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Asian Perspectives: Indian Theories of Mind

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Asian Perspectives: Indian Theories of Mind !"#$%&'()*+*'(,*(,&-.&/01.2($34(5*(62&78-&3'("401&9-*(:;<<=>*(!"#$%&'()* +",'$--.*-/*!-,01&-20,)003(?$7@904A"B(?$7@904A"(C30/"9-01D()9"--*((( CHAPTER 5 Asian Perspectives: Indian Theories of Mind Georges Dreyfus and Evan Thompson Abstract Introduction This chapter examines Indian views of the In discussing Asian views of mind and con- mind and consciousness, with particular sciousness, we must start from the realiza- focus on the Indian Buddhist tradition. To tion that this topic presents insurmountable contextualize Buddhist views of the mind, challenges. The diversity of Asian cultures we first provide a brief presentation of some from China to India to Iran is so great that of the most important Hindu views, particu- it is impossible to find coherent ways to dis- larly those of the Sarp.khya school. Whereas cuss the mental concepts of these cultures this school assumes the existence of a real over and above listing these conceptions transcendent self, the Buddhist view is that and noting their differences. Hence, rather mental activity and consciousness function than chart a territory that hopelessly extends on their own without such a self We focus our capacities, we have chosen to exam- on the phenomenological and epistemologi- ine Indian views of the mind, with a spe- cal aspects of this no-self view of the mind. cial focus on the Indian Buddhist tradition, We first discuss the Buddhist Abhidharma which can be traced back to the first cen- and its analysis of the mind in terms of turies after the life of Siddhartha Gautama, awareness and mental factors. The Abhid- the Buddha (566-483 BCE), and which con- harma is mainly phenomenological; it does tinued to develop in India through the 7th not present an epistemological analysis of and 8th centuries CE. This approach allows the structure of mental states and the way us to present a more grounded and coherent they relate to their objects. To cover this view of the mind as conceived in the Indian topic we turn to Dharmaklrti, one of the philosophical tradition and to indicate some main Buddhist epistemologists, who offers areas of interest that this tradition offers a comprehensive view of the types of cogni- to cognitive scientists and philosophers tion and their relation to their objects. of mind. THE CAMBRIDGE HANDBOOK OF CONSCIOUSNESS In talking about the mind, it is impor- ily amount to a classical mind-body dualism tant to defirie the term, for it is far from (of the sort found in Descartes' Meditations unambiguous. In most Indian traditions, the or Plato's Phaedo). Moreover, although they mind is neither a brain structure nor a mech- agree in rejecting the materialist view, they anism for treating information. Rather, mind strongly disagree in their presentations of the is conceived as a complex cognitive process mind. consisting of a succession of related mental In this chapter, we focus mosdy on the states. These states are at least in principle Buddhist tradition, exploring some of its phenomenologically available; that is, they views of the mind. One of the most salient can be observed by attending to the way features of this tradition is that its accounts in which we experience feeling, perceiving, of the mind and consciousness do not posit thinking, remembering, and so on. Indian the existence of a self According to this tra- thinkers describe these mental states as cog- dition, there is no self, and mental activity nizing (jna) or being aware (buddh) of their cannot be understood properly as long as object. Thus, the mind is broadly conceived one believes in a self The Hindu tradition, by traditional Indian thinkers as constituted by contrast, maintains that mental life does by a series of mental states that cognize involve a permanent self Thus, to contextu- their objects. alize Buddhist views of the mind, we begin This general agreement breaks down with a brief presentation of some of the most quickly, however, when we tum to a more important Hindu views. We then present the detailed analysis of the nature and struc- Buddhist Abhidharma and its analysis of the ture of the mind, a topic on which vari- mind in terms of awareness and mental fac- ous schools entertain vasdy different views. tors. Traditionally, the Abhidharma makes Some of these disagreements relate to the up one of the 'three baskets' into which ontological status of mental states and the Buddhists divide their scriptures - Sutra or way they relate to other phenomena, partic- sayings of the Buddha, Vinaya or monas- ularly physical ones. Such disagreements are tic discipline, and Abhidharma, which sys- related to well-known ideas in the Western tematizes Buddhist teachings in the form of tradition, particularly the mind-body dual- detailed analyses of experience. In examin- ism that has concerned Western philoso- ing the Abhidharma, we examine the ways phy since Descartes. But many of the views in which this tradition