Consciousness as Particular Cognitions and as the Ultimate Nondual
By
Giorgio Piacenza
Consciousness can be understood as the capacity to experience. But until a certain “layer” or “level” that capacity would be identified with the experience itself from the coarser to the subtlest levels. Sometimes the term “consciousness” is understood as synonymous with “mind” in general but, technically speaking, “consciousness” refers to a type of cognition that arises together with sensory domains (ayatana). Consciousness can also be understood as the experiences themselves, as specific but meaningful experiences in terms of physical perceptions and sensations and as more comprehensive in various grades of non-physical, mental understanding.
Originally five physical senses were said to provide support for varied types of cognition plus a sixth one known as the cognitive system. Later on, more layers or levels were introduced in some Buddhist traditions.
A metaphor for “consciousness” could be the concept of “space,” a “space” in which objects of experience can exist as if they were other than the ultimate self. The capacity to experience would identify with objects that are experienced as if they were outside of itself ranging in many Buddhist traditions from the 1st level and type of consciousness to the 8th level and type of consciousness.
In the 9th level of consciousness (the nondual level), there would be pure consciousness without being identified with objects but also without distinguishing itself as other than the objects. It would be tantamount to ultimate reality and to what in Mahayana Buddhism is called “Buddha Nature.” In the teachings of Nichiren Buddhism it is called the “Amala” layer of consciousness.
The 8th level would be where all potentials for physical and mental manifestations occur. It is called Alaya Consciousness (or Alaya Vijañana) and in some Vedanta traditions, it may be related to what is called the “Causal” or “seed” level. A metaphor for it could still be the concept of “space.” Here would be an observer whose subjectivity predominates as an immense space of possibility over all possible objects of experience.
In the first 7 levels of consciousness, there would be specific forms of consciousness, related to the experience of objects, feelings, and forms of thinking. With greater space, or more expanded levels of consciousness more aspects of reality (made of the illusion of separate objects which in truth are all interdependent) can be properly embraced and understood in their proper relation and with greater clarity without becoming caught up by them. While in the first 5 or 6 levels consciousness is so identified with the experience that it effectively IS the experience, 7th level would be the capacity for a more abstract or detached perspective taking and the 8th level would be karmic repository of an individual’s life (multiple and multidimensional lives) and the 9th level would be the Source or fundamental universal consciousness of all that is.
Based on previous teachings, Vasubandhu systematized the concept of 8 levels of consciousness and his system was adopted by the Yogacara School which considers consciousness as the ultimate Reality. Vasubhandu wrote the “Treatise in Thirty Stanzas” in which he states that there are eight consciousnesses: the five sense-consciousnesses, mind (as perception), manas (as self-consciousness), and the the fundamental non-judgmental stream and/or storehouse-consciousness. But the question arose whether that latter “storehouse,” the 8th level of consciousness called “Alaya” consciousness) could be equated with ultimate reality or Buddha nature.
Thus, subsequent authors thought that Vasubandhu had been misinterpreted.
For instance, in Nichiren Buddhism (founded by the monk Nichiren in the XIII Century after studying the Lotus Sutra and in contradiction with other forms of Buddhism that had become excessively controlled by an elite), there are 9 layers or levels of consciousness. He wanted the common person to be able to realize his inherent Buddha Nature and claimed to have found a way to connect with the Pure 9th Layer of Consciousness through a mantra or chant that would connect all other layers of consciousness with it.
Nichiren also related the first eight consciousnesses as expressions of life or life streams ultimately dependent on the 9th level of Pure Consciousness, a level not defiled by karma, by any sense of separation (however subtle) or by anything else. This 9th level of consciousness is called “Amala” and, while the 8th level (Alaya) could be considered in some Western esoteric terms as the “Oversoul” or “Higher Self,” the 9th can be considered more as the ultimate Universal Life of the Universe, the Ultimate Reality, Source and Buddha Nature.
