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Chapter I the Concept of Consciousness in Early CHAPTER I THE CONCEPT OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN EARLY BUDDHISM If we glimpse at the history of Indian philosophy, we see that almost all schools of Indian philosophy have made an attempt to solve the problems that come to human life. Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism is not an exception to this. While solving the problem of suffering, Gautama Buddha has pointed out that tr$nd or uncontrolled unlimited desire of man which is caused by ignorance is the basic cause of suffering. In this context he has further pointed out that one can make oneself free from suffering by removing trsnd through valid knowledge. Thus Gautama Buddha has discussed the problems of suffering and its removal with reference to ignorance and valid knowledge respectively. Hence it could be said that the Buddhist philosophy is originated in the discussion of the problem of suffering and its root in consciousness. In Pali literature it is said that the suffering is a problem of consciousness, because it is said that, only that, which is conscious can suffer. Due to the ignorance consciousness has suffering. The appearance of ignorance is the origin of suffering and evil. When being is misguided by ignorance, all his activities, views, and thoughts become useless and immoral. Because ignorance misled his mind and its activities. The Buddha expounded what happen when being is misguided by ignorance as follows: "Bhikkhus, ignorance is the forerunner in the entry upon unwholesome states, with shamelessness and fearlessness of wrongdoing following along. For an unwise person immersed in ignorance, wrong view springs up. For one of wrong view, wrong intention springs up. For one of the wrong intention, wrong speech springs up. For one of wrong speech, wrong action springs up. For one of wrong action, wrong livelihood springs up. For one of wrong 13 livelihood, wrong effort springs up. For one of wrong effort, wrong mindfulness springs up. For one of wrong mindfulness, wrong concentration springs up."' In Buddhism, ignorance is defined as the belief on permanent, independent self and its object. Once man has this discrimination into a self and things, man has suffering. Man also has craving and aversion, because of that he desires those things that please the self and has averse to those things that are not conducive to the self The belief on duality of the self (or subject) and dharmas (or object) is the fundamental cause of suffering, as the Buddha observed, "He regards feeling as self... perception as self... volitional formations as self ... consciousness as self, or self as possessing consciousness, or consciousness as in self, or self as in consciousness. That consciousness of his changes and alters. With the change and alteration of consciousness, his consciousness becomes preoccupied with the change of consciousness. Agitation and a constellation of mental states bom of preoccupation with the change of consciousness remain obsessing his mind. Because his mind is obsessed, he is fi-ightened, distressed, and anxious, and through clinging he becomes agitated."^ This is, of course, a vicious circle: we inadvertently increase the conditions that lead to suffering, anxiety, and distress in craving for what is "happy, good, healthy and safe," and in imagining a self that enjoys them. For as long as there is a craving for and attachment to self, the Buddha declared, there will be further distress, in response to which there will be further actions that lead to further distress, and so on. It is, in short, our misguided desires for some truly lasting, satisfactory existence within this conditioned world, along with the actions taken to secure it, that keeps us c;ontinuously bound to the 'SNVl. ^ SN III 16-17. 14 repetitive cognitive and behavioral patterns called ''samsdra.'" The Buddhists suggest the way to come out from this vicious cycle by understanding their underlying causes - the interactive dynamics between ignorance and grasping, the actions they instigate, and the results these lead to - and gradually reversing their deleterious results. And this is the fundamental aim of the formula of Dependent origination. In this context it is necessary to discuss two terms of vijndna, namely; vijndna as consciousness and vijndna as cognitive awareness with reference to the dependent origination by focusing in particular on the multiple relationships between these forms of vinndna and the volitional formations, the sankhdras. 