On computing the behavior of the mind from an eastern philosophical perspective

Abstract

The human mind is one of the most intriguing complex systems found in nature. Research has been conducted to develop a computer model of the mind from the Theravada Buddhist description detailed in the Abhidhamma literature. Within this context, the mind is identified as a conditional flow of thoughts that is characterized by 52 mental factors, such as perception, volition, attention, anger, attachments, mindfulness and so on. Thus, mental factors are the building blocks of thoughts. Combinations of these 52 mental factors can form 89 different thoughts with characteristics such as feelings, roots, functions, doors, objects and bases. We have developed a computational ontology of Buddhist theory of mind (OntoBM) that describes the complex association among thoughts and mental factors. OntoBM can be primarily used to examine combinations of mental factors that can form thoughts, associations among mental factors and details of thoughts. More importantly, researchers and scholars can also use OntoBM to experiment with the effect of modulation of mental factors on the formation of various thoughts.