Without a doubt the ālayavijñāna, sometimes translated as the storehouse (ālaya) of consciousness (vijñāna), is somewhat of a mystery in later Buddhism. We are all familiar with the word himalaya (S., himālaya) meaning abode of snow. In Pali, ālayo means about the same thing as it does in Sanskrit except there is added, longing, desire, attachment and lust.
The most important part of this specialized word is vijñāna which is often translated with the English word ‘consciousness’ although vijñāna means much more which I translate as subject-object knowing, “vi” meaning “in two parts” while “jñāna” means “knowing.”
Vijñāna is the reality we are stuck in. It has, it appears, almost total dominion over us. Vijñāna is always conditioning and crafting itself. It’s always getting reborn, too. It can become a hell born being or a god (deva). As we might expect, the subject doesn't fully accord with the object and the object doesn't fully accord with the subject (the less the accord the more suffering).
There is a endless restless and change with the vijñāna. Because of this, we never attain insight into true reality. We always fall short of it. We only succeed when, so to speak, the pure subject meets the pure object at which point Mind itself (cittamātra) is revealed for the first time. In this state we realize the true basis of vijñāna has always been Mind, Mind that has been reflecting into itself, but remains ever ignorant (avidya) of itself. From the very beginning, there has been Mind-only (cittamātra), plurality comes through vijñāna being māyā which is an illusion, a trick as in some kind of magic. We are being, more or less, constantly deceived by our self.
The real purpose of meditation is to transcend vijñāna, that is, to realize Mind itself, Mind that by reflecting into itself knows itself instead of not knowing itself. Truth be told, the twelve links of conditioned origination have always been dependent on Mind.
Do you perhaps have the sanskrit writing for Vajravimbopama at hand?
Posted by: Adasatala | June 28, 2018 at 05:34 PM