རྣམ་པར་ཤེས་པ། | Glossary of Terms

Consciousness is generally classified into the five sensory consciousnesses and mental consciousness. Fifth of the five aggregates and third of the twelve links of dependent origination.

Third of the twelve links of dependent origination. Consciousness is defined as “an awareness which is knowing and luminous.” Not being physical, it lacks resistance to obstruction. It has neither shape nor color, and it can be experienced but not externally perceived as an object. A distinction is made between the mundane consciousness of sentient beings, and the gnosis of the buddhas. In the context‌ of the present discourse, the former includes six aspects of consciousness, namely, visual consciousness, auditory consciousness, olfactory consciousness, tactile consciousness, and mental consciousness, the last of which objectively refers to mental phenomena.

The fifth of the five aggregates; also counted as the sixth of the six elements. In most Abhidharma accounts it comprises the six sensory consciousnesses, but in Yogācāra theory two more kinds of consciousness, afflicted (kliṣṭamanas) and storehouse (ālayavijñāna), are added. The term “consciousness” in this sūtra should not be assumed to conform fully to these classic categorizations.

Fifth of the five aggregates.

The third of the twelve links of dependent origination. See “dependent origination.”

One of the five aggregates; also counted as the sixth of the six elements.

One of the five aggregates.

The third link of dependent origination, the fifth of the five aggregates. In most Abhidharma accounts it comprises the six sensory consciousnesses (eye, ear, nose, taste, body, and mind), but in Yogācāra theory two more kinds of consciousness, afflicted (kliṣṭamanas) and storehouse (ālayavijñāna), are added. For the sixth consciousness, see also “mind consciousness.”

See “aggregate.”

The third link of dependent arising. The fifth of the five aggregates.

The fifth of the five aggregates that constitute a living being (form, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness).

The term vijñāna is formed by the prefix vi plus a formation from the root jñā, which means “to know,” “to understand,” “to know of,” “to be aware of.” (This is reproduced in the Tibetan as rnam par + shes pa.) “Consciousness” has a specific meaning in Buddhist texts and refers to awareness of an object, point of reference, or support. This meaning is occasionally obtained by understanding the vi as standing for viṣaya, which means a domain of activity and, in this case, the object of perception. The standard list of consciousness types is six, corresponding to the five sense faculties plus the “thought consciousness.” This refers to a type of mental perception that arises taking as its basis not a sense faculty but a prior moment of consciousness itself; this type of consciousness is unrestricted as per its possible range of objects, both in terms of their location in time (past, present, or future) and in terms of their type (visual, audible, etc., including entities that are not within the range of any of the five senses).

One of the five aggregates, and third of the twelve links of dependent origination, this is sometimes also called “cognition,” and is the self-reflexive awareness of beings.

Consciousness is generally classified into the five sensory consciousnesses and mental consciousness. Fifth of the five aggregates and third of the twelve links of dependent origination.

Consciousness, the fifth of the five skandhas, generally classified into the five sensory consciousnesses and mental consciousness.