergoes continuous change.

So,

There are people who have done this and think,

Okay,

There's no soul or anything,

But we have this alaya,

This storeroom consciousness.

So,

This must be our permanent self.

This must be what goes from life to life.

It isn't.

This is also impermanent.

It is constantly changing.

All through our life,

We're taking things in through these five consciousness.

And so,

It means that it is constantly changing.

So,

When we take anything in,

When we see,

Smell,

Taste,

Hear,

And touch anything,

It is always stored in your eighth consciousness.

And this is why it is so important that we guard our mind and we don't let everything into our mind,

Because whatever we take in through those five senses are stored there.

Now,

They could be stored as just a potential,

Which means that if you don't act on that,

If you don't keep acting in that certain way,

Those seeds will just sit there.

They'll be dormant.

But if you constantly keep doing this,

This is where habit comes.

And this is where our behavior comes from,

The eighth consciousness.

So,

Everything is stored there in that eighth consciousness,

But it is not a permanent self.

So,

I think maybe I'll stop here today,

And you can then ask questions on that.

And next time,

We'll go into more detail about the seventh consciousness,

Because this is important to us,

Because if we can understand the seventh consciousness,

We understand that that consciousness is the ego,

And it is that that we need to work on.

And if we understand that the eighth consciousness is where everything is stored,

And that storage is what can make us act in the present moment.

So,

Remember that the seventh and the eighth consciousness are subconscious.

It means we cannot know what is stored in that seventh,

And particularly in the eighth consciousness.

We cannot directly know,

But we can indirectly know,

Because we look at our behavior.

And that is why meditation and mindfulness are so important,

Because if you just don't stop,

You don't reflect,

You don't look at your behavior,

You just carry on doing exactly what you've always done,

And you don't check that,

It means that you're always going to be driven by this alaya consciousness.

You're always going to be driven from your subconscious mind.

So,

We need to bring that subconscious into the conscious,

Because when it's in the subconscious mind,

We don't know.

So,

We need to bring it into our conscious mind,

Into that sixth consciousness,

Into our thinking mind.

And we can do that by looking at our behavior,

And looking at our biases,

Our concepts,

Our discriminations,

Because that will tell us.

So,

Say that you always do this,

You're always,

Somebody shouts at you,

You always shout back,

You're constantly doing that.

If you don't stop and understand that that is stored in your alaya consciousness,

And you just constantly keep doing it,

If you understand that,

You can then change.

So,

Instead of watering that seed,

Where we're going to shout at people,

We plant a new seed,

Where we're more patient,

And we're tolerant,

And then we water that one.

It means that that seed that made us shout and get angry will wither,

Like a plant that's not watered,

And the patience and the tolerance one,

We water that,

That will grow.

So,

Then we change our behavior.

So,

We don't know fully what's in,

Or consciously know,

What is in that alaya consciousness.

It means that we can indirectly know it by meditation and mindfulness.

And really,

That is the key,

Mindfulness.

So,

We've made mindfulness into a lot of different things,

But that is exactly what Buddha wanted us to be mindful for,

So we can check to see what seeds we have planted,

And what seeds we are watering in the eighth consciousness.

If we know that,

We can change that,

And we can become a different and a better person,

And a person with less suffering.

If we can't be bothered,

We are just always going to be driven by whatever we hold in our subconscious mind.

So,

It is important to understand these eight consciousness.

So,

I'm going to end here,

And the next session we'll look at more deeply into the seventh and eighth consciousness,

And particularly in why it's good for us to know that,

And how we can then deal with it.