Namarupa as 'mentality & materiality', why or why not?

Upvote:0

I think materiality-mentality is very wrong.

  1. It's not the literal translation
  2. Nama doesn't include consciousness/intellect/mind per sutta definitions.
  3. How is 'contact' mentality same as attention?
  4. If materiality is one end, mentality the other end and consciousness is in the middle then is consciousness apart from mentality as much as it is apart from materiality?

It's certainly wrong as i see it

Upvote:2

Namarupa is literally translated as name-and-form.

Based on the definition from SN 12.2, name is mind and form is body. Together, name-and-form refers to, what I would call, the mind-body system.

“And what, bhikkhus, is name-and-form? Feeling, perception, volition, contact, attention: this is called name. The four great elements and the form derived from the four great elements: this is called form. Thus this name and this form are together called name-and-form.
SN 12.2

Consciousness is the mind-body connection or mind-body interface.

“Name, reverends, is one end. Form is the second end. Consciousness is the middle. And craving is the seamstress … That’s how a mendicant directly knows … an end of suffering in this very life.”
AN 6.61

That's further supported by the following.

“And what, bhikkhus, is consciousness? There are these six classes of consciousness: eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, mind-consciousness. This is called consciousness.
SN 12.2

“The six interior sense fields, reverends, are one end. The six exterior sense fields are the second end. Consciousness is the middle. And craving is the seamstress … That’s how a mendicant directly knows … an end of suffering in this very life.”
AN 6.61

Name-and-form (mind-body) has a mutually dependent relationship with the six types of consciousness according to SN 12.67, like two sheaves of reed leaning on each other.

To put it another way, the mind-body system (name-and-form) depends on the mind-body connection (consciousness) and the mind-body connection (consciousness) depends on the mind-body system (name-and-form).

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