Robin Beck

The body, heart, & mind

Mind & Consciousnesses
Five Skandhas
Eight or Nine Consciousnesses
Ki to Revitalization

This is a concept I have not devoted any thought to for some time. To begin, Gotama, the historical Shakyamuni, taught that we have six {6} organs or faculties {shad-indriya} that allow us to learn, discriminate, or acquire knowledge {jnana}. These 6 organs are the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and brain.

The contact or interface of these faculties with form {rupa} generates the six consciousnesses {sad vijnana}. These six vijnana or 'divisions of discrimination'' are sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and thought. They percieve form/color, sound, odor, flavor, texture, and events/patterns. The sino-japanese for vijnana is shiki.

The Sanskrit term for brain or mind here is manas or mano. It is generally transliterated into the East Asian-Japanese Buddhist lexicon as mana. If we consider the brain, we can see that it functions in various ways. There is the autonomous brain stem function; and there are also cognitive cerebral finctions. This was not lost on the ancients, so there are various Pali/Sanskrit Buddhist terms that are or might be translated as mind. Here are a few:

Manas/Mano: These are really the same term and seem to mean the brain in general. But in other contexts they can be used to indicate specific mental functions.

Sati/smrti: The sino-japanese term is nen, as in ichinen. Depending on context, it can mean mindfulness, attention, or determination.

Manas: I use this to denote the simple mind that all sentient beings possess; that is directly connected with the senses, and operates autonomously. In other words, the brain stem and reflexive nerves.

Mano: I use this to denote the self aware cerebral ego-brain that indulges in abstract reasoning and/or emotional drama.

Citta: For now, I shall call this the creative principle. The sino-japanese term for it is shin (Chinese Xin), which is also used to translate hridaya {heart}. In Chinese, there is one term for mind and heart.

Hridaya: This means the same thing as heart in English with all the same nuances and more. As in English, there is no Indic term that is inclusive of mind & heart, except that heart can be used figuratively to imply certain mental functions, such as rote learning or 'gut level' attraction or intent.

Definitions of heart on the Web:

the locus of feelings and intuitions; "in your heart you know it is true"; "her story would melt your bosom"

the hollow muscular organ located behind the sternum and between the lungs; its rhythmic contractions move the blood through the body; "he stood still, his heart thumping wildly"

the courage to carry on; "he kept fighting on pure spunk"; "you haven't got the heart for baseball"

center: an area that is approximately central within some larger region; "it is in
the center of town"; "they ran forward into the heart of the struggle"; "they were in the eye of the storm"

kernel: the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience; "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the heart and soul of the Republican Party"; "the nub of the story"

an inclination or tendency of a certain kind; "he had a change of heart"

affection: a positive feeling of liking; "he had trouble expressing the affection he felt"; "the child won everyone's heart"; "the warmness of his welcome made us feel right at home"

Posted by rbeck at March 25, 2006 09:33 AM