Sailor Bob Adamson (What's Wrong With Right Now) says it's nothing but thought. Shakyamuni Buddha described it's functioning as discriminating, unitive, or intuitive. The Mahavairocana Sutra (Mahavairocana Buddha) described 160 types of mind! An online dictionary stated: ") the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc." Nisargadatta said "Your world is mind-made, subjective, enclosed within the mind, fragmentary, temporary, personal, hanging on the thread of memory." Ramana said "Mind is a wonderful force inherent in the Self. That which arises in this body as 'I' is the mind." Adyashanti wrote "only when we see that our thoughts, judgments and opinions are just as true as their opposites are the polarities of thought balanced." (The End of Your World" p. 58). A mystical text (The Law of One) decribed the mind as polarities, opposites that need to be balanced. There is a psychological definition, and a philosophical.
I initially copied and pasted 28 pages of bits and pieces about the mind from the above resources and others. With work, it is down to 13, which I will paste below, and continue to work on. So far my favorite definition is that form, sensation, conception, volition, and consciousness are of interdependent causation. (The Heart Sutra, Shingon Esoteric Buddhism p. 122-3, Abbot Yusei Arai, 1997). These are the Five Skandhas (Aggregates). Contemplating interdependent causation brings the idea that one can't exist without the other: that without one, the rest will collapse. What else is in the mind, really?
It has been said the mind contains all, the mind is consciousness, consciousness is within the mind, the mind can know itself, can't know itself...ad infinitum.
The mind is inarguably changing, impermanent, and consists of things that are constantly appearing and disappearing. How can it contain anything? I say it is another aspect of consciousness, in its desire to be awre of itself as separate. The mind is a vehicle for sensation and expression, the most elaborate and interesting tool for the experience of oneness as manyness.
"Observing the observer" is a very common teaching, and doesn't need references. Observing the observer observe the observer....ad infinitum. How can that be anything more than mind observing mind? Mind as an aspect of consciousness getting to know itself through its aspect of awareness?
Who will clarify this....let me find that information.
EXCERPTS FOR FURTHER STUDY:
IS TRUTH ARRIVED AT BY RESOLVING POLARITIES? OR ARE THEY RESOLVED BY REALIZING THE TRUTH??
In truth there is no right or wrong. There is no polarity for all will be, as you would say, reconciled at some point in your dance through the … mind/body/spirit complex which you amuse yourself by distorting in various ways at this time. This distortion is not in any case necessary. It is chosen by each of you as an alternative to understanding the complete unity of thought which binds all things. You are not speaking of similar or somewhat like entities or things. You are every thing, every being, every emotion, every event, every situation. You are unity. You are infinity.
CONDITIONS ARE INDIVIDUAL FOR HELPING THE MIND TO OPEN TO PERCEIVING INFINITY AND CAN BE PROMTED
We ask your imagination to consider the relative simplicity of the mind in the earlier cycle and the less distorted, but often overly complex, views and thought/spirit processes of the same mind/body/spirit complexes after many incarnations CONDITIONING!
Firstly, the mind must be known to itself. This is perhaps the most…demanding part of healing work. If the mind knows itself then the most important aspect of healing has occurred. Consciousness is the microcosm of the Law of One.REALLY?? IS THERE ANY ACTUAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WORK OF HEALING AND THE WORK OF SPIRITUAL AWAKENING?
The second part has to do with the disciplines of the body complexes. In the streamings reaching your planet at this time, these understandings and disciplines have to do with the balance between love and wisdom in the use of the body in its natural functions. The third area is the spiritual, and in this area the first two disciplines are connected through the attainment of contact with intelligent infinity. Heart_wisdom_unity??
The function of the spirit is to integrate the upreaching yearning of the mind/body energy with the downpouring and streaming of infinite intelligence. This is a brief explication of the third area. THE SPIRIT AS CONSCIOUSNESS??
One of the primal distortions of the Law of One is that of healing. Healing occurs when a mind/body/spirit complex realizes, deep within itself, the Law of One; that is, that there is no disharmony, no imperfection; that all is complete and whole and perfect. Thus, the intelligent infinity within this mind/body/spirit complex re-forms the illusion of body, mind, or spirit to a form congruent with the Law of One. The healer acts as energizer or catalyst for this completely individual process.
