Tina Turner, the Yogācārin? Reading Turner’s Theory of the Subconscious Mind and Liberation in light of Yogācāra Buddhist Thought

While Tina Turner’s Buddhist practice is widely acknowledged, less attention has been paid to the specific Buddhist teachings that she offered. In this paper, I examine the conception of the subconscious mind that emerges from her attempts to explain how the social trauma of being raced, gendered, and classed adversely affected the person, alongside liberative practice to overcome these traumas. I argue that Turner’s conceptions most closely align with how Asaṅga explains the ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse consciousness) in his Mahāyānasaṃgraha. I proceed by engaging in a comparative close reading of Turner’s descriptions of the subconscious mind alongside the Mahāyānasaṃgraha. I conclude by reflecting upon how such a comparative close reading that centers Turner, a Black Buddhist teacher who I contend is marginalized as a Buddhist thinker, while placing her in dialogue with Asaṅga, one of the most important “traditional” Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophers, advances a critical Yogācāra social theory and practice.