The Eighth Consciousness: karmic Storehouse.
All experiences from our present and previous lifetimes accumulate in the eighth consciousness, believed to be the realm that undergoes the cycle of birth and death. The eighth is also known as the Alaya- consciousness- The Eighth Consciousness: karmic Storehouse.
All experiences from our present and previous lifetimes accumulate in the eighth consciousness, believed to be the realm that undergoes the cycle of birth and death. The eighth is also known as the Alaya- consciousness- the Sanskrit word alaya meaning repository or storehouse. This consciousness receives the results of thoughts, words and deeds and stores them as karmic potential “ seeds”. Since karmic seeds are only found at a very deep level of life, they are unaffected by the external world.
The Alaya Consciousness and Death
Our karmic energy Mutually impacts our loved ones ( living and deceased) and indeed, all humankind. It even affects animals and plants. A positive change in the karmic energy in the depths of one’s life, becomes a cogwheel for change in the lives of others; one persons internal reformation or -“human revolution,” - therefore, can change the destiny of that persons, family and society .
. This consciousness receives the results of thoughts, words and deeds and stores them as karmic potential “ seeds”. Since karmic seeds are only found at a very deep level of life, they are unaffected by the external world.
The Alaya Consciousness and Death
Our karmic energy Mutually impacts our loved ones ( living and deceased) and indeed, all humankind. It even affects animals and plants. A positive change in the karmic energy in the depths of one’s life, becomes a cogwheel for change in the lives of others; one persons internal reformation or -“human revolution,” - therefore, can change the destiny of that persons, family and society .
The Ninth Consciousness:
Purity, Greater Self, Buddha Nature
Based on compassion, we can arouse a determination to make causes that offset the karmic effects imprinted on the alaya-consciousness through delusion. We can work towards self reformation by breaking through the walls of egoism and dedicating our lives to the benefit of others. In this way, we can significantly affect the Alaya consciousness.
The ninth or Amala consciousness is the key to transforming the dynamics of the Alaya consciousness. The Sanskrit word Amala means pure or spotless. As its name suggests, the Amala consciousness remains eternally untainted by karmic accretions. A pure clean stream, gushes forth from the depths of our lives once the ninth level of consciousness is opened, and all impurities simultaneously and immediately are swept away like detrius washed from the street in a spring shower.
The ninth consciousness is itself, the ultimate reality of all things, and is equivalent to the universal Buddha nature. The Amala-consciousness is pure life force, the power to live, and it represents the drive to have a better life. It is the greater self that works for the happiness of all. The power to make all people absolutely happy is the function of the Buddha. Therefore, the ninth consciousness is known as the Buddha consciousness. It is also called the Dharma Nature, which denotes the enlightenment potential in every being. The pure Amala-consciousness allows us to transform the entire interlocking Web of latent causes and effects that forms the Alaya consciousness, so that is it is based on buddha wisdom, rather than delusion.
Tapping the Amala-consciousness impacts All the other consciousness’s, causing them to Express, the immense power and infinite wisdom of the Buddha nature .
Nichiren gave concrete expression to the Amala-consciousness -the fundamental reality of life- in Nam Myoho Renge Kyo-
He thereby opened a path, through which all people can reveal Buddhahood, drawing forth the latent greater self.
“The body is the palace of the ninth consciousness, the unchanging reality,” he wrote, and concluded that chanting,- Nam Myoho Renghe Kyo-is the way to open the Buddhahood inherent within our lives, allowing it to gush forth and purify our lives from the inside out.
The lotus Sutra, , the essence of which is crystallized in the phrase Nam Myoho Renghe Kyo -enables us to tap the life force of the universe, so that no matter what happens, we are never bound by our difficulties.