To begin to master the concept of mental disciplines it is necessary to examine the self. The polarity of your dimension must be internalized. Where you find patience within your mind you must consciously find the corresponding impatience and vice versa. Each thought a being has, has in its turn an antithesis. The disciplines of the mind involve, first of all, identifying both those things of which you approve and those things of which you disapprove within yourself, and then balancing each and every positive and negative charge with its equal. The mind contains all things. Therefore, you must discover this completeness within yourself. The second mental discipline is acceptance of the completeness within your consciousness. It is not for a being of polarity in the physical consciousness to pick and choose among attributes, thus building the roles that cause blockages and confusions in the already distorted mind complex. Each acceptance smoothes part of the many distortions that the faculty you call judgment engenders. The third discipline of the mind is a repetition of the first but with the gaze outward toward the fellow entities that it meets. In each entity there exists completeness. Thus, the ability to understand each balance is necessary. When you view patience, you are responsible for mirroring in your mental understandings, patience/impatience. When you view impatience, it is necessary for your mental configuration of understanding to be impatience/patience. We use this as a simple example. Most configurations of mind have many facets, and understanding of either self polarities, or what you would call other-self polarities, can and must be understood as subtle work. The next step is the acceptance of the other-self polarities, which mirrors the second step. These are the first four steps of learning mental disciplines. The fifth step involves observing the geographical and geometrical relationships and ratios of the mind, the other mind, the mass mind, and the infinite mind.
which you disapprove within yourself, and then balancing each and everypositive and negative charge with its equal. The mind contains all things.Therefore, you must discover this completeness within yourself.
RA ON CONSC - These second-density beings are of an octave of consciousness just as you find various orientations of consciousness among the conscious entities ofyour vibration. The second density strives towards the third density which is the density of self-consciousness or self-awareness. third density, the first density of consciousness of spirit. How many inhabited planets are there in our galaxy?
Ra: I am Ra. We are assuming that you intend all dimensions ofconsciousness or densities of awareness in this question. Approximately onefifthof all planetary entities contain awareness of one or more densities When I am communicating with you as Ra, are you at timesindividualized as an entity or am I speaking to an entire social memory complex?
Ra: I am Ra. You speak with Ra. There is no separation. You would call itsocial memory complex thus indicating many-ness. To our understanding,you are speaking to an individualized portion of consciousness.
Questioner: Am I always speaking to the same individualized portion ofconsciousness in each of the sessions?
DICTIONARY - The element of a person that enables them to be aware of the world and their experiences, to think, and to feel; the faculty of consciou...: "as the thoughts ran through his mind, he came to a conclusion" human consciousness that originates in the brain and is manifested especially in thought, perception, emotion, will, memory, and imagination. 1. the organ or seat of consciousness; the faculty, or brain function, by which one is aware of surroundings, and by which one experiences feelings, emotions, ...
Mind | Define Mind at Dictionary.com
(in a human or other conscious being) the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc.: the processes of the
MAHAVAIROCANA SUTRA
Then Vajrapāṇi again said to the Buddha, “World-honored One, who is
it that seeks omniscience? Who is it that accomplishes perfect awakening
on account of bodhi? Who is it that generates the knowledge of an omniscient
one?”
The Buddha said, “Lord of Mysteries, it is in one’s own mind that one seeks bodhi and omniscience. Why? Because its original nature is pure. The mind is neither within nor without, nor can the mind be apprehended between the two. …Lord of Mysteries, the mind is not of the same nature as the realm of desire, nor is it of the same nature as the realm of form, nor is it of the same nature as the realm of non-form, nor is it of the same nature as the destinies of gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, humans, or non-humans. Lord of Mysteries, the mind does not reside in the realm of the eyes, nor does it reside in the realms of the ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind,
and neither is it visible, nor does it manifest itself. “Why? [Because] the mind, which has the characteristic of empty space, is free from all differentiation and nondifferentiation. Why is that? That whose nature is the same as empty space is identical to the mind, and that whose nature is the same as the mind is identical to bodhi. In this manner,
Lord of Mysteries, the three entities of mind, the realm of empty space, and bodhi are without duality. They have compassion as their root and are fulfilled by the pāramitā of expedient means. For this reason, Lord of Mysteries, I teach the dharmas in this manner so as to make the multitudes of bodhisattvas purify the bodhi-mind and know their mind.
