Viññāṇa
| Translations of vijñāna |
|
|---|---|
| English | consciousness, mind, life force, discernment |
| Pali | विञ्ञाण (viññāṇa) |
| Sanskrit | विज्ञान (vijñāna) |
| Burmese |
ဝိညာဉ် (IPA: [wḭ ɲɪ̀ɴ]) |
| Chinese |
識(T) / 识(S) (Pinyin: shí) |
| Japanese | 識 (shiki) |
| Korean | 식 (shik) |
| Sinhala | |
| Tibetan | རྣམ་པར་ཤེས་པ་ |
| Thai | วิญญาณ |
| Vietnamese | 識 (thức) |
| Glossary of Buddhism | |
Vijñāna (Sanskrit) or viññāṇa (Pāli is translated as "consciousness," "life force," "mind," or "discernment."
In the Pāli Canon's Sutta Pitaka's first four nikāyas, viññāṇa is one of three overlapping Pali terms used to refer to the mind, the others being manas and citta. Each is used in the generic and non-technical sense of "mind" in general, but the three are sometimes used in sequence to refer to one's mental processes as a whole. Their primary uses are, however, distinct.
This section considers the Buddhist concept primarily in terms of Early Buddhism's Pali literature as well as in the literature of other Buddhist schools.
Throughout Pali literature, viññāṇa can be found as one of a handful of synonyms for the mental force that animates the otherwise inert material body. In a number of Pali texts though, the term has a more nuanced and context-specific (or "technical") meaning. In particular, in the Pali Canon's "Discourse Basket" (Suttapitaka), viññāṇa (generally translated as "consciousness") is discussed in at least three related but different contexts:
In the Pali Canon's Abhidhamma and in post-canonical Pali commentaries, consciousness (viññāṇa) is further analyzed into 89 different states which are categorized in accordance with their kammic results.
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