Mind-Body Relationship and Buddhist Contextualism

Abstract

The Buddha denies the existence of any permanent entity, either physical or mental. He considers the human person as a psycho-physical complex. There is also no attempt to reduce the mental into the physical, or vice versa. The mind and body have a conditioned existence and they emerge within the dynamic continuum of a variety of relations. Basically, the Buddhist position is not dualistic or monistic (whether it is the materialistic or the idealistic type). Within this framework, the discourses of the Buddha make relative distinctions between the ‘physical’ and the ‘mental’, as when the Buddha refers to feelings which are mental or physical. The Buddha presents a contextual discourse regarding the mind and body relationship, discouraging any excessive entanglements in converting this into a metaphysical issue. In a deeper sense, the question of whether the mind is identical with the body or they are independent of each other is a question that the Buddha left aside, as an undetermined question.

Sound is not a thing that dwells inside the conch-shell and comes from time to time, but due to both, the conch shell and the man that blows it, sound comes to arise. Just so due to the presence of vitality, heat and consciousness, the body may execute acts of going, standing, sitting, and lying down, and the five sense organs and the mind may perform various functions.¹