“Lord of Mysteries, if a man of [good] family or a woman of [good]
family wishes to know bodhi, they should know their own mind in this manner.
Lord of Mysteries, how is one to know one’s own mind? It cannot,
namely, be apprehended by seeking it in distinctions, or colors, or shapes,
or external objects; or in form or sensation, ideation, volition, or conscious
BIG DEFINITION MAHA SUTRA (JW NOTE: KNOW THE MIND THROUGH PAYING ATTENTION TO ITS CHARACTERISTICS??)
When Vajrapāṇi, Lord of Mysteries, had finished speaking thus, the
Buddha addressed him, saying, “Lord of Mysteries, listen attentively to the
characteristics of the mind. They are, namely, the mind of covetousness, the
mind without covetousness, the mind of anger, the mind of kindness, the
mind of stupidity, the mind of wisdom, the mind of decisiveness, the mind
of doubt, the mind of darkness, the mind of clarity, the mind of accumulation,
the mind of strife, the mind of disputation, the mind without disputation,
the mind of a god, the mind of an asura, the mind of a nāga, the mind
of a man, the mind of a woman, the mind of Īśvara, the mind of a merchant,
the mind of a farmer, the mind of a river, the mind of a pond, the mind of a
well, the mind of protectiveness, the mind of parsimony, the mind of a dog,
the mind of
a cat, the mind of a garuḍa, the
mind of a rat, the mind of singing,
the mind of dance, the mind of drum-beating, the mind of a house,
the mind
of a lion,
the mind of an owl, the mind of a crow, the mind of a rākṣasa, the
mind of a
thorn, the mind of a cave, the mind of wind, the mind of water,
the mind of
fire, the mind of mud, the mind of dye, the mind of a plank, the
mind of
confusion, the mind of poison, the mind of a noose, the mind of fetters,
the mind of
a cloud, the mind of a field, the mind of salt, the mind of a
razor, the
mind like [Mount] Sume[ru], the mind like the ocean, the mind
like a hole, and the mind of [re]birth.
NOW FOLLOWS THE EXHAUSTIVE CONTEMPLATION OF THE MEANINGS OF CHARACTERISTICS OF
THE MIND:
“Lord of
Mysteries, what is the mind of covetousness? It means to conform
to defiled dharmas.
What is the mind without covetousness? It means
to conform
to undefiled dharmas. What is the mind of anger? It means to conform
to the dharma
of wrath. What is the mind of kindness? It means to conform
to and
cultivate the dharma of kindness. What is the mind of stupidity?
It means to
conform to and cultivate the dharma of nonexamination. What is
the mind of
wisdom? It means to conformingly cultivate dharmas that are
special and
increase [one’s understanding]. What is the mind of decisiveness?
2c
Fascicle One
It means to
carry out as told the instructions of the venerable. What is the
mind of
doubt? It means to always keep things undecided and so on. What is
the mind of
darkness? It means to produce an understanding based on misgivings
with regard
to dharmas about which there should be no misgivings.
What is the
mind of clarity? It means to practice without misgivings with
regard to
dharmas about which there can be no misgivings. What is the mind
of
accumulation? It means to be naturally disposed to make what is immeasurable
one. What is
the mind of strife? It means to be naturally disposed to
argue with
others about pros and cons. What is the mind of disputation? It
means to
produce pros and cons within oneself. What is the mind without disputation?
It means to
discard both pros and cons. What is the mind of a god?
It means
that the mind’s thoughts are accomplished as one conceives of them.
What is the
mind of an asura? It means to enjoy staying in [the cycle of] birthand-
death. What
is the mind of a nāga? It means to think about enormous
wealth. What
is the mind of a man? It means to think about benefiting others.
