During meditation I kind of played with the text a little bit, the beginning of the teaching about the support of knowledge. In this text, it's asked over and over again, what's the reason for calling this consciousness the storehouse consciousness, or what's the reason for calling this various names that it has, like why do you call it the appropriating consciousness, why do you call it mind, and so on. So this consciousness has a number of names, and several of the names are brought up,

[01:59]

and the question is raised, why is this consciousness called appropriating consciousness, storehouse consciousness, and mind, and other names too. So the first question is, why is it called storehouse consciousness, and the response is, because in this mind, all defiled states of all living beings are stored as a result. All beings who are born, there's another translation, all beings who are born, all of their defiled, afflicted, active states of consciousness are stored in this consciousness as results.

[03:01]

So this consciousness is the result of all the active, afflictive, defiled states of mind of all living beings. So another name for this consciousness is the resultant. It is the storehouse, it is the resultant of all afflictive mental states of all living beings. And also, it is stored in all afflictive states of all living beings. So every moment of active conscious life, this unconscious storehouse resultant mind is actually present with us, but it's unconscious, and it supports our active consciousness.

[04:05]

And our active consciousness is simultaneously transforming the unconscious in the present. So then changing to present and past, all the present consciousnesses of living beings are laid down in the past unconscious, and the past unconscious is living in the present consciousness, the present conscious experience of all living beings. So past, in this case, does not mean something that's gone, it means the results of all active states that are gone.

[05:09]

And it's also the result of the present state which has not yet gone. So our past, in this case, is the result of all past actions, but it's also the result of this present action. So this huge past holding all past action is being transformed right now by our present consciousness. And that virtually inexhaustible results of past action are present right now, unconsciously supporting our conscious life. And the last sentence in this section three of the first chapter says,

[06:21]

Furthermore, it is called the storehouse consciousness inasmuch as all sentient beings, clinging to an image of their selfhood, are themselves contained within it. So you heard the first discussion about why it's called storehouse consciousness. Now here's another reason why it's called storehouse consciousness. Because all living beings, inasmuch as they cling to an image of self, the place that they are contained, or that they live, is this consciousness. If we think in terms of images of self, then this is where we live. We live in this consciousness.

[07:23]

Now if we didn't think, if we weren't clinging, not just think in terms of images of self, but think and cling to images of self. If we didn't do that, then we wouldn't be living in the alaya. We wouldn't be living in the storehouse consciousness. But inasmuch as we do, this consciousness contains us. And it contains us partly by being the result of all past moments of clinging to self. Another translation kind of turns it around and says, It is a storehouse consciousness because beings who are lodged in it take it as if it were their self.

[08:33]

So if we are clinging to an idea of self, we are contained by that thought. We are enclosed by that thought. If we hold on to the idea of self, or I should say, if we are enclosed by that mind, then we see that mind as though it were our self. We don't see it as though it were the self in the active conscious way of seeing a self. This is an unconscious, this is unconsciously taking, we unconsciously take this as a self. So often times we say me and mine, the mind we can see, and the me we might think we can see, but actually the me in the me and mine is this consciousness which we take to be ourselves.

[09:43]

So the me part is actually unconscious and the mind part is conscious. And the mind part, or your part, all the things which belong to or don't belong to the self, dealing with them is active, defiled, afflictive consciousness. And the past I ams, the current I am and the past I ams are unconsciously hidden in this mind. Now you can turn around and say, no, no, that's me. You can do that. But at the time you're doing that, that active sense of that's me is supported by unconscious resultant I am. Now, again, after doing this exercise, if we look now at section four again,

[10:57]

and maybe it looks a little different. Section four is, quoting the scripture elucidating the underlying meaning, the Sandhya Nirmachana, it says, the appropriating consciousness, Adana Vijnana, is deep and subtle. Now appropriating consciousness is just another name for the storehouse consciousness. It's constantly flowing along with all the seeds of thought, all the seeds of defiled mental states. And I've taught this, I have not taught this to common worldlings

[11:58]

because they would reify it and cling to it as a self. So, in a sense, this is a little contradictory because he is teaching this to people who do reify things and make them into selves. All sentient beings do that. All those who are born, if they're clinging, they do reify this thing. They do take it to be a self. Can you wait? So among those who are born and in whom this storehouse consciousness lives,

[13:07]

unconsciously, some might have a chance to hear this teaching and be careful and be warned not to take it as another self. While simultaneously they live within the thing that they're being warned not to take as a self. And they're taking this thing as a self. So he says common worldly, so in some sense he's teaching this to uncommon worldlings. He's teaching it to worldlings who are willing to try to accept that they are living within this consciousness because they are clinging to a self.

[14:09]

And now could they receive this teaching as the beginning of the antidote to this clinging and not make the teaching into another self. This would be an uncommon worldling. This would be an uncommon living being. So it's up to us whether we want to try to be an uncommon ordinary person. As I mentioned last week, great bodhisattvas are uncommon in that they are wholeheartedly common, wholeheartedly ordinary, wholeheartedly worldly. They wholeheartedly study the teachings about how their mind is an enclosure which supports the arising of defiled states.

