CONSCIOUSNESS-DALAI LAMA

The following is an excerpt from: All You Ever Wanted to Know from
His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Happiness, Life, Living, and Much
More, published by Hay House. Originally published by No Limits as
HTML only.
Conversations with Rajiv Mehrotra
Consciousness continues to be a complex phenomenon for the
modern mind, whether we approach it through science or
spirituality. Your Holiness, could you clarify how Buddhism defines
consciousness?
HH: Consciousness is generally divided into two: sensory consciousness
and mental consciousness. The arising of sensory consciousness such
as eye-consciousness depends on certain conditions—for instance, the
objective condition or the internal condition that is the empowering
condition. On the basis of these two, the sense organ also requires
another factor—that is, the preceding moment of the consciousness itself.
Let us talk on the basis of this flower, the eye-consciousness that sees
the flower. The function of the objective condition, which is the flower, is
that it can produce the eye-consciousness that brings forth awareness of
the different aspects of the flower.
Vaibhasika, one of the Buddhist schools, does not accept the theory of
aspect. It says eye-consciousness has direct contact with the object itself.
This is very difficult to explain. It says that things are perceived without
aspect but by direct contact. Other schools say that things do have
aspects through which the consciousness perceives the object.
The theory of modern scientists, which accepts the aspect of the object
through which it is perceived, seems to have a more logical background.
The eye-consciousness perceives a form, and not a sound, that is the
imprint of the sense organ on which it depends. What is the cause that
produces such an eye-consciousness in the nature of clarity and
knowing? That is the product of the preceding moment of the
consciousness that gives rise to the eye-consciousness.
Although we talk about states in which gross levels of mind are dissolved,
and we talk of consciousness states and so on, the subtle consciousness
always retains its continuity. If one of the conditions—for example, the
preceding moment of the consciousness—is not complete, even when
the sense organ and the object meet, they will not be able to produce the
eye-consciousness that sees it.
Mental consciousness is very different, and the ways in which the
sensory and mental consciousnesses perceive an object are also very
different. Because sensory consciousness is non-conceptual, it perceives
all the qualities—all the attributes of the object—collectively.
When we talk about mental consciousness, it is mainly conceptual. It
perceives an object through an image. It apprehends an object by
excluding what it is not. One has really to think deeply about the question
of whether consciousnesses are created or produced from chemical
particles of the brain mechanism.
As a spiritual leader you have taken unprecedented initiative in
involving the scientific community in testing, analyzing, and
validating spiritual phenomena. Yet the mind and the brain are as far
as scientists are willing to explore. What is their stand on
consciousness, and how does it differ from yours?
HH: In recent years, I met scientists in the fields of nuclear physics as
well as neurology and psychology. Very interesting. We have to learn
certain things from their experiments, from their latest findings; and,
equally, they show a keen interest to know more about Buddhist
explanations of consciousness and mind.
I have raised this question with many people but have never found a
satisfactory answer. For example, if we adhere to a position that
consciousness is nothing other than a product of the interaction of
particles within the brain, we have to say that each consciousness is
produced from particles in the brain.
In that case, take the possible experiences in relation to a rose. One
person might have the view that this is a plastic rose—that is a mistaken
consciousness. Later, he might doubt it, thinking that it might not be a
plastic rose, so the mistaken consciousness now turns into a wavering
doubt. Then he presumes that it is a natural flower—this is still only a
presumption. Finally, through some circumstances, such as touching it or
smelling it, he finds that it is a natural rose.
During all these stages, his consciousness is directed toward one single
object, but he is passing through these different stages of consciousness:
from the mistaken view to doubt, then presumption, and finally from valid
cognition to valid perception. He is experiencing different stages of
consciousness. But how does one explain that the chemical particles
change during these stages?
Another example: We see a person and think he is our friend. But that
person is not our friend. We mistake him, and the consciousness is
mistaken. When we saw that person, we had an erroneous
consciousness. But the moment someone told us that he was not our
friend, hearing this sound caused a change from that mistaken perception
of the person to a valid perception.
What about the experiences of great meditators? When a practitioner
enters a very deep state of meditation, both breathing and heartbeat stop.
Some of my friends who practice these things remain without heartbeat
and breathing for a few minutes, I think. If someone remains in such a
state for a few hours, what is the function of the brain during that time?
On the basis of all this, I am trying to argue that there exists one
phenomenon, called consciousness, that has its own entity apart from the
brain cells. Although the gross level of consciousness is very closely
related to the physical body, it is also naturally related to the brain. But
the consciousness of its own nature is something distinct. The subtler
consciousness becomes more independent of the physical particles.
That is how the physical functions of a meditator stop when he reaches a
deep state of consciousness; yet consciousness is there. At that moment,
because the physical functions have stopped, the gross level of
consciousness is no more and the subtle level of consciousness
becomes obvious.
His Holiness,
The Dalai Lama