https://puredhamma.net/abhidhamma/the-mind/

Mind and Consciousness

What is Mind? How do we Experience the Outside World?

What is Consciousness?

1. Thoughts (Citta), Consciousness (Vinnana), and Mind (Hadaya Vatthu) – Introduction

2. Vinnana (Consciousness) can be of Many Different Types and Forms

3. Vinnana, Thoughts, and the Subconscious

What is Mind? How do we Experience the Outside World?

Revised January 17, 2019

1. Everything that we experience comes through six “doors” or “āyatana”
we have to the outside worlds: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and the
mind. Through those six doors we can see pictures, hear sounds, smell
odors, taste food, feel things physically by touch, and be aware of
concepts (say, mundane things like remembering past events or make plans
about future events, or think about a black hole in the middle of the
universe or a mathematical concept).

The six sense faculties
(and the corresponding six external “āyatana” which are rupa, sadda,
gandha, rasa, pottabba, dhamma or visuals, sounds, smells, tastes,
touches, and concepts) are what the Buddha called “sabba“, or
“everything”. These are 12 āyatana (6 internal and 6 external).

2. All those sense experiences are done with citta or thoughts. But this
is probably not a good translation. We normally associate a “thought”
with an idea or one visual event, etc., a moment of “experience”. But
citta is very fast and no one can experience a single citta which lasts a
billionth of a second or less; see, “Citta and Cetasika – How Viññāna
(Consciousness) Arises“.

Don’t be fooled by the title of that
post. It has a simple description of how the “mind” puts together all
six sense inputs to give the illusion that we see, hear, smell, taste,
touch, and think all at the same time (at least start reading at #3
there).
It is a good idea to also read the posts, “Amazingly
Fast Time Evolution of a Thought (Citta)” and “Viññāna – What It Really
Means” first.

5. When we look at an object, the “eye” generates
visual consciousness (cakkhu viññāna): Comprehending what is seen is
accomplished via a series of very fast thought processes. There are
billions of thoughts per second, so each citta or thought moment is
billionth of a second. Let us see how the mind “sees” an object in a
series of very fast “snapshots” alternating between the “eye” and the
“mind”:

The “eye” captures a snapshot of the object and the
brain transfers that captured information to mind: that process takes 17
thought moments or cittas (let us abbreviate it as TM); this series of
TM is called a “sense input citta vithi” (or pancadvāra citta vithi).
Next the mind analyzes that “imprint” with three citta vithi that
involve only the mind. These latter “mind-only citta vithi” (manōdvāra
citta vithi) are shorter, around ten TM, and try to discern what the
object is. It may first try to discern the color of the object for
example.
Then the “eye” takes another snapshot and transfers
that “imprint” to the mind, which in turn receives it in a pancadvāra
citta vithi containing 17 TM, analyzes that in 3 more manōdvāra citta
vithi containing about 10 TM, and makes better sense of the color. This
“back and forth” process goes on until the object is determined.

This process is slowed down only due to the time needed for the brain
to put together the information captured by one of the five sense
faculties (pancadvāra), for example, the eyes. This time is of the order
of 10 milliseconds; see, “What is a Thought?“. Thus there can only be
about 100 (600 if they are processed in parallel) or so “sense events”
per second; since science show that the brain has different regions for
processing different sense inputs, the latter number (600) is probably
right.

6. Since these citta vithi run very fast, once the brain
sends an “information packet” to the mind it is processed very quickly,
within billionth of a second. Thus the process is slowed down only by
the brain. Still, everything about the object is grasped in a small
fraction of a second.

Now, many of you may be thinking, “this
looks like some far off theory made up by someone”. The Buddha said he
experienced everything that he taught. Phenomena in this fast time scale
are discernible only to a Buddha.
Once the Buddha explained the
key aspects to Ven. Sariputta, it was Ven. Sariputta and his group of
Bhikkhus that developed the Abhidhamma, where all these details were
worked out. It took generations of bhikkhus to develop the Abhidhamma to
the final form that was recited at the Third Sangāyanā (Buddhist
Council) and was written down in the Tipitaka in 29 BCE (we know that
there were many Arahants before 100-200 CE; see the timeline in
“Incorrect Thēravada Interpretations – Historical Timeline“). For us,
the truth of these minute details become apparent as all observable
phenomena are EXPLAINED using all three forms of Dhamma in the Tipitaka:
Sutta, Vinaya, and Abhidhamma).

7. As all this information comes
in, the mind recognizes the object; this is saññā or perception. Based
on that recognition feelings (vēdanā) are generated (for example when we
see a friend we generate a happy feeling; if it is someone we don’t
like, it is a unhappy feeling, etc).

Once everything about
the object is grasped, then if it is an “interesting object”, the mind
may start its own “wheeling around” process: the “pati +iccha
sama+uppāda” or Paticca Samuppāda process leading to the accumulation of
sankhāra: see, “Paticca Samuppāda – Introduction“, “Nibbana – Stopping
Sansaric Vehicle, Ariya“, “Sankhara, Kamma, Kamma Beeja, Kamma Vipaka“,
and other related posts. All these tie up together, but one needs to be a
bit patient since there are many inter-coupled concepts.

