Brain Versus Mind

About the Book

The book is divided into three parts—The Mind in Every Day Living, The Mind and the Dream World, and The Mind after Death. “Due to the immateriality of mind or consciousness and the unknown mechanism thereof, the terms such as consciousness, mind, thought, emotion, and the like are not clearly defined, even in the twenty-first century,” Choi Writes. “To discover the mechanism and to define the terms clearly are my concerns in this book.” He adds that one of his objectives is to prove continuity of consciousness after death. The first five consciousnesses are our sense consciousnesses, Choi explains, while the sixth consciousness, called the mano-vijnana, is generated by the sixth organ, referred to as the organ of mind or root of mind. What exactly that is, Choi continues, we do not know. However, it is crystal clear that the sixth organ is not the brain. It must be a nonphysical and immaterialistic organ that is capable of reading something. Choi goes on to explain the seventh consciousness, called manas. Unlike the first six consciousnesses, this one does not have an organ. It involves thinking, cogitation, and intellection. “The first six consciousnesses perceive and discriminate their corresponding objects and trigger to think so as to give rise to the seventh consciousness, manas, which is accumulated in the eighth consciousness, alaya, as seeds of mind (cittas),” Choi continues, adding that all mental activities are stored in alaya.

About the Author

The author is a patent lawyer practising in Seoul, Korea. In addition, he has practiced zen meditation at several Buddhist temples more than 15 years. He studied Buddhism philosophy at Dongguk University in Seoul for 3 years and received a master degree on the Mere-consciousness philosophy. In his master’s thesis, he has tried to discover the sixth consciousness and the sixth organ and the sixth object, and finally he got. Since he met Buddhism, he has ranged over extensive studies on oriental philosophy such as astrology (saju), geomancy (feng shui), moxa treatment, etc as well as psychology and hypnosis.