Forwarded from The Classical Wisdom Tradition
"Vulcan is that divine power which presides over the spermatic and physical productive powers which the universe contains: for whatever Nature accomplishes by verging to bodies, that Vulcan effects in a divine and exempt manner, by moving Nature, and using her as an instrument in his own proper fabrication. For natural heat has a Vulcanian characteristic, and was produced by Vulcan for the purpose of fashioning a corporeal nature. Vulcan, therefore, is that power which perpetually presides over the fluctuating nature of bodies; and hence, says Olympiodorus, he operates the bellows, which occultly signifies his operating in natures."
Thomas Taylor, footnote to his translation of the Orphic Hymn to Vulcan
Thomas Taylor, footnote to his translation of the Orphic Hymn to Vulcan
Forwarded from Wu Journal
Brothers, formless states are more peaceful than states of form; cessation is more peaceful than formless states...
There are beings in the realm of luminous form,
and others stuck in the formless.
Not understanding cessation,
they return in future lives.
But the people who completely understand form,
not stuck in the formless,
released in cessation—
they are conquerors of death.
Having directly experienced the deathless element,
free of attachments;
having realised relinquishment
of attachments, the undefiled
fully awakened Buddha teaches
the sorrowless, stainless state.
—Tikanipata 3
There are beings in the realm of luminous form,
and others stuck in the formless.
Not understanding cessation,
they return in future lives.
But the people who completely understand form,
not stuck in the formless,
released in cessation—
they are conquerors of death.
Having directly experienced the deathless element,
free of attachments;
having realised relinquishment
of attachments, the undefiled
fully awakened Buddha teaches
the sorrowless, stainless state.
—Tikanipata 3
"Just thinking that you are a Buddha who is free from all defilements because you have Buddha nature does not make the disturbing emotions go away. You have to realize emptiness. Without realizing emptiness, you cannot eradicate the king of delusions, ignorance.
Without eradicating that, you cannot eliminate the other delusions. You have to follow the whole procedure with all of the steps of the path to liberation or enlightenment. The essence of that path is the wisdom realizing emptiness because that is what ceases all delusions. If somebody does not understand emptiness but just concentrates on the conventional nature of the mind – the clear and cognitive nature of mind – he or she cannot attain liberation.
Similarly, just believing ''I'm Buddha'' without realizing emptiness does not bring liberation. If someone were a Buddha just because he thought, ''I'm a Buddha," that would make him a Buddha without realizations, an ignorant Buddha. Why? Because just thinking "I'm Buddha'' does not make delusions go away. You have to realize emptiness and go through the gradual process of developing that realization over the five paths."
Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Without eradicating that, you cannot eliminate the other delusions. You have to follow the whole procedure with all of the steps of the path to liberation or enlightenment. The essence of that path is the wisdom realizing emptiness because that is what ceases all delusions. If somebody does not understand emptiness but just concentrates on the conventional nature of the mind – the clear and cognitive nature of mind – he or she cannot attain liberation.
Similarly, just believing ''I'm Buddha'' without realizing emptiness does not bring liberation. If someone were a Buddha just because he thought, ''I'm a Buddha," that would make him a Buddha without realizations, an ignorant Buddha. Why? Because just thinking "I'm Buddha'' does not make delusions go away. You have to realize emptiness and go through the gradual process of developing that realization over the five paths."
Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Forwarded from Meditations of a Yogin
Lady Tsogyal asked:
“Shouldn't a practitioner of Secret Mantra take all disturbing emotions as the path?”
Padmasambhava replied: Of course they should be brought onto the path! But only a peacock can feed on poison. The person who is able to take disturbing emotions as path without abandoning them is rarer than the udumvara flower. While for someone of the highest caliber a disturbing emotion manifests as a helper, for a person of lesser capacity it becomes a poison. For this lesser type of person, it is more profound to abandon disturbing emotions!
“After how much abandoning does one become adept?”, she asked.
When you are not attached to disturbing emotions and sense-pleasures and they are experienced as magical illusions, then you needn't suppress disturbing emotions even when they do arise, as they don't harm. When they don't arise, you have no desire to produce them as you are free from expectations. When that happens, disturbing emotions have been brought onto the path. To try to utilize disturbing emotions as path while not having turned away from clinging to solid reality is like a fly becoming stuck in honey.
Tsogyal, cut through straying in these ways!”