[15:18]

And then the next section, number five, which we had some difficulty with, starts out, why does the verse speak of this consciousness, this consciousness, the storehouse consciousness, why does it speak of the storehouse consciousness as the appropriating consciousness. So in terms of what we've been talking about, we have this thing called birth and death. It's also called samsara. Samsara means going around and around. We have this phenomena of birth and death. And birth and death lives in this consciousness. And once again, living beings, to the extent that they cling to a self,

[16:39]

they live in the place where there's birth and death. But birth and death exists in a consciousness. It doesn't have some life outside this consciousness. Birth and death is a conscious setup. It is a phenomena set up by the consciousness, which is the result of all past action. So the consciousness in which birth and death exists is the consciousness which supports our active life, and our active life transforms and contributes to the consciousness which carries and holds the story of birth and death. So I'm thinking of Charlie asking for evidence about birth and death. And I'm happy to discuss evidence,

[17:42]

but the evidence that we're going to come up for birth and death is the evidence which will occur inside of a consciousness which is the result of defiled consciousness. So it's not like we're going to have evidence for birth and death, which is evidence about reality. We're going to have evidence about stuff that goes on in the results of diluted consciousness. And the results of diluted consciousness support the arising of diluted consciousness, which is also aware of birth and death. But the diluted consciousnesses themselves aren't exactly birth and death. The results of active consciousnesses are birth and death. The results of active consciousness live in birth and death,

[18:45]

and birth and death is hidden in all active states of consciousness. The actuality, the way birth and death actually is in the realm of delusion, it's not reality, but the way it actually is, is unconsciously hidden in all conscious defiled states, which is part of the reason conscious states are afflicted and defiled, because birth and death is always infused into them. They're always afflicted by this birth-death thing. And even though we don't always think of birth and death, it's always unconsciously there. And when we think of it, we're actually thinking, when we think of birth and death, when we think of birth and we think of death, we're thinking, especially if we think about both of them at the same time,

[19:47]

we're thinking about our unconscious, because that's where birth and death, that's where it actually lives and functions. Birth and death, again, are the results of our thinking. They are an elaboration of reality. It's not that they have no reality, their reality is that they are elaborations of reality. And we don't intentionally make up birth and death, it's just that as a result of the things we intentionally do, this elaboration of life,

[20:48]

in terms of birth and death, is set up. And that is the storehouse consciousness. Now, the discussion of the apprehending or the appropriating consciousness, again, when we talk about it, I think it's helpful to remember we're talking about a function of this consciousness. We're talking about the way the consciousness functions within itself, because itself is birth and death. So within birth and death there's an appropriating activity within birth and death, but it's a function within consciousness. So why is the storehouse consciousness, which is birth and death, called the appropriating consciousness? Because it appropriates and upholds the physical sense organs of sentient beings

[21:55]

and because it is the support for the taking up of all experiences of rebirth. So someone might say, what is the evidence for the experience of rebirth? I would say right now the evidence for the experience of rebirth is the experience of rebirth. When one experiences rebirth, that's as much evidence as you're probably going to get. But it's the experience of rebirth. Real birth isn't real. Death isn't real. Life is not actually birth and death. Life is not birth and death, ultimately, really.

[22:56]

It's not birth and death. But life allows deluded consciousness, and deluded consciousness has the result of a state of mind called the storehouse mind, and the storehouse mind is birth and death. Life is not the results of its deluded activity. However, life does have deluded activity, and the result of the deluded activity of living beings is birth and death. Birth and death is the result of active, deluded, afflictive, karmic consciousness, which is supported by the mind, which is birth and death, and contributes to the maintenance of birth and death. So these teachings are coming into this process

[24:02]

where our active conscious life is contributing to the maintenance an ongoing consciousness called the storehouse, which is birth and death, and how birth and death supports our active consciousness, whether we're thinking about it or not. And whether we think about it or not, what we do think about gives life to birth and death. But birth and death is an illusion. It is an elaboration of true reality. It obscures true reality. But the way to get in touch with true reality, unobscured by birth and death, is not by avoiding birth and death. It's not by avoiding our unconscious, and it's not by avoiding how our conscious makes birth and death, and how birth and death supports our conscious.

[25:03]

It's not that way. The way is to plunge into this process. And these teachings are some among innumerable teachings to help beings enter into the process of self-delusion, so that the process of self-delusion can be opened up and reveal reality of life. That life is not being born, dying, and being reborn. That is a constricted, deluded way of understanding. But this deluded way of understanding cannot be stopped because it's the result. We don't intentionally dream up birth and death. But as the Buddha said,

[26:05]

we delight in it. And again, to try to stop ourselves from... Oh, by the way, in delighting in birth... The Buddha didn't say exactly. I don't know what the Buddha is saying. Probably the Buddha did. Living beings delight in birth and death. They certainly seem to delight in birth sometimes. But the real birth of birth and death is unconscious. The real birth of birth and death, the one that's actually hidden in our conscious stories about birth, that's the one that we actually delight in. The Buddha says, living beings delight in the storehouse consciousness. They delight in their unconscious. They cling to their unconscious. So we cling to samsara.

