Introduction to Buddhist psychology and Mahātanhāsankhaya Sutta

Introduction to Buddhist psychology and Mahātanhāsankhaya Sutta

The word psychology is Greek contain two Greek roots. Psyche meaning "mind" and logos meaning "study". Leading to the psychology meaning study of the mind and behavior. Psychology began in the period of around 500 to 300 B.C. Earlier there was no specific subject as psychologically. It was a part of philosophy. While psychology has its roots in ancient philosophy, it was not until the 1879 founding of the first psychology lab that the discipline emerged as a science. Therefore, 1879 is the year of birth of psychology.
Psychology can be broadly defined as the study of the human mind and behavior. It is a systematic approach to the understanding of people, their thoughts, emotions, and behavior. The application of this understanding helps to solve human problems. It involves a comprehensive understanding of emotional issues at the deep root level, which brings about health, happiness, and functionality in the client. The study of psychology allows one to appreciate the relationship between thoughts, emotions and the resulting behavior. Today it has more than 55 branches in the world, which are recognized by the APA. (American Psychological Association).

Next concerning in Buddhist Psychology it is very important to discuss about what Buddhist psychology is. So here, I want to discuss about what Buddhist psychology is, Similarity between Buddhist psychology and psychology and Important of Buddhist psychology. The book which name is “An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology which has written by Padmasiri De Silva explains that Buddhist Psychology is a lucid, intelligible, and authentic introduction to the foundations of Buddhist psychology. It provides comprehensive coverage of the basic concepts and issues in the psychology of Buddhism, and thus it deals with the nature of psychological inquiry, concepts of the mind, consciousness and behavior, motivation, emotions and percentile, and the therapeutic structure of Buddhist psychology. Next Psychology also talks about human behavior and mind, Buddhism also talk about mind in whole teachings. According to Tripitaka Sutta, Vinaya, and Abhidhamma talks about mind special teachings of mind can see in the Abhidhamma Pitaka in Citta part. Which talks about the mind and its divisions. Not only that but also Jataka stories also can find many facts which discuss about people mind.

In Mahātanhāsankhaya Sutta discusses regards significance of psychological concepts in the philosophy and practice of Buddhism is highlighted. The problems inherent in the study of Buddhist psychology are discussed, including the problem of translation and interpretation. As well as psychological notions including: basic drives that motivate behavior, perception and cognition, consciousness, personal development and enlightenment, meditation, and behaviour change are discussed. According to Maha Tanha Sutta of M.N. is included three factors connected with the process of rebirth.

01. Sexual intercourse between male and female.

02. Menstruation of the Mother.

03. Evalve with consciousness Sanvarttirika Vinnana.

Before enter to the deep concepts of psychological aspects Mahātanhāsankhaya Sutta, let we see the summary if it.

Summary of Mahātanhāsankhaya Sutta

The meaning of Mahātanhāsankhaya Sutta is greater Craving-Destruction discourse. In this Sutta Buddha discusses how to understand the role of consciousness as a process in the process of birth in a way that actually can lead to the end of birth.

According to this Sutta, Sāti Thera, a fisherman's son, went about saying that, according to the Buddha's doctrine, one's consciousness runs on and continues without break of identity. Hearing this several monks protested, but failed to convince him of his error. Sāti was therefore brought before the Buddha and acknowledged that he had spread such a view. The Buddha explains that he had always taught that consciousness arises only by causation and that, without assignable condition, consciousness does not come about.

There are four substances (āhārā), which either maintain existing organisms or help those yet to be:

ü  Material substance

ü  Contact

ü  Cogitation

ü  Perception

The derivation and birth of all four substances is craving - craving arises from feeling and so on. Three things must combine for a conception to take place:

ü  the coitus of the parents,

ü  the menstruation, at the time, of the mother,

ü  And the presence of a being awaiting rebirth (Gandhabba).

