The Bodhi Way (三乘菩提)

Arts & Sciences Religion & Spirituality
61

In terms of Buddhism, a person is a combination of name-and-form (名色) or five aggregates (五蘊). “Name” refers to the four aggregates; “form” refers to the form aggregate.
After hearing the detailed instructions from the Buddha, the disciples would search for quieter areas like a remote cave or the corpse forest to contemplate further in order not to be disturbed by the public. Practitioners have to differentiate the varied distinctions among the five aggregates or the twelve sense-fields, and eighteen sense-realms. Each disciples had simplified their possessions to a begging bowl and three sets of kasaya (三衣一缽) and shaven hair, since they had dedicated themselves wholeheartedly to the Buddhist cultivation, and had wised not to be distracted by personal belongs.

Can we apply the practice into our daily life?
Try and see the reactions from reading the posts here. Here, I post one message which will be caught and transmitted by the reader’s eyes (with the external visible sense-organs, organs for seeing, eyes-root) to the inner supreme sense-organ in the brain of the eyes area. The text shall be received (by the sensation-aggregate and the perception-aggregate) and pondered (by the conscious mind, the sixth vijnana), thereby a decision will be made (by the Manas, the seventh vijnana) and a reaction will be performed; the whole process belongs to the formation-aggregate.

Some react amusedly, others just roll their eyes, some even react very negatively with various remarks; what exactly made all the different reactions from the same post then, If the transmitting procedures are all the same?
Yes, it depends on every individual’s own past experiences that are stored in everyone’s Alaya vijnana.

Glossary:
Perception-aggregate: The functions of perception of a sentient being
Sensation-aggregate: The functions of sensation of a sentient being
Vijnana-aggregate: The functions of identifying external objects through the six vijnanas of a sentient being

62

“I was just rejected by the Budhha sangha community, I wanted so much to take refuge in Buddha…,” once an elderly man weeping like a child alongside the trails when the Buddha was on his way back to the ashram.
“Please come with me then,” the Buddha gently replied.

“We did observe in the ancient past back to eighty thousand eons of years with our supernatural powers, the man had no connection with the Buddha,” Some arhats recognized this old man and explained to the Buddha when both of them arrived at the ashram.
“Yes, he did have, even earlier beyond that period of time, once he ran for his life, there was a tiger behind him, he climbed up a tree, and shouted sincerely ‘Namo Buddha’”!(take refuge in the Buddha)

In the Liberation-Way cultivation, after the elimination of self-view, then of self-attachment, one becomes a respectable arhat or solitary realizer (the highest fruition level of the Liberation-Way), worthy of receiving offerings from all humans and gods in the three realms. Due to their pure and orderly cultivation including meditative concentration (samadhi), naturally, their supernatural powers which potentially possess within the Alaya vijnana (Tathagatagarbha) were brought forth. Nevertheless, compare with the Buddha’s supernatural power, that of the arhats’ are still very limited.

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One of the countless functional distinctions of Alaya vijnana is to hold and store every sentient being’s deeds, thereby the rule of cause and effect can be duly carried out. The Alaya vijnana is the core essence of the Buddhist teachings and cultivations.

Glossary:
Three Realms: Three categories of the worlds in Buddhism, i.e., the desire-realm, form-realm, and formless realm, called tridhatus in Sanskrit. Our current living world is in the desire-realm.

Tathagatagarbha: The true entity that each sentient being has, which is something other than the conscious mind known by ordinary people. It is the eighth one of a sentient being’s eight vijnanas. Tathagatagarbha possesses the intrinsic natures of neither-arising-nor-ceasing [permanently existing], neither-increasing-nor-decreasing [not creatable or destroyable], neither-defiled-nor-cleansed [no conceptual judgment], neither-seeing-nor-hearing [no sensation functions], neither-perceiving-nor-knowing [no logical thought or understanding], etc., and is the core doctrine of Buddha Sakyamuni’s sutras. According to the Buddha’s teachings, it, together with the Tathagatagarbhas of other countless sentient beings of collective karma, is the original first cause of the world where all sentient beings live.