[27:10]

We cling to birth and death. The more real birth and death. The more real birth and death is the unconscious mind which obscures reality. The reality of life. Life is not birth and death. Life is beyond birth and death. That's the spiritual possibility of this teaching. It's a life that's beyond birth and death. But it can only be realized by plunging into the creative process of how birth and death gives rise to active consciousnesses and further birth and death. So again, it says the experience of rebirth. It's not that there's a real, just a plain old rebirth. There's only experiences of rebirth.

[28:12]

And the experiences of rebirth are primarily unconscious. As most of us probably think at this time, I don't know actually, but probably I would guess, I'm guessing that most of you probably would guess that at the moment of conception of a human embryo, that human embryo is not conscious. Rebirth. Birth. Is that right? How many of you think that that embryo is conscious at the moment, at the first moment of consciousness in the womb? How many of you think that they're conscious that birth has occurred? One. Two. Actually, according to the Buddha, some beings are conscious at that time.

[29:14]

And then some beings are conscious during the delivery, and some beings are conscious after the delivery. But most beings are unconscious through the whole process. But conscious means that you'd be somehow aware of the unconscious, because the unconscious is what is born and dies. Okay, so I'm going over earlier material, and now we come to another big section. And I could stop here, and we could discuss what we just talked about, or we could go on to the next section,

[30:20]

which is talking about two types of thinking. Do you want to stop and discuss? What have we talked about so far? Yes? You have a question? Yes. Our conscious present is supported by the unconscious, and the unconscious is what I would call the past. The past, which actually supports our present conscious life, is the result of the past. The past, which supports the present conscious life, is the result of the past.

[31:21]

It's the result of past action, but it actually carries all the past actions. So in that sense, it's the living past. The unconscious is the living past. How does that relate to the present consciousness? It supports it. And the present consciousness is unaware of it, by and large. It seems to imply that our present consciousness is unconscious made conscious. That's how I took it. She took it to mean that our present consciousness is the unconscious made conscious. No, unconscious of the past becoming conscious in the present. Unconscious of the past becoming conscious in the present. Is that what you said?

[32:22]

I thought that's what you said. It's not so much the unconscious of the... Our past is unconscious. It's much too big for us to be conscious of. We cannot be conscious of all the past actions of ourselves from beginningless time. But also this container consciousness is not just my past actions, it's your past actions and Lori's past actions too. So we're not going to become conscious of those past actions, but our conscious state is supported by all those past actions. But they're not going to become conscious in the sense that we'll know what they are. They become conscious in the sense they become conscious by our conscious life. But it's not that our conscious life is a conscious of them, it's just that our conscious life is them

[33:24]

in the sense that... Well, they're manifested but they're them in a hidden way because all the past actions are hidden in our present action. All my own past actions in this life being called reb, the results of all those are present in what I'm saying to you right now, what I'm consciously aware of saying to you right now. All those results are hidden in my present conscious talking with you. But I don't know all these past moments. They're all hidden? Yeah, well, you know, let's just say yes. Now I can have a story about what my past actions are, but my stories about my past actions might be right, but the past is not my story about my past actions,

[34:29]

and it's not even the past actions that I have a story of. They are the results of those past actions which I have a story of. The results of my past actions are not my past actions. They're my past actions as a result. The past actions are gone, but the results are here. So, in a sense, I know the results of my past actions because the results of my past actions are my present active consciousness. They're the results of my past actions because my past actions are the cause of my present consciousness. So my present consciousness is a result of my past action, and the thing that delivers my past action to me is the result of my present consciousness and other present consciousnesses.

[35:30]

So this present consciousness will have a result, and its result will be stored in this storehouse consciousness. This storehouse consciousness has a seed which can support another active consciousness, along with all the other past actions which support this present consciousness. Yes? I think I heard you say it's not just your own past. And it's not just your own, no. That supports your... That's right, it's not just your own past. And as I alluded to, I think, in one or more previous classes, in the end of this chapter, there's a question put, what are the characteristics, how many kinds of... How many kinds of permeation are there

[36:41]

in this storehouse consciousness? And the first answer is three, and the second answer is four. When it says four, one of the four types of permeation is the permeation of character, of the storehouse consciousness. And under character, it is mentioned that there's two characteristics of this storehouse consciousness. That the results of all of our past active karma has two characteristics. One is a common characteristic, and one is a specific characteristic. So the specific characteristic is the appropriation of a particular set of sense organs in a particular body. That characteristic connects back to the appropriating consciousness, which we were just talking about. That this storehouse consciousness has the characteristic of being an appropriating consciousness because it can appropriate or associate

[37:44]

for a whole lifetime with a set of sense organs. But then there's a common characteristic of this storehouse consciousness. And the common characteristic is the physical world. So the physical world that I live in has something to do with the physical world you live in because the common characteristic of this consciousness is the physical world which we share. The uncommon aspect is the way the results of all past action of all beings, it apprehends individual sense organs. And in that sense makes individual living beings. But the apprehension of individual sense organs, making individual sense beings, is the functioning of a consciousness which also has a common characteristic, which is the physical world in which all the living beings live. So we're all, and in that way,

[38:51]

I contribute to your physical world, you contribute to my physical world. And the way I contribute to your physical world is by the active consciousnesses that arise in association with these sense organs which has been specifically grasped by this storehouse consciousness. So I make my individual contribution to the creation of the physical world which I share with you. You make your individual contribution to it. We share it. It's our common characteristic. It's the common characteristic of this consciousness. And the appropriating consciousness appropriates sense organs, but it also, in a sense, appropriates an awareness of the physical world. And it also appropriates a predisposition I think it says it, doesn't it?

