What is the difference between the mind and the brain? What is their connection?
Mind is something formless and unobstructed, which has the characteristics of being empty, clear, cognizant, and conscious. The brain is a material form which is made of atoms. Therefore, there is a big difference between these two.
As for their relationship, mind and consciousness, the indestructible continuum which goes from one lifetime to the next is called primordial mind. It is a state which is completely beyond anything. It depends on the channels and energies of the various favorable and unfavorable rebirths of the body in each successive life. The subtle primordial mind mentioned above is activated by these channels and energies, and coincidentally emanates coarse mind. In the beginning, ordinary beings, who have not yet trained their mind stream by means of listening and meditating, are not able to recognize this.
In a normal human body, mind’s location is the wind in the central channel on the heart level. Coarse mind, which has been brought forth from the subtle primordial mind, conceives of forms, sounds and so on. Mostly, this depends on nerve cells in the brain; from that place, it becomes involved with objects. From the Medical Tantras, “The nerves of the sense faculties, which cause the sense objects to arise, depend on the brain.”
What is this brain like, the object on which coarse mind depends? The nerve cells, a net of nerve particles, are called Chu Rtsa in Buddhism. The brain stem is many single subtle nerves, called neurons, joined together. For example, as soon as ink is attached to the edge of a fountain pen or brush pen, one may draw whatever picture one desires. In the same way, coarse mind, accompanied by winds that are in essence unhindered, and based on these nerves, appears as having the ability to cling to objects and to distinguish them. When people die, coarse mind dissolves into subtle mind. Through the power of the wind which also brings forth subtle mind, it moves to other places and takes hold of a different body as its base. As explained, again it emanates coarse mind. In spite of this, some scholars maintain that mind and brain are one or even that the mind is a quality of the brain. For example, the mechanical and materialistic viewpoint of the English philosopher Hobbes, “Concerning the material foundation of the psyche and all the movements of mind, they are truly existent within the human brain.” Also, the French Dr. Augustin Cabanès explained, “Mind consciousness is a thing arisen from the movements of the cerebrum. It is like for example bodily fluids emerging from the liver.” Therefore, many people say that if there is no cerebrum, one should leave the examination of the mind, because then it is impossible that there is an essence to consciousness.
But recently, in America, a boy called Andrew was born without a cerebrum and, until he died at the age of five, was watching movies and laughing. The doctors who examined him explained that he, who has a head but no brain, was a real human being. After that, everywhere people without cerebrum appeared. Moreover, the girl Shanti Devi, born on October 16th, 1926, in New Delhi, India, could clearly remember five previous lives. Many cases like this became known everywhere around the world. For example, it is well known that, according to statistics, in 1992, there were 1,300,000 such cases in America alone. Based on the findings of brain research, it became known that consciousness depends on an entity different from the cerebrum.
In 1972, Dr. R. A. Moody examined 150 people, and in his books, such as Life after Life and The Light Beyond, he explained that people gained confidence that there is still something which remains after death. His primary proof is that people close to death have the experience of a consciousness separated from the body, so-called near-death experiences (NDE). The English scientist John Eccles, Nobel Prize winner in 1963, wrote in the research paper that won him the prize, “What mutually links together the neurons and the formless is a component of consciousness.” And, “After the death of the cerebrum, consciousness, which is non-material, still remains; it does so uninterruptedly.” Dr. John von Neumann, who is very famous all around the world and praised by scientists with the sharpest minds among all the people in the world said, “Within the human body, there is a Self or an I which is non-material consciousness. It is dominated by the cerebrum of the body. From the distance, it perceives things.” Moreover, based on the progress in quantum physics and other disciplines, it has become well known, just like the wind all around the world, that consciousness is of a different essence than the brain.
What is wisdom in a Buddhist sense? What is the difference between the terms wisdom (She Rab, pronounced: sherab) and primordial wisdom (Ye Shes, pronounced: yeshe)?
