Awareness of consciousness-group of conscious existence - senses and mind (Buddhism)

The consciousness aggregate, vinnana-khanda, is one of the five interacting aggregates that produce the illusory ego. Here are at least six classes of sense consciousness: one for each sense-organ ("body" consciousness equals the "touch" organ) plus "mind" consciousness. The latter (bhavanga-mano) appears to be only the subconscious mind, or that part of the mind (mano-dhatu) that adverts to the sense-object. The realms of the objects of sense – sadayatana – are presented to the being on birth into this life and condition the relationship with the environment.

The southern Buddhists, analyzing the 6 states of consciousness from the psychological view-point of volition and hence the moral view-point of Karma, find 89 states of consciousness to describe. Some northern Buddhists (Yogacarins in the Mahayana) add two more states in the vinnana-khanda: manovinnana (or mano-vijnana), and alaya-vinnana. The former receives data from the sixth state or function and conveys them to to eighth level, after investigation. The alaya-vinnana is considered a "repository" consciousness. In the Pali texts the seventh seems to appear as a karmically independent function and alaya may be synonymous with consciousness (citta) itself. Also the fifth of 12 links – nidana – perpetuating the cycle of birth and death as delineated in the Buddhist causally continuous doctrine of being; sadayatana arising, with awareness of the psychological and the physical – namarupa – from individual consciousness – vijnana.