Thursday 31 July 2014
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)
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| Buddhas of the past, sacred Dambulla cave, Sri Lanka (inquiringmind.com) |
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| How are living beings conscious? (WHP) |
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.
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| 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.
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| Free your mind. Rest will follow. |
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).
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| 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
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| 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.
Jewish voices for peace and Ralph Nader (video)
Ashley Wells, Sheldon S., CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Ralph Nader, Mitch Jeserich (KPFA.org, Berkeley); Amy Goodman, Nermeen Shaikh (DemocracyNow.org, July 31, 2014)
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| Why do you steal our homes, take our land, and kill us, even our babies? - I'dunno, it's my job. I was only following orders. Hey, why do wear that towel? (Corey Gil-Schuster/Ask-Project) |
Amy Goodman with Denis Moynihan
The Israeli assault on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip has entered its fourth week. Henry Siegman, a venerable dean of American Jewish thought and president of the U.S./Middle East Project, sat down for an interview with Democracy Now! An ordained rabbi, Siegman is the former executive director of the American Jewish Congress and former executive head of the Synagogue Council of America, two of the [three] major, mainstream Jewish organizations in the U.S. [The other being the ADL.] He says the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories must end [now]. LISTEN
The Israeli assault on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip has entered its fourth week. Henry Siegman, a venerable dean of American Jewish thought and president of the U.S./Middle East Project, sat down for an interview with Democracy Now! An ordained rabbi, Siegman is the former executive director of the American Jewish Congress and former executive head of the Synagogue Council of America, two of the [three] major, mainstream Jewish organizations in the U.S. [The other being the ADL.] He says the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories must end [now]. LISTEN |
| Death toll tops 1300. "Enough blood has been spilled": Israel CONDEMNED for striking U.N. shelter with precision bomb (then trying to blame war crime on Hamas' homemade rockets) |
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has publicly condemned Israel for what he called its "outrageous" and "unjustifiable" shelling of a U.N. shelter in Gaza that killed 20 Palestinian civilians on Wednesday.
Many of the dead were children who were sleeping. The U.N. itself has not directly condemned Israel [how could it with the U.S. promoting and protecting Israel's war crimes?] But it admits that all available evidence points to Israel's responsibility for the terrorist act and crime against humanity.
It was the sixth time Israel had hit [targeted] a U.N. shelter since the Israeli offensive in Gaza began 24 days ago. The United Nations said it had given the coordinates of the shelter to the Israeli military 17 times prior to the attack. [They knew exactly where to aim or to definitively avoid aiming.]
According to the United Nations, more than 240,000 Palestinians are now staying in U.N. shelters in Gaza. Another 200,000 Palestinians have been displaced and are staying with other overcrowded families without sufficient food or water.
Democracy Now! is joined by Christopher Gunness, spokesperson for the the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. "UNRWA has reached a breaking point," Gunness says. "Eight of our staff have been killed. Our facilities are overwhelmed. Because of the continued displacement...we may soon find ourselves where there are tens of thousands of people in the streets of Gaza -- no food, no water, no shelter, no safety [suffering illegal collective punishment at the hands of Israel's military], frankly, after we’ve found that Israeli artillery is capable of hitting our shelters. And we’re saying: enough is enough."
The world's greatest MANTRA
Crystal Quintero, Seth Auberon, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly
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| Daibutsu, or "Giant Buddha," of Japan (Paul & Shellie Davis/flickr.com) |
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| Daibutsu (Marcus Antonius Braun/flickr) |
As we began to chant, we started with OM, an acronym for "omniscient mind," which Leith pronounces AUM: three blended sounds that stand for everything we are Aware of, everything we are Unaware of, and everything, the MMM of the humming universe.
The Buddha did not make much of mantras. After all, he was making known a "Higher Teaching" (Abhi-dharma) toward complete liberation in a Vedic land consumed with empty ritual, sympathetic magic, and elitist temple priests (the Brahmins of Brahmanism).
Many centuries later, "Hinduism" (Indus river valley civilization -ism) was formed. By systematizing disparate Indian teachings into a coherent message, Sri Shankara created a "religion" born out of a spiritual culture. Then the clinging began as later came the warring over it by nationalistic Indians. Modi may remember them, as they are alive and well in his party.
Many centuries later, "Hinduism" (Indus river valley civilization -ism) was formed. By systematizing disparate Indian teachings into a coherent message, Sri Shankara created a "religion" born out of a spiritual culture. Then the clinging began as later came the warring over it by nationalistic Indians. Modi may remember them, as they are alive and well in his party.
But there were protective (paritta) chants and monastic sermon memorizations and recitals (bana). And with Mahayana, a popular blend of Hinduism and Buddhism, there were mantras, too. Tantra-yana, mantra-yana, but for all that complexity, Leith is right:
The best mantra is "thank-you" repeated as often as possible.
