Many people ask us why the name aMala. Amala, the ninth consciousness also known as the Buddha nature. It forms the foundation for one’s life.  The AMALA consciousness, meaning the “purest” and cannot be tarnished by any of the karmic energy from the previous eight levels. Hence a way of ridding oneself of negative karma is by rising above to the ninth consciousness.

Buddhism defines nine layers of consciousness. This doctrine helps to explain how karma is stored and how it can be changed. The first five consciousness are the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. The sixth level is the thinking mind which integrates the information we receive from these five senses.

The seventh consciousness is where we form judgements about what action to take. It corresponds to the thinking and aware self which discerns value.  The eighth (alaya) consciousness is the storehouse of our karma. Alaya literally means “accumulation”, as in the name Himalaya mountains which means “accumulation of snow”.  All of our experiences are filtered through the initial seven layers of consciousness and stored in the eighth, which exists unconscious memory of all our previous actions and reactions.

This influences our reactions at any given time, based on our past experiences, including those of previous lifetimes.