8. Thus
experiencing a visual object in the above example generates all kinds
of mental phenomena: vēdanā, saññā, sankhāra, and during this whole
process we have the viññāna or citta flowing. Viññāna is the momentary
consciousness, a citta. In the above example, it alternates between
visual consciousness (cakkhu viññāna) and the mind consciousness (mano
viññāna).

The baseline state of a citta, i.e., when the mind
is not looking at an external object or thinking about it, is called
“bhavanga“. Here we do not “feel” anything, for example when we are in
deep sleep. The mind falls back to the bhavanga state even in between
pancadvāra citta vithi.

9. Same kind of process happens with any
of the five physical senses (the “back and forth switching” between the
sense faculty and the mind). When someone is just remembering a past
event or planning something, those are exclusively mind processes (only
manōdvāra citta vithi take place).

Now let us look at some
details on how the mind processes all the “signals” from the real world
where multiple “signals” come in.

When we watch a movie, what
happens is the projector projects about 30-50 static pictures per
second on the screen; a movie is a series of static pictures. When the
projection rate is above 30 frames a second or so, our eyes see a
continuous movie, not individual frames. Thus even though cittas run at
billions per second, we do not “experience” them individually, not even
close.
This fast rate of citta vithis (which, as we saw above
run at about 100 citta vithis per second) also make it possible to
perceive all six inputs from the outside world “simultaneously”; at
least we experience them as “simultaneous”. For example, we can be
watching a movie and enjoying some popcorn; so we see and hear the
movie, and taste popcorn and feel the popcorn cup, and also may be
thinking about something related to the scene on the screen; all at the
“same time”.
Citta vithi just alternate among the six sense
inputs; it is possible only because there are hundreds of citta vithi
per second. Since it happens so fast, we experience them all as
“simultaneous”, just like the static pictures projected at a fast rate
on a movie screen are perceived as a continuous “movie”.
Not
only that, but the mind can ignore a multitude of “signals” that are of
no interest to one’s own habits (“gathi“) or cravings (“āsavās“). And
those depend on the individual. Two friends could be walking on the
street, and one (woman) stops abruptly and starts looking at a dress on a
shop window. The other (man) looks at it, shrugs, and wants to move on;
he would not have even noticed it.

10. As we saw, information to
the mind comes via the brain. All five physical sense inputs (vision,
hearing, smell, taste, touch) come through the brain. Thinking about
concepts involves the brain too (those involve only the manōdvāra citta
vithi), and that happens much faster compared to the processes
associated with the five physical senses; we will discuss that later.

When someone gets old, the brain starts functioning less
efficiently; see, “Manomaya Kaya and Out-of-Body Experience (OBE)“. Or,
the brain may get damaged due to a kamma vipāka; for example, getting
Alzheimer’s disease is a kamma vipāka.
As the body gets old,
various other body parts also start functioning less efficiently and are
also vulnerable for many kamma vipāka to come to fruition. Kamma vipāka
are not deterministic; they come to bear fruit only when conditions
become suitable (see, “Sankhara, Kamma, Kamma Beeja, Kamma Vipaka“).
Thus meditation and regular exercise help keep both the body and the
mind (through an efficiently working brain) in good condition.

11. In any case, the mind goes to the “baseline or dormant state” called
“bhavanga” even in between these citta vithi. When the mind is fairly
inactive, say when someone is dozing off, the mind is mostly in the
bhavanga state. When someone is unconscious or in deep sleep, it is in
the bhavanga state for the whole duration. When seeing a dream, the mind
is active.

Even when citta vithis run at a fast rate of
about 600 per second (say, while watching a movie or while playing a
competitive sport), the mind drops to the bhavanga state while the brain
is processing those “10 millisecond information packets”, as discussed
above.
The above discussion is all about receiving information
from the outside world and then getting attached to “things” (“tanhā“),
generating mano sankhāra, etc.

12. Based on that process, we may
decide to take further action too, either verbally or bodily, thus
generating vaci sankhāra and kaya sankhāra: We may speak or do some
physical activity. All those are done with the mind too, and each action
done with thought process or citta vithi.

This is why the
Buddha said, “manō pubbangamā dhammā, ,,,,”, i.e., “mind precedes
everything that we do…”. We cannot even lift a finger without generating
a citta vithi, i.e., without the initiation by the mind. The physical
body, with the brain acting as a “sophisticated control center”, helps
the mind to achieve whatever physical activity it wishes; see,
“Neuroscience says there is no Free Will? – That is a
Misinterpretation!”.

Further reading: “A Comprehensive Manual of
Abhidhamma”, by Bhikkhu Bodhi (2010). This book has summarized citta and
cetasika very well. But discussions on Paticca Samuppāda or anicca,
dukkha, anatta are not correct.

