viññāṇa
Consciousness (aggregate)
[ vin-NYAA-na ]
Seeing it in life
Viññāṇa is awareness of an object via one of the six sense doors; the consciousness aggregate.
In short
Synonym of citta as one of the five khandhas.
The analysis
Viññāṇa is awareness of an object arising through one of the six sense doors — functionally a synonym of citta when it appears as one of the five aggregates, though the two terms travel in different lists. As a khandha, viññāṇa is what most readily gets mistaken for a persisting self — the sense of a continuous 'knower' running through experience.
Where it sits
Viññāṇa is also the third link of dependent origination, conditioned by saṅkhāra and conditioning nāmarūpa — a different but related usage from its khandha appearance.
The bare fact of knowing — that seeing is currently happening, or thinking, or hearing — prior to any content about what's being known, is viññāṇa; examined closely, it turns out to be as momentary as the other four aggregates.
Commonly mistaken for
A persisting self or knower. Viññāṇa is momentary and conditioned, arising and passing with each act of cognition.
Identical in every context it appears. As a khandha it names the aggregate broadly; as the third link of dependent origination it has a more specific role.
Mahātaṇhāsaṅkhaya Sutta (MN 38); Khandha Saṃyutta (SN 22).
Related terms