What is the
mind of a woman? It means to conform to the dharma of
desire. What
is the mind of Īśvara? It means to think that one should be able
to do
everything as one wishes. What is the mind of a merchant? It means to
conformingly
cultivate the dharma of first gathering [goods cheaply] and later
dividing
[and selling them at a profit]. What is the mind of a farmer? It means
to conform
to the dharma of first listening extensively and later seeking. What
is the mind
of a river? It means to conformingly cultivate the dharma of relying
on two
extremes. What is the mind of a pond? It means to conform to the
dharma of
thirsting insatiably. What is the mind of a well? It means to think
thus, that
what is profound is exceedingly profound. What is the mind of protectiveness?
It means [to
consider] that only this mind is real and other minds
are not
real. What is the mind of parsimony? It means to conform to the
dharma of
acting for oneself and not giving to others. What is the mind of a
cat? It
means to conformingly cultivate the dharma of proceeding slowly.
What is the
mind of a dog? It means to obtain a little and be happily content
with it.
What is the mind of a garuḍa? It means to conform to the dharma of
[relying on]
associates and assistants. What is the mind of a rat? It means to
think about
severing all bonds. [What is the mind of singing? It means to think
that
sentient beings are to be captivated with songs of various melodies.]7
What is the
mind of dance? It means [to think] that by cultivating such a
11
3a
The Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi
Sutra
dharma, one
will rise up [in the air and perform] various supernatural transformations.
What is the
mind of drum- beating? It means [to think] that by
cultivating
this dharma conformingly, one will beat the drum of the Dharma.
What is the
mind of a house? It means to conformingly cultivate the dharma
of
protecting one’s own person. What is the mind of a lion? It means to cultivate
the dharma
of non-timidity in all things. What is the mind of an owl?
It means to
think always in the dark of the night. What is the mind of a crow?
It means to
think with fear in all circumstances. What is the mind of a rākṣasa?
It means to
bring about what is unwholesome in what is wholesome. What
is the mind
of a thorn? It means to be naturally disposed to give rise to regret
in all
circumstances. What is the mind of a cave? It means to conformingly
cultivate
the dharma of entering caves [to fulfill one’s desires]. What is the
mind of
wind? It means to be naturally disposed to arise everywhere. What
is the mind
of water? It means to conformingly cultivate the dharma of washing
away
everything that is unwholesome. What is the mind of fire? It means
to be
naturally disposed to flare up with intense heat. [What is the mind of
mud? It
means to soil others with one’s own faults.]8 What is the mind of
dye? It
means to be naturally disposed to resemble another. What is the mind
of a plank?
It means to conformingly cultivate dharmas that accord with
one’s own
measure by rejecting other wholesome [dharmas]. What is the
mind of
confusion? It means that what is [mentally] grasped differs from
what it is
thought to be. What is the mind of poison? It means to conformingly
cultivate
the dharma of lifelessness. What is the mind of a noose? It
means to be
naturally disposed to dwell everywhere in the bonds of the self.
What is the
mind of fetters? It means to be naturally disposed to stand still
with both
feet. What is the mind of a cloud? It means to be always thinking
about
falling rain. What is the mind of a field? It means to always attend in
this manner
to one’s own person. What is the mind of salt? It means to add
yet more
thought to what has been thought through. What is the mind of a
razor? It
means to only rely in this manner on the dharma of the tonsure.
What is the
mind like [Mount Su]meru? It means that the cogitating mind is
always
naturally disposed to elevating itself. What is the mind like the ocean?
It means to
always accept oneself in this manner and abide [thus]. What is
the mind
like a hole? It means to be naturally disposed to first decide something
and later
amend it. What is the mind of [re]birth? It means to habitually
12
Fascicle One
perform all
manner of actions and be [re]born [in accordance with one’s previous
actions],
and the mind is of this same nature.
“Lord of
Mysteries, with this supramundane mind dwelling in the [five]
aggregates,
such wisdom may arise correspondingly. If one is to give rise to
freedom from
attachment to the aggregates, one should observe foam, bubbles,
a plantain
tree, a mirage, and an illusion, thereby attaining liberation.
