What arises in your mind when you hear the word “Apple”?
Is it the taste of the apples you've eaten before? Is it a crisp green Granny Smith apple? A shiny red Delicious apple? A bottle of apple juice? A warm apple pie? Is it a memory of someone you shared an apple with? Is it the letter A, from when you first learned the alphabet? Or perhaps the Apple iPhone, MacBook, or iPad? Or is it something entirely different?
Isn’t it simply a sound—the word “Apple”—that you heard at that very moment?
How you perceive the sound “Apple” is entirely subjective. Do you agree that you create your own personal world within your mind?
What is perception? According to the dictionary:
per·cep·tion /pərˈsepSH(ə)n/ noun
The ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses. "The normal limits to human perception."
But is this definition sufficient to explain what perception truly is? Let us take you deeper into the nature of perception.
Let’s go back to the very beginning—when did we start collecting names and perceptions?
Do you vividly remember the activities you performed as a toddler?
As a toddler, your parents worked hard to teach you and wind up the name “Mom” with the form—a 3D color mental image of your mother—perceived through your mind.
Once the name “Mom” was bound with the form, this perception became stronger over time—reinforced by life experiences, emotions, and sensations—continually reshaping your perception of “Mom.”
Let’s go back to the very beginning—when did we start collecting names and perceptions?
In Buddha’s teaching, this union/entanglement of Name and Form is the five aggregates, the mind vibration perceived through the mind sensor, known as mind consciousness.
The Name part consists of sensation, perception, mental formation, and consciousness.
The Form is a vibration—whether a color pattern, sound vibration, taste vibration, or smell vibration. The Name arises as a telepathized vibration, which was created from childhood and reinforced due to life experience, created right at that moment. The superposition of the Form vibration and the Name vibration creates a single vibration with enhanced power—perceived as mind vibration, which is the mind consciousness.
The Form is a vibration—whether a color pattern, a sound vibration, a taste vibration, or a smell vibration. The Name arises as a telepathized vibration, constructed from childhood experiences and reinforced by life events—created at that very moment. The superposition of the Form vibration and the Name vibration creates a single vibration with enhanced power—perceived as mind vibration, which is the mind consciousness.
Fusion of From vibration and Name vibration creates a new vibration - Consciousness
The insight into how forms and names wind up (Pubbe-nivāsānussati Jñāna) is one component of the mastery of the threefold knowledge (Trividyā).
Page: Consciousness and Name -and -Form