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vijñāna
vijñāna (Skt.; Pāli, viññāna). Consciousness or awareness, in both its active, discriminative form of knowing, and its subliminal or unconscious bodily and psychic functions. It is important to realize that vijñāna means more than the stream of mental awareness, which the English word ‘consciousness’ primarily denotes. For example, from the earliest times Buddhist sources have distinguished six forms of vijñāna corresponding to the six senses, thus eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, taste-consciousness, touch-consciousness, bodily consciousness, and mental consciousness. Vijñāna thus encompasses both the Western terms ‘conscious’ and ‘unconscious’ and for that reason is difficult to translate by any single term. It is an important element in the Buddhist analysis of human nature as the last of the five aggregates (skandhas). In the scheme of Dependent Origination (pratītya-samutpāda) it forms the third link in the twelvefold series.
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DAMIEN KEOWN. "vijñāna." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. DAMIEN KEOWN. "vijñāna." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-vijna.html DAMIEN KEOWN. "vijñāna." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-vijna.html |
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Vijñāna
Vijñāna (Skt., ‘knowing’).
1. In Hinduism, knowledge which penetrates ritual and sacrifice, and understands its meaning. It is therefore the highest state of consciousness in which the meditator sees Brahman, not just in the condition of samādhi, but in the whole of everything. In Vedānta, this is ‘seeing Brahman with open eyes’. 2. In Buddhism (Pāli, viññāna), the fifth of the five skandhas. As ‘perception’, it is contrasted with jñāna (‘understanding’). Its importance was enhanced in Vijñanavāda (Yogācāra), because it is the basis of the ‘storehouse consciousness’ (ālaya-vijñāna), which contains the seeds of all dharmas (constituents of manifestation). |
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Cite this article
JOHN BOWKER. "Vijñāna." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN BOWKER. "Vijñāna." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Vijna.html JOHN BOWKER. "Vijñāna." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Vijna.html |
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