What is "consciousness" in Buddhism?

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Nyanatiloka Maha Thera, Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines (viññāna)

Buddhas of the past, sacred Dambulla cave, Sri Lanka (inquiringmind.com)

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How are living beings conscious? (WHP)

"Consciousness" is one of the Five Groups [that comprise] Existence (Five Aggregates of Clinging). It is one of the Four Nutriments. It is the third link of the causal chain on the arising of suffering called Dependent Origination. It is the fifth in the sixfold division of elements.

Viewed as one of the Five Aggregates [trillions of discrete phenomena lumped into five groups or categories], it is inseparably linked with the three other mental aggregates (feeling, perception, and formations) and furnishes the bare cognition of the object, while the other three contribute more specific functions.

Conscious awareness (dhammawheel.com)

Its moral and karmic character, and its greater or lesser degree of intensity and clarity, are chiefly determined by the mental formations associated with it (particularly the most salient formation, "volition" or cetana, which determines if a karmic act is beneficial, unwholesome, or neutral).

 

Just like the other aggregates or "groups of existence," consciousness is not so much a thing as a flux (sotā, a "stream of consciousness") and does not constitute an abiding mind-substance. 

Free your mind. Rest will follow.

Nor is it in any way a transmigrating soul, entity, or abiding self, even though it is commonly regarded as such by ordinary uninstructed worldlings not yet freed of ignorance regarding existence. Arhats, the noble ones, who gain knowledge and vision recognize it for what it is and are freed of suffering, which is called enlightenment, the realization of nirvana, "the end of all suffering").

The Three Marks or Characteristics of Existence (the impermanent, unsatisfactory/disappointing/woeful, and impersonal nature of all conditioned phenomena) are frequently applied to consciousness in the texts (e.g., in the Anattalakkhana Sutra, S.XXII, 59).

The physical base of the "mind" is the heart (K)

The Buddha often stresses that "apart from conditions, there is no arising of consciousness" (MN 38). And all of these statements about its nature hold good for the entire range of consciousness -- be it "past, future, or presently arisen, gross or subtle, in oneself or another, that is, internal or external, inferior or lofty, far or near" (S. XXII, 59).

  

Six consciousnesses

The seven main chakras,energy centers, along the spine (Manifesto-Meditations)

 
According to the six senses it divides into six kinds: eye- (or visual), ear- (auditory), nose- (olfactory), tongue- (gustatory), body- (tangible), mind- (mental, intuitive, memory, psychic) consciousness. 

 

About the dependent origination or arising of these six kinds of consciousness, the Path of Purification (Vis.M. XV, 39) says: 

• "Conditioned through the [sense base or sensitive portion within the] eye, the visible object, light, and attention, eye-consciousness arises.
• Conditioned through the ear, the audible object, the ear-passage, and attention, ear-consciousness arises.
• Conditioned, through the nose, the olfactive object, air, and attention, nose-consciousness arises.
• Conditioned through the tongue, the gustative object, humidity, and attention, tongue-consciousness arises.
• Conditioned through the body, bodily impression, the earth-element [the solid quality of materiality or rupa], and attention, body-consciousness arises.
• Conditioned through the subconscious [or default, underlying] mind (bhavanga-mano [manas, mind]), the mind-object, and attention, mind-consciousness arises."

The Abhidharma literature distinguishes 89 classes of consciousness as being either karmically wholesome (skillful), unwholesome (unskillful), or neutral, and belonging either to the Sensual Sphere, the Fine-Material Sphere, or the Immaterial Sphere, or to supermundane consciousness. See Table I for the detailed classification.

What is mind? What is consciousness?

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly (COMMENTARY)

No one has to lose his or her head wondering where "mind" is (MaretH/flickr.com)

"God made Man, but he used a Monkey to do it. Apes in the plan, we're all here to prove it"

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The brain starts at the base of the spine

Does Buddhism have an answer? The Dharmic religions are very interested in "mind," which is roughly the equivalent of heart, the seat of consciousness. We think the brain is the mind, but it is not. The base of physical base of consciousness was not spelled out by the Buddha precisely the way the other senses were. Buddhism acknowledges six senses, mind being the sixth.

