AN INTRODUCTION TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN MIND

The human mind is the most complicated thing in the universe to understand and control. Innumerable thoughts keep arising in the mind at times even in the absence of our conscious will which we find difficult to control. To understand the reason for these certain aspects needs to be known and accepted. First of all, let us see the mind as defined by Buddhism which is as follows.

" Mind is defined as a non-physical phenomenon which perceives, thinks, recognises, experiences and reacts to the environment ".

The above definition covers the different spheres of non-physical activities that the mind engages in throughout the day in the life of an individual. The mind is composed of thoughts, perceptions, emotions, memories, ideas, desires, anger, hatred, lust, greed, love compassion, unselfishness, selfishness etc. As grown-up people, we try to identify ourselves with the mind. The state of the mind changes glacially from morning till night. Many times during the wakeful hours in a day we are happy, sad, irritated, dull, alert, exhausted, bored, satiated etc. Even what we identify ourselves with, the Ego " I " is also the mind. All these activities of the mind like memory, understanding, not understanding, happiness, unhappiness, desire, desireless etc we as individuals are the experiencer i.e. that unchanging domain (consciousness, which will be dealt in a separate chapter ) within each of us which causes awareness of the experience is the mind itself. Thus the mind is only the medium thru which we perceive the experience. And that is why the mind is different from consciousness.

Our mind engaged in some of the other thought, rightly or wrongly because most of us are compulsive thinkers. We think that we are existing because of the mind but this changes with age. Right from our being an infant to our school-going age to youth then as an adult and lastly old age, in all of these different phases of life state of mind keeps changing. The outcome of all our mental activities at any of the above stated different phases of life, each culminates in either of our feeling of joy and happiness or sadness and pain, which are again because of the state of our mind. And thus for anything and everything, it is the mind that plays a pivotal role throughout our life. This is the very reason why Buddha had stated that " ALL THINGS ARE PRECEDED BY THE MIND, LED BY THE MIND AND CREATED BY THE MIND ".

The western world philosopher’s attempt to understand mind began with the famous words of sixteen-century French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes, which states "Cogito Ergo Sum " which means, " I THINK THEREFORE I EXIST ".And with this, the philosophers began to equate their identity with the mind instead of associating with their whole organism. Thus, from this awareness was born the perception that mind is a non-physical domain existing as an entity inside though apart from the physical body. But dissociation of the mind from body brought an apparent conflict between the conscious will which arises in the mind to the involuntary instincts that originate from the inherent demands of the various forms of physical needs.

Mind as a non-physical entity functions like a lens which distorts what we see of the external world. The kind of distortion produced by the lens depends on our habits of seeing that is based on inheritance, upbringing and culture. Thus the way to know ourselves is, therefore, to know our mind first, as it is this is what gathers and synthesizes our impressions.

The mind can be classified into two types which are explained as conceptual and the non-conceptual. The conceptual mind is the "normal" mind, aspects of which we use to survive and conduct chores of our daily life. Whereas the non-conceptual type of mind is the fundamental and pure nature of mind. Study and training of the mind in wisdom use the conceptual mind like preparing the mind before the underlying non-conceptual part, the pure mind.

When we talk of training the mind for seeking wisdom, learning to discipline and guarding the mind against going astray is the first pre-requisite of foremost importance. When we focus on the mind we are concerned with the thinking process and intellectual understanding that derives knowledge, with the ultimate intent of gaining wisdom.

But when we speak of " heart " what comes to our mind are feelings and emotions, our ability to respond with our fundamental being. Although we believe perhaps, that we are leading our lives according to our thinking process but in actuality, that is not the case. When this is examined more closely, it will be found that we are leading our lives according to our feelings and that thinking is dependent upon our feelings at any particular moment. The emotional aspect which consists of our thought linked our sensations of ourselves is of much greater importance and is to such an extent that its purification is the basis for a harmonious and peaceful life.

In the present day, the above could be better comprehended by comparing our body and mind to that of a computer. In this simile, the body is the hardware and the mind is the software. As stated earlier the mind is a non-physical entity which perceives, thinks, recognizes, experiences and reacts to the environment etc is much akin to that of a software. And, as we all know a software needs to be registered in something like the hard drive before it can do anything. In itself, a program represents a lot of thinking by the software manufacturer. Without the software (mind) the hardware is a dead thing and hence of no use as such. The hardware (body) is of course, is important in what the computer can do, how fast it is, which programs can be run and how the computer can interact with the world .However good the hardware may be, it ultimately performs only what the programs knows and directs the hardware to act accordingly.

The software in a computer needs to use the different parts like the keyboard, the mouse, a video camera or a modem etc. This is like the senses linked to human mind which requires the sense organs to receive the input from the external world. Thus, the more advanced our mind is, the more intelligent and wise we will be (presuming our mental faculties are not impaired due to any serious physical ailments). We all know that the software determines what the hardware does, likewise, our mind (the software) is the master within the physical limitations of the body. But the human body is considered the most advanced because it is on the top of the evolutionary ladder and so is the best type of available hardware. There can be limits to the development of the body, in this context, the reference is the functioning of the brain, the level of which differs from person to person. There can be no real limits to the functioning of the mind which will drive the functioning of the brain in a particular situation. Also, it is possible to develop our mind to a higher state beyond all limitations due to suffering, problems and adversities in life. Developing the mind to achieve that state is possible through the practice of meditation. We need to understand how the programs of our mind work and those that can be improved. By programming of the mind which is possible thru calming of the mind. Calming leads to an inner peaceful state during meditation. But these days mind is not peaceful because of frequently swinging moods. This most often happens with an untrained mind whose sense impressions of the external world frequently interrupt and trick him into now happiness and the next moment sadness or sorrow. A calm mind will be pure and so will not be restless and hence not affected by the change of mood. The true nature of mind is one that is not driven by sense impressions of the external world, and that’s why it is inherently unmoving and peaceful.