The Power of Mind

The title of this essay suggests that mind has the ability to do some works – works in this case refer to the thought processes, speeches or talks, actions and reactions. People talk about peace of mind, greedy mind, angry mind, caring mind, loving mind, etc. In all these cases mind is understood to represent the person with his or her state of mind. Despite such common references, mind has no easily understandable definition.
While I was drafting this piece, my elder daughter sent me a Youtube link called The Scientific Power of Meditation. The video helped clarifying some of my thoughts. As one often hears, in biological search neuroscientists try to see mind as the working of brain waves of different frequencies. But in some instances, mind was found to be active in clinically brain-dead people. Further testimony to such findings is evident in the functions of brainless plants – raising questions on how mind functions really – whether or not it is dependent on brain.
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1. Mind and Matter
Since the discovery of JC Bose (1858 – 1937) about plant life – scientists believe that brainless plant life functions like any other life form – in its way of cognitive processes. It is more obvious in the behavior of Mimosa Pudica – the leaves of which sleep when touched – but when repeated with harmless touch – it recognizes the touch as such, without seeing the necessity to go to sleep. It has been observed that brainless organisms like Slime Mold learn and make intelligent decisions – to figure out, for example the optimum network of pathways to find food sources. Bio-electricity is one of the factors attributed to the cognitive processes of plants. Japanese researchers studied such slime behaviors – and the findings have been used, as one of the factors to define the Tokyo traffic network. The 2022 NAP document Physics of Life throws some light on the interlinked processes encompassing the physics and biology of life system.
Further, the immaterial faculty of consciousness, but that modulates matter, exists not only in human being, but also in other creatures belonging to the advanced hierarchy of evolution. This was observed by none other than Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882). In the Descent of Man (1971), he wrote: Man possesses some of the general instincts, & moral feelings as animals . . . but Man has reasoning powers in excess . . . We know that certain creatures realize long in advance about an incoming Natural disaster such as an earthquake and a volcano, perhaps with their senses responding to certain frequencies. Perhaps our ancient ancestors had attributes of mind and matter sharper than what we have today. It can be argued that simply because of urbanization and dependence on numerous gadgets, human being is susceptible to lose sharpness of some senses in time to come.     
All these indicate that there are many unanswered questions and perhaps the inquiry shows the limitation of and inadequacy in the biological search for understanding the mind. Mind may be powered by brain, but perhaps its mystery is above and beyond the biological and materialistic scrutiny. Or perhaps there is a need for materialistic and philosophical approaches to converge in some fashion. Or, perhaps the papers presented in The National Academy of Sciences publication, In the Light of Evolution Volume VII: the Human Mental Machinery 2014 represent one such approach.   
Let us attempt to delve further into the issue of combining the ‘Res Cogitans’ or mind, described as an entity separate from, but in mutual nourishment with ‘Res Extensa’ or matter – the two identified by R Descartes (1596 – 1650) philosophy. The pioneering works of the 20th century modern science – is perhaps the right beginning in that direction (see more in The Quantum World).
Max KEL Planck (1858 – 1947), the father of Quantum Mechanics who ushered in – the dawn of modern science – enlightens us by saying that any perception of matter – is the result of a force or energy that exists and originates from consciousness and mind: All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together . . . We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter. Thus mind and matter are not two separate entities – rather, they are part of one whole – that defines everything. In other words - they are the constructs of mind - as in the Gautama Buddha’s (624 – 544 BCE) - The Tathagata saying (Dhammapada, Verses 1 & 2): Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought . . .
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2. The Cognitive Awareness of the Object - the Processes of the Five Aggregates
It is necessary to delve into the mind phenomenon further. What is mind - the universe of mind? Perhaps any attempt to answer it directly and simply will amount to no-understanding at all. While talking about mind one can hardly afford to escape the rationality of the teachings of the Buddha more than 2 millennia ago. His teachings – very elaborate and systematic, take one to a very deep level of secular analysis of the mind phenomena.
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2.1 Citta or Consciousness
The teachings were compiled (compiled at the First Buddhist Council in 543 BCE at Rajgir) in the Abhidharma Pitaka (collection of higher teachings or philosophical texts) – one of the three Pitakas of the Buddhist Canon. It devotes three elaborate chapters on the mind (or Mano) phenomena. In scientific details they present the processes of mind: the Citta (consciousness); the Cetasikas (the consciousness concomitants or companions of consciousness); and the Vithi (the cognitive processes). This elaboration points to the fact that - while mind is a function of consciousness or the Citta, and the cognitive processes - as described further later, consciousness itself is born out of mind as the sixth sense, independent of, or together with the five other body senses (the active ones). Knowledge is complete - and reach the level of wisdom when all the senses in the state of calmness and cognition - support and complement one another in the processes of developing consciousness.
