Identity and Experience_Hamilton_1996

The ViEEiinakkhandha 97
continuity of awareness, and that sense of continuity becomes inseparable
from a desire for continued existence: consciousness becomes propelled by
volitions. And, as already mentioned, desire for continued existence is so
fundamental a part of our experience that it is one of the three isavas that
is rooted out only immediately prior to liberation.
This sense of continuity provided by viEn"iip is also emphasised when it
is described as a '~tream'.'~ In the SampasGdanijJa Suttanta in the Diiha Nzkaia,
for example, one "insight meditation" (dassana samiipattz) is described as
follows: "He understands a man's stream of consciousness, unbroken in
both cases, which is stationed both in this world and in the next
Two points arise from this passage. The first is the notion that uiEn"a'na is
'stationed'. This is a common metaphor which is discussed further under
point (5). Of relevance to us here is that the term translated as 'station' is
always thiti, or some variation of it (here patitthitam). This term itself implies
continuity: being 'stationed' implies that it 'persists'. As the Pali English
Dzctionary points out, were the term intended to have spacial significance, it
is more likely thiina would have been used.76 The second point that arises
from this passage is that the process of being aware is to be discerned in
meditation, and it is likened to a stream. The implication is that just as the
flow of a stream appears to be continuous, so zrin"Eiipz continues to function
from life to life. This does not imply that viiin"iina is a permanent entity
which transmigrates: there is no part of a stream which can be said to be
permanent; it is changing all the time. It means that the individual's
viiiiiiinakkhandha functions as the process of being aware as seemingly
continuously as a stream flows. And as the flowing of a stream depends on
a supply of water, so the continuity of uin"n"ii~ is dependent on the volitions
which fuel the cycle of lives in sapiira. Conversely, as we saw under point
(I), when that volitional fuel comes to an end, there will no longer be any
need for uin"n"ip to f~nction.'~ Similarly, in the Miira Samyutta we read that
the bhikkhu Godhika's vi6n"iina is not 'stationed' (appati$iitena) again (does not
persist) at his death because he has destroyed craving and the root of
craving (samdam ta@am).78 The 'unbroken stream' is compatible with the
general Indian belief that rebirth follows immediately after death.
5. Vin"n"iina as evolving
The cycle of samsiiric existence which consists of a series of rebirths is
occasionally referred to in the Sutta Pitaka as the 'evolving' of beings.79 By
good deeds one 'evolves' to heaven,*O and by bad deeds one 'evolves' to
rebirth as a hungry ghost." Given the fundamental role of consciousness in
the life of the human being that we have seen, it is unsurprising that in one
place it is uiEEiina that is said to 'evolve'.82 This expression is not used
systematically and does not always appear to suggest that beings evolve in
the sense of making progress along the path to liberation; it is used, as we