Vijnana

Vijñāna (Sanskrit) or viññāṇa (Pāli) is translated as “consciousness,” “life force,” “mind,” or “discernment

“The term vijñāna is mentioned in many early Upanishads, where it has been translated by terms such as understanding, knowledge, and intelligence

In the Pāli Canon’s Sutta Pitaka’s first four nikāyas, viññāṇa is one of three overlapping Pali terms used to refer to the mind, the others being manas and citta

Each is used in the generic and non-technical sense of “mind” in general, but the three are sometimes used in sequence to refer to one’s mental processes as a whole

Their primary uses are, however, distinct