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The Alaya vijnana is essentially the target of enlightenment, yet the basic related knowledge has to be established first.
The Buddha taught disciples to observe closely that all dharmas are conditioning arising in the three realms. The perceptive mind arises depending on the external sense-objects. As there are six sense-roots, there are six sense-object appearances arising in the perceptive mind; the six sense-object appearances perceived and the perceptive mind (the conscious mind; the sixth vijnana; the Manovijnana) is capable of perceiving; all phenomena are conditioned dharmas and do not have the true and indestructible self-nature. … Away from the two arising-and-ceasing mental objects of conscious and unconscious states, this perceiving nature does not have the true and everlasting self-nature after all. Thus, there ought to be something behind to substantiate the impermanent dharmas.

In worldly matters, if something is created (from nonexistence to existence), it will eventually cease to exist (from existence to nil). The Alaya vijnana does not belong to any of the mundane phenomena; it is without any form or appearance. It primordially exists and is not created, so it exists independently, even before sentient beings.

If we try to describe the nature of the ultimate reality with our limited words, it sounds too philosophical. That is exactly what the Buddha tried to depict the mental entity or the nature characteristic of the Alaya vijnana to all Buddhists in the “Heart Sutra” - “Neither arising nor ceasing, and neither increasing nor decreasing; form is emptiness, and emptiness is form.” Because the Alaya vijnana is not created, it will never cease to exist; it is intangible so it possesses no form, since it has no form, so it will not increase or decrease. The Alaya vijnana does not fit in our usual daily relativity.

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Please do not feel discourage when some parts are rather difficult to understand; I and all my classmates had the same difficulty when we first started our lessons. Most classes started with over a hundred students, gradually would decrease to two third only. True Buddhism is very profound and wondrous, but it is definitely not easy. It will really enrich your life prospect, not only this current one, but many lives afterwards. Most of all, if you are still reading this thread, it shows that in the past you have connected with the Buddha already in a certain way. The seeds in your store vijnana just ooze out because your time is ripe. As long as any single one still has interest in Buddhism, I will share my experience here.

How does it work with the rule of cause and effect?
How does the reincarnation system function?
Yes, all rely on the Alaya vijnana, also known as the store vijnana. One of the Alaya vijnana’s uncountable functions is as a warehouse to store the seeds (motive and feeling) of our deeds; no matter how long it takes, the effect would turn up in due course.

For instance, if I did something bad, would I keep the evidence and wait for the consequence? Of course not, I would choose to forget, who would like to be punished in the future? However, everyone’s store vijnana would store everything correctly and faithfully beyond one’s own control.

Mind you again, Alaya vijnana does not respond to our daily feelings or judgement; it does not correspond or connect to the six sense-objects (六塵); it does not make any decision; this is the Middle-Way character of Alaya vijnana. It cooperates with everyone’s name-and-form (five aggregates) in this desire-realm because we all have the desire to go on living since our beginningless eon past lives. So, in terms of the Middle-Way view in Buddhism, it is not decided and defined by our conscious mind or imagination, it is the nature of Alaya vijnana.

Glossary:
Six sense-objects: The six kinds of objects of the world recognized by a sentient being, i.e., color, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental object

Six sense-roots: A sentient being’s six kinds of organs, i.e., eye-root, ear-root, nose-root, tongue-root, body-root, and Manas [the root of the conscious mind]. Depending on those, the six vijnanas can discern the six sense-objects of the world. The first five sense-roots are physical organs but the last one, Manas, is a mind-entity.

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[quote=“Isha”][quote=“Buddhism”]

Indeed, this was what I have learned as well,
…Took seven steps and raised his right arm and said something like,“I am the unique honorable self.”
This is very meaningful to all Buddhists.[/quote]

I am confused here. Were there two Buddha in the history? The one we know in India was a Prince with lavish life who lost interest in regular living after seeing sufferings of his people and left everything, went away to meditate to find answers for sufferings; at the end realized sufferings are unavoidable and its a part of life which everyone should understand.
Whats said here is completely new to me. Probably there was another “Made in China” Buddha. Anyways, good to know that his mother gave birth to a grownup man![/quote]

Now, look at your hands, can you see the germs and bacteria around? Do they really exist? If we were able to tell our ancestors of some 250 years ago that we can fly with more than 300 people together in the air, would they believe us? If we were able to communicate with the mosquitos and tell them that the polar bears live in an extremely icy cold climate within the Arctic circle, do you think the mosquitos could understand? Different time period, different dimension of existence.

