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The Selfless Mind

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This careful analysis of early Buddhist thought opens out a perspective in which no permanent Self is accepted, but a rich analysis of changing and potent mental processes is developed. It explores issues relating to the not-Self teaching: self-development, moral responsibility, the between-lives period, and the 'undetermined questions' on the world, on the 'life principle' and on the liberated one after death. It examines the 'person' as a flowing continuity centered on consciousness or discernment (vinnana) configured in changing minds-sets (cittas). The resting state of this is seen as 'brightly shining' - like the 'Buddha nature' of Mahayana thought - so as to represent the potential for Nirvana. Nirvana is then shown to be a state in which consciousness transcends all objects, and thus participates in a timeless, unconditioned realm. (Source: Routledge)

See especially chapter 10, Bhavaṅga and the Brightly Shining Mind.

Citation	Harvey, Peter. The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvāṇa in Early Buddhism. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004. First published 1995 by Curzon Press. http://www.ahandfulofleaves.org/documents/The%20Selfless%20Mind_Personality_Consciousness%20and%20Nirvana%20in%20Early%20Buddhism_Harvey_1995-2004r.pdf.

Contents

• INTRODUCTION1
• Key non-Buddhist concepts1
• Key Buddhist concepts2
• 'Not-Self' and scholars7
• Sources9
• Methodology11

• Part I Exploring the Notion of Selflessness

• 1. THE QUESTION OF SELF17
•    Scholars who see a metaphysical Self in the 'early Suttas'17
•    Uses of the word 'self' (atta) in the 'early Suttas'19
•    Passages which might indicate the acceptance of a Self21
•    Nibbāna as not-Self and not related to a Self23
•    Self as 'not being apprehended'24
•    A Self beyond 'existence' and 'non-existence'?28
•    Proof of the impossibility of a Self31
•    Buddhism and the Upaniṣads on Self33
•    The status of the 'person'34
•    Why is Self not denied?: the Buddha and the
       Annihilationists38
•    The 'I am' attitude: its cause, effect and its ending40

• 2 THE MEANING OF 'NOT-SELF'43
•    The role of viewing phenomena as not-Self 43
•    The criteria for Self-hood46
•    Nibbāna and the Self-ideal51

• 3 DEVELOPING A SELF WITHOUT BOUNDARIES54
•    Living with citta as an 'island'54
•    Developing a 'great self'55
•     'One of developed self' 57
•    The Arahat as self-contained and 'dwelling alone'58
•    The Arahat's boundaryless citta60
•    The Arahat's boundaryless, self-contained self62

• 4 PERSONAL CONTINUITY AND RESPONSIBILITY64
•    The person as a continuity65
•    Responsibility for actions66
•    The stability of character traits over lives68
•    What conserves character traits and the unity of the 'continuity'?72
•    To what extent are 'continuities' isolated from each other and the world?74

• 5 MY WORLD AND ITS END78
•    The Self-world link and the meaning of 'world' (loka)78
•    The Buddhist perspective on the world79
•    The undetermined questions83
•    The undetermined questions on the world 84

• 6 THE LIFE-PRINCIPLE AND THE BETWEEN-LIVES STATE89
•    The undetermined questions on the life-principle89
•    The 'life-principle' accepted by early Buddhism91
•    Discernment and rebirth95
•    The question of the intermediary existence (antarā-bhava)98
•    The nature of the intermediary existence102
•    The gandhabba: spirit-being of the intermediary existence105

•                Part II: Saṃsāric and Nibbānic Discernment109
• 7 THE CENTRALITY OF DISCERNMENT111
•    The nature and centrality of citta111
•    A person as discernment and the sentient body116
•    The vortical interplay of discernment and the sentient body119

8 DISCERNMENT AND CONDmONED ARISING 122 The nature of the constructing activities 122 The conditioning of discernment by the constructing activities 124 The conditioning of discernment by ndma-rupa 127 Discernment as conditioned by attention 129 The conditioning of the sentient body by discernment 130 Conditioned Arising as an analysis of the perceptual process 134 9 DISCERNMENT AND THE PERCEPTUAL PROCESS 138 The perceptual process in the 'early Suttas' 138 The nature and functions of cognition (saiiiiii) 141 The activity of discernment (viiiiiiii}Q) 143 The functions of discernment in the Abhidhamma 'process of cittas' 145 The nature of viiiiiiii'Ja 148 The effect of karma on discernment in the perceptual process 151