CONSCIOUSNESS -Vinnana
| If volitional formations are accumulated in the mind and
ignorance is still present, when death occurs, a new moment of consciousness will be
generated following death. This is the first moment of consciousness of the new life. From the Buddhist perspective, consciousness is not regarded as a single persisting entity, a self or a soul which continues unchanged. Consciousness is rather a series of acts of consciousness, each one arising and breaking up like the waves of the ocean. When death occurs the last act of consciousness in this life arises and passes away. But through the force of ignorance and volitional formations, the final act of consciousness generates a new act of consciousness which springs up in the mother's womb, links up with the sterilized ovum, and thus starts the new existence. This first act of consciousness occurring at the moment of conception is called the 'patisandhicitta', the "relinking consciousness", because it links together the past life with the present life, the new being with his entire past. When the rebirth consciousness arises it lasts for a brief moment and breaks up. But immediately after the rebirth consciousness, the same basic type of consciousness begins to flow as a series of mental acts throughout the entire life. It flows as a passive flow of consciousness underlying all our active states of mind, continuing all the way to death. This passive stream of consciousness is called 'bhavanga', the stream of existence. |