While about 1000 years earlier the great philosopher Nagarjuna studying the Heart Sutra (with the aid of the Indian logical device called “Tetralemma”) specifically in relation to the question about emptiness or vacuity and to the nature of independent existence (or “Svabha) demonstrated that assertions about the nature of Svabha in relation both to sentient beings and to all phenomena can be logically contradictory, he is also famous for recognizing the nondual assertion: “Form is empty, emptiness is form.”
Nagarjuna’s teachings are normally used (in Madhyamika traditions) to defend the notion that there also is no ultimate permanent self and no actual essential nature of reality but there also is room for thinking that he simply showed that no absolute assertion that can be made about relative or contingent phenomena can be logically defended under any of the 4 logical possibilities found in the Tetralemma and which can be expressed thus: Things ultimately exist, things ultimately do not exist, things ultimately both exist and do not exist, things ultimately neither exist nor do not exist. The key point for me is that Nagarjuna was speaking of things or of relative phenomena, including a relative notion of the self which (as individual consciousness) he found to be unsustainable as a separate entity by itself and inextricable from all other selves and phenomena. However, if we consider an ultimate, eternal, self not as a ‘thing’ or as another relative phenomenon but as an ultimately ineffable absolute (for which we can use as pointers our terms “consciousness” and “being” as integrated concepts), Nagarjuna’s logic would not apply. What would still apply is the nondual expression “Form is empty, emptiness is form.”
That non-relative, ultimate, eternal self which is not a thing and in which emptiness and form coincide can also be considered both as self-sustaining and as inextricably related to all relative phenomena under Nagarjuna’s tenet: “All is possible when emptiness is possible. Nothing is possible when emptiness is impossible.” Thus, dependent origination, emptiness/vacuity and a real essential Self as Buddha Nature can coexist.
In Mahayana Buddhism, the so called “third turning of the wheel” or (according to some schools) Buddha’s alleged final definitive teachings about the nature of ultimate reality (for instance teachings found in the tathāgatagarbha sutras) has two main philosophical stances. The first one (often accused of nihilism along with Hinayana Buddhist perspectives) is called “Rangton” or the empty- self tradition in which there only is “dependent origination” and where there is nothing permanent or substantial in itself. In “Rangton” ultimate reality is not considered to be something real but more like an always clear glass that seems to have been seemingly tainted (seemingly because in fact it can never be tainted).
“Rangton” is confusing because it seems to deny any reality to the ultimate while at the same time asserting that it is a nature called “Buddha Nature.” The other perspective is called “Shengton” or the tradition about the Buddha Nature self as empty of all relative phenomena but not of itself, like a stable, absolute, essence. I particularly subscribe to this latter tradition and think that it is more compatible with many Western, Indian, Middle Eastern theologies and wisdom traditions that claim that there is an Absolute Essence.
We have to understand that in Buddhist theories of consciousness the principle of “dependent origination” remains an unshakable doctrinal guidepost. But for them, a combination of interior and exterior causes (subjective and objective causes) are normally also deemed necessary for mutually dependent phenomena to produce effects within the realms of impermanence. Interestingly also, the realms of impermanence (the realms of phenomena and “things”) are considered to be eternal, or with no origin or original creation as in most Western and Middle Eastern religious traditions. Nonetheless, in a metaphysical sense, I believe they could be considered to be metaphysically sustained by an ultimate source outside of time and relative identifications such as the “Amala Consciousness” or what could be called the Primordial Life.
Interestingly, in the already mentioned Buddhist schools, consciousness can be very specific. When we are not referring to consciousness as the ultimate reality or Buddha Nature, it seems to acquire characteristics necessary for experience. In a sense, it is the capacity and experience of sight, sound, touch, taste, feeling, cognition, forms of mental and spiritual understanding because it has – to various degrees - identified with these.
Thus, it would seem that as long as consciousness identifies itself with the appearance of objects as if they exist outside of it, it acquires specific types of cognition. For example, out of the nine consciousnesses considered in the Nichiren scheme, there is a correspondence of six levels of consciousnesses with the five senses (sight, taste, sound, touch, smell) plus consciousness and also the five sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body) plus mind and six objects of cognition (color-shape, sound, odor, taste, tangibility and spiritual and mental components.
