Ālayavijñāna : a comparative study from the perspective of quantum physics and other Buddhist doctrinal systems

Abstract

This study examines the ālaya-vijñāna from various perspectives comprising quantum physics and other Buddhist traditions such as the Tibetan Nyingma and the Theravāda besides the Yogācāra. It aims to explain how the ālaya-vijñāna is the root of saMsAra and the attaniment of nirvANa. The study of the ālaya-vijñana is commonly centered on its saṃsāric aspect from the perspective of conventional reality. We argue that only through understanding both of its saṃsāric and nirvāṇic aspects, can we transcend the impurity of mind and be liberated from saṃsāra. Therefore, the study not only expounds its conditioned characteristics and functions, but also its unconditioned essence as well as the relationship of both which are seldom investigated.

The establishment of the ālaya-vijñāna refutes the substantiality of all conditioned phenomena that are manifested from the seeds of the ālaya-vijñāna, and through which Vijñāpti-mātra(Mere-consciousness)I s affirmed. However, the ālaya-vijñāna or Vijñāpti-mātra could not account for the abnegation of the ālaya-vijñāna itself to reach the ultimate reality. It must be scrutinized within the framework of Yogācāra’s Three-natures Theory inherited with the logic of convertibility or transformation, which approach the study also adopts. The orthodox Yogācāra regards Pure Mind or Tathāgata-garbha (Buddha-nature) as the essence of the ālaya-vijñāna. Such view of reality is now echoed by quantum physics.

Recognizing similarities between Buddhism and quantum physics have just begun. The possible reconciliation between the two is of utmost significance for humanity. David Bohm’s Implicate Order and Amit Goswami’s Monistic Idealism are found to be particularly relevant to the study of the ālaya-vijñāna. They not only are able to illuminate the essence, characteristics and functions of the ālaya-vijñāna in scientific manner, but also to shed light on the controversial issues such as the relationship between Pure and impure mind. Comparisons between Bohm’s and Goswami’s theory and Buddhist doctrines are rendered.

The study reveals that reality is fundamentally non-dual (undivided), eternal, unlimited, and pure. Pure Mind is the base of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa; all sentient beings are endowed with it here-and-now. Only by recognizing such, transformation of the ālaya-vijñāna is made possible. In Buddhism, ultimate reality is known by various names such as Tathāgata-garbha, True Mind, Dharma-dhātu, Dharma-kāya, Tathāgata-garbha, Emptiness, and Suchness.In Goswami’s Monistic Idealism, it is called [transcending]Consciousness. In Bohm’s Implicate Order, it is called super-implicate order. In the Yogācāra, relationship between the ultimate and the conventional is expressed as ‘neither identical nor different’. In the Nyingma, it is expressed as ‘coalescence of wisdom and consciousness’. In quantum physics, it is expressed as ‘wavefunctions emerging from universal wavefunction’. They all point to the same reality but by different names.

A combined methodology comprising the historical, textual, scientific, and comparative approaches is adopted. Through this multifaceted approach, it is anticipated that a comprehensive view of the ālaya-vijñāna can be obtained, limitations from one-sided perspective be eliminated and controversial issues derived from sectarianism and dogmatism be resolved.