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August 15, 2020; revised August 16, 2020

Mind and matter go together in Buddha Dhamma. It is one meaning of “nāmarūpa.” It starts at a level much finer than the atomic level in modern science. It is even below the elementary particle level.

The Three Basic Building Blocks of Buddha Dhamma

1. Everything in this world arises out of three building blocks: citta, cetasika, and rūpa.

▪An analogy in modern science is to start with electrons, protons, and neutrons (elementary particles would be even more fundamental). A tasty cake, an oak tree, or a nuclear bomb all have origins in those fundamental particles.

▪In the same way, Buddha Dhamma (the theory) can start with those three fundamental entities. They can describe all mental phenomena as well as material phenomena.

▪On the other hand, modern science can describe ONLY material phenomena. It just ASSUMES that mental phenomena come out of material phenomena. But that assumption has NOT been validated. See the previous post, “Theories of Our World – Scientific Overview.”

▪Modern science cannot explain how a living-being is born. It seems to say that “it just happens.” We will discuss that below.

Connection Between Mind and Matter

2. In Buddha Dhamma, analysis of rūpa directly provides the connection between mind and matter.

▪In Abhidhamma, there are 28 types of rūpa. However, there are only a few types of rūpa that are sufficient to start our discussion here.

▪We will start with six types of rūpa directly related to the mind and are essential in sensing the external world. First, there is hadaya vatthu, the “seat of the mind,” where thoughts (citta) arise. Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and body touching sensations are sensed at five pasāda rūpa: cakkhu, sota, ghāna, jivhā, and kāya.

▪We are accustomed to the idea that we see things with our eyes, hear with our ears, etc. But all those five physical sense faculties just have inert matter. Inert matter cannot “sense” or “feel” anything.

▪Scientists go one step further and say that eyes, ears, etc. only capture the corresponding visual, auditory,..signals. They say that it is in the brain that those sensations are processed and “detected.” But they have no idea how such a “feeling” or “sensation” can arise in a brain. After all, the brain itself is made of inert atoms and molecules!

Brain Sends Those Signals to the “Actual Sensing Units”

3. It is correct that the brain processes those sensory signals captured by eyes, ears, etc. However, there is nothing in the brain that actually “detect” or “experience” those signals.

▪As mentioned above, those actual sensing units are the hadaya vatthu and the five pasāda rūpa. I will stick to these Pāli terms, and you will see that it is necessary to do so. The English vocabulary does not have corresponding words.

▪Now, we need to discuss two issues. Where are those six “sensing units” located? Also, how can they “feel” or “sense” those signals? Let us consider the latter question first.

▪It is kammic energy that creates those six elementary sensory units (hadaya vatthu and the five pasāda rūpa of cakkhu, sota, ghāna, jivhā, kāya) at the beginning of a new existence. For simplicity, let us call those six entities “sensing units.” In some existences, there are less than six. For example, a rūpāvacara Brahma has only three, and an arūpāvacara Brahma has only one (just hadaya vatthu.)

▪ONLY kammic energy can create those special types of rūpa. They have a trace of matter (suddhaṭṭhaka) AND also the ability to “feel” or “experience” the sensory inputs. That is the FUNDAMENTAL connection between mind and matter.

Kammic Energy – Origin of Life

4. It is the kammic energy created by a STRONG previous kamma that leads to a new existence as a result (vipāka) of that kamma.

▪For example, if person X kills another person, then that person X would have created a kammic seed (or a kamma bīja) that can germinate and give rise to existence in hell. If the kamma were rape, that would create a kammic seed to be born an animal. The vipāka (result) is according to the kamma. That is described in detail in “Paṭicca Samuppāda.”

▪At the beginning of a new existence, kammic energy creates a set of “sensing units” appropriate for that existence. All living-beings in the kāma loka (six Deva realms, the human realm, and the four apāyā) have all six units listed in #3 above.

Examples of Various Existences

5. Without getting deeper into Paṭicca Samuppāda, let us try to get the basic idea of that process. It just says that an existence corresponds to the kamma that gave rise to that existence.

▪Someone who cultivates one of the four highest jhāna (arūpāvacara jhāna) will be born as an arūpāvacara Brahma. Someone in such an arūpāvacara jhāna does not experience any of five sensory inputs (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching). As a result (vipāka) of cultivating such a jhāna, one would be born in the corresponding arūpāvacara realm (there are four such realms.) An arūpāvacara Brahma cannot see, hear, smell, taste, or touch anything. He has only a hadaya vatthu, and thus, can only think (just like the experience in an arūpāvacara jhāna.) A hadaya vatthu is the LEAST bit of matter that can sustain mind (mental activity.)

▪Therefore, existence as an arūpāvacara Brahma is the simplest. One is free of burdens of making a living to buy houses, cars, or even food. There is no need to eat. That “Brahma body” only has a hadaya vatthu, which is so small that a Brahma cannot be seen even with the finest microscope scientists have. Kammic energy sustains that “body” with just an unimaginably small amount of “matter.”

