The Ichinen Sanzen System: A Contribution to a Theory of Cognition

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to contribute to a cognitive model considering the Buddhist System of Ichinen Sanzen (SIS), three thousand realms in a single moment of life and the theories of complexity. The Buddhist system was developed in China, in the VI century A.D., by the erudite Chih-i (538-597). His description of the system shows life itself as three thousand realms consisting of three realms of existence, ten states of life, which possess each other, and ten factors of individuation that can be formalized as following: 3 x 10 x 10 x 10 = 3000. For the purpose of this work, the SIS is taken as a model of Buddhist tradition that can help scientists to understand cognition as a system that integrates person and environment; body and spirit; mind and experience; sense and conscience. The theories of complexity and their authors contribute to the creation of a cognitive theory model based on the SIS. The authors and concepts are used in this paper to approach the errors of understanding to a Buddhist notion, the poisons of attachments as an obstruction of comprehension. For this, the main concept used is the intercritique of science and religion by Henri Atlan that enables us to approach these two areas of knowledge, by analyzing of their components of intersection, to construct an ethical space to discuss the connection between cognition and values. The discussion leads us to a new ontological and epistemological perspective of the subject of knowledge, related to its phenomenological manifestation in the world. It means that human beings have something different which influences the life of a person and its surroundings as the same entity: the conscience of existence and its possibilities. In this sense, it is possible for a person to reach within the universe of three thousand possibilities of life, for the best one, even when we consider the determinisms inherent to life. This model of cognition is an important contribution to social and psychological sciences and education, based on the fact that a person has to observe their inner world as an extension of their environment, and vice-versa, consciously, choosing what is desired in an ethical domain of life to reach a better life. At last, we offer a hybrid model a contribution to a theory of cognition.

Keywords: Science, Tradition, Cognition, Model