Concept
Mindstream
Overview
Mindstream (Pali: citta-santāna, Sanskrit: citta-saṃtāna, Tibetan: sems-rgyud, Ch: xin xiangxu 心相續) in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment continuum of sense impressions and mental phenomena (citta), which is also described as continuing from one life to another. Often described as a "stream of mind" or "mental continuum," the mindstream is not a static entity but a dynamic flow of arising and passing mental phenomena, which refers as a string of passing moments that happen either in the same lifetime or in the transitional period between one life and another.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
In the psychological way of defining a “mind”, it consists of all the mental events connected with a given mental event by “experience”, _i.e._ by mnemic causation, but this definition needs a little elaboration before it can be regarded as precise. We do not want the contraction of the pupil to count as a “mental” event; therefore a mental event will have to be one which has mnemic effects, not merely mnemic causes.
Bertrand Russell, Philosophy
States what Mindstream is.
This is done two ways. First, by keeping the idea which is brought into it, for some time actually in view, which is called CONTEMPLATION. 2. Memory. The other way of retention is, the power to revive again in our minds those ideas which, after imprinting, have disappeared, or have been as it were laid aside out of sight. And thus we do, when we conceive heat or light, yellow or sweet,—the object being removed. This…
John Locke, An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1
States what Mindstream is.
Obviously, however, this surging up of personal factors into conscious recognition is a part of the whole activity in its temporal development. There is not first a purely psychical process, followed abruptly by a radically different physical one. There is one continuous behavior, proceeding from a more uncertain, divided, hesitating state to a more overt, determinate, or complete state. The activity at first…
John Dewey, Democracy and Education
Close in meaning to Mindstream; the term itself is not named.
Philosophers who discussed Mindstream
Related ideas
- Ātman (Hinduism)
- Buddhist logico-epistemology
- Metacognition
- Korean language
- Karma
- Saṃsāra
- Dharmakirti
- Mind
- Vijñāna
- Yogachara
- Tantra
- Buddhism
- Personal identity
- Thought
- Buddhist philosophy
- Trikaya
- Psyche (psychology)
- Awareness
- Impermanence (Buddhism)
- Milinda Panha
- Vajrayana
- Maya (religion)
- Svabhava
- Buddhist atomism
Place in the tradition
Part of Idealism.