The Meaning of the Ālayavijñāna Being Neither Defiled nor Pure (na saṃkleśo na vyavadānam)

Some say that the ālayavijñāna is both defiled and pure, and hence 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 defiled karmic seeds created by the seven consciousnesses that the ālayavijñāna is neither defiled nor pure (na saṃkleśo na vyavadānam). If the ālayavijñāna did not store the defiled karmic seeds of the seven consciousnesses, the ālayavijñāna would be the pure and undefiled consciousness (amala-vijñāna). If the ālayavijñāna were defiled, it would have defiled karma of afflictions; yet the ālayavijñāna does not create any wholesome or unwholesome karma—it is the seven consciousnesses that have defilements of afflictions and create wholesome and unwholesome karma. Thus the unwholesome karma created by the seven consciousnesses when they are afflicted is defiled karma. The ālayavijñāna then stores the wholesome and unwholesome karma created by the seven consciousnesses, thereby containing defiled karmic seeds.