Eight Consciousness and Mind-Nature: On Doctrine of Mind-Nature in the Buddhist Consciousness-only School and Its Influence on Confucianism since the Song and Ming Dynasties

The Buddhist Consciousness-only School discusses mind-nature from the perspective of the Eight Consciousnesses. It has established a very rich and delicate series of concepts and a fairly rigorous argumentation system. This is manifested in its in-depth exploration of the relationship between "mind" and "nature," which includes distinguishing between "nature" and "habitus" by distinguishing between "pre-existing species" and "newly infected species," as well as by distinguishing between potential states of consciousness and the active state of consciousness judges their respective ethically good, evil or indeterminate nature. By sorting out the concepts of "eight consciousness" and "mind-nature" in Buddhist consciousness-only theory, we can more clearly understand the Confucian doctrines of mind-nature since the Song and Ming Dynasties, including grasping the origins and reasons of many key concepts and their disputes. We can also look back to see the merits and demerits of Buddhism in the history of Chinese