Buddhist View
of Mind and Emotion
September 2003
Gross Lab presentation
Scientific Method
• “Principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of
knowledge involving the recognition and formulation of a
problem, the collection of data through observation and
experiment, and the formulation and testing of
hypotheses.” Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary
• Does Buddhism include this procedure in its inquiry into
the nature of the mind and consciousness?
• Fundamental spirit of empiricism and skepticism
Framework of Buddhist theory and practice:
Four Noble Truths
The truths of suffering
• recognize the nature and full range of suffering to which humans are
vulnerable
The source of suffering
• hypothesis that the essential causes of suffering are to be found
within the mind, specifically in terms of cognitive, emotional, and
attentional imbalances
The cessation of suffering together with its source
• afflictive tendencies can be irreversibly dispelled from the mind
The path leading to that cessation
• detailed procedures for collecting data by observing mental
processes and experimenting with techniques for transforming the
mind and eliminating its afflictive elements
The Buddhist Endeavor
• Primary emphases
– Normal mind is habitually conditioned to states of attentional,
emotional, and cognitive imbalances, but is not intrinsically
dysfunctional
– Experiential investigation of the mind to identify
– Removal of cause of confusion: invalid cognitions about self-existence
– Facilitate development of long-term beneficial qualities
(i.e., patience, compassion, clarity, insight, spontaneity)
• Fundamentally pragmatic orientation:
– Ethical conduct
• self-regulation of behavior, thought, and emotion
– Mental concentration
• attention training to dispel imbalances of laxity and excitation, and to attain
stable, lucid, and calm mind
– Wisdom understanding nature of existence
• free the mind of afflictions, obscurations, misconceptions
Is it possible to observe mental states
and processes with the mind?
Even with no mental training, we can detect:
• Emotional states
• Observe thoughts and images arising in the
mind
• Introspectively recognize from moment to
moment whether our minds are calm or agitated
• Perceive that we are consciously aware of:
– objects of consciousness
– the presence of our own consciousness of other
things
Madhyamaka “Middle Way” View
• Pinnacle of Buddhist philosophy
• Both physical and mental phenomena
have no independent or permanent
ontological status
• Mere localized appearances emerging
from a network of non-local correlations
• Things exist as dependently related
events, not as autonomous, inherently
existent, localized entities
Consciousness
•
Mind: cognizes the mere entity of an
object
– 6 types: visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory,
sensory, mental awareness
•
Mental factors: cognizes features of an
object
– 5 omnipresent, 5 determining, 11 virtuous,
– 6 root afflictions, 20 secondary afflictions,
– 4 changeable
5 Omnipresent
• Feeling (pleasure, pain, neutrality – the
fruitions of previous virtuous and nonvirtuous actions)
• Discernment
• Intention
• Contact
• Mental engagement
Future Prediction
“it is probably safe to say that by 2050
sufficient knowledge of biological
phenomena will have wiped out the
traditional dualistic separations of
body/brain, body/mind and brain/mind.”
Antonio R. Damasio, (2002) “How the brain creates
the mind.” in Scientific American, 12: 4-9
Meditation and Immune
Research Findings
• randomized, controlled study 8-week mindfulness meditation stress
reduction program applied in a work environment with healthy
employees
• significant increases in left-sided anterior EEG activation, a pattern
previously associated with positive affect, in the meditators
compared with the nonmeditators 4 months post-program
• significant increases in antibody titers to influenza vaccine among
subjects in the meditation compared with those in the wait-list
control group
• magnitude of increase in left-sided activation predicted the
magnitude of antibody titer rise to the vaccine
Davidson et al. Psychosom Med. 2003 Jul-Aug;65(4):564-70