The Buddha’s critique of the denial of rebirth and explanation in Mahātanhāsankhaya Sutta

The Buddha criticized the views of other teachers who denied rebirth. But why did he criticize them? And do these criticisms apply to someone who does not believe in rebirth as long as he or she accepts the central teaching of pratityasamutpada. Annihilationist

According to the Buddha’s critique of the belief in annihilation (uccheda- ditthi): the belief in the existence of an ego-entity or personality as being more or less identical with a physical body or a mental body, which will, with the dissolution of the corresponding body, come to an end. The critique here is based primarily on the identification of the person with a body – it is often opposed to the externalist’s view which identifies the person as being something permanently other than a body or any of the khandhas.

Holding the view of pratityasamutpada means that one cannot be either an externalist or an annihilationist, even if one does not hold a belief in literal rebirth.

Nihilism

At the time of the Buddha many teachers who denied rebirth also held nihilist views (natthika ditthi.) That is to say they held one of a variety of views that denied that actions had consequences. Several expressions of such views are given in the Samannaphala Sutta (DN 2) which includes colourful opinions like: ‘If one were to go along the south bank of the Ganges killing, slaying, cutting or causing to be cut, burning or causing to be burnt, there would be no evil as a result of that, no evil would accrue. Or if one were to go along the north bank of the Ganges giving and causing to be given, sacrificing and causing to be sacrificed, there would be no merit as a result of that, no merit would accrue. In giving, self-control, abstinence and telling the truth, there is no merit, and no merit accrues‘. It seems that the Buddha’s main objection to these teachers’ views was not that they denied rebirth as such, but that they denied that actions had consequences.

Some of these nihilist teachers taught rebirth (Makkahali Gosala) others did not (Ajita Kesakambali) but they are equally criticized by the Buddha. I have not yet been able to discover a teacher who taught that actions have consequences but who denied rebirth. If there were such a teacher, did the Buddha criticize him? I guess some modern Western Buddhists, like myself, might claim to hold this view.

Materialism
According to K.N. Jayatilleke all the schools of materialists were characterized by the fact that they did not hold that mind and body were two different entities but were one and the same entity, either denying the reality of mental phenomena altogether or asserting that they were epiphenomena or accompaniments of the state of body.

Ajita Kesakambali held this view and he was also a nihilist. We have already seen that the Buddha himself held that although mind and body are different they arise together (Samannaphala Sutta)

Very few serious modern scientists hold materialist views – even Richard Dawkins fully admits that ‘Evolutionary biologists have learned the basis of a variety of human activities, yet when it comes to understanding human consciousness, the field is as helpless as any other.‘ It is a gross misunderstanding to assume that those who pay serious attention to the insights of science are materialists. In fact how can one think of a physicist as being a materialist when he does not even think that material is material?

The central theme of the Mahātanhāsankhaya Sutta is the explanation of arising of suffering, cessation of suffering based on the law of dependent arising.

Maha tanha sankhaya Sutta concerns a monk Sāti, who refuses to heed the Buddha's care in treating all the elements of the process of wandering on from birth to birth as processes. Sati Thera, a fisherman’s son, went about saying that, according to the Buddha’s doctrine, one’s consciousness runs on and continues without break of identity. In short, his idea is consciousness is the "what" that does the wandering on.  Hearing this several monks protested, but failed to convince him of his error. Sati was therefore brought before the Buddha and acknowledged that he had spread such a view. The Buddha explains that he had always taught that consciousness arises only by causation and that, without assignable condition, consciousness does not come about. 

The Buddha’s answer was providing a correct understanding of consciousness as a conditioned phenomenon, it also shows why the sort of question Sāti was trying to answer is ill-conceived.

