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'''Eight consciousnesses''', or more literally, '''eight collections of consciousness''' (Skt. ''aṣṭavijñānakāya''; [[Wyl.]] ''rnam shes tshogs brgyad'') are mentioned in the writings of the [[Mind Only]] school.  
[[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.  


To the [[six consciousnesses]] mentioned in the [[Abhidharma]] texts of the [[basic vehicle]] are added
{{:Six consciousnesses}}
*the [[defiled mental consciousness]] or emotional consciousness (Skt. ''kliṣṭamanas''; Wyl. ''nyon yid'') and
==The seventh and eighth consciousness==
*the [[all-ground consciousness]] (Skt. ''ālaya vijñāna''; Tib. ''kunshyi namshé''; [[Wyl.]] ''kun gzhi rnam shes'').
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===
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*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]])
==Oral Teachings Given to the [[About Rigpa|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.


[[Category:Key Terms]]
[[Category:Key Terms]]
[[Category:Chittamatra]]
[[Category:Chittamatra]]
[[Category:Enumerations]]
[[Category:Enumerations]]
[[Category:8-Eight]]
[[Category:08-Eight]]

Revision as of 21:34, 10 July 2018

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)

Oral 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.