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Thursday 2 February 2023

What is consciousness in Buddhism?



Consciousness - Cognitive, emotional and volitional these are consciousness. Consciousness is the centre of a Sentient Being.



Consciousness - A modern psychologist would say that consciousness (Chetana) is the mainspring from which other psychological phenomena arise. 


Lord Buddha theory against the existence of the soul as a separate entity is called Nama -Rupa. 

The theory is the result of the application of the Vibhaja test, of sharp, rigorous analysis, of the constituent elements of Sentient Being otherwise called Human Personality.

This post is about to problem of consciousness, this post give you all types of better solution on the topic of Rupa Kaya, Nama Kaya, Vedana, Sanna, Chetana.

Are you excited ? Keep reading.


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Content Of Consciousness 

Content Of Consciousness

                Nama - Rupa Khandas 


Nama  - Rupa is a collective name for a sentient being. 

According to Buddha's analysis, a sentient being is a compound thing consisting of certain physical elements and certain mental elements. They are called Khandas.


The Rupa Khandas primarily consists of the physical elements such as earth, water, fire and air. 

They constitute the Body or Rupa. Besides Rupa Khandas, there is such a thing as Nama Khandas which goes to make up a sentient Being.

This Nama Khandas is called Vinana, or consciousnesses. 

This Nama Khandas includes the three mental elements : 

  • Vedana sensation springing from contact of the six sense with the world), 
  • Sanna ( perception), Sankhara ( states of mind ), 
  • Chetana ( consciousness) is sometimes spoken of along with the three other mental states as being one of them.

An objection is raised to this theory of consciousness propounded by the Buddha. Those who object to this theory ask, "How is Consciousness produced.


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The Function Of Consciousness 




It is true that consciousness arises with birth and dies with death. 


All the same, can it be said that consciousness is result of the combination of the four elements  ? 

The Buddha's answer was not that the co - existence or aggregation of the physical elements produces consciousness. 

What the Buddha said was that wherever there was Rupa or Kaya there was consciousness accompanying it.

To give an analogy from science, there is an electric field and wherever there is an electric field it is always accompanied by the magnetic field. 

No one knows how the magnetic field is created or how it arises. 


But it always exits along with the electric field.


Why should not the same relationship be said to exist between body and consciousness  ? 

The magnetic field in relation to the electric field is called an induced field. 


Why cannot consciousness be called an induced field in relation to Rupa - Kaya.


 The Buddha's argument against the soul is not yet complete. 


He had further to say something of importance.


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Law of karma cause & effect Buddhism



Types of Consciousness Psychology




Once consciousness arises man becomes a sentient being. 


Consciousness is, therefore, the chief thing in man's life. 

Consciousness is cognitive, emotional and volitional. 

Consciousness is cognitive when it gives knowledge, information, as appreciating or apprehending whether it be appreciation of internal facts or of external things and events.

Consciousness is emotional when it is exists in certain subjective states, characterized by either pleasurable or painful tones, when emotional consciousness produce feeling.

Consciousness in its volitional stage makes a being exert himself for the attainment of some end. 

Volitional consciousness gives rise to what we call will or activity. 


It is thus clear that all the functions of a sentient being are performed by the sentient being through and as a results of consciousness.

After this analysis the Buddha asked what are the functions which are left to be performed by the soul  ? 

All functions assigned to be soul are performed by consciousness. 


A soul without function is an absurdity. 


This is how the Buddha disproved the existence of the soul. 


That is why, the existence of the soul cannot be the part of Dhamma. 



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The States Of Consciousness 



The four conditions of cognizance 

  1. Waking: 
  2. Resting: 
  3. Dreaming: 
  4. Reflection: 

Reflection keeps stresses from getting into the real framework and as of now repressed worries are let. 


Both happen all the while and we draw from the source and delight of what we are. 


As this state burns-through us to an ever increasing extent, we become more joyful, anything we see, we believe, we take a gander at, turns out to be more serious and more excellent. 


Every one of our faculties at that point does the work of the relative multitude of different faculties as well. 


Our insight increment and turns out to be more natural. Our awareness causes us to feel that our body is important for the entire, part of the whole creation and the whole creation is essential for us. 

When this fourth state turns out to be increasingly more pre-predominant, more soaked up into our day by day life, at that point we move to the fifth condition of cognizance, called the grandiose awareness. 


It implies monitoring the entire universe as a component of yourself. 

At the point when the world is essential for us, such a lot of affection streams among us and the entire world. 


This condition of awareness gives us the solidarity to hold on for the restricting powers in our day to day existence, to manage the things that upset us, outrage and disillusionments. We don't clutch them. 

The main aftereffect of us expanding cognizance, is to have the option to leave negative feelings. 


We become acclimated to living 'at the time' and let go of things on the grounds that regardless of how great the individuals we communicate with are, there will undoubtedly be mistaken assumptions. 

Conclusion -

A higher condition of cognizance is when instincts create and the capacity to see and see develop.

consciousness is the result of the combination of four elements. Prithi, Apa, Tej and Vayu.