Identity and Experience_Hamilton_1996

102 Identity and Experience
vi55iy and kya, mind and body, together represent the individual human
being as a whole.
We have seen that each of the Wlandhas is more properly understood as a
process rather than as offering an analysis which polarises physical and
mental entities. It is perhaps surprising, therefore, to find the human being
so often described in the Sutta @aka in terms of mind and body. But though
the analysis of the human being into khan&as might give a greater degree
of insight into the fact that we consist of various processes, our normal
subjective experience nevertheless i~ one of being conscious and having a
physical body. At a practical level, this is a simple and acceptable way of
understanding ourselves, and the terms vi33ina and kga are used to
designate the former and the latter respectively.
Though the following of the Buddhist path, in particular the meditation
exercises, gives understanding that the individual is more complex than at
first appears, the simpler analysis is a useful convention for others who do
not have that insight. This is illustrated in the Mahivaggo Sattarno, which is
one context in which vin"n"i~ is used both generically, in the general sense of
'mind', and in the more specific sense of a Wlandha. In the section where it
is used generically it appears in opposition to 'body' (kga), and this is
clearly stated to be the way 'ordinary people' (puthujana) understand
themsel~es.'~~ In the section of the Sutta where it is used to refer to the
khandha, it is stated that the anyasivaka understands that the individual he
appears to be is made up of five khandhas.lo6 In other words, while the
ordinary person thinks about the human being conventionally, it is part of
the anymivaka's agenda to make a more refined analysis than simply 'mind
and body'. Here the generic meaning appears to be a popular convention
and the specific meaning is used for a more sophisticated group. But the
convention is also used by the Buddha and his close associates, as we shall
see below, illustrating its usefulness at all levels.
In contexts in which vin"n"ina is used generically in opposition to 'body',
the expression most frequently used is saviKinaka kiija, 'the body with
mind'.lo7 In the Ariguttara Nikga, for example, Ananda questions the
Buddha as follows:
Is it possible that a bhikkhu can attain such formless meditation that in this
body and mind, or in anything external to it, he has no notion of 'I' or
'rnine'?'m
The Buddha replies that it is indeed possible, and briefly tells Ananda
how to bring this about. In the following Sutta, Sariputta exclaims to the
Buddha that he is ready to teach the dhamma. The Buddha replies: "Then,
Sariputta, you must train yourself as follows. In this mind and body, or in
anything external to it, there is no notion of 'I' or 'mine"'.10g In a third
similar e~arnple,''~ the Buddha tells some bhikkhus that it is advantageous
not to think in terms of self, to have no idea of 'I' and 'mine', in the body