Vāsanā (Sanskrit; Devanagari: वासना) 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.
Vāsanā (Devanagari: वासना,) and its near homonym vasana (Devanagari: वसन) are from the same Indo-European linguistic root, sharing a common theme of 'dwelling' or 'abiding'.
See also: Saṅkhāra.
Keown (2004) defines the term generally within Buddhism as follows:
"vāsanā (Skt.). Habitual tendencies or dispositions, a term, often used synonymously with bīja (‘seed’). 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 (ālaya-vijñāna). The accumulation of these habitual tendencies is believed to predispose one to particular patterns of behaviour in the future."[1]
Sandvik (2007: unpaginated) states that:
D.T. Suzuki (1930) in The Lankavatara Sutra, connects vasana to its other meaning, 'infusing':
"Discrimination is the result of memory (vasana) accumulated from the unknown past. Vasana literally means "perfuming," or "fumigation," that is, it is a kind of energy that is left behind when an act is accomplished and has the power to rekindle the old and seek out new impressions. Through this "perfuming," reflection takes place which is the same thing as discrimination, and we have a world of opposites and contraries with all its practical consequences. The triple world, so called, is therefore the shadow of a self-reflecting and self-creating mind. Hence the doctrine of "Mind-only" (cittamdtra)." p.96[2]
Lusthaus states that the Cheng Weishi Lun (Chinese: 成唯識論), a commentary on Vasubandhu's Triṃśikā-vijñaptimātratā, lists three types of vāsanā, which are synonymous with 'bija' or 'seeds':[3]
See main article: article, Bonpo and Dzogchen.
Bag chags are important in Bonpo soteriology, especially the view of the Bonpo Dzogchenpa, where it is fundamentally related to the key doctrines of 'Primordial Purity' (As Karmay relates in his English rendering of the Bonpo text 'Kunzi Zalshay Selwai Gronma' from the Tibetan:[4]
See main article: article and Hinduism.
See main article: article and Vaishnavism.
Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (5.11.5) (also known as the Bhagavata Purana), a principal text for the Vaishnava tradition of Sanatana Dharma employs the term 'vasana':
| Devanagari | Roman Transcription[5] | |
|---|---|---|
| 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' (vāsanātmā), whether pious or impious, are conditioned by the Gunas. The gunas propel the mind into different 'formations' (rūpa-bhedam). The 'mind' (atma) is the master of the sixteen material elements. Its 'refined or coarse quality' (antaḥ-bahiṣṭvam) determines the mind-formations of manifestation (tanoti).
See main article: article and 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: