Vinnana means consciousness. What does consciousness mean?

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Consciousness means different things to different people. I think the Buddha used “consciousness” to mean self awareness. That is awareness of myself in relation to the things around me. It is a complex web of relationships that tugs “me” in different directions. Sanna, I believe is awareness of objects without the web connecting them. Vinnana is built on top of sanna. Nibbana is awareness of the absence of objects and I think Panna is awareness of the world knowing that there is awareness of alternatives.

That’s my take on it for what it is worth. I would like to hear what others think.

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The suttas really don’t elaborate too much. Commentaries get into some specifics, but I’m not well versed in them.

Superficially, vinnana cognizes, bitter, pugnent, sweet, alkaline, etc. Sanna discerns red, white, black, etc. Honestly, it’s hard to make out a difference.

Perhaps vinnana could be experiencing what is, while sanna is attributing something.

Etymologically “saṁ” prefix means “together, altogether” etc; “vi” means “discriminatory”, which would be the reverse of what I’ve said.

Perhaps it’s something like Induction/Deduction. Or Analysis/Synthesis. Awareness / Discrimination. etc

It’s possible that these terms were well understood in post-vedic literature, and Buddha wasn’t too fussed to give proper definitions.

Which is why, while as scholars and translators, we should strive to understand what these terms mean exactly - there’s many ways to divide the mental functions, and what we have is a specifically tailored formula that’s meant to be easy to memorise as a shortcut for “All that happens in the mind”, however they can be distinguished or defined - all of these are to be abandoned.

Makes the job of scholars and translators harder, makes the practicioner’s job easier. Whatever it is, just abandon it (and potentially leave it untranslated! :sweat_smile: )

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If I wanted to be snarky, I would say by that definition sanna means colors and vinnana tastes.

“Samjna” seems to pertain to putting things together to create wholes/things/objects. “Vijnana” seems to pertain to excluding some things requiring creation of additional wholes/things/objects. “Samjna” creates “this” and vijnana creates “that”. Once there is a “that” namarupa creates a “me” in “that”. “Nibanna” seems to pertain to “nothing”, that is, there is no “that”, let alone “a me in that”. Panna seems to pertain to knowing “sometimes there is a me in that and sometimes there is not a me or a that and the first is suffering, and the second is not.”

When there is no this or that or a me in that, that is the end of suffering.

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My conclusions:

Vinnana in the suttas almost always refers to an established-vinnana. You can see this in SN22.53. When there is tanha, asava, anusaya, there is still an element that causes engagement, involvement. This means that ‘our’ knowing at those moments, out of force of habit, will direct too, and get involved with something; a feeling, an emotion, a thought etc. Our knowing establishes upon that.

In practice this is just the situation that our attention is caught by something and we are acutely aware of something. But it is also much more. “Caught” also means that our mind/knowing has become fixed and rigid. Our knowing is unwillingly directed towards something, it establishes out of force of habit upon something. It is also a moment of fettering.

So, this vinnana moment, this cognitive moment also represents an element of unfreedom, fettering. There is a certain rigidness establishing too.
Besides this, it is also a defiled kind of knowing moment. Because in this kind of cognitive moment there is always this element of engagement (tanha, anusaya asava). It is never without. So the understanding/knowing is also distorted at that moment.

So, vinnana is not merely being aware of something, a consciousness or bare awareness of something. Not at all. Rather when vinnana establishes on something this represents a cognitive moment that is 1. Defiled, impure, involved 2. Distorted, 3. Unfree or fettered, rigid.

When there is no element of engagement or becoming involved at all present (no tanha no asava, no anusaya), there is a situation that our knowing does not become established upon something, at least not unwillingly due to asava, tanha, anusaya. Not on a rupa, not on a Vedana, not on a sankhara, not on a sanna. The mind or our knowing remains open, empty, desireless, uninclined, undirected, vacant, free. This is purity.

It is NOT the nature of mind that we are trapped in a cognitieve process of being alternately captured by something seen, heard, felt etc. That is how a defiled mind functions but not a pure mind. We must not think that mind/knowing always alternately lands on this and then on that. Only defiled minds functions this way.

When the heart and mind are purified mind becomes steady. It is always vacant, and freed now. Open. Extremely pliant, easy to use.

When our knowing becomes established upon something. i.e. involved in something, for example an emotion, there is also a sense of Me knowing this emotion. It is a defiled and distorted cognitive moment. So, this is always also a self-awareness. Vinnana establishing always contains the dual notion of a subject/me/I perceiving this or that.

This is what the concept of vinnana expresses i believe. It is much more then consciousness. When ‘our’ knowing establishes upon something this also implies 1. Engagement/involvement, defilement, fettering, unfreedom, impurity. In short, a defiled distorted cognitieve moment has established, ie vinnana has established!

I have faith that there is also a knowing that is vacant, a knowing that does not become engaged. Pure. It does not establish upon something. It is desireless, empty, undirected, uninclined, signless. This is very subtle. It is open, vacant, empty, free, steady too.

One can also see this as a dimension of emptiness and clear light (knowing).
If you try to seek this vacant mind/knowing you cannot pinpoint it. You cannot find it nor describe it. It can never be sensed.