I heard a piece of radio interviewed some ten years ago, one of my favourite stories to tell around, when astronaut Armstrong was in celebration of his thirty years anniversary landing on the moon.
“How was then your feeling, the moment when you set foot on the moon as the very first man?” the interviewer asked.
“When I set foot on the moon, I turned around my head, over my shoulder, I saw in the distance there is a silvery shining ball, just the size of my fist; I realized that it was the place I had spent my whole life on. Since then, my whole attitude towards life had changed!” Armstrong replied gently.
I gasped upon hearing this conversation; what a fortunate wise person!

Our knowledge and capability are very limited in comparison with the true reality. During the Buddha’s time some 2500 years ago, life was much simpler, many spiritual cultivators were proficient in meditative concentration (Samadhi), thereby their supernatural powers could be brought forth. When necessary, arhants were able to fly into the air to demonstrate water oozing out of his upper body, and fire blazing from his lower body, or the other way round. It is very difficult for us to imagine nowadays.

If something is beyond our understanding or unheard of, it is not necessary to be untrue or non-existence. So the Buddha manifested as a man and demonstrated some significant happening, there is no harm to accept as a pleasant occasion, don’t you think so?

The average human life span is very short, however, for a Buddhist cultivator, the perspective of life scope focuses on eternity, so the mindset and magnitude towards life is, in a way, somehow different than ordinary people.

Glossary:
Arhat: The Liberation-Way practitioner who attains the Fourth Fruit and will not take the next rebirth any more after the end of his/her current life

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You are right. You have full freedom to misguide yourself with whatever you want; afterall we live in free world. You have presented your case well :smiley:
For me, I have got to see it to believe :wink: .

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Consciousness is the sixth vijnana, and the Alaya vijana is the eighth vijnana.
A Buddhist shall be cultivating his/her consciousness to a sharp (zoom lens) condition in order to detect his/her eighth vijnana.
So consciousness is definitely not the Alaya vijana (Buddha nature; tathagatagarbha).

In fact, the true Buddhahood-Way cultivation adheres to the Buddha’s teachings: First, one must find the eighth vijnana Alaya( Tathagatagarbha); subsequently, one must personally experience and recognize the properties of Tathagatagarbha so as to bring forth the root prajna wisdom 般若慧之根本智 (general-appearance-prajna般若總相智) and then the later-acquired prajna wisdom後得智(specific-appearance-prajna and All-Seed-Prajna般若別相智與一切種智).

Perhaps it’s better to make an example, when I describe a “car” for a long time, once you see a car, then you match instantly and understand what I was talking about; this applies to the way of finding the eighth vijnana (enlightenment), so the second round of the dharma transmission the Buddha keeps describing the characteristic of the Alaya vijnana to build up the correct concept of the eighth vijnana.

Then you get into a car and sit on the driver’s seat just look around and enjoy the sentiment; it means you personally experience and recognize the properties of Tathagatagarbha according to what you have learned from the Prajna Paramita Sutras so as to bring forth the root prajna wisdom (general-appearance-prajna). Finally, you look into the car structural manual and driving manual to learn details about the whole car; this refers to the later-acquired prajna wisdom (specific-appearance-prajna and All-Seed-Prajna). During the third round of the dharma transmission, the Buddha taught sutras of Vijnana-Only (唯識方廣經典)and that are exactly the All-Seed-Prajna.

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Very good request. [/quote]

Since it’s such a good request, it surely deserves an answer, right?

[quote=“Buddhism”]Vijnana refers to sense, knowing (了知), but please do not jump into “consciousness (意識)”. Buddhist terminology is very specific, very finely separated. As I mentioned earlier, languages and words are very limited when we come to Buddhist terms. Especially we are doing in writings only. Don’t worry, it takes time, slowly you will get used to it.
Buddhism itself is a very profound field, these terms we are using now should in fact take one year’s time to digest, we are, in a way, too rushing. Most importantly, you have to piece all the info together, they are all interconnected.