Next, “What is Consciousness?“, …….

What is Consciousness?

1. Philosophers through the ages have struggled to figure out how
consciousness arises in a human being. For “materialists” everything
that makes a human being originates in the body, and they have been
trying to explain consciousness in terms of something that comes out
from the workings of the brain.

For the “dualists”
consciousness is totally distinct from the material body, and falls into
the realm of theistic religion (related to a “soul”).
According
to the Buddha, consciousness, together with the body, are two of the
five “aggregates” that a human being consists of. And Consciousness does
not arise from the body, but arises with the body at the conception.

2. First of all, let us define consciousness.

The Buddha said that being conscious is “being aware”, but with
feelings and perceptions, and the ability to “recall the past”.

There are several definitions of consciousness in modern science, but
the general consensus among the scientists and philosophers is that the
state of being conscious is a condition of being aware of one’s
surroundings as well as one’s own existence (or self-awareness).
Therefore, we could say that science and Buddhism are attributing similar meaning to the word “consciousness”.
However, the Buddha’s definition of consciousness takes into
account the critical roles played by the vedana (feelings), sanna
(perceptions), and the manasikara cetasika among 52 other mental factors
(cetasika), which combine to produce the vinnana which can be roughly
translated as consciousness.

3. As to the origins of consciousness, we have three “theories”:

Contemporary science is totally matter-based: the universe started
with the “big-bang” which created all existing matter, and all living
beings “evolved” from this inert matter, and thus consciousness also
evolved by some (yet unknown) manner.
The theistic religions
believe, of course, that humans were created with built-in consciousness
by an Almighty-God and animals were also created (sans consciousness).
The Buddha’s is different from both above: It states that living
beings (humans and animals) with built-in consciousness are different
from inert matter, but they were not created. Rather, there is no
traceable beginning to life; life always existed, and it will exist
forever (until Nibbana is attained). Everything has a cause, so does
life.

4. Consciousness is more than registration of a visual
event, or an auditory event, for example. It has associated a variety of
mental factors such as sanna (perception) and vedana (feelings).

A camera captures an image of a cat, but it is not aware of the
presence of the cat. On the other hand, a dog sees a cat and becomes
aware of its presence. It not only sees the cat, but knows exactly where
it is and can try to catch it.
Have you ever thought about how
we can not only see things, but know exactly where they are? Without
this ability, we can not even walk without bumping into things. How do
we know that the person in front of us is only a few feet away?
Consciousness is associated with a sentient being with a MIND. Science
cannot yet explain this capability.

5. There is also the issue of
the phenomenal quality of the conscious experience: qualia, subjective
feelings, the redness of red, the warmness of warmth, etc. How do these
arise in a being made up of inert atoms? There are basically two
approaches to solve this problem in modern philosophy and science:

One is that it arises as an emergent property in the neuronal
activities in the brain. The other is the proposal of duality by Rene
Descartes in the 17th century that persist to the present; see, for
example, David Chalmers, “The Character of Consciousness”, (2010).

A subset of these scientists believe that consciousness is associated
with the microtubules in a cell (for example, see “The Emerging Physics
of Consciousness” Ed. by Jack A. Tuszynski (2006) and John Smythies,
“Brain and Consciousness: The Ghost in the Machines”, Journal of
Scientific Exploration, vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 37-50, (2009)). Despite much
research, the question of how qualia and subjective feelings arise from
dead matter remains a mystery.
Just because a cell responds
that does not necessarily mean it has consciousness; the cell can expand
and contract (chemical reactions) in response to environmental stimuli.
In a way, something similar happens when a plant turns towards
sunlight; of course, plant life is not sentient. Thus, just because an
entity responses to outside influence does not necessarily mean the
entity is “mentally aware” of the outside influence, i.e., that it is
conscious.

6. Therefore, all these scientists and philosophers
are long way off of solving the issue of the four mental aggregates of
feelings, perceptions, volitional formations (sankhara), and
consciousness that make up the mental aspects of a human being. They are
mainly focusing on consciousness and perception at this early stage,
and even then are totally disregarding the intrinsic mental nature. It
will be interesting to see what progress they can make by just taking a
totally materialistic approach.

7. There is evidence, though,
that some leading scientists are beginning to suspect that a complete
“world view” cannot be achieved without taking into account the mental
aspects. This trend started with the invent of quantum mechanics at the
beginning of the 20th century, and is gaining traction slowly. Some
interesting ideas are discussed in a number of books including
“Wholeness and the Implicate Order” (by David Bohm, 1980), “Quantum
Enigma” (by Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner, 2006), “Biocentrism” (by
Robert Lanza, 2009).

However, attempts to explain the mind as
a manifestation of quantum phenomena will also fail, because it is the
mind that precedes matter; see, “The Double Slit Experiment –
Correlation between Mind and Matter?“.