~ from 'The Golden Rosary of Nectar' as translated in 'Advice From the Lotus Born'
- Padmasambhava
“Shouldn't a practitioner of Secret Mantra take all disturbing emotions as the path?”
Padmasambhava replied: Of course they should be brought onto the path! But only a peacock can feed on poison. The person who is able to take disturbing emotions as path without abandoning them is rarer than the udumvara flower. While for someone of the highest caliber a disturbing emotion manifests as a helper, for a person of lesser capacity it becomes a poison. For this lesser type of person, it is more profound to abandon disturbing emotions!
“After how much abandoning does one become adept?”, she asked.
When you are not attached to disturbing emotions and sense-pleasures and they are experienced as magical illusions, then you needn't suppress disturbing emotions even when they do arise, as they don't harm. When they don't arise, you have no desire to produce them as you are free from expectations. When that happens, disturbing emotions have been brought onto the path. To try to utilize disturbing emotions as path while not having turned away from clinging to solid reality is like a fly becoming stuck in honey.
Tsogyal, cut through straying in these ways!”
~ from 'The Golden Rosary of Nectar' as translated in 'Advice From the Lotus Born'
- Padmasambhava
Forwarded from Atisha’s Lamp
There is a lot to study. At the tantric college they memorise many hundreds of pages of commentary (tika) and then recite it by heart in public with all the other monks. The tantric subjects are also debated. It is not only sutra that has debate—geshes are examined through debate on tantra as well.
As far as education is concerned, it is only in the Tibetan tradition that the complete Buddhist teachings of Hinayana, Mahayana Paramitayana and Mahayana Vajrayana are learned in depth, preserved and spread. Many people are not aware of this.
There are some people who understand that Tibetan Buddhism is complete. They know that although some individuals make mistakes, the Buddhist teachings themselves are pure, and have been preserved and spread. But there are many others who have no idea.
They don’t go to the monasteries to check what is being studied, or how it is studied. They don’t realise that the program begins with extensive study of the five great sutra treatises and then moves on to tantra. They don’t go to the monasteries to seek out the high lamas, abbots and many learned teachers to do research and ask questions. They don’t go and check all the texts for themselves to find out whether tantra was taught by the Buddha or not.
They simply believe what other people tell them—that tantra is Hindu, blah blah blah, and many other misconceptions. There are many great lamas and geshes they could ask, but they don’t do that because there is not much connection. Of course there are some who check, and some who then go on to take initiations from great lamas. But many don’t. They simply believe what they have been told.
—Lama Zopa
As far as education is concerned, it is only in the Tibetan tradition that the complete Buddhist teachings of Hinayana, Mahayana Paramitayana and Mahayana Vajrayana are learned in depth, preserved and spread. Many people are not aware of this.
There are some people who understand that Tibetan Buddhism is complete. They know that although some individuals make mistakes, the Buddhist teachings themselves are pure, and have been preserved and spread. But there are many others who have no idea.
They don’t go to the monasteries to check what is being studied, or how it is studied. They don’t realise that the program begins with extensive study of the five great sutra treatises and then moves on to tantra. They don’t go to the monasteries to seek out the high lamas, abbots and many learned teachers to do research and ask questions. They don’t go and check all the texts for themselves to find out whether tantra was taught by the Buddha or not.
They simply believe what other people tell them—that tantra is Hindu, blah blah blah, and many other misconceptions. There are many great lamas and geshes they could ask, but they don’t do that because there is not much connection. Of course there are some who check, and some who then go on to take initiations from great lamas. But many don’t. They simply believe what they have been told.
—Lama Zopa
"Those with overt fixation on external objects may entertain the following thought: “No one can deny the presence of material objects, such as mountains and all the other things that we collectively observe. For this very reason, outer objects do indeed exist.”
This, however, is not the case. Let us take as our subject a mountain or another object that appears collectively as an externally apprehended object. Such an object is not established by virtue of its own essence as an external, material object that is something other than the inner consciousness that perceives it.
Why? Because it is the very inner apprehending awareness of those whose active habitual tendencies correspond with one another that appears as various outer objects, just like the imagery in dreams.
Therefore, there are no external objects apart from consciousness. What we refer to as “collectively observed external objects” are appearances that manifest collectively to various individuals with distinct streams of being and, hence, nothing more than the perceptions of individual streams of being.