Buddhist method of meditation practices to train and calm one’s mind, to attain the clarity of one’s understanding of things, and to achieve transformation through enlightenment is primarily based on mind analysis. I am neither a Buddhist scholar nor an expert on other religions, yet sometimes answers to difficult questions arising from the complexities of the modern world can be found in ancient wisdoms.
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2.2 The Five Aggregates
In Buddha Dharma, our awareness – the SUBJECT’s experience – of the reality of anything and anyone – the OBJECT – occurs through the systematic processes of Panch Khandhas or Five Aggregates (FA). The key to the initiation of FA processes - is the development of Cetana, a sort of volition, motivation or wish to observe or becoming aware the object. Without Cetana, the observer or the subject is just someone passive without being aware of the presence of the object. In fact, the thread of Cetana must always be there throughout the processes of FA and cognition - otherwise they might break into incomplete pieces. This entails that depending on purpose or interest - one may strengthen or weaken the spirit of Cetana. 
The FA processes explain the ever changing experiences of the fluxes of mind and matter – all having different life cycles and strengths. Let us attempt to understand this interesting teaching of the Buddha – and most of the materials covered in this section can be grasped further by reading the 1995 excellent book of Dr MT Mon.
An aggregate is a loosely packed composite of individual elements. The definition of experiencing the reality in terms of aggregates – can be described as follows: that the composite is FLEXIBLE as opposed to being RIGID. This means individual elements within the pack – can and do change positions in response to the translation of the spacetime fabric. The nature of flexibility becomes clear when explained in terms of three contexts – to examine and assess any experience through the subject-object contexts – (1) the context of a certain time and space, (2) the context of impermanence and (3) the context of causes ↔ conditions or interdependence. The last two contexts are elaborated in The Fundamental Laws of Nature.
An experiencing individual or the Subject – goes through the processes of Panch Khandhas like this:(1) the Rupakhandha or Matter Senses – the elements of solidity (the body skeleton), fluidity (the body liquid and blood), fire or heat (digestive processes), wind (the air one breathes) and the five body or material sense organs – eye, ear, nose, taste and touch. All or some of these senses collect information about the object;
(2) the Vedanakhandha or Sensation – pleasant, unpleasant or neutral sensations of the object information collected by the five sense organs – the degree or quality of the sensations depending on how many senses are involved in the process;
(3) the Sannakhandha or Perception – recognition, identification and filtration of the sensations – the arising of the visualizations of the Name and Form of the object;
(4) the Sanskharakhanda or Mental Formation – the role of the sixth-sense, the mind comes in – to turn the visualizations – into mental formations, and;
(5) the Vijnanakhandha or Consciousness – multiple images of the object takes shape with attributes afforded by Perception, and Mental Formation. At this stage, some 89 to 121 Cittas take shape.
Some of these Cittas – comprise of what are commonly described as the various levels of consciousness – the active ones – and the inactive ones of subconsciousness and unconsciousness. The latter though not always active – somehow affect one’s personality, trait and certain behaviors. The accumulation and filtration of various consciousnesses over time - turn into memories that are tappable by the subject if Cetana is there.
As discussed further later, as the cognitive processes begin to function – all the Citta aggregates lead to forming a particular definitive image of the object.
Among the five elements of the Aggregates, the first three can be classified as causative factors – leading to the conditioning as in the Fourth – to the birth of multiple consciousness of the object as in the Fifth.
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2.3 The Origins of Consciousness
The discussed contexts deal with the spacetime origin of the experience in the Matter-Immatter dynamics: (a) Kama-Loka, those originating in the sense sphere (originating primarily in unwholesomeness); (b) Rupa-Loka, those originating in the fine material sphere (originating primarily in wholesomeness); (c) Arupa-Loka, those originating in the immaterial sphere (originating primarily in the sixth-sense); and (d) Lokuttara, those originating in the supramundane level (originating primarily in the sixth-sense sublime, spiritual and intellectual sphere).
Among these four, the first three origins – lead to the category of experiencing the Sammuti Sacca or the Conventional Truth. The fourth leads to experiencing the Paramattha Sacca or the Ultimate Truth. More in The Way of Simplicity, Balance and Wisdom.
The Buddha’s definition is unlike any other – and is different from Western concept. Like everything else in the Buddha’s teaching – nothing is linear – so are all phenomena and processes in Nature. They are rather the depiction of the rolling of an Incomplete Rolling Circle of a Net of Eternal Knots. Perhaps, one can imagine this – as the rolling of a flexible string or rope of many knots in transience – as proposed in the String Theory – the size of the string being dependent on the extent of coverage.