8. Consciousness (vinnana)
discussed in this section does NOT take account the fact that
consciousness of any living being (other than an Arahant) is
contaminated by defilements. This our awareness is not pure; it is like
looking though a foggy window. This is discussed in the “Viññāna
(Consciousness)” and “Expanding Consciousness by Purifying the Mind“.

Next, “1. Thoughts (Citta), Consciousness (Vinnana), and Mind (Hadaya Vatthu) – Introduction“, ………….

1. Thoughts (Citta), Consciousness (Vinnana), and Mind (Hadaya Vatthu) – Introduction

It will be beneficial to read this post even if one is not interested in learning Abhidhamma.

1. After writing a few posts in the Abhidhamma section, I realized that
it is a good idea to write introductory posts on English meanings of
some Pali key words related to the mind. In the end, words do not matter
and what matters is grasping of the concepts involved. But conveying
the concept correctly REQUIRES the use of right words.

This
is a bit of a problem because there are no words in English that truly
conveys the meaning of some Pali key words when talking about the mind
(like mano and vinnana). Thus what I need to do is to write several
introductory posts describing such keywords (like what I did for anicca,
dukkha, anatta).
More details will be given in the Abhidhamma section, but the posts that appear in this section provide just the basics.

2. A Citta (pronounced “chiththa”) is widely translated as a “thought”,
vinnana as “consciousness” and mano as “mind”. I am going to keep using
the former two, but am going to use “hadaya vatthu” as the Pali word
for mind. Let us first discuss the reason for using this term for the
mind.

Hadaya vatthu is where citta (thoughts) arise; thus it
is appropriate to call it the mind or even more appropriately “seat of
the mind”. Hadaya vatthu is the “link” between the “mano loka” (mind
plane) and the “material plane” whether it is in kama loka, rupa loka or
arupa loka (i.e., anywhere in the 31 realms). Mind or the hadaya vatthu
is a very fine rupa (matter); in technical terms, hadaya vatthu is
formed at patisandhi as a vatthu dasaka.
By the way this hadaya
vatthu is the only trace of matter associated with a living being in the
arupa loka. It is much smaller than an atom; only a form of
“suddhashtaka” in the form of a “dasaka“.
For example, if a
cuti-patisandhi transition occurs from a cat to a human, then the “cat
hadaya vatthu” dies and a “human hadaya vatthu” is formed and the very
next citta arises in the “human hadaya vatthu” or the “human mind” in
the “human gandhabba”; see, “Cuti-Patsandhi Transition – Abhidhamma
Description”. With that in mind, let us discuss the ultimate “primary
elements”.

3. In the absolute sense (paramatta), there are four
entities: citta, cetasika (pronounced “chetasika”), rupa (pronounced
“rüpa”), and Nibbana. The last one, Nibbana,does not belong to “this
world” of 31 realms. Therefore, there are only citta, cetasika, and rupa
that are in anything and everything in this world.

Citta and cetasika are “nama” and all tangible things are made of “rupa”.
There are 89 (or 121) types of citta; 52 kinds of cetasika, and 28
kinds of rupa. These are all listed in the “Tables and Summaries”
section.

4. A citta (thought) does not arise by itself, but
arises with a number of cetasika (mental factors). There are 7 cetasika
that arise with ANY citta, and normally there are other cetasika that
arise in addition to those seven. This is discussed in “Cetasika (Mental
Factors)”.

There are “good” and “bad” cetasika. The familiar
ones are lobha, dosa, moha and alobha, adosa, but there are many
others. These determine whether a given citta is a “good” (kusala) citta
or a “bad” (akusala) citta. There are only good or bad cetasika in a
given citta; they do not mix.

5. Even though a citta arises and
perishes within less than billionth of a second, it gets contaminated
during its lifetime. Starting as a “pure citta” (“pabasvara citta” which
is also called “prabhasvara citta” in Sanskrit) with those 7 universal
cetasika, it gradually degrades by incorporating many other cetasika
into a “contaminated citta” or vinnana. Without going into details, the
nine steps are:

citta, mano, manasan, hadayan, pandaran, mana
indriyan, manayatan, vinnana, vinnanakkhandhö. But this happens during
the life of the citta itself (in billionth of a second) according to the
“gathi” that we have. This is why we cannot control our initial
thoughts; but as those initial thoughts turn to speech and bodily
actions, we may have time to control them.
But we still use the
term “citta” to denote the final outcome; in order to differentiate the
one that the sequences started off, we call it a “pure citta” or a
“pabasvara citta“.
What we end up is basically what we call
vinnanakhandha, and all this happens within a billionth of a second.
This “contamination process” cannot be controlled willfully at that
early stage; it happens automatically based on one’s “gathi“. The only
thing we can do is to change our “gathi“.

6. We can use the
following analogy: If we start off with a glass of pure water that can
be compared to a pure citta with just the 7 universal cetasika. If we
add a bit of sugar (mano), salt (manasan) it gets a bit contaminated but
we cannot see the contamination. Now we add a bit of brown sugar and we
can see the water turning to brown; this is like the hadayan stage.
Then we keep adding chocolate, milk, etc, the water gets really
contaminated; but it is still mostly water. A contaminated citta is like
at the vinnana stage; it is a citta that is contaminated.