That is to
say, the [five] aggregates, [twelve] sense fields, [eighteen] elements,
and the
grasper and the grasped are all removed from Dharma-nature,
and when one
realizes the realm of quiescence in this manner, it is called the
supramundane
mind. Lord of Mysteries, when one has left behind the sequence
of eight
minds incompatible and compatible [with the world]12 and the web
of karma and
mental afflictions, this represents the yogin’s practice for
transcending
one eon.
“Next, Lord
of Mysteries, there is the practice of the Great Vehicle,
whereby one
generates the mind of the vehicle without any object [of cognition]
and
[understands] that dharmas have no self-nature. How? Just like
those who
practiced thus in former times, one observes the ālaya (substratum)
of the
aggregates and realizes that its own-nature is like an illusion, a
mirage, a
reflection, an echo, a whirling wheel of fire, and an [imaginary]
gandharva
city. Lord of Mysteries, if one thus abandons no-self [in dharmas],
the
mind-lord being absolutely free, one awakens to the fact that one’s
own mind is
originally unborn. Why? Because, Lord of Mysteries, the anterior
and
posterior limits of the mind cannot be apprehended. When one thus
knows the
nature of one’s own mind, this represents the yogins practice for
transcending a second eon.
THE BUDDHIST
UNCONSCIOUS
most
scientifically educated people
readily
acknowledge that many if not most mental processes take place unconsciously.
Indeed, a
concept of a “cognitive unconscious” is now widely accepted
within
cognitive science and philosophy of mind.1 Although our study focuses
exclusively
upon the “Buddhist unconscious,” one of our aims is to introduce this
fascinating
concept into current Western discussions of unconscious mind.
Instead, our
ever-changing mental and physical processes are likened to a
stream that
arises, flows, and passes away depending upon nothing but the various
conditions
that create and sustain it. The processes which constitute human
existence
are categorized into five groups, which the Buddha called the “aggregates
of grasping”
(upadana-khandha) since we tend to identify with and grasp
onto them as
our “self.” These are the aggregates of form, feeling, apperception,
karmic
formations or volitions, and cognitive awareness or consciousness (rjpa,
vedana,
sañña, sankhara, viññan.
a).
As the term “aggregate” indicates, however,
these are
not independent elements or entities in and of themselves but rather
distinct
classes of processes. None of them should be conceived of in relation to
a permanent
self (S III 46), nor should such a self be conceived of apart from
these
processes, for all of them are characterized by the so-called three marks of
existence:
impermanence, dissatisfaction, and non-self.8
Nevertheless,
we tenaciously cling to such notions of a self, and to the objects
that seem to
support it, imagining they somehow secure lasting satisfaction.
Ironically,
it is just this preoccupation with a self, with identifying something as
“I” or
“mine,” that, in the Buddhist view, brings about suffering, not ease,
bondage, not
liberation. As the Buddha observed,
He regards
feeling as self…apperception as self…volitional formations
as
self…consciousness as self, or self as possessing consciousness, or
consciousness
as in self, or self as in consciousness. That consciousness
of his
changes and alters. With the change and alteration of consciousness,
his
consciousness becomes preoccupied with the change of consciousness.
Agitation
and a constellation of mental states born of
preoccupation
with the change of consciousness remain obsessing his
mind.
Because his mind is obsessed, he is frightened, distressed, and
anxious, and
through clinging becomes agitated.
(S III 16
f.)
BACKGROUND
AND CONTEXT OF THE ALAYA-VIJÑANA
10
This is, of
course, a vicious circle: in craving for what is “happy, good, healthy
and safe,”
in imagining a self that enjoys them, we inadvertently increase
the
conditions that lead to suffering, anxiety, and distress. For as long as there
is craving
for and attachment to self, the Buddha declared, so will there be
further
distress, in response to which there will be further actions that lead to
further
distress and so on. It is, in short, our misguided desires for some truly
lasting,
satisfactory existence within this conditioned world, along with the
actions
taken to secure it, that keeps us continuously bound to the repetitive
cognitive
and behavioral patterns called “samsara.” The way out of the vicious
cycle, the
Buddhists suggest, comes through understanding their underlying
causes – the
interactive dynamics between ignorance and grasping, the
actions they
instigate, and the results these lead to – and gradually reversing their
deleterious
results. And this is the fundamental aim of the formula of dependent
arising.