Now, let us attempt to see how the processes of FA work through a simple example. Let us do it in terms of information, the object – the information that we are bombarded with – in every single day through various avenues of media and cyberspace. A Subject named ‘pi’ is trying to make sense of information at a certain time and space, the Object, ‘inf’. ‘pi’ reads (eye-sensor) or hears (ear-sensor) ‘inf’, let’s us say originating in Rupa-Loka. Through the causative processes of FA, ‘pi’ develops a certain conditioned Citta, Citta1.
The same information, if he reads or hears again at a different spacetime, in all likelihood, depending on his state of mind, Citta1 will be conditioned to something else, Citta2. The same pattern of conditioning is likely to happen if the Object’s character is changed, because the causative factor is now switched from Subject to the Object. If one repeats this experimentation pertaining to all different scenarios, a pattern of FA processes will likely emerge. The pattern of different Cittas will be governed by the Fundamental Laws of Nature; the Subject ↔ Object and the Causes ↔ Conditions relationships.
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2.4 Cognition and Awareness
The developed multiple Cittas are supported and reinforced by the Cetasikas and the Vithi (the cognitive processes) – to turn them into single image of the object. The three define what is known as Mano or the mind. Dr Mon defines Vithi as "a chain of consciousness or cognitive series that arises when a sense object appears at one of the sense-doors in order to be aware of the object".
The cognitive processes are similar like thinking processes – aimed at examining the rationality of the various consciousnesses of the object that arise in a person through the six senses. They focus on narrowing down the impression of the object to characterize it – so as to develop an appropriate awareness of it. The awareness in turn – leads to decision making. In analogous with the processes of Quantum Mechanics – various consciousnesses are like fuzzy waves that collapse into a single state when measured – the measurement being the equivalent of cognition.
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3. The Mind Phenomena
3. 1 Mind - the Sixth Sense
How best to describe mind as the sixth sense? Mind like the other body sense organs is powered by brain – yet none of these is entirely the function of brain. One of the simple ways to recognize mind as the sense organ is to realize that the mind objects can be anywhere in space and time – from our past experience to imagination – instantly roaming here and there, although we are not bodily present in those mind objects. Or that our experience of sadness, happiness, or anger etc., all originates in mind. Those senses from the mind objects become part of the sensation to perception to mental formation conditioning and then ultimately to our consciousness. Because of the freedom, mind precedes, and is the most influential ingredient to modulate the processes in the Five Aggregates. This is one of the reasons why Buddhism lays so much emphasis on the mind phenomena.
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3.2 Mind Training
The role of mind becomes clearer if one thinks of having a grasp of it through meditation practices. In the context of training and concentrating mind during meditation, the Buddha said our mind, the Mano – the likeness of clear water is agitated by five hindrances: (1) the romantic and sensuous desire – the likeness of water mixed with manifold colors, (2) the evil will – the likeness of boiling water, (3) the sloth and indolence – the likeness of water covered with mosses, (4) the restlessness – the likeness of agitated water whipped by wind, and (5) the skeptical doubt – the likeness of turbid and muddy water. Of course, there are more hindrances like anxiety, frustration, etc. that agitate our mind in day-to-day living. Like in waters of such attributes one cannot see one’s reflection clearly, so in the presence of one or the other, or combinations thereof, one cannot see and understand oneself. The agitation of the hindrances occurs in different degrees responding to different circumstances; and the clue to calming mind lies in our ability to control or eliminate the agitations. One knows too well that when mind is focused or concentrated on something, high performance occurs. Different martial arts techniques are based on controlling mind and matter in order to achieve synchronicity of their functions.
​Uncontrolled predominance of the hindrances, or one or the other, could lead to an incapacitated mind or mental illness – a person suffering from delusion and paranoia to utter mindlessness. Therefore in the complex modern world, one should be careful to what information one is exposed to – because while calm mental processes produce amazing good results, a disturbed mind influenced by the hindrances could drag one to evil activities or utter hopelessness. Different religions have different methods of calming mind – traditional Eastern therapeutic practices see any illness as the ailment of closely linked mind and matter; therefore focusing on both to diagnose a problem.
Buddha Dharma says that – our mind is like a temple when it is with with us – but when it leaves us it is like a monkey [told by Ani Choying Drolma (1971 -) during her presentation at the 2020 Malaysia Charity Concert]. This saying indicates something very important – that mind can be both powerful and vulnerable – powerful when the person is able to tame his or her mind to remain calm and composed – with all the potentials for it to head towards the direction of thoughtfulness, wholesome actions and Sublimities. In the absence of mind with its roaming far and wide – the person becomes restless, erratic, exhausted and misguided – being a victim of the unguarded thought processes and actions.
