Burmistrov S.L. The doctrine on conditioning factors not associated with consciousness in Asanga’s “Compendium of Abhidharma”

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu7.2017.1.1

Sergey  Leonidovich  Burmistrov

Doctor of Philosophical Sciences, Leading Researcher, Section of South Asian Studies of the Department of Central and South Asian Studies,

Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS

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Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, 191186 Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation


Abstract. The  concept  of  conditioning  factor  expresses  the  basic  Buddhist  notion  of causality that determines the future of a person, and in the Yogacara philosophy it denotes the mechanisms of individual Universe change with the treasury consciousness as its basis. Cittaviprayukta-samskara, or the conditioning factors not associated with consciousness, are the factors that draw the borders of the individual stream of dharmas (elementary psychophysical states) and that lie beyond conscious control. They define the structure and character of causality in that stream, including physical characteristics of a person, their intellectual peculiarities and the interaction of causal chains inside the singular stream. The “Compendium of Abhidharma” (Abhidharma-samuccaya) by Asanga (4th century), one of the founders of Buddhist Mahayanistic school of  Yogacara,  treats  the  conception  of  conditioning  factors  not  associated  with       consciousness in its association with the idea of treasury consciousness. The set of conditioning factors not associated with consciousness is divided into seven groups each of which determines a specific aspect of karmic causality: prapti fixes the borders of the stream of dharmas; the second  group  consisting  of dharmas  associated  with  meditation  points  the  false  meditative practices;  the  third  group  (from ji vitendriya  to  anityata)  draws  the  borders  of  individual      existence;  group  of  names  delimitate  the  thought  of  a  person;  the  state  of  common  person associate  individual  dharmas  with  affected  dharmas;  the  sixth  group  (from pravrtti   to anukrama) defines the character of causality; and the seventh group (from kala to samagri) fixes the external relation of causal chains.

Key words: Asanga, yogacara, vijnanavada, conditioning factors, karma, the structure of a person in buddhist philosophy, causality.

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The doctrine on conditioning factors not associated with consciousness in Asanga’s “Compendium of Abhidharma” by Burmistrov S.L. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


     

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