[39:54]

It also appropriates a predisposition. It doesn't say so here. I'm telling you, it'll come up later. It was in the sutra. It also appropriates the predisposition towards making conventional designations. So this is about human beings. He didn't say, but this is human beings appropriating consciousness that I'm talking about. Human beings appropriating consciousness appropriates sense organs, but non-human beings also appropriate sense organs. But human beings appropriate the predisposition towards making conventional designations. So we share that karma, and by sharing that karma we make similar karma, and by making similar karma we create a shared world that we can understand. And beings who do not have that appropriation live in a slightly different,

[40:58]

or quite different, material world. But all living beings apprehend sense organs. Yes? You said, as long as a being thinks of itself as separate, it lives within this consciousness. I didn't say that, but that's right. That's another way to say it. As long as a being thinks of themselves as separate, they'll live within this consciousness. And living within this consciousness, you will think that this consciousness is yourself. So if you have a flash, a moment of not believing that, on the inside, until it's not really true, do you at that point operate in this consciousness? You're not sitting inside this storehouse of consciousness. Are you something? What are you? Is that awareness outside the storehouse of consciousness?

[42:00]

Yes. And then the next moment. And what happens in the next moment? The results of past actions support the arising of active consciousness again. Next moment, the results of past actions, which are called the storehouse consciousness, which are also called birth and death. So birth and death, dash, the storehouse consciousness arises in the next moment. Because a moment of insight, a moment of not living within this consciousness, a moment of not seeing this consciousness as yourself, a moment of not seeing your unconscious as yourself, a moment of not unconsciously believing in itself, at that moment you're not in this consciousness. This consciousness is. And you're not taking this consciousness as itself.

[43:02]

Next moment, it can arise again, and there could be another moment of insight that's simultaneous with the arising of samsara, the arising of birth and death again. Another moment of insight could occur. And that moment of insight does not live in this consciousness and does not believe this consciousness is itself and is not enclosed by this consciousness. This consciousness doesn't really enclose us. Birth and death doesn't really enclose us. If it really enclosed us, I don't know what we should do. But I would kind of encourage myself to experiment with remembering that I live in this place, because remembering I live here sets up the possibility of not taking it as a self. Being ready to not take it as a self

[44:09]

sets up the possibility of me not living within it. Simultaneous with it is not living with it. Simultaneous with this enclosure is freedom from it. But it seems to me that you have to be wholeheartedly stuck in samsara in order to realize what simultaneously lives with it. And as you know, it's hard to be wholeheartedly stuck in samsara. And samsara is being stuck. Samsara is being stuck in samsara. A samsara where you're not stuck isn't really samsara. That's sort of like a designer samsara or something. And the realm where you don't take this consciousness as a self,

[45:16]

and this consciousness where you don't take a self, you're not in the consciousness, that realm of freedom, there's no birth and death there. But there is the life of wisdom there. There's no killing, there's no stealing, but there is the life of wisdom. How can one cheerfully remember that one is living in this enclosure of the storehouse consciousness?

[46:19]

How can one cheerfully and goodheartedly remember that one lives in the realm that supports all defiled states? Yes? So just sort of like to talk through an example or something, I've just been thinking, so I can see our perceptions, actions, so I can see how my experience of you right now, or anybody in this room, is based on a whole bunch of other past experiences that I unconsciously am lining up in one way or another with people who wear white, or all the other times I've seen you, or other men I know, or other teachers, so various unconscious things that I somehow created. That makes sense to you. And then this moment of experiencing you is also adding to that.

[47:27]

Yes, but how that is, you cannot see. You can't see how all your past experiences of men and women in white is supporting you to have this experience of this person in white now. You can't see that. You can have an idea of it, but that's not it. It's much more complex than that. So I mentioned before, I'll mention again, the brain which supports us to have conscious life is the result of a long evolution of other past conscious experiences. The brain is continuing to evolve in this lifetime, and for many lifetimes before, the brain has evolved. As part of the physical world. As part of the physical world, and it supports, the way the brain supports conscious life today is not the way the brain supported conscious life two million years ago.

[48:27]

So, the results of all human action, back to the dawn of what you call human and before, all those conscious states create an apprehension now of sense organs such that we have this kind of thinking, but we cannot actually, we have other things to do than try to figure out the history of all human and non-human life leading up to this moment. But even if we thought about it, it doesn't comprehend it. It's unconscious. But although it's unconscious, it's totally delivering itself right into us, right now, making this possible. All of our extremely complex things we do is because this thing is so complex. And we cannot plummet. But we are supported by it, and we are transforming it. And it confines us. Human brains operate in one way.