If we carefully analyze these so-called “collectively observed phenomena,” we will find that the reason for positing them as such is that they appear in a similar manner to distinct mind streams. Nevertheless, while these appearances may be similar, this does not necessitate there being a single, collectively experienced outer object that causes their appearance, just as people whose vision has been distorted by a magician’s spells may have similar experiences.
For those beings whose active habitual tendencies correspond with one another, the abode and other such factors may appear in a similar manner so long as the potency of these habitual tendencies has not run out.
However, no cause of these corresponding appearances truly exists outside [of the minds that perceive them]. Just as each of the six classes of beings perceives the same water differently, in accord with its karmic perceptions, it should be understood that such appearances are nothing more than the self-appearances of one’s own inner mind."
Ju Mipham Rinpoche
This, however, is not the case. Let us take as our subject a mountain or another object that appears collectively as an externally apprehended object. Such an object is not established by virtue of its own essence as an external, material object that is something other than the inner consciousness that perceives it.
Why? Because it is the very inner apprehending awareness of those whose active habitual tendencies correspond with one another that appears as various outer objects, just like the imagery in dreams.
Therefore, there are no external objects apart from consciousness. What we refer to as “collectively observed external objects” are appearances that manifest collectively to various individuals with distinct streams of being and, hence, nothing more than the perceptions of individual streams of being.
If we carefully analyze these so-called “collectively observed phenomena,” we will find that the reason for positing them as such is that they appear in a similar manner to distinct mind streams. Nevertheless, while these appearances may be similar, this does not necessitate there being a single, collectively experienced outer object that causes their appearance, just as people whose vision has been distorted by a magician’s spells may have similar experiences.
For those beings whose active habitual tendencies correspond with one another, the abode and other such factors may appear in a similar manner so long as the potency of these habitual tendencies has not run out.
However, no cause of these corresponding appearances truly exists outside [of the minds that perceive them]. Just as each of the six classes of beings perceives the same water differently, in accord with its karmic perceptions, it should be understood that such appearances are nothing more than the self-appearances of one’s own inner mind."
Ju Mipham Rinpoche
"Therefore, that which is the primordial awareness of the basic space of phenomena is a permanent, unconditioned primordial awareness, an absolute primordial awareness of indivisible space and pure awareness, a primordial awareness of flawless paradox beyond simile, a primordial awareness of natural innateness, a natural, immutable, fully established primordial awareness, and a primordial awareness of natural great bliss.
In the exceptional, sublime Kṛtayuga Dharma, those statements that the basic space of phenomena, thusness, is the profound, ultimate perfection of wisdom mean that it is permanent, unconditioned primordial awareness, the five immutable great emptinesses, the five permanent, unconditioned conquerors, the five permanent, stable, eternal, and everlasting consorts, the self of the five buddhas, the five kāyas of a buddha, the self of the five omnipotent types of primordial awareness, and the self of the ten types of pristine primordial awareness."
Dolpopa
In the exceptional, sublime Kṛtayuga Dharma, those statements that the basic space of phenomena, thusness, is the profound, ultimate perfection of wisdom mean that it is permanent, unconditioned primordial awareness, the five immutable great emptinesses, the five permanent, unconditioned conquerors, the five permanent, stable, eternal, and everlasting consorts, the self of the five buddhas, the five kāyas of a buddha, the self of the five omnipotent types of primordial awareness, and the self of the ten types of pristine primordial awareness."
Dolpopa
"Because the absolute in the true mode of reality is not empty of itself and is the ground empty of all relative phenomena, it is a profound emptiness of other, the mode of emptiness of the true nature.
It is an emptiness that is not a nonimplicative negation, an emptiness that is not empty, a birthless emptiness, and an emptiness that is the very essence of the lack of an entity, far removed from the emptiness of the aggregates through analysis, which is a nihilistic emptiness.
Because the relative in the true mode of reality is empty of own-essence, it is like the horn of a rabbit, the child of a barren woman, a skyflower, and so forth, totally unestablished and completely nonexistent, a nonimplicative negation, an empty emptiness, a born emptiness, an emptiness of nonentity, and the emptiness of the aggregates through analysis, which is a nihilistic emptiness."
Dolpopa
It is an emptiness that is not a nonimplicative negation, an emptiness that is not empty, a birthless emptiness, and an emptiness that is the very essence of the lack of an entity, far removed from the emptiness of the aggregates through analysis, which is a nihilistic emptiness.