The Lessons of Gratitude
Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Thanissaro (Geoffrey DeGraff), Abbot of Wat Metta
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| Sometimes a smile is all the thanks we give, all the gratitude we show (baconbabble.com). |
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| Gratitude (pirith.org) |
The Buddha taught: "Two people are hard to find in the world. Which two? The one who is first to do a kindness, and the one who is grateful/thankful for a kindness done" (AN 2.118).
In saying that kind and grateful people are rare, the Buddha is not stating an obvious truth about the world. He is advising us to treasure these people when we find them and -- more importantly -- he shows how we can become them.
Kindness and gratitude are virtues we can certainly cultivate, but they must be cultivated together. Each needs the other to be genuine, which becomes obvious when we think about the three things most likely to make gratitude heartfelt:
- We've benefitted from another's actions.
- We trust the motives behind those actions.
- We sense the other person had to go out of his or her way to provide that benefit.
Points one and two are lessons that gratitude teaches to kindness: If we want to be genuinely kind, we have to be of actual benefit. No one wants to be the recipient of "help" that isn't actually helpful. And we have to provide that benefit in a way that shows respect and empathy for the other person's needs. No one likes to receive a gift given with calculating motives or in a disdainful way.
Points two and three are lessons that kindness teaches to gratitude. Only if we've been kind to another person are we likely to accept the idea that others can be kind to us. At the same time, if we've been kind to another person, we know the effort involved.
Kind impulses often have to do battle with unkind impulses in the heart, so it is not always easy to be helpful. Sometimes it involves great sacrifice -- a sacrifice possible only when we trust the recipient will make good use of our help. So when we're on the receiving end of a sacrifice like that, we realize we've incurred a debt, an obligation to repay the other person's trust.
This is why the Buddha always discusses gratitude as a response to kindness. He does not equate it with appreciation in general. Gratitude is a special kind of appreciation, inspiring a more demanding response. The difference here is best illustrated by two passages in which the Buddha uses the image of carrying.
Sutra: Parable of the Raft
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| What is the "Parable of the Raft"? |
The first passage concerns appreciation of a general sort: "Then the person, having gathered grass, twigs, branches, and leaves, having bound them together to make a raft, would cross over to the safety of the farther shore by depending on the raft, struggling, making an effort with hands and feet.
"Having crossed over to the farther shore, one might think, 'How useful this raft has been to me! For it was in dependence on this raft that, making an effort with my own hands and feet, I have crossed over to safety on the farther shore. So why don't I, having hoisted it on my head or carrying it on my back, go wherever I like?' What do you think, meditators? Would the person, in doing so, be doing what should be done with the raft?" -- "No, venerable sir."
"What should the person do in order to be doing what should be done with the raft? There is another case where the person, having crossed over to the farther shore, might think: 'How useful this raft has been to me! For it was in dependence on this raft that, making an effort with my own hands and feet, I have crossed over to the safety of the farther shore. Why don't I, having docked it on dry land or sunk it in water, go wherever I like?' In doing so, one would be doing what should be done with the raft" (MN 22).
Sutra: Who can repay parents?
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| Let me down, dummy! - But I'm repaying you! |
The second passage concerns gratitude in particular: "I tell you, meditators, there are two people who are not easy to repay. Which two? Our mother and father.
"Even if we were to carry our mother on one shoulder and our father on the other shoulder for 100 years, and were to look after them by anointing, massaging, bathing, and rubbing their limbs, and even if they were to defecate and urinate right there [on our shoulders], we would not in that way ever repay our parents. Even if we were to establish our mother and father as rulers of the whole world, abounding in the seven treasures, we would not in that way repay our parents. Why is that? Mother and father do much for their children. They care for them, they nourish them, they introduce them to this world.
"But anyone who rouses one's unbelieving mother and father, settles and establishes them in conviction (confidence, faith), rouses one's unvirtuous mother and father, settles and establishes them in virtue, rouses one's stingy mother and father, settles and establishes them in generosity, rouses one's foolish mother and father, settles and establishes them in wisdom -- to this extent one indeed repays one's mother and father" (AN 2.32).
In other words, as the first passage shows, it's fine to appreciate the benefits we've received from rafts and other things without feeling any need to repay them or cling to them. (In this parable the Buddha was referring to the Dharma as a "raft" or vehicle meant for crossing over not for clinging to). We take care of them simply because that enables us to benefit from them more.
The same holds true for difficult people and situations that have forced us to develop strength of character. We can appreciate that we've learned persistence from dealing with... More
Wednesday 30 July 2014
"Monkey Mind" in Meditation
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| What's monkey mind? Hold on a second, I'll look on Wisdom Quarterly (Huffington Post). |
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| Obsessed with sexy distractions (Uhohbro). |
It is a Buddhist term meaning "restless, unsettled, capricious, whimsical, fanciful, inconstant, confused, indecisive, uncontrollable." In addition to Buddhist writings -- including Chinese Chan and Japanese Zen (two Mahayana sects giving their pronunciations of the Pali term jhan'a and the Sanskrit dhyan'a), Consciousness-Only, Pure Land, and Shingon -- this "monkey mind" psychological metaphor was adopted in Taoism, Neo-Confucianism, poetry, drama, and literature.