Tathagatagarbha: The true entity that each sentient being has, which is something other than the conscious mind known by ordinary people. It is the eighth one of a sentient being’s eight vijnanas. Tathagatagarbha possesses the intrinsic natures of neither-arising-nor-ceasing [permanently existing], neither-increasing-nor-decreasing [not creatable or destroyable], neither-defiled-nor-cleansed [no conceptual judgment],
neither-seeing-nor-hearing [no sensation functions], neither-perceiving-nor-knowing [no logical thought or understanding], etc.[/quote]

Maybe it’s just me, but I really don’t see how you have answered the question.
Perhaps it would help if you underlined the part of your response that you think gives a literal English translation of ālaya-vijñāna (i.e., not a Sanskrit synonym, based on the peculiar interpretations of your sect.)

You say that:

I think you had better check your sources.
I checked the Digital Dictionary Of Buddhism (which includes Soothill & Hodous) as well as Mukherjee (梵漢大辭典, p.1426), but I couldn’t find any mention of vijñāna ever being translated into Chinese as了知.

As I understand, 了知 means parijñāna (see Mukherjee, 梵漢大辭典 p.855), which is a different term altogether.

I suggest you either follow convention (such as it is), and
(1) render the bare term vijñāna into English as “consciousness”;
(2) translate mano-vijñāna literally as “mental consciousness”; and
(3) translate ālaya-vijñāna literally as “substratum consciousness” (or something similar),
or alternatively, come up with a way (based on the Tripiṭaka, of course) of translating vijñāna into English so that it can be distinguished from manovijñāna and parijñāna.

Why is it so hard for you accept the literal meaning of ālaya-vijñāna?

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Very good request. [/quote]

Since it’s such a good request, it surely deserves an answer, right?

[quote=“Buddhism”]Vijnana refers to sense, knowing (了知), but please do not jump into “consciousness (意識)”. Buddhist terminology is very specific, very finely separated. As I mentioned earlier, languages and words are very limited when we come to Buddhist terms. Especially we are doing in writings only. Don’t worry, it takes time, slowly you will get used to it.
Buddhism itself is a very profound field, these terms we are using now should in fact take one year’s time to digest, we are, in a way, too rushing. Most importantly, you have to piece all the info together, they are all interconnected.

Tathagatagarbha: The true entity that each sentient being has, which is something other than the conscious mind known by ordinary people. It is the eighth one of a sentient being’s eight vijnanas. Tathagatagarbha possesses the intrinsic natures of neither-arising-nor-ceasing [permanently existing], neither-increasing-nor-decreasing [not creatable or destroyable], neither-defiled-nor-cleansed [no conceptual judgment],
neither-seeing-nor-hearing [no sensation functions], neither-perceiving-nor-knowing [no logical thought or understanding], etc.[/quote]

Maybe it’s just me, but I really don’t see how you have answered the question.
Perhaps it would help if you underlined the part of your response that you think gives a literal English translation of ālaya-vijñāna (i.e., not a Sanskrit synonym, based on the peculiar interpretations of your sect.)

You say that:

I think you had better check your sources.
I checked the Digital Dictionary Of Buddhism (which includes Soothill & Hodous) as well as Mukherjee (梵漢大辭典, p.1426), but I couldn’t find any mention of vijñāna ever being translated into Chinese as了知.

As I understand, 了知 means parijñāna (see Mukherjee, 梵漢大辭典 p.855), which is a different term altogether.

I suggest you either follow convention (such as it is), and
(1) render the bare term vijñāna into English as “consciousness”;
(2) translate mano-vijñāna literally as “mental consciousness”; and
(3) translate ālaya-vijñāna literally as “substratum consciousness” (or something similar),
or alternatively, come up with a way (based on the Tripiṭaka, of course) of translating vijñāna into English so that it can be distinguished from manovijñāna and parijñāna.

Why is it so hard for you accept the literal meaning of ālaya-vijñāna?[/quote]

Very good of you, I was thinking about we should have this discussion on this thread, then you did it. It’s telepathy!
Your reaction regarding the explanation of “vijnana”(識) is very normal, we all had the same when we just started our lessons, we tended to think in our routine way.

