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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 CONDITIONED ARISING122
•    The nature of the constructing activities122
•    The conditioning of discernment by the constructing activities124
•    The conditioning of discernment by nāma-rūpa127
•    Discernment as conditioned by attention129
•    The conditioning of the sentient body by discernment130
•    Conditioned Arising as an analysis of the perceptual process134

• 9 DISCERNMENT AND THE PERCEPTUAL PROCESS138
•    The perceptual process in the 'early Suttas'138
•    The nature and functions of cognition (saññā)141
•    The activity of discernment (viññāṇa)143
•    The functions of discernment in the Abhidhamma 'process of cittas'145
•    The nature of viññāṇa148
•    The effect of karma on discernment in the perceptual process151

• 10 BHAVAṄGA AND. THE BRlGHTLY SHINING MIND155
•    Is the bhavaṅga concept ruled out by the 'early Sutta' world-view?155
•    'Early Sutta' evidence for a bhavaṅga-type state151
•    The meaning of 'bhavaṅga'160
•    The roles of bhavaṅga162
•    The brightly shining citta166
•    Freedom from defilements169
•    The shining citta and bhavaṅga170
•    The Arahat's ever-shining citta173
•    The shining citta and the Buddha-nature 114
•    The shining citta and the realms of rebirth 111

• 11 NIBBĀNA AS THE TIMELESS 'STOPPING' OF THE ENTIRE PERSONALITY180
•    The nibbāna-element without remainder of upādi181
•    Nibbāna during life as not ever-present in the

Arahat182

• 185
•    Nibbānic 'stopping' and nirodha-samāpatti 187
•    Re-entry to the state of 'stopping'188
•    Nibbāna during life as 'unborn', 'unconstructed' and 'deathless'189
•    Nibbāna as a timeless object of insight193

12 NIBBANA AS A TRANSFORMED STATE OF DISCERNMENT 198 Nibbiina as a form of discernment 199 Nibbiinic discernment as 'stopped', 'objectless' and 'unsupported' 201 Udiina.80 as a description of nibbiinic discernment 203 The nature of nibbiinic discernment 205 Unsupported discernment and nibbiina beyond death 208 The relation of nibbiinic discernment to the Arahat's normal state 210 Theraviidin perspectives 214 Alahiiyiinaperspectives 217

āvaraṇa - Literally, that which obscures or conceals. Often listed as a set of two obscurations (sgrib gnyis): the afflictive emotional obscurations (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa, Tib. nyon mongs pa'i sgrib pa) and the cognitive obscurations (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa, Tib. shes bya'i sgrib pa). By removing the first, one becomes free of suffering, and by removing the second, one becomes omniscient. Skt. आवरण Tib. སྒྲིབ་པ་

Go to the page with the definition of 'defilements'