All Buddhist schools post at least 6 consciousnesses but Yogacara posits eight and Nichiren posits nine. Normally, the first five specific consciousnesses are normally considered to be of the physical realm and the sixth Mano Vijñana could be considered as a basic-but-necessary, lower mental realm consciousness that coheres the previous five into an integrated whole. That coherence would comprise a six consciousnesses, six sense organs and six objects of cognition considered to be necessary for concretely manifesting the functions of cognition into action, and into effects and materiality. However, let’s recall that in these Buddhist teachings, “cognition” is more than what is understood in Western psychology. It is more than conceptual cognition and involves sensations, feelings, thinking and all forms of experience.
Mano Vijñana as the 6th level of consciousness refers to the capacity for abstract thought, comparative, associative thinking, and discernment. It also is a function that integrates what the 5 senses are transmitting. It is clearly related to an awareness of self as a relative yet permanent entity which is closely associated with attachment to a false sense of ego. Because it can discriminate, separate and will it is also considered to be predominantly responsible for initiating and modifying karma in a deluding way that binds us to the world of appearances. Mano Vijñana may be how consciousness functions when embedded in what Vedanta considers to be the Manomaya Kosha a subdivision of the “subtle sharira” or Sukshma Sharira; a subdivision also known in some Western esoteric circles as the “Astral Body.”
Manas Vijñana as the 7th level of consciousness would be a form of mind and level of consciousness that interprets in a finely deluded egotistical form the subsequent and more fundamental “Alaya Vijñana” 8th level of consciousness (also known as “all-encompassing foundation consciousness”). Manas Vijñana is capable of direct intuitive thinking cognition and of conceptual thinking cognition. In Blavatsky’s Theosophy it may correspond to what has been called the “higher mental body.” It confuses the non-judgmental “Alaya Vijñana” with the true essential self or ego. This level relates more actively with interior subjective life and may thus represent the subconscious mind.
And the 8th layer or level of consciousness, “Alaya Vijñana” or “all-encompassing foundation consciousness” admitted in Yogacara, Zen Buddhism and Nichiren Buddhism is considered to be the “storehouse” and karmic stream of all that can potentially manifest, good and evil through the neutral or perfectly non-judgmental accumulation of all the cognitions produced from the 8th level of consciousness all the way to the 1st. And we also find that the 8th layer or level of consciousness as the “karmic storehouse” capable of accumulating and releasing all potentials for an individual is not sufficiently universal as an entity. Experiencing Alaya Vijñana as the universal would be the fundamental source of behavioral and cognitive disconnection from the cosmos. Thus, a way to align the 8th layer with the absolutely nondual 9th, the “Amala” layer considered to be identical with Buddha Nature, had to be found. Nichiren held that the mantra that concentrated all the teachings of the Lotus Sutra was “Nam Myo Horen Ge Kyo” and its visual representation summarizing al aspects of the cosmos (in a way that to the practitioner often seems to be holographic) was called the “Gohonzon.” Allegedly, contemplating the Gohonzon while chanting “Nam Myo Horen Ge Kyo” puts our eight layer of consciousness (and therefore all the others) in touch with the absolute, universal Buddha Nature and with the cosmos at large.
While the “Alaya Vijñana” may be to what in some esoteric traditions is called the “Higher Self,” in relation to Vedanta it can be considered to be the subtlest, causal or “seed Sharira” (Karana Sharira in Sanskrit) or sheath veiling the Supreme Spirit/Parabrahman. Then again, the Manas Vijñana and Mano Vijñana may be “masks” (koshas) or subdivisions of the Subtle or Mind Sharira (Sukshma Sharira in Sanskrit) and the first five consciousnesses related to the five physical senses may be expressions of the coarsest, physical Sharira (Sthula Sharira in Sanskrit).
What might make a Buddhist understanding sufficiently compatible for a deeper dialogue with Vedanta and with other essentialist, nondual traditions (whilst maintaining a distinct Buddhist perspective) could be the possibility of working more directly with the Shengton tradition already mentioned. Shengton and Vedanta maintain what could be called an essentialist absolute perspective. Besides that, a factor that remains common in Shengton, Rangton and Vedanta systems is an understanding that consciousness is embedded under distinct experiences in different layers or levels with accompanying senses and vehicles.
