Hindrance of Supreme Enlightenment and Common Sense
Some buddhists whilst in meditation or buddhism mindfulness in
daily living, caused hindrance to themselves by holding or focus on
supreme enlightenment, omniscience or bodhicitta, and/or
attainment. Although holding on to bodhicitta generates blessings,
it does not develop merit for bodhicitta.
All non buddhists before attempting buddhism are hindered by its
common sense or in Buddhism term is Alaya consciousness or the
Eight consciousness or Storehouse consciousness.
The alaya consciousness or storehouse consciousness is the place
where all the actions and experiences in this life and the previous
lives generated by the seven consciousnesses are stored as karma,
being the only consciousness which comes along with every birth.
This consciousness influences at the same time the workings of the
other seven consciousnesses.
We take this alaya consciousness with us in all our births in
the various realms of existence. It contains the seeds of various
types of karma, and it is the storehouse of the habitual evil
karmic tendencies that we have cultivated for eons. Because of the
karmic seeds contained in the alaya consciousness one may die a
premature death, be stricken with unexpected disease or
inexplicable misfortune, overcome by strong desires, aversions and
obsessions, can think and do things that one should never even
imagine, etc. So strong is the influence of the alaya
consciousness. When Shinran is recorded as saying in chapter 13th
of Tannisho: “a person may not wish to harm anyone and yet end up
killing a hundred or a thousand people”, he is in fact referring to
the influence of past karma contained in the alaya
consciousness.