Short answers, pulled from the story.
Vijñana (Sanskrit: vijñāna; Pali: viññāna) is translated as "consciousness," "life force," "mind," or "discernment" depending on context. Sanskrit scholar V.S. Apte (1890, revised 1957-59) identified at least nine distinct senses, including knowledge, discernment, skill, and the organ of knowledge itself.
In the Sutta Pitaka, vinnana appears in three distinct contexts: as a derivative of the six sense bases (the "All"), as one of the five aggregates (khandhas) of clinging at the root of suffering, and as the third of the Twelve Causes of Dependent Origination (paticcasamuppada).
The Theravadin Abhidhamma identifies 89 kinds of consciousness. Fifty-four belong to the sense sphere, 15 to the fine-material sphere, 12 to the immaterial sphere, and eight are supramundane, related to the realization of Nibbana.
The alayavijnana, translated as "store consciousness," is the Yogacara school's concept of a foundational consciousness on which all other modes of consciousness are based. It is the phenomenon that explains rebirth within Yogacara thought. Walpola Rahula argued that it corresponds to the citta found in earlier Pali texts.
Sri Ramakrishna described vijnana as the state of one who, after reaching the Absolute (Nitya), returns to engage with the relative world (Lila) and then ascends again. He said it means knowing God distinctly through intuitive experience and speaking to God intimately. Ayon Maharaj (Swami Medhananda) characterized this as a "philosophy of Vijnana Vedanta" in his 2018 book Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality.
In Thai Buddhism, vinnana refers specifically to the consciousness or life-force after it has left the body at death. Thais distinguish it from "jid-jai," which is consciousness still connected to a living body. Some Thai Buddhists also believe the jid-jai can leave the body temporarily during dreaming or advanced meditation while remaining connected.