In Terms of the Quantum Hologram Theory of Consciousness
In terms of the Quantum Hologram Theory of Consciousness (QHTC) we could posit that the so called “nonlocal quantum hologram information matrix” (decoded by an interaction between physical objects and a brain-sensorial system through PCAR (or Phase Conjugate Adaptive Resonance) is part of a modern way of shedding light on the mechanism for experiencing cognition.
In Buddhist terms (in relation to the theory of 8 consciousnesses and of 9 consciousnesses), the QHTC would be specific to the coherence between the 5 senses and their forms of consciousness and cognition and an initial mind level (the 6th level of consciousness). Between coarse physical objects detected by the 5 senses and the 6th level of consciousness which is basically considered a basic form of non-physical mind. However, detection and Phases conjugate adaptive resonance of the “coarse physical objects” would include a form of experiential consciousness.
Beyond this, the Quantum Hologram Theory of Consciousness per se would not apply, unless we posit extensions to the theory that would probably include non-physical, experiential information fields.
Crucially, consciousness is inherently part of the mechanism from the very beginning and is not derivative of it. In terms of physical consciousnesses related and decoded through physical senses we would call it “sensorial consciousness.” But since for Buddhist thinking everything is mind and consciousness is part of it, both the physical and the cognitive aspects would be integrated.
Another consequence of seriously considering the aforementioned Buddhist perspectives would be that consciousness ultimately is an unlimited, absolute entity capable of undergoing particular types of downgrades to become experiences according to the various relative or contingent levels it associates with. In other words, it would be able to embed itself in its own productions and experience various levels of reality through those productions. This may also be called “hylic pluralism.”
In its formalism, the QHTC would have to include meaningful, non-algorithmic, subjective experience from the beginning. The mathematics of Fourier transforms would have to be more than about quantitative units.
The existence of "sensorial consciousnesses" as exposed would agree with Aristotle's requirement that sensation be present for an organism to be conscious. But in the Buddhist traditions, the physical senses, associated forms of consciousness and cognitions coincide. And they are integrated by another similar but more comprehensive system of non-physical mind, quite likely with its own sensorial organs.
For the so called 8th level of consciousness (in Buddhist thinking) to be able to experience across various levels, as a unifying entity in relation with a universal 9th level it would always have to use some kind of vehicle or “decoder” (in terms of the Quantum Hologram Theory of Consciousness) suitable to every appropriate level.
Drawing a further parallels between the QHTC and the Buddhist thinking exposed, we could say that the 8th level of consciousness is akin to a non-local quantum information field that stores information about all events with the important exception that it not only refers to quantitative physical information but also to qualitative experiential information which includes physical and non-physical levels of existence.
But it would be “non-local” with respect to the less encompassing levels, just as much as the 6th level would be “non-local” with respect to the first 5 levels. And each more encompassing level of consciousness would have its own order and be able to cohere the perceptions of less encompassing levels derived from more restricted probabilities of experience. In the relationship between the 6th level of consciousness and the first 5, upon a PCAR event, a subjectivity at a minimum centered on the 6th level of consciousness experiencing a more encompassing, coherent world would impose such order on the probability waves.
Moreover, if nondual reality is a non-contingent, “consciousness” that – as The ultimate Source - also has the potential of producing all exterior forms, vehicles, objects in any level of duality in which it becomes embedded, we can also consider it as more than “Consciousness,” as the Source of episteme and ontos, of duality based subjectivity and always accompanying objective aspects.T hat 9th level considered by the one Nichiren would be pure and ultimate Being as much as Pure and ultimate Consciousness.
Bibliography
Anacker, S., 1984. Seven Works of Vasubandhu: The Buddhist Psychological Doctor, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Ikeda, D. & Wickramasinghe, C. 1998. Space and Eternal Life, Sidmouth: Journeyman Press.
