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Vijnana

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)
(Pinyinshí)
Japanese 識 (shiki)
Korean 식 (shik)
Sinhala
Tibetan རྣམ་པར་ཤེས་པ་
Thai วิญญาณ
Vietnamese 識 (thức)
Glossary of Buddhism

Vijñāna (Sanskrit) or viññāa (Pāli is translated as "consciousness," "life force," "mind," or "discernment."

In the Pāli Canon's Sutta Pitaka's first four nikāyas, viññāa 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, viññāa 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), viññāa (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 (viññāa) is further analyzed into 89 different states which are categorized in accordance with their kammic results.


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