Buddhist View of Mind and Emotion - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 19
About This Presentation
Title:

Buddhist View of Mind and Emotion

Description:

'Principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of knowledge involving the ... Discernment. Differentiation and identification of objects. Attention ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:92
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 20
Provided by: PG92
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Buddhist View of Mind and Emotion


1
Buddhist View of Mind and Emotion
  • September 2003
  • Gross Lab presentation

2
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. Websters
    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
  • Repeated examination of philosophical views,
    third-person reports, and first-person experience

3
Framework of Buddhist theory and practice Four
Noble Truths
  • The truths of suffering
  • recognize the nature and full range of
    conditioned suffering to which humans are
    vulnerable
  • The source of suffering
  • hypothesis that the fundamental 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 incontrovertibly
    dispelled from the mind
  • The path leading to that cessation
  • detailed procedures for collecting data by
    observing mental processes and experimenting with
    techniques for understanding core mechanisms and
    then adjusting mental processes and dissolving
    the potency of afflictive components

4
The Buddhist Endeavor
  • Primary emphases
  • Normal mind is habitually conditioned to specific
    modes of attentional, emotional, and cognitive
    imbalances, but is not intrinsically or
    irrevocably dysfunctional
  • Identification and extrication of primary cause
    of confusion invalid cognitions about
    ontological status of self and objects
  • Facilitate development of long-term beneficial
    qualities
  • (i.e., patience, compassion, skillful means,
    clarity, insight, spontaneity)
  • Fundamentally pragmatic orientation
  • Ethical conduct (ahimsa - not harming others and
    self)
  • self-regulation of behavior, thought, and emotion
  • Mental concentration (agility and awareness)
  • attention training to dispel imbalances of laxity
    and excitation, and to attain stable, lucid, and
    calm mind
  • Wisdom understanding nature of existence
    (flexibility, non-dual perception and cognition)
  • free the mind of afflictions, obscurations,
    misconceptions

5
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

6
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

7
5 Aggregates of Personhood
  • Forms
  • Feelings
  • Discernments
  • Compositional factors
  • Consciousness

8
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 6 root afflictions, 20
    secondary afflictions,
  • 4 changeable

9
5 Omnipresent Mental Factors
  • Necessarily accompany all levels and states of
    mind
  • All 5 are needed to experience an object
  • Feeling
  • pleasure, pain, neutrality the fruitions of
    previous virtuous and non-virtuous actions
  • Discernment
  • Differentiation and identification of objects
  • Attention
  • Moves and directs mind towards its object in
    general mental action of intention
  • Contact
  • Serves as basis for feeling and distinguishing an
    object as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral
  • Mental engagement
  • Directs min to a specific object

10
5 Determining Mental Factors
  • Aspiration
  • Observes a contemplated object and seeks it
  • Serves as basis for initiation of effort
  • Faith, aspiration, effort and pliancy are the
    antidotes to laziness
  • Belief
  • Keeps the mind from being captivated by another
    view
  • Mindfulness
  • Non-forgetfulness, non-distraction for a familiar
    object
  • Stabilization
  • One-pointedness of mind for an imputed object
    mental equipose serves as the base for vipassana
    (special insight)
  • Knowledge/wisdom
  • Differentiates faults and virtues of objects of
    analysis overcomes doubt

11
11 Virtuous Mental Factors
  • Faith (clarity, conviction, with to attain)
  • Shame
  • avoidance of misconduct due to ones own
    disapproval)
  • Embarrassment
  • (avoidance of misconduct due to others
    disapproval)
  • Non-attachment (for this cyclic existence and its
    content)
  • Non-hatred (absence of intent to harm)
  • Non-ignorance (analytic prowess)
  • Effort (mental delight in virtue)
  • Pliancy (of mind and body towards virtue)
  • Conscientiousness (keeps mind from contamination,
    distortions)
  • Equanimity (evenness of mind)
  • Non-harmfulness (compassionate attitude)

12
6 Root Afflictions
  • Cause mental imbalance
  • Desire (that generates suffering)
  • Anger (that intends to harm)
  • Pride (enhanced and mistaken self-view)
  • Ignorance (obscuration with respect to
    intentional action and their effects and to mode
    of existence of all phenomenon)
  • Doubt (ambivalence)
  • Afflicted view ( 5 types self and others)

13
20 Secondary Afflictions
  • Belligerence
  • Resentment
  • Concealment
  • Spite
  • Jealousy
  • Miserliness
  • Deceit
  • False countenance
  • Haughtiness
  • Harmfulness
  • Non-shame
  • Non-embarrassment
  • Lethargy
  • Excitement
  • Non-faith
  • Laziness
  • Non-conscientiousness
  • Forgetfulness
  • No-introspection
  • Distraction

14
4 Changeable Factors
  • Become virtuous, non-virtuous, or neutral by the
    power of motivation
  • Sleep
  • Contrition (remorse, regret)
  • Investigation
  • Analysis

15
Four Applications of Mindfulness
  • 1) contemplation of the body as impure
  • 2) contemplation of feeling as suffering
  • 3) contemplation of thoughts as impermanent
  • 4) contemplation of all phenomenon as devoid of
    inherently existing self

16
Emotion in Varjayana Practice
  • Commitment not to reject the five poisons the
    emotions of attachment, anger, ignorance, pride
    and jealousy because they are the basis of
    realizing wisdom, since they will never be found
    anywhere other than in the emotions
  • Necessary to work with the different objects that
    give rise to emotional reactions in order to
    experience the corresponding wisdom
  • The very objects of attachment, hatred and so
    forth, become the means to liberation from
    emotional conflict
  • Extracting the energy, dissolving the affliction

17
Buddhist View of Emotion
  • A definite feeling in the mind that is both a
    reaction and a driving force
  • A mental state that starts the instant the mind
    functions in a dualistic mode, long before the
    normal person is conscious of it
  • The habitual clinging that makes us automatically
    categorize our experiences according to whether
    our ego finds them
  • attractive (desire, grasping at an object)
  • unattractive (anger, aversion, rejecting,
    repulsion)
  • neutral (ignorance that drives a view of reality
    that induces suffering a definite state
    of mind which causes us to act in a certain way)
  • considering our own experience as predominant
    (pride)
  • judging our own position in relation to the
    object perceived (jealousy)
  • These are the 5 poisons because these reactions
    poison and obscure our mind and prevent the
    development of balanced mind and wisdom.
  • The more clinging there is, the stronger our
    reactions will be, until we reach a point where
    they finally break into our conscious mind and
    manifest as the obvious feelings we usually call
    emotions
  • Ideal qualities spontaneous, instantaneous
    compassion, skillfulness and penetrating wisdom
    of all contexts, people, and states of mind

18
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-Aug65(4)564-70

19
Eight-fold Path
  • right view
  • right thought
  • right speech
  • right action
  • right mode of living
  • right endeavor
  • right mindfulness
  • right concentration
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com