Mitchell, E. & Staretz R., 2011. The Quantum Hologram and the Nature of Consciousness. Retrieved from http://journalofcosmology.com/Consciousness149.html
Nagarjuna (translated by Jay L. Garfield), 1995. The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Taranatha (translated by Hopkins, J.) 2007. The Essence of Other-Emptiness. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications.
Sadaka, A., 1997. Buddhist Cosmology: Philosophy and Origins. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Co.
By
Giorgio Piacenza
Consciousness can be understood as the capacity to experience. But until a certain “layer” or “level” that capacity would be identified with the experience itself from the coarser to the subtlest levels. Sometimes the term “consciousness” is understood as synonymous with “mind” in general but, technically speaking, “consciousness” refers to a type of cognition that arises together with sensory domains (ayatana). Consciousness can also be understood as the experiences themselves, as specific but meaningful experiences in terms of physical perceptions and sensations and as more comprehensive in various grades of non-physical, mental understanding.
Originally five physical senses were said to provide support for varied types of cognition plus a sixth one known as the cognitive system. Later on, more layers or levels were introduced in some Buddhist traditions.
A metaphor for “consciousness” could be the concept of “space,” a “space” in which objects of experience can exist as if they were other than the ultimate self. The capacity to experience would identify with objects that are experienced as if they were outside of itself ranging in many Buddhist traditions from the 1st level and type of consciousness to the 8th level and type of consciousness.
In the 9th level of consciousness (the nondual level), there would be pure consciousness without being identified with objects but also without distinguishing itself as other than the objects. It would be tantamount to ultimate reality and to what in Mahayana Buddhism is called “Buddha Nature.” In the teachings of Nichiren Buddhism it is called the “Amala” layer of consciousness.
The 8th level would be where all potentials for physical and mental manifestations occur. It is called Alaya Consciousness (or Alaya Vijañana) and in some Vedanta traditions, it may be related to what is called the “Causal” or “seed” level. A metaphor for it could still be the concept of “space.” Here would be an observer whose subjectivity predominates as an immense space of possibility over all possible objects of experience.
In the first 7 levels of consciousness, there would be specific forms of consciousness, related to the experience of objects, feelings, and forms of thinking. With greater space, or more expanded levels of consciousness more aspects of reality (made of the illusion of separate objects which in truth are all interdependent) can be properly embraced and understood in their proper relation and with greater clarity without becoming caught up by them. While in the first 5 or 6 levels consciousness is so identified with the experience that it effectively IS the experience, 7th level would be the capacity for a more abstract or detached perspective taking and the 8th level would be karmic repository of an individual’s life (multiple and multidimensional lives) and the 9th level would be the Source or fundamental universal consciousness of all that is.
Based on previous teachings, Vasubandhu systematized the concept of 8 levels of consciousness and his system was adopted by the Yogacara School which considers consciousness as the ultimate Reality. Vasubhandu wrote the “Treatise in Thirty Stanzas” in which he states that there are eight consciousnesses: the five sense-consciousnesses, mind (as perception), manas (as self-consciousness), and the the fundamental non-judgmental stream and/or storehouse-consciousness. But the question arose whether that latter “storehouse,” the 8th level of consciousness called “Alaya” consciousness) could be equated with ultimate reality or Buddha nature.
Thus, subsequent authors thought that Vasubandhu had been misinterpreted.
For instance, in Nichiren Buddhism (founded by the monk Nichiren in the XIII Century after studying the Lotus Sutra and in contradiction with other forms of Buddhism that had become excessively controlled by an elite), there are 9 layers or levels of consciousness. He wanted the common person to be able to realize his inherent Buddha Nature and claimed to have found a way to connect with the Pure 9th Layer of Consciousness through a mantra or chant that would connect all other layers of consciousness with it.
Nichiren also related the first eight consciousnesses as expressions of life or life streams ultimately dependent on the 9th level of Pure Consciousness, a level not defiled by karma, by any sense of separation (however subtle) or by anything else. This 9th level of consciousness is called “Amala” and, while the 8th level (Alaya) could be considered in some Western esoteric terms as the “Oversoul” or “Higher Self,” the 9th can be considered more as the ultimate Universal Life of the Universe, the Ultimate Reality, Source and Buddha Nature.