[49:36]

Other brains operate in another way. We have to... And different human brains operate differently, and it also confines us. Yes, because this consciousness apprehends specific sense organs, which means it apprehends specific brains. And then it rides the evolution of the sense organs in the brain through a lifetime. But the lifetime that it rides is twofold. It rides a lifetime of birth and death, and it rides a lifetime of a life which is not birth and death. Both of those lives are going along together. So the trick is to learn how to ride the birth and death process in such a way that you start riding the non-birth and death process, which is going on simultaneously. And that life is not the birth and death type of life,

[50:42]

which again is related to the common characteristic of this consciousness. Because the common characteristic of this consciousness doesn't get dented if this particular person stops being someone for whom these sense organs are being apprehended by the specific qualities of this consciousness. So when this person gets turned off, and there's no apprehension of this person's sense organs, the world goes on. It doesn't get dented. Another moment of a lie will be produced, and every time there's a lie, there's a physical world. So birth and death will go on beyond me. A lie will go on beyond my death. And freedom from birth and death, a life which is not the life of birth and death,

[51:46]

that doesn't go on. That's also free of the elaboration of going on and not going on. So reality, the results of past action, are a mind which deals in terms of going on and not going on, existence and non-existence, birth and death, right and wrong. A lie supports that kind of life, and is actually the unconscious result of that kind of life. That version of reality, that version of life. Right alongside with that is this other kind of life, which is like, right there, wishing that the beings who are enclosed in a lie and take a lie to be a self, would listen to the messages that are being sent, because those messages actually can open up this enclosure and allow this other kind of life,

[52:51]

which is called nirvana, to be realized simultaneous with samsara. Or, if that's too advanced, just realize nirvana, and then later do both at the same time. We already know how to do samsara without nirvana, so the next step will be nirvana without samsara, and then do them both at the same time, which is what Buddhists do. Yes? What I heard from what you said recently is that the alaya vijñāna is all the defiled mental states,

[53:57]

and then there is another... Say again? The alaya vijñāna is all stored defiled mental states. It's not exactly... It's all defiled states stored as results. Because they're not active defiled states in alaya. They're the results of actions. They're all stored there. And maybe that leads to the answer of the question, because I felt like you said, okay, as long as you do the beings living in alaya vijñāna, or living as supported, while moments of, let's say, enlightenment means awareness not in alaya vijñāna. Yeah. Or alaya vijñāna is still alive and well, but there is an awareness that it's not the self. Right. Or that no self can be found.

[55:02]

At that moment, the living being who has this insight isn't in alaya at that time. Right. And they never were. We're only enclosed in alaya if we believe in a self. And we usually do, so we're usually in alaya. But even if we don't believe in it and we're free of it for the moment, next moment, there's alaya again. Go ahead. I just wonder why we use the term defiled for alaya, because... Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Alaya is not defiled. Alaya is not defiled. We over here do not use the term defiled for alaya. But we use... Okay, you say results of defiled. Yeah. Or seeds for defiled. Results of defiled things are not defiled.

[56:04]

What are they? Well, they're usually uncomfortable, more or less. What is a result? Result? Well, there's six basic styles of results. One of them is human suffering. Then there's animal suffering, hungry ghost suffering, infernal suffering, even divine suffering, and fighting spirit, those kinds of suffering. Suffering, being in hell, is not a defiled state. Pain is not a defiled state. Pain is just pain. So the results, all these destinies that alaya supports, for example, a human destiny, they are not in themselves defiled. And alaya is not defiled. That's why alaya can support all defiled states. Wholesome defiled states, unwholesome defiled states.

[57:07]

Wholesome states can still be defiled if there's belief in a self. You can be in a wholesome state and still be extremely uncomfortable. And you can be, of course, everybody knows, you can be in unwholesome states and have self clinging and be miserable. And you can be in neutral states. But alaya is karmically neutral and undefiled. It is the results of defiled minds, the results are not defiled. The results are not defiled. If you drive a car unskillfully and run into a tree and hurt your nose, the pain in your nose is not a defiled state. It's just pain. But it's the result of... If you say my nose hurts, you're already in my mean mind, right?

[58:08]

Did I say my nose? I said your nose hurts. Anyway, if you say my nose hurts, that active state is based on the unconscious idea that I own this nose. I live in a world where there's many noses and I got a self here. And those noses are mine or not mine. But that's very important that Timo said that because alaya is not defiled. It is the result of defiled states and all defiled states depend on this thing which isn't defiled. And the fact that it isn't defiled and that it is also karmically neutral makes possible for it to support all states. It can even support an undefiled state. It is mentioned here, it supports all defiled states and defiled states can be skillful, unskillful, and indeterminate. It is not skillful, not unskillful,

[59:14]

it is indeterminate. The unconscious is indeterminate. It can support any kind of karmic activity and it supports all defiled states. But it itself is undefiled and indeterminate karmically. But it can also support an undefiled state. It can also support wisdom. It is the access to nirvana. So thanks for that point. Alaya is not defiled. Yes? How does this discussion, how does that distinguish from dependent co-arising? It seems like... You are hearing a story of dependent co-arising. It seems like another way to say it. It seems like this discussion is another way to describe dependent co-arising. You could say it's another way. Yeah, it's another way. Or it's a way. The 19th section of this first chapter

[60:23]

says that in the great vehicle, this teaching is about embracing the great vehicle, in the great vehicle there is a very subtle and profound teaching of dependent co-arising. And that teaching of dependent co-arising is the teaching of this storehouse consciousness. In earlier renditions of the teaching of dependent co-arising, this teaching of this storehouse consciousness was not explicitly articulated. And that transmission of the story of dependent co-arising is not as subtle and profound according to this text. So one way to say it is that in the great vehicle we have this more subtle and more profound teaching of dependent co-arising using this storehouse consciousness. Another way of saying it is that the dependent co-arising that occurs in the storehouse consciousness

[61:23]

is the most subtle and profound. So that's what we've been doing tonight. Thank you for that point. We are discussing the dependent co-arising of birth and death. We're discussing how the dependent co-arising of active states of consciousness and how the active states of consciousness have results. And the results of active states of consciousness are birth and death. So we're talking about the dependent co-arising of cyclic birth and death. And again, the point of this is not just a guided tour of the realm of misery. Although it is a guided tour of the realm of misery with instructions about how misery arises, the point of it is to help people realize nirvana by this study.

