Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

This article investigates how Tsong kha pa (1357-1419 CE) understands ālayavijñāna (Ālàiyé shì 阿賴耶識), probing why he quotes Wǒnch’ǔk’s (圓測 Yuáncè, 613-696 CE) Commentary on the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra (Jiě shēnmì jīng 解深密經, T676) in his negation of the theory of the ninth consciousness in the next chapter after commentating on the kliṣṭamanas (Mònà shì 末那識) and ālayavijñāna as the central themes of the first chapter of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha (Shè dàshèng lùn 攝大乘論, T1593) in his work entitled Yid dang kun gzhi’i dka’ ’grel (Q.6149). This investigation will include how Tibetan monks before Tsong kha pa quoted Wǒnch’ǔk’s Commentary.Unlike Schmithausen’s philological understanding that ālayavijñāna is associated with physical sensory organs, Tsong kha pa’s understanding is that ālayavijñāna is the consciousness as the object of attachment, while his concepts of the eighth ālayavijñāna and the seventh kliṣṭamanas are defined according to the Mahāyānasaṃgraha etc. Since ālayavijñāna exists, there can be the function of organizing and maintaining sense organs, which justifies the existence of ālayavijñāna during the maintenance of life according to Tsongkhapa’s argument. The ālayavijñāna exists even in the meditation state of nirodha samāpatti and asaṃjñisamāpatti where the six kinds of consciousness do not arise. In his argument for the existence of the seventh kliṣṭamanas , he clearly equates the difference between nirodha samāpatti and asaṃjñisamāpatti with the difference between the absence and existence of kliṣṭamanas , which is also ascertained in the Mahāyānasaṃgraha . Tsong kha pa quoted Wǒnch’ǔk’s Commentary in his writing in order to clarify his own position about Paramārtha’s (Zhēndì 眞諦, 499-569 CE) ninth consciousness quoted by Tibetan scholar monks including bCom ldan rig pa’i ral gri (13- 14th Century), mChims ’Jam pa’i dbyangs (14th Century), and Red mda’ ba gZhon nu blo gros (1349-1412) etc. Thus he negates Paramārtha’s ninth consciousness resulting into Mahāyānasaṃgraha school’s (Shèlùn xuépài 攝論學派) theory of consciousness as non-orthodox theory, supporting his own position using Wǒnch’ǔk’s Commentary.Clarifying Mahāyānasaṃgraha’s theory of consciousness with its theory of the eighth consciousness as India’s orthodox theory of the Yogācāra School, Tsong kha pa disputes Wǒnch’ǔk as the protagonist of the ninth consciousness in bCom ldan rig pa’i ral gri’s argument, ascertaining Wǒnch’ǔk as the protagonist of the eighth consciousness like Xuánzàng (玄奘, 602-664 CE) through Wǒnch’ǔk’s Commentary.