While about 1000 years earlier the great philosopher Nagarjuna studying the Heart Sutra (with the aid of the Indian logical device called “Tetralemma”) specifically in relation to the question about emptiness or vacuity and to the nature of independent existence (or “Svabha) demonstrated that assertions about the nature of Svabha in relation both to sentient beings and to all phenomena can be logically contradictory, he is also famous for recognizing the nondual assertion: “Form is empty, emptiness is form.”
Nagarjuna’s teachings are normally used (in Madhyamika traditions) to defend the notion that there also is no ultimate permanent self and no actual essential nature of reality but there also is room for thinking that he simply showed that no absolute assertion that can be made about relative or contingent phenomena can be logically defended under any of the 4 logical possibilities found in the Tetralemma and which can be expressed thus: Things ultimately exist, things ultimately do not exist, things ultimately both exist and do not exist, things ultimately neither exist nor do not exist. The key point for me is that Nagarjuna was speaking of things or of relative phenomena, including a relative notion of the self which (as individual consciousness) he found to be unsustainable as a separate entity by itself and inextricable from all other selves and phenomena. However, if we consider an ultimate, eternal, self not as a ‘thing’ or as another relative phenomenon but as an ultimately ineffable absolute (for which we can use as pointers our terms “consciousness” and “being” as integrated concepts), Nagarjuna’s logic would not apply. What would still apply is the nondual expression “Form is empty, emptiness is form.”
That non-relative, ultimate, eternal self which is not a thing and in which emptiness and form coincide can also be considered both as self-sustaining and as inextricably related to all relative phenomena under Nagarjuna’s tenet: “All is possible when emptiness is possible. Nothing is possible when emptiness is impossible.” Thus, dependent origination, emptiness/vacuity and a real essential Self as Buddha Nature can coexist.
In Mahayana Buddhism, the so called “third turning of the wheel” or (according to some schools) Buddha’s alleged final definitive teachings about the nature of ultimate reality (for instance teachings found in the tathāgatagarbha sutras) has two main philosophical stances. The first one (often accused of nihilism along with Hinayana Buddhist perspectives) is called “Rangton” or the empty- self tradition in which there only is “dependent origination” and where there is nothing permanent or substantial in itself. In “Rangton” ultimate reality is not considered to be something real but more like an always clear glass that seems to have been seemingly tainted (seemingly because in fact it can never be tainted).
“Rangton” is confusing because it seems to deny any reality to the ultimate while at the same time asserting that it is a nature called “Buddha Nature.” The other perspective is called “Shengton” or the tradition about the Buddha Nature self as empty of all relative phenomena but not of itself, like a stable, absolute, essence. I particularly subscribe to this latter tradition and think that it is more compatible with many Western, Indian, Middle Eastern theologies and wisdom traditions that claim that there is an Absolute Essence.
We have to understand that in Buddhist theories of consciousness the principle of “dependent origination” remains an unshakable doctrinal guidepost. But for them, a combination of interior and exterior causes (subjective and objective causes) are normally also deemed necessary for mutually dependent phenomena to produce effects within the realms of impermanence. Interestingly also, the realms of impermanence (the realms of phenomena and “things”) are considered to be eternal, or with no origin or original creation as in most Western and Middle Eastern religious traditions. Nonetheless, in a metaphysical sense, I believe they could be considered to be metaphysically sustained by an ultimate source outside of time and relative identifications such as the “Amala Consciousness” or what could be called the Primordial Life.
Interestingly, in the already mentioned Buddhist schools, consciousness can be very specific. When we are not referring to consciousness as the ultimate reality or Buddha Nature, it seems to acquire characteristics necessary for experience. In a sense, it is the capacity and experience of sight, sound, touch, taste, feeling, cognition, forms of mental and spiritual understanding because it has – to various degrees - identified with these.
Thus, it would seem that as long as consciousness identifies itself with the appearance of objects as if they exist outside of it, it acquires specific types of cognition. For example, out of the nine consciousnesses considered in the Nichiren scheme, there is a correspondence of six levels of consciousnesses with the five senses (sight, taste, sound, touch, smell) plus consciousness and also the five sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body) plus mind and six objects of cognition (color-shape, sound, odor, taste, tangibility and spiritual and mental components.
