The Mind-Body Relationship in Early Yogācāra: Centering on Ālayavijñāna

If we follow the “idealist” understanding of the Yogācāra system, everything, including the body and the external world, arises from the seeds (bīja) retained in ālayavijñāna. In this model, the cardinal element seems to be ālayavijñāna, and the body is only secondary. This, however, is not the whole picture. According to the Yogācārabhūmi, one of the earliest extant sources of ālayavijñāna, ālayavijñāna stays in the body and keeps it alive. In this paper, I shall reexamine the significance of the body from the following four perspectives. (1) The exact relationship between ālayavijñāna and the body. (2) The relationship between bīja and the body. (3) The significance of ālayavijñāna as a bridge between the body and the mind in the context of transformation through meditative practice. (4) Comparison between the Yogācāra model of multi-layered consciousness and the multi-layered structure of the human nervous system taught by modern science.