The Meaning of Ālayavijñāna Being Neither Defiled nor Pure

Some people say that the Ālayavijñāna is both defiled and pure, and therefore there is the teaching of transforming consciousness into wisdom. In fact, the essential substance of the Ālayavijñāna is a pure consciousness; it is only because it contains and stores the seeds of defiled karma created by the seven consciousnesses that the Ālayavijñāna is neither defiled nor pure (na saṃkleśo na vyavadānam). If the Ālayavijñāna did not store the seeds of defiled karma created by the seven consciousnesses, the Ālayavijñāna would be the pure and undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna). If the Ālayavijñāna were defiled, it would have afflictions and defiled karma; yet the Ālayavijñāna does not create any wholesome or unwholesome karma—it is the seven consciousnesses that have afflictive defilements and create wholesome and unwholesome karma. Thus, the unwholesome karma created when the seven consciousnesses are afflicted is defiled karma. The Ālayavijñāna then stores the wholesome and unwholesome karma created by the seven consciousnesses, thereby containing the seeds of defiled karma.