Because the relative in the true mode of reality is empty of own-essence, it is like the horn of a rabbit, the child of a barren woman, a skyflower, and so forth, totally unestablished and completely nonexistent, a nonimplicative negation, an empty emptiness, a born emptiness, an emptiness of nonentity, and the emptiness of the aggregates through analysis, which is a nihilistic emptiness."
Dolpopa
Forwarded from Atisha’s Lamp
Studybuddhism
Advice for Tibetans before Teaching in the West
Dr. Berzin’s advice to abbots, lamas, geshes and monks in Drepung, Ganden and Sera Monasteries in India on how to prepare for teaching in foreign countries in order to make sure there are no misunderstandings and that the experience is beneficial for both…
"Some people call themselves tantric practitioners and engage in crude behavior, but that is not the action of a tantrika.
Mahayana means to cherish all sentient beings with impartial compassion.
It will not suffice to claim oneself a tantric practitioner and then refrain from adopting what is virtuous and not avoiding or shunning evil deeds. It is essential for all tantric practitioners to cultivate great compassion in their being."
Padmasambhava
Mahayana means to cherish all sentient beings with impartial compassion.
It will not suffice to claim oneself a tantric practitioner and then refrain from adopting what is virtuous and not avoiding or shunning evil deeds. It is essential for all tantric practitioners to cultivate great compassion in their being."
Padmasambhava
Forwarded from Meditations of a Yogin
“You actually have this awareness within you. It is the clear, naked wisdom of dharmakaya. But who can introduce you to it? On what should you take your strand? What should you be certain of? To begin with, it is your teacher that shows you the state of your awareness. And when you recognize it for yourself, it is then that you are introduced to your own nature.”
“Introduction to the nature of mind”
~ Dudjom Rinpoche
“Introduction to the nature of mind”
~ Dudjom Rinpoche
Forwarded from Meditations of a Yogin
“Do not misinterpret how he (Teacher/Guru) acts
Most of India’s siddhas lived
As common evil-doers, base outcastes, more degenerate than the lowest of the low”
Most of the mighty siddhas of India like Savaripa who was a hunter and others, adopted very lowly lifestyles, often those of outcaste.
The great pandita Naropa (Guru of Marpa who was the guru of Jetsun Milarepa) had already become highly learned and accomplished. But his yidam(meditational deity) told him that his teacher from previous lives was the great Tilopa, and that to find him he should travel to eastern India. Naropa set off immediately, but upon arriving in the east he had no idea where to find Tilopa. He asked the local people but they knew nothing.
“Is there nobody in these parts named Tilopa” he insisted.
“There is someone called Tilopa the Outcaste or Tilopa the Beggar” Naropa thought, “The actions of siddhas are incomprehensible. That might be him.” He asked where Tilopa the Beggar lived. “By the ruined wall over there, where the smoke is coming from,” they replied.
When he got to the place that had been pointed out, he found Tilopa seated in front of a wooden tub of fish, of which some were still alive and some dead. Tilopa took a fish, grilled it over the fire and put it in his mouth snapping his fingers. Naropa prostrated himself before him and asked Tilopa to accept him as his disciple.
“What are you talking about?” Tilopa said. “I’m just a beggar!” But Naropa insisted, so Tilopa accepted him.
Now Tilopa was not killing those fish just because he was hungry and could find nothing else to eat. Fish are completely ignorant of what to do and what not to do, creatures with many negative actions and Tilopa had the power to free them. By eating their flesh he was making a link with their consciousness, which he could then transfer to a pure Buddhafield. (The snapping of the fingers is part of a practice for transferring the consciousness [‘Pho ba] of another being to a pure realm)
It is therefore important not to take any of your teacher’s actions in the wrong way and to train ourselves to have only pure perceptions.
“Words of My Perfect Teacher”
- Patrul Rinpoche
Most of India’s siddhas lived
As common evil-doers, base outcastes, more degenerate than the lowest of the low”
Most of the mighty siddhas of India like Savaripa who was a hunter and others, adopted very lowly lifestyles, often those of outcaste.
The great pandita Naropa (Guru of Marpa who was the guru of Jetsun Milarepa) had already become highly learned and accomplished. But his yidam(meditational deity) told him that his teacher from previous lives was the great Tilopa, and that to find him he should travel to eastern India. Naropa set off immediately, but upon arriving in the east he had no idea where to find Tilopa. He asked the local people but they knew nothing.