 

Mike, a living headless chicken (MTHC)

But it is pretty certain, and individually verifiable, that the "mind door" is near the are of the physical heart not up in the head. If anyone considers the matter for a moment, it becomes obvious that the entire body is conscious -- informed by a gut feeling, a broken heart, a mild headache, a strange tingling feeling, and so on -- all playing a part in what we are conscious of at any moment and what we feel about it; "thought" is a minor part.

A powerful placebo

For example, few people have been told that there are many neurons -- "brain" cells -- in the lining of the gut and in the heart. But we walk around all "scientifically minded" thinking neurons are somehow exclusive to the brain, up in the head, limited to the cranium. Neurons, ganglia, axons, and all that hardware extends down the brainstem into the spine innervating every part of the conscious body. We don't need a brain to live; a brainstem is enough -- ask anyone with microencephaly. We sure do need a heart. Some cruel/greedy humans chop off the head of chickens to sell their bodies and are surprised that they live on. Ask Mike, you know, Mike the Headless Chicken.

I'm not a monkey! My doctor takes them, too!

We are all taught, mostly by long winded drug commercials that depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders are due to "imbalances" in our neurotransmitters (actually, that's at least as much of an effect as a cause in the feedback loop of the body), but what we are rarely if ever told is that most of these transmitters are in other parts of the body. Case in point, if one has a section of the colon removed for whatever reason, one is almost certain to come down with severe clinical depression. Yet, look how we treat our beautiful colons. Why would that be? It's the brain in the gut, the brain in the heart, the brain in the glands -- the rolled up gut, which is 23 feet long, has a lot of braincells.

However, of all the sages of India and Vedic Indus Valley Civilization, no one went further in detailing the "mind," consciousness, software, mental processes, and mental concomitants (cittas and cetasikas) than the Buddha. It is what the entire Abhidharma (the "Higher or Ultimate Teachings") is about -- one third of the Dharma alongside the conventional sutras and the monastic disciplinary code.
 

Mind is more complicated than a clock.

So what is "monkey mind"? Try to meditate and you, too, will find out in about a minute. But, first of all, What is MIND?

The individual (let's say the gandhabba or Sanskrit gandharva) is body and mind, the physical-psychological process of becoming, of phenomenal conditioned-existence, the world, the process of perception. The Buddha outlined this as a conglomeration of eight impersonal heaps called the Five Aggregates. (I thought you said eight? Yes, the first four are collapsed into one category simply called "form").

"Mind" in Buddhism is defined as the remaining four categories: feelings, perceptions, formations, and consciousnesses (viññāna). All of these are plural because they are heaps, aggregates, countless discrete units within each category, always changing, always impersonal, always unsatisfactory.

• The Abhidharma distinguishes 89 classes of consciousness

Clinging -- to ego, notions of self, soul, eternal existence, selfishness, possessions, likes and dislikes, strong preferences, sensual pleasures, and so on -- occurs because of this illusory separate "being" or personality which arises dependent on causes and conditions, nutriments. What are the causes and conditions? They are explained in the meditation on Dependent Origination as 12 causal links to be contemplated, penetrated, and experienced for liberation.

Shut up, monkeys are cool! - the Beebs

Traditionally, in Buddhist instruction, early teachers noted that just as a monkey going wild in a tree grasps one branch and before letting go of it is grasping at another so, too, the meditator barely gets done with one line of thought and s/he's onto another. This is called discursive thinking, a great impediment to calm and insight IF we identify with it. Just let it be. There is no reason to try to stop it; it is usually enough to detach enough by becoming an observer. It really is ridiculous and like a chattering, clambering, confused monkey, full of frenzy, restless, and craving constant stimulation and/or entertainment.

• Prozac, used by 40 million, does not work, say scientists (The Guardian) Analysis of unseen trials and other data concludes it is no better than placebo nor do similar drugs in the same class, according to a major review. Full text: the PLoS paper (Oops, sorry, suckers! So long, says Big Pharma, and thanks for all the money? No, there's still a lot of money to be made. This study was released in 2008).
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• Five a day will do, larger study of fruit and veg intake suggests
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Buddhism's "Mind Only" School (video)

Wisdom Quarterly; Vsauce (Twitter)/Collab; Barbara O'Brien (Buddhism.About.com)

(Vsauce) How can we know anything? Epistemology is the serious study of this question.

