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The Collective Unconscious and the Buddhist Root or Store Consciousness

  • Writer: Rob Amo
    Rob Amo
  • May 4
  • 4 min read

Updated: May 19


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Deep DiveRob Amo


The Buddhist idea of the ālayavijñāna, often translated as "store consciousness" or "root consciousness," and Carl Jung's concept of the "collective unconscious" share some fascinating parallels in their attempt to understand the deeper layers of the human psyche beyond immediate conscious awareness. While they emerged from vastly different cultural and philosophical contexts, both point to a level of mind that holds trans-individual experiences and predispositions.


Here's a breakdown of the connections:


1. Beyond the Personal Unconscious:

* Ālayavijñāna: In Yogācāra Buddhism, the ālayavijñāna is the eighth and deepest of the eight consciousnesses. It's not the realm of repressed personal memories (like the Freudian unconscious) but rather a fundamental, underlying consciousness that stores the "seeds" (bīja) of all past experiences, both individual and collective, across lifetimes. It acts as a repository of karmic imprints and predispositions that influence future experiences and mental states.

* Collective Unconscious: Jung also distinguished his concept from Freud's personal unconscious. He posited the collective unconscious as a deeper, universal layer of the psyche that contains inherited predispositions and patterns common to all humanity. It's a reservoir of the experiences of our ancestors, a kind of psychic inheritance.


2. Source of Universal Patterns:

* Ālayavijñāna: The seeds stored in the ālayavijñāna are not just individual; they include the potential for universal patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior shaped by eons of human (and even pre-human) experience. These seeds manifest as tendencies and predispositions that influence how we perceive and react to the world.

* Collective Unconscious and Archetypes: Jung theorized that the collective unconscious is structured by archetypes, which he described as "forms without content," or primordial images and patterns of instinctual behavior. These archetypes (like the Hero, the Mother, the Shadow, etc.) are universal and manifest in myths, dreams, symbols, and cultural motifs across different times and places. They provide a framework for understanding fundamental human experiences and motivations.


3. Forms Without Content and Archetypes:

The connection becomes particularly evident when considering Jung's description of archetypes as "forms without content."

* Archetypes as Potential: Archetypes are not fixed images or ideas themselves but rather underlying potentials or structures. They are like empty vessels that get filled with content from an individual's personal experience and cultural context. For example, the "Mother" archetype is a pre-existing pattern, but it manifests differently depending on an individual's actual mother and cultural ideas about motherhood.

* Seeds in Ālayavijñāna as Potential: Similarly, the seeds (bīja) in the ālayavijñāna can be seen as potentials. They are not fully formed thoughts or experiences but carry the latent capacity to manifest in particular ways under the right conditions. The ālayavijñāna holds the potential for both wholesome and unwholesome mental states and behaviors, shaped by past karmic imprints.


In essence, both the ālayavijñāna and the collective unconscious point to a level of the psyche that transcends individual experience and carries the weight of humanity's shared past. While the Buddhist framework emphasizes the karmic implications and the potential for liberation through understanding this consciousness, Jung focused on its role in shaping psychological development, mythology, and universal human experiences through the manifestation of archetypes.


The "forms without content" of Jungian archetypes can be conceptually linked to the potentiality inherent in the "seeds" within the Buddhist ālayavijñāna. Both concepts suggest that our minds are not blank slates but are pre-structured by deep-seated, trans-individual patterns that influence our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.


Sources


On Buddhism and Jungian Psychology:

  • "Jung and Buddhism: refining the dialogue" by Polly Young-Eisendrath in The Cambridge Companion to Jung

    • Unfortunately, I cannot provide a direct link to this specific chapter. You can find the book in libraries or purchase it online. Search for "The Cambridge Companion to Jung" and look for the chapter by Polly Young-Eisendrath.

  • "Jung's Affinity for Buddhism: Misunderstandings and Clarifications" by Michele Daniel in Psychoanalysis and History

    • Again, I cannot give a direct link. Search for the journal Psychoanalysis and History and the article title. You may find it in academic databases.

  • "The Essence of Jung's Psychology and Tibetan Buddhism" by Radmila Moacanin

    • I cannot provide a direct link. Search for the book title online or in libraries.

  • "Jung vs Buddha – Self vs Non-Self" by Simeon (seeker2seeker.com)


On Jung's Concept of Archetypes:

On the Buddhist Concept of Ālayavijñāna:

On the Connection Between Ālayavijñāna and the Collective Unconscious:

  • "Jung's Collective Unconsciousness - and the Alayavijdna" - ECHO-LAB: (http://www.echo-lab.org/page/jung-s-collective-unconsciousness-and-the-alayavijnana)

  • "The Alayavijnana Is Just Like the Internet" by Leigh Brasington:

    • I cannot provide a direct link. Search for the title and author to find this article.

  • "A Buddhist Theory of Unconscious Mind (Alaya-Vijnana)" - Cambridge Core:

    • I cannot provide a direct link as this is likely behind a paywall. Search for the article title and "Cambridge Core" to access it through your institution or library.

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© 2025 by Rob Amo   

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