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Luminous mind
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Luminous mind (also, "brightly shining mind," "brightly shining citta") (Pali, pabhassara citta) is a term attributed to the Buddha in the Nikayas. It can be seen as the fundamental level of the mind, and is said to be "brightly shining" whether or not it is tainted by mental defilements. It is given no direct doctrinal interpretation in the Pali discourses, but later Buddhist schools identified it with concepts developed by them.
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Luminous mind (also, "brightly shining mind," "brightly shining citta") (Pali, pabhassara citta) is a term attributed to the Buddha in the Nikayas. It can be seen as the fundamental level of the mind, and is said to be "brightly shining" whether or not it is tainted by mental defilements. It is given no direct doctrinal interpretation in the Pali discourses, but later Buddhist schools identified it with concepts developed by them. The Theravada school identifies it with the bhavanga, a concept first proposed in the Theravada Abhidhamma. The Mahayana identifies it with both the Mahayana concepts of bodhicitta and tathagatagarbha. The idea can also be connected with features of Dzogchen thought.
Overview
There is a clear reference in the Anguttara Nikaya (A.I.8-10) to a "luminous mind" present within all people, be they corrupt or pure, whether or not it itself is pure or impure:Luminous, monks, is the mind. And it is defiled by incoming defilements. The Buddha says that if developed, it is supremely "pliable" and "workable." It may be seen as a basic mode of mind in terms of which the "evolution" of beings through the round of rebirths may be understood, or as a radiant basis which is normally obscured and tainted by various defilements, and which supports other mental activity. The discourses indicate that its natural radiance can be made manifest by meditation.
A verse with wording parallel to that of A.I.8-10 and surrounding verses occurs at at S.V.92-32. It indicates that when the mind is defiled by the five hindrances, it is neither pliable, nor workable, nor luminous, nor perfectly concentrated for the destruction of the fetters. S.V.92-93 also compares the defilements of the mind to impurities in gold ore, implying that just as gold does not manifest its intrinsic radiance when it is in its raw state mixed with impurities, so is the intrinsic radiance of the mind not apparent when it is defiled by the hindrances. A.I.253-255 also uses the simile of gold-refining to illustrate the process of meditative development. A gold-refiner washes gold ore three times to get rid of gross, moderate, and fine defilements, and then properly smelts it until it is free of dross; only then is it "pliable, workable, brightly shining, no longer brittle" and ready to be fashioned into a final object. The sutta compares this process with that of a monk as he gets rid of various mental defilements before he attains one-pointedness of mind, which is then used for spiritual attainments.
Maha Boowa comments on A.I.8-10: When referring to the original citta, the Buddha stated: Pabhassaramidam cittam bhikkhave. Pabhassara means radiant, it does not mean pure. His reasoning is absolutely correct; it is impossible to argue against it. Had the Buddha equated the original citta with the pure citta, one could immediately object: "If the citta was originally pure, why then should it be born at all?" The Arahant, who has purified his citta, is one who never comes to birth again. If his citta were originally pure, why then would he need to purify it? This would be the obvious objection: What reason would there be to purify it? The radiant citta, on the other hand, can be purified ...
Bhavanga
The Theravadin Angutta Nikaya Atthakatha identifies the luminous mind as the bhavanga, the "ground of becoming" or "latent dynamic continuum", which is the most fundamental level of mental functioning in the Theravada Abhidhammic scheme. Thanissaro Bhikkhu holds that the commentaries' identification of the luminous mind with the bhavanga is problematic, but Peter Harvey finds it to be a plausible interpretation.
Bodhicitta
The Mahayana interprets the brightly shining citta as bodhicitta, the altruistic "spirit of awakening." The Astasahasrika Perfection of Wisdom Sutra describes bodhicitta thus: "That citta is no citta since it is by nature brightly shining." This is in accord with Anguttara Nikaya I,10 which goes from a reference to brightly shining citta to saying that even the slightest development of loving-kindness is of great benefit. This implies that loving-kindness - and the related state of compassion - is inherent within the luminous mind as a basis for its further development. The observation that the ground state of consciousness is of the nature of loving-kindness implies that empathy is innate to consciousness and exists prior to the emergence of all active mental processes.
Citta and Alaya-vijnana
According to Walpola Rahula, all the elements of the Yogacara store-consciousness (alaya-vijnana) are already found in the Pali Canon. He writes that the three layers of the mind (citta, called "luminous" in the passage discussed above, manas, and vijnana) as presented by Asanga are also used in the Pali Canon: "Thus we can see that Vijnana represents the simple reaction or response of the sense organs when they come in contact with external objects. This is the uppermost or superficial aspect or layer of the Vijnanaskanda. Manas represents the aspect of its mental functioning, thinking, reasoning, conceiving ideas, etc. Citta which is here called Alayavijnana, represents the deepest, finest and subtlest aspect or layer of the Aggregate of consciousness. It contains all the traces or impressions of the past actions and all good and bad future possibilities."
According to Yogacara teachings, as in early Buddhist teachings regarding the citta, the store-consciousness is not pure, and with the attainment of nirvana comes a level of mental purity that is hitherto unattained.
Nirvana, Tathagatagarbha
In the canonical discourses, when the brightly shining citta is "unstained," it is supremely poised for arahantship, and so could be conceived as the "womb" of the arahant, for which a synonym is tathagata. The Lankavatara Sutra describes the tathagatagarbha ("arahant womb") as "by nature brightly shining and pure," and "originally pure," though "enveloped in the garments of the skandhas, dhatus and ayatanas and soiled with the dirt of attachment, hatred, delusion and false imagining." It is said to be "naturally pure," but it appears impure as it is stained by adventitious defilements. Thus the Lankavatara Sutra identifies the luminous mind of the Canon with the tathagatagarbha. (Some Gelug philosophers, in contrast to teachings in the Lankavatara Sutra, maintain that the "purity" of the tathagatagarbha is not because it is originally or fundamentally pure, but because mental flaws can be removed — that is, like anything else, they are not part of a fundamental essence. These thinkers thus refuse to turn epistemological insight about emptiness and Buddha-nature into an essentialist metaphysics.)
The Lankavatara Sutra also the equates the tathagatagarbha (and alaya-vijnana) with nirvana, though this is concerned with the actual attainment of nirvana as opposed to nirvana as a timeless phenomenon. The Canon does not support the identification of the "luminous mind" with nirvanic consciousness, though it plays a role in the realization of nirvana. Upon the destruction of the fetters, according to one scholar, "the shining nibbanic consciousness flashes out of the womb of arahantship, being without object or support, so transcending all limitations."
Dzogchen
The dimension of mind the Buddha describes in the canon is remarkably parallel to teachings of the Great Perfection school. It is presented by the Buddha and by modern-day Theravadins and Mahayanists not as a product of mystical speculation, but as a phenomenological account of a state of consciousness realized through the cultivation of meditative stabilization. It may be identified with the "substrate consciousness" of Dzogchen (Great Perfection) teachings, said to be the most fundamental level of mind by that school. In that analysis, the substrate consciousness differs from the non-dual "primordial consciousness."
See also
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