1. Vinnana as Consciousness Vinndna has significant role to play in Buddhism; vijndna, in Buddhism, has a technical sense; it does not refer to cognition or understanding, it is a sort of principle of conscious life which is different from the body. It is also the power or faculty of discrimination, which is faithfully retained in its original sense. For the purpose of this study, we will limit our inquiry to the first two of these five categories given by Edgerton, namely (1) vijndna as practical, empirical knowledge, and (2) vijndna as perceiving and discriminating faculty of the mind.^ An extensive treatment in the Sutra is given to both these meanings. The word consciousness itself is explained in Pali and Sanskrit-English Dictionary'* to mean "the act of distinguishing or discerning, knowledge. ' BHSD. p. 485-486. •• Monier-William.; Sanskrit English Dictionary, p. 941, 961; T. W. Rhys-Davids and W. Stede, Pali English Dictionary, London PTS, 1979, p. 287, 611; This is one word whose root or basic form remains recognizable in virtually all Indo-Eurpean language: Sanskrit: jnana, Greek: gnosis, Latin: gnosco, gnoscere, gnovi, English: know, etc. the Sanskrit Jn - becomes kn - in English, as in German it became kennen. In other language groups such as Semitic (Hebrew; da'ath) or Chinese (chih), no similarities with the Indo-European root are found. 15 understanding, cognitive av/areness, consciousness, or thought-faculty" (from the root jnd = "to know," "to perceive," and the separative verbal prefix vi = "apart," "asunder," "away," "without;" originally dvi = "in two parts," this prefix is used to express division, distinction, distribution, arrangement, order, opposition, or deliberation). As such, vi-jndna is associated with various cognitive functions related to perceiving, as well as sorting out the sensory data, or input. Although 'discernment' may be a more literal translation, 'cognitive awareness'^ comes closer to denoting its sense as an awareness of a specific object within a specific sense-field, while 'consciousness' highlights the aspect of vijndna as a subsisting sentience which persists from one life to the next. Suzuki explains the consciousness in a broader sense. He explains "it is not mere cognition or understanding, it is a sort of principle of conscious life as distinguished from the body, and it is also the power or faculty of discrimination."^ Vihndna is closely associated with the continuity and perpetuation of cyclic existence in a variety of ways. First it is one of the four maintenances: The nutriment edible food, gross or subtle; second, contact; third, mental volition; fourth, consciousness.^ These four kinds of nutriment have craving as their source, craving as their origin; they are bom and produced from craving. Thus, driven by craving, the nutriment of consciousness becomes one of the preconditions for rebirth itself: If there is delight, if there is craving^ for the ... nutriment vifindna. Craving in fact is central to the Buddhist thought and it is enshrined in the second Noble Truth, the cause of suffering: ' SN III 87: Vijdnati kho bhikkhave tasma viniidnam ti vuccati; Kosa I 16, p. 11: f^?TR wfdtci^iliii:; Asl., p. 42: "is aware variously". * Suzuki., Studies in the Lahkdvatdra sUtra, p. 176. SN II 13, 101: "The viiinana maintenance (vinndndhdro) is a condition of renewed existence of rebirth in the future" (vififiariaharo ayatirp punabhavabhinibbattiya paccayo). ' Lust (rdga), delight (nandi), and craving (tai^hd) as synonyms for greed {lobha). Consciousness becomes established there and comes to growth (patitthitarn tattha viflfianarn virujharn): having impelled a kamma, it "becomes established and comes to growth" through its ability to drag along a rebirth. 16 And what is the origin of suffering? Is it craving? Which brings renewal of being, is accompanied by delight and lust, and delights in this and that; that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for being, and craving for non-being. This is called the origin of suffering.^ It means, it is an action that is motivated by desire and craving- that entail psycho-ontological consequences, that is, continued rebirth. Craving leads to rebirth in the series of dependent origination in two ways. In the standard fonnula, sense-impressions and feeling give rise to craving (tanhd), which in turn conditions the arising of appropriation (updddna); these last two are afflictive influences which instigate karmic activities, thereby indirectly conditioning the arising of samsdric consciousness. In other contexts, however, craving directly conditions the growth of consciousness, leading directly to further rebirth. Samukta Nikaya^*^ states that when there is a pleasure in or a craving, for any or all of the four kinds of maintenances (dhdra) of those who are already bom or who desire to come to be (sambhavesinam), then consciousness becomes established and comes to growth. Whatever consciousness that becomes established and comes to growth, there is a descent of name and form. Where there is a descent of name-and-form, there is the growth of volitional formations.''
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