nāma-rūpa

nāma-rūpa (Skt.; Pāli, name and form). Mind and body, or the totality of physical and mental processes that constitute an individual. It occurs as the fourth link in the chain of Dependent Origination (pratītya-samutpāda), where it is preceded by consciousness (vijñāna) and followed by the six sense fields (ṣad-āyatana). In this context nāma-rūpa stands for conception, the moment at which the mind and body of the new individual come into being. In the doctrine of the five aggregates (skandha), the first four aggregates are allocated to the category of ‘body’ (rūpa), and the fifth (consciousness or vijñāna) to ‘mind’ (nāma). In Buddhism, the relation between mind and body is not a dualistic one, rather the two function together in mutual dependency as different aspects of the same whole. Thus they are compared to two sheaves of reeds that lean on one another for support, or to a strong blind man who carries a keen-sighted cripple on his shoulders.