Mind Theory Study

All kinds of academic viewpoints and materials of ancient books and records about the theory of "The heart is in charge of mental activities" were gathered extensively to make systematic research on the issue as "heart (heart organ and mind)", "spirits (mental activities)". "The heart is in charge of mental activities" or "The brain is in charge of mental activities". "The heart is in charge of mental activities" or "The five organs are in charge of mental activities" etc in this thesis by means of the studying methods in terminology, astronomy, philosophy and psychology. The main contents and conclusions are as follows:1. "The heart organ" indicates the solid heart and mental activities from the derivation . morphology and meaning of the word. In the ancient philosophy, the Confucianists regarded "heart" as individually moral cultivation and a priori moral nature; The Taoist regarded it as the root of doctrine and morals which have not only the meaning of noumenon but a thinking and consciousness activity; The Buddhist regarded it as the total designation of all mental phenomena. "The heart" is one of the five organs and is in charge of not only the blood and meridian but also mental activities in Huangdi's Internal Classic( 獺uangdineijing?) .2. " Spirits"derive from representation(shi) and electricity(shen) which indicates that it is too prone to changing to be foreseen. It is "The spirits" when shi and shen were put together to form a total word. The extending meaning of "The God(shen)" is "God" or miracle. It also indicates dominating, that is, dominating the change of the world and the nature. The meaning of "The God(mental activities)"is complicated in Huangdi s Internal Classic( 獺uangdineijing)> ) .and has the difference of the extensive and limited meaning concerning the human body. "The God(mental activities)"indicate the external presentations of the total life activities in extending meaning and psychological consciousness activities specially in limited meaning.3. The issue of "The heart is in charge of mental activities" in Chinese medicine and indicates that the heart organ is in charge of the life activities especially man's thinking consciousness activities. The issue of "The five organs are in charge of mental activities" indicates that the Heart stores man's thinking and consciousness activities together with the Liver, the Spleen, the Lung and the Kidney organ. The relation of the former and the latter is as follows: "The heart is in charge of mental activities" totally takes charge of "The five organs are in charge of mental activities" and the latter subjects to the former. The Heart not only stores the mental activities of the highest level but also takes charge of the mentalactivities, which is stored in five organs. The meaning of the "God(mental activities )" in "The Heart is in charge of mental activities" is extensive which contains not only mental activities(shen)> soul(hun) ?spirit(po) > consciousness(yi) and will(zhi)but also other life activities. The meaning of God(mental activities) of "The Heart is the seat of mind" in "The five organs are the seats of mind" is limited which is in the highest level in five kinds of emotions.4. We considers that "The Heart is in charge of mental activities" is outcomes of the thought which the nature integrates with the human being. It deduced the physiological function of (Zang and Fu) organs from the logic methods, which it knows things by analogy. The forefathers considered God(mental activities) as the sun from the word > the ancient books and records which is the dominator of the nature, while the Heart is the dominator of the life activities of the human body. The God(mental activities) in Huangdi's Internal Classic( 獺uangdineijing?)contains the God of the nature(sun) and the God(mental activities)of the human body(the Heart), It deduced that the Heart is the root of life and the important center of vitality and energy metabolism and the origin of the consciousness from the action of the sun...