Mind–Body Complex

Abstract

This chapter presents the various ways in which mind and body are conceptualized in the Indian traditions since the time of the Vedas. A wide range of schools of thought are covered: Sāṁkhya-Yoga, Advaita Vedānta, Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, Buddism, and Jainism. Since the Vedic times the mind is seen as clouding pure consciousness. The idea that the mind consists of cognitive, emotive, and volitional dimensions also goes back to ancient times. In Sāṁkhya-Yoga, the focus is on the continuous fluctuations of the processes of the mind (citta vṛttis), and ways for controlling the fluctuations are developed as a means to attain liberation (kailvalya). The Advaitic idea that perception involves the “going out” to the object via senses is briefly explained. The similarities between the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika ideas of the nature of mind and other major systems of Indian thought are pointed out. In Buddhism mind is often viewed as “that which thinks of its object”, and a variety of aggregates of bodily and mental states are identified and clearly defined. After presenting an account of the ways in which the sense organs are viewed in Indian thought, we present an overview of a model of the mind-body complex. An important distinction made in Indian thought between two ways of knowing: knowing through the mediation of sensing, as opposed to an unmediated knowing or a direct realization of truth in pure consciousness. Finally, some important differences as well as complementary aspects of Indian and Western views of the mind are pointed out.