 

Aggregates (heaps) are not-self!

The Mahayana philosophy of Yogacara (Sanskrit, "application of yoga") teaches that the reality we think we perceive does not exist except as as a process of knowing. 

 

Phenomena [dharmas], anything that can be experienced, have no reality in themselves. At the same time, there is no "experiencer" who experiences except as a process of mind.

 

If there is no experiencer and nothing to experience, how can anything seem to be? What is it that knows? This "knowing" is explained by alaya-vijnana, "store consciousness," which is a function of the fifth aggregate (skandha) of clinging [namely, "consciousness" or viññāna]. 

 

Very briefly, it is in this "storehouse" that mental phenomena are tied together to create the deception of external existence.

• [Hinduism was worked into Mahayana Buddhism to maintain that somewhere, somehow there really is a timeless self (atman, atta), a "higher self," an eternal soul, something to identify with or cling to, such as consciousness itself. But consciousness is an impermanent process, not a self. Clinging to assumptions, to long held misperceptions, must be seen through and replaced with the "perfection of wisdom" (prajna-paramita), which means directly perceiving not-self (an-atta or shūnyatā, suchness, thusness, voidness, emptiness) as epitomized in the famous Heart Sutra.]

Yogacara emerged in India in the 2nd or 3d century and reached its zenith in the 4th to 6th centuries. Originally it was a rival to the philosophy of Madhyamika, but eventually the two philosophies merged.

Both philosophies were enormously influential in the development of Mahayana Buddhism. It is a school or tradition also known as Vijnanavada (Sanskrit, "The School That Teaches Knowing" [literally, "Teaching of Consciousness"]), Chittamatra (Sanskrit, "Mind Only")

Intellect, Intelligence, and Intuition (Dr. Ashby)

Amber Larson, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Dr. Elizabeth Ashby, "Three Mental Faculties" (Buddhist Publication Society, Bodhi Leaves No. 44)

The brain is not the actual source of knowing, just a citta routing station (DK Books)

Three Mental Modes

Emotional is not emotionally intelligent

In Western Buddhist literature we often find intellect and intuition contrasted with one another, usually to the disadvantage of intellect. This is a very short-sighted view, for both are necessary for the understanding and practice of Dharma (Pali, Dhamma).

The intellect is the reasoning faculty in humans. It sees things in their right proportions. It investigates, analyzes, and discriminates. It accumulates knowledge and is inclined to forget that “knowledge” isn’t “wisdom.” Too much stress on intellect produces mental dryness, harsh judgments, and a lack of kindness (mettā) and compassion.

The Buddha's Brain (Hanson)

 Another danger is that investigation may become mere idle speculation. “Speculative views” about the subjects that the Buddha refused to define will lead us into the wilds of skeptical doubt, with all the mental suffering that involves. Another danger is opinionatedness -- the canker (mental defilement) of clinging to views as in the case of certain Brahmins of old who declared: “This alone is the truth; all else is falsehood!”

Therefore one of the early Zen Patriarchs went so far as to say: 

Do not seek after the true;

Only cease to cherish opinions.

 
The cherishing of opinions leads to disputes and to vexation, for we wound one another “with the weapon of the tongue.”
 

Jim Olson studies creativity and the human spirit in medicine proposing to treat cancer with scorpion venom. Those using synthetic chemical poisons and cancer-causing radiation call him crazy (onbeing.org)

Intuition is the faculty that perceives truth without having it demonstrated or explained. It feels the truth before the intellect can grasp it and turn it into concepts. Hence intuition is closely allied to the emotions, and this constitutes a danger because the emotions go hand-in-hand with the imagination, and an imagined “truth” may be mistaken for “real truth.” 

This happens because intuition functions on both the mundane and the transcendental plane (lokuttara). Our intuitions -- our instinctive feelings for and against people or ideas, and our useful “hunches” -- do not mean that we already possess bodhi, the transcendental intuition that “knows according to reality.” 