analyzes the differ- entertained by Indian thinkers are not eas- ent functions of the mind without positing ily mapped in Western terms, as we see in the existence of a self These analyses are in this chapter. certain ways reminiscent of those in cogni- Most Indian thinkers do not consider the tive science that aim to account for cognitive ontological status of mental states to be a processing without invoking a homunculus particularly difficult question, for most of or 'little man' inside the head who over- them accept that there is an extra-physical sees the workings of the mind (or merely reality. Among all the schools, only the passively witnesses the results; see Varela, Materialist, the Carviika, reduces the men- Thompson, & Rosch, 1991, for further dis- tal to physical events. For its proponents, cussion of this parallel). The Abhidharma, mental states do not have any autonomous however, is phenomenological; its concern is ontological status and can be completely to discern how the mind works as evidenced reduced to physical processes. They are just by experience (but especially by mentally properties of the body, much like the ine- disciplined and refined contemplative expe- briating property of beer is a property of rience). Although thus it is also epistemo- beer. Most other thinkers reject this view logical, the Abhidharma does not present forcefully and argue that the mind can any developed epistemological analysis of neither be eliminated nor reduced to the the structure of mental states and the way material. Their endorsement of an extra- they relate to their objects so as to produce physical reality does not, however, necessar- knowledge. To cover this topic we tum to ASIAN PERSPECTIVES: INDIAN THEORIES OF MIND Dharmakirti (c. 6oo CE), one of the main mind has been largely adopted in the Hindu Buddhist epistemologists, who offers a com- tradition and beyond.' prehensive view of the types of cognition The Sarpkhya approach rests on a dual- and their relation to their objects. istic metaphysics built on the opposi- The phenomenological analyses con- tion between material primordial nature tained in the Abhidharma and the epis- (pradhana) or materiality (prakrti) and a temological analyses of Dharmakirti offer spiritual self (atman) or person (puru§a). 2 significant resources for cognitive scientists Nature is the universal material substratum and philosophers of mind in their efforts to out of which all phenomena other than the gain a better understanding of consciousness. self emerge and evolve. These phenomena, These analyses also constitute the theoretical which make up the world of diversity, are framework for the ways in which the Bud- physical transformations of the three quali- dhist tradition conceives of meditation and ties (gutul) that compose primordial nature. mental training, both with regard to the phe- These three qualities are sattva (trans- nomenology of contemplative mental states parency, buoyancy), rajas (energy, activity), and the epistemology of the types of knowl- and tamas (inertia, obstruction). They are edge that these states are said to provide. principles or forces, rather than building Given the increasing scientific interest in the blocks. All material phenomena, including physiological correlates and effects of med- the intellect and organs of perception, are itation and their relation to consciousness understood to be made up of a combina- (see Chapter 19), it is important for the sci- tion of these three principles. The one prin- entific community to appreciate the phe- ciple not included in this constant process of nomenological and philosophical precision transformation is the self, which is perma- with which these states are conceptualized nent, non-material, and conscious or aware. in the Buddhist tradition. The self is also described as the conscious presence that witnesses the transformations of nature, but does not participate in them. Self and Mental States: As such it is passive, though it witnesses the A Sa:rpkhya View experiences deriving from the transforma- tions of the world of diversity) One of the most important views of the Although the Sarpkhya analysis of mind mind in the Hindu tradition is found in the is dualistic, it does not fit within classical Sarpkhya school. Traditionally this school is mind-body dualism. For the Sarpkhya, the said to have been founded by the philoso- mind involves a non-material spiritual ele- pher Kapila, a legendary figure who may ment, namely the self The self, however, is have lived as early as the 7th century not the same as the mind. Rather, the self is BCE, but the earliest Sarpkhya text we pos- the mere presence to or pure witnessing of sess dates from the 3fd century CE. The the mental activities involved in the ordi- Sarpkhya tradition is one of the six classical nary awareness of objects. This pure wit- schools of Hindu philosophy (Nyaya, Vais- nessing, untainted by the diversity of the esika, Sarpkhya, Yoga, Purva Mimamsa, and material world, is not sufficient for men- Vedanta).
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