Mindstream

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See also thought, awareness, consciousness, cognition, being.

Water, if you don’t stir it,
will become clear;
the mind, left unaltered,
will find it's own natural peace.” — Sogyal Rinpoché

Mindstream, not to be conflated with (though informed by) stream of consciousness, is a compound conjunction of mind and stream and in Vajrayana and Tantric Buddhism creatively defines the nonlocal metaphoric stream of moments or quanta of consciousness proceeding endlessly from lifetime to lifetime and beyond. Vajrayana, tantra and shamanism work with the mindstream. Buddhist and Hindu tantric sadhana may involve the practitioner linking their mindstream with that of guru or yidam as a precurser to fully aspecting the yidam or ishta-deva. Though a conceptual mystery, mindstream may be conceived as nonlinear and wholistic. The medium and conduit of mindstream is æther or space and is unbounded by temporality or locality.

If the contents of mind are like pails and buckets floating in a stream, and the mindstream is like the dynamic flowing of the water, pure awareness is like the water itself in its essential wetness. Sometimes the water is still, sometimes it is turbulent; yet it always remains as it is-wet, fluid, watery. In the same way, pure awareness is never confined [n]or disrupted by any mind-state. Therefore, it is the source of liberation and true equanimity. (Welwood, 2000) (NB: original not meta-enhanced)

In the above quotation Welwood introduces "pure awareness", the essence-quality of the mindstream, and may be considered synonymous with rigpa, natural mind or the primordial and principal constitutional consciousness of being and accessible by (and the point of origin of) all sentient beings (though uncreated and pre-existing) and the The Creation or the manifest Universe.

In terms of the Buddhist teaching of the three kayas, we could say that the contents of consciousness belong to the nirmanakaya, the realm of manifest form. The pulsation of the mindstream, with its alternation between movement and stillness, belongs to the sambhogakaya, the realm of energetic flow. And the larger open ground of awareness, first discovered in moments of stillness, is the dharmakaya, the realm of pure being itself, eternally present, spontaneous, and free of entrapment in any form whatsoever. (Welwood, 2000) (NB: original not meta-enhanced)

The Buddhist teachings of mindstream and heartmind inform one another, as does body-mind. As Chodron (1991) states: "Just as the body is a 'continuity' even though it has parts, the mindstream or mind or consciousness is also a 'continuity', although it has parts." Hawter (1995) succinctly relates that: "All of our actions lay down imprints on our mindstream which have the potential to ripen at some time in the future." This quotation implies that the mindstream is linear and only flows one way, but the mindstream is understood in the Himalayan Tradition to flow all ways, always. For Morrell (1999): "The Mahayanists also contend that the mind forms a continuous, unending and unbroken mindstream or flow of consciousness, from beginningless time and indestructible. Thoughts and feelings in the mindstream are regarded as of supreme importance to Buddhist practice." (NB: original quotation not meta-enhanced.)

Kelzang Gyatso (1708-1757 CE), His Holiness Dalai Lama VII is translated in Mullin (1982) as stating that: "all things in the world and beyond [a]re simply projections of names and thoughts. Not even the tiniest atom exists by itself, [i]ndependently and in its own right" (Mullin, 1982: 53). Therefore, the UniverseΨ is the thoughtform of our collective mindstream.

In an unknown (though insightful) commenter's purport to Patanjali's Yoga Sutras Sutra I.34, pranayama is linked to the mindstream:

Thus the outflow of the breath, being associated with release, it is used to release the negative energy, thoughts, and emotions which interrupt the Divine mind-stream. Since breath is related to our basic energy, in this light then, we can also understand how we can can regulate the cit-prana and soothe and clarify the mind by bringing our awareness back to the exhalation of the breath and the regulation of the breath. This will bring freshness and clarification to the mindstream.↑

When His Holiness the Dalai Lama is asked "what is the nature of the mindstream that reincarnates from lifetime to lifetime?" (1997) he answers:

If one understands the term "soul" as a continuum of individuality from moment to moment, from lifetime to lifetime, then one can say that Buddhism also accepts a concept of soul; there is a kind of continuum of consciousness. From that point of view, the debate on whether or not there is a soul becomes strictly semantic. However, in the Buddhist doctrine of selflessness, or "no soul" theory, the understanding is that there is no eternal, unchanging, abiding, permanent self called "soul." That is what is being denied in Buddhism.

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[edit] Notes

¿ http://www.rainbowbody.net/HeartMind/Yogasutra1.htm (accessed: January 17, 2007)
Ψ The Universe here is qualified by Rawson (1991: p.9) who states that even before 400CE: "...the classic Lotus Sutra had developed the intuition that the universe is unknowably vast, containing millions upon millions of cosmoses and worlds 'numberless as the sand-grains of the Ganges river', all continuously arising from and falling back into an indefinable Ultimate." (NB: original quotation not meta-enhanced.) In this context the "indefinable Ultimate" may be equated with dharmakaya. In addition, the term Multiverse or Metaverse may be more apt, though still in the sense of the etymology of the Universe in 'revolving as one'.
↑ http://www.rainbowbody.net/HeartMind/Yogasutra1.htm (accessed: January 17, 2007)

[edit] References

  • http://www.bodhipath-west.org/glossary.htm (accessed: Saturday January 13, 2007)
  • Guenther, Herbert V. (1956). "Tibetan Buddhism in Western Perspective: The Concept of Mind in Buddhist Tantrism." Journal of Oriental Studies: 3:261-77.
  • Tulku, Tarthang (1974). "On Thoughts" in Crystal Mirror: 3:7-20.
  • Wangyal, Tenzin (1997). A-Khrid Teachings. Vol. 2. Berkeley, CA: privately published.
  • Welwood, John (2000). The Play of the Mind: Form, Emptiness, and Beyond. Source: http://www.purifymind.com/PlayMind.htm (accessed: Saturday January 13, 2007)
  • James, William. (1890). The Principles of Psychology. New York: Holt.
  • Hawter, Pende (1995). Healing: A Tibetan Buddhist Perspective. http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/tib/heal_tib.htm (accessed: Saturday January 13, 2007)
  • Morrell, Peter (1999). The Three Poisons And The Three Jewels: An Outline Of The Buddhist Schools. http://www.homeoint.org/morrell/buddhism/outline.htm (accessed: Saturday January 13, 2007)
  • Mullin, Glenn H. (1982). Selected Works of the Dalai Lama VII. Snow Lion, USA.
  • Rawson, Philip (1991). Sacred Tibet. London, Thames and Hudson. ISBN(?) 90-70359.
  • Chodron, Thubten (1991). Basic Buddhist Topics: Mind, Rebirth, Cyclic Existence and Enlightenment (transcript). Seattle: Dharma Friendship Foundation. Source: http://www.thubtenchodron.org/GradualPathToEnlightenment/LR_003_BasicTopics_May91.pdf (accessed: Sunday March 25, 2007)
  • Lama, Dalai (1997). Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective. Translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa. Snow Lion Publications. Source: [1] (accessed: Sunday March 25, 2007)
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