Consciousness in the EBT

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From the introduction:
"In this role consciousness and name-and-form are said to whirl continually around each other to produce our whole conceptual world. In fact, in the seminal Mahānidāna Sutta , which omits the two links prior to consciousness consciousness, we learn that consciousness and name-and-form are mutually conditioning:1
(3) consciousness :left_right_arrow: (4) name-and-form."

Most DO suttas donā€™t describe this mutual relationship between consciousness and name+form, itā€™s the exception to the rule. For that reason I have reservations about any analysis which relies heavily on this exception.

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Whippet,
I agree with the caveat about reliance on obscure statements in the suttas. However, my analysis does not depend on this statement from the Mahānidāna and related suttas; on the contrary, it explains this statement in terms of the descent and growth phases of consciousness described elsewhere, the first dependent on name-and-form, the second giving rise to it. Moreover, there are other significant references to the mutual dependence between consciousness and name-and-form, most notably Sariputtaā€™s two bundles of leaves simile.

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Thanks for the response, I will look at this in more detail.

Also in the introduction I noticed this: ā€œWe will also see that consciousness tends to arise in the presence of craving. Consciousness is also mentioned as a dependent component of (6) contact.ā€

In DO craving arises in dependence upon contact, which, as you observe, includes consciousness. Iā€™m not clear about the first sentence, could you explain the source for this? The standard formula in the suttas says that sense-consciousness arises in dependence upon sense-base and sense-object, Iā€™m not clear where craving comes in here? Or is this a reference to consciousness arising in dependence upon formations in the DO sequence?

ā€œWe will also see ā€¦ā€ means that the point of the first sentence is to be presented in the course of the essay. I hope it is clear there.