Conditioned nature of consciousness as a process in the context of two frameworks:

(1)   The standard description of the factors of dependent co-arising

       I.            cakkhuñca paṭicca rūpe ca uppajjati viññāṇaṃ, cakkhuviññāṇanteva saṅkhaṃ gacchati.

    II.            Sotañca paṭicca sadde ca uppajjati viññāṇaṃ, sotaviññāṇanteva saṅkhaṃ gacchati

 III.            Ghānañca paṭicca gandhe ca uppajjati viññāṇaṃ, ghānaviññāṇanteva saṅkhaṃ gacchati

 IV.            jivhañca paṭicca rase ca uppajjati viññāṇaṃ, jivhāviññāṇanteva saṅkhaṃ gacchati

    V.            Kāyañca paṭicca phoṭṭhabbe ca uppajjati viññāṇaṃ, kāyaviññāṇanteva saṅkhaṃ gacchati

 VI.            Manañca paṭicca dhamme ca uppajjati viññāṇaṃ, manoviññāṇanteva saṅkhaṃ gacchati.

The Buddha first classifies consciousness in terms of the way it arises in dependence on the six sense-media.  In dependence on the eye & forms there arises eye-consciousness. The coming together, the meeting, the convergence of phenominas is eye-contact. Similarly it is common with ear, nose, tongue, body and intellect-consciousness. Consciousness is classified simply by the requisite condition in dependence on which it arises.

(2) The four nutriments of consciousness

There are four substances (ahara), which either maintain existing organisms or help those yet to be.

1.      Material substance

2.      Contact

3.      Cogitation

4.      Perception

The derivation and birth of all four substances is craving. Craving arises from feeling and so on. Three things must combine for a conception to take place such as,the coitus of the parents, the menstruation, at the time, of the mother, and the presence of a being awaiting rebirth (gandhabba). From becoming as a requisite condition comes birth.
From birth as a requisite condition, then aging-&-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair come into play. Such is the origination of this entire mass of stress & suffering.

The Cessation of Stress & Suffering

1.      Cessation of that very ignorance comes the cessation of fabrications

2.      Cessation of fabrications comes the cessation of consciousness

3.      Cessation of consciousness comes the cessation of name-&-form,

4.      Cessation of name-&-form comes the cessation of six sense media,

5.      Cessation of six sense media comes the cessation of contact, feeling,

6.      Cessation of contact, comes the cessation of feeling,  craving,

7.      Cessation of feeling, comes the cessation of craving, 

8.      Cessation of craving comes the cessation of clinging,

9.      Cessation of clinging comes the cessation of becoming,

10.  Cessation of becoming comes the cessation of birth,

11.  Cessation of birth comes the cessation of aging-&-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, and despair all cease.

Such is the cessation of this entire mass of stress & suffering.

To conclude, a being, in the Buddha's sense of the term not only takes birth after the death of the body, it can also take birth, die, and be reborn many times as attachment develops for one desire, ends, and then develops for another desire. This is why the processes leading to rebirth after death can be observed and redirected in the present moment during life. This is why the ability to understand and observe the processes of dependent co-arising is so important in putting an end to rebirth on all its many levels

The four nutriments of consciousness

"There are four nutriments for the maintenance of beings who have come into being or for the support of those in search of a place to be born.

Puttamānsasutta

In many suttas Buddha talks about these four kinds of nutriment (food) for the maintenance of beings that already have come to be and for the support of those seeking a new existence.

The Four Nutriments

1.      Material substance (kabalinkāro)

2.      Contact (phassa)

3.      Mental volition (mano-sancetanā)

4.      Perception (viññāna)

Naynaponika Thera says "All beings subsist on nutriment". According to the Buddha, is the one single fact about life that, above all, deserves to be remembered, contemplated and understood. If understood widely and deeply enough, this saying of the Buddha reveals indeed a truth that leads to the root of all existence and also to its uprooting. The laws of nutriment govern both biological and mental life, and this fact was expressed by the Buddha when speaking of four kinds of nutriments.

It is hunger that stands behind the entire process of nutrition, wielding its whip relentlessly. The body, from birth to death, craves ceaselessly for material food, and mind hungers as eagerly for its own kind of nourishment, forever new sense-impressions and for an ever expanding universe of ideas.

