Zen : The Buddha Mind – Dang Dai Minh
Before delving into Zen, I want to point out that Abhidhamma (Buddhist psychology/philosophy) breaks down mind and consciousness into co-dependent, constituent factors. Modern day science presents the mind/consciousness as an emergent property of the extraordinarily complex neural network of the brain and nervous system; the most ancient Buddhist texts present a model in which consciousness and the mind exist in dependence upon other forces and factors. So both modern day science and Buddhist philosophy/psychology point out that the mind exists in dependence on other forces and factors.
Across all traditions of Buddhism, the mind is viewed as a sixth sense; this is a major point of distinction between the Buddhist presentation of reality and models of the mind or consciousness rooted in today’s neuroscience and cognitive psychology. I’m quite fascinated that the historical Buddha talked about consciousness as a co-dependent phenomenon. This is a view that, in many ways, is in harmony with science, but not totally, because by probing more deeply into the teachings of the Buddha, you’ll find a description of a consciousness that is currently unverifiable via scientific means.
The Pāli canon contains discourses in which the Buddha mentions a type of consciousness without a surface, without an end, which is luminous all around. Elsewhere, he mentions a “consciousness without feature”. These descriptions of an otherworldly consciousness points to a consciousness independent of the five sense consciousnesses and, even the mind, along with its content which, encompasses the whole sensual world as we know it.
Even though this sounds incomprehensible, perhaps even ludicrous to those unfamiliar with Buddhist views, many advanced meditators talk about having such ineffable experiences. And truth be told, such a type or quality of consciousness can’t be ruled out. However, it also can’t be ruled in, scientifically speaking, but that doesn’t mean that one can’t experience it. There are many human experiences which can’t be perfectly explained by science (is it even possible to provide a perfect scientific explanation?!), nor can every conscious experience be scientifically validated. And so, this is a crucial point to contemplate on as you read this piece.
A fundamental understanding of the six senses is consistent across all schools of Buddha Dharma although classifications of different modes of consciousness beyond six types are articulated differently within Theravāda and Mahāyāna lineages. For example, some Mahāyāna traditions acknowledge eight types of consciousness: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, somatic, mano (mind), manas (conceptual/self), and ālāya (storehouse). The archaic Pāli tradition mentions six types of consciousness and, additionally, highlights two other types of consciousness (or two distinct additional aspects of consciousness): citta (cognitive/volitional) and bhavaṇga (stream of latent tendencies).
Thus, the Pāli tradition, too, mentions eight distinct modes or aspects of consciousness, that is, if you factor in citta (thinking/cognition) and bhavaṇga (life-continuum). The Buddha explicitly mentions mano (mind) and citta (thought/cognition) throughout the Pāli discourses. However, bhavaṇga only appears in the Pāli commentaries; and the concept of bhavaṇga seems to have appeared in the Pāli tradition as a necessary mechanism that stores latent tendencies (hence why many scholars think bhavaṇga is analogous to the Mahāyāna concept of ālāya consciousness). It’s important to recall the various aspects of consciousness and the mind according to the Buddhist model laid out in this preface while reading this piece.
Thoroughly understanding this aforementioned model will allow you to imagine the quality of the Buddha’s mind vis-à-vis ordinary consciousness and its various aspects. This type of imagination faithfully inspires one to become awakened and, I can’t think of any task or aspiration that’s loftier than that!
Dang Dai Minh