The
formula of dependent arising
The
relationship between action and mind, and mind and action, has intrigued
philosophers
and mystics for millennia. What is the relationship between our
actions and
our thoughts, our awareness and our behavior? Do thoughts always
direct
behavior, or is it, perhaps, the other way around? Does one have priority
over the
other? Is one fundamental while the other merely epiphenomenal?
Early
Buddhist traditions considered either of these alternatives objectionable
and depicted
instead a reciprocal relationship between mind and actions, a relationship
in which our
past actions affect our present states of mind, our present
states of
mind affect our present actions, and these present actions in turn affect
future
states of mind. This reciprocal relationship, perhaps the earliest
conceptualization
of what we
now call feedback, is depicted in the well-known
formula of
dependent arising (P. paiicca-samuppada; S. pratntya-samutpada),
arguably the
most distinctive aspect of early Buddhist thought and one whose
ramifications
will continue to unfold throughout the history of Buddhist
thought.
In this
chapter we will examine this formula and its implications at some
length, not
only because the notion of dependent arising expresses the core
of Buddhist
thought – that all phenomena arise in dependence upon other
phenomena –
but also because the multifarious formulations of dependent arising
(in its
varying lengths and alternate members) touch upon all the key
concepts and
problems later associated with the alaya-vijñana model of mind.
We will
therefore use this formula of dependent arising to provide the basic
framework
for our extended examination of the meanings and functions of
viññan.
a (S.
vijñana) – as both “consciousness” and “cognitive awareness” – as
well as its
complex and interactive relationship with action, that is, karma, and
with the
cognitive and emotional afflictions (kilesa; S. kleka) that
instigate these
actions.
To adumbrate
our argument, viññan.
a (S.
vijñana) as described in the various
formulas of
dependent arising exhibits two discrete aspects or functions: as
“consciousness”
and as “cognitive awareness.” The first refers to viññan.
a as an
underlying
sentience which flows in an unbroken stream of mind throughout
multiple
lifetimes, while the second refers to viññan.
a in terms
of six modalities
of cognitive
awareness which momentarily arise in conjunction with discrete
cognitive
objects. Although the early texts evince no overt distinction, let alone
discordance,
between these two “aspects” of viññafa, such a distinction can be –
and in later
commentaries nearly always was – discerned through careful textual
and conceptual
analysis. This distinction is crucial to our reconstruction of the
development
of the alaya-vijñana for two reasons. First, subsequent Abhidharma
analyses of
mind focused primarily upon manifest cognitive awareness, making
the aspect
of viññan.
a as “consciousness”
conceptually problematic – a situation
to which the
alaya-vijñana was, in large part, a response. Second, the two “aspects”
of viññan.
a that are
discernable in these early texts also clearly foreshadow the
bifurcation
of viññan.
a (vijñana)
in the Yogacara school into a subsisting, subliminal,
and
accumulating consciousness, represented by the alaya-vijñana, and
the
momentary, supraliminal forms of awareness, represented by “manifest cognitive
awareness”
(S. pravgtti-vijñana). We thus find the antecedents of these later
notions in the earlier Buddhist
texts.
