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'''Eight consciousnesses''' (Skt. ashtavijñana; [[Wyl.]] ''rnam shes tshogs brgyad'') are mentioned in the writings of the [[Mind Only]] school. To the [[six consciousnesses]] mentioned in the [[abhidharma]] texts of the [[basic vehicle]] are added the [[defiled mental consciousness]] or emotional consciousness (Wyl. ''nyon yid'') and the [[all-ground consciousness]] (Skt. ''alaya vijñana''; Tib. ''kunshyi namshé'' - ''kun gzhi rnam shes'').
[[Image:Monkey.JPG|frame|A monkey swinging in a tree, the image for consciousness in the [[Wheel of Life]]]]
The '''eight consciousnesses''', or more literally, '''eight collections of consciousness''' (Skt. ''aṣṭavijñānakāya''; Tib. [[རྣམ་ཤེས་ཚོགས་བརྒྱད་]], ''namshé tsok gyé'', [[Wyl.]] ''rnam shes tshogs brgyad'') are mentioned in the writings of the [[Mind Only]] school.  
 
{{:Six consciousnesses}}
==The seventh and eighth consciousness==
To the [[six consciousnesses]] mentioned in the [[Abhidharma]] texts of the [[basic vehicle]] are added:
:7.  [[Defiled mental consciousness]] or emotional consciousness and
:8.  [[All-ground consciousness]].


===Transformation into Five Wisdoms===
===Transformation into Five Wisdoms===
According to [[Mipham Rinpoche]], the eight consciousnesses transform into the [[five wisdoms]] in the following way:
According to [[Mipham Rinpoche]], the eight consciousnesses transform into the [[five wisdoms]] in the following way:


*Alaya transforms into the [[wisdom of dharmadhatu]].
*[[Alaya]] transforms into the [[wisdom of dharmadhatu]].
*Alaya consciousness transforms into [[mirror-like wisdom]].
*[[all-ground consciousness|Alaya consciousness]] transforms into [[mirror-like wisdom]].
*Emotional consciousness transforms into [[wisdom of equality]].
*Emotional consciousness transforms into [[wisdom of equality]].
*Mental consciousness transforms into the [[wisdom of discernment]].
*Mental consciousness transforms into the [[wisdom of discernment]].
*Five sense consciousnesses transform into the [[all accomplishing wisdom]].
*Five sense consciousnesses transform into the [[all-accomplishing wisdom]].
 
==Alternative Translations==
*Eight avenues of consciousness ([[LCN]])
 
==Teachings Given to the [[About Rigpa|Rigpa]] Sangha==
*[[Khandro Rinpoche]], [[Lerab Ling]], France, 14 July 2018 am
*[[Philippe Cornu]], Lerab Ling, France, 3 November 2018
*Khandro Rinpoche, [[Bodhgaya]], India, 26 February 2019
*Khandro Rinpoche, Amsterdam, Holland India, 24 March 2019
 
===Edited Teachings===
*[[Sogyal Rinpoche]], 'The Eight Consciousnesses', Rigpalink December 2003, 6 November 2003, Zurich (available in English, French and German, ordernumber 361)
 
==Further Reading==
*''A Treasury of Dharma'', aka ''The Mengak Study Pack'' (Lodève: The Tertön Sogyal Trust, 2005), pages 90-92 & CD2, tracks 4-6.


[[Category:Key Terms]]
[[Category:Key Terms]]
[[Category:Chittamatra]]
[[Category:Enumerations]]
[[Category:Enumerations]]
[[Category:Chittamatra]]
[[Category:08-Eight]]

Revision as of 09:26, 17 June 2019

A monkey swinging in a tree, the image for consciousness in the Wheel of Life

The eight consciousnesses, or more literally, eight collections of consciousness (Skt. aṣṭavijñānakāya; Tib. རྣམ་ཤེས་ཚོགས་བརྒྱད་, namshé tsok gyé, Wyl. rnam shes tshogs brgyad) are mentioned in the writings of the Mind Only school.


The six consciousnesses

  1. Visual (or eye) consciousness (Skt. cakṣur-vijñana; Tib. མིག་གི་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wyl. mig gi rnam shes)
  2. Auditory (or ear) consciousness (Skt. śrotra-vijñana; Tib. རྣ་བའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་,Wyl. rna ba'i rnam shes)
  3. Olfactory (or nose) consciousness (Skt. ghrāṇa-vijñana; Tib. སྣའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wyl. sna'i rnam shes)
  4. Gustatory (or tongue) consciousness (Skt. jihva-vijñana; Tib. ལྕེའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wyl. lce'i rnam shes)
  5. Tactile (or body) consciousness (Skt. kāya-vijñana; Tib. ལུས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wyl. lus kyi rnam shes)
  6. Mental (or mind) consciousness (Skt. mano-vijñana; Tib. ཡིད་ཀྱི་རྣམ་ཤེས་, Wyl. yid kyi rnam shes)

The seventh and eighth consciousness

To the six consciousnesses mentioned in the Abhidharma texts of the basic vehicle are added:

7.  Defiled mental consciousness or emotional consciousness and
8.  All-ground consciousness.

Transformation into Five Wisdoms

According to Mipham Rinpoche, the eight consciousnesses transform into the five wisdoms in the following way:

Alternative Translations

  • Eight avenues of consciousness (LCN)

Teachings Given to the Rigpa Sangha

Edited Teachings

  • Sogyal Rinpoche, 'The Eight Consciousnesses', Rigpalink December 2003, 6 November 2003, Zurich (available in English, French and German, ordernumber 361)

Further Reading

  • A Treasury of Dharma, aka The Mengak Study Pack (Lodève: The Tertön Sogyal Trust, 2005), pages 90-92 & CD2, tracks 4-6.