What is the Samsaric Mind? How does it operate?

What is the Samsaric Mind? How does it operate?

Samsaric mind is the mind taking appearance for reality, imputing its interpretations to the world, assuming the objects are delineated objectively, conclusively and non-ambiguously, projecting its opinions onto objects and assuming they are actual qualities of the objects, obsessing over categories, defending its definitions of categories as the only truth, identifying with its perceptions, opinions, interpretations, and judgements, getting eaten by and lost in all of the above, pursuing goals and avoiding trouble defined in dependence on all of the above, experiencing happiness and suffering when things go with or against the expectations inherent in the above.

Is the knowledge of the unborn accessible to the samsaric mind? Or to put it differently, does an enlightened being's samsaric mind access the knowledge of the unborn to guide other sentient beings.

In case of enlightenment, there is no samsaric mind, what there is instead is called Sambhogakaya - linking the unborn with samsara, translating the unborn into concepts accessible to the sentient beings.

It's like, when you know the magic trick, you no longer see the illusion - what you see is different, there is no return to illusion, but you can still reason about the illusion and discuss it with others.

Once the Arhat attains the unborn, how do they descend to human affairs?

Samsaric mind is the crude or naive mind, so there is no "descent" necessary, it is easy enough to imagine and simulate, for the purpose of teaching. It is the same as when talking to young children, you understand how their minds work and can explain things in terms they can understand - without actually regressing to their level.

Is the samsaric mind the mind when viewing samsara only?

This question calls to mind Sāti, who once proclaimed:

MN38:2.2: “tathāhaṃ bhagavatā dhammaṃ desitaṃ ājānāmi yathā tadevidaṃ viññāṇaṃ sandhāvati saṃsarati anaññan”ti.

“As I understand the Buddha’s teachings, it is this very same consciousness that roams and transmigrates, not another.”

The Buddha's answer to this was stern:

MN38:5.13: Haven’t I said in many ways that consciousness is dependently originated, since consciousness does not arise without a cause? But still you misrepresent me by your wrong grasp, harm yourself, and make much bad karma.

So let us just say that the samsaric mind is conditioned.

Is the knowledge of the unborn accessible to the samsaric mind?

Yes, we can all have conventional knowledge of the Noble Eightfold Path. The Path is also conditioned and through practice, our knowledge will deepen. However, as long as that conditioning is rooted in identification and grasping, we will get stuck with the following at best, still needing to go beyond:

MN1:26.1: They perceive extinguishment as extinguishment. But then they identify with extinguishment, they identify regarding extinguishment, they identify as extinguishment, they identify that ‘extinguishment is mine’, they take pleasure in extinguishment.

once the Arhat attains the unborn, how do they descend to human affairs?

In freedom, arahants live without wishes in this very life:

MN51:5.10: They live without wishes in the present life, extinguished, cooled, experiencing bliss, having become holy in themselves.

MN128:32.3: ‘My freedom is unshakable; this is my last rebirth; now there are no more future lives.’” That is what the Buddha said.

The "without wishes" is quite crucial here. Wishes are the grasping and craving mentioned in the early parts of MN1 that discuss ordinary persons. In contrast, the arahant has relinquished the craving and the underlying tendency towards craving. That underlying tendency has to be completely relinquished, given up and extinguished for there to be Right Freedom. The samsaric mind leads to suffering and suffering conditions sentient beings with the faith required to follow the Noble Eightfold Path to Right Knowledge and Right Freedom.

MN64:6.3: That identity view, along with any underlying tendency to it, is given up in them.