Mindstream (Pali: citta-santāna, Sanskrit: citta-saṃtāna; Ch: xin xiangxu 心相續) in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment continuum of sense impressions and mental phenomena (citta),[1] which is also described as continuing from one life to another.
The mindstream provides a continuity from one life to another, akin to the flame of a candle which may be passed from one candle to another:[5][6][a] William Waldron writes that "Indian Buddhists see the 'evolution' of mind i[n] terms of the continuity of individual mind-streams from one lifetime to the next, with karma as the basic causal mechanism whereby transformations are transmitted from one life to the next.
"[7] According to Waldron, "[T]he mind stream (santāna) increases gradually by the mental afflictions (kleśa) and by actions (karma), and goes again to the next world.
"[10] Saṃtāna or santāna (Sanskrit) means "eternal", "continuum", "a series of momentary events" or "life-stream".
This compound combines xin 心 "heart; mind; thought; conscience; core" and xiangxu "succeed each other", with xiang 相 "form, appearance, countenance, phenomenon" and xu 續 or 续 "continue; carry on; succeed".
[15] Lusthaus describes the development and doctrinal relationships of the store consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) and Buddha nature (tathāgatagarbha) in Yogācāra.