The citta of an Arahant does not contaminate beyond the masanan stage
(While in the “Arahant phala samapatti” enjoying Nibbanic bliss, an
Arahant has the pabasvara citta or the pure citta). All others get to
the vinnana stage, but of course the “level of contamination” is much
lower even by the time one gets to the Sotapanna stage, because one has
gotten rid of any “gathi” associated with the apayas.
As we can
see, it is not possible to control such a fast process by sheer will
power; it is a matter of “cleansing the mind” progressively of the
contaminants of greed, hate, and ignorance.
Now we can see why
“mano” cannot be the mind. “Mano” is just a bit “contaminated” citta. It
gets progressively contaminated and by the time it comes to the
“vinnana” step it has captured all relevant cetasika for that arammana
or the “thought object”.
At the last step, a very profound thing
happens. The manasikara cetasika brings in to play all relevant past
vinnana (which are fixed as “nama gotta”) as well as one’s “hopes and
dreams” for the future that are relevant to the “event in question”. For
example, if the thought occurs due to seeing a nice house, one may
compare that house with houses like that one has seen before AND one’s
“dream house” that one is hoping to build one day. Therefore, in the
“final version”, a citta is a very complex entity that reflects not only
the “nature of the object seen” but also one’s own likes/dislikes for
it.
This last stage of the citta or Vinnana is the “composite
awareness” for that particular event, which also has one’s own likings,
dislikings, etc for that particular event; see, “Citta, Manō, Viññāna –
Stages of a Thought“.

7. And we do not, and cannot, just perceive
a single or even a few vinnanakkandhö; rather what we “feel” as a
“thought” is the sum of many such vinnanakkandhö, and we still call that
a “citta” or a “thought”; see, “What is a Thought?” and “Citta and
Cetasika – How Vinnana (Consciousness) Arises”.

We also alternatively call such sense experiences “citta“, “thoughts”, “consciousness”, and “vinnana“.
Thus it is critical to understand that what we mean by vinnana in
general is the sum total of many cittas; in paticca samuppada, at the
“avijja paccaya vinnana“, vinnana means this sum total of many cittas or
even more accurately the sum total of many of vinnanakkhandhö.

8. Now I would like to point out a few important conventions:

It is important to remember that a thought can have many meanings even in English: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought
Normally “citta” is used to denote a thought, and “vinnana” is used
to denote the “awareness” associated with a thought. It is fine to do
that most of the time, but if a discussion gets technical one could come
back to this post and refresh memory as to the details.
And as
you can imagine, such an “average of thoughts” may have many type of
cognitions and underlying “awarenesses”, and we will talk about the
different types of vinnana in the next post, “2. Vinnana (Consciousness)
can be of Many Different Types and Forms”.

2. Vinnana (Consciousness) can be of Many Different Types and Forms

1. Vinnana is unique to sentient beings. Plants are alive but have no
vinnana; they respond to the environments but are not capable of
“thinking”. Sentient beings are aware that they are alive and just that
basic awareness of “being alive” is not really a vinnana.

This purest level of vinnana (the awareness of being alive) is called the “citta” (pronounced “chiththa”) stage.
A citta arises with 7 concomitant “mental factors” (cetasika,
pronounced “chetasika”), and this is described in “Citta and Cetasika –
How Vinnana (Consciousness) Arises”. To emphasize, a pure citta arises
with those universal cetasika; a citta always has those 7 cetasika.

However, the citta of a sentient being gets “contaminated” by other
cetasika as soon as it arises. Within the lifetime of a citta (which is
less than a billionth of a second), it progressively gets contaminated
by “good” or “bad” cetasika, and this happens in nine stages! This was
discussed in the previous post: “Thoughts (Citta), Consciousness
(Vinnana), and Mind (Hadaya Vatthu) – Introduction“.

2. As
discussed in “Citta and Cetasika – How Vinnana (Consciousness) Arises”,
it is those additional cetasika that provide “color” to a citta: if a
set of “good cetasika” arise with the citta it becomes a “good thought”
or a “good vinnana”; if it is a set of “bad cetasika” , then the thought
or the vinnana is bad (those cetasika do not mix). Also, there are
neutral thoughts or neutral vinnana that are neither good nor bad.

Vinnana can be experienced in many different ways; since it is hard
to come up with different names for each case, they are all bundled
together as vinnana. Words like citta, vinnana, mano, as well as cakkhu
vinnana, sota vinnana, etc and vipaka vinnana are used in different
contexts and that can be confusing to many regardless of whether their
native language is English, Chinese, or even Sinhala, which is the
closest language to Pali. But each term has its own “subtle identity”
and as we discuss more, those subtle differences will become clear.

3. Vinnana is often translated as “consciousness” but vinnana can be
used in many different contexts like “subconscious” or “layers of
consciousness”.

