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The Treatise on the Mahayana Path
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The foundation of the object of perception is sở tri y, which is precisely the A-laya consciousness (store consciousness) – the “supporting background” that contains all the seeds (bīja). In common translations:
- French: réceptacle / conscience-connaissance du tréfonds
- English: container consciousness / store-consciousness
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The diagram of three circles illustrates the operation of the mind:
- The first circle: name (mind) – form (body)
- The second: the five skandhas (form, feeling, perception, mental formations, consciousness)
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The third (simplified):
• Above (mind): feeling, perception, mental formations – the “stage” for the 51 mental formations (mental factors)
• Below (store/backstage): consciousness – the place where energy is stored and transformed into seeds
“Spring rain falls gently, the soil of the mind is moist, last year’s bean seed opens its mouth in a smile.”
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The scope of object of cognition includes the entirety of the five skandhas – form, feeling, perception, mental formations, consciousness – so the scope of subject of cognition (the one who perceives) is also equivalent; cognition is not only of external phenomena but also of the very psychological layers and the consciousness that stores them.