Firstly, try to understand “vijnana” means Citta (心), it’s not form (色), we have to differentiate mental (intangible) from form (tangible). Secondly, vijnana is the sensing (知) without intented contemplating or observing (不起語言文字的意識思惟); without mindful thought.
Could you please just try to understand my explanation first, put aside your routine understanding.
I will explain Alayavijnana from many different aspects, but you have to digest gradually, don’t swallow everything in one go.

When “manovijnana” is the mental consciousness as you mentioned; the sixth vijnana; the conscious mind(意識，第六識).
Vijnana cannot be translated into consciousness, this term would mislead the public into thinking it refers to the sixth vijnana(意識), thereby dragging the direction into mundane five aggreagates (五蘊) and can never achieve the cultivation. I have no say in these terms, it is the Buddha’s teaching, we have to gain the best result to all sentient beings. All dictionaries are for reference, true Buddhism shall not be trapped by words. The true meaning is of vital importance.
I will post more regarding this subject. Please be patient. It takes time to digest.

Is your Chinese good enough to take weekly evening lessons? Maybe it’s the best way that you join the new winter session, you will be able to ask and discuss questions directly.

Glossary:
Vijnana: A mind-entity which can discern the difference of the objects perceived. Discernment is its intrinsic nature.

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Since the mano-vijñāna and the ālaya-vijñāna are both vijñānas, it follows that they are both cases of “sensing (知) without intented contemplating or observing (不起語言文字的意識思惟); without mindful thought”, right?

[quote=“buddhism”]When “manovijnana” is the mental consciousness as you mentioned; the sixth vijnana; the conscious mind (意識，第六識).
Vijnana cannot be translated into consciousness, this term would mislead the public into thinking it refers to the sixth vijnana (意識), [/quote]
If the bare term vijñāna cannot be translated as “consciousness”, and mano-vijñāna cannot be translated as “mental consciousness”, what about the other 五識?
It follows that they should not be translated as “visual consciousness”, etc., right?
That would be unusual, to say the least.
Are you saying they should properly be translated as “visual discernment” etc.?

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Since the mano-vijñāna and the ālaya-vijñāna are both vijñānas, it follows that they are both cases of “sensing (知) without intented contemplating or observing (不起語言文字的意識思惟); without mindful thought”, right?

[quote=“buddhism”]When “manovijnana” is the mental consciousness as you mentioned; the sixth vijnana; the conscious mind (意識，第六識).
Vijnana cannot be translated into consciousness, this term would mislead the public into thinking it refers to the sixth vijnana (意識), [/quote]
If the bare term vijñāna cannot be translated as “consciousness”, and mano-vijñāna cannot be translated as “mental consciousness”, what about the other 五識?
It follows that they should not be translated as “visual consciousness”, etc., right?
That would be unusual, to say the least.
Are you saying they should properly be translated as “visual discernment” etc.?

Very good again, you are thinking deeper now.
See, you should have pieced all the earlier posts together, I repeatedly wrote:
“The Alayavijnana does not belong to any of the mundane phenomena; it is without any form or appearance. It primordially exists and is not created, so it exists independently, even before sentient beings.”

So we cannot compare Alayavijnana’s discernment with our wordly sensing, since its function transcends the Three-Realms.
Alayavijnana does not possess the wordly sensation (discernments). It’s like a warehouse or storage room, they wouldn’t react to what karmic seeds we put in.

Regarding the other six vijnanas, in a way you are right, better not be translated as “consciousness”; it’s better to keep the origina word “vijnana” to avoid misinterpretation.

That’s why I kept saying, Buddhist cultivation cannot be done by imagination, induction or academic research.

73

“I have a happy family, and a beautiful daughter; I am very happy, why does Buddhism say ‘life is suffering (duhkha苦)’”? I was once asked by a middle-age man many years ago. Indeed, we all have lots of ups and downs in life, not really suffering at all.

In terms of Buddhism, however, “suffering” refers to the phenomenon of all formations are impermanent in this world (諸行無常), at which we are powerless to do anything about it, that is truly sad. Everyone wishes so much to stay young, to be wealthy and healthy and to stay with the beloved ones forever.

