Insightful knowledge?

[Tirisilex]

In Tibetan Buddhism There is a book named "A Treatise Differentiating Consciousness and Wisdom:" This book divides the self by 8 different consciousnesses and how they are transformed into transcendental wisdom.
I am wondering.. Does Hinduism have a similar teaching?

[Onkara]

In Tibetan Buddhism There is a book named "A Treatise Differentiating Consciousness and Wisdom:" This book divides the self by 8 different consciousnesses and how they are transformed into transcendental wisdom.
I am wondering.. Does Hinduism have a similar teaching?

Hello Tirisilex
Not really, because consciousness is one, universal and underivable. Everything arises in consciousness and cannot be apart from it. This is where Buddhism and Vedanta differ. It might also hinge on the meaning implies with "consciousness", for example many people consider "consciousness" to mean being awake (aware of something) rather than at sleep. It might be more clear from a context.

[Lakshmidevi]

I agree with Onkara. The thing to remember too with consciousness in Buddhism- especially the Madhyamaka school of philosophy to which most Tibetan Buddhist lineages adhere, is that it is one of the 5 skandhas that make up living entities. It is not permanent or stable. It is constantly evolving, changing, and attaching. To realize that consciousness is sunyata or emptiness is required for liberation.

In terms of dividing consciousness into 8 forms, it's a way for Mahayana/ Vajrayana Buddhists to get around the whole rebirth and tathagatagarbha issue while maintaining anatman. It's a way of conceptualizing the various ways in which we experience the world and create identities.

The Hindu perspective is that consciousness is unified. It is not sunyata nor can it be divided up. With that being said there are all manner of different ways of experiencing consciousness. It is not always alertness or attaching to material objects through perception and sensation. There are more subtle ways through which it expresses itself. I would also say that it is not that consciousness must be transformed to have access to that wisdom because wisdom is a part of its nature. It only gets temporarily obscured by the dust of maya.

[Tirisilex]

Doesnt Advaita take apart and categorize the mind??

[Onkara]

Doesnt Advaita take apart and categorize the mind??

Yes, but not consciousness. The mind is material, and can be understood by how it works e.g. memory, ego sense, intellect etc.

[Tirisilex]

To Tibetan Buddhists.. Mind is Consciousness.