[62:23]

Studying dependent co-arising of samsara is the door to realization of the dependent co-arising of the realization of nirvana. But studying the dependent co-arising of birth and death is studying the dependent co-arising of all kinds of suffering. So it's a difficult study. Yes, John. Satsang. Satsang. Questioner So in this setup, if we introduce the bodhisattva who is no longer afflicted with the final mind, whose mission is in some sense to transform the alaya, where does that transformation take place? I'm just curious if it takes place somewhere between the common and the uncommon characteristics in the alaya. Okay, so can we stop? Because you brought up a lot there. Can you stop?

[63:25]

Is that right? Really? So bodhisattvas, this teaching here is for bodhisattvas. So we're teaching bodhisattvas how to study alaya so that it will be transformed completely. Alaya is constantly being transformed anyway, but we're talking about transforming it rather than just making another alaya, and another alaya, and another alaya, and another alaya. We're talking about transforming it into the true body of Buddha. The bodhisattva wants to make alaya into a Buddha. And the Buddhas are sending messages to the bodhisattvas about how to do that. Okay, now what's your question? So my question was, in that setup, the bodhisattva no longer is afflicted with defiled mind. So are they still in the consciousness of alaya?

[64:27]

You could say bodhisattvas are no longer afflicted with, what did you say, defiled mind? Defiled mind and manas. They're no longer afflicted by defiled mind and manas. I would like to point out also that non-bodhisattvas called Aryans or sages, also called arhats, they also have become free of the defiled manas. However, they do not have vows to keep exercising this manas-free consciousness in relationship to alaya until it's completely transformed. They just work on it until it's been transformed enough so that they get to go to nirvana. Can we stop there? Yep. What motivates the bodhisattva then in that situation because they no longer have defiled mind? What motivates them? So why are they motivated to transform alaya?

[65:31]

Why aren't they just an arhat? Oh, because bodhisattvas are born of this, what do you call it, this mind called in Sanskrit bodhicitta. They're born with the thought of enlightenment and the thought of enlightenment is to wish to become a Buddha for the welfare of all beings. It's not to wish to become an arhat. But they have no sense of self then. I mean, where does the wish reside then? Is it just in the wisdom understanding that they realize at that point? Where does the what reside? Where does the realization arise for the wish? Where does the wish arise if they have no sense of self? I would say that the wish to attain Buddhahood, it arises in the interaction between ascension being and a Buddha. In that interaction, this thought of wishing to be a Buddha arises. And then after that, people sometimes make a vow to become a Buddha. And then, after training for quite a while

[66:35]

and you become free of this defiled manas, the power of that meeting and that mind and that vow keeps you from giving up in this big transformation process and accepting the little transformation process. The little transformation process which is really an amazing thing that you've attained nirvana. You give up that one, put that aside and go back to transforming, this totally transforming alaya, which is what makes a Buddha. And the reason why you do that is because you met a Buddha and promised. You met a Buddha, wanted to be a Buddha to help beings, and you promised that you wouldn't quit short of Buddhahood even though some great opportunities come along. Halfway there. Or not necessarily halfway. We don't know if it's halfway or a third of the way or what. Yes?

[67:37]

Isn't that compassion that arises as a result of repeating yourself from the defilement and demanding the freedom produces the wish to help others and to be the bodhisattva. That's my understanding at least of the workings of the bodhisattva, that they ride on a compassion that they feel from the freedom that they have and the wish comes to help other sentient beings to rid themselves of suffering. Yes, but your story is a rather advanced story. You're talking about the bodhisattvas who are riding on their compassion that's already been liberated from selfishness.

[68:38]

This is like a fully operating bodhisattva. Before that, way before that, you could still have a lot of compassion. So some people have a lot of compassion and then in their compassionate life they meet a Buddha. A lot of compassionate people do not think of becoming a Buddha. As a matter of fact, a lot of compassionate people say to me, please excuse me, but I do not wish to be a Buddha. I really want to be compassionate to lots of beings, but I don't want to be a Buddha. Or some other people say, I want to be compassionate to all beings, but not that I want to be a Buddha. So some people are walking around saying, I do not want to be a Buddha, but I do want to be compassionate to just about everybody. And people like that are at risk of meeting a Buddha. So then they're going along,

[69:38]

I don't want to be a Buddha, I want to be a Buddha, and they meet a Buddha and then in that meeting the Buddha doesn't say, you should actually change your agenda. The Buddha might say that, but the Buddha says, it's okay with me that you don't want to be a Buddha, it's fine. And the person sees a little teardrop run down the Buddha's cheek and then they say, okay, okay, I changed my mind, I want to be a Buddha for the welfare of all beings. Then they go to work, and they work, and they become free of this defiled manas. They study their stuff, then they become free of defiled manas, and then they really go to town, or go to the countryside, they go various places from there, and they're really like, unleashed now, there's no longer the defiled manas getting in the way. Now they're really like, oh now this is going to transform, there's a laya, we're going to transform this baby. Is it self-propelling?