WIKI
Skandha
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article
is about a term in Buddhist phenomenology. For the bodhisattva by a similar
name, see Skanda (Buddhism).
aggregate,
mass, heap
Pali: khandha
Sanskrit: स्कन्ध (skandha)
Japanese: 五蘊
History
Timeline · Councils
Gautama Buddha
Later Buddhists
Dharma or
concepts
Four Noble
Truths
Five Aggregates
Impermanence
Suffering · Non-self
Dependent Origination
Middle Way · Emptiness
Karma · Rebirth
Samsara · Cosmology
Practices
Three Jewels
Noble Eightfold Path
Morality · Perfections
Meditation · Mindfulness
Wisdom · Compassion
Aids to Enlightenment
Monasticism · Laity
Nirvāṇa
Four Stages · Arahant
Buddha · Bodhisattva
Traditions ·
Canons
Theravāda · Pali
Mahāyāna · Hinayana
Chinese
Vajrayāna · Tibetan
In Buddhist
phenomenology and soteriology, the skandhas (Sanskrit) or khandhas (Pāli,
aggregates in English) are the five functions or aspects that constitute the
human being.[a][b] The Buddha teaches that nothing among them is really
"I" or "mine".
In the
Theravada tradition, suffering arises when one identifies with or clings to an
aggregate. Suffering is extinguished by relinquishing attachments to
aggregates.
The Mahayana tradition further
puts forth that ultimate freedom is realized by deeply penetrating the nature
of all aggregates as intrinsically empty of independent existence.
Mind
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The concept of mind ( /ˈmaɪnd/) is understood in many
different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and
animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and
materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious
experience and intelligent thought. Common attributes of mind include
perception, reason, imagination, memory, emotion, attention, and a capacity for
communication. A rich set of unconscious processes are also included in many
modern characterizations of mind.
Theories of mind and its function are numerous. Earliest
recorded speculations are from the likes of Zoroaster, the Buddha, Plato,
Aristotle, and other ancient Greek, Indian and, later, Islamic and medieval
European philosophers. Pre-modern understandings of the mind, such as the
neoplatonic "nous" saw it as an aspect of the soul, in the sense of
being both divine and immortal, linking human thinking with the unchanging
ordering principle of the cosmos itself.
Which attributes make up the mind is much debated. Some
psychologists argue that only the "higher" intellectual functions
constitute mind, particularly reason and memory. In this view the
emotions—love, hate, fear, joy—are more primitive or subjective in nature and
should be seen as different from the mind as such. Others argue that various
rational and emotional states cannot be so separated, that they are of the same
nature and origin, and should therefore be considered all part of what we call
the mind.
In popular usage mind is frequently synonymous with thought:
the private conversation with ourselves that we carry on "inside our
heads." Thus we "make up our minds," "change our
minds" or are "of two minds" about something. One of the key
attributes of the mind in this sense is that it is a private sphere to which no
one but the owner has access. No one else can "know our mind." They
can only interpret what we consciously or unconsciously communicate
Mental faculties
See also: Nous, Reason, Faculty psychology, Modularity of
mind, and Mental process
Broadly speaking, mental faculties are the various functions
of the mind, or things the mind can "do".
Thought is a mental act that allows human beings to make
sense of things in the world, and to represent and interpret them in ways that
are significant, or which accord with their needs, attachments, goals,
commitments, plans, ends, desires, etc. Thinking involves the symbolic or
semiotic mediation of ideas or data, as when we form concepts, engage in
problem solving, reasoning and making decisions. Words that refer to similar
concepts and processes include deliberation, cognition, ideation, discourse and
imagination.
Thinking is sometimes described as a "higher"
cognitive function and the analysis of thinking processes is a part of
cognitive psychology. It is also deeply connected with our capacity to make and
use tools; to understand cause and effect; to recognize patterns of
significance; to comprehend and disclose unique contexts of experience or
activity; and to respond to the world in a meaningful way.
Memory is the ability to preserve, retain, and subsequently
recall, knowledge, information or experience. Although memory has traditionally
been a persistent theme in philosophy, the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries also saw the study of memory emerge as a subject of inquiry within
the paradigms of cognitive psychology. In recent decades, it has become one of
the pillars of a new branch of science called cognitive neuroscience, a
marriage between cognitive psychology and neuroscience.
Imagination is the activity of generating or evoking novel
situations, images, ideas or other qualia in the mind. It is a
characteristically subjective activity, rather than a direct or passive
experience. The term is technically used in psychology for the process of
reviving in the mind percepts of objects formerly given in sense perception.