“Is there nobody in these parts named Tilopa” he insisted.
“There is someone called Tilopa the Outcaste or Tilopa the Beggar” Naropa thought, “The actions of siddhas are incomprehensible. That might be him.” He asked where Tilopa the Beggar lived. “By the ruined wall over there, where the smoke is coming from,” they replied.
When he got to the place that had been pointed out, he found Tilopa seated in front of a wooden tub of fish, of which some were still alive and some dead. Tilopa took a fish, grilled it over the fire and put it in his mouth snapping his fingers. Naropa prostrated himself before him and asked Tilopa to accept him as his disciple.
“What are you talking about?” Tilopa said. “I’m just a beggar!” But Naropa insisted, so Tilopa accepted him.
Now Tilopa was not killing those fish just because he was hungry and could find nothing else to eat. Fish are completely ignorant of what to do and what not to do, creatures with many negative actions and Tilopa had the power to free them. By eating their flesh he was making a link with their consciousness, which he could then transfer to a pure Buddhafield. (The snapping of the fingers is part of a practice for transferring the consciousness [‘Pho ba] of another being to a pure realm)
It is therefore important not to take any of your teacher’s actions in the wrong way and to train ourselves to have only pure perceptions.
“Words of My Perfect Teacher”
- Patrul Rinpoche
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"Suppose, bhikkhus, that a person was to throw a yoke with a single hole into the great ocean, and it was carried about in all directions by the winds. Suppose there were a blind tortoise that emerged from the ocean once every hundred years.
What do you think, bhikkhus, would that tortoise put his neck through the hole in the yoke? − He might, bhante, after some very long period of time. − Sooner, bhikkhus, would that blind turtle put his neck through the yoke than would a fool escape back to the human realm once having fallen to a lower realm (vinipāta).
Why is that? Because there is no dhamma-faring there, no peace, no doing of good deeds or making of merit. There is only mutual devouring there; there the strong consume the weak.
If, bhikkhus, that fool after some long time regains the human state it is into a low family that he is born; a family of outcastes, hunters, bamboo gatherers, carters or refuse cleaners. Among such clans is he reborn. There he is poor; he finds little food with much difficulty. There clothing is hard to come by. He is of bad colour, ugly, deformed, sickly, blind or crippled or palsied. He gets no food, drink, clothing, vehicles, garlands, dwelling, bedding or lights. There he misconducts himself by body, speech and mind and at the break-up of the body he arises after death in a lower birth, even in niraya. Such is the nature of the total and utter fool."
Bālapaṇḍita Sutta
What do you think, bhikkhus, would that tortoise put his neck through the hole in the yoke? − He might, bhante, after some very long period of time. − Sooner, bhikkhus, would that blind turtle put his neck through the yoke than would a fool escape back to the human realm once having fallen to a lower realm (vinipāta).
Why is that? Because there is no dhamma-faring there, no peace, no doing of good deeds or making of merit. There is only mutual devouring there; there the strong consume the weak.
If, bhikkhus, that fool after some long time regains the human state it is into a low family that he is born; a family of outcastes, hunters, bamboo gatherers, carters or refuse cleaners. Among such clans is he reborn. There he is poor; he finds little food with much difficulty. There clothing is hard to come by. He is of bad colour, ugly, deformed, sickly, blind or crippled or palsied. He gets no food, drink, clothing, vehicles, garlands, dwelling, bedding or lights. There he misconducts himself by body, speech and mind and at the break-up of the body he arises after death in a lower birth, even in niraya. Such is the nature of the total and utter fool."