Besides having some intuitional understanding of all this, some feeling, great meditation masters from many Buddhist traditions teach that we can also have a direct meeting with this vacant and unestablished knowing. The citta, the buddha nature, the stable, the unconditioned, the deathless, the amazing, the wonderful, Nibbana dhatu. But it is not known by the senses.

Anyway, I am convinced that vinnana does imply much more then consciousness in the suttas. In practice and how the portrayed Buddha uses this concept, it refers to: an involved, engaged, defiled, impure, fettered, unfree, rigid, deluded, dual (subject-object) cognitive/knowing moment. In short: vinnana establishing.

In the core the Buddha, I feel, wants to open our eyes for this knowing element inside us that has no direction, does not establish upon something, remains uninvolved, is signless, desireless, transcendent, unwordly, the escape, island.

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When you say “established-vinnana” I would say “fixated awareness”? Thus unfixated awareness is nibbana or at least leads to it.

Added later: Maybe engaged awareness is better. Disengaged awareness would lead to nibanna.

Added later: Engagement is volition.

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Green wrote:

When our knowing becomes established upon something. i.e. involved in something, for example an emotion, there is also a sense of Me knowing this emotion. It is a defiled and distorted cognitive moment. So, this is always also a self-awareness. Vinnana establishing always contains the dual notion of a subject/me/I perceiving this or that.

An excellent explanation, thank you. Sutta on Entanglement refers to the same situation.

Later you continued

I have faith that there is also a knowing that is vacant, a knowing that does not become engaged. Pure. It does not establish upon something. It is desireless, empty, undirected, uninclined, signless. This is very subtle. It is open, vacant, empty, free, steady too.

Finally I hear from someone who has a faith similar to mine. Thank you for this. At times one reads in the suttas about a featureless consciousness, or a consciousness that does not get planted anywhere. This basically refers to the consciousness of the Arahant that does not get entangled in anything, neither in greed, hatred nor confusion/Moha
With love
.

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Consciousness is dependently arisen. It should be understood and seen as anicca, dukkha, anatta.

‘The six classes of consciousness should be understood.’ That’s what I said, but why did I say it? Eye consciousness arises dependent on the eye and sights. Ear consciousness arises dependent on the ear and sounds. Nose consciousness arises dependent on the nose and smells. Tongue consciousness arises dependent on the tongue and tastes. Body consciousness arises dependent on the body and touches. Mind consciousness arises dependent on the mind and ideas. ‘The six classes of consciousness should be understood.’ That’s what I said, and this is why I said it. This is the third set of six.

-MN 148

Is consciousness permanent or impermanent?”—“Impermanent, venerable sir.”—“Is what is impermanent suffering or happiness?”— “Suffering, venerable sir.”—“Is what is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change fit to be regarded thus: ‘This is mine, this I am, this is my self’?”—“No, venerable sir.”

[…]

Any kind of consciousness whatsoever, whether past, future, or present, internal or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior, far or near, all consciousness should be seen as it really is with correct wisdom thus: ‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my self.’

-SN 22.59

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Awareness entrapped vs awareness released:

If there is desire, relishing, and craving for contact as fuel … If there is desire, relishing, and craving for mental intention as fuel … If there is desire, relishing, and craving for consciousness as fuel, consciousness becomes established there and grows. Where consciousness is established and grows, name and form are conceived. Where name and form are conceived, there is the growth of choices. Where choices grow, there is rebirth into a new state of existence in the future. Where there is rebirth into a new state of existence in the future, there is rebirth, old age, and death in the future. Where there is rebirth, old age, and death in the future, I say this is full of sorrow, anguish, and distress…

If there is no desire, relishing, and craving for contact as fuel … If there is no desire, relishing, and craving for mental intention as fuel … If there is no desire, relishing, and craving for consciousness as fuel, consciousness doesn’t become established there and doesn’t grow. Where consciousness is not established and doesn’t grow, name and form are not conceived. Where name and form are not conceived, there is no growth of choices. Where choices don’t grow, there is no rebirth into a new state of existence in the future. Where there is no rebirth into a new state of existence in the future, there is no rebirth, old age, and death in the future. Where there is no rebirth, old age, and death in the future, I say there’s no sorrow, anguish, and distress. SN 12.64

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And yet, although this consciousness is liberated, unattached, unidentified, and unperturbed, it is included in the concept of “consciousness.” And all types of consciousness, any consciousness, be it the most refined and sublime, are anicca, dukkha, anatta. Arises conditionedly, and without a condition there is no arising of consciousness, as was said to the deluded monk Sati. And therefore, with the cessation of cause, effect - that is, consciousness, which is by nature “dukkha” - ceases. This is nibbana, the very quality of peace and absolute emptiness.

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But if sense-consciousness (vinnana) ceases, how does the Arahant see and hear?

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Hi Martin!

Maybe this thread will help with such questions? :joy: :pray:

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Peace does not capture the aggregates in their complete totality. First, craving and clinging fade away and calm down. This is peace and this is nibbana, the cessation of fire. Then the six spheres of contact and the anxiety associated with them fade away, and this is also peace and also the cessation of fire, but of a different kind. After all, feeling, contact, vinñāna are also flame and also burning, and in a number of suttas they are presented by this metaphor. So in the first part of the message I essentially spoke about the element of nibbana with residual fuel. And in the second about the element of nibbana without remainder.

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