This mundane intuition can be extremely deceptive and may lead to all kinds of trouble. It has to be examined in the light of a third mental faculty: intelligence. Intelligence is the ability to make skilful (kusala) use of the intellect. Lacking this, both intellect and intuition go astray.

Their emotions are like koans to me, with no easy way to solve their mysteries (CS).

  
All Buddhist schools recognize the part intuition must play in the attainment of wisdom (gnosis) -- that sure certain knowing that “done is what had to be done.” The winning of enlightenment by intellectual means, “the way of the head” (jnana or nyana), is very, very rare, though some of the Great Disciples are known to have done so.

The Zen School in particular stresses the importance of intuition. A great feature of Zen is to accept life as it comes and to make the appropriate response. Note, it is the appropriate or right response. This does not mean acting on the first impulse that comes into one’s head. Most human impulses arise from greed, hate, or delusion [the three roots of all unskillful karma], and it is only the trained disciple who can act both spontaneously and rightly every time.

Impulsive action frequently ends in disaster, as in the case of Don Quixote. More

Bridging Science and Spirituality (Dr. Pert)

Amber Larson, CC Liu, Xochitl, Wisdom Quarterly; Candace Pert (candacepert.com)

Dr. Pert passed away on Sept. 12, 2013 and memorial services will be held on Oct. 27, 2013 at 10:00 am at the Historic Jewish Synagogue, Sixth & I, Washington, D.C.

 

Psychosomatic Wellness (soundstrue.com)

Dr. Candace Pert, who discovered the opiate receptor and starred in "What the Bleep Do We Know?" brilliantly shared her scientific research in a form that made readily understandable and engaging for non-scientists.

She communicated her wisdom via lectures worldwide, documentaries, films, CDs, and in her books, Molecules of Emotion: The Scientific Basis Behind Mind-Body Medicine and her Hay House publication, Everything You Need to Feel Go(o)d.

Curing cancer spontaneously with inner work and natural remedies? Doctors cannot see/admit the possibility even with verifiable proof. There is a lot of money to be made from cancer by "blind" treatment specialists using radiation, chemotherapy poisons, and costly invasive surgeries. Viva el capitalismo! (See Part II)

 

Energetic meditation for health

She taught how the BodyMind functions as a single psychosomatic network of informational molecules which deeply influence our health and happiness. Moreover, in a way that includes yet transcends left-brained scientific inquiry, she guided us on how to utilize this knowledge to enhance our lives by embarking on spiritual and emotional paths to healing.

She welcomed all spiritual practice into her life, and she loved all people. Dr. Pert dedicated herself to creating new drugs for serious illnesses. She was, after all, first trained as a pharmacologist. More than 25 years ago, she had an inspiration, a "vision" as it is described in her first book, about how to make a drug for HIV/AIDS. At that time this scourge was not controlled; it was destroying the lives of many. She spent the last 28 years of her life pursuing research to create a non-toxic treatment and a vaccine for HIV/AIDS. More She went from neuropeptides to chakras.

 

Meditation: from neuropeptides to chakras

“Healing the Hurting, Shining the Light” was produced by Dr. Pert with her son, Brandon Pert, a musician, audio production expert, and sound mixer, exclusively for distribution from her website.

 

The download is a 30-minute meditation that uniquely combines induction into a relaxed state via breathing directions, lecture material, and chakra (subtle-energy wheel) affirmations. The music is composed according to a scientifically designed key on a scale whose frequencies are in harmony with the light spectrum.

 

An appreciation of the ancient wisdom of the Vedic chakra system, which corresponds to modern scientific discoveries about the location of neuropeptide-enriched nodal points along our bodies’ longitudinal axis, can help us enter a relaxed state of mind where natural recuperation and recovery can occur.

 

Learning new positive thought patterns is also facilitated so that auditors can permit conscious calm access to our “bodyminds” below the neck. So often today we are unnecessarily stressed out instead of blissed out, spending time and energy subconsciously focusing on irrelevant frantic survival patterns which no longer serve us.

 

This meditation is taken from the original CD “Healing the Hurting, Shining the Light” available with three extra tracks exclusively on her site. More