What Does Ālaya-vijñāna Mean? The Concept You Haven’t Grasped

It is inconceivable that the ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse consciousness) can be grasped through conscious deliberation, analysis, or understanding. The ālaya-vijñāna is not apprehended through comprehension, nor is it imagined or researched into existence. It must be actualized through meditative concentration (dhyāna), thereby dispelling the ignorance (avidyā) associated with the two consciousnesses of the sixth (mano-vijñāna) and seventh (manas). If the ignorance of the manas is not eradicated, the actions of body, speech, and mind will forever remain obscured by ignorance, perpetuating it into future lives, lifetime after lifetime, still bound by ignorance.

Many people obsessively pore over texts, dissecting the words about ālaya-vijñāna. Chan (Zen) patriarchs called this "rummaging through old papers," where one's eyes almost seem to melt the characters and bore through the pages. Some compile vast amounts of study materials, reading them daily; some can even recite them verbatim, becoming extremely familiar with the words, able to speak them fluently. Yet, they fail to truly digest and absorb the Dharma meanings. Why? Because they lack meditative concentration; they cannot realize it. Without understanding the true principles, they learn only superficial knowledge, like mere rote memorization.

Which consciousness is being employed in such exertion? It is all the conscious mind (mano-vijñāna) analyzing, reasoning, and researching. Without meditative concentration, one cannot penetrate the manas, cannot mobilize the manas, and thus cannot make the Dharma one's own, forever merely parroting the words. Without meditative concentration, thought stops when it tries to delve slightly deeper; unable to proceed, it remains superficial, grasping only shallow knowledge.

Therefore, everyone should introspectively examine their own methods of practice. Incorrect methods must be promptly corrected, enabling oneself to get on the right track as soon as possible and attain great wisdom.