Craving (tanhā) is the principal condition of any "in-take" or "up-take" (upādāna), that is, of nutriment in its widest sense. This is the first factor common to all types of nutriment, be they physical or mental. So the Buddha says "With the arising of craving there is the arising of nutriment. With the cessation of craving there is the cessation of nutriment."

The physical nutriment essential to sustain the five sense bases, eye, ear, nose, tongue and body. The three types of mental nutriment sustains the mind. The Contact food, mental volition /formations and the six different Consciousness nutriments. It is clear that entire existence of a person is a self-sustained environment provided that food is supplied from outside (physical) and within (mental).

Three factors connected with rebirth two physical factor and psychological factor

According to Mahatanhasankaya sutta in M.N. there are three factors connected with the rebirth crosses as two physical factor and psychological factor.

The physical factors are sexual intercourse between male and female and menstruation of the mother. The psychological factor is the conception of a baby in the establish fetus in the womb of the mother. The third psychological factor is known as evolving consciousness

( sambattayutta Vinnana or patisandi vinnana or gandabha vinnana .)

At the same time there is another process known as upapatika uppatti (spontaneous birth) which is explained as second birth in the process of rebirth. When the evolving consciousness is departed from the foetus another consciousness enter the womb of a mother.

Conclusion

In the Mahatanhasankhaya Sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya points out, a conception (gabbhassa avakkanti) of a being takes place by the conjunction of three factors. If the mother and father come together (there should be coitus of parents), and it is the mother’s proper season (the mother should not have her period), and the gandhabba is also present (paccupatthito hoti) then a germ of life is planted there.

The third factor gandhabba is simply a term for the viññana, or patisandhiviññana, or the samvattanika viññana, rebirth consciousness. According to Acariya Buddhaghosa, the commentator, gandhabba means the being about to enter the womb (paccupatthito hoti). What is meant is that a satta, a being, about to be born in that situation, is being driven on by the mechanism of kamma. It should be clearly understood that this gandhabba is neither a “semi-god who presides over child-conception nor a ’discarnate spirit’ as implied by the Vedic gandharva. It is quite clear from the early Buddhist texts that there is no spirit or soul, or ego-entity going from birth to birth. It is the viññana conditioned by sankharas or kamma formations that brings about the rebirth of an individual after his death.

Consciousness, which is the psychic factor that determines the rebirth of an individual or being, is not something permanent in the form of a self or soul or an ego-entity. Even consciousness is conditioned and subject to change. There were many during the time of the Buddha who thought, and there are many who continue to think, that consciousness in the form of a permanent, enduring self or soul exists in man, continues through life, and at death transmigrates from one life to another, and binds life together. During the Buddha’s time some metaphysicians held the view: “whatever there is to be called citta or mano or viññana, that is the soul; permanent, constant, eternal, unchanging” 

Bibliography

Primary sources

ü  Anguttara Nikāya.iii.p.415. Atthasālini.p.88.

ü  Akusalasutta AN 3.147

ü  Anguttara Nikāya 8.40 Duccaritavipākasutta

ü  Nibbhedika sutta

ü  Cullakammavibhanga Sutta

ü  S ii, 1978, London, PTS

ü  M i, 1978, London, PTS

ü   

Secondary Sources

ü  Bhikkhu Nyanamoli, Buddhist Publication Society, 1979.

ü  The Buddha and His Teaching, Narada Thera, Publication of Buddhist Missionary, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1964.

ü  Essential Themes of Buddhist Lectures, Ashin Thittila, Department of Religious Affairs, Yangon, Myanmar, 1992.

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ü  Only we can help ourselves, Dhammavudho Thero, Inward Path, Pinang, Malaysia, 1997.

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ü  Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997a). Dvedhavitakka Sutta: Two Sorts of Thinking (MN 19). Retrieved 3 Jul 2007 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.019.than.html.