One cannot keep mind engaged or focused all the time. No matter how one does not want, mind drifts and becomes victim of the five hindrances. Perhaps this reality has risen to the popular proverb: an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. It is only the calm mind – that requires rigorous meditations to develop – to train it for veering into the Right direction - could minimize the unwanted drifting. A drifting agitated mind exhausts the body and spirit, while a calm mind relaxes and energies them. It is rightly pointed out in the 35th verse of the Dhammapada: Wonderful, indeed, it is to subdue the mind, so difficult to subdue, ever swift, and seizing whatever it desires. A tamed mind brings happiness.
The saying - believe it or not - entails something very interesting. That the Buddha saw and described uncertainty more than 2 millennia ago - because, as described earlier - what is matter is inconceivable without mind. We only came to know the scientific reasoning of uncertainty in the 20th century (WK Heisenberg, 1901 - 1976).
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3.3 The Bodhi
So in Buddhism mind is seen as part of the consciousness with the boundless capacity to sense objects far and wide in space and time. Aggregation, transformation and consolidation of the individual consciousnesses in time lead to something else. The accumulation and absorption of good something – the conscience or the righteous and compassionate intuition – perhaps lying in our heart – is equivalent to good soul in different religions. In most religions except Buddhism, the good soul is understood born with the person as an indestructible part of God or gods. In line with the law of Dependent Origination, Buddhism sees the good soul (or no-soul or Anatma in conventional understanding of the term) – as an essence, referred to as the Bodhicitta or Buddhanature – as something cumulative and transformative. When the Bodhicitta graduates to Bodhi, it attains the distinctive characteristics of the Six:  Tranquility, Brightness or Wisdom, Softness or Malleability, Wieldiness, Proficiency and Integrity.
Dogen Zenji (1200 – 1253), founder of the Soto School of Zen Buddhism in Japan, the Zazen writes: Therefore, the very impermanency . . . is Buddha nature . . . of men and things, body and mind, is the Buddha nature . . . supreme and complete enlightenment, because it is impermanent, is the Buddha nature. It entails, therefore, that in Buddhism there cannot be any existence of soul – independent of the universal presence of Impermanency and Dependent-origination of things. Perhaps the concept of permanent (in other religions) or transient soul subjected to the laws of Impermanency and Dependent Origination acquires elements that have evolved into the concept of reincarnation in most religions in one form or another, giving rise to the popular myth of ghosts. In the Buddhist definition of rebirth, the transient and transformative levels of consciousness - can be reborn in a new person if conditions are right - if the karmic seeds happen to sprout into the newborn (more in The Way of Simplicity, Balance and Wisdom).
In order to further consolidate our understanding of what have been described – here is what happens with the training of the cognitive awareness through meditation practices. This pursuit leads to – what is famously known as the Bodhi with the final awakening leading to Buddhahood. The person endowed with Bodhi distinction is known as the Bodhisattva or Arahat. As described in the Enlightenment essay – the final awakening processes comprise of seven factors. From pursuits to accomplishments, they are: Energy, Investigation, Equanimity, Mindfulness, Concentration, Joy and Tranquility. More are elaborated in the The Bodhisattva Mind.
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3.4 Mind Energy
It is time to delve into the mind phenomena further. The domain of the mind as an energy field – is something different and beyond the understanding of brain waves - the level of this energy and its frequency depending on the health of mind and matter of an individual. The relevance of this suggestion can be understood from experiences like this: when one sees a person endowed with the positive energy of peace and compassion, one is likely to feel safe and connected. The opposite happens when one sees an angry, malicious or hateful person. In each case, the person’s mental energy field affects the observer’s energy in an interactive reciprocal manner before even they come close. This is one of the reasons why the Buddha taught to take ownership of the mind – to control and steer it in the right direction – to turn an unfriendly encounter into a friendly one without violence. This is the only peaceful and practical way to exert an influence upon the object – because the subject is in no position to take ownership of the object’s mind. Further, this saying is one of the reasons – why the practice of witchcraft, and similar other activities are discouraged in Buddhism.
Is this concept of mind as the energy field measurable and definable? Perhaps not yet, but some of the metaphysical phenomena like telepathy seem to occur – as a simple manifestation: many experience sadness or happiness before an impending tragedy or successful outcome. If telepathy does occur, why one cannot communicate through it? The answer is perhaps not difficult to imagine. For telepathy to be successful, the energy field must be strong and in right frequencies of the receptors and transmitters. This sounds like rudimentary electronic communication – perhaps it is, but only much more complicated. 
