The 16th Dharma Session of Middle Way Buddhist Association: The Inner Consciousness

The fascinating topic of the Inner Consciousness, the cognitive and affective core of the human mind as Buddhism views it, was the chosen theme of the 16th Dharma Session of Middle Way Buddhist Association (MWBA) held on May 25, 2008 at its Pinellas Park venue. It was delivered by Bhante Upananda, by now a familiar Buddhist monk who has graced the MWBA Dharma sessions on numerous occasions.

Bhante started with some rudimentary and brief lessons on the Pali language, which consists of 41 alphabets/letters following the romanized International Pali Alphabets (IPA) system. One Pali root word is [buj] (the Sanskrit root is [budh]), meaning to awake, to know, or to enlighten. Most will recognize that this is the first part of the word, Buddha, meaning the Awakened/Enlightened One.


For the topic of the day, the relevant root word is [na] [here I would like to apologize for my inability to use the curly hats/bars over these letters as they should], which means to know, to be aware. Examples are sanna (preception), vinnana (consciousness), panna (understanding). The six areas of consciousness, vinnana, are: eye-consciousness (cakkhu-vinnana), ear-consciousness (sota-vinnana), nose-consciousness (ghana-vinnana), tongue-consciousness (jivha-vinnana), body/skin-consciousness (kayai-vinnana), and mind-consciousness (mano-vinnana). The first five (outer) are projections of the 6th, which has no bodily form but is as regular as the others. In terms of the base of consciousness/sense faculties, the first five have a corporeal base while the 6th, mental. The mind is all over the body except the hair and nail. And the brain and heart are closest to the mind.

In the western world, psychology is long considered as part of biology/neurology, though this sub-classification is beginning to change due to the infusion of Eastern philosophy. On the other hand, Buddhist psychology commences from fetal development (but this is just a convenient starting position from a pedagogical standpoint that entails an endless chain described by the twelve links of causality).

A distinct example is the Last-Thought Moment (LTM, not to be confused with LMT, lifting, moving and touching in moving meditation). Upon dying, the mind separates from the physical body, which has become dysfunctional, and is reduced to the 6th consciousness (mind consciousness). Just before the last breadth is drawn, the 6th also becomes dysfunctional.

The inner consciousness is closer to the 6th, but is yet none of these. It is the absolute layer of consciousness that comprises the innermost (mental) aspects. This is the subliminal layer of the consciousness that is immune to the outside world.

In the Mahayana tradition, there is also a storehouse-consciousness, the alaya-vinnanna, which functions like a microchip, in modern day parlance, of karmic data. Thus, the other layers are reduced to the microchip that manifests, in simple terms, in the extremes of our mental states between mania (feeling big) and morbid (feeling small).

As an analogy, a huge tree begins from a seed, which assumes no identity as all seeds are at the same level, be they Gods, humans, animals, etc. Then the inner consciousness opens up, as if it is watching itself. A next birth is triggered when a random seed springs up out of the billions of karmic seeds, unless it is driven by a previous resolution. In this case, one is karmically qualified to become one based on one's resolution. As is the case at the imminence of death, the birth is preceded by a gap, the first thought moment of life. In Buddhism, the self that ensues is independent, but changing constantly.

As mentioned previously, the fetal development is the fundamental level resulting from the union of the father's male egg cell and the mother's female egg cell to form the physical embryo. At the same instant, the mental side is formed from the birth consciousness, the microchip.

In Pali, Vinnana ani dassanam. That means, Vinnana is ineffable (beyond metaphor/description). At this point, liberation and nirvana are deemed as ineffable knowing. It is higher than the microchip.

In vipassana meditation, one senses impermanence. While one still feels oneself, there is no burden, hence, the absence of self/ego. The microchip opens up, and one would totally kill the karmic seeds to clear the microchip. But memories remain and yet they cannot be acted upon without the karmic seeds.

Understandably, inner consciousness is an extremely complex subject in Buddhism and would certainly defy even a basic level of understanding at first sitting of such a short length, and based on a feeble transcription attempt by a layperson (yours truly) at that. It is hoped that Bhante would expand and clarify on many more aspects in future sessions.