[70:48]

No, it's not self-propelling. It's not self-propelling, it didn't start by itself, nothing is self-propelling, including freedom from self-propulsion. Everything depends on other things. This great mind which aspires to be Buddha for the welfare of all beings, it did not make itself arise. And Buddha didn't make it arise either. But when Buddha gets together with a sentient being, and the sentient being has been kind of thinking that compassion is pretty good, even though it only happens occasionally, sometimes when they meet the Buddha they think, you know I would like compassion to be unstopped, undefiled, perfect enlightenment. But that thought didn't happen by itself, it happened with the aid of the Buddha, but it didn't happen all by the Buddha because otherwise Buddha would just zap everybody and everybody would be on the bodhisattva path.

[71:51]

But Buddha can't do that. But Buddha can walk alongside of us all the time, think about us all the time, be ready whenever we're ready, and then make a contact. And when that contact happens, sometimes this thought arises. Once it arises, it needs all these practices, otherwise it deteriorates. And who's going to support the practices? Lots of other bodhisattvas and Buddhas are teaching the practices, reminding you of the practices, asking you to practice. And some of those people that are asking you to practice, strictly speaking, they might not be officially bodhisattvas, they might not say, I would like you to be more kind to me, even though I don't want to be a Buddha, I would like you to act more like one. They help us. So this thing is not self-propelled, it's not self-originating, it doesn't keep going by itself. It arises interdependently and it's protected and cared for by these bodhisattva practices.

[72:53]

And the bodhisattva practices are constantly being transmitted to the bodhisattva practitioner by other Buddhas and bodhisattvas who are also doing the practices that they're practicing with the support of others. We're all helping each other do this and that's why we're going to finish this job. Because we are helping each other to do it. But if it's self-propelled, it's just going to go flat all over the place. But it's not. I think I want to go to the city. I really didn't mean that. Oh, good. What I meant was that this process grows. It grows. It grows and it is growing. However, even though it's growing, we can still make mistakes and get big, big setbacks. But those setbacks are an overall path of growing. It is growing. We are studying these teachings. We are getting more and more into the bodhisattva practice. This text, these teachings,

[73:56]

are a teaching of dependent co-arising of delusion and dependent co-arising of Buddha. Using this storehouse consciousness to make this teaching of dependent co-arising really subtle and really profound so we can understand how samsara works and understand that that's not the only way life can be. Life can also be Buddhahood. Yes. Evolution applies to the development of the deluded mind

[74:59]

and evolution applies to the development of the Buddha mind. The principles of evolution apply to all states. It's not like Buddha says, Okay, the deluded beings, they have an evolutionary process, but the Buddhas don't, no. The Buddhas and bodhisattvas are an evolutionary process and sentient beings who are not yet on the Buddhist path, they also are basically in the same evolutionary process, it's just that they're in the part where the person has not yet decided to study the process. According to this teaching, the common characteristic of the alaya is the physical world. And according to this teaching, the physical world, which is the common characteristic of the storehouse consciousness, has mechanical activity.

[76:01]

The physical world that the Buddhists have, it has mechanical activity, it has biological activity, it has astronomical activity, it has mathematical activity, it has psychological activity, It has philosophical activity. You name it, it's got it. What is that? That is the consciousness. But in this teaching, that's a consciousness. And all the scientists of all the different types, and all the musicians, and all the artists of all types are all included in this physical world. But we're saying here, this is a mind. And this mind which has dancers and doctors and lawyers and scientists in it, that's the result of all past active consciousnesses. Which of course, even if you're not a Buddhist, of course it is. Of course law schools are the result of the active consciousness of past lawyers and law professors and sheriffs. But aren't there law schools on the other side too?

[77:06]

What other side? The enlightened side, the non-enlightened side. In the realm of Buddha there are law schools, it's just the law schools there are unelaborated. But there's law schools in the transformed alaya, and there's law schools in the untransformed alaya. In the untransformed alayas, law schools are being born and dying all the time. They're being set up and torn down. They exist and don't exist. They're right and they're wrong. In other words, it's the realm of affliction, law school. There's law schools in the dharmakaya too, it's just that there's no birth and death there. There's no existence or non-existence. The law schools there do not obstruct reality. They're not bound by precedent. They're not bound by precedent. They're totally liberated, law schools. You and me and law schools are in the dharmakaya,

[78:07]

however you can't find us in the dharmakaya, because we don't have a self to get a hold of. And the law schools in the dharmakaya are illuminating the law schools in samsara, trying to wake the law schools in samsara up. And some of the law schools do occasionally wake up and start studying the mind of law school. Yeah? Is it the difference between the law school of Ayodhya and the law school of the Buddhas that they are looked at with defiled mind on one side and not with defiled mind on the other side? Or is there a difference between... No, it's close, no. The Buddha can look at the alaya... The transformed law school and the non-transformed law school, are they different or they just look with defiled mind and not with defiled mind? The transformed law school can look at the untransformed law school

[79:11]

and see that it's still untransformed. It can see this law school has not been transformed. It can see that and wish to help it without itself being manifested at all. But it also can manifest and come into the realm of untransformed in order to help. So the transformed law school is the same as transformed alaya. And transformed alaya can still be aware that there are beings who live in untransformed alaya, untransformed law school. It's still aware of that. But the untransformed alaya, when it comes into consciousness... When it supports active consciousness? When it supports active consciousness without having a defiled mind. This does not give rise to defiled state, right?

