Chapter 9 - Arising And Passing Away Of Mind And Body

Each quality or property, being a combination of themselves in one proportion or another, can only be "seen" by the inner eye or insight knowledge. As soon as the material quality is changed into different forms, the composite things are held to be mere conceptions presented to the mind by the particular appearance, shape or form. Above all, matter in its perishable or dissolvable nature is not a substantial entity, but merely an arising and passing phenomenon along its psychological process.

Mind, which is the most important in the being, is consciousness plus mental factors. Consciousness is just the knowing faculty, that which knows the object. Generally people imagine that mind exists somewhere in the brain or in the heart as a solid entity. As a matter or fact, it is not so. The so-called mind is nothing but a series of successive momentary thoughts or process of consciousness which are the product of the impact between sense organs and sense object. Due to the contact between eye and visible object, there arises for sure eye-consciousness (Vinnana ) and simultaneously along with it there also arises mental constituents called (cetasika), such as, sensation or feeling of whatever kind (Vedana), perception of sense-objects (sanna) and fifty types of mental factors including tendencies and faculties (Sankhara). Thus the so-called mind consists of the four mental aggregates.

In this way, the so-called being or man (satta) is a composition of five aggregates of the material and mental forces, the composition of which is changing all the time, not remaining the same even for two consecutive moments. If so, apart from the five aggregates of the mind and matter, there remain nothing to be called Atta, the Self or Soul.

Here we have to quote the three fundamental characteristics of existence taught by the Buddha. "All conditioned things are impermanent; all conditioned things are suffering; all things are insubstantial. What is transient that is painful; what is painful that is soulless, essenceless, impersonal or insubstantial (Anatta), i.e., the absence of a permanent unchanging self or soul in anywhere or in anybody.