Since this use of the term conflicts with that of ordinary language, some
psychologists have preferred to describe this process as "imaging" or
"imagery" or to speak of it as "reproductive" as opposed to
"productive" or "constructive" imagination. Things that are
imagined are said to be seen in the "mind's eye". Among the many
practical functions of imagination are the ability to project possible futures
(or histories), to "see" things from another's perspective, and to
change the way something is perceived, including to make decisions to respond
to, or enact, what is imagined.
Consciousness in mammals (this includes humans) is an aspect
of the mind generally thought to comprise qualities such as subjectivity,
sentience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and
one's environment. It is a subject of much research in philosophy of mind,
psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science. Some philosophers divide
consciousness into phenomenal consciousness, which is subjective experience
itself, and access consciousness, which refers to the global availability of
information to processing systems in the brain.[1] Phenomenal consciousness has
many different experienced qualities, often referred to as qualia. Phenomenal
consciousness is usually consciousness of something or about something, a
property known as intentionality in philosophy of mind.
[edit] Mental content
Mental contents are those items that are thought of as being
"in" the mind, and capable of being formed and manipulated by mental
processes and faculties. Examples include thoughts, concepts, memories,
emotions, percepts and intentions. Philosophical theories of mental content
include internalism, externalism, representationalism and intentionality.
[edit] Brain and mind
See also: Cognitive science
In animals, the brain, or encephalon (Greek for "in the
head"), is the control center of the central nervous system, responsible
for thought. In most animals, the brain is located in the head, protected by
the skull and close to the primary sensory apparatus of vision, hearing,
equilibrioception, taste and olfaction. While all vertebrates have a brain,
most invertebrates have either a centralized brain or collections of individual
ganglia. Primitive animals such as sponges do not have a brain at all. Brains
can be extremely complex. For example, the human brain contains more than 100
billion neurons, each linked to as many as 10,000 others.[2][3]
Understanding the relationship between the brain and the
mind — mind-body problem is one of the central issues in the history of
philosophy — is a challenging problem both philosophically and
scientifically.[4] There are three major philosophical schools of thought concerning
the answer: dualism, materialism, and idealism. Dualism holds that the mind
exists independently of the brain;[5] materialism holds that mental phenomena
are identical to neuronal phenomena;[6] and idealism holds that only mental
phenomena exist.[6]
The most straightforward scientific evidence that there is a
strong relationship between the physical brain matter and the mind is the
impact physical alterations to the brain have on the mind, such as with
traumatic brain injury and psychoactive drug use.[7]
In addition to the philosophical questions, the relationship
between mind and brain involves a number of scientific questions, including
understanding the relationship between mental activity and brain activity, the
exact mechanisms by which drugs influence cognition, and the neural correlates
of consciousness.
Through most of history many philosophers found it
inconceivable that cognition could be implemented by a physical substance such
as brain tissue (that is neurons and synapses).[8] Philosophers such as
Patricia Churchland posit that the drug-mind interaction is indicative of an
intimate connection between the brain and the mind, not that the two are the
same entity.[9] Descartes, who thought extensively about mind-brain
relationships, found it possible to explain reflexes and other simple behaviors
in mechanistic terms, although he did not believe that complex thought, and
language in particular, could be explained by reference to the physical brain
alone.[10]
PHILOSOPHY
The
reasoning here may be a little difficult to follow. The general idea maintained
by the
Lankavatara is that as long as a world
of relativity is asserted there is an ever-recurring chain
of causation
which cannot be denied in any circumstance. In this case we cannot talk of
anything
coming to an end or cessation. The fault with the philosophers is that they
have no
fundamental
intuition into the essential nature of an objective world—a world of
particulars—
which is
really the projection of mind by reason of memory or the habit-energy
accumulated
since
beginningless time. When this thought is thoroughly grasped, the philosopher's
point of
view may
also hold good as far as it goes. As they lack, however, the fundamental
intuition,
all the
logical superstructure they build is essentially an error.
Adyashanti
Only when we
see that our thoughts, judgments, and opinions are just as true as their
opposites are the polarities of thought balanced. P. 58 The End of Your World
RA
Similar to
Adya’s
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