The same problem is encountered by those who
speak Sinhala, because there the word “sitha” is used in many occasions
to represent the Pali words citta, mano, and vinnana. Similarly, in
Sinhala “yati sitha” is used to denote the subconscious.
This
“subconscious” in English (as introduced by Sigmund Freud) or “yati
sitha” in Sinhala is not a separate citta (there can be only one citta
at a time). But, each citta can have “layers of consciousness”; the
manasikara cetasika plays a big role here.
For example, at a
given time we may have several “subconscious” vinnana: we may have plans
to buy a certain car, getting ready to go on a trip next week, in the
process of building a house, etc; all these are in the subconscious, and
in each citta. If we see a car on the road that looks like the car we
are interested in, the vinnana alerts you to it, and you take a good
look at it.
As the Buddha advised bhikkhus, what really matters
is to convey the meaning. Just like in the case of paticca samuppada or
tanha, it is best to use the Pali words and comprehend their meanings;
those key words convey deep meanings that may take several words or even
sentences in any other language to get the idea across.

Types of Vinnana associated with Kamma and the Sense Doors

Vinnana is complex and can be presented in various different types and
forms. We will start by looking at “two categories” of vinnana.

1. First, we can categorize them according to kamma (or sankhara)
associated with the vinnana: Kamma vinnana, vipaka vinnana, and kiriya
(or kriya) vinnana.

Let us describe in plain English what these terms mean.

We can put vinnana into three categories in relation to kamma:
Those vinnana that arise while doing a kamma (sankhara) is called a
kamma vinnana. For example, when one steals something, one has an
awareness of that; that is the “vinnana that one is stealing”.

Then there are those that arise as kamma vipaka, and thus we do not have
much control over them; they just happen to us and are called avyakata
vinnana or vipaka vinnana. I like the term vipaka vinnana than avyakata
vinnana because then it is easy to differentiate those two kinds. For
example, when one is walking on the road and sees something valuable on
the roadside; that is a cakkhu vinnana (seeing something) and also a
vipaka vinnana (due to a kamma vipaka).
The third type in this
category are called kiriya (kriya) vinnana, and they are not connected
to kamma. When we think, talk, or do something that does not involve
kammically “good” or “bad”, those are done with kiriya vinnana. For
example, when we think about the cleaning chores for the day, or ask
someone what time it is, or walk to the kitchen to get a drink, all
those are done with kiriya vinnana.

2. When we are travelling by a
vehicle and are looking out of a window, we see many different things
out there. But most of it we do not pay any attention, even though we
are “aware” that we are seeing things. Those are vipaka vinnana, they
are “presented to us”, but most of them may not interest us.

Then all of a sudden we see something that “piques our interest”, say a
nice house by the roadside. Then we fix our attention on that and even
may keep looking at until it moves out of our range. That is a vipaka
vinnana that triggered a “gathi” in us; it was of interest. And it could
put us in a position to acquire more kamma by initiating a kamma
vinnana.
For example, if we really got interested in that house,
we may start thinking about how nice would it be if we could build and
live in a house like that. Now we are making sankhara (i.e., generating
kamma) based on that “seeing event”. Thus such thoughts (or vinnana)
that followed the initial vipaka vinnana of “seeing the house” are kamma
vinnana.
Our life experiences belong to basically one of those three categories.

3. All those vinnana may also be described in another totally different
form; they can be differentiated into six categories, this time based
on the sense door: thus we have cakkhu vinnana (vision consciousness),
and sota (sound), ghana (smell), jivha (taste), kaya (touch), and mano
(mind) vinnana (consciousnesses).

In the previous example,
the three types of vinnana were all initiated by cakkhu vinnana, a
“seeing event or consciousness”. At the kamma vinnana stage, they became
mano vinnana, because those thoughts about acquiring a house originated
in our minds.
Then if another passenger touched us, we would
turn and look at that person, because now we had a kaya vinnana (which
was also a vipaka vinnana).
If that touching turned out to be
done by accident, we just let go of it, and it was just a neutral event
of seeing someone (kiriya vinnana).
However, if it was someone
with whom we had a romantic relationship in the past, then we may start
generating kamma vinnana (mano vinnana). In the same way, if it was
someone with whom we have had a bad relationship, we may start
generating another type of kamma vinnana (mano vinnana).
Thus if
you contemplate a bit on this, you can see that ALL our experiences can
be put into either of those two “divisions”, i.e., we can analyze them
to be in vipaka vinnana, kamma vinnana, and kiriya vinnana categories or
the sense consciousness categories.

4. There are other types of
vinnana that we will talk about later, but for now let us discuss
something that is really important to paticca samuppada.

