buddhi

Buddhi ({{langx|sa|बुद्धि}}) is derived from the Vedic Sanskrit root Budh (बुध् ), which literally means "to wake, be awake, observe, heed, attend, learn, become aware of, to know, be conscious again".{{cite book|author1=Sir Monier Monier-Williams|author2=Ernst Leumann|author3=Carl Cappeller|title=A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zUezTfym7CAC|year=2002|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-3105-6|page=733}} The term appears extensively in Rigveda and other Vedic literature. Buddhi means, states Monier Williams, the power to "form, retain concepts; intelligence, reason, intellect, mind", the intellectual faculty and the ability to "discern, judge, comprehend, understand" something.{{cite book|author=Jadunath Sinha |title=Indian Psychology Perception |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WmBGAQAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-34605-7 |pages=120–121 }}

Buddhi is a feminine Sanskrit noun derived from *budh, to be awake, to understand, to know. The same root is the basis for the more familiar masculine form Buddha and the abstract noun bodhi.

Buddhi contrasts from manas (मनस्) which means "mind", and ahamkara (अहंंकाऱ) which means "ego, I-sense in egotism".{{cite book|author=Ian Whicher|title=The Integrity of the Yoga Darsana: A Reconsideration of Classical Yoga|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Qo9K9hPvQgC |year=1998|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-3815-2|pages=18, 71, 77, 92–95, 219, 231}}{{cite book|author1=Sir Monier Monier-Williams|author2=Ernst Leumann|author3=Carl Cappeller|title=A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zUezTfym7CAC|year=2002|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-3105-6|pages=124, 783–784}}

In Sankhya and yogic philosophy both the mind and the ego are forms in the realm of nature (prakriti) that have emerged into materiality as a function of the three gunas (गुण) through a misapprehension of purusha (पुरूष) (the consciousness-essence of the jivatman). Discriminative in nature (बुद्धि निश्चयात्मिका चित्त-वृत्ति), buddhi is that which is able to discern truth (satya) from falsehood and thereby to make wisdom possible.{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}}

According to the Sānkhya-Yoga view, buddhi is in essence unconscious, and as such, cannot be an object of its own consciousness. This means that it can neither apprehend an object nor manifest itself.{{Cite book |last=Saksena |first=Shri Krishna |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1256407633 |title=Essays on Indian Philosophy |isbn=978-0-8248-8595-3 |oclc=1256407633}}

In the Yoga Sutra, it is explained that the buddhi cannot illuminate itself, since it itself is the object of sight, "na tat svhāsam draśhyatvāt".{{Cite book |last=Patañjali. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/34894404 |title=Yoga : discipline of freedom : the Yoga Sutra attributed to Patanjali ; a translation of the text, with commentary, introduction, and glossary of keywords |date=1996 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-20190-6 |oclc=34894404}}

In the Samkhyakarika, buddhi, originally referred to as mahat, is the fundamental entity that emerges during Prakrti's cosmic self-transformation. It has the sense of knowledge, and is synonymous with words like thought, idea, wisdom, and insight. Buddhi is characterized by its function as judgment, as it not only identifies the nature of things but also determines the best course of action. From buddhi arises ahamkara, the "I-maker", which begins the cosmic differentiation, producing inner sensation (indriya) through its transformed (sattvika) aspect and external perceptions through its elemental (tamasika) aspect, laying the foundation for subjectivity, objectivity, and self-awareness.{{Cite journal |last=Parrott |first=Rodney J. |last2=Parrot |first2=Rodney J. |date=1986 |title=The Problem of the Sāṃkhya Tattvas as Both Cosmic and Psychological Phenomena |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/23444164 |journal=Journal of Indian Philosophy |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=55–77 |issn=0022-1791}}

In Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18, Krishna mentions influences of two gunas, rajas and tamas, on buddhi. In verse 18.31, Krishna tells Arjuna that when buddhi is influenced by rajas, the person cannot clearly distinguish between dharma (right action) and adharma (wrong action). Verse 18.32 explains that when buddhi is influenced by tamas, the person may confuse dharma with adharma and has distorted understanding of all subjects.{{Cite book |last=Sutton |first=Nicholas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pXKlAQAACAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions |title=Bhagavad-Gita |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies |isbn=978-1-366-61059-1 |pages=258-259 |language=en}}

• Citta
• Enlightenment in Buddhism
• Namarupa
• Nous
• Three Bodies Doctrine
• Wisdom

• [http://www.swamij.com/mind-map.htm An interactive map of the Yogic conception of mind].

Category:Hindu studies

Category:Hindu philosophical concepts

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