Is The Mind Aware Of Itself? – Modern Koans

Estimated reading time: 5 minute(s)

Question:   In Meditation, Is the Mind Aware Of Itself?

Response:

What is mind? Is it a sense organ for thoughts?   Or is the mind something different from the senses?  Buddhist psychology talks about the five skandhas or aggregates. They are:

Form – the external and internal physical world
Sensation – judging an object as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral
Perception – recognition of an object
Mental Formations – our volition
Consciousness – that which discerns

Mind (mana) is most related to consciousness. The mind is the base of consciousness.  And consciousness is the base of experience.  I like to think of it as a computer. It is equipped with memory, a processor, and an interface (input and output).

Input = our senses which are facing form, participating in sensation and feeding the raw materials for perception.
Memory = a workspace in which mental formations are compared to sensory input to produce perception
Processor = the circuits that hold the fundamental algorithms (neurons, neurochemistry, etc)
Output = speech acts

In this discussion, we must always remember impermanence. All of these things rise, fall, and change over time. Not one of them is permanent, including consciousness.   That said, consciousness might be represented as the computer itself. It is the collection of hardware, software, and memories that produce experience.  Mind is the inner workings of the computer – the processor and memory.

So now I’ll loop back to the question “is the mind aware of itself?”  I am certainly not aware of the inner workings of my brain. In fact much remains a mystery as the cognitive and neurosciences decode its functions. So, my opinion is that no, the mind is not aware of itself, either in meditation or in any other activity.

By no means is this a settled matter.   What do you think? How do you interpret the Five Skandhas?  Does science refute or support the theory of the aggregates?

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Modern Koans is an ongoing series that recognizes that good questions are often more important then their answers.

The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man. ― G.K. Chesterton

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