Mind, Brain and Buddhism

What is mind? And where is mind? Is the mind the same as the brain?

Buddhism often articulates about mind and matter or mind and body. This means

that the mind and the body (matter) cannot be understood separately from one

another. Basically, mind is a pattern of consciousness that is born from

awareness. In fact, mind is known as consciousness in individuality and it is more

objective and involves clear discrimination – differentiates and understands the

characteristics of objects. If one refers to the cycle of Dependent Origination,

manas that unfolds against the backdrop of consciousness (preliminary) is an

architect that activates mind and body creations. Mind and body are simply two

aspects of the same thing.

In the dependent nature, everything that exists would comprise with energy and

energy is nothing more than mere vibration. Therefore, manas would vibrate in a

certain unique frequency pattern – a wave of collated high and low vibrations. This

blueprint of vibrations would subsequently bring forth a conflation of mind and

body. The principle in effect: the lower the frequency, the slower the vibration;

the higher the frequency, the faster the vibration. Slower vibration would lead to

the body and the sense bases formation and faster vibration would lead to the

mind formation. Collectively, it brings about a new life existence with a unique

individuality that would not allow the disruption by any kind of external

interference; thus it maintains a self-identity.

In other words, mind and body are present in every created thing as one integrated

whole. Even an atom has a kind of mind that is unique or individualised. The

nucleus of the atom, around which electrons vibrate in standing waves, constitutes

the atom’s individuality. As a result, one atom distinguishes from another atom –

just as one person is different from another person or as one thing is different

from another thing. Therefore, the origin of individuality is the same as the origin

of the mind. Nevertheless, the mind is comprised with two terms i.e. prevailing

consciousness and subtle consciousness. Both the prevailing and the subtle mind

consciousnesses would arise in the sentient beings but for other things, merely

subtle mind consciousness would arise. In addition, it is the mind, the

consciousness of individuality, which holds together the atoms and molecules as

one integrated body in a lifetime. Scientifically, the atoms are held together by

covalent chemical bonds but the synergies of it would give rise to the mind, the

consciousness of individuality.

For general understanding, consciousness is synergy. Synergy is generally defined

as the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is

greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc. In other words,

synergy is energy that expands through cooperation and it is a key to the

geometric expansion of consciousness. When the nervous system in a new body is

formed, sense consciousness would arise simultaneously. Sense consciousness is

a subtle synergy resulted from the interaction of subtle mind consciousness in the

new body i.e. the electrochemical transmission along the neurons throughout the

nervous system. Moreover, the central nervous system especially the brain would

comprise with the highest density of neurons in the entire nervous system of the

new body and this circumstance would give rise to another type of synergy

identified as prevailing mind consciousness – a prevalent synergy.

The prevailing mind consciousness is regarded as the ‘working’ consciousness or

the mind-in-command i.e. the mind that can lead, take charge, concentrate, make

decision and convey action. Basically, prevailing conscious mind is closely related

to the physical body or more specifically, the brain. This means there would be a

biological clock being attached within it i.e. there would be duration for staying

awake and for resting. Without the brain, there would be no prevailing mind

consciousness in existence. In other words, mind consciousness and brain are

symbiotic; one never exists without the other. The brain is actually a coagulated

form of the conflated prevailing and subtle mind consciousnesses itself - just as

water looks like ice, the mind looks like the brain, and the body. With high density

of neurons, the brain could perform a variety of complex functions beside

transmitting signals and sending messages to each other parts of the body. Among

the complex functions are controlling, regulating, analysing, organising, wishing,

interpreting, memorising, etc. – for these complex functions are basically, the roles

of prevailing and subtle mind consciousnesses.

On the other hand, subtle mind consciousness is somehow independent from the

physical body. For general understanding, subtle mind consciousness does not

consume as much energy as prevailing mind consciousness. Subtle mind

consciousness can process and store information without a lot of work or the

intervention of prevailing mind consciousness. In other words, subtle mind

consciousness could operate in the absence of prevailing mind consciousness with

the least of energy consumption on 24 hours/day and 365 days/year - this would

mean a plenty of energy reserves for prolonging the lifespan of a body in a lifetime.

In fact, for over 90% of the time in a lifespan, the body is administered by subtle

mind consciousness and it simply operates like a radar detector – sensing all

spectrums of vibrational frequencies from the surroundings and across the time

stream (past, present and future).

As such, one would notice that an enlightened subtle mind consciousness would

operate like a long range radar detector which is highly luminous and vigilant to any

development of circumstances and surpassing time. When one has reached the

maturity of a lifespan, the mind and body would go through a dying process,

inevitably. And the first type of consciousness to depart the body would be the

prevailing mind consciousness. In the sentient beings, the prevailing mind

consciousness that bonds strongly the atoms and the molecules together would

die out and evolve into other energies concurrently. This incidence would lead to

an impulse occurrence with a demonstration of a final burst of energy nearing the

moments of death. Subsequently, the segregating process would conquest with

most of the subtle mind consciousness departing the death body.

For an ignorant being, during a disintegrating process, the elements of prevailing

consciousness or so-called the ‘chain of consciousness’ would die out and the

force of Ignorance (an outward tendency force) would overcome the force of

Awakening (an inward tendency force). The elements of subtle consciousness

would then liberate into fragments. The amount of liberated fragments is very

much dependent on the level of Ignorance or Awakening within the being. And for

an ignorant being, the level of Ignorance would surpass the level of Awakening and

this would mean the intensity of Ignorance is higher than the intensity of

Awakening. A higher intensity of Ignorance would mean a higher intensity of

becoming. A higher intensity of becoming would mean a higher amount of liberated

fragments. On the other hand, for an awakened being, the amount of liberated

fragments is much lesser than an ignorant being because there is lower intensity of

Ignorance as compared with the intensity of Awakening. Also, the dispersion of

liberated fragments is more confined and restricted to much fewer new individuals.

As a conclusion, mind and brain are two aspects of the same thing. In fact, the

brain is a coagulated form of the mind itself. The prevailing mind consciousness

and sense consciousness would not arise without the manifestation of a physical

body. In other words, there is a need for the existence of a physical body or

precisely, a brain, before the attaining of a full enlightenment by individuals is made

possible. This is because prevailing mind consciousness is a necessity for

conjuring up one’s sheer determination to end the state of suffering conclusively;

without it, the achieving of full enlightenment is impossible. On the other hand,

subtle mind consciousness that is somehow independent from the physical body

and would continue to play a significant role in the wheel of life. During the

segregating process, sense consciousness and the lingering subtle mind

consciousness would evolve into other energies concurrently with the body

decomposing process. At the end of the day, the fragmented subtle mind

consciousness with some retained subtle information within the elements of subtle

memory would sustain freedom of sorts and waiting for the next aligning process

and the new balanced phenomena to arise, thus depicting the continuous flow or

repeating cycle of birth, life, death and re-birth - known as samsāra.