The place of mind in the philosophical systems of India is briefly discussed. That mind is of subtle physical nature and that self is postulated as higher than mind in the hierarchy is being pointed out. Mind can be man’s own friend to elevate him or his foe debasing him.

Snapshot. The mind may be viewed to be constituted by five basic components: manas, ahamkara, citta, buddhi and atman. The Vedic theory of consciousness probably suggests a process of evolution, wherein there is an urge to evolve into higher forms, which have a better grasp of the nature of the universe.

Epistemology. The word Self-consciousness in the Upanishads means the knowledge about the existence and nature of Brahman. It means the consciousness of our own real being, the primary reality. Self-consciousness means Self-knowledge, the knowledge of Prajna i.e. of Prana which is Brahman.

The Buddhist tradition regards the body and the mind as being mutually dependent. The Buddha taught that there is no separate, permanent, or unchanging self, and that a human being is an impermanent composite of interdependent physical, emotional and cognitive components.

A term, dharmakaya, was coined to describe a more metaphorical body, a body or collection of all the Buddha’s good qualities or dharmas, such as his wisdom, his compassion, his fortitude, his patience. This corpus of qualities was identified as the body of the Buddha to which one should turn for refuge.

Although the mind-body distinction appears to be a kind of practical dualism, on the level of ultimate truth (paramārtha satya), Buddhism advocates neither mind-body dualism nor non-dualism and is therefore perhaps better referred to as ‘conventional dualism’.