Vijnana (Buddhism, Hinduism)

In Buddhism, this is perception with mental knowledge, and is contrasted with prajna, or transcendent wisdom which transcends the knowledge of things and of the mind. Vijna is that perception which apprehends what can be communicated by sense objects without classifying or reacting to such perception. It is equated with the six sense consciousnesses (five senses and mind). In Hinduism, vijnana is the perception of the infinite brahman in the manifold world, being aware that the world is brahman in manifest form.

The third of 12 links – nidana – perpetuating the cycle of birth and death as delineated in the Buddhist causally continuous doctrine of being. The consciousness aggregate, vijnana-skandha or vinnana-khanda, is one of the five interacting aggregates skandha or khanda that produce the illusory ego.