The word for primordial wisdom, ye shes, consists of two syllables, ye and she. Ye means from the beginning, or primordial nature. Shes is mind which knows this primordial nature of phenomena perfectly. This is the meaning of ye shes in general, as explained in different treatises. Sometimes it can be understood as omniscience and sometimes as the realization of emptiness. There are different meanings according to the different treatises. From the path of accumulation to the tenth Bodhisattva Level, it is possible to understand primordial wisdom.
From a general perspective, the nature of shes rab is mental events. Its function is to remove doubts and to focus on objects of examination. So through its own power, it can distinguish what is to be done and what is to be rejected. This wisdom is in the mind stream of all kinds of beings, Buddhists as well as non-Buddhists. Therefore, there is a big difference between wisdom and primordial wisdom.
If we meditate, how does this benefit others?
If we cultivate completely pure meditation, we will even be able to obtain the state of a buddha, the supreme benefit for ourselves and others, without difficulties. The one who can benefit others best is the Buddha himself. Therefore, huge benefit for others arises through meditation. In particular, the way in which meditation benefits others, depends on the type of meditation.
Many non-Buddhists believe that what we experience is unchangeable fate or at least not caused by ourselves, but by something or somebody else. What exactly is the difference between the Buddhist and the non-Buddhist view of karma and destiny?
The difference between the Buddhist and non-Buddhist view, is whether one sees or not, that all ways in which happiness and suffering appear depend on one’s own positive or negative actions of body, speech, and mind. Karma, according to the Buddhist system, means that beings bring about various experiences of happiness and suffering in accordance with their positive and negative actions of body, speech, and mind. Moreover, they are born in a place that corresponds to the accumulations of karma of the respective kind of beings. They experience feelings of happiness and suffering together with a world created according to the respective kind.
Non-Buddhists have many different positions. One can organize them in two kinds: those maintaining that all worlds arose by themselves and those maintaining that they were made by a supreme creator such as Shiva. If one asserts the first position, namely that everything is self-arisen, it becomes impossible that there is either a method for beings to improve their way of life in the desired direction towards joy and happiness or a method to stop the conditions for undesired suffering. So any kind of effort becomes useless because everything arises by itself.
According to the second viewpoint, a creator made the inanimate outer world, things without feelings like the continents, which exist for a long time and are free from sickness, and at the same time animate beings, like humans, that have feelings and short lives tormented by sickness, trouble, and suffering. Also, during this short life, happiness should come about effortlessly. Therefore, in brief, the supreme creator, who brought about the many sufferings of the world, should have been created by another creator. There are also many other subjects to be discussed or questions to be examined, such as whether or not the creator has complete power to create everything, but we cannot go into detail here.
If we go back to the Buddhist understanding of karma, for example, just as the well-being of a body, whether free from sickness or having sickness, depends on one’s health, all happiness and suffering depends on one’s positive or negative actions. Moreover, just as with the experiences of positive actions, the health of a body free from sickness and in a good shape will be exhausted one day. For a person who is planning more positive actions, the Buddha Jewel, the one who shows the path of the teachings, is like a doctor. The Dharma Jewel, the completely pure path of methods, the positive actions in accordance with the Dharma, is like good health. And all the friends who also practice this path of methods are called the Sangha Jewel. Basing oneself on these Jewels in the appropriate way enables one to become free from all suffering and to obtain all happiness, the state of perfect Buddhahood. This is what is special about the Buddha’s teachings.
How can we influence our karma in a positive way?
Investigate and examine carefully the unmistaken methods for generating benefit and happiness for ourselves and others. At the same time see what the path towards generating temperate and ultimate benefit is and in what manner one needs to abandon bad behavior not in accordance with the practice of these methods. Finally, understand the need to practice with body, speech, and mind whatever is in accordance with them. If we hold on to the positive, we will see for ourselves what is beneficial and what is not, at all times and in all situations. By being our own teacher and our own pilot and always concentrating on our understanding, we will easily become able to change our actions of body, speech, and mind into a positive direction.
Are mind and consciousness the same?
It is correct to say that mind and consciousness are the same.
The answers to these questions, as well as those presented in Buddhism Today, No.19, were composed by the one named Ju Mipham Tulku during five mornings and evenings, based on what he heard and on a multitude of historical texts. May it be auspicious!