Bālapaṇḍita Sutta
Forwarded from Mahayana Buddhism India
"Nihilism is a form of ignorance, it is an ignorance of the true nature of reality. This ignorance can only be dispelled by wisdom and understanding." (The Samyutta Nikaya 22.95)
"Nihilism is a form of suffering, it is a suffering that comes from the belief that life is meaningless. This suffering can only be ended by finding meaning in life." (The Dhammapada 122)
"Nihilism is a form of violence, it is a violence that is done to oneself and to others. This violence can only be stopped by compassion and love." (The Lotus Sutra)
"Nihilism is a form of death, it is a death of the spirit. This death can only be avoided by living a life of truth and meaning." (The Dhammapada)
"Nihilism is a form of suffering, it is a suffering that comes from the belief that life is meaningless. This suffering can only be ended by finding meaning in life." (The Dhammapada 122)
"Nihilism is a form of violence, it is a violence that is done to oneself and to others. This violence can only be stopped by compassion and love." (The Lotus Sutra)
"Nihilism is a form of death, it is a death of the spirit. This death can only be avoided by living a life of truth and meaning." (The Dhammapada)
"There is nothing to be removed from it and nothing to be added. The real should be seen as real, and seeing the real, you become liberated. The [buddha] element is empty of adventitious [stains], which have the defining characteristic of being separable; but it is not empty of unsurpassable qualities, which have the defining characteristic of not being separable."
Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra
"These [third turning] sūtras teach that the dharmadhātu, that is, the intrinsically pure nature of the mind or buddha-element (khams), the essence of the Tathāgatas (the tathāgatagarbha), is primordially present in all beings. It is present from the very beginning and it is unchanging. Spontaneously, and from the very first, its appearing aspect is the source of the major and minor marks of the rūpakāya (the body of form); and its emptiness aspect is the dharmakāya (the body of ultimate reality) beyond all conceptual extremes. Since all enlightened qualities are naturally present within it, it is like a jewel; since it is unchanging, it is like space; and since it pervades all beings, as if moistening them, it is like water.
The nature of the mind is primordially luminous. As it is said in the Prajñāpāramitā in Eight Thousand Lines, “As for the mind, the mind does not exist; the nature of the mind is luminosity.” This is the buddha-element (khams) or potential (rigs) present in all beings."
Longchenpa
The nature of the mind is primordially luminous. As it is said in the Prajñāpāramitā in Eight Thousand Lines, “As for the mind, the mind does not exist; the nature of the mind is luminosity.” This is the buddha-element (khams) or potential (rigs) present in all beings."
Longchenpa
"The eight consciousnesses are the ālaya-consciousness, the afflicted mind (Skt. kliṣṭamanas, Tib. nyon yid), the mental consciousness (Skt. manovijñāna, Tib. yid kyi rnam shes), and the five sense consciousnesses. The ālaya-consciousness is nothing but the sum of the virtuous, unvirtuous, and neutral tendencies that make up the continuum of a sentient being. Thus, it is not like a container that is different from its contents, but more like the constant flow of the water that is called a river. In other words, there is no other underlying, permanent substratum or entity apart from the momentary mental impulses that constitute this everchanging flow.
Due to various conditions — mainly the stirring of the afflicted mind (comparable to wind or a strong current) — the various appearances of the five sense consciousnesses and the (mainly conceptual) mental consciousness together with their seemingly external and conceptual objects emerge from the ālaya-consciousness in every moment. Right after each moment of this dualistic interaction of subjects and objects, the imprints created by them merge back into — or are “stored” — in the ālaya, just like waves on the surface of a river.
In this way, the ālaya-consciousness is both a cause for saṃsāric appearances and a result, that is, their imprints. This does not mean that the ālaya actively creates anything, it is just the sum of the dynamic process of various causes and conditions interacting, otherwise known as dependent origination. In this way, it is equivalent to fundamental ignorance and the karma accumulated by it, serving as the basis for all saṃsāric appearances and representing the sum of all factors to be relinquished in order to attain liberation. Thus, it ceases upon the attainment of buddhahood."
Karl Brunnhölzl
Due to various conditions — mainly the stirring of the afflicted mind (comparable to wind or a strong current) — the various appearances of the five sense consciousnesses and the (mainly conceptual) mental consciousness together with their seemingly external and conceptual objects emerge from the ālaya-consciousness in every moment. Right after each moment of this dualistic interaction of subjects and objects, the imprints created by them merge back into — or are “stored” — in the ālaya, just like waves on the surface of a river.
In this way, the ālaya-consciousness is both a cause for saṃsāric appearances and a result, that is, their imprints. This does not mean that the ālaya actively creates anything, it is just the sum of the dynamic process of various causes and conditions interacting, otherwise known as dependent origination. In this way, it is equivalent to fundamental ignorance and the karma accumulated by it, serving as the basis for all saṃsāric appearances and representing the sum of all factors to be relinquished in order to attain liberation. Thus, it ceases upon the attainment of buddhahood."
Karl Brunnhölzl