[80:13]

Because there is no defiler there. Yes, that's right. There is no defiler and so how is that state without a defiler different from transformed alaya with no defiler? Is there any difference? Because the alaya is not, like I questioned before, defiled itself, when it doesn't get a defiler while getting active consciousness, it does not cause any suffering. Right. And then the next moment arises. And what happens in the next moment? Another alaya arises. And maybe no defiled mind. But maybe defiled mind. Maybe it supports the arising of a defiled mind. It isn't just that when a living being has a moment where they do not believe in a self anymore,

[81:15]

that means that alaya will not give rise to any more defiled minds in their neighborhood. Okay, then the other state is a transformed alaya and it comes in contact with defiled mind. What happens then? What is that then? Transformed alaya is not the same as a sentient being who doesn't any longer have defiled manas. You could have alaya, this sorehouse consciousness, which still has a tremendous amount of transformative work ahead of it. The transformed alaya has not been realized in association with the being who now no longer believes in a self. They still have a lot of work to do. It's just that they don't have any more defiled manas, but defiled states can still arise,

[82:18]

which are the result of past defiled states. But they are only a cause of suffering, so they are only a problem in a way, if there would be a defiled manas. You say it's only a problem if there is a defiled manas, but now if this person who no longer has the defiled manas, they are not exactly no longer a problem, it's just that they have to be taken care of with this not defiled manas. That's how they get transformed completely. So the main problem has been dropped. The defiled manas has been dropped. What problem is left? Lots of defiled states. But they are not defiled if they don't arise. Well again, the word defiled also can be translated as afflicted. Afflictive.

[83:19]

There is still suffering, there is still birth and death. So birth and death is not completely eliminated from alaya as soon as the manas is dropped. Birth and death is still there. But the belief in it is not there anymore, the suffering is not there anymore. So birth and death is a joke. It's a joke, but you have to laugh at it a rather large number of times before the joke stops even appearing. Again, the arhats, it isn't that the arhats, we are going over time but I just want to say, it isn't that the sages who transform alaya, they transform alaya completely for themselves, for their own liberation. But it isn't that in the first moment that they stop believing in the self, that they are liberated. They are not liberated completely in the first moment. They have to do it quite a few times over a long period of time and they have to transform alaya

[84:20]

until they are free of birth and death. Now you may say, well it's not a problem anymore, it's a joke, but they have to deal with it and test their insight over and over and over on this birth and death before the joke of it actually transforms it to a point that they are actually completely free of it. Now this is the people who just liberate themselves. For the bodhisattva it's a much more extensive purification process. So it isn't just, this relates also to what I was talking to Charlie about, it isn't just that you, in the scene there is just a scene and in the herd there is just a herd. And when it's that way for you, that's the end of suffering. In that moment, that means that you are working with your defiled, in the scene that means a defiled state of consciousness. When you work with a defiled state of consciousness properly, you don't find a self.

[85:21]

And in that moment you are free. But that state, when it arose, it was defiled. It was suffering. And you worked with the suffering in such a way that there is no suffering. And then the next moment. And the next moment. And all these defiled states, these afflicted states, keep arising. These birth and death states keep arising. So it isn't just that you have one moment and then you quit. You do it over and over and over and over so that all these defiled states are transformed into the Buddha. But in a sense, you could say, like I said, you could be very careful and say, all these defiled states are not a problem anymore. I'm really in a good mood about this. I'm happy. Bring them on. But it isn't like bring them on because they don't hurt anymore. It's not bring on the pain. I'm going to work with this pain now in a new way. Bring it on.

[86:25]

I'm going to transform all states of cyclic birth and death into the Buddha body. And some people don't say that. They just say, I'm going to transform enough of them so that I'm completely liberated from birth and death. Which is a great attainment too. Is that clear now? So I appreciate your questions. I think some points were brought up that I didn't intend to bring up, that you brought up, that I think were very good to clarify. This is about dependent co-arising. It's a more profound presentation of it according to this text. This is about this storehouse consciousness which is not itself defiled, but which gives rise to defiled states. And if you become free of the defiling,

[87:28]

the defiler, the defiler, the manas which defiles. The laya doesn't defile. The manas defiles and the results of the defiled are laid down in a laya so a laya supports the arising. As a result of past defiling, it supports the arising of defiling. And when you take away the defiler, the consequences still have to be dealt with, with the undefiled mind. But that's a long, long, happy, joyful, bodhisattva practice. Thank you very much. www.mooji.org

[88:15]

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