How could we perceive the “formations are impermanent”? Let’s take our name-and-form (名色); we are able to observe our ever changing mood influenced by all sorts of messages, sounds and images. Some time ago, signs were put up near YuanShan MRT; a thread was opened to discuss this issue and all the way to now about Buddhist info. Perhaps after a few months the whole issue will eventually die down to nothingness… We can contemplate on all other issues the same as that of conditional arising and conditional cessation; in this way, we are sure that after sixty years from now, many among us, certainly including myself, will no longer exist in this same name-and-form. We can truly realize the manifestation of emptiness-appearance of the mundane world. Besides, where were we some sixty years ago then?

If new existences keep merging around after emptiness-appearance, there should be a certain eternity to substantiate the phenomena. And that is the message the Buddha wishes to pass down to all sentient beings. The true reality is not away from our name-and-form nor in the cosmos as claimed by the ancient Hindu sages that one has to merge with It; it is with our five aggregates (skandhas), twelve sense-fields十二處 (ayatanas), and eighteen sense-realms (dhatavahs). So to have proper knowledge of the eighteen sense-realms (十八界) is very important in Buddhist cultivation. It takes time to get used to all the terms and their functions. It is very normal when we have to read and read repeatedly.

Glossary:
Emptiness-appearance: The secular phenomenon of all dharmas being empty eventually, with the emptiness-nature behind it

Emptiness-nature: The state of the eighth vijnana, Tathagatagarbha, that is formless and away from perceptive functions, does not cling to anything of the world, and is always clean. Sometimes it means Tathagatagarbha itself.

Eighteen sense-realms: The eighteen different functions of a sentient being to get the information from the world, i.e., six sense-objects (六塵), six sense-roots (六根), and six vijnanas (六識)

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For a normal healthy person, whenever any or all of the first five vijnanas function(s), the sixth vijnana(conscious mind), the seventh vijnana (manas) and the Alaya vijnana are always present; their interworking is so smooth that we do not even realize it.

Glossary:
Six vijnanas: The six kinds of discerning capabilities of a sentient being to identify the differences of the six external sense-objects through the six sense-roots. They are the eye-vijnana, ear-vijnana, nose-vijnana, tongue-vijnana, body-vijnana, and Manovijnana. The sixth one, the Manovijnana, is called the conscious mind usually.

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During the Buddha’s time, the sangha community had simplified their possessions to a begging bowl and three sets of kasaya (三衣一缽) and shaven hair, since they had determined to cultivate the Bodhi path, and started with detaching from the worldly belongs. The monks’ full time duties are to properly cultivate the Buddha’s teachings by themselves and also to pass down the teachings to the general public. They were not allowed to do business dealing or keep money during Buddha’s time. The “food begging” deed by the sangha is meant to create the “field of merits 福田” for the general public. Because ordinary people have to work to earn a living, and have no time to study Buddhism; while monks are full time practitioners, if some day the monks get enlightened or attain Liberation, the one who did offer the monks food in the past, should gain countless merits by his contribution. All the merits will turn up sooner or later in the future lives including: a special affinity to the Buddha’s teachings, rich and well off… That is also the term “three treasures” means: the Buddha, the Dharma (Buddhist teachings), and the Sangha (community of monks and nuns). These three treasures are “field of blessings 福田” to all beings.

At Buddha’s time, a little bird gripped a piece of sandalwood to offer to the Buddha, and the little bird has become a human being this life, and has even got enlightened .

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The Buddhist cultivation is to transcend births-and-deaths and seek eternity, so its scope of viewpoint is set for a broader magnitude instead of a normal human life span of 80 years. Throughout the reincarnation cycles, we do hope to have a better access to the true path in accordance with the law of causality, therefore it is of pivotal importance to accumulate good merits and virtues during every lifetime.

Every person is the composition of the Buddha nature and the five aggregates (五蘊). If we are able to clearly detect our five aggregates in our body and mind, automatically we will get our answer. That is why we have to know all the details about the terms regarding the five aggregates. And in the sutras, which describe the characteristics of the Buddha nature (Alaya vijnana) is inherently pure, without any form or appearance; the Buddha nature is also known as the true mind (真心) in the “Heart Sutra 心經.”

