mana in heart or head?

Dan Lusthaus vasubandhu at EARTHLINK.NET
Thu Apr 9 11:00:30 UTC 2009


>>Allen W Thrasher wrote:
>> How do they deal with the fact that blows to the head can affect mental
>> functionings, or even permanently damage them?
[Dominik replied]
>Good question :-)  I haven't seen anything about this in the chapters on
unmāda.

If the head/brain can be considered a vital organ (Dominik suggested not),
then Asanga has this covered, or at least implied in his definition of
unmāda in the Mano-bhūmi of the Yogācārabhūmi:


katham unmādyati | pūrva-karmākṣepatayā dhātu-vaisamyataya uttrāsa-bhayatayā
marmābhighāta-tayā bhūta-samāveśatayā ||



Or does marmābhighāta have a clearly defined denotation in the medical
literature? In any case, I find his definition intriguing.



Dan Lusthaus





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