B MIND

often heard Mahayana ( especially Tibetan ) Buddhists repeat in their philosophical explanations that ' Mind comes from Mind' and ' Matter comes from Matter' . Nowadays, similar statements have to face two new possibilities:

1. Synthetic Cells: we are very close to the construction of living cells almost from 'dead' matter: there are still a lot of obstacles , due to the complexity of membranes and DNA sequences, but the path seems to have been opened in laboratories

2. Artificial Intelligence: we can create machines whose behavior is very,very similar to human mind. Of course, computers will always be different from us, as we have not been 'programmed' and their 'emotions' will simply mimic our own but... can you remember Rachael, the replicant from Blade Runner?

Matter might be the necessary container for life and consciousness. Nevertheless, the fact that there is a strong correlation between brain activity and consciousness does not mean that consciousness is generated directly by the brain.

Exactly. Just because there is a strong correlation between wood and fire doesn't mean wood is the sole cause and creator of fire.

Artificial intelligence will never be mind. Mind is very specific. Only living beings possess mind.

 that potentially we could create a mechanical system complex enough with the right conditions for a mindstream to "enter" it. But we're lightyears away from there, technologically.

 Buddhist teachings say that when sperm, ovum and a mindstream unite, that's the start of a new (human) life. I don't see any reason why this process could happen with other material components, computerized, mechanical or otherwise. Teachings already specify (at least) [4 types of birth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jāti_(Buddhism)):

1. birth from an egg

2. birth from a womb

3. birth from moisture

4. birth by transformation

And looking at the variety of ways humans and animals are born, I don't see why that wouldn't be a possibility. The mind's display has infinite potential.

Where do the teachings specify limitations on what the physical body of a sentient being could be?

The word transformation refers to the birth of devas but if someone wants to read that to mean a mechanical system,

think cloning and biomechanical rebirths would also require at least an ovum or a sperm but I am not a scientist. As intellectually interesting as that topic is, I do not feel it is very practical for a spiritual person.

According to Buddhism, we inhabit the 6 realms as a result of confusion. The implication is that matter is something we've hallucinated, just as we do in a dream. Which is why yogis can fly or walk through walls

argument ‘proving’ rebirth—that an effect has to be similar to its cause, and mind is immaterial so can’t have a material cause. This would mean that the mind of a sentient being had to have a pre-existent cause rather than arising from the body, and this cause would be said to be the mindstream from the previous birth.

Mind comes from mind because the mindstream is comprised of a discrete series of causal instances of mind.

BXM IS NAMRUPA

A person having a heart disease and has to refrain from being too angry is a good example of how mind and matter connect. Here’s a quote from the book “Anger” by Thich Nhat Hanh:

“In the teaching of the Buddha, we learn that our body and mind are not separate. Our body is our mind, and, at the same time, our mind is also our body. Anger is not only a mental reality because the physical and mental are linked to each other, and we cannot separate them. In Buddhism we call the body/mind formation namarupa. Namarupa is the psychesoma, the mind-body as one entity. The same reality sometimes appears as mind, and sometimes appears as body.”