What is the speed of this mental energy? Since telepathy occurs almost instantaneously, is it not sensible to suggest that mental energy field propagates with the very high speed of an electromagnetic wave? In fact, this is already implied in the Max Planck's mind-matter oneness assertion. In addition, like all energies the immaterial mind also needs food for healthy sustenance. It is not difficult to understand that progressive social interactions, love and compassion reinforced perhaps by meditation practices and beautiful pieces of art and music energizes one’s mind keeping it healthy and calm. A person can best be thought of as a system – containing the visible physical body (Rupakaya), and the invisible body of the mind (Arupakaya). When Wisdom, Loving kindness, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity define the mental energy of the person – he or she becomes bright and radiant. If such positivities are replaced by the negative energy of Ignorance, Conceit, Envy, Hatred and Greed – the curtain of darkness casts in.
The power of mind depends on how well one understands it – to remain calm to channel, control and focus it. Who could be a better person than Einstein (1879-1955) to demonstrate it in modern times? Einstein’s ability to control mind to harness its power has led him to conduct mind experiments for exploration of the very difficult horizons of astrophysics – and his breakthrough in the ground-breaking discovery of the Special and General Theories of Relativity.
Whether or not one cares about the metaphysics of the mind phenomena, it is prudent to suggest that the quality of life can be profoundly improved – when one functions with the calmness of mind to do the right thing. This is easier said that done, because sometimes hindrances can be very overwhelming for different reasons – and only those who have the ability to overcome them are the strongest in mind and matter, but are also the rarest.
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4. The Bodhisattva Mind
Let us attempt to see in brief terms how the Buddha elucidated functioning of the 6 senses in the Lotus Sutra (The person adorned with the Lotus of Truth or the Bodhi distinction, whose senses are purified, is referred to as the Bodhisattva. The discussed materials are derived from the 2016 English translation of Chinese texts by JC Cleary).
1. Eye:
Adorned with the Lotus of Truth, the eyes are completely purified – With the eyes born of mother and father – The person sees all the landscapes of the whole galaxy – The towering peaks, the mountain ranges – The vegetation, the oceans and rivers and streams . . . This person sees all the living beings in these worlds – Even without the heavenly eye, the physical eye is this powerful.
2. Ear:
With the ears born from their parents – Purified and free from defilement . . . They will hear all these sounds without getting attached – They will hear the voices of countless kinds of people – Hear them all and be able to understand them . . . They hear all the sounds . . . Their ears are perceptive and sharp – And they can distinguish everything and understand it – Such are the accomplishments of – Those who uphold this Lotus of Truth . . .
3. Nose:
The people who uphold the Lotus of Truth – Will have their noses purified – They will smell and recognize all kinds of odors in this world . . . They will catch the scent of those propounding the True Teaching from afar . . . Will catch the scent – Of all the living beings in the mountains and in the seas – And under the ground . . . With their power to smell scents – They will know what men and women are thinking – They will recognize their desires, their ignorance, their hatred – They will recognize when they are cultivating goodness . . .
4. Tongue:
The tongues of these people who uphold the Lotus of Truth are purified . . . They will communicate the True Teaching to great assemblies – Using the profound, pure, wondrous voice of truth – By means of stories of causes and conditions and metaphoric explanations – To guide the minds of living beings – Those who hear them will all rejoice . . .
5. Body:
The bodies of those who uphold the Lotus of Truth – Will be totally pure, pure as clear diamond – Living beings will all be happy to see them . . . The immaculate wondrous body of reality nature – Within their pure and clear eternal bodies – All things appear.
6. Mind:
The conceptual minds of those who uphold the Lotus of Truth – Are purified and clear and sharp and free from defilement.. . . They know all living beings within and beyond the world . . . They know the characteristics of all phenomena – They recognize their logic according to their true meanings . . . All living beings rejoice in them, love and respect them. . .
These attributes of the Bodhisattva mind - lead us to remembering an inspiring and distinguished call of Hsing Yun (1927 – 2023), the founder and master of Fu Guang Shan Humanistic Buddhism: Live your life with an even mind. Examine yourself with a humble mind. Cultivate yourself with a non-abiding mind. Devote yourself to the Way with a bodhi mind.
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Let me finish this piece by exploring the brilliant mind of Dr BR Ambedkar (1891—1956) . . . The greatest thing the Buddha has done is to tell the world that the world cannot be reformed except by the reformation of the mind of man and the mind of the world . . . The religion of Buddha has the capacity to change according to times, a quality which no other religion can claim to have . . .


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- by Dr. Dilip K. Barua, 30 August 2017

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