The
paticca samuppada cycle starts with “avijja paccaya sankhara”, and
“sankhara paccaya vinnana”. This vinnana is NOT a vipaka vinnana or a
kiriya vinnana, but only a kamma vinnana.
When we see something,
hear something, etc., those are things that HAPPEN to us. Thus there is
no avijja (or ignorance) initiating that consciousness. There is no
paticca samuppada cycle associated with such a consciousness (vinnana).
However, if we now decide to act on it (say, take another look at
it because we like it), then we may be initiating a sankhara (kamma)
event: now this new event initiates a (pavutti) paticca samuppada cycle
with “avijja paccaya sankhara”, which leads to, “sankhara paccaya
vinnana”, i.e., this vinnana was initiated by a sankhara; thus it is a
kamma vinnana.

5. Usually, what happens in our lives is that we
are bombarded with sense inputs via all six senses. We tend to turn our
attention to as many as we can because we are afraid that “we may miss
out on something”. This is the root cause for the lack of “peace” in our
minds, because we are constantly moving our attention among the six
senses, going back and forth. If we have too many “likings” our mind
will be pulled in all different directions trying to follow all those
sense inputs.

By avoiding busy environments (i.e., by going
to a secluded place) we can reduce this effect. But, we still cannot
“turn off the sixth sense input”, i.e., the mind, unless we purify our
minds. This is the key to meditation. It is not possible to have a
“peace of mind” if the mind is burdened with greed, hate, and ignorance
(wrong vision or micca ditthi).

6. Thus an Arahant can have a peaceful mind even when in the busiest place. A Sotapanna can do that to a certain extent too.

Even before any of the “magga phala” are attained, one can easily
get to samadhi and then to jhanas, by gradually getting rid of the
defilements associated with “wrong vision” just by learning Dhamma
(mainly anicca, dukkha, anatta).
Then the number of different
types of vinnana going through the mind will be reduced (“Sounds like my
neighbor’s car leaving, I wonder whether she is going to the mall?”, “I
wonder what (my enemy) is up to today?”, “I wish I could have a body
like that!”, “How come I don’t have a nice house like that?”; these are
all types of vinnana that we burden our minds with unnecessarily.

And it is important to realize that it is not easy to just turn those
off; they WILL BE turned off automatically when we purify our minds
first by learning Dhamma (“What is the use of thinking about unnecessary
things? There are better things to think about that provide lasting
happiness”).

Next, “3. Vinnana, Thoughts, and the Subconscious“, ……………….

3. Vinnana, Thoughts, and the Subconscious

1. A thought (citta; pronounced “chiththa”) is on a specific thought
object, say thinking about buying a car or going for a walk. There is
only one citta at a time, but each lasts less than a billionth of a
second and what we experience is vinnanakkhadha which encompases
multiple cittas. One can NEVER experience a single citta. Therefore,
what we call a “thought” is the result of many of cittas or more
correctly the result of many citta vithi, bundled up as vinnanakkhadha.

Each citta has many cetasika (mental factors) in it, including the
all important sanna, phassa, manasikara cetasika. Then there are “good”
and “bad” cetasika in a citta that describe the “mood” of the citta.
When someone is angry most cittas at that time will have the hate
(patigha and/or dosa cetasika. When the same person is feeding a hungry
person his/her cittas at that time will have the benevolence and/or
loving kindness cetasikas. The good and bad cetasika do not mix, i.e.,
one either has a good thought or a bad thought. For discussion on
cetasika, see, “Cetasika (Mental Factors)“.

2. The manasikara and
sanna cetasika is in each and every citta, and they carry all past
memories, habits (gathi) and cravings (asavas) in them. The gathi and
asavas may not be displayed in each citta; rather, they lie dormant,
waiting for a “trigger” to come up. Gathi and asavas are carried from
citta to citta (until they are removed), and new habits and cravings can
be added at any time.

3. Vinnana is not a thought but it is in
thoughts. Vinnana represents the overall experience of cittas, and is
largely described by the cetasika in those cittas. Of course no one
experience a vinnana due to a single citta; rather what one experiences
is the average of millions or billions of cittas. A bunch or a heap is
called khandha in Pali or Sinhala. Thus what we experience is a
vinnanakkhandha, or the averaged value over a bunch or a heap of cittas.

Vinnana is complex and multi-faceted. We may have vinnana of
different types at the same time. Even though we are directly aware of
one type of vinnana at a given time, there may be many types hiding
beneath the surface. This is what Sigmund Freud called the
“sub-conscious”.

4. A thought is what is occupying the mind at a
given moment. When I am paying for my groceries, my thoughts are focused
on that transaction. But there can be many types of vinnana working “in
the background”. I may be building a house, studying for an exam,
planning a trip, planning a birthday party for my child, etc. and all
those “vinnana” are working in the background even though I am not
thinking about any of them at the time I am paying for my groceries.

However, any of those, and even some things that I had not been
thinking about for a long time could be there further down in the
“subconscious”. But there is no separate “subconscious” as such. All
these different types of vinnana are there in a single thought (citta),
and there is only one citta at a time; see, “What is a Thought?”. Then
how is it possible for many types of vinnana to be lurking in the
background?

