Alayavijana from a Practical Point of View

In 1987, Lambert Schmithausen published an important extensive monograph on the origin of AlayavijAna (AEurolayavijAna: On the Origin and the Early Development of a Central Concept of YogAcAra Philosophy). In his opinion, the introduction of AlayavijAna was closely linked to nirodhasamApatti, but it was not meditative experience itself that directly lead to the introduction of this new concept. Rather, according to Schmithausen, it was dogmatic speculation on a sA << tra passage about nirodhasamApatti. My own hypothesis is that the introduction of AlayavijAna was more directly based on meditative experiences. Focusing on the "Proof Portion" of the ViniA > cayasaa(1)integral grahaa(1)cA << of the YogAcArabhA << mi, the present paper examines this hypothesis. My examination reveals that AlayavijAna is the physiological basis of the body, and as such it is correlated to the state of the body and mind. When one's body and mind are transformed from an inert to a well-functioning state through meditative practice, the transformation seems to hinge on the transformation of AlayavijAna itself. It appears that YogAcAra meditators intuitively realized this mechanism at the stage of darA > anamArga. This paper also responds to some points raised by Schmithausen on my hypothesis in his recent monograph on early YogAcAra (The Genesis of YogAcAra-VijAnavAda: Responses and Reflections, 2014). Through these discussions, this paper sheds light on the importance of the correlation between body and mind in meditative contexts and proposes that this was the key issue in the introduction of the AlayavijAna theory.