▪At the next higher level of “complexity” are the 16 rūpāvacara Brahma realms. As you can guess now, birth in a rūpāvacara Brahma realm is a vipāka of cultivating rūpāvacara jhāna. A human can get into a rūpāvacara jhāna by suppressing or removing the cravings for close-contact sensory pleasures (eating, smelling, and touching.) The bottom line is that a rūpāvacara Brahma can only see and hear in addition to being able to think. Thus, a rūpāvacara Brahma would have only cakkhu and sota pasāda rūpa in addition to hadaya vatthu. Thus he would have only three “sensing units.”

▪It is only in the kāma loka (six Deva realms, the human realm, and the four apāyā) that living-beings have all six “sensing units” listed in #3 above. Births in kāma loka are much more complex, and that is where one needs a better understanding of Paṭicca Samuppāda to describe various births such as animal and hell beings. Of course, those births in the four apāyā are due to akusala kamma.

A Human Gandhabba Is a Set of Six “Sensory Units”

6. At the beginning of human existence, kammic energy creates a human gandhabba (or a manomaya kāya) with a hadaya vatthu and five pasāda rūpa. That is the basic mind and matter overlap (nāmarūpa) in a human.

▪Just like it is impossible to see a Brahma, it is not possible to see a gandhabba. A gandhabba is almost like a Brahma, but with a full set of pasāda rūpa.

▪After created by kammic energy, a gandhabba stays with that “invisible body” may be for even many years. When a “matching womb” becomes available, it is pulled into that womb by kammic energy.

▪Modern science can explain the growth of a baby, starting with an embryo in a womb. But it CANNOT explain how that baby became CONSCIOUS.

▪The conception of a human baby (i.e., creating an embryo from an inert zygote) happens when a gandhabba comes into the womb and merges with the zygote. For details, see “Buddhist Explanations of Conception, Abortion, and Contraception.”

Many Physical Bodies For a Single Mental Body (Gandhabba)

7. Therefore, a human being does not start with a physical body, i.e., with physical eyes, ears, etc. or the brain. As the Buddha explained, a physical body is a temporary residence for a human gandhabba. Within a human existence (that may last thousands of years), a gandhabba may acquire MANY different physical bodies. See, “Bhava and Jāti – States of Existence and Births Therein.”

▪When the gandhabba is trapped inside a physical body, it has to get external sensory signals indirectly. The eyes, ears, etc. capture those sensory signals, which are then processed by the brain. We will discuss how the brain transfers that information to the gandhabba in a future post.

▪It is a human existence (bhava) that is hard to get. But within a human bhava, one may be born many times with different human bodies. That is why we have so many rebirth stories where one is reborn within several years.

▪For the duration of a human bhava, one will have ONLY ONE mental body (manomaya kāya), also known as gandhabba. Of course, that gandhabba may undergo some changes. But it will last the whole duration of that human bhava.

Pāli Word for Eye Is Not Cakkhu – It Is Nayana or Akkhi

8. Most people do not realize the following critical fact. Pāli words for eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and the body, are nayana (or akkhi), kaṇṇa, nāsā (or nāsikā), jivhā, and sarīra or deha or kāya.

▪The Pāli words cakkhu, sota, ghāna, jivhā, kāya refer to the five pasāda rūpa associated with the manomaya kāya (gandhabba).

▪Thus, two words could be used in both ways either to refer to a physical sense faculty or a pasāda rūpa (jivhā and kāya).

▪While inside a physical body, a gandhabba is shielded from the external world. We will discuss how pasāda rūpā receive signals from the physical sensory faculties in the next post.

▪In the Abhidhamma analysis of rūpa, the five pasāda rūpa are listed as five fundamental types of rūpa. Thus, it is clear that cakkhu, sota, ghāna, jivhā, kāya DO NOT refer to eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and the physical body!

▪On p. 236 of Ref. 1, they are listed as “sensitive phenomena.” If you look at p. 237, the Pāli term is “pasāda rūpa.” The five types of pasāda rūpa are #5 through #9 in Table 6.1 on p. 237. I tried to make that clear in the post, “Rūpa (Material Form) – Table.”

▪In Ref. 1, the description of rūpa is in Chapter VI (pp. 234-263.)

▪By the way, I will use Ref. 1 as the standard text on Abhidhamma for this series of posts. I have provided a link to the free pdf version. Ref. 2 is good as well.

Summary – Special Types of Rūpa With Ability to “Sense”

9. There are six “sensing units” (created by kammic energy) that have the ability to “sense’ or “experience.” That kammic energy is created with citta and cetasika. Therefore, it is a cyclic process (and why the rebirth process has no beginning!). We will discuss that intricate mind and matter connection in upcoming posts.

▪We started the post by pointing out that citta, cetasika, and rūpa can describe EVERYTHING in this world.

▪In the above, we went through a simple description of the arising of a living-being with a set of “sensing units.” That particular living-being will then do more kamma and create the seeds for more future births.

▪That is how the rebirth process continues.

▪However, by understanding this relationship between mind and matter, we have the ability to avoid “bad births” and also to attain Nibbāna. We will get into details in future posts.

References

1. “Comprehensive_Manual_of_Abhidhamma,” by Bhikkhu Bodhi (2000.)

2. “Buddha Abhidhamma – Ultimate Science,” by Dr. Mehm Tin Mon. Both are free publications. Click the link to open the pdf.