"Mind-monkey" occurs in two reversible four-character idioms with yima or iba (意馬), literally, "thought-/will-horse," most frequently used in Chinese xinyuanyima (心猿意馬) and Japanese ibashin'en (意馬心猿).
The "Monkey King" Sun Wukong in the Journey to the West personifies the mind-monkey. Note that much of the following summarizes Michael Carr ("'Mind-Monkey' Metaphors in Chinese and Japanese Dictionaries," International Journal of Lexicography 1993, 6.3:149-180).
Linguistic and cultural background
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| Mind monkey piggy backs on horse idea (Tang Dynasty) |
"Mind-monkey" (心猿) is an animal metaphor. Some figures of speech are cross-linguistically common, verging upon being linguistic universals.
Many languages use "monkey" or "ape" words to mean "mimic," for instance, Italian scimmiottare "to mock, to mimic" and scimmia "monkey, ape," Japanese sarumane (猿真似), literally, "monkey imitation," "copycat, superficial imitation," and the English monkey see, monkey do or to ape. Other animal metaphors have culture-specific meanings. Compare English chickenhearted as "cowardly, timid," "easily frightened" and Chinese jixin (雞心), literally, "chicken heart," "heart-shaped, cordate."
The four morphological elements of Chinese xinyuanyima or Japanese shin'en'iba are xin or shin (心) "heart, mind", yi or i (意) "thought," yuan or en (猿) "monkey," and ma or ba (馬) "horse."
The 心 "heart, mind" and 意 "idea, will"
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| Mr. Simian! - No, I just meant a pony ride on the "will horse," not us horsing around! |
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The psychological components of the "mind-monkey will-horse" metaphor are Chinese xin or Sino-Japanese shin or kokoro (心) "heart, mind, feelings, affections, center" and yi or i (意) "thought, idea, opinion, sentiment, will, wish, meaning."
This Chinese character 心 was graphically simplified from an original pictogram of a heart and 意 "thought, think" is an ideogram combining 心 under yin (音) "sound, tone, voice" denoting "sound in the mind, thought, idea."
In Chinese Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism, xin/shin (心) "heart, mind" generally translates Sanskrit citta "mind, process of mind, state of mind, consciousness" and yi/i (意) translates Sanskrit manas "the mental organ, deliberation."
Some Buddhist authors have used 心 and 意 interchangeably for "mind, cognition, thought." Compare these Digital Dictionary of Buddhism glosses:
- 心 "Spirit, motive, sense. The mind as the seat of intelligence, mentality, idea. (Sanskrit citta)... Thought, intellect, feeling (Sanskrit mānasa)"
- 意 "Thought, intellect (Sanskrit manas, Tibetan yid), the mind, (Sanskrit citta, Tibetan sems)."
For example, take the Buddhist word Chinese xin-yi-shi or Japanese shin-i-shiki (心意識), literally, "mind, thought, and cognition" that compounds three near-synonyms.
The Abhidharma theory uses this word as a general term for "mind, mentality." But Yogacara's theory of Eight Consciousnesses distinguishes xin/shin (心) "store consciousness," yi/i (意) "manas consciousness," and shi/shiki (識) "six object-contingent consciousnesses."
Xinyuanyima (心猿意馬), literally, "mind-monkey idea-horse," "distracted, indecisive, restless" is comparable with some other Chinese collocations:
- xinmanyizu (心滿意足) "heart-full mind-complete," "perfectly content, fully satisfied."
- xinhuiyilan (心灰意懶) "heart-ashes mind-sluggish," "disheartened, discouraged, hopeless" (or xinhuiyileng (心灰意冷) with leng "cold, frosty."
- xinhuangyiluan (心慌意亂) "heart-flustered mind-disordered," "alarmed and hysterical, perturbed."
- xinfanyiluan (心煩意亂) "heart-vexed mind-disordered," "terribly upset, confused and worried"...
"Mind-monkey" in English
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| Prozac (fluoride) calcifies the pineal gland |
Xinyuan-yima (心猿意馬) "monkey of the heart/mind and horse of the ideas/will" has been a successful metaphor. What began 1500 years ago as a Buddhist import evolved into a standard Chinese and Japanese literary phrase.
Rosenthal (1989:361) says a proverb's success "'depends on certain imponderables," particularly rhythm and phrasing. Of the two animals in this metaphor, the "monkey" phrase was stronger than the "horse" because xinyuan "mind-monkey" was occasionally used alone (e.g., Wuzhenpian) and it had more viable variants (e.g., qingyuan 情猿 "emotion-monkey" in Ci'en zhuan).
The "mental-monkey" choice of words aptly reflects restlessness, curiosity, and mimicry associated with this animal. Dudbridge (1970:168) explains how "the random, uncontrollable movements of the monkey symbolise the waywardness of the naive human mind before it achieves a composure which only Buddhist discipline can effect" (1993:166). More
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