mana in heart or head?

[Dominik Wujastyk]

This is very interesting indeed.  The classical āyurvedic text of Vāgbhaṭa 
and other older texts talk about six causes (3 humours, humoral 
conjunction, anguish, poison) leading to damage of the tubes that carry 
manas and thus unmāda.  Uttaratantra, adhyāya 6:

unmādāḥ ṣaṭ pṛthagdoṣanicayādhiviṣodbhavāḥ
unmādo nāma manaso doṣair unmārgagair madaḥ 1

śārīramānasair duṣṭair ahitād annapānataḥ
vikṛtāsātmyasamalād viṣamād upayogataḥ 2

viṣaṇṇasyālpasattvasya vyādhivegasamudgamāt
kṣīṇasya ceṣṭāvaiṣamyāt pūjyapūjāvyatikramāt 3

ādhibhiścittavibhraṃśād viṣeṇopaviṣeṇa ca
ebhir hi hīnasattvasya hṛdi doṣāḥ pradūṣitāḥ 4

dhiyo vidhāya kāluṣyaṃ hatvā mārgān manovahān
unmādaṃ kurvate tena dhīvijñānasmṛtibhramāt 5


(Translated and discussed in my Roots of
Ayurveda).


-- 
Dr Dominik Wujastyk

long term email address: wujastyk at gmail.com




On Thu, 9 Apr 2009, Dan Lusthaus wrote:

>>> 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
>