5. It is those mental factors (cetasika) that makes
it all possible. Several key such mental factors play key roles
including memory (manasikara), contact (phassa), and perception(sanna).
These key “universal cetasika” are in all the citta and embody all our
desires as well as everything that has happened to us in them. Of course
things happened recently are “closer to the top” compared to something
that had happened a long time ago. And it also depends on how
significant a certain event was. Some special events, even if they had
happened a long time ago, are easier to remember.

Memories
are fixed even though we may not remember all of them; all our memories
are kept intact as our nama gotta, in the mind plane; see, “Recent
Evidence for Unbroken Memory Records (HSAM)“. Of course what we can
recall is limited by many factors including the state of the brain. As
we get older the ability to recall gets weaker.

6. Vinnana is a sort of the “end result” of many memories as well as our gathi and asavas.

The more one does something repeatedly, there starts a vinnana for
that particular event or behavior. For example, when one starts smoking,
a vinnana starts building, and the more one smokes, the stronger the
vinnana gets. This is called “feeding the vinnana” by doing it again and
again. In other words, habits are formed via repeatedly feeding the
vinnana for that habit.
When a certain vinnana is pleasing to
the mind, that vinnana tries to get fed frequently. When someone has the
habit of smoking the vinnana for that tries to deviate his/her
attention to smoking at every possible opportunity. For example, if a
smoker sees an advertisement for smoking, that “triggers” the liking or
the vinnana for smoking that was in the subconscious.

7. But it
works the same way for a vinnana that got initiated with a dislike also.
For example, if someone did something really awful to you in the past,
the hearing of his/her name will bring back that vinnana. This is why we
get “attached” to things we like as well for things we dislike, and is
the meaning of tanha (get bonded via greed or hate); see, “Tanha – How
We Attach Via Greed, Hate, and Ignorance“.

8. Not all vinnana
keep accumulating in the background. Those weaker ones, especially if
don’t get fed, diminish and disappear. For example, suppose I had
planned an overseas trip, and had been making preparations for it. The
more preparations I make and more thoughts I have of the trip, those are
“food for that vinnana”, and it grows. If I see a new article with that
country’s name, I would immediately read the article. But suppose, a
major war breaks out in that country before my trip; then I would cancel
that trip right away. I will no longer be planning for the trip and my
mind will “not be interested” in it anymore. Since that vinnana for
“visiting that country” is not going to get fed anymore, it will be gone
in a short time.

We don’t even need to actually physically
do the activity to “feed the vinnana” or make a habit stronger. There
are studies that show that one could improve the game of basketball, for
example, by just visualize practising, and getting the ball in
mentally. These are called “mano sancetana”. Focusing the attention on a
given task can be very powerful.

9. This is why chanda, citta,
viriya, vimansa (satara iddhipada or the four bases of mental power) are
critical for achieving goals. When one forms a strong liking (chanda)
for a goal, one starts thinking often about it (citta), making effort
(viriya), and constantly analyzing and trying to find related facts
(vimansa) about how to accomplish that goal; see, “ The Four Bases of
Mental Power (Satara Iddhipada)“.

10. Our minds are very complex
and powerful. And there are many different ways to analyze and examine
concepts that are closely related. This is why there are so many
different ways Buddha Dhamma can analyze a given situation and come to
the same conclusion. It is a all self-consistent.

For
example, suppose I thought about buying a silver car of model X several
weeks ago; I have been thinking about it reading reviews and so on. I
may be driving on the road just focusing on the road and driving with my
thoughts and consciousness (vinnana) focused on driving. But now if I
see a silver-colored car of model X, then immediately that will trigger
my vinnana about “buying the car” and I may compare the silver-colored
car with the car that I had in mind. The mind likes to “feed the
vinnana” that we have and the more it gets fed, it gets stronger. The
more I think about the car, the stronger my intentions get about buying
one.

11. There could be several such vinnana “in the background”
or “in the subconscious” at any given time. For example, our vinnana
keeps shifting as we keep moving from one task to another. But
underneath, there may be several vinnana waiting for an opportunity to
come up to the conscious level. Thus it can be “triggered” by a related
event.

12. A built-up vinnana can form a habit; as the habit gets
stronger, it can be carried over to the next life, possibly in two
ways: a really strong habit could lead to a “patisandhi vinnana” at the
dying moment and can lead to a corresponding “bhava”, and thus one could
be born in the corresponding “jati”. For example, an extremely greedy
person, may acquire a “peta bhava” at the dying moment and be born as a
“peta” or a hungry ghost.

On the other hand, if the same
person had time left in the “human bhava” then that person will be
feeding the “pavutti vinnana” of greed, and will always be looking out
to acquire more “stuff” even at the expense of other people. Thus a
“greedy vinnana” will grow as one keeps feeding that vinnana. He/she
will never be satisfied even if what has been acquired is more than
enough.

13. Thus vinnana is very complex; it is not just the
“awareness”. It also has one’s “hopes and dreams” as well as “likes,
dislikes, and habits”. It is a complex combination of the 52 cetasikas;
of course not all cetasikas are involved in a given citta or in our
thoughts.