Arising thought (Buddhism)

Tsung-mi, a chronicler of Ch'an (Zen), indicated the process whereby, in the unenlightened aspect of alaya-vijnana, intrinsic enlightenment is gradually overlaid by delusion and, in the enlightened aspect, the delusion systematically removed. Arising thought is the third stage in the downward process, as one's consciousness divides into subject and object. This is the activity of ignorance, the first of three subtle appearances of phenomena, comparable with dreams arising as one sleeps. It is counteracted by freedom from thought.