Buddhahood and the Nine Layers of Consciousness

Buddhism defines nine layers of consciousness. This doctrine helps to explain how karma is stored and how it can be changed. The first five consciousnesses are the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. The sixth level is the thinking mind which integrates the information we receive from these fives sense. For instance when you see a rose in blossom and smell its fragrance, your sixth sense integrates what you have seen and smelt to identify it as a rose.

The seventh consciousness is where we form judgements about what action to take. It corresponds to the thinking and aware self which discerns value. 'Shall I pick this rose?' you think. 'No better not, it's in someone else's garden.' This seventh level is the area of motivation and intention, much of it subconscious.

The eighth (alaya) consciousness is the storehouse of our karma. Alaya literally means 'accumulation', as in the name Himalaya mountains which means 'accumulation of snow'. All of our experiences are filtered through the initial seven layers of consciousness and stored in the eighth, which exists as an unconscious memory of all our previous actions and reactions. This influences our reaction at any given time, based on our past experiences, including those of previous lifetimes.

You may recognize repetitive patterns in your behavior. You may find, for instance, that someone at work always make you angry. Much as you reflect and determine that next time it happens you will rise above it, you find that you are stuck in the same pattern of behavior. Or you may find that after having an unhappy relationship, you get together with a new partner, but that soon the same problems start to occur in the new relationship. These kinds of behavioral patterns are all included in karma.

These patterns of behavior are also perpetuated in family groups. People whose karma is similar are drawn together in families. For example, research has shown that children who are abused are, in turn, more likely to abuse their own children. On the face of it, one would think that a person who has suffered abuse is the least likely person to abuse others. The doctrine of karma clarifies why it is that people behave in these repeating cycles.

Psychology recognizes the existence of conditioned responses such as are stored in the eighth consciousness and seeks to help people change these through understanding or self-awareness. Although it undoubtedly helps to understand our behavior with our rational minds, our most deeply ingrained karma cannot be changed in this way, because the eighth consciousness lies deeper than the rational mind (seventh consciousness). Our thoughts are therefore constantly influenced by our karma.

In order to change our karma fundamentally, we have to get beyond its influence into the realm of the ninth consciousness, which is pure and undefiled, free of karmic impurities. Nichiren Daishonin defined the ninth consciousness as Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the universal law of life. When we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we are expressing our Buddhahood. As we do this more and more, we become aware of those karmic tendencies which are restricting us. As our confidence grows, we feel able to challenge these tendencies and establish a new direction in our lives, based on our ever-emerging Buddhahood.

"The Buddha discovered a mystic law which simultaneously contains cause and effect, and designated it as myoho-renge. The single law of myoho-renge is perfectly endowed with all phenomena in the universe. Therefore, those who practice this law simultaneously acquire the cause and effect of Buddhahood."