Is imagination mind-consciousness or another type?

Q & A
21

@Adutiya I don’t think you can split imagination from perception, discernment and consciousness.
First the Buddha sees the rain drops- there is the object, the eye and eye consciousness- contact. Then he perceives them as rain drops (saññā), then sankhara and mind consciousness kicks in and he is able to create a story.

This is similar to the process in MN18 - except the Buddha stops at the point below, rather than making a personality out of it

Eye consciousness arises dependent on the eye and sights. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a condition for feeling. What you feel, you perceive. What you perceive, you think about. What you think about, you proliferate.

Hopefully I’m understanding you both.

2 Likes
22

Yes, and as I see it, no matter what type of consciousness arises - the important thing is to see their three characteristics. So, even if there is imagination (which is mind-consciousness), even in an arahant, they would not cling to it but know that even that is an arising and ceasing condition, which is non-self. We also need to realize that our mental states are constantly changing moment by moment (or micro-moment by micro-moment) and it is only through sharp mindfulness that we can observe and understand this constant change as well as their three characteristics.

1 Like