Jihvviñña

Jihvviñña, also transliterated jihvā-viññāṇa or jihvaviññāṇa, is the gustatory sense-consciousness in Buddhist philosophy. The term combines jihvā (tongue) and viññāṇa (consciousness), referring to the momentary awareness that arises when the tongue comes into contact with a taste object. It is typically described as one of the six sense-consciousnesses that arise in response to contact with the external world.

In Theravāda Abhidhamma and related Buddhist scholastic traditions, jihvviñña is categorized as the tongue-based form of sense-consciousness. Its object is taste, including flavors such as sweet, sour, salty, bitter, or umami. Jihvviñña arises at the moment of contact between the tongue and the taste object (phassa) and is immediately followed by vedanā (feeling), which can be pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. Like other sense-consciousnesses, it is brief and conditions subsequent mental phenomena, including craving and response.

A key point in many Theravāda presentations is that jihvviñña is not the taste itself but the cognitive event of awareness of that taste. It is one link in the dependent-co-arising chain, and it interacts with sensation, perception, and mental formations to shape experience and reaction, potentially leading to attachment or aversion based on the felt taste.

Cross-traditionally, jihvviñña is most often discussed within the framework of the six sense bases (salāyatana) and the corresponding six types of consciousness. While the term appears primarily in early Pali and Sanskrit-language Abhidhamma literature, its general idea—the tongue’s momentary consciousness of taste—appears across Buddhist reflective traditions.