Vāsanā
Vāsanā is a behavioural tendency or karmic imprint which influences the present behaviour of a person. It is a technical term in Indian philosophy, particularly Yoga, as well as Buddhist philosophy and Advaita Vedanta.
Nomenclature, orthography and etymology
Vāsanā and its near homonym vasana are from the same Indo-European linguistic root, sharing a common theme of 'dwelling' or 'abiding'.- Vāsanā :
- * Past impressions, impressions formed, the present consciousness of past perceptions;
- * The impression of anything in the mind, the present consciousness formed from past perceptions, knowledge derived from memory, the impressions remaining in the mind;
- * Thinking of, longing for, expectation, desire, inclination.
- Vasana : cloth, clothes, dress, garment, apparel, attire, dwelling or abiding.
Buddhism
"vāsanā. Habitual tendencies or dispositions, a term, often used synonymously with bīja. It is found in Pāli and early Sanskrit sources but comes to prominence with the Yogācāra, for whom it denotes the latent energy resulting from actions which are thought to become ‘imprinted’ in the subject's storehouse-consciousness. The accumulation of these habitual tendencies is believed to predispose one to particular patterns of behaviour in the future."
Sandvik states that:
Cheng Weishi Lun
states that the Cheng Weishi Lun, a commentary on Vasubandhu's Triṃśikā-vijñaptimātratā, lists three types of vāsanā, which are synonymous with 'bija' or 'seeds':- Vāsanā of 'names and words' or 'terms and words which equates to 'latent linguistic conditioning'. These seeds, planted in the 'root consciousness' by 'terms and words' are the 'causes' and 'conditions' of each 'conditioned or caused element or phenomena'. There are two forms:
- # 'Terms and words indicating a referent' through which a mindstream is able to express meanings by differentiation of vocal sounds ; and
- # 'Terms and words revealing perceptual-fields', through which a mindstream discerns perceptual-fields as ' phenomena of mind'.
- Vasanas of self-attachment denoting the false attachment to the seeds of 'me' and 'mine'.
- Vasanas which link streams-of-being denoting the karmic seeds, 'differently maturing that carry over from one stream-of-being to another in the Three Worlds. The bhavanga is of two types:
- # Contaminated yet advantageous that is actions which produce desirable fruits; and
- # Disadvantageous, that is actions which produce undesirable fruits.
Bon & Dzogchen
Hinduism
Vaishanavism
, a principal text for the Vaishnava tradition of Sanatana Dharma employs the term 'vasana':| Devanagari | Roman Transcription |
| स वासनात्मा विषयोपरक्तो | sa vāsanātmā viṣayoparakto |
| गुणप्रवाहो विकृतः षोडशात्मा | guṇa-pravāho vikṛtaḥ ṣoḍaśātmā |
| बिभ्रत्पृथतङनामभि रूपभेदम् | bibhrat pṛthań-nāmabhi rūpa-bhedam |
| अन्तर्बहिष्ङवं च पुरैस्तनोति | antar-bahiṣṭvaṁ ca purais tanoti |
A satisfactory English rendering has not yet been sourced, but the import is that the 'imprinted-volitions-of-mind', whether pious or impious, are conditioned by the Gunas. The gunas propel the mind into different 'formations'. The 'mind' is the master of the sixteen material elements. Its 'refined or coarse quality' determines the mind-formations of manifestation.
Advaita Vedanta
A vasana literally means 'wishing' or 'desiring', but is used in Advaita in the sense of the sub-conscious or latent tendencies in one’s nature.Writing from an Advaita Vedanta perspective, Waite refers to a model offered by Edward de Bono: