Reply To: The Thread for correcting Wrong Views

#27663
Lal
Keymaster

cubibobi (Lang) wrote: “Does the gandhabba leave the body when we dream? In my dreams, I can see and hear, which must be through the cakku and sōta pasāda rūpa (physical eyes are shut and physical ears do not hear things); and the pasāda rūpa can function on their own only outside of the physical body, right?”

This is a good question. I think someone asked this sometime back and I did not realize what was being asked.
– No. The gandhabba does not leave the body while we dream.
– The dreams are not seeing (and not heard) with the corresponding pasada rupa.
– Our dreams are “made up” by the mind. A dream is based on something that had been registered strongly in the mind. The mind “re-lives” or “makes up” scenarios based on those experiences/impressions.
– Therefore, a dream is fully “mind-generated.” Those visuals are not real rupa and those sounds are not real sounds.

We see dreams after we fall asleep, but before we get to deep sleep. During this time, the mind is active, but all five physical senses are shut down.

cubibobi (Lang) asked: “Finally, one more curiosity: at around 17:35 the video mentions the limbic system in the brain that gets active at this moment. Could this system be the mano indriya?”
– This is a good point too.
– The limbic system has the following components among others: amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus. As I have discussed in several posts, our memories generated in the hadaya vatthu are transmitted to the “external world” by a “transmitter” in the mana indriya and memories in the kamma bhava (external world) are recalled using a “receiver” in the mana indriya. Of course, the mana indriya is in the brain, but Buddha Dhamma (Tipitaka) does not address that clearly. Of course, parts of the brain had not been known to humans at the time of the Buddha, so it would not have possible to try to explain at that time.
– A patient (called patient H.M.) lost his ability to recall past events when a tiny part of his brain in the limbic system was removed surgically (that was done to stop a problem he had with frequent seizures). See, “The Amazing Mind – Critical Role of Nāmagotta (Memories)” One should read the whole post, but I discuss patient H.M. in #6 there.

These are very interesting aspects. But I do not want to spend too much time on this since there are more pressing issues to address.