All Buddhist schools post at least 6 consciousnesses but Yogacara posits eight and Nichiren posits nine. Normally, the first five specific consciousnesses are normally considered to be of the physical realm and the sixth Mano Vijñana could be considered as a basic-but-necessary, lower mental realm consciousness that coheres the previous five into an integrated whole. That coherence would comprise a six consciousnesses, six sense organs and six objects of cognition considered to be necessary for concretely manifesting the functions of cognition into action, and into effects and materiality. However, let’s recall that in these Buddhist teachings, “cognition” is more than what is understood in Western psychology. It is more than conceptual cognition and involves sensations, feelings, thinking and all forms of experience.
Mano Vijñana as the 6th level of consciousness refers to the capacity for abstract thought, comparative, associative thinking, and discernment. It also is a function that integrates what the 5 senses are transmitting. It is clearly related to an awareness of self as a relative yet permanent entity which is closely associated with attachment to a false sense of ego. Because it can discriminate, separate and will it is also considered to be predominantly responsible for initiating and modifying karma in a deluding way that binds us to the world of appearances. Mano Vijñana may be how consciousness functions when embedded in what Vedanta considers to be the Manomaya Kosha a subdivision of the “subtle sharira” or Sukshma Sharira; a subdivision also known in some Western esoteric circles as the “Astral Body.”
Manas Vijñana as the 7th level of consciousness would be a form of mind and level of consciousness that interprets in a finely deluded egotistical form the subsequent and more fundamental “Alaya Vijñana” 8th level of consciousness (also known as “all-encompassing foundation consciousness”). Manas Vijñana is capable of direct intuitive thinking cognition and of conceptual thinking cognition. In Blavatsky’s Theosophy it may correspond to what has been called the “higher mental body.” It confuses the non-judgmental “Alaya Vijñana” with the true essential self or ego. This level relates more actively with interior subjective life and may thus represent the subconscious mind.
And the 8th layer or level of consciousness, “Alaya Vijñana” or “all-encompassing foundation consciousness” admitted in Yogacara, Zen Buddhism and Nichiren Buddhism is considered to be the “storehouse” and karmic stream of all that can potentially manifest, good and evil through the neutral or perfectly non-judgmental accumulation of all the cognitions produced from the 8th level of consciousness all the way to the 1st. And we also find that the 8th layer or level of consciousness as the “karmic storehouse” capable of accumulating and releasing all potentials for an individual is not sufficiently universal as an entity. Experiencing Alaya Vijñana as the universal would be the fundamental source of behavioral and cognitive disconnection from the cosmos. Thus, a way to align the 8th layer with the absolutely nondual 9th, the “Amala” layer considered to be identical with Buddha Nature, had to be found. Nichiren held that the mantra that concentrated all the teachings of the Lotus Sutra was “Nam Myo Horen Ge Kyo” and its visual representation summarizing al aspects of the cosmos (in a way that to the practitioner often seems to be holographic) was called the “Gohonzon.” Allegedly, contemplating the Gohonzon while chanting “Nam Myo Horen Ge Kyo” puts our eight layer of consciousness (and therefore all the others) in touch with the absolute, universal Buddha Nature and with the cosmos at large.
While the “Alaya Vijñana” may be to what in some esoteric traditions is called the “Higher Self,” in relation to Vedanta it can be considered to be the subtlest, causal or “seed Sharira” (Karana Sharira in Sanskrit) or sheath veiling the Supreme Spirit/Parabrahman. Then again, the Manas Vijñana and Mano Vijñana may be “masks” (koshas) or subdivisions of the Subtle or Mind Sharira (Sukshma Sharira in Sanskrit) and the first five consciousnesses related to the five physical senses may be expressions of the coarsest, physical Sharira (Sthula Sharira in Sanskrit).