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As every sentient being inherently possesses the Alaya vijnana (eighth vijnana; Buddha nature; Tathagatagabha) that is formless and away from the worldly perceptive functions, does not cling to anything of the world, and is always pure and clean. At this point, all beings are fundamentally equal, and what makes us so different from one another, even among siblings from the same parents?

The causes rely on how we collect our power of karma seeds throughout reincarnation cycles of births-and-deaths. As stated earlier, one of the Alaya vijnana functions is to store all the seeds of our deeds, positive and negative alike; the mind- entity itself of the Alaya vijnana will definitely not be influenced by its contents (karma seeds). So if an individual has been collecting lowly devious karma seeds all the time, in due course, his/her Alaly vijnana will faithfully generate a lowly sentient being’s realm for him/her accordingly. This is a very concise introduction of how the law of causality works. The same as the saying, “We are what we eat,” now in this case should be “We are what we do.” In terms of Buddhism, all beings with the function of memory are considered to be equal beings; that is also one of the reasons that Buddhism advocates and encourages vegetarian. Vegetables can grow due to its physics nature, not reincarnated via the function of Alaya vijnana.

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The Buddhist cultivation aims at purifying the defiled karma seeds that have been stored in the Alaya vijnana throughout numerous births-and-deaths, and eventually attaining the manifestation of the wondrous and profound Buddhahood. The three karmas (three activities 三業), namely the word, thought and deed (身口意), decide our power of karma force. That is why to watch out carefully for the three karmas are very crucial in Buddhist cultivation.

Some would argue that they have seen so many unfair instances in life, and they do have doubt about the law of causality. Pleas don’t forget, how long does a human life span last? At most for one hundred years, while the function period of the “law of causality” takes several hundreds or thousands or even longer years to ripen; we have a saying in Buddhism, only Buddhas fully comprehend the law of causality, because it is much too intricate to understand the entire issue with our limited vision. For example, if a soldier was sent to a battlefield to fight not by his own free will; should he be unfortunately shot by another unknown soldier, and they do not know each other nor have they any hatred between them. How would this case evolve in the future lives for these two? Or, rather, what have been the past causes for these two to meet in this way? But currently, we can only witness the poor killed soldier.
Since the store vijnana will never cease to exist, it will definitely carry all our seeds of deeds eternally; if an individual
completely comprehend and realize all the wisdom of the seeds contained in the store vijnana and Tathagatagarbha itself, that is the attainment of Buddhahood.

Glossary:
All-Seed-Prajna: The Buddhist mundane and transmundane wisdom on the truth about all seeds contained in Tathagatagarbha and Tathagatagarbha itself. It is the wisdom of the Buddha ground.

79

Buddhism, I’m going to make two requests in my capacity as moderator.

  1. Please don’t multi-post. Make one long post if you like, but repeatedly posting back to back puts other people off becoming involved.
  2. Please focus on answering questions put to you, and avoid lengthy and detailed sermon-like posts. Although you are encouraged to share your beliefs with others, please consider that they may be put off if you treat this forum like a personal soapbox. You may wish to post brief summaries and link to more detailed explanations, instead of making page-long posts.
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[quote=“Fortigurn”]Buddhism, I’m going to make two requests in my capacity as moderator.

  1. Please don’t multi-post. Make one long post if you like, but repeatedly posting back to back puts other people off becoming involved.
  2. Please focus on answering questions put to you, and avoid lengthy and detailed sermon-like posts. Although you are encouraged to share your beliefs with others, please consider that they may be put off if you treat this forum like a personal soapbox. You may wish to post brief summaries and link to more detailed explanations, instead of making page-long posts.[/quote]

Thank you, appreciate your instructions.
I have noticed that all my posts are much too long in the past, that’s why I try to make them shorter now; however, the difficult part with Buddist concept is that all issues are interlinked like a spiderweb, I just try to build up the very basics of Buddhist knowledge to avoid misunderstanding.

Your wish is my command. Thank you.