Buddhi
Buddhi (IAST)Translation: "Intellect"
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: बुद्धि
Transliteration: Buddhi
Translation: "intellect; the discriminative faculty (from the verb root budh – “to enlighten, to know”)"
Definition
- The ascertaining intelligence and the impersonal or superpersonal state of consciousness of a limited individual.
- The first evolute of primordial Nature (Prakṛti). It is the basis of the intelligence of the individual. It is the determinative faculty and by it one resolves upon a course of action.
- According to Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, it is of two kinds: recollection (Smṛti) and experience (Anubhava).
Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo)
Buddhi – intelligence; the thinking mind, the highest normal faculty of the Antaḥ-Kāraṇa, also called the Mānasa Buddhi or mental reason, whose three forms are the habitual mind, pragmatic reason, and truth-seeking reason. The Buddhi as “the discerning intelligence and the enlightened will” is “in its nature thought-power and will-power of the Spirit turned into the lower form of a mental activity” and thus “an intermediary between a much higher Truth-mind not now in our active possession, which is the direct instrument of Spirit, and the physical life of the human mind evolved in body”; its powers of perception, imagination, reasoning, and judgment correspond respectively to the higher faculties of revelation, inspiration, intuition, and discrimination belonging to Vijñāna, which may act in the mind to create “a higher form of the Buddhi that can be called the intuitive mind” or Vijñānabuddhi. In compound expressions, the word Buddhi sometimes refers to a particular mentality or state of consciousness and may be translated “sense of”, as in Dāsyabuddhi, “sense of surrender.”
The Serpent Power (Arthur Avalon)
"Buddhi considered with relation to the other faculties of experience is that aspect of the Antaḥ-Kāraṇa which determines (Adhyavasayatmika Buddhiḥ). "A man is said to determine (Adhyavasyati) who, having perceived (Manas), and thought, 'I am concerned in this matter (Ahaṅkāra)' and thus having self-arrogated, comes to the determination, 'This must be done by me' (Kartavyam Etat Māyā)." "Must be done" here does not refer to exterior action only, but to mental action (Manasi Kriyā) also, such as any determination by way of the forming of concepts and percepts ("It is so") and resolutions ("It must be done"). Buddhi pervades all effects whatever other than itself. It is the principal Tattva because it pervades all the instruments (Indriya), is the receptacle of all the Saṃskāra or Karmic tendencies, and is in Sāṅkhya the seat of memory. It is the thinking principle which forms concepts or general ideas acting through the instrumentality of Ahaṅkāra, Manas and the Indriya. In the operations of the senses Manas is the principal; in the operation of Manas, Ahaṅkāra is the principal; and in the operation of Ahaṅkāra, Buddhi is the principal. With the instrumentality of all of these, Buddhi acts, modifications taking place in Buddhi through the instrumentality of the sense functions. It is Buddhi which is the basis of all cognition, sensation, and resolves, and makes over objects to Puruṣa that is, Consciousness. And so it is said that Buddhi, whose characteristic is determination, is the charioteer; Manas, whose characteristic is Saṅkalpa-Vikalpa, is the reins; and the senses, Indriya, are the horses. Jīva is the Enjoyer (Bhokta) that is, Ātma conjoined with body, senses, Manas, and Buddhi. In Buddhi, Sattva Guṇa predominates; in Ahaṅkāra, Rajas, in Manas and the Indriya and their objects, Tamas."
The Science of Yoga (I.K. Taimni)
Sanskrit: बुद्धि
Transliteration: Buddhi
Meaning: "the power of cognition"
Commentary: "When the consciousness of the Puruṣa manifests in the realm of Prakṛti, it appears as awareness of the Not-Self and this awareness which expresses itself through the action of Sattva Guṇa is called Buddhi."
"Buddhi is that faculty which enables the mind to perceive and understand objects in the phenomenal worlds, the mind being inert and incapable of performing this function. As long as Buddhi is functioning through the medium of the mind, it is not possible to know pure consciousness. It is only when it assumes that form in which all movement from one level of Citta to another has been eliminated that it reveals its real nature.[...]
Svabuddhi means Buddhi as it really is and not as it functions through the medium of the mind. We know only this function of perception as it appears in association with Citta. Svabuddhi is the function of perception as it is when exercised upon itself.[...]
Normally, Buddhi functions through Citta and helps the mind to perceive and understand objects in its realm. But when it is freed from the association of Citta, it automatically turns upon itself and illuminates its own nature, i.e. consciousness. It is because the power of illumination is inherent in it that it illuminates Citta when it functions through Citta. If a light is enclosed within a translucent globe it reveals the globe. If the globe is removed the light reveals itself."
The Upanishads: Volume I (Swami Nikhilananda)
Katha Upanishad, Chapter 3, Verses 3-9
Verse 3
Know the Ātman to be the master of the chariot; the body, the chariot; the Buddhi, the charioteer; and the mind, the reins.
Verse 4
The senses, they say, are the horses; the objects, the roads. The wise call the Ātman—united with the body, the senses, and the mind—the enjoyer.
Verse 5
If the Buddhi, being related to a mind that is always distracted, loses its discrimination, then the senses become uncontrolled, like the vicious horses of a charioteer.
Verse 6
But if the Buddhi, being related to a mind that is always restrained, possesses discrimination, then the senses come under control, like the good horses of a charioteer.
Verse 7
If the Buddhi, being related to a distracted mind, loses its discrimination and therefore always remain impure, then the embodied soul never attains the goal, but enters into the round of births.
Verse 8
But if the Buddhi, being related to a mind that is restrained, possesses discrimination and, therefore, always remains pure, then the embodied soul attains that goal from which he is not born again.
Verse 9
A man who has discrimination for his charioteer, and holds the reins of the mind firmly, reaches the end of the road; and that is the supreme position of Vishnu.
Know the Ātman to be the master of the chariot; the body, the chariot; the Buddhi, the charioteer; and the mind, the reins.
Verse 4
The senses, they say, are the horses; the objects, the roads. The wise call the Ātman—united with the body, the senses, and the mind—the enjoyer.
Verse 5
If the Buddhi, being related to a mind that is always distracted, loses its discrimination, then the senses become uncontrolled, like the vicious horses of a charioteer.
Verse 6
But if the Buddhi, being related to a mind that is always restrained, possesses discrimination, then the senses come under control, like the good horses of a charioteer.
Verse 7
If the Buddhi, being related to a distracted mind, loses its discrimination and therefore always remain impure, then the embodied soul never attains the goal, but enters into the round of births.
Verse 8
But if the Buddhi, being related to a mind that is restrained, possesses discrimination and, therefore, always remains pure, then the embodied soul attains that goal from which he is not born again.
Verse 9
A man who has discrimination for his charioteer, and holds the reins of the mind firmly, reaches the end of the road; and that is the supreme position of Vishnu.
References:
- Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
- Hartz, Richard. Glossary to the Record of Yoga (Sri Aurobindo). Retrieved from http://wiki.auroville.org.in/wiki/Glossary_to_the_Record_of_Yoga
- Avalon, Arthur (1950). The Serpent Power: Being the Shat-Chakra-Nirūpana and Pādukā-Panchakā. Adyar, Madras: Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Ltd. p. 62-64
- Taimni, I. K. (1975). The Science of Yoga: The Yoga-Sūtras of Patañjali in Sanskrit with Transliteration in Roman, Translation in English and Commentary: Theosophical Publishing House. p. 299, 369-370.
- Nikhilananda, Swami (1949). The Upanishads: Volume I—Katha, Iśa, Kena, and Mundaka. New York, New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers.
