Relationship between mind and brain

General discussion, particularly exploring the Dharma in the modern world.
Post Reply
Punya
Posts: 1437
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 10:50 pm

Relationship between mind and brain

Post by Punya »

Hi All. This is a question that I've been pondering for a while. I've studied Madhyamika before so I've got a basic intellectual understanding of mind in a Buddhist context but I don't understand the relationship between the brain and the mind. To put it crudely "Where does brain stop and mind start?" I've seen it written that mind is the hardware and brain is the software but what does this actually mean?
We abide nowhere. We possess nothing.
~Chatral Rinpoche
User avatar
futerko
Posts: 1297
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2012 5:58 am

Re: Relationship between mind and brain

Post by futerko »

Brain is the concept of the squidgy grey and white thing in our heads, 99% water, favourite food of zombies and the French.

Mind is the concept of the horizon within which experience occurs.
User avatar
Nagini Hymn
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 5:55 am

Re: Relationship between mind and brain

Post by Nagini Hymn »

No start
No stop
"What is true of the drop is true of the ocean"
User avatar
Sonny
Posts: 31
Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:29 pm

Re: Relationship between mind and brain

Post by Sonny »

"....the brain acts like the organ for the mind, the nervous system is the organ enabling our gross levels of mind to function and operate. And so they mutually influence each other. We can see that. When we are in bad health, our mind "goes down". When we are in a bad mood, we easily get sick. It goes hand in hand. They influence each. But although on the gross levels of mind, with this body, there is a lot of this mutual influence, the mind is not just the gross level. "

above is a short excerpt from this link :

http://www.thubtenchodron.org/GradualPa ... _May91.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Punya
Posts: 1437
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 10:50 pm

Re: Relationship between mind and brain

Post by Punya »

Thanks for the comments and link. I found Ani-la's article particularly helpful Sonny.

I did a google search and discovered there is a recent Dharma Wheel thread on this subject. It seems I'm not the only person asking this question :lol: Although most of the discussion is too academic for my deluded mind I did like Pegembara's contribution:

"Mind and brain are not one and the same nor totally different. They are co dependent like sheaves of reeds. Without brain there cannot be mind but without mind the brain cannot be known."

There is also a useful discussion here http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/15786 ... past-lives" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, particularly the analogy:

"The relationship between the mind and the physical brain may be compared to a radio which interprets the incoming audio waves. Just as the radio is a tool by which the audio waves are heard and understood, so is the physical brain a tool by which the information contained in the mind is heard and understood."

As alway His Holiness the Dalai Lama has something important to say:

"But within the category of mind there are also gross levels, such as our sensory perceptions, which cannot function or even come into being without depending on physical organs like our senses. And within the category of the sixth consciousness, the mental consciousness, there are various divisions, or types of mental consciousness that are heavily dependent upon the physiological basis, our brain, for their arising. These types of mind cannot be understood in isolation from their physiological bases." (http://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php?sect=article&id=417" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;).

I have come across all these concepts before but clearly have not understood them thoroughly. I guess if I reread this article a few hundred times I may develop a better understanding. :lol:

Any other contributions would be gratefully received.
We abide nowhere. We possess nothing.
~Chatral Rinpoche
User avatar
Shii
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2013 8:22 am

Re: Relationship between mind and brain

Post by Shii »

The brain is a light bulb. The electricity that runs through it is the mind.
“It is easy to believe we are each waves and forget we are also the ocean.”
― Jon J. Muth
“Consider your own place in the universal oneness of which we are all a part, from which we all arise, and to which we all return.”
― David Fontana
User avatar
catmoon
Former staff member
Posts: 3423
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2009 3:20 am
Location: British Columbia

Re: Relationship between mind and brain

Post by catmoon »

Shii wrote:The brain is a light bulb. The electricity that runs through it is the mind.
So, electricity can feel joy and anguish? Really?
Sergeant Schultz knew everything there was to know.
Punya
Posts: 1437
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 10:50 pm

Re: Relationship between mind and brain

Post by Punya »

I have to say I'm rather fond of metaphors. The book Metaphors We Live By is an interesting read. I hadn't previously thought about how much our language is filled with war metaphors. And of course for Buddhist concepts they can be an important precursor to direct experience.
We abide nowhere. We possess nothing.
~Chatral Rinpoche
User avatar
KathyLauren
Posts: 967
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2009 5:22 pm
Location: East Coast of Canada
Contact:

Re: Relationship between mind and brain

Post by KathyLauren »

Brain is hardware. Mind is software and data.

Om mani padme hum
Keith
User avatar
Karma Dondrup Tashi
Posts: 1715
Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2009 7:13 pm

Re: Relationship between mind and brain

Post by Karma Dondrup Tashi »

Mind is violet.

Brain is red.
It has been the misfortune (not, as these gentlemen think it, the glory) of this age that everything is to be discussed. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France.
Post Reply

Return to “Dharma in Everyday Life”