What might make a Buddhist understanding sufficiently compatible for a deeper dialogue with Vedanta and with other essentialist, nondual traditions (whilst maintaining a distinct Buddhist perspective) could be the possibility of working more directly with the Shengton tradition already mentioned. Shengton and Vedanta maintain what could be called an essentialist absolute perspective. Besides that, a factor that remains common in Shengton, Rangton and Vedanta systems is an understanding that consciousness is embedded under distinct experiences in different layers or levels with accompanying senses and vehicles.
In Terms of the Quantum Hologram Theory of Consciousness
In terms of the Quantum Hologram Theory of Consciousness (QHTC) we could posit that the so called “nonlocal quantum hologram information matrix” (decoded by an interaction between physical objects and a brain-sensorial system through PCAR (or Phase Conjugate Adaptive Resonance) is part of a modern way of shedding light on the mechanism for experiencing cognition.
In Buddhist terms (in relation to the theory of 8 consciousnesses and of 9 consciousnesses), the QHTC would be specific to the coherence between the 5 senses and their forms of consciousness and cognition and an initial mind level (the 6th level of consciousness). Between coarse physical objects detected by the 5 senses and the 6th level of consciousness which is basically considered a basic form of non-physical mind. However, detection and Phases conjugate adaptive resonance of the “coarse physical objects” would include a form of experiential consciousness.
Beyond this, the Quantum Hologram Theory of Consciousness per se would not apply, unless we posit extensions to the theory that would probably include non-physical, experiential information fields.
Crucially, consciousness is inherently part of the mechanism from the very beginning and is not derivative of it. In terms of physical consciousnesses related and decoded through physical senses we would call it “sensorial consciousness.” But since for Buddhist thinking everything is mind and consciousness is part of it, both the physical and the cognitive aspects would be integrated.
Another consequence of seriously considering the aforementioned Buddhist perspectives would be that consciousness ultimately is an unlimited, absolute entity capable of undergoing particular types of downgrades to become experiences according to the various relative or contingent levels it associates with. In other words, it would be able to embed itself in its own productions and experience various levels of reality through those productions. This may also be called “hylic pluralism.”
In its formalism, the QHTC would have to include meaningful, non-algorithmic, subjective experience from the beginning. The mathematics of Fourier transforms would have to be more than about quantitative units.
The existence of "sensorial consciousnesses" as exposed would agree with Aristotle's requirement that sensation be present for an organism to be conscious. But in the Buddhist traditions, the physical senses, associated forms of consciousness and cognitions coincide. And they are integrated by another similar but more comprehensive system of non-physical mind, quite likely with its own sensorial organs.
For the so called 8th level of consciousness (in Buddhist thinking) to be able to experience across various levels, as a unifying entity in relation with a universal 9th level it would always have to use some kind of vehicle or “decoder” (in terms of the Quantum Hologram Theory of Consciousness) suitable to every appropriate level.
Drawing a further parallels between the QHTC and the Buddhist thinking exposed, we could say that the 8th level of consciousness is akin to a non-local quantum information field that stores information about all events with the important exception that it not only refers to quantitative physical information but also to qualitative experiential information which includes physical and non-physical levels of existence.
But it would be “non-local” with respect to the less encompassing levels, just as much as the 6th level would be “non-local” with respect to the first 5 levels. And each more encompassing level of consciousness would have its own order and be able to cohere the perceptions of less encompassing levels derived from more restricted probabilities of experience. In the relationship between the 6th level of consciousness and the first 5, upon a PCAR event, a subjectivity at a minimum centered on the 6th level of consciousness experiencing a more encompassing, coherent world would impose such order on the probability waves.
Moreover, if nondual reality is a non-contingent, “consciousness” that – as The ultimate Source - also has the potential of producing all exterior forms, vehicles, objects in any level of duality in which it becomes embedded, we can also consider it as more than “Consciousness,” as the Source of episteme and ontos, of duality based subjectivity and always accompanying objective aspects.T hat 9th level considered by the one Nichiren would be pure and ultimate Being as much as Pure and ultimate Consciousness.
Bibliography
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Mitchell, E. & Staretz R., 2011. The Quantum Hologram and the Nature